Quote Originally Posted by The Man View Post
It's worth noting that FF's entire franchise pretty much wouldn't have existed without DQ, and the creators even admitted as much, although I've lost the interview where they said that.
Fixed for expanded accuracy :P However on that particular point, Dragon Quest IV actually starts you out with each individual member of your party individually. So you get part of their backstory and their purpose for this game bit by bit, until they all meet up with the 'Hero' in the last chapter. This happened in DQIV in 1990 (where FFVI came out in 94). I dont' know what happens in DQV since I haven't played it yet, but at least the concept of individual backstories for the party members goes back that far.