Dragon Quest 9 is probably the best RPG since Skies of Arcadia or Final Fantasy X (not including remakes), so I am not surprised. Although I am a little more fond of Dragon Quest 5, mostly because it is a much more satisfying story, with much better characters than anything else on DS - followed by Chrono Trigger which is also amazing (one of the very best ever) - but lacks the same level of charm that DQ5 has.
RPGs have been really down lately - usually the result of genre dominated by games which barely qualify as RPGs on home consoles nowadays (such as the sludgy boring generic PC-style rpgs like Jedi Knights of old republics, or the really cut down grind/video/grind RPGs like FF13... Or the so called "Action RPGs" which really are not RPGs at all, but adventure games with some RPG elements). It is also a huge shame that PSX RPGs are not remade, as many of the best ever are on that system - certainly A LOT better than RPGs that have come out in the past 10 years.
I describe myself as a little dose of toxic masculinity.
