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

I'm about 45 hours into it. Just passed the Dark Ruins.

It's a refreshing game. Not because it's innovative (because it isn't). Not because it has a deep, engaging story (because it doesn't). But because it's so unapologetically OLD SKEWL that it's taken me right back to the days I was playing my free copy of Dragon Warrior that I got for subscribing to Nintendo Power in my bedroom. Of course, I'm glad they left out some truly old school touches (like making you select "DOOR" or "STEPS" from the command list).

My wife hates the game though. Swears it's the stupidest, most childish game I've forced her to sit through. She just doesn't get it. She wasn't weaned on DW1 & 2, Phantasy Star 1, and Final Fantasy 1 as a kid.

I've only been wiped out once - by Dhoulmagus's second form. It was funny, my wife was all like, "So does this mean you're done with this game?" as her hopes were quickly raised. I just shrugged and said, "Naw. If I know Dragon Warrior games, there's another boss after this one." Sometimes predictable is good.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

The two boss thing really came into its own with DQ3. DQ1 was all about the Dragonlord, and DQ2's Malroth only popped in long enough to fight you. But DQ3 was where the two boss model was perfected. Just as you start celebrating taking down Baramos, Zoma goads you into crossing over into the cursed world for a fight (which, of course, was the world of DQ1 and 2, tying the whole trilogy together nicely).

DQ has been a series of trilogies thus far, with 1-3 being a single storyline and 4-6 being another. Part of me wonders what the connection between 7 and 8 is that we aren't being told yet.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

It can keep up in the sense that it's the only one of the three RPG series you've mentioned that legally CAN'T be released on a weekday in Japan because it would promote too much absence from work and school!

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