Dragon Quest vs Final Fantasy. Which series do you prefer?

I love both but I prefer Dragon Quest myself because it has constantly innovated itself with each release yet still kept core elements that make it a series while Final Fantasy has long given up being a series. My favorite Dragon Quest games are 3, 4, and 5. Actually DQ 3 may be my favorite game ever its just such a perfect exploration game and such a milestone in the Jrpg genre. That said DQ 4 is the most impressive because to my knowledge it was the first Jrpg to focus on story and the chapter system was really innovative for its time. Also the dungeons were creative and the final boss fight was brilliant for an NES game. DQ 5 probably had the best story since you watch yourself grow up, get married, and have kids which is really epic. It was one of the only games to make me cry. I also love DQ 8 which had great characters especially Yangus and the primary antagonist was quite great.

As for Final Fantasy my favorite atm is FF 4 because even though the story is cliche it really kept the momentum going and was easy to stay immersed in it. That said I still haven't played FF 9 and when I do it might take place as my favorite FF if its as good as I'm hoping.

Not played Dragon quest, so my opinion on this is worthless.

However I have played all the final fantasy games and can tell you IX is one of the better games, you will definitely enjoy.

However I prefer IV over IX myself.

@thehig1: Is 4 your favorite? Most people like FF 6 but I was disappointed with it tbh.

I love both but prefer the Final Fantasy franchise. What I love about the Final Fantasy games is the heavy sci-fi themes that many of the games have. My favourite Final Fantasy game is a toss-up between VIII and X. My favourite Dragon Quest game is VIII.

@cabaretvoltaire: no 7 is my favorite, mainly because it's the first one I played as a child so it means most to me.

I didn't play through 1-6 until I was in my 20s, ffiv is my favorite behind 7 though.

DQ by a lot. V and VIII are my favorites. I barely remember playing Dragon Warrior on NES what seemed like a million years ago. I think it was free if you mailed some kind of proof of purchase to Nintendo or Enix or something.

Don't remember 2 or 3, but I have IV, V, VI, VIII and IX right now, and the two 3DS versions of VII and VIII pre-ordered. I'm so glad they localized VII remake, because I was on the verge of ordering the PSone version online and that would have been a pretty penny.

Also I can't wait for both versions of XI.

I really haven't played Final Fantasy, but have been a fan of Dragon Quest for a long time. I'd say DQ III and IX had the best RPG mechanics and VIII had the best world to explore.

Dragon Quest. The DQ series has been consistently high quality ever since the first one in 1986. Not like Final Fantasy, which was a great series until Square shitcanned Sakaguchi and the quality of the series fell through the floor.

It also helps that Yuji Horii doesn't feel the need to reinvent the wheel with every new game.

@RossRichard: Yeah I like how Dragon Quest was innovative but didn't need to reinvent itself.

FF all day everyday