I'm convinced the Dragon Quest-ness is intentional. I thing this really actually was a minor Final Fantasy team's attempt at a Dragon Quest game, but under the Final Fantasy moniker so as to not scare away Americans.

I've been playing Dragon Quest IX lately (which I think is the better game) and I am shocked at how similar they are down at their base structure. Much more similar with each other than FF: 4 Heroes is with any other Final Fantasy game.

Of course, when FF Legends: Heroes of Light and Darkness is released in NA (made by the same team as FF: 4 Heroes) it will be interesting to see if those games share any similarities. My guess is no.

Oh, and I found a strange bug towards the end of the game, or maybe it is intentional...?
(SPOILER)If you have one of your higher HP characters leveled up to max (which I did two dungeons before the end of the game) and wearing the Paladin crown and have Lux cast, they actually gain MORE than 999 HP, making them invincible. This is how I got through many of the harder bosses in the four bonus towers. Because Lux keeps regen-ing HP every round and they already have 999, it keeps adding to that invisibly.