I love the games but they are grindy. I hit a huge difficulty spike in DQVIII for 3DS and got frustrated, still feel guilty for not finishing. I still have DQVII shrinkwrapped and waiting. Only really beat DQIX, which allowed custom characters (I got really attached to my little chibi dudes). The games can be very repetitive but the encounter design is top-notch can really make you think at times. Also a very gentle level curve which encourages lots of grinding.
Awesome. Yuji Horii is such a dork even compared to most other RPG designers, gotta love him. Is that geisha, ummm... Fondling that slime?
Added this authority link to the blog article... https://www.theverge.com/2017/4/24/15410710/dragon-quest-heroes-ii-square-enix-japan-us-release