Should I Keep Playing Dragon Quest IX?

The other day I was perusing my intimidating gaming backlog. I’m the proud owner of a new 3DS XL, and one game on my shelf stood out: Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies. I have only ever play a bit of the first Dragon Quest in the Game Boy Color reboot, but I don’t feel it gave me a sense of the series. I heard fans pumped hundreds of hours into Dragon Quest IX, so it sounded like the perfect opportunity to experiment with the series. After investing about 5-6 hours, I’m looking for reasons to continue with it.

Before I continue, let me summarize my feelings on the game:

Like:

• Art style
• Music
• Quirky writing
• Funny enemies
• JRPG nostalgia

Don’t Like:

• Overly simplistic battle system
• Unexciting battles
• Generic, seemingly random party members
• Micromanaging my party's equipment

For a sense of how far I am, I just recently filled up my party. However, the battles I’ve fought have been too easy to get a sense of how extra characters change the flow. So if I’m not impressed at this point, is there some greatness around the corner? I want to catch the Dragon Quest fever everyone seemed to come down with playing this title. I know there's a job system that's yet to be integrated, but is that a real deal-breaker?

Thanks in advance for the feedback.