I picked up DQ7 a few weeks ago and had been playing through it, but I stopped around the 45 hour mark. I just wasn't having fun with the game.

It started off extremely slow; it took a little over an hour to fight the first enemy, and those relic scenes went on waaaay too long. The combat was really simplistic and I could just spam the same combo over and over again and beat pretty much every battle. And the party members were really boring and one dimensional, especially Maribel who's personality was basically built around insulting the MC.

I was pretty skeptical about whether or not I'd like DQ8, but I had heard good things about and decided to pick it up yesterday, and I've been loving it so far.

I'm only a few hours in, but this game improved upon pretty much all of my problems with DQ7. The game starts you off with fighting an enemy right away. The combat seems a bit more in depth, and has skill trees, which I'm a sucker for. I also really like the party members so far.

The art is even better than in DQ7, and I like the camera angle a lot. The inclusion of voice acting for cutscenes is a great addition too.

So if you didn't like DQ7 but still like jrpgs, definitely pick up DQ8 and give it a try.