This review contains spoilers
The most "good" game there is.
Story:
The story is good. The multiple plottwists and scenes where you think the game is over, then to reveal that it isn't, are pretty cool. I also like the little foreshadowings on what is happening early on which make more sense later in the game. I cannot really say a lot here, the story is good.
Characters:
The characters are good. They are nothing special but still pretty cool. I like the character design of the hero a lot. Especially his "super saiyan" form. The characters are good.
Music:
The music is good. It is not bad, it is not the best. The music is good.
Gameplay:
The gameplay is good. I like the skill trees and weapon types every character has. It adds some variety on how you want the characters to develop. I really really love the monster arena side-quest. Usually I do not like monster catching mechanics in videogames, but it is integrated perfectly in this game. You can make your own team with different team attacks and even call them in real battles and not only the arena. I also like that they are controlled by AI because I'm usually very interested in AI in gaming. I also adore the casinos in this game. This game has made me an in game gambling addict. Every game with a casino in it will automatically be more enjoyable to me than without it. But generally EVERYTHING in this game is fun. From the main story to the smallest and trivial side-quest. This is the only game I have ever played where everything is fun. Even in Kingdom Hearts, my most favorite franchise of all time, there are some short comings. But Dragon Quest VIII (DQ8) is good in every aspect. Sure, this game doesn't reach the same heights as Kingdom Hearts, but it also has NO lows in my opinion. There are a few little nitpicks though. The definitive version of the game is only on 3DS and not on a home console which is sad. Because of that the graphics and music quality are worse than in the PS2 version. And I'm generally not the biggest fan of photo-quests and I do not like the additional playable characters that much from a gameplay perspective - even if they are good. The extra two dungeons are nice but not the reason I love this game so much. The quality of life changes are cool though. And one could discuss that I didn't like the fact that Jessica gets stripped away for one dungeon, so that you have to play with only three characters. I usually do not like it, when videogames forcefully change your party composition, but it only was for a short amount of time and after the boss in that area you get two new amazing spells for Jessica, which makes it not that bad. So in general: the gameplay is good.
Content:
The content is good and long. It is not as big as Final Fantasy XII for example, but it has a lot to do. Be it the long main objective or the medium amount of side-quests, which are all pretty cool. The post game content is also amazing content wise because there is a lot to do and very cool bosses to fight. The content is good.
Replay value:
The replay value is good. Wait, actually not so much. You can replay the game with different weapon types for each character, which can be fun because you cannot reset your skill points at all, but that's about it.
Conclusion:
This game is good. It's in my top 3 videogames of all time. There is no game that is as "good" as this one. This game is good.
Story:
The story is good. The multiple plottwists and scenes where you think the game is over, then to reveal that it isn't, are pretty cool. I also like the little foreshadowings on what is happening early on which make more sense later in the game. I cannot really say a lot here, the story is good.
Characters:
The characters are good. They are nothing special but still pretty cool. I like the character design of the hero a lot. Especially his "super saiyan" form. The characters are good.
Music:
The music is good. It is not bad, it is not the best. The music is good.
Gameplay:
The gameplay is good. I like the skill trees and weapon types every character has. It adds some variety on how you want the characters to develop. I really really love the monster arena side-quest. Usually I do not like monster catching mechanics in videogames, but it is integrated perfectly in this game. You can make your own team with different team attacks and even call them in real battles and not only the arena. I also like that they are controlled by AI because I'm usually very interested in AI in gaming. I also adore the casinos in this game. This game has made me an in game gambling addict. Every game with a casino in it will automatically be more enjoyable to me than without it. But generally EVERYTHING in this game is fun. From the main story to the smallest and trivial side-quest. This is the only game I have ever played where everything is fun. Even in Kingdom Hearts, my most favorite franchise of all time, there are some short comings. But Dragon Quest VIII (DQ8) is good in every aspect. Sure, this game doesn't reach the same heights as Kingdom Hearts, but it also has NO lows in my opinion. There are a few little nitpicks though. The definitive version of the game is only on 3DS and not on a home console which is sad. Because of that the graphics and music quality are worse than in the PS2 version. And I'm generally not the biggest fan of photo-quests and I do not like the additional playable characters that much from a gameplay perspective - even if they are good. The extra two dungeons are nice but not the reason I love this game so much. The quality of life changes are cool though. And one could discuss that I didn't like the fact that Jessica gets stripped away for one dungeon, so that you have to play with only three characters. I usually do not like it, when videogames forcefully change your party composition, but it only was for a short amount of time and after the boss in that area you get two new amazing spells for Jessica, which makes it not that bad. So in general: the gameplay is good.
Content:
The content is good and long. It is not as big as Final Fantasy XII for example, but it has a lot to do. Be it the long main objective or the medium amount of side-quests, which are all pretty cool. The post game content is also amazing content wise because there is a lot to do and very cool bosses to fight. The content is good.
Replay value:
The replay value is good. Wait, actually not so much. You can replay the game with different weapon types for each character, which can be fun because you cannot reset your skill points at all, but that's about it.
Conclusion:
This game is good. It's in my top 3 videogames of all time. There is no game that is as "good" as this one. This game is good.