[PS2] Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King

Originally Posted by Matt

I felt like I was watching a living, breathing cartoon play out on the TV screen, for the most part. It may not be as fluid as Zelda: Wind Waker is, but it looks the part pretty well.

Sorry, come again? No offense to Wind Waker, but hell no. Dragon Quest 8 looks much more clear and vivid than Wind Waker does. If you need proof, look at the differences in the water. Granted, Wind Waker is a lot more cartoony than Dragon Quest 8 is though. DQ8 is probably the closest cel-shading will come to photorealistic, at least until Rogue Galaxy come sout (which is done by the same team, Level 5.)

Anyway, I adored Dragon Quest 8 for all that it is. I now firmly believe that anything Level 5 works on is an instant classic and a perfect example of how games should be made, especially RPGs. I love the use of British VAs, even though they were toned down from the PAL release -- I heard that the European version had some really heavy British voice acting compared to the the U.S. release.

The battles are great and very, very turn-based, but that's not a bad thing. It's good to step back into nostalgia. I dunno, I really can't say anything else except that I really enjoyed this game. It's on my list of top games I've ever and probably will ever play. Every RPG fan should own this, and everyone else should at least rent it.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

The battles were really easy....until you got to the part where you fought Dhoulmagus. That was an insanely hard battle, and all the rest of the enemies also got stronger. Even still, you may be right -- this game as a whole was a bit easier than previous DQs.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

It's not necessarily a separate ending so much as it is a different version of the same ending, ya dig? Anyway, it's only that one thing. And no, you don't have to play though the game again.

When you beat it, you're given the option to go back to a point just before you fought the boss, at which point you take the time to explore, do any sub-quests like the Monster Arena, etc.

Most amazing jew boots

It's been so long, I don't remember my final party. But I know that the trio of the robots and the brickmen each had a few wins. There are a couple GFFers who used the Brickmen team to win.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Yes it is, because you can obtain the Hero's second appearance in it. But be warned, it's a pretty tough series of challenges. It'll make the end boss comparable to fighting a Slime at level 60. >_>;

I was speaking idiomatically.

Yeah, just one of 'em. But to get the costume....

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

For the first time since I beat the game a few months ago, I played it again just to kinda mess around for a second.

I remembered that during my playthrough, I never hit 100 tension on any of my characters, but it wasn't from lack of trying. So this time I used the recipe for the Timbrel of Tension in the super alchemy pot, and a couple seconds later I had the Timbrel.

So I took it with me in to battle and used it, and in one battle got all of my characters up to 100 tension! Just thought I'd share. Heh.

FELIPE NO

Ha, that's pretty funny about your wife not being weaned on the previous DQ/W games. I wasn't either -- DQ 8 was my first and I actually bought a copy of DW7 after I beat 8, which I plan on playing soon.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?