Dragon Quest VIII

THE GOOD:
- Very nice cel-shaded graphics; environments look very beautiful, colorful and unique
- Extremely interesting story with many twists, turns, and secrets to uncover; you really get involved in what happens to these characters, and you really do not want to put down the game because you want to keep uncovering the story. You really want to solve the mysteries and stop the enemy from destroying the world and its inhabitants
- Huge world that you can almost entirely explore; cool towns; travel the land and oceans by foot, boat, land animal and sky animal; the "dark world" and story involved was a very interesting idea
- Amazing music that fits in with every environment, battle, etc
- Many great levels to travel and complete; cool puzzles to deduce
- Over 70 hours of gameplay in the first time though the game, and there is even more to do when the game is complete. More battling, leveling, and storyline await you; tons of replay value; I...

THE GOOD:
- Cell Shaded Graphics
- 80 Hours of Game-Play
- Huge Environment
- Many Sidequests
- Battle System
- Lots of Items
- Tons of Abilities to Learn

THE BAD:
- Mute Hero
- Times the game can seem somewhat childish
- Takes a long time to level up

SUMMARY:
The Dragon Quest Franchise has been out in Japan for quite some time now, usually being called Dragon Warrior. This is the first game that has been released to the U.S.A. and fans seem to be loving it. Sure, there can be a few childish things about it, but it truly is an RPG of the Ages, and you won't want to pass it up. The Replay Value isn't really there, but you can force it. The only real reason you might not want to play this game again, is because it's so long the first time around!

Gameplay 10/10

The Gameplay is quite fun. You start out in a small forest and are attacked by a group of slimes. Definitely the...

THE GOOD:

The Graphics

The characters (once again, the hero is a no name and voiceless character)

The story (sure it is a bit corny, but it's great and in depth)

The variety of things to do

The length (as I recall, this is about 150 + hours long!)

Voice actors

HUGE world

THE BAD:

The nameless, voiceless character

The voice actors are good, but they're all British

Looks a bit too much like Dragon Ball

Difficulty might be a bit harsh

The world is enormous, but the only bad part about that is that it might be a bit confusing.

SUMMARY:
Square Enix has outdone themselves and made a fantastic turn based RPG that swallows competition in every sort and form. I loved this game even more than FFVII, the King and Queen of RPGs. This game follows the journey of a young mercenary hired by a King to reclaim his land and be transformed back into a human, rather...

THE GOOD:
-Excellent Grahpics For The Ps2 -Huge World Map -Nice Anime Look to the game -Alchemy Pot Allows you to make your own items

THE BAD:
-Music is nice, but not that great -Buying Weapons and Amour is Diffucult -Game itself is hard as hell -Annoying British Accents

SUMMARY:
Graphics: 5/5 This game looks great for a ps2 title. This is the best Cell-Shaded Graphics I have ever seen. The World Map and the Environments you go to is also very detailed and is simply beautiful. The Character Design is great, and Akira (DBZ guy) made the main hero look a lot like Goku. (From the clothes to the Spiky Hair look when you at full Tension. Anyhow, these graphics are amazing Music: 3.5/5 Yeah the music is okay, but not okay, the music is in a short loop, which got me mad since Square has some really good Video game music. Also, the Voice acting is good, but the British accents were driving me crazy. I can't stand that,...

THE GOOD:
Easy to pick up, Good storyline, Doesn't falter in terms of length.

THE BAD:
Battle system is a bit simple, can take painstakingly long to level up.

SUMMARY:
In the days of such revolutionary rpg elements, such as the wheel in Shadow Hearts, Grandias unique battle system, and many other innovative rpgs, it's rare to see an rpg that goes back to the basics. Your classic turned based combat, with attack magic, abilities, and items. That's Dragon Quest VIII. Dragon Quest VIII won't do anything that will amaze you in innovation, or introduce anything new to you, but it still succeeds in providing a solid, easy to pick up and get into rpg experience.

The game follows the story of 4 travelers who meet in different places and combine to follow the same path. The game is very story driven, and does a good job from beginning to finish. Other than the absence of a voice for the main character, the voice acting is done well. Though...

THE GOOD:
Beautiful graphics
Interesting characters
British accents
Combat is enjoyable
Alchemy pot
Some tricky bosses

THE BAD:
Music tends to go in a short loop (although it's still good)
Random battles may put some people off

SUMMARY:
I'm going to start out by saying that this is certainly one of the best looking games on PS2, or any console for that matter. The cel-shading seems to fit perfectly with the game, and all the characters and environments look great.

You are a palace guard, mysteriously unaffected by a curse that leaves your palace in ruins and it's people turned into plants after a Jester called Dhoulmagus steals the magic sceptre kept in the castle. The hero is mute and you get to name him (I called him Orta). You set off with King Trode, who's been turned into a toad-like thing, and Princess Medea, who's taken on the guise of a horse. You're joined by Yangus, an ex-bandit, and later by...

Dragon Quest VIII is like it's name implies, the 8th game in Japan's long running successful RPG series. Dragon Quest/Warrior has always been a favorite of mine growing up and continues the old school RPG style to this day. Part 8 is no exception to this.

First off I gotta say I enjoyed this title a lot. In the world of gaming today where it's all Final Fantasy and big graphics with action gameplay it's so rare to find a series still keeping the old school style alive. Dragon Quest VIII offers great things in terms of it's overall gameplay and enjoyment. This is a game that can't be judged on graphics or battle system like most others but it's enjoyment factor.

Storywise it's solid. You follow the Hero (whatever you name him) and his companions Yangus; a former thief, Jessica; daughter to a noble family who's brother was taken from her by the villain of the story Dhoulmagus, and Angelo; a have fun type of guy but was an orphan young and hopes to avenge the death of...

THE GOOD:
- Cell-shaded graphics (I personally like them).
- Able to explore the world map to it's fullest.
- Transportation vehicles.
- Sabercats >=o!
- Hard difficulty (a must for RPGer's).
- Monster Arena
- FUN!

THE BAD:
- Mute Hero.
- Repetitive music (which is why there is a mute button).
- Only 4 characters.

SUMMARY:
First off I have got to say this brings life into the rather dead RPG game selection. It's an instant classic, and kept many of the same successful RPG elements as other titles. It isn't complicated so you can jump right in and play without much instruction.

For any person to likes RPG's and like a challenge, this is the game for you! The difficulty in this game is hard, which makes for fun game play. Bosses are a good challenge to. As soon as your thrown in the game and go on your first quest, you fight a boss. You had better be prepared to because he isn't the easiest boss you have ever...

Dragon Quest, if you care, is a game that existed mainly in Japan. But for some reason DQ 8 came into America. Now when I heard this I decided to get myself a copy because I heard a lot of good things about it.

WASTE OF MONEY!

Lets begin with the story: An evil jester gets some kind of power and turns a king into a frog monster, and the princess into a horse. If that wasn't 'bad' enough he also fills a castle with weed... But one soldier in the castle manages to survive the ordeal... You. (You can name the Hero whatever you want, I named him Kakarot for my game.) Now the game starts off with you and your best buddy, Yangus. You two, along with the transformed king and princess, set out on a quest to find the jester and make everything right again.

Now let me take the time to tell you that the story is boring as hell, with no twist at all. That jester seems to be behind every bad thing that happens in the world. "That jester killed my brother! That...

THE GOOD:
The overworld is humongous with no invisible walls. The only boundaries are unscaleable terrain.
The characters all have quirky personalities, apart from the mute HERO.
Each character can use a variety of weapons, including their bare hands.
Jessica's effing hawt. =D
There's a lot of customization available for each party member.
The villian isn't a typical badass guy in a cape with spiky hair; It's a jester called Dhoulmagus.
Epic story.
The characters have more than four animations each; More than most RPGs.
Art of Akira Toryama, famed creator of Dragonball and DBZ.
Very odd, creative monsters.
Many sidequests.
Angelo's effing hawt. =D

THE BAD:
Random battles are quite annoying.
You lose HP rather fast, causing you to use MP and Items very frequently.
Can be very difficult at times.
Every single character has a Britsh accent. Nothing against the English, but I'm from Texas, and it just gets a bit...