Dragon Quest VIII Hits American Shores

Posted on Tuesday 15th November 2005 at 20:31 by laszlow

November 15th, 2005 almost marks a new beginning for Enix's flagship series. Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King will be the first DQ game in the US to use the Japanese series name (thanks to Enix acquiring the US rights to the name in 2003), it is the first DQ game to be played in full 3D, and it has received both commercial success (3 million copies sold in its first week in Japan) and critical acclaim (a 9.0 from Gamespot and a 9.5 from 1up). American gamers can experience what is being hailed as the best game in the storied series on the PS2 starting today.

Dragon Quest VIII uses the creative talents of the series' original "big three" (Producer/Director Yuji Horii, character designer Akira Toriyama of Dragon Ball __ fame, and music composer Koichi Sugiyama) and the visual stylings of the development team Level-5 (most well-known for their Dark Cloud games) to create this PS2 RPG. You assume the role of a name-it-yourself silent protagonist who teams up with the kind-hearted former bandit Yangus, the attractive young sorceress Jessica, and the suave Templar Angelo to try and save the kingdom of Trodain from the evil jester Dhoulmagus. Dhoulmagus has used a powerful magic scepter to transform the good King Trode in to a troll, his daughter in to a horse, and every other denizen of Trodain in to thorns. Somehow, The Hero (as every principal protagonist in the DQ/DW series is called), a young guardsman of the castle, managed to be unaffected by the spell and now travels with the king and princess on a journey to undo the curse.

One thing that is particularly striking about Dragon Quest VIII is the modern visuals. The massive, immersive continuous 3D world really looks excellent. However, that's where most of the modern features end. Dragon Quest VIII uses the traditional methods of random battles, level-ups, and round-based combat that the series has used since it's beginning in 1982, but it offers a degree of customization by allowing characters to distribute Skill Points earned a level-ups to different weapon skill levels and innate skill levels. For example, Angelo learns a great deal of healing magic if you give him points in Staves, and learns offensive movies if you give him points in Swords. In any case, the game looks to be extremely old-school rpg with absolutely gorgeous, if a bit cartoonish, graphics and a world map that's a wonder to behold.

And if that isn't enough to pique your interest, keep in mind that DQ VIII contains a bonus demo for Final Fantasy XII, which you may have heard gaming sites discussing in detail recently. That will only serve as added incentive for fans of Square-Enix to purchase this new game.

So let's review: Switching to Japanese titles, hitting 3D for the first time, excellent visual presentation, commericial success, and consistent critical acclaim? Sounds like Final Fantasy VII to me. Will DQ VIII parallel FF VII's succes? Probably not, but in any case, if you've been a fan of the Dragon Quest series for awhile or at least have a fondness for old-school RPGs then this game might be worth checking out. If you want to learn more about DQ VIII, check out some of the links below.

Gamespot's review
1up's review
Square-Enix's official website
Wikipedia's DQ VIII entry

Posted in: Square-Enix News, North America

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laszlow

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Member Since: 2003-10-16

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Comments

BASSsic

Comment 1: 2005-11-16 05:39

Currently praying for: The PAL release of that demo.

Hanyou

Comment 2: 2005-11-17 19:17

This game is excellent. Picked it up yesterday and I'm having a hard time putting it down. The graphics a drop dead gorgeous, it's like you are playing an actual cartoon. The only real gripe I have with it is the inability to change the layout of the controller. That's it. I've been a fan since the first Dragon Warrior and Dragon Quest VIII has the potential to be the best yet. I hope it continues to impress me.

Now for the Final Fantasy XII demo. Wow. This is another game that is fun to just sit and stare at the graphics. The game play is very, very different from every previous installment in the series, but you know what, I think I'm really going to like it. It was fast paced, on active and wait mode, and different for every battle I went into. The best part about the demo? The summons. OH MY GOD, these were so well done and beautiful. They literally blow Final Fantasy X's summons out of the water. My only gripe with them, in the demo they were a little too powerful. I kicked the crap out of two bosses, just by performing a summon. You also get some extra game footage after you beat the active mode demo. I'm salivating over this game.

Dark Paladin

Comment 3: 2005-11-18 20:30

I like how the TV commercials advertise the game as a mass infestation that has taken a complete hold of the people. Is the game THAT good?

laszlow

Comment 4: 2005-11-18 20:56

Funny story - I got the game when it came out on Tuesday afternoon, but my PS2's at home, one hundred miles north of school. However, last night I ran in to a friend from the Gamers' Club who was real keen on playing the FF XII demo, so we basically went over to his dorm room for five hours or so and played the FF XII demo for an hour and DQ VIII for five hours. He had never played a Dragon Warrior/Quest before, but was instantly hooked.

The game's real selling points are the old-school feel of it combined with the ubelievable visual presentation - Andrew watched the opening scenes with some interest, but by the time Yangus had joined us both of us were marvelling at the scenery. I have never played a game where it was this fun to walk around on the world map since Skies of Arcadia, which is one of my favorite RPGs of all time in part because of the amazing sky sailing world map. Walking around the world map in DQ VIII makes you feel really small, due to the amazing vastness of the world. The story is pretty simple and almost childish, like a fairy tale, but that's part of the game's charm. If you like old school RPGs (and I mean REALLY old school - pretty much any FF game after FF IV or so has more complex mechanics) then this is a must-play.

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