YMMV / Dragon Quest VI

• Alternative Character Interpretation: Terry. Is he a selfish asshole who only comes around after being beaten silly by the party, or is he a tragic character whose desire to become the greatest swordsman is fueled by the trauma of seeing his sister kidnapped (and not for the first time, either), and only acts like a jerk in an effort to push potential friends away so he doesn't lose them too? Also, was his Deal with the Devil with Dhuran a selfish act of spite just to gain more power, or an act of desperation after the party unknowingly crushed his lifelong dream by finding the Sword of Ramia before he could?
• Complete Monster:
  • Lord Mortamor is the Archfiend who seeks to eradicate all hope in the world. Running the land of Greedmore with internment en masse, Mortamor has his subjects routinely subjected to torment and manipulation, with those who resist being shipped off to be executed by the hundreds. A complete sadist, after manipulating a town into killing each other over a treasure he planted in one resident's house, Mortamor goes on to rewind time just to enjoy the massacre over again, with his entire land suffering endlessly only to be resurrected at Mortamor's whims indefinitely.
  • Land of Illusion manga, written by Yuuki Nakashima: Dhuran is a far cry from his honourable warrior in the game, and rejects the idea of a fair duel. Responsible for corrupting the swordsman Terry, Dhuran sent him to kill the heroes—which included Terry's sister—for his own twisted enjoyment, and treats it like a show. After his right hand Harmour has been beaten by the heroes, Dhuran has no hesitation executing Harmour via the hand of Terry. Later, when Botts confronted Dhuran, Dhuran devoured all of Botts's party members, cruelly telling Botts that he is looking forward to their scream in agony when they melt alive in him, as he sadistically beats Botts up.
• Contested Sequel: The game is generally agreed to be one of the weaker entries in the series for its high encounter rate (even by Dragon Quest standards) and the flawed execution of its gameplay and story, though many will still vouch that it's still of high quality, even while others remain adamant about its weaknesses.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Dhuran appears to be the most popular member of the Dread Fiends by quite a bit. Being a Noble Demon and not bad looking certainly help.
  • Among the main party, Carver qualifies. While he lacks the innate popularity that comes with having an attractive design like Ashlynn, Milly or Terry, his reliability throughout the game in battle and modest-yet-supportive Big Brother Mentor personality have endeared many to him.
  • Due to his rather unique character and situation, even among the rest of the party, Amos is this for some, at least the some who bother giving him the time of day, that is.
  • Lizzie is also quite popular due to her incredible stats and general usefulness as a party member. The remake establishing her as Terry's somewhat Adorkable Stalker with a Crush gives her further Ugly Cute points.
• Fan Nickname: Both Nevan and Terry are often referred to as "Voucher" in Japan due to many players making much greater use of something acquired as a result of them joining the party (the Staff of Ghent for Nevan, Lizzie for Terry) than the actual characters themselves. Nevan receives this slightly more often, as his dweeby design and lack of characterization prior to the remake caused many to ignore him entirely, whereas Terry's good looks and great strength prior to joining the party made many excited to use him only to become disappointed after discovering him to be Overrated and Underleveled. Ironically, Nevan is actually statistically superior to Terry in every category besides style, and is in fact a perfectly viable party member from the moment he joins the party.
• Fan-Preferred Couple: Besides the canon couple of Hero/Ashlynn, there are quite a few fanfics featuring Hero/Milly, Hero/Tania and Ashlynn/Terry. Hero/Terry and Terry/Lizzie also have some popularity.
  • Carver and Nevan tend to get left out in shipping, but are occasionally paired with whoever is left over. Amos is lucky to even appear.
• Game-Breaker: The vocation system allows the creation of unbelievably broken characters, since you keep all the spells and abilities learned from that vocation. Your Gladiator with five tons of HP doesn't need much MP, only enough to be able to cast Fullheal (from the Priest vocation) every once in a while.
• Jerkass Woobie: Terry, given his and Milly's backstory.
• LGBT Fanbase: Carver, Amos and Dhuran have all proven to be big hits with the bara community.
• Memetic Loser: Terry's legendary Overrated and Underleveled status has been a longstanding meme within the Dragon Quest community, with the Japanese playerbase even nicknaming him "voucher" due to him being required to recruit the vastly more useful Lizzie. It reached a point where 2Chan had to amend its "What's the most useless thing in the Dragon Quest series" poll to include "(other than Terry)" due to the overwhelming number of votes for him.
• Memetic Mutation: Carver is often mocked in Japan for having a base style stat of 0, meaning that he literally has no style.
• Moral Event Horizon: Mortamor proves just how depraved he is by manipulating a town full of innocent people into slaughtering each other over a single chest just for kicks. And then time reverses itself and it happens over and over again...
  • An empty chest, no less. Nobody ever figures it out until the player gets sneaky and opens the chest themselves while the townspeople are all distracted.
• Most Wonderful Sound: The hilariously over-the-top trumpets-and-drums Fanfare that happens whenever you hit the jackpot in the casino.
• Player Punch: When loyal guard Rusty is sent to his death over vouching for your identity early on... because he was right, but you didn't remember enough to convince others of that. Especially later, after you regain your memories and get treated to Flashbacks making it clear just how close you were.
  • After Mortamor catches Gallow Moors' prisoners celebrating Blackmar's defeat, he transforms them into cats and the Giants into stone.
• Rescued from the Scrappy Heap:
  • Nevan was largely ignored and even disliked by many players in the original release of the game due to his unappealing design and lack of presence in the plot, with his only major scene, his introduction, portraying him as a bratty Insufferable Genius. The remake's party chat function allows him to receive more characterization, establishing him as a much more earnest, perceptive and likable character overall. The passage of time also caused him to be looked upon more favorably from a purely gameplay perspective, and he is now generally viewed as being the better choice for the party than Terry. On top of that, he has early access to Zing, making him an invaluable party member...so long as he isn’t partaking in battle until someone else learns it, of course.
  • Similarly, while Amos was never disliked by players, his status as a Mauve Shirt caused most to leave him on the bench immediately after being recruited. The remake converted him into the game's primary Plucky Comic Relief character with several hilarious party chat lines, suddenly giving some incentive to have him tag along in the main party.
  • Zig-zagged with Terry, who has received new buffs every single time the game has been remade in an attempt to get him out of his infamous Overrated and Underleveled status. While many argue that the buffs still aren't enough, others are satisfied that he is at least more viable than he was previously.
• Strangled by the Red String: Because it's only alluded to a few times, you can actually get pretty far into the game without realizing that something's going on between the main character and Barbara/Ashlynn.
  • Party Chat in the remake helps, but only slightly. Ashlynn does have a few small talk lines that one would expect a potential girlfriend to have. What doesn't help is that it's only one-way.
• That One Attack: Thin Air is absolutely devastating to unprepared parties. The Thriller Wave enemies have a tidal wave attack that hurts like a mother though it fails a lot, but tend to use it simultaneously...
• That One Boss: The real Murdaw, part 2. His attack was actually reduced in the remake, although he's still a pain. It doesn't help that he's a Sequential Boss who can attack twice in one turn. If he decides to use his party-wide lightning attack, you better hope he doesn't use flame breath right after.
  • Jamirus. He's lightning fast, he has devastating attack power, and he can attack twice per round. Your two caster characters can both be minced at the same time in a single round.
  • The "hard" version of Demon at Arms. Attacks twice per turn, has devastating spell power, and can easily deplete your defenses. The way to get the easy version of this boss (attacks once per turn, has less spell power, and the hero has a hard hitting spell at his disposal) requires you to talk to the other Hero, which the game doesn't tell you.
• Woolseyism: A lot of names have been changed, but compared to the English translation of Dragon Quest V or Dragon Quest IX, the punny names and silly accents aren't as heavy. There are a few head-scratchers, though, such as Barbara (a perfectly acceptable English name) becoming Ashlynn.
  • It may be because Barbara is a "perfectly acceptable English name"; see Tina/Terra. The keeping of "Terry" might've been because of Dragon Quest Monsters.

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