I agree, the first quarter of the game is not representative.

Which is why it's taken me years to start it again......

I just registered to tell you this: The best RPG I played in the ps2 was SHADOW HEARTS: COVENANT this game is simply awesome (One of my top 5 ps2 games)

Very very true, shadow hearts covenant is one of the best RPG out there.

Every Dragon Quest game starts off slow and doesn't focus on story.

It just so happens that Dragon Quest VIII is 80-100 hours long instead of the usual 40-60 for the usual games that came before it.  So this is why it seems much slower and getting your initial party together/getting to the main story takes so long comparatively.

Also, and this is just my opinion, but some might be put off by the voices, as I was.  Which they were only added to the western release to try to encourage sales.  While many people might say they actually like the voices, they can add a lot more to your playtime and certain characters can REALLY get taxing over time (Trode, Medea, Dhoulmagus, nearly any NPC or Boss....).

All this aside however, if you really give the game a chance, I think you'll see by the end that its not only a good RPG, but one of the best games of last generation.

Well, my favorite game on that list is easily DQ8, so of course, I would have to recommend that one also. FFX, in all honesty, never held my interest. I've started it twice, but I just lose interest in the game. After DQ8, I'd say either Suikoden (even if 4 is the weakest) or Ys.

I don't know why....but I hated Silmeria, lol. I just didn't like the story, I felt the battle system was deep in parts I wanted it to be shallow in, and shallow in parts I wanted to be deep.

It was a good(and good looking) game, but it just wasn't for me.

Now, you'd be hard pressed to find someone who played Suikoden V and didn't like it, hehe. Play that one..skip IV.

Lol I registered because of an RPG thread too. I hated the first Shadow Hearts so much that I gave it away. Is Covenant similar or different?

How far into shadow hearts 1 did you bother playing? Details plz hehe. The game starts off really slow but manages to pick up nicely and alot of the characters are interesting to say the least. The storyline manages to pick up quickly , especially at the midway point. Not the mention the game has 2 endings, the combat system is different but once you get use to it and learn to customize the judgement ring well, the combos become easier. and yes, Covenant is better, and also has 2 endings. 

On a side note, The Lovely Bones seems like a very interesting movie lol (commercial just popped up).

It was so long ago I don't really remember where I left off, but it couldn't have been more than 10 hours. I felt Legend of Dragoon handled that type of timing system better since it didn't make you do it for everything.