I didn't make a topic for IV, I skipped over with V, but I'm now playing VI and I can't hold back anymore. I love these games!

Dragon Quest IV is probably my second favorite game ever, and when the Playstation 1 remake was first announced, in the same style as Dragon Quest VII, I was really looking forward to it. When I purchased VII, in 2001, an advertisement in the manual claimed a North American release in Spring 2002! I barely could wait until it'd become available! Then, on a dark day a few months later, Heartbeat (the developer of the remake) announced that they were getting out of the video games business, so the project was dropped. Boohoo!

I had to wait 7 long years for that remake to be ported by ArtePiazza to the DS and to be released over here. When it finally came, it didn't disappoint! The gameplay has held off pretty well, giving the game the feel of an SNES RPG with the classic Dragon Quest mechanics intact. Both DQV and VI are also done in the same style, often reusing several of the same graphics.

The detailed 2D sprites go well against the 3D backgrounds. It's always fun to step in a new town and use the DS' shoulder buttons to rotate the camera, showing off the entire town moving on the two screens at once. Beyond that, the extremely smooth in-battle animations are impressive, compared to the early games where you fought static, flashing monsters.

Dragon Quest VI has, in my opinion, the catchiest music of the entire series. Every theme, from the town to the overworld, along with the battle themes has a dynamic beat hard to get out your mind. DQV's soundtrack especially benefited from this update, as the SNES original had some very weak sounding tunes. DQIV's extra compositions, many of them already present in the Playstation remake, feel as if they had always been part of the game's soundtrack.

So there you have it. I've long been a fan of the series, played all of the mainstream games save for VIII, and I won't hesitate to say that these three remakes really show off the best of what the series has to offer.

A fine post on topic is not something I'll refuse.

Besides, I'm still playing through VI (getting close to the final sprint), and I'm not tired of it in any way. The plot is somewhat thin, like all Dragon Quest titles, but the gameplay more than makes up for that by often giving you something new to play with. The classes system of this game is especially neat since you don't face a level reset whenever you change your class. As a result, you're free to experiment without consequences.

I'll most likely make a conclusion post once I finally put it down!