Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King

"Finally an RPG that begs gamers not to take it seriously"

Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King

Story

The fine folks at Square have established a legacy of games with fantastically gripping storylines that leave you twitching in your sleep, and Dragon Quest VIII is not one of them. The story of DQVIII clings to the tried and true epic: the journey of the hero, the saving of the world, a cheesy princess, and other whatnot. One thing it does not do, however, is take itself seriously. Instead of pretending to have a killer story, the games focuses on making everything else as fun as possible. The characters, while not as complex as say, Cloud of FFVII or Fei from Xenogears, are fun, engaging, and consistent. When it comes down to it, storyline is not the main attraction of DQVIII, but it is by no means a negative attribute. The point of the game is that yeah, you've played/read/watched/heard this same story before, but the way it's presented makes it great.

Graphics

Dragon Quest VIII is visually stunning but not at all realistic. If you're looking for graphics so picturesque that you think there's really a lake in your TV, you are likely to be shocked and offended at the “cartoony” visuals found in this game. But the lack of real-life accuracy is far from a drawback here. The cell shading, bright colors, and whimsical designs really help pull the playful attitude of the game together. Creativity abounds in character, monster, and NPC designs, and while some of it may seem a little silly, it still looks undeniably good. Besides that, the people and creatures move beautifully and smoothly, just like they should. You don't want a gorgeous character running around like a rusty C-3PO. One of my favorite aspects of the game is the occasional jab of visual humor, as in the floating coffins seen when the party enters a city with one or more dead allies. Plus, the fact that the characters' appearances actually change (though not completely) when you equip them with new items is a nice touch, though I secretly hope this feature is played up more in all games. World map? Not boring! Town layouts actually make sense, and they don't all look the same. And there are dynamic camera movements available both in battle and just running around to keep things from being too choppy. I love that you can explore a whole mansion without waiting through a load screen, but it still doesn't look like anybody was skimping on the pretty little bits that make the environment more interesting.

My only actual disappointment with the game is the design of Rhapthorne. While I see what the artists were getting at, I personally found him more repulsive than amusing or threatening. And what was with that dangling tube thingy at the bottom of his body? Was somebody just making sure he had the means to function and/or excrete normally? I really wish that Rhapthorne had taken on more of the essence of that cool winged beastie that Dhoulmagus and Sir Leopold turned into earlier in the game. Overall though, the graphic/design style is out of the ordinary as far as current RPGs go, and it is spectacularly done.

Sound

Being the soundtrack fanatic that I am, I won't tell you that you should go out and buy the DQVIII soundtrack and listen to it whenever you can, because you shouldn't. The musical score for this game is no Final Fantasy soundtrack and doesn't even come close to something like Xenogears, which has actually achieved successful remixes and devoted fans (myself included). The music is stylized to fit the mood of the game and the places in it and is usually rather lighthearted. This is not a bad thing. I rather enjoyed the fact that the “intense energized holy crap” song for the game was still playful and splashy. At the same time, the music for Savella Cathedral gave me chills and the song that is played at the Tower of Alexandria was gorgeous. Another nice part about the music is that though it fits the setting and is not distracting, it isn't boring and flat. There are layers of sounds to the songs that tend to jump out and surprise you when, for example, you run to get a drink and then come back and notice how cool the music can be. But you wouldn't want to listen to it while you're driving your car or trying to fall asleep at night. My point here is that while this soundtrack is not a work of pure genius, but it was not an ignored element and it fits the game like a glove.

Sound effects! Also lovely. Sounds are simple, appropriate, and often give the finger to reality without being ridiculous. My personal favorite is the puff-puff sound, but really all of it was well thought out. The voice acting is by far some of the best ever exhibited by any video game ever, far surpassing, say, the voice of Aeris in Kingdom Hearts 2. Viva la yikes to whoever cast that one. Bravo to the voice actors of DQVIII with actual talent and brilliant performances. Creative designs and scripts do a great job of giving you an idea of what a character is like, but nothing beats an impeccable round of voice acting. Instead of just being able to listen to characters speak, you get to actually enjoy their voices and imitate them in your head when you're reading lines without sound. Some of the characters did speak way more slowly than I had patience for, but I could skip through it and still rest assured that had I not been too impatient to listen, it would have sounded great. I understand sound isn't going to make or break the quality of a game for most people, but I feel the amount of work and thought that goes into the tiny details should be recognized.

Gameplay

The word of the day for gameplay is versatility. The attention to detail in all aspects of Dragon Quest VIII adds a lot, but this is really where the big guns come out. You can arm your characters with swords (and maybe a scythe for Yangus) and run about slashing things and collecting sweet shiny swords to drool over. Alternatively, you could throw a boomerang on the Hero, a whip on Jessica, hammers on Yangus and bows on Angelo, giving you a wide range of abilities and fighting styles. For fun, you could beef up everyone's Fisticuffs skills and smash stuff that way. Beyond that, you have the option of busting out spells in battle, punching the attack command, or using fun abilities like Jessica's Puff-puff or Yangus's Underpants Dance to disarm and destroy your enemies.

As in all RPG's, the degree of difficulty depends entirely upon how you approach the game. If you get hooked on the idea of just getting to the end a skip a few battles now and then, you'll have to spend more time leveling up later. Similarly, things might be a little tougher if you spread out your skill points too much too early on, leaving you with the ability to use a range of weapons but perhaps lacking in the stellar damage department. High level or not though, some of the later bosses get a little tricky with moves like the wave of ice, or even just the fact that most of them get two turns in each round. As with most things, just play it smart and you really can't go wrong.

Dragon Quest VIII is not my favorite RPG of all time, and I will not suggest that it is the best RPG available for the PS2, and it's not going to own your soul like that perfect game will. But, it is extremely well crafted, fun to play, a break from the ordinary, and worth the time and effort of any RPG fan. You can even put it down for a couple of weeks and pick it right back up again without feeling like you owe it to the game to just start over. Give it a go, it's a good laugh and it's fun to play, even if the story does have the familiar echoes of…..any other epic adventure ever created.

…Oh yeah, and you get that delectable FFXII demo when you bring home this baby. Drooooool. So really, the Final Fantasy lover in everyone demands that you play Dragon Quest VIII!

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 07/16/06