DQ release is banned on weekdays cause otherwise none would work or go to school, final fantasy isn't. DQIX has sold better than all portable FFs, and its japan pnly now, so yeah, and DQ is overall a better game.

like casuals want to spen 3 hours kiling slimes to reach level 2.

I'm very much aware of the Pokemon sales. Very crazy indeed.

Same with mario.

Unfortuanely this site doesn't include very comprehensive pc sales but the sims had shipped 16 million copies by 2005 (according to wikipedia). considering for a long time it was displayed prominently along the shelves with the sims 2 (and you can still find it in stores very easily in australia) it wouldn't be a stretch to think its done a few millions since then.

Again going by wikipedia the sims 2 had shipped 13 million by 2007 and it still features in many pc charts around the world. Its probably sold a similar amount to the sims by now. Hell whilst I don't trust wikipedia at all as a source it says on the sims 3 page that its sold over 5 million copies already.

The games that are at the top truly are hugely ahead in  terms of raw numbers.

Anyway enough of my tangeant.

Former = I'm naturalized US Citizen.

RPG is somewhat more casual in Japan than US. DQ is played by elementary school children, teenagers, college student, and so on. FF may have similar wide range of audience except not as big name as DQ. This may perhaps relates to more serious storyline in FF in addition to the fact DQ started out as THE RPG in Japan first. FF series weren't initially anywhere close to DQ when I grew up. There was always line from the night before on the release of DQ series. I remember lining up for DQ IV. Whereas, FF IV or V that was released in the similar window from DQ IV, I was able to readily pickup without making reservation or standing in line.

Oh so you mean DQ is the more "Mainstream" RPG. Makes tons of sense.

I guess "mainstream" might be a better term here. But I always referred "Casual" game as almost anyone can pick the game up. In case of DQ in Japan, it's pretty much anyone except the age extreme as neonates or 80 years old guy. But I can say pretty much the same for Wii Fit. I don't think babies nor most 80 years old won't play.

Just to clarify, the DQ law is an urban legend, the weekday ban exists and for the reasons you said, but its not because some law or a government act, Enix themselves did this in 1988 after the DQ3 launch (my favorite DQ game ever)...

Hmm so Dragon Quest is more popular, im surprised i have DQ8 and i dont think its anywhere close to being as good as FF7-10, seems rather kiddy.

In pretty much every gen, Dragon Quest is more popular. In the NES gen, DQ destroyed FF, coming out 2 1/2 years before it. The first Final Fantasy game came out in Japan only 2 months before Dragon Quest III, which was one of the fastest selling games on the NES in Japan and went on to sell over 3.6 million (impressive for any generation).

Sales have grown for each title following, eventually topping out to Dragon Quest VII on the PSX, the best selling Japanese game in history with over 4.1 million units sold in just Japan. Even the almighty Final Fantasy VII didn't match that in Japan. And this trend of overwhelming sales continued into the PS2, with Dragon Quest VIII topping all the Final Fantasy titles.

Now it is not so easy to compare the two, as Dragon Quest has made a firm place on the Nintendo platforms and Wada has pretty much milked Final Fantasy out more than Sonic and Madden at Mardi Gras. But one thing is for sure. All the Dragon Quest titles still continue to sell extraordinarily well. Will all of the titles released so far having sold a million or better in Japan, aside from Rocket Slime and Swords.

In the end, its not just down to sales though. Dragon Quest is tied to a number of things that are not only popular, but have become tied to Japanese culture and the subconscious of a generation. Akira Toriyama, which many people identify simply as 'the guy who created Dragonball Z', actually became famous for creating both Dragon Quest and a Manga called Dr. Slump. He wouldn't even come to make Dragon Ball until after the first Dragon Quest was released. As well, much of the reason Japan loves RPGs and even gaming can be traced back to Dragon Quest. It was the game that got many people into gaming (of the people who have confirmed their influences to Dragon Quest are such as Hideo Kojima, Shigesato Itoi and Akihiro Hino). And even the music has become a major part of Japanese cultural identity, appearing on news broadcasts, sporting events and etc.

So really, there's a lot of compelling evidence to show that both series are popular. But when you bring together all the results of how much Japan likes Dragon Quest...well....its like comparing Mario to Mega Man sadly. Both are long standing and famous franchises...but one ultimately gets crowned 'popular'.

Dragon Quest= Japan
Final Fantasy XIII= Worldwide