Dragon Quest V is one of those RPGs that sticks with you—you actually grow up alongside the hero, starting as a kid tagging along with your dad and eventually building your own family. The choices you make (especially who to marry) actually shape how the story plays out, which was pretty wild for its time.

Combat’s classic turn-based stuff, but the monster recruiting system is where it gets fun. You can convince defeated enemies to join your party, and some of them end up way stronger than your human characters. I wasted hours trying to get a damn slime knight early on.

It’s got that old-school Dragon Quest charm—weird puns, goofy monsters, and towns full of people with ridiculous problems. The DS version adds some nice quality-of-life tweaks, like faster battles. Just be ready for the occasional brutal difficulty spike when you wander into the wrong area.

If you’ve only played the newer DQ games, this one’s a great way to see where a lot of the series’ heart came from.