Point for point, I agree with you Fynn. While DQIV is not a bad game, it certainly feels less like a natural progression than it's predecessors and it has the misfortune of being sandwiched between what are often considered to be the best entries in the franchise.

The chapter set up was pretty cool idea but it becomes sadly obvious that the Famicom really couldn't handle the concept to it's fullest, and the DQ team should have waited and made the game on a 16-bit platform instead. Still made me smile when Ragnar shows up in DQVIII in the Monster Arena though.