Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King
released on Nov 27, 2004
Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King is the eighth installment in the Dragon Quest series, developed by Level-5 and published by Square Enix for the PlayStation 2 video game console. It was also later released for the Nintendo 3DS in 2015. It is a traditional Japanese-style role-playing game with random enemy encounters, simple turn-based combat mechanics, and management of a party consisting of four characters, each belonging to a clearly defined class. Unlike its predecessors in the series and most Japanese RPGs in general, the game features a continuous world with fairly vast landscapes and integrated towns and dungeons, as opposed to world map traveling and locations represented by icons. The game features full camera rotation and optional first-person view. Like in the previous Dragon Quest games, many objects can be interacted with; for example, barrels can be physically lifted, carried, and broken, to reveal items hidden within.
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The best Dragon quest game even nowadays.
Cool characters and open world with many side quests and variety of monsters.
Cool characters and open world with many side quests and variety of monsters.
Overrated as hell, but it's still a good JRPG at the core and the soundtrack is superior from the 3DS version as well as the visuals.
For everything else: just go with the 3DS one. It just has more worth content and, most importantly: no random encounters.
For everything else: just go with the 3DS one. It just has more worth content and, most importantly: no random encounters.
whimsical ass game and the voice acting enhances it even further
As usual, dragon quest is a pure, distilled jrpg experience. It will never surprise or challenge the player with innovative mechanics, but it will provide some of the most meticuloisly refined turn-based mechanics out there.
I particularly loved the aesthetics on this one: the cel-shaded look is enchanting and timeless. The characters also shine, both in design and in personality. Most of the characterisation is conveyed through party banter and bickering that is somewhat sparse, but always charming. Some characterisation ilfor the main character is also conveyed through mechanics, i.e. his immunity to curses and cursed equipment, which cleverly hints at some mystery about him. That is a really good touch.
Combat is nothing surprising, but it is quite well crafted and balanced. The only spark of uniqueness it has is the "psyche up" system, which lends more than a few opportunities for tactical play.
Basically no grinding is required, each character grows into a useful role, and getting them to work together in synergy is quite satisfying. As a side point, only having 4 party members is a design choice that I wholeheartedly support: it makes the game more focus and doesn't force the player to choose what characters will be left to rot on the bench.
Having only played DQXI to its completion before this game, I was left a bit disappointed by VIII in some regards, mainly the town designs, which are a lot more generic than XI. But I guess that's an unfair criticism, as XI came out a decade later.
The main drawback of this game is its length. It took me 60 hours to finish it, and it really didn't need to be this long. I caught up with Dhoulmagus (the big overarching objective of the first half of the game) at about the 35 hour mark, and I feel that this was a great place to end it. Little did I know, I was barely halfway through, and the second half would be just more of the same, repeated as nauseam.
If you'd allow me a (badly crafted) metaphor, DQ to me is like a fine steak. It doesn't need fancy toppings or sides, just some salt and pepper, it lets the flavour of the top-quality meat speak for itself. No fancy mechanics, no experimentation, just finely crafted jrpg-ing. Unfortunately, though, this steak is, like, 2kg of meat. It's way too much for one person, and even the most rich and succulent cut of meat you ever had is going to tire you after eating that much.
I particularly loved the aesthetics on this one: the cel-shaded look is enchanting and timeless. The characters also shine, both in design and in personality. Most of the characterisation is conveyed through party banter and bickering that is somewhat sparse, but always charming. Some characterisation ilfor the main character is also conveyed through mechanics, i.e. his immunity to curses and cursed equipment, which cleverly hints at some mystery about him. That is a really good touch.
Combat is nothing surprising, but it is quite well crafted and balanced. The only spark of uniqueness it has is the "psyche up" system, which lends more than a few opportunities for tactical play.
Basically no grinding is required, each character grows into a useful role, and getting them to work together in synergy is quite satisfying. As a side point, only having 4 party members is a design choice that I wholeheartedly support: it makes the game more focus and doesn't force the player to choose what characters will be left to rot on the bench.
Having only played DQXI to its completion before this game, I was left a bit disappointed by VIII in some regards, mainly the town designs, which are a lot more generic than XI. But I guess that's an unfair criticism, as XI came out a decade later.
The main drawback of this game is its length. It took me 60 hours to finish it, and it really didn't need to be this long. I caught up with Dhoulmagus (the big overarching objective of the first half of the game) at about the 35 hour mark, and I feel that this was a great place to end it. Little did I know, I was barely halfway through, and the second half would be just more of the same, repeated as nauseam.
If you'd allow me a (badly crafted) metaphor, DQ to me is like a fine steak. It doesn't need fancy toppings or sides, just some salt and pepper, it lets the flavour of the top-quality meat speak for itself. No fancy mechanics, no experimentation, just finely crafted jrpg-ing. Unfortunately, though, this steak is, like, 2kg of meat. It's way too much for one person, and even the most rich and succulent cut of meat you ever had is going to tire you after eating that much.
"To live life is not to walk through a meadow."
DQ8 is one of my favorites in the series. The game is charming in every regard whether it be story, party members, or NPCs. Being a less linear experience than a lot of the other JRPGs of this era makes the world feel sprawling. Exploration is and always will be a big part of the series and the rewards for going off the beaten path are usually worth it here.
The main issue most people will have with this game is how fucking slow it is. This makes getting the bell to speed up to traversal feel impactful. Unfortunately, the combat animations are still way too long so use speed-up in an emulator.
Revisiting this cast was fucking sweet. I love this group of misfits and their party talk is often hilarious. Their stories are pretty short, but they resonated with me. This is also the only game ever that has Yangus as a character. COR BLIMEY!!!!!!!
Overall, it's one of the best in the series I've played and a gold standard for JRPGs back in the early 2000s.
DQ8 is one of my favorites in the series. The game is charming in every regard whether it be story, party members, or NPCs. Being a less linear experience than a lot of the other JRPGs of this era makes the world feel sprawling. Exploration is and always will be a big part of the series and the rewards for going off the beaten path are usually worth it here.
The main issue most people will have with this game is how fucking slow it is. This makes getting the bell to speed up to traversal feel impactful. Unfortunately, the combat animations are still way too long so use speed-up in an emulator.
Revisiting this cast was fucking sweet. I love this group of misfits and their party talk is often hilarious. Their stories are pretty short, but they resonated with me. This is also the only game ever that has Yangus as a character. COR BLIMEY!!!!!!!
Overall, it's one of the best in the series I've played and a gold standard for JRPGs back in the early 2000s.
Ojalá lo hubiese podido jugar de pequeño, porque se habría convertido en uno de mis juegos favoritos, pero sin duda el juego envejece genial y siempre vale la pena jugarlo