Which Dragon Warrior for DS should I get?

[Zenitram]

I've never played a Dragon Warrior game before, but I want more RPGs for my DS. So which is best (in terms of story and overall quality); 4,5,6, or 9?

[Cryomancer]

Overall best is probably 5, that's what I usually feel and I've seen that sentiment mentioned in several Japanese "top RPG" lists too so they agree I suppose. It has a decent reasoning for multiple playthoughs, or at least past a certain point, as you get to make a major decision that alters at least a party member and all their party chat partway through the game. The part as a child isn't super awesome, but play past that and the game will start to get great from there out.

DQ4 on DS outside of Japan is somewhat flawed (overdoing accents) and lazy (didn't translated the party chat) but still enjoyable, and pretty much an all-time classic as far as the game/party members go. 4 got a series of spin-off games.

6 is also pretty good, but I still like 5 better.

9 is a departure from the series in many ways but is also still a good game. If you want "traditional" DQ you would be better off with one of the others instead of 9. 9 also has a lot of references to other DQ games if you bother to do the additional content offered via download that you may not appreciate as much as a first time player.

Note that you don't really need to play any of these in a particular order as far as the storylines within the games goes. Technically 6 comes before 4 and 5 but they don't impact each other in any particularly spoiler kind of way or anything like that.

Those are my thoughts on the DS titles. Hopefully these opinions are mostly accurate and helpful.

[G-Boobie]

I'll second the DQ 5 sentiment. The only problem is its a little pricey; I guess the print run wasn't huge.

[hbkprm]

dq ix

[Rev. Link]

DQV is pretty hard to find now, since they didn't make a whole lot of copies. IV, VI, and IX are all pretty easy to get.

If you do hunt down a V, be sure it's a legit copy. I've heard stories of bootlegs floating around out there.

[retroman]

I would say get them all, but 4 is my fav.

[mobiusclimber]

DQV is the best for a single play-thru but I can't imagine playing the last 1/3 or whatever of the game ever again. The ending stretch is just boring and frustrating, imo. I mean, again, it's fine the first time, but not a second time. (I know b/c I played the SFC version all the way thru, but stopped playing the DS version eventually.) I'd say just go in order. There aren't any bad ones.

[Icarus Moonsight]

Bootleg copies of 5 are common huh? Great... scratch out eBay for search.

[Zenitram]

Thanks for all the feedback everyone. I'll call my two local game stores and see if they have V, and if for a good price. After some more research, VI is next on my list. I'll eventually play them all though.

[Rev. Link]

Bootleg copies of 5 are common huh? Great... scratch out eBay for search.

Well, I don't know if it's common exactly, but I have heard of it happening. It's definitely a game I wouldn't get on eBay or Amazon.