I love them, but then again I grew up with them so I've enjoyed watching them evolve and mature. I just picked up DQ IV for the DS and plan to enjoy playing it through over the holiday. I enjoyed the original on the NES so I have high hopes for this game. As for DQ VIII, I greatly enjoyed that one as well. The series places a lot of emphasis on open exploration and finding key items as opposed to speaking with NPCs to fire events, which I've always found fun.