I'll be honest, I do have a fixation with tri-Ace games in general. But I honestly think SO3 is a great game. If you really must whine about the story, then I guess you wouldn't like it, but I'd give it a shot. With it's battle system, and overload of tri-Ace bonus stuff to fill out hundreds of hours of your life, you certainly won't be bored.

DQVIII, too, is a wonderful game. It's actually somewhat challenging compared to other RPGs of today (though past DQ games are still tougher...*groan*DQII*groan*) If you like old school RPGs, and DQ games in general, it won't disappoint. There's also ton of exploration and secrets to be found. Like DJZen pointed out, you'll actually have to think in an RPG. Imagine that, thinking instead of clicking X on a menu over and over...

But instead of listening to 'omg i loved this game!1one' and 'omg this game sux!1one', go and play them and find out for yourself.

And seriously, SO3 is like, $20 if you live in America. DQVIII shouldn't be too expensive anymore either. Well, wouldn't know about PAL and other regions though...

(SO2 was a step back from SO2...)gameplay wise. The battle system was good, but this time there was no real reason you were on the underdeveloped planets so long other than to kill time, and you're on them for like half the game. At least there was a point to it in part 2.
Wow, big XD from me. I guess you didn't play either games very attentively. But I won't bring this up again. But really, I find thinking through battles rather than 'tearing the enemy into pieces' much more innovative.