head to head
vs
Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry SkiesvsSid Meier's Civilization III
Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies leans Optimization (Pure Optimization); Sid Meier's Civilization III leans Optimization (Pure Optimization).
Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry SkiesSid Meier's Civilization III
Axis by axis
Execution1 vs 0
Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies leans harder on execution: Menu combat; no execution ceiling.
Reads0 vs 0
Even - both lean on reads about the same.
Variance5 vs 4
Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies leans harder on variance: Grotto maps and rare gear drops are heavy RNG.
Optimization9 vs 9
Even - both lean on optimization about the same.
Two games can score the same on an axis and still test it in very different ways - read each rationale, not just the number.