Well I played the battle mode for about an hour last night and at first I was very displeased because every fight seemed way too easy. Even when my group eventually was out of MP the fighting was still a piece of cake. Hopefully that was just for the demo (started out as a full group of level 15 or 16's in what I believe/hope was a lower level zone). One of the best things about Dragon Quest was the way that equipment and levels meant so much. One level or one piece of equipment could be the differnece between living and dying.
It really added to the insentive of grinding out that next level before going after that boss, or making enough money to buy that upgrade in armor/weapon, stock up on healing herbs, etc. I use to die fairly frequently in Dragon Quest from being overzelous. In series like FF (which I love but it sits in second place) I honestly can say I have gone entire games without ever having my party come close to dying.
I then dabbled around with the story mode and things seemed a lot better. In story mode you start off as a level 1 (2 characters) and the fights were tougher. I once was worried about being able to get back to town before my next random encounter happened. Once I had enough money, bought some armor upgrades, and earned level 3 things seemed easier (as it should). My biggest complaint was the camera control (right analog stick). The controls seemed backwards to me and frustrated the hell out of me. I looked through the control settings and found an option to "invert" the camera controls and then everything was sweet.
I'm buying it. Felt great to kill some slimes, see trees doing weird dances again, Flyguys, and Slime Knights. Getting it on November 22 and you should too.
And hurray for the slime controller O_O
i wanted my slime, damn it...