Gamer's Perspective

I spent many days of my youth glued to the TV playing Dragon Warrior on my NES. Wondering around aimlessly killing what seemed to be hundreds of blue slimes just waiting to see the magical level up screen, being driven closer and closer to madness as the monotonous tones continue to pound their way into my skull. Yet I still played, played because the game was simplistic yet challenging with a classic story that really drove you to finish the quest no matter how long it meandered on. Oddly the same can be said of the newest installment of the bazillion selling Square Enix franchise.

Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King (Yes you read that right Dragon Quest, not Warrior, as the game’s namesake is taken back to its Japanese roots) is a beautiful game that begins with the Hero setting off to rid an evil curse that he has somehow managed to escape, from his home kingdom of Trodain. With him are his friends Yangus, Princess Medea and King of Trodain, whom are now transformed into a horse and Yoda-esque monster respectively. Hot on the heels of Dhoulmagus, the person they feel is responsible for the catastrophe; the party crosses through kingdom after kingdom meeting the well-endowed spell caster Jessica and the womanizing ex-communicated Templar Angelo. The characters are well fleshed out; given great personalities and with decent voice acting one cannot help but find yourself pulling for the party. Couple this with a compelling yet prolonged story and you’ve got the making of a game that drives you to complete it.

Dragon Quest VIII’s gameplay is solid if not predictable. Typical turned-based RPG combat is the order of the day here, though battles do have a free roaming 3D feel to them, a vast departure from the 2D almost first person perspective that has plagued the series well after graphical technology made the perspective obsolete. (The most recent example of this was DW VII on the Playstation.) The only new wrinkle in the otherwise time tested combat formula is the ability to “Psyche Up”. Basically the premise of such a maneuver is to forfeit your turn in exchange for building up strength to unleash on your unsuspecting enemies. While this is definitely an advantage to you and your party, as everyone in your party can do it. It can also backfire, as you can literally waste your time building up your strength to unleash only to have an enemy either put you to sleep or return your status to normal through a special ability. Thus putting you back to square one. But besides this new addition the typical attack, defend, item and spell abilities are all present and accounted for. When a new level is reached you can distribute points to various attributes of the character thus making your character an incredible fighter on one specific weapon or even an average fighter on all weapons the character can equip. (The weapons they can equip are predetermined.) Overall the gameplay is fulfilling yet boarders on “been there, done that” as you will start to find yourself meandering from battle to battle as more of a sense of duty instead of true enjoyment.

With the weapons that each character can use being so limited, DQ VIII makes up for it in the number of different weapons in the weapon class. While you can come across various weapons scattered throughout the game, the majority of the best weapons (and armor for that matter) can and must be obtained through the use of the alchemy pot. The alchemy pot is used by finding items throughout your journey, either from purchasing them, winning them as spoils of combat or from the typical RPG cliché of ransacking poor unsuspecting villagers dressers and bookshelves. Combining certain items in the alchemy pot through trial and error or by finding hidden recipes scattered throughout the world in books form new items and as almost any item can be added to the pot, the possibilities are endless.

Artistically Dragon Quest VIII is damn near picturesque. With vibrant colors, detailed regions to explore and a fun cell shaded style you are instantly drawn into the world around you. The characters sport a lot of detail and convey quite a bit of emotion through their facial features alone. The enemies, like every other Dragon Quest/Warrior game, are more cute than menacing looking, yet are definitely designed in z way to fit into the world around them. Musically the game is adequate, yet not stunning by any stretch of the imagination. Even with many old school DQ tunes being remixed and brought back for a nostalgic feel, one can’t help but feel bored with the score later on with the game as you will hear the same music over and over again.

Overall Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King is a well-done and polished game that will compliment any RPG fan’s library. Beautiful graphics, fun characters and a compelling story will push you to finish this 60+ hour game (for minimal completion). With casinos, the monster arena and the alchemy pot you can easily dump 100 hours into this game. The only problem is that it will at times feel like a labor of love. One just wishes the gameplay would now catch up to the newly revamped graphics. I recommend this game to everyone looking for a time killer, it will leave you satisfied with effort you will put into it. What if you are already a Dragon Quest fan? Well then this is a no-brainer, pick it up as soon as possible as you will not be disappointed.

My Final Score is a 8.3

Jeremy Mravlja Gamer's Perspective