Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King (PlayStation 2, 2005)

The story of this game is top notch and the gameplay is perfect. The story starts out with an evil wizard stealing a staff from your palace and places a curse on your palace and you are the only one who survives unharmed. I know that is a vague description but I dont want to ruin too much of the story for you. The story takes off from there as you meet interesting and deep characters fighting in a good battle system and exploring a HUGE world. The battle system works alot like Dragon Warrior 7. You start off in a first person view and then you pick your actions. But the main difference from 7 is that once you pick your action you get to see your character in action making for some beautiful moves. The only real problem I have with this game is that some players may find it too difficult while I never had that problem I know some people who did. If you are looking for an RPG with old school flare with new school graphics then check out Dragon Quest 8.

Like most people who bought this game for the Final Fantasy XII demo that was included with it, myself included. I remember the day very clearly because I used money from a birthday card to buy this game. It turns out Dragon Quest VIII was the best birthday present I ever had. I played the Final Fantasy Demo first, then never played it again after I started playing this game.

This game can be played on so many different levels. If you want to rush through it you can in about 50-60 hours. If you like side quests, it has those too! I spent over 100 logged hours on this game between trying to find all the best monsters for the monster arena. And fighting the series of side bosses after you beat the game. Yes I said "Series of side bosses" and "After you beat the game" neat, huh?

The side bosses are so tough that this was the first RPG to have me jumping up and down on my couch yelling "THATS CHEATING!!!" at the TV screen. Just when you get maxed up enough to beat one, the next cuts through you like a hot knife through butter.

The animation in this game is by Akira Toriyama (creator of the Dragon Ball Series) and looks like a cartoon graphically. The only gripe I had about the games visual spectrum is that a lot of the monsters are just colored different in different stages in the game. Some people complain that a lot of the monsters you fight look "happy" or "smile" but I find it to be comical. In fact, if you are involved deep enough in the story you will find a lot of the dialog humorous, especially Yangus.

This will be one of the last great turn based RPGs to ever be made, consider everyone is moving in new directions with battle systems.

On a side note Turn Based RPGs are the best game ever because you can easily eat, smoke, or drink while playing them!

I will never sell or trade my copy of this game, ever.

Dragon Quest VIII is a classic RPG in every sense. This installment really doesn't do anything new or take many risks in introducing new ideas into the RPG genre. However, what this game does do right, is refine traditional RPG action to a high degree.

You'll immediately notice that the graphics are cell-shaded and whether you love cell-shade or not, this game is beautiful. The world to explore is massive and really cannot be described without doing it injustice. Each character has a distinct, though somewhat cliche personality. Voice acting is featured during major cut-scenes and events and is also top-notch. Though you may find it funny that all of the characters have distinctly British accents.

You'll begin the game like you've begun many other RPG's - trying to undo an evil curse and set things right in the world. Where the story takes you from there you'll find out over the course of 60-120+ hours of gaming. This is a game where you can really take you time enjoying the vistas and fighting mechanics and turn your characters into true powerhouses. Or, you can quickly make your way through the game skipping sidequests and story plots.

On the topic of fighting mechanics, you'll find nothing new here. Just finely tuned and balanced turn-based combat. You'll select from tradional fighting and magic attacks to character specific abilities. One very cool feature is the ability to "power-up" or charge you character. In the process you sacrifice a turn, however, the rewards are ultra powerful attacks. If you manage to find the limit of the charge ability you'll find that your characters appearnce even changes!

Throughout the game you'll encounter various friends and foes each with a distinct and individual personality. The game features over 250 individual types of enemies and over 70 "Legendary Monsters" that you'll eventually be able to enlist into your ranks should you best them in combat.

Additionally, the game features an alchemy system for creating new useful items or equipment. You'll spend many hours scouring the land for recipies and clues for that new weapon or armor. Some items even manage to permantely change the appearance of your characters.

All in all I highly recommend this game. I did not once put this game down to play something else. If you love RPG's you'll almost certainly love this game.

I bought Dragon Quest VIII and it probably one of the best games i've ever played, i haven't stopped playing it since i got it and this was probably one of the best games i ever bought...

I bought dragon quest viii sense I’m a fan of rpgs and I saw that it had rather positive reviews at gamefaqs.com. I have to say I’m very glad I purchased it.

The combat system is somewhat old school as far as rpg goes but that suits me just fine. I like the importance of strategy and having time to actually plan my next move out. The storyline is rather engaging with a good deal of back story that you can look into if you want. I chose to as I love back story and side quests.

Leveling your characters is a rather important part of the game however thanks to its set up it isn’t a chore but rather is quite enjoyable. I simply love the alchemy pot. Trying to figure out what combination of items you need is a rather amusing little puzzle. Though most of the configurations are on the easy side.

The only thing I really don’t like about the game is that some items are in limited supply and there isn’t a new game + feature.

If you're the type of RPG gamer who grew up playing the original dragon warrior and final fantasy NES games, and who still thinks of them fondly, then this is the RPG for you. Designed to be more of a "traditional RPG" DQ8 does just about everything right. From the gorgeous graphics and detailed animations to the beautiful soundtrack and enjoyable sound effects and on to the stunning overworld and dungeon design, DQ8 is an absolute masterpiece. -Story. Recall that this is a traditional RPG, and what tends to go along with that classification is a traditional storyline. There's some great evil brewing somewhere evil and evil people are doing evil things because of it. -Characters. Characters are interesting and unique in personality and are fun to interact with. You start out with only two playable characters, but that increases to a max of four as the story progresses. And these characters are full of personality as well as different enough from one another to not seem like clones. -Voice Acting. Top-notch. Some have complained that most of the voices are British, which is definitely true, but is that really a bad thing? -Graphics. Absolutely gorgeous. If every game had graphics of this caliber, I’d buy them all.-Music and sound. Beautiful and appropriate. From the opening title theme that most old-school RPGers will recognize to the ending track, all music is fully orchestrated and a delight to hear. Granted, there aren't many tracks overall, and many of them will be played over and over again, but don't be too disappointed. Remember, even the common tracks are pleasant to the ears. -Battles. Just like the old days. Battles involve the good guys lined up on one side and the bad guys lined up on the other side, facing each other. Action is turn-based, with the player inputting commands for all the characters (fight, magic, skill, run, defend, etc) and each character's and monster's reaction statistic generally determines the order they take their turn. Battles are fast and fluid. Characters jump toward the enemy, blast them, and hop back in line. Again, lightning fast. And this is a good thing.
-Magic and skills. As you level up, you'll get skill points that you can assign to various types of skill categories such as sword, spell, sex appeal, etc. Which categories you see depend on which one of the four characters you're dealing with. Depending on where you allocate these points, the characters will learn particular skills when they level up. In short, the system works well, with the magic casting characters getting the good spells and the offensive-minded characters getting the good attach stuff. -Overworld and dungeons. One word: expansive. The world is designed to mimic a real, living place. When you travel from Town A, through the forest, across a rope bridge, through the valley, and up the hill to Town B, you actually get to do all that. It's not simply a case of pointing your character to the east, and holding down the "run" button until you bump into the next town. -Random encounters. -Extras and side quests. There's a reasonable amount of stuff to do once you finish the main game, including a cool battle arena where you pit monsters you've "collected" or tamed against ranks of computer controlled monster teams to win prizes and other cool things. Other things include hidden treasure chests, dungeons and bosses. Really, this game is long and fulfilling. This game is a gem and is an absolute masterpiece.

After clocking in 118 hours of game play I'm finally finished and totally bummed that it's over. Hands down this has been the best RPG I've played since Final Fantasy VII. Even better than Final Fantasy X in my opinion.

This game has a turn based battle system meaning that you have time to strategically plan and select what you want your characters to do as opposed to an active battle system where you have to think quick and everything happens in real-time. I prefer the turn based system because you can focus more on watching what's going on instead of trying to flip through menus and spell list quickly during a battle while your characters are being pummeled.

The graphics and characters are unique as they are cell shaded, and they have a sense of humor. Even the enemies and monsters can be humorous at times. Very light hearted, humorous alternative to many of the RPGs that have serious end of the world type scenarios such as FF X.

At a point you acquire an alchemy pot that allows you to combine different items, weapons, and armor to form new items which is really unique and a great features. The alchemy pot is similar to the synthesis functions in Dark Cloud 2.

There are plenty of side quests such as playing in the casinos, assembling a monster arena team, collecting mini medals, and making items for different shop keepers. Collecting and battling monsters is especially fun. You get to hunt down and recruit monsters in order to build a team and battle against other monster teams. There is plenty to do without the tasks and side quests getting too repetitive or boring.

Overall I'd give this game a 6 out of 5 if I could and I hope the sequel sticks to this formula. Highly recommended for anyone that loves traditional RPGs.

As an adult this is a fantastic game, very in depth plot, and great graphics detail, but as a parent...

The sexual inuendo in this game is a little over the top, and the fact that the main female player character has breasts that jiggle as she walks or runs, and flat out bound hard as she stops quickly or makes a sudden movement, makes this game seem an adolescent masturbatory ad.

Great character design, colorful world with funny like 3D cartoon chars, and great detail on items and enemies. Music is great, perfectly adapted to game moments.
My first game of the saga and i love it.

Great for RPG fans who like turn based battles or people who like to try this great kind of games.

Good transaction. The game was a little scratched but it played just fine. Great value for the price.

I bought this title because I was looking for a new RPG to play and this one was rated highly, seemingly by everyone. It was one of the fastest selling Japanese PS2 titles, and it got a 89 out of 100 on Metacritic.

I'd never played a game in the DragonQuest series. So I picked it up with high hopes... and found it absolutely horrible (while I'm 30 hours in). But, I've figured out what my problem is: The game is designed for DragonQuest fans.

I grew up playing the Final Fantasy series. So when FFXII hit the markets, I really enjoyed it. What I couldn't see because nostalgia was blinding me was the fact that the near 90 HOURS of play time are largely taken up by grinding for levels, wandering, trying to find extremely rare ingredients for the highest armors and weapons, and watching a story unfold that has poor character development. The game might be pretty, but when you get down to it, there's a lot of unnecessary annoyances about it. Being a Final Fantasy fan, these things are easy to overlook; especially the level-grinding. RPGers have largely gotten used to this artificially game-lengthening device. And the effect is cumulative. Even long-time console RPGers like me get their minds blown when they find out how much time WOW players spend grinding.

DragonQuest, then, is a game for the fans, for the kids that grew up playing the DQs that came before it. I would list my every complaint with the game, but looking up its positive reviews I see that everything I hated, other people are loving (and many are the same flaws I just listed for FFXII which I enjoyed). Indeed, I often hear that it's a great game for "true" RPG fans, or those looking for a "traditional experience." People actually like endless strings of fetch-quests, level grinding, over-priced shops, wandering for rare treasures, getting lost, an entirely linear and puerile plot, and a clunky battle system.

If this game had came out 20 years ago, it would have been remarkable for its graphics and nothing more. Final Fantasy VII preceded this title by nearly a decade, and had a more efficient battle system, inventory set up, and certainly a more engaging storyline (with less linearity). The problem here is that I don't have nostalgia's blinders, like I did for the Final Fantasy series. I overlook the glaring faults of FF because over the years and HUNDREDS of hours I've spent playing them, I've gotten used to it.

In the words of Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw (the voice of Zero Punctuation) "There's nothing inherently sacred about game designs from the olden days. They're just old." This is DQVIII's flaw. It has marvelous appeal to the RPGers that were there at ground zero; back when games were paradoxically harder than solving a greased Rubik's cube yet designed for pre-adolescent children. The trouble is, gaming and gamers have evolved. Playing a new DragonQuest title is like playing a re-released pre-FFVII title with improved graphics and inserted FMV cutscenes: they're both returns to form, but the form isn't good, it's just traditional.

So for the uninitiated, DragonQuest VIII is nearly unplayable. My first introduction to RPGs was the Final Fantasy series and I've since grown up a bit. This title is a throwback to an even earlier time with modern enhancements, I'll give it that. But retro is only cool per se. After the initial euphoria of nostalgia wears off, you remember how much better we do things nowadays.

this is a great game ultra complicated with so many extras. It was actually hard for me. It might be because i refuse to read directions but oh well. Great game it kept me busy for over 100 hours and the alternate endings options added a lot of game play and interesting twists.

Have you ever wanted to play a game that rewards you for playing it.

That's dragon Quest 8 for you. This game not only keeps the player involved mentally, but also physically as well. Half of the time while playing this game I want to get up and kick some butt as well. The upgrades are all strategically placed with such precision, it's obvious this game has been done right.

The sound, graphics, and game play in this game are all top notch and it's a must have for any RPG fan.

Unlike other RPG's there aren't any confusing battle menus, skill trees, or terribly horrific magic systems with a steep learning curve. It's all about straight up battle and story line. DQVIII begins with a guard, "you", who strangely withstands a magical attack from a demented court jester named Dhoulmagus. This jester puts a whole city into a form of "suspension" via vine roots, of course with the exception of, you guessed it, you. Later in the story you befriend a funny bloke Yangus and begin your journey to find out what happened. A very typical premise.

I can only imagine the developers in their first meeting:
Boss says with hands out as though measuring a small fish: "I got an idea, lets have a teenage hero...hear me out, a hero that saves the world from evil?...eh, ehh?" *looks around the room for approval*.
Yes Men/Women unanimously approve with nods and whispers.
Yes man #4 says "...and maybe we can throw in a princess, to save from said evil, sir?"
Yes Men/Women look towards Boss for reaction.
Than Boss says after smacking his tongue against the roof of his mouth for 10 seconds, "Yes...yes! I like your thinking Johnson!".
Yes man #4 "Its Thompson sir!".
Boss "What ever, moving on...".

This game is easy to jump into, if you've ever played an RPG circa 1990's, you'd know all about random battles and staged events, its all there, your typical throw back RPG with a modern flair. Walk around long enough, and you'll be entered into a fight whether you like it or not. Collecting, equipping, buying, selling, talking to towns folk to further the story is simple and quick. You'll rarely find yourself lost or out of touch with current events, thanks in part to the option to chat with each and all current party members so-as to get an idea of what to do next.

The weapons, potions, magic and items are extremely straight forward. There's even a type of Alchemy pot in which you can create better items and equipment later in the game, simple, quick and just plain fun. Want to know what works best for each character before you equip something, no problem, they show it to you. One of the things that really struck me with DQVIII was the soundtrack, it was amazing! From the initial load-up menu to the in-game itself, it sounded epic. Although I'm not a huge fan of cell shading, I liked the graphics. It was crisp, clear and enjoyable to watch.

As good as the world looked, I was surprised to see that just about every towns folk looked exactly the same as the last. And whether your in Town A or some boondock village B, each and every inhabitant looked identical as the last. The monsters suffered the same fate, they were basically cookie cutters of each other, and varied slightly in looks as they get tougher. Fight a lesser brown Wyvern in one area and later it's a meaner purple one with a slightly different name, and so on. Another issue I had was with the equipment. With the exception of Jessica, no other character physically donned the armor you put on. It damaged the experience.

The voice acting was surprisingly better than most RPG's and the gameplay was plenty enough to keep me going right up til the great twist at the end. Speaking of the ending, I would have preferred a better one, instead of the lame "animal house" esque photo stills subtitled with their wacky future achievements (or lack of). Over all, if you like conventional RPG's and own a PS2, this is a must buy.

the story was solid and good; it was not very complex and had me still wanting more out of it. it takes a little while to get your full party and they each have their advantages, not too much to their character like the story. what i enjoyed very much about this game was all the extras and side quests (the mini medals and especially the dragovian trials). i love a game that has some really good challenges after you've beaten the game (so challenging that i spent many many more hours playing it - probably around 75 hrs total game play). i would highly recommend this game for anyone who likes a good RPG (especailly while waiting for the next FF to come out)!

Well first let me say, "Wow!".
This game this is shaping up to be one of the most thrilling
games I have played in a while. Where does one begin when reviewing a game of this magnitude? Let's start of with the controls! Also let me warn you that I am in no way a pro with writing reviews and I am just a hardcore RPG player and want to share my thoughts on the game with everyone! Having played DW games since the NES days I had a fair idea as to how the controls would handle. Being the game is the first fully 3-D game and with the addition of the Cel-shading I was wondering how this game would handle. The character movement is sharp and the response time for the commands is just right. I found that the controls have a fluid feel and the menu and such is well laid out. The Menu has been redefined and it takes some getting used to but after a half hour it was like second nature
to me. Controls Rating = B+
Next up Visuals. The game looks beautiful. This is some of the best cel-shading I have ever seen in a game. The look and feel of the world is breathtaking. One of the neat features is the ability to go into first person viewing and take a look at your surroundings. I highly recommend running around the lush environment and taking peeks at all there is to see. Visual Rating = A+
Voice Acting. Superb from what I have seen so far. This is also the First Dragon Quest game to have voice acting and it is spot on. Pleasant voices seem to capture the emotion of the characters speaking. Voice Acting = A
Interest value. This game has set the stage for a mystery or two. The opening intro leaves a lot of question to be answered
and during the first mission to the waterfall cavern still much is left out in the open. After a couple hours the game still has not really explained the relationship to the other members in your party. I believe these relationships will be slowly introduced as time goes on though. Interest Value = B-
Overall rating. So far this game is an exceptional addition to the Dragon Quest series. With the beautiful visuals, brilliant voice acting, and the growing interest value I think we have a game for the ages here. I am willing to bet this will be trumpeted as one of the best games in the series. Square-Enix has put together a exceptional game and it should attract fans young and old. I highly recommend picking this game up! Bravo Square-Enix! Overall Rating for Dragon Quest 8 = A-

Pros:
Great Characters
High Quality Voice Acting
Attractive, vibrant graphics
Large variety of quirky, memorable enemies.
Fairly Long. 40+ hours

Cons:
Plot is a little diluted and follows typical RPG fanfare.
An oversimplified combat and leveling system.
Lots of grinding involved, the difficulty ramps up very quickly.

I absolutely love this game, It offers everything you want in a RPG. Has good graphics, great sound quality. Its like a mix between the Final Fantasy and Zelda (Both are great games as well). This game offers hours of game play, one down fall is it seems to be a little slow and I do get bored after awhile of playing.

Just take a break and the play some more its a really great game. I would recommend it to any RPG fan. I still like the very First Dragon Quest (Dragon Warrior) Game!

enjoyable storyline and easy to follow guide on how to operate this throwback RPG. Still has a cliche type story but still I am having a very good time going through it. Recommended for teenagers and above

Great shipping and excellent person. As soon as my purchased the game not even 3 days later I was playing it.

Perfect. Perfect. Perfect. Perfect. Perfect. Perfect. Perfect. Perfect. Perfect. Perfect. Perfect. Perfect. Perfect. Perfect. Perfect. Perfect. Perfect. Perfect. Perfect. Perfect. Perfect. Perfect. Perfect. Perfect. Perfect. Perfect. Perfect. Perfect. Perfect. Perfect. Perfect. Perfect. Perfect. Perfect. Perfect. Perfect. Perfect. Perfect. Perfect. Perfect. Perfect. Perfect. Perfect. Perfect. Perfect. Perfect. Perfect. Perfect. Perfect. Perfect. Perfect. Perfect. Perfect. Perfect.

The game is totally addictive. I started playing and couldn't put it down for a week. I originally rented it and liked it so much that I had to buy it. It's a classic RPG game. Complete with side quests and treasure chests along with Monsters that occasionally drop special items of use. Lots of different areas to explore. I highly recommended it.

If you want a game, this is the place. Ultra fast delivery, and I think the game was in even better condition that was stated.