This game, I feel, is slightly a step back in the Dragon Quest series. So far, IV is still my favorite (curses the fact that the PS Remake wasn't released.) I am saddened that there is not job system, but also happy. I have 119 hours in DQVII and still cannot beat it because job leveling takes for ages. This is sort of a good thing about DQVIII but I wish they wouldn't have taken away jobs, but rather just changed how you gained skills, or made it slightly easier. This one seems very straight forward. The world seems a little too big though. Finding those out of the way treasure chests on the world map is a bit tedious and time consuming, and most aren't even worth the find.

The alchemy pot is nice, and it's good that you can't abuse it to get rich quick. It takes time for recipes to finish themselves, and you can only access it via the carriage. This is a nice touch when you need some extra cash and have the time to wait around and battle. I really don't like the time it takes to level, but considering it's like all dragon quests, I'm okay with it.

The character design is really nice. Cell Shading is definitely the greatest thing to come graphically since 2-D.

The number of skills were toned down a lot as well. There aren't so many useless and overlapping skills that were presented in DQVI and DQVII. This is a good thing.

Well, with those things said, I dunno if you'll like it. You seem a little fixated on the wrong things about gameplay, but regardless, it's a good game.