Dragon Warrior VII

My second favorite dragon quest. And lemme tell you it does not get old even after the third replay. No matter how long it is I enjoy every second of it. The class system is a more advanced version of the one from 6 by adding a couple of new classes and the two new third tier classes of which 6 only has one. Despite these classes being the endgoal you wanna achieve, you'll likely not reach any of them by endgame if you're playing this version. The encounter rate is lower than you'd expect and the amount of fights you have to do is a lot higher than 3ds. 3ds made leveling classes a lot easier and it has that going for it but I still prefer this version. Why? Well the third tier classes arent really necessary to beat the game. You can finish the game with only second tier classes easily! It's not as grindy a game as you'd think. I made it to the end of the game without grinding and just grinded to reach third tier classes right before the final dungeon which in fact was overkill. None of my party members died during the final boss. Quite anticlimactic of a fight tbh. So you really do not have to grind at all.

Another thing is the menus on 3ds have lag. I dont know why. They lag. psx version doesnt have that so I enjoy fights more on psx. And the 3ds version in my opinion makes the feeling of getting lost in the world barely have meaning cause it basically spells out where everything is! Whereas in psx you have to check every nook and cranny for the shards, 3ds has a little notification whenever there's one near. It really makes the adventure feel less. well. adventurous. Since you never actually get lost.

When I was younger I recommended people who weren't huge dragon quest fans play the 3ds version since its more concise and player friendly. After this replay I can say for sure that the psx version is better in almost every way! The only reason to go with 3ds atp is the console's portability making it an easier thing to pick up and go. If you can find the time to sit down and play the psx version on a real console or emulator, go for it!

And for the record...It's not actually 120 hours like my last psx run made me believe. With grinding, exploring and doing some of the side stuff, I ended my save with ~85 hours. So please don't be put off by this version and play it if you have the chance to!

I say this in my head all the time but really. There are no bad Dragon Quest games for mainline at least. Every single one is worth playing and every single one is enjoyable to me.