Each Dragon Quest game seems like it's better than the last, and with Dragon Quest V everything comes together to create one of the most memorable games I've ever played. It is one of the best games of it's era and probably of all time.

Using the early chapters to both introduce the main cast as well as a tutorial on how to effectively use them was a pretty innovative idea for the fourth game in the series. Especially memorable is Torneko's chapter, where the player must break out of a dead end job and start his own business. My favorite part: an epic, seven part encounter with the final boss.

A customizable party and a game world that was both fun and intuitive to explore helped make this the first "great" Dragon Quest game.

A new development team, a new era for Dragon Quest. Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Revelation is a great game, but it stands in the shadow of three previous games that frankly were better.

The second game in the series added party member and with multiple enemies in encounters brought a new level of strategy to the combat. It is a sprawling, open world that can be hard to navigate and there are some balance issues, but it was still early.

The first game in the series broke a lot of ground and is a fun, grindy adventure that left a lot of room for improvement.