Look, all I know is that I enjoyed DQVIII a lot more than any other DQ game mostly because I didn't find it boring or tedious much like those games can be. I felt it looked beautiful, had interesting characters, and a decent story that wasn't predicated on 'going to town X and solving its problem, then to town Y and solving its problem, then to town Z...' So it didn't feel like DQ for me, it felt more like the PS FF games since they shared those qualities.