Hardest Dragon Quest Games

The Dragon Quest series is one of the most well-known and beloved JRPG franchises in all of gaming history. It has had many spin-off titles, but none of these other titles have as high a difficulty curve as the mainline series of Dragon Quest JRPGs — although the Dragon Quest Monsters games come pretty close.

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JRPGs are no strangers to featuring tough foes, but players can become stronger by grinding levels, getting new items, and obtaining abilities, which will make dealing with threats a great deal easier. That said, even after obtaining these new levels of strength, the challenges set forth by Dragon Quest games can still be difficult to overcome.

Updated August 28, 2024 by Chad Thesen: This article has been updated to include three additional entries. This includes the hack-and-slash-styled Dragon Quest Heroes 2, the turn-based strategic Dragon Quest Tact, and Infinity Strash: Dragon Quest The Adventure of Dai. These are all titles that let players experience all the visual and auditory pleasures of their beloved Dragon Quest games with whole new forms of gameplay.

13 Dragon Quest 11: Echos Of An Elusive Age

GameFAQs Difficulty Rating: 3.11

Dragon Quest 11 is arguably one of the best mainline Dragon Quest games. It features incredible visuals, lots of depth and development for its combat, and tons of side content to make characters stronger no matter where they are in the game.

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By  Ritwik Mitra

This helps players always be prepared for whatever the game may throw their way, but it also features several variations of metal slimes both in the early and late game to ramp up player XP gain exponentially.

12 Dragon Quest 9: Sentinels Of The Starry Skies

GameFAQs Difficulty Rating: 3.15

Dragon Quest 9 is one of the true gems developed by Level-5 and comes with plenty of RPG staples — including a lot of side content. The game gives players plenty of other activities to do as they make their way through the game.

Taking the time to complete every one of them will have players strong enough to take on the game without worry, but ignoring them will cause more than a few close calls and several "Game Over" screens.

11 Dragon Quest 8: Journey Of The Cursed King

GameFAQs Difficulty Rating: 3.3

While a lot of the Dragon Quest games will have players needing to do a lot of grinding, Dragon Quest 8 is one of the more balanced titles that will allow one to make their way through the entire campaign so long as they don’t flee any of the battles. It also features several of the best female characters throughout the franchise.

Players will be in for a couple of really tough battles, but by adding some additional level grinding into the mix, nothing will be truly overwhelming — although finding some Metal Slimes along the way will mean a significant experience payout to speed this up.

10 Dragon Quest Heroes 2

GameFAQs Difficulty Rating: 3.36

Dragon Quest has had many spin-offs with wildly different playstyles — both to the mainline series and its other spin-offs. One of these is the Dragon Quest Heroes games, which adopt the popular Dynasty Warriors style of gameplay. This involves traversing through the game and wiping out massive numbers of enemies with attacks that sweep across the screen. While the first Dragon Quest Heroes is still an amazing game, its direct sequel is clearly the more challenging of the two.

Fans will be utterly delighted to see many familiar faces from past Dragon Quest games make appearances and get to enjoy these characters in a whole new way than they did before. Fans of both Dragon Quest and Dynasty Warriors will definitely want to try both these titles out, with the first being the perfect introduction.

9 Dragon Quest 5

GameFAQs Difficulty Rating: 3.48

Any player going from Dragon Quest 11 to Dragon Quest 5 will experience quite a difficulty spike. They may not understand how to fully utilize characters, and this is where a lot of "Game Over" screens will come up. Despite this, it is heralded by many fans as one of the greatest in the mainline series and one to masterfully implement monster capture as a mechanic.

Players might feel overwhelmed more often than not if they neglect to upgrade their gear, and if they are not grinding, they will not be able to have characters that are ready to tackle the threats that lie ahead. Despite this, Dragon Quest 5 is one of the most beloved titles in the franchise for its incredible story.

8 Dragon Quest 4

GameFAQs Difficulty Rating: 3.54

In terms of difficulty, Dragon Quest 4 and Dragon Quest 5 are highly similar — some might argue that 5 is harder than 4. Just like with Dragon Quest 5, players will need to focus on buying the best gear they can as they progress through the game to make it through fights alive.

The reason Dragon Quest 5 was ranked as an easier RPG to get into is because of how much of a difference the boomerang weapons make in clearing groups of enemies. Without it, DQ4 has a higher amount of grinding required for gamers to get to its end.

7 Dragon Quest Tact

GameFAQs Difficulty Rating: 3.58

• Platform(s): iOS, Android
• Released: July 16, 2020
• Developer(s): Aiming
• Genre(s): Tactical RPG

Dragon Quest Tact is a F2P mobile game and is monetized accordingly. This means players will have a learning curve when it comes to understanding the ebb and flow of how to play and responding to notifications to claim all their rewards. Outside of managing their accounts, the gameplay is highly strategic, with players needing to know their win conditions, analyze their enemies, know what the best party to put together will be, and other such factors.

Once the match begins, the positions of the player's units will be just as important as the actions they choose. The gameplay is fun, but one wrong call is all it takes to make recovering harder than it should be.

6 Infinity Strash: Dragon Quest The Adventure Of Dai

GameFAQs Difficulty Rating: 3.77

• Platform(s): PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch
• Released: September 28, 2023
• Developer(s): Kai Graphics, Square Enix, Game Studio Inc.
• Genre(s): RPG

Just like Dragon Quest Heroes 2, a lot of players that enjoy a less turn-based experience will enjoy Infinity Strash: Dragon Quest The Adventure of Dai. This game adopts many of the arcs from the manga it is based on and could be what a lot of the manga fans have been looking for. Players will not play just as Dai, but also as other memorable characters from the manga’s story. However, it is worth noting that the combat is not a walk in the park.

Players will need to execute blocks and dodges at the right times or find themselves running out of HP and needing to try again. While there are attacks that are telegraphed, some enemies will be able to spring out an attack after returning to their neutral stance, which is too fast to avoid. This means players will need to know when it is time to back off before they even know what the enemy is planning.

5 Dragon Quest 3

GameFAQs Difficulty Rating: 3.81

Dragon Quest 3 does a much better job of guiding players than the first 2 games — Dragon Quest 2 in particular. Dragon Quest 3 was the first game to feature a customizable party system that lets players make the party's playstyle more tailored to the way they want to play — which is why it is so deserving of a remake among the older Dragon Quest games.

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By  Oluwafemi Famutimi

While this sounds like it can help create some OP combos, figuring out what vocations work best for which parts of the game is where players will need to strategize and change up party roles. Otherwise, the experience can become quite difficult.

4 Dragon Quest

GameFAQs Difficulty Rating: 4

Dragon Quest 1 was originally titled "Dragon Warrior" when it came to the West and would help establish many of the RPG elements fans know and hold dear to this day.

While combat is straightforward, the game lets players venture far off across the map and into areas they may not be ready for yet. Without sufficient leveling done beforehand, players can face a complete party wipe without expecting it. It can be a pretty unforgiving experience for those who don't strategize.