I hate to admit this, but despite having played through hours and hours of the series' titles (notably I, VII, VIII, IX), I've never beaten a mainline Dragon Quest game and I can't give any reasonable justifications for this.

I'm definitely going to agree though, that Dragon Quest has far more substance than most games in the Final Fantasy series. I remember Dragon Quest VII making me feel quite melancholy at times, the most vivid example in my mind is when the heroes visit the town under attack by robots in the present day and find that robot servant still trying to serve its long-dead master. Or the town with all of the petrified people. I can't think of the right word, but there's "something" to personally take out of the storylines of the DQ series. Help me out here.

I'll shut up and just beat one [insert joke here]. No, nine!

Oh man! I was going to include that robot scenario in part two. Maybe I still will! We're recording it tonight, and I've got a lot of things to say. I will butcher your name.

It's a tough subject for me to be objective about what with all my DQ fanboyism. It's more challenging than I thought to do a simple compare and contrast without blasting the fuck out of FF; as displeased with the series now as I am, it still gave me thousands of hours of entertainment as a kid, and I have to respect that. SOMEHOW

Haha, my name's just a variant spelling of Shane.

Another good thing to bring up is Koichi Sugiyama's role in the series. I really can't comment on any of his work in DQ I through VI, but his compositions for VII and VIII are astounding, especially the American version of VIII with its orchestral recording. There's something really effective that he incorporates in his music that draws me to buy the wholesome, simple appeals of these games. Maybe it's all of the horns and strings.

After listening to stuff like DQVIII's "Travelling With Wagon" (kamikyoku, urhurhurrr), can anyone honestly give a shit that he hates Chinese people? Naaaaaaaah.

By the way, I ended up starting up a new game on the SFC version of DQIII last night. Do all of those questions asked of you in the beginning affect the game in any way?

The questions affect your starting personality, which was a new parameter added to the remake. Personalities influence stat growth, but can be changed pretty easily through the use of books. Certain personalities are better for certain classes, depending on the stats you want to boost. Consult a FAQ to see which personality is right for you!