Dragon Quest has been sending a hero out to save the land since May 27, 1986, back when North America knew it as Dragon Warrior. The hero rarely travels alone, since a party joins along the way, and the fights are turn-based, with the Slime as the series' mascot. Yuji Horii has worked on all of the games, and for most of the series Akira Toriyama drew the characters. The series has sold more than 100 million copies, and Dragon Quest VIII is often named among the greatest games ever made.
The trouble starts when the credits roll and you want more of the same. These are the 20 games players recommend most to Dragon Quest fans, ranked by how many different people named each one.
20 Games Like Dragon Quest Where You Save a Fantasy World One Battle at a Time
The Legend of Legacy (2015)
The Legend of Legacy feels like the oldest kind of Dragon Quest. You start exploring with a blank map and fill it in as you go. The story takes place on the lost continent of Avalon, where eight adventurers explore and fight to uncover its mysteries. Battles are turn-based. Masato Kato wrote it, with music by Masashi Hamauzu. If you love wandering off the road just to see what is there, this is your game.
The big difference is how your party grows. Winning a battle gives stat increases, but only to the characters in the party. Both sides line up on a grid in formations, and each party member can partner with elemental spirits. Play it on 3DS. A remaster came out in 2024.
Final Fantasy III (1990)
Final Fantasy III has the classic setup down to the letter. Four orphans from the village of Ur are chosen by the world's crystals to defeat a great evil. The fights go back to the traditional combat of the first Final Fantasy. It sold 1.4 million copies in Japan, with most of the praise going to its job system. It also gave the series its first Moogles.
The big difference is the job system. You can switch characters between classes with their own abilities, and a good party build is half the fun. The original was not released outside Japan until 2021. English players first got the 3D remake on DS in 2006. Play it on DS, PS4 or Switch.
Final Fantasy IV (1991)
Final Fantasy IV tells the kind of story Dragon Quest fans grew up on. Cecil Harvey, a dark knight, tries to stop the sorcerer Golbez from seizing powerful crystals and destroying the world. Players outside Japan first got it as Final Fantasy II, because the real II and III had not come out there yet. Its twists still land today.
The big difference is the clock. Fights run on the Active Time Battle system, which five later Final Fantasy games used too. Every character also has a fixed class, so the party feels like a cast of people with set roles. A 3D remake came to DS in 2007. Play it on GBA, DS, PS1 or Switch.
Suikoden II (1998)
Suikoden II is a war story with a Dragon Quest heart. You play the adopted son of Genkaku, a hero who saved the City-States of Jowston in a war against Highland years ago. Runes are the source of all magic in its world. You level up the old way, with a fixed amount of experience for each level.
The big difference is the scale, because the story is about nations at war. It sold poorly at first, and some critics were cool on its simpler 16-bit sprites. It later became a cult classic and is now named among the greatest games ever made. The HD remaster of the first two games came out on March 6, 2025. Play the original on PS1 or PSP.
Valkyrie Profile (1999)
Valkyrie Profile was published by Enix, the home of Dragon Quest, and it plays like nothing else here. You play Lenneth, who flies over Midgard on a 3D world map. When she walks into a town, she disguises herself as a human to talk to the people there. Touch an enemy in a dungeon and an RPG-style battle begins.
The big difference is the recruiting. Most of the game is about recruiting einherjar, the souls of dead warriors, and deciding when to send them to Valhalla. Their death scenes are often dramatic and highly emotional. Critics praised the deep gameplay system and the plot, and it sold over 700,000 copies. Play it on PS1, or the enhanced port on PSP from 2006.
Legend of Legaia (1998)
Legend of Legaia has the random encounters and turn-based fights a Dragon Quest player knows by heart. The game is set in a fantasy world, and the hero travels across the world to restore Genesis Trees and stop the Mist.
The big difference is the fighting. When you pick Attack, you build each attack as a string of directions under the Tactical Arts System. You can discover new arts by inputting the right string in battle or by talking to people in town. Next Generation called the story trite, but said the fighting engine makes it worth checking out. Play it on PS1.
Final Fantasy VI (1994)
Final Fantasy VI came out in North America as Final Fantasy III, and it was the last Final Fantasy made with 2D sprites. The old structure is all here, with an overworld map, towns and dungeons, a battle screen and a menu. Many critics have ranked it as the best entry in the series.
The big difference is the setting. Its world has technology like the Second Industrial Revolution, and the story follows an expanding cast with fourteen permanent playable characters. Nobuo Uematsu returned to write the score, which has been released on several soundtrack albums. Play it on GBA, PS1, PS4 or Switch.
The Legend of Dragoon (1999)
The Legend of Dragoon is a big PlayStation fantasy in the classic shape. Dart leads a group of warriors through the high fantasy world of Endiness to stop the destruction of the world. CGI clips play at the important story moments. It cost over $16 million to make, a notably high figure for the era.
The big difference is the additions. When you attack, squares close in on your character, and a button press when they overlap keeps the attack going for more damage. Reviewers were split, and many compared it unfavourably to Final Fantasy. It still sold more than one million copies. Play it on PS1, PS3 or PSP.
Chrono Cross (1999)
Chrono Cross is set in the same world as Chrono Trigger, and it was made with designers who worked on Chrono Trigger, including composer Yasunori Mitsuda. You guide Serge around an island world, mostly on foot and by boat. Battles are turn-based, and you have unlimited time to pick an action from the menu.
The big difference is the lack of random battles. Enemies are openly visible on field maps, or they lie in wait to ambush the party. The story follows Serge, a teenage boy, and a theme of parallel worlds. It is the most dreamlike game on this list. Play it on PS1, PS3 or PSP.
Golden Sun (2001)
Golden Sun gave the Game Boy Advance a full-sized fantasy adventure. Critics celebrated its ability to rival console RPGs. A band of magic-attuned teenagers called Adepts set out to protect the world of Weyard from alchemy, a destructive power sealed away long ago. Random monster encounters fill the road, with boss battles to move the story on.
The big difference is that the story comes in two parts. Golden Sun is followed by The Lost Age, and together they form a complete story, so plan to play both. Critics' only gripes were its slow start and a few mechanical quirks. Play it on GBA, or on Wii U.
Lost Sphear (2017)
Lost Sphear began after I Am Setsuna, with many of the same staff, and it chases the same old-school feeling. You play Kanata, who has the power to stop the world from vanishing, in a world where the Moon is treated as a deity. Running into enemies starts a fight, and combat uses a version of the Active Time Battle system.
The big difference is how you fix the map. Kanata and his party restore vanished zones, and the story is themed around memories. Composer Tomoki Miyoshi returned. Critics praised the battle system and music, but faulted the story and a lack of originality. Play it on PS4 or Switch.
Bravely Second: End Layer (2015)
Bravely Second is a traditional RPG with turn-based fights, and it keeps the battle system of Bravely Default. Two and a half years after the first game, Yew Geneolgia crosses Luxendarc to rescue Agnès Oblige from a powerful warlord known as Kaiser. Agnès is now Pope of the Crystal Orthodoxy. Edea and Tiz return, and they are joined by Magnolia, a mysterious woman from the moon.
The big difference is the chain battles. Beat a random encounter and you can keep fighting new groups in a row, for up to three times the experience and money. There are up to 30 jobs, and you win each one's asterisk from the character who holds it. Reviews were positive, though some felt it was weaker than the first game. Play it on 3DS.
Final Fantasy IX (2000)
Final Fantasy IX turned away from the futuristic settings of VI, VII and VIII and went back to the medieval style of the early games. That puts it closest to Dragon Quest of all the PlayStation Final Fantasy games. Its story is a war between nations in a medieval fantasy world called Gaia. The team meant it as a look back at the series, and it draws heavily on the original Final Fantasy.
The big difference is what it added, such as the Active Time Event cutscenes. It was the last main Final Fantasy with music by Nobuo Uematsu alone. It is considered one of the greatest games of all time, and it had sold 8.9 million copies by March 2025. Play it on PS1, PS4 or Switch.
Radiant Historia (2010)
Radiant Historia was made by staff from Atlus' Megami Tensei series and the tri-Ace game Radiata Stories. Several critics compared it favourably to the RPGs of the 16-bit era. Vainqueur is a continent divided between the warring nations of Alistel and Granorg. Alistel soldier Stocke is chosen to wield the White Chronicle, a book that can move between timelines, to stop the land turning to desert.
The big difference is the time travel. There are two main timelines and many smaller branches, and how many you unlock shapes the ending. Experience and money carry over between timelines. Fights are turn-based on a grid where you can change the turn order and move enemies around. Yoko Shimomura wrote the music. Play it on DS, or the 3DS remake with an additional story path.
Child of Light (2014)
Child of Light is a fairy tale with turn-based fights, similar to the active-time battles of Final Fantasy and Grandia. Aurora, a child, wakes up in Lemuria after dying of a mysterious illness. To get home, she has to win back the lights of the sky from the Queen of the Night. Its art style was inspired by Studio Ghibli and Yoshitaka Amano.
The big difference is the firefly. You move Igniculus around to open chests Aurora cannot reach, and in a fight his light slows an enemy or heals an ally. Up to three enemies can appear in a battle, and coming at one from behind turns it into a Surprise Strike. It got mainly positive reviews. Play it on PS3, PS4, Vita or Wii U, or on Switch since 2018.
Chrono Trigger (1995)
Chrono Trigger is as close as Square ever came to making a Dragon Quest. The team Square called its Dream Team put Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi together with Dragon Quest creator Yuji Horii and its artist Akira Toriyama. A group of adventurers travel through time to stop a global catastrophe. The soundtrack by Yasunori Mitsuda has been hailed as one of the best video game soundtracks of all time.
The big difference is that battles happen right on the map, with no separate battle screen. You see the enemies, walk into them and fight where you stand. Nintendo Power called parts of it revolutionary, including its multiple endings. It has shipped more than 5 million copies across its versions. Play it on DS, PS1, PS3 or PSP.
Trails of Cold Steel (2013)
Trails of Cold Steel is a traditional Japanese RPG with turn-based battles, and its world is one of the deepest in the genre. Rean Schwarzer, a commoner later adopted into a noble family, enrols at Thors Military Academy. His Class VII is the only one not segregated by social class. Field studies take the class to cities across Erebonia, which is sliding towards civil war.
The big difference is school life. You spend time with your classmates between missions, and those Links become more useful as the story goes on. In battle, a bar on the screen shows ally versus enemy turns. Xseed brought it to English in 2015. Play it on PS3, PS4 or Vita, and carry your save between them.
I Am Setsuna (2016)
I Am Setsuna was designed to bring back the genre's golden age, and the team took mechanical inspiration from Chrono Trigger. Its world is snow-bound and plagued by monsters. The silent protagonist Endir becomes the guardian of Setsuna, a young woman destined to be a sacrifice to calm the world's monsters.
The big difference is the mood. The story was written to explore the theme of sadness, and Randy Kerber plays Tomoki Miyoshi's music on piano. Fights use the Active Time Battle system and take place where you meet the enemy. Critics praised the atmosphere and combat, though several found it too easy. Play it on PS4, Vita or Switch, where it was a launch title in 2017.
Final Fantasy X (2001)
Final Fantasy X swapped the Active Time Battle system for the Conditional Turn-Based Battle system. It is the most turn-based Final Fantasy on this list, which suits anyone raised on Dragon Quest. The fantasy world of Spira is a setting influenced by the South Pacific. Instead of plain levels, you grow your party on the Sphere Grid.
The big difference is the presentation. It was the first Final Fantasy with fully three-dimensional areas and voice acting, made by a team of more than 100 people on a budget of more than $32.3 million. It shipped over 8.5 million copies on PS2 and has been cited as one of the greatest video games of all time. Play it on PS2, PS3, PS4, Vita or Switch.
Bravely Default (2012)
Bravely Default wears its love for the old games on its sleeve. Parts of it were inspired by the Dragon Quest series, and the music by Revo was meant to call back classic series such as Dragon Quest and SaGa. Four heroes travel the fantasy world of Luxendarc to reclaim the four crystals from the darkness. You get turn-based battles and a job system.
The big difference is how much you control. You can change the battle speed and even the random encounter rate, which takes the sting out of a long dungeon. You can combine abilities from different jobs. Art director Akihiko Yoshida led the look. It met strong sales and critical acclaim, though critics found the late game repetitive. Play it on 3DS, or the HD remaster that launched with Switch 2 in 2025.
Which one to play
There you have it, the whole list of games like Dragon Quest. Some feel like Dragon Quest under another name, and others take the turn-based party somewhere new.
If you want the closest match, start with Bravely Default, then its sequel. For the Akira Toriyama look, play Chrono Trigger. If you love the PlayStation years, try Final Fantasy IX or The Legend of Dragoon. Handheld players should grab Golden Sun or Radiant Historia. If you want a story that hurts a little, play I Am Setsuna. And for a gentle adventure to share with a younger player, Child of Light is a lovely pick.
