One of the most anticipated RPGs of this year has finally arrived, the eighth installment in the in the long-running and insanely popular Dragon Quest series, Dragon Quest VIII: The Journey of the Cursed King. Developed by Level 5, the studio behind Dark Cloud, its sequel, and the upcoming Rogue Galaxy, Dragon Quest VIII is the kind of game that will rob you of your life since you’ll be playing it for several hours straight as you become engulfed in this epic RPG.
Just like any decent epic RPG adventure, Dragon Quest VIII revolves around a simple plot of good versus evil as you, the hero, make it your mission to hunt down and kill an evil Jester by the name of "Dhoulmagus." Those players expecting an epic tale as complex as some of the stories found in the latest Final Fantasy games may be a bit disappointed to discover that DQ VIII puts a greater focus on gameplay than story, and as a result the game’s plot isn’t anything ground-breaking. It’s still solid, nevertheless, but for the earlier part of the adventure, the plot flows pretty slowly and doesn’t really suck you into the game. It does eventually pick up steam, throwing some nice twists at you from time to time.
The game has you chasing Dhoulmagus from town to town, only to find out he’s one step ahead of you. While visiting these locales, you get the chance to participate
"Dragon Quest VIII puts a greater focus on gameplay than story"
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in a variety of quests for the townspeople. Most of these quests are enjoyable but after finishing some of the more difficult and lengthy quests, it doesn’t feel as if you’re rewarded much aside from some new item and a tip about where Dhoulmagus is heading next.
On your hunt for Dhoulamagus, you’re accompanied by a wide variety of colorful characters, each of which has their own reasons for pursuing Dhoulmagus as you do. The first to join your party is Yangus, an ex-bandit from the run down town of Pickham. Yangus decides to turn his life around after a near death experience, but he still has the vocabulary and look of a bandit, which makes for some amusing situations. Yangus will definitely never fail to entertain you, whether it’s his stupidity or his bravery; he’s a classic and loveable character. The next member is Jessica, a magic-wielding girl from a noble family. Angelo, a cocky and arrogant templar knight from Maella Abbey is another party member as well. The duties of a templar knight include living a clean, sin-free life, and defending the Abbot. Angelo, on the other hand, does the exact opposite. He’s constantly running off to go gamble, or to find a women to hit on until she walks off in disgust. Also joining you on your adventure will be the King of Trodain, King Trode and his daughter Princess Medina. But why are the King of Trodain and his Princess daughter joining you on your quest? Well, they’ve also got problems with Dhoulmagus -- both King Trode and Princess Medina had curses placed upon them the night that Dhoulmagus attacked their kingdom. The King was transformed into a troll, while the Princess had been turned into a horse. All of the character’s personalities are developed more and more as progression is made, a nice reward for investing so much time into a game.
Dragon Quest VIII can last you well over 80 hours if you want to get everything (even though it’s nearly impossible if you don’t have some sort of walkthrough map). But for everyone else, it’ll be more like a 50-60 hour adventure. I guess you may be able to get through the game in under that, but you won’t want to. The
"Dragon Quest VIII can last you well over 80 hours if you want to get everything"
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battle system is so much fun that you’ll be spending hours on just leveling up your characters. The battle system isn’t anything that we haven’t seen before, it’s very old-school RPG and entirely menu based. All of the traditional RPG selections are here, attack, abilities (magic), items, defend, and a new option called "psych up" which allows you to raise your attack power for your current enemy encounter, it can be extremely useful during all of the boss battles. The main reason that all of the random battles are so enjoyable is because they all require a certain level of strategy that you’ve got to select at the beginning of the battle and stick with until the end. Every so often, a random battle will come along that will actually give you a significant challenge -- these become more frequent at night since you will always be facing more difficult enemies during that time.
Dragon Quest VIII also offers an excellent way to level up character’s abilities. Each time you level up you’ll receive a certain number of points that you can assign to certain abilities. For example, the hero character can assign his points to either swords, spears, boomerangs, fisticuffs, or his special attribute, courage. Each time you add points to the certain ability, that ability will become stronger.
Using points effectively will build up your character’s power, since each character has different strengths and weaknesses. This is where most of the strategy elements of the game come in. Although the strategy elements are similar to most RPGs, it’s still just as entertaining. In some battles you have to switch up your regular strategy a bit to defeat new adversaries you meet, and believe me, you’ll be encountering a ton of different enemies.
The graphics for Dragon Quest VIII are cel-shaded and they look sharp. All of the characters have a nice level of detail, and the animations are all very well done. Akira Toriyama’s unique art style shows in the character designs. If you ever get a chance to climb to the peak of a mountain within the game, I’d recommend doing so for the breathtaking view of the giant world you’ve been exploring. Calling the world giant may even be an understatement; you can always go find a place to explore if you don’t feel like carrying on your current path to your next town, dungeon, castle, or whatever is thrown at you. The mixed variety of environments is to be admired as they are traversed. If you’re not a fan of the cel-shaded art style, and The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker or the Sly Cooper series couldn’t change your mind, then Dragon Quest VIII won’t either. But if you’re open to anything, I think you’ll really be into the visual style of Dragon Quest VIII -- it feels just right for the game.
Another impressive part of Dragon Quest VIII is the
"If you’re a fan of RPGs, you are going to be right at home with Dragon Quest VIII"
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audio. The voiceovers, which were not included in the Japanese version of the game, are actually surprisingly good. The dialogue can sometimes get a little over the top and cheesy, but for the most part it isn’t too bad. It’s really nice having the voiceovers in the game. As for the music that will accompany you on your adventure, there is a considerable array of orchestral tunes that differ depending on where you are in the world. Different music for the shops, churches, inns, you know the deal.
At the end of your epic adventure you’ll really fell like you know the characters well and really care about them. If you’re a fan of RPGs, you are going to be right at home with Dragon Quest VIII, but if you’re not you’ll probably have no problem passing this one up. If you own a PS2 and you’ve got any interest at all in the genre Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King is an important title to experience.
