It seems I'm in the majority, DQ8 even though I played it just recently. Pretty amazing and huge game for a Ps2

#1 has a special place in my heart, tust and all. But 8 is still my favorite thus far.

DQVIII is the best ever.

Dragon Quest 8 (only one I playe :3)

Dragon Quest VI DS is my favorite Dragon Quest game. It's the only one in the series that I've actually beaten and it's quite a long game as well (Took me around 60 hrs to beat). I found the real/dream world dynamic was interesting and reminded me of Chrono Cross. However, exploring two worlds can get a little overwhelming and I felt the game dragged toward the last 1/4 of the game, imo. But I still found it to be an enjoyable experience and talking about it makes me want to try the SNES version.

I played IV right after I beat VI, but by the time I got to Chapter 4/5 I got bored of the game and haven't touched it since. I do own DWVII but it's been stuck in the backlog. Like many here, DQVIII was the first DQ game I ever played. The only reason I bought the game was for the FFXII demo disc but I did enjoy DQVIII. The presentation and atmosphere of DQVIII is great but I've never beaten DQVIII either, never really got further past the point where you get Angelo. I also put in about 30 hrs into DQIX before I stopped playing the game.

All that said, I'm looking really forward to DQXI and DQVII + VIII 3DS coming out here!