Dragon Quest or Final Fantasy?

[Tai_MT]

My experience is going to be biased.

Final Fantasy
Liked
FF1
FF5
FF6
FF9
FF10
FF14
Tactics
Tactics Advance
Mystic Quest

Hated
FF7
FF8
FF11

Meh
FF2
FF3
FF4
FF12
FF15
Crisis Core? What's the spinoff of FF7 called where you play as the gun shooty vampire guy? That one.

Dragon Quest
Liked
Dragon Quest Monsters 1
Dragon Quest Monsters 2

Hated
I dunno. I really haven't played many because of the next category...

Meh
Dragon Quest 1
Dragon Quest 2
Dragon Quest 3
Dragon Quest 9 (or was it 11? I don't even know which it was)

---
So... I guess "Final Fantasy" wins for me? I tend to engage with the ones that have a good story with engaging characters. I don't engage in ones that are "par for the course" in terms of JRPG's and character tropes.

The few Dragon Quest games I've played were just "Meh" in terms of story. I mean, when Final Fantasy Mystic Quest has a more engaging story... we've got some problems... and it's a simplistic picture book story for children.

However, I did LOVE the Dragon Quest Monsters series. These are far superior to Pokemon in terms of monster catching/breeding games and the stories/characters are generally pretty solid and great (despite being written for children). I also really loved the cameos of some of the monsters and events of previous games. Is it weird that I enjoyed the "fan service" of games I didn't like... more than the games I didn't like?

Anyway, if I want a good story, I get Final Fantasy. If I want good monster collection, I grab Dragon Quest Monsters. I just don't really look to Dragon Quest for anything as what I've played is pretty "bog standard" and "nothing special".

 

[Mcniner]

Which do you like, Dragon Quest or Final Fantasy?

I have the first of both games on my NES, and I would have to go with DQ because of it's gameplay and more non-linear approach.

 

[Lord_Bluffkin]

Final Fantasy Legend I and II for the Gameboy.
Final Fantasy IV for the SNES.

 

[Golden Unicorn Gaming]

Dragon Quest for me

 

[Maliki79]

I like em both, but I very rarely actually play DQ games to completion. I think I only beat DQ 1 and 4. The only FF mainline games I didn't beat were 2, 12 and 15.

 

[freakytapir]

The thing that separates the series for me is that all DQ games feel mechanically identical, while each final fantasy at least has some distinction.

I mean, going from FF VII's Level up the items (Materia) to learn better skills to FF X's semi linear skill grid to FF XII licence system, each felt different, while most dragin quests are 'put skill points in skill to level up'. All right, DQ 11 had a skill tree, I guess.

The combat itsself also greatly differs between the FF's.
Seven has ATB, ten is completely turn based, and twelve has overworld combat based on programmable AI, while XV is almost an action RPG.

DQ still uses the same 'pick skills, execute turn'.

 

[Julijewels]

DQ/FF Tier list

S Tier: DQM/DW7/FF9
A Tier: FFT:A, FF10, DQM2, DQ9, DQB
B TIER: The rest, 0 fails in these games.

 

[Arctica]

Liked
FF6
FF7
FF8
FF9
FFX
FFX-2
FFXI
FF13-2
FFXIV

Disliked
FF13

Didn't play
FF's not listed.

Dragon Quest
Liked
Disliked

Didn't play
Any of them.

Yeah I can't compare.

 

[KawaiiKid]

In my opinion, at least when it comes to final fantasy, they've strived to do something different every game. Each iteration has a new combat and leveling system which changes things up. Dragon quest is the same boring turn based with no frills, gimmicks, or interesting features as it was 20 years ago. Not to mention playing them just looks like I'm watching dragon ball z.

Can you tell I don't like dragon quest lol.

 

[Basileus]

I prefer Dragon Quest. There's something about the episodic nature of them that really works for me. I had the GBC ones back in the day but never actually finished them until recently. Going back as an adult, I appreciate a lot of the little details that I never noticed as a kid. Even the really old ones have all the spells/abilities you'd expect (elemental damage, buffs, debuffs, heals, statuses, charge ups, trick attacks, etc) but have a lot of convenient features like fast travel abilities that I'm surprised other games didn't copy ages ago.

I've still never finished a Final Fantasy game. Part of it is that I just don't like ATB combat. I dropped most of the older ones early on because I don't like sitting there while my party has a starting contest with the monsters as they wait for someone to fill their ATB gauge. A lot of the stories just aren't my cup of tea either.

Although I'm surprised that so many people seem to think that Final Fantasy always innovates and Dragon Quest never does since they seem the same to me. Both games rely on spells and abilities created in the NES era (DQ3 and FF3), with another batch created in the SNES era (DQ6 and FF5). Both games have nearly identical combat each time (either select all moves at the start and let the round play out, or wait for someone's ATB to fill and select move from menu). Both have alternated between having a class/job system and having pre-made ability sets, and occasionally revamp how you learn the same abilities (sphere grid, license board, skill trees, hexagonal board). I recently gave FF12 a try and it feels basically the same as FF5 but without the battle transitions - walk forward, find enemy, wait for ATB, select action, repeat. They even both introduce gimmicks that never show up again (Tension system in DQ8, multiplayer in DQ9, gunblade trigger in FF8, Trance in FF9).

It just seems to me that both series are good at giving their fans more of what they want.

 

[Frostorm]

Would Triangle Strategy count as Final Fantasy? I mean it's by Square Enix, but so is Dragon Quest, lol.

 

[DrBuni]

Dragon Quest for me. I like that the series plays it safe, in the sense that a fan who played DQ3 about 20 years ago can go back to the series today, play something like DQ8, or even DQ11, and still recognizes the series as DQ. Final Fantasy is way more experimental, and there are certainly good things that come from this approach, but it also means it is way harder to like most games in the series. So much changes drastically from game to game, from mechanics to the settings. I like sequels treading different grounds, of course. New themes, new directions, but I like when the identity of the series and the general mechanics stay the same.

However, Final Fantasy does villains a lot better than Dragon Quest. I understand that interesting villains is not the selling point of Dragon Quest titles, but come on now? DQ villains are so bad, and I like good villains. One could argue FF doesn't have the greatest villains either, but I would argue that from 4 onward, most of them are pretty interesting, unique and memorable in their own ways.

Also, FF has better music. DQ sounds kinda basic in comparison.

 

[knightron]

As a whole I like Dragon Quest series better but there's a few games in the Final Fantasy series that I think are better than any Dragon Quest game.

I haven't played the complete collection of either series though so my opinion may change up the road as I progress through them.

 

[Blindiron]

It's super hard for me to choose, as I have such good memories for both. I love the simplicity of DQ, as I think it adds to its charm, but I love the complex stories of FF. I think they both have good things going for them, but I'm gonna vote for Final Fantasy.

 

[mosoku]

I can't decide. When I first started playing rpgs I preferred final fantasy because 7 and 10 were great. When I eventually played more dragon quest game including 4 and 7 I started to prefer Dragon Quest. Now that I've played most of them I can't choose one or the other.