Dragon Quest VIII
 

So, after about a 3 month break of not playing it, I finally finished Dragon Quest VIII. Turns out I was only 5 hours from the end (with an ending time of 111 hours). And all I have to say is....I want to play its prequel right now.

I was in love with it every step of the way. Actually that's a lie. When specific cut scenes came on making me hear the voices and the slowdown of the game right after Doulmagus which nearly everyone experienced....that wasn't as good as the rest. But aside from that, I'd definitely agree with nearly all the magazines in giving this game 9.5 ot of 10s (or 4.5 out of 5, etc). This game really was a massive collection of nearly every RPG stereotype, but each one done to the best it could be that I felt such a positive wave of nostalgia and well, straight fun that I couldn't help bt love this game!

This game pretty much just had everything I liked in an RPG, then added the best use of Cel Shading I have seen yet along with a huge world they worked as hard as they could to have you interact with everywhere you go. Where in another game, walking into a room with 100 barrels might seem tedious and a chore, I loved it when it happened here. And because aside from the battle engine I'm all about items in RPGs, this game was a massive adventure in an adventure, with the ability to explore so much. Just the animations of pilfering hanging bags or checking peoples cabinets kept me entertained and exploring towns for hours.

And just the fact that the game took the best of what I remember of all the past Dragon Quest games I have played (I-V with V being the best I've played previously) and incorperated them into this game while still adding so much to the series. A difficult feat to be sure. But to see what they did on this Dragon Quest, it makes me want to see what they have working for Dragon Quest IX. And I hope so bad that Level 5 will be doing it. Heck I'd love a DQ IX with the same graphics engine and Cel Shading as VIII.

I have multiple other examples of why I think this is probably the best RPG I have played since Suikoden III. Including Suikoden V, which says a lot since I'm playing that as we speak, am 45 hours into it and a massive Suikoden Junkiee.

I couldn't agree with you more Kenryoku, nothing new but everything done to close to perfection, I have to add the VAs were surprisingly good too, COR BLIMEY!

I haven't heard anything about a DQ9 yet but there is a DQ coming for the Wii I believe, sadly it doens't seem to cel-shaded. And then there's those Slime games.

Forget too add I LOVED how grabbing items from different places and reading books didn't just have animations but wholy separate animations based on what you were grabbing the item from and whether there was a book worth reading or not, that was just class.

I own it, and I'm enjoying it immensely thus far. Shows what a little bit of spin on an old formula can add to the standard RPG. Plus Dragon Quest is primarily about environment; the battle system and strategy are deep enough to not be boring but battles are more of a means to an end in Dragon Quest than the end itself.

Yes, the added voices are pretty terrible for most of the characters (yet another stupid appeal to U.S./UK audiences lack of depth: the voices were added. The original Japanese had no voice-overs) but turning them off prevents them MOST of the time. I was dismayed when I ran into one where it wasn't cut out, especially for Ishmahri. I didn't have his voice in my head down as a total badass, but the in-game voice is so wussy it made me hate him instantaneously. Everybody has a British accent, too, and the dialogue is all written with UK spelling because this is possibly the first game to EVER come out in the UK prior to the US release, by only a VERY small margin, as compared to when the US gets it and the UK gets it like six months later, but still, it was an EVENT. Two of the characters early in the game are even called Bangerz and Mash. I'm from the US but I feel for my UK brethren with their bad release dates.

Uhh, anyway, it's a fun game, although it can be pretty tough at times, like the monsters you encounter out in the field that are actually represented and hunt you when you get near that are much tougher than ordinary enemies, like little minibosses, they're tough, and even random enemy encounters are pretty tough sometimes, too. It's better than past Dragon Warriors for money, though, no more fighting for 10 hours just to upgrade your equipment, and I haven't yet really had to level, either, and the alchemy pot that lets you create items is fun, the ability to use a monster team in battle and compete against other monster teams in the monster arena is fun. Lots of extra stuff from past Dragon Quest games returns or new stuff is added. The story isn't quite as epic as the past ones, but since they were always a collection of random adventures there's no real lack, actually this game probably has a better plot than the older ones since the party is always one step behind the villain and he plays a much bigger role than past Dragon Warrior villains, who are usually a demon lord or archfiend you fight at the end who don't really take an active role in the story other than all the monsters you're fighting are their army. Therefore Dhoulmagus is probably a better villain than any prior.

I've only JUST got the boat and explored the islands available, ready to head for Baccarat, so I still have quite a bit of the game left.

I didn't really have too much of a problem with the VAs, though Seymo...I mean Ishmari's was a problem, I'd just played FFX and so I was I totally on edge for him to betray us the whole time I was around him, the fact he didn't just made me more tense.

Also the monster/item list thing was handled better than anywhere else I've seen, its actually interesting to read the entries because of the occaisionally jokes and trivia in them.

One problem I had though was with the abysmal drop/steal rate.

You done the secret ending yet Kenryoku? It's worth it.

I've been interested in this game, but held back for two reasons:

1. Is the combat very simple? IE: Most of the time it's attack, with elemental magic thrown in occasionally? I hate that.

2. I haven't heard much about the story. And what I have heard, it's pretty simple. What's your take on it?

The Wandering God

Everyone loves DQ8.

That fuckin' secret dungeon though, jeebus. Especially since they make it like five times harder to level cause by that point the world's packed with shadow-monsters or whatever the fuck so you can't find a metal slime for the life of you. I actually went back to a save from before I'd beat the boss the first time to level the hell out of my guys, but after a bit of that I was just like, nuts to this. At some point I'll probably revisit it. Just as soon as I run through KHII on Proud mode, finish off Castlevania Lament of Innocence, and finish the second half of Prince of Persia Warrior Within so I can finally fucking start on PoP: The Two Thrones.

Good lord, I swear I'm just gonna take a week off of work and steal someone's fucking Adderall prescription and settle in for a straight sleepless week of nothing but powering through videogames and, in all probability, hallucinating like a mother-fucker.

To both questions - simple but relentlessly charming.

It's pretty basic compared to most other RPGs but it's satisfying to say the least, largely because the characterisation is done well.

Yeah the secret dungeon is a bitch, but wait til you get to the secret bosses, all 7 of them, the first being twice as hard as the final boss and it just gets worse.

1. In Final Fantasy games, I find that they try to heavily focus on you using the Magic, but I end up trying to avoid it and mostly find ways to use physical attacks 90% of the time. In Dragon Quest, its not only more important to use magic just to do more damage, but moves like buff (defense up) and magic barrier are a requirement against bosses (and when you run into that occasional group of 7 enemies who all do group magic attacks). So I actually find Magic to be an important point of the games battle system. But eventhough magic is needed a lot, the battle system is fairly simple.

Mostly I find the game is not really about brute force, but about finesse. Its not a game about attacking indavidual units till they die, but teying to calculate 'if I do this group attack, attack with my boomerang and use this sword skill together, it will take less turns to kill these 5 enemies than doing it this way'. That's what I find fun about the Dragon Quest system, because its like a game inside a game of how quickly you can kill enemies by shortening the amount of attack rounds while lowering the amount of MP you have to use to do it.

2. The story is basically a mixture of a million different things you've all seen before in other RPGs. But because the characters are so good and just a few additions of new things, both graphical and character-wise, it makes it feel really broad and well thought out. Basically, what a lot of magazines have been saying. Stuff you've seen before, but in a way you've never seen it done.

Also, I think the new Dragon Quest: Swords game is cel shaded and using the same graphics engine as Dragon Quest VIII. I'm stoaked.

Sadly, I wish this were true, but a lot of people don't like it. Not that it matters as its one of the best selling RPGs this year still and still on the top 10 for PS2 games on GameFAQs here 6 months later (was on the top 10 overall for like 4 months). But still, a lot of people don't like it because its so similar to older games or because they get to the end of doulmagus and they end up stopping (for some reason most people get there and have to take a break or just end up stopping.

Cor. Blimey.

VAs are great in DQ8, especially since its the first one with voice. Although why almost everyone is from the British Empire is beyond me...

Like all DW/DQ games, the battles are insane later on (curse you leveling curve) and using magic, skills, and items is quite crucial. If you don't think about what you're going to do, sometimes you end up leading a train of coffins... or swearing like a sailor whilst you reload your game... Okay well, maybe you won't do that... maybe.

I was disappointed by the monster party members. It wasn't nearly as customizable as older games. The monsters pretty much stay the same strength throughout the game, you can't level them or change their classes to teach them more magic or anything like that (all of which are available in previous games, DQ5 and 6 stick out in my mind particularly).

Also your characters are pretty much in pre-defined roles: hero, warrior, priest, mage. There's a limited amount of customizing available through weapon proficiency, but defining what a character can do, what spells and skills they know, and generally how effective they are by just by what weapon you decide to equip them with, is just no fun at all. The characters make the weapons, not the other way around!

Other than that DQ8 is a good addition to the series, despite being "Crono-fied" by Square (if you have seen any of the art for Chrono Trigger, you know what I mean).

Umm, actually it's Akira Toriyama, he's done all the DQs, and Chronotrigger later, CT was DQed not the other way round, both are done in the Dragon Ball style cause that's how he draws.

Glad to know I'm not alone in liking the VAs though.