To demonstrate what Yamaguchi Oyabun said, here are some facts about Dragon Quest's status in Japan:

-Laws have been passed about when Dragon Quest games can and cannot be released. This is how insanely popular it is over there.

-The name for the healing spell "Hoimi" has been adopted into the Japanese language officially.

-DQVII is the best selling game on Playstation PERIOD. Over 4 million copies have been sold worldwide. The game sold so well that it was the first game EVER to recieve an award from the Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs.

-People have been mugged for their copies of new DQ games.

It's funny how massively popular these games are in Japan and how they're almost obscure to the point of non-existance in the US. I can't even begin to understand why this is, but there you have it.