Dragon Quest VIII

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 weakest monsters in the game, but it's just so you can see the style of battle. The Battle System is Turned Based, and there are many options once engaged. You will be walking around in the Field, in a Dungeon, or anywhere else that is prone to monster attacks. Eventually, you will encounter a single, or group of monsters. You can then use commands like Attack, Spells, Defend, or Tension. Raising Tension basically doubles the next attack, and you can raise it more than once. The best way to use Tension, is to avoid having to pay MP For a Spell twice. There are other useful ways to use it as well. Once you level up, starting around level 4 or 5, you gain Skills Points. Not much at first, but you can chose where to allocate them. By placing them in different places, the Character will gain skills that he can use for a certain amount of MP, if he has the right weapon equipped. For Example, giving Axe Skill Points to Yangus allows him to learn useful Axe Skills, which he can utilize in battle. From just raising attack, to learning to abilities that allow him to get a critical hit more easily. There are lots of abilities to learn. Each Character also has their own set of weapons. Some are not completely unique to a character, but each Character has 3 main weapons, Fisticuffs (No Weapons) or their Special Skill Set. The best thing to do is usually Maxing out the Special Skill and One Main Weapon. You start out with 2 Characters on your Journey, and within a fairly short time, you'll have obtained all 4 Playable Characters. They will all be in your party at all times, so you don't really have to worry about one not leveling up as much as the other.

Graphics 10/10

The Graphics are great. Some people may not be a fan of Cell Shaded Graphics, but even if you're not, it shouldn't be enough to put you off of this game. Just as the Hero is mute, the game is still plenty enjoyable. The artist of Dragon Ball Z (Akari Toriyama)
is also the person responsible the Character Design of the people in Dragon Quest VIII. You notice some strong resemblance in the spiky hair, and the way the Hero's Eyes are shaped. The Entire Landscape has small but significant things that add to the overall color experience of the game. The whole world is huge, and there are so many Vibrant colors in every part of it.

Music 10/10

The music is a bit repetitive. You'll find that the same music plays pretty much whether you're in a Field, Dungeon, or any other place that can have random monster battles. When you're in a Town, the music changes. Also, when facing a boss, it's pretty similar to the main monster music. So you've got Main, Town, and Boss Music. Not a huge variety, but it still blends in with the game pretty well. I enjoyed listening to it while I was wondering around hunting monsters. And of course you have the option to turn down specific things. If you want to turn the Background Music completely off, you can do so easily. It's a good feature if you need it, but you probably won't.

Story 8/10

Ouch. Here's the game's one main fault. Now, before you walk away, don't let me saying it has a bit of a bad story completely detour you from this game. The game is still fantastic, just the only problem is that the story can be a bit childish at times. The basic of the story is that an evil Jester stole a Magic Scepter from a Castle and everyone in it was cast under a Spell that froze them in time. The Hero is unaffected, and the King is transformed, but not frozen. The Hero is then looking after the King for the time being. The story may be a bit childish, but the game is still long and fun, and there's tons of things to do.

Overall 38/40

Overall a great game. Awesome Graphics, some nice music to play by, and a long, huge, and Vibrant world. Anyone who likes RPG's at all should look into this. Sure it has some childish moments, but the overall game is still fantastic, and provides you with tons of things to do. The game will keep you busy for a good 80 hours, plus any sidequests after that. It's easily possible to play for over 120 hours if you really get into it. Dragon Quest VIII has been sitting on the shelf for a while, so it's only $20 now. Anyone who likes RPG's in the least should definitely check out this awesome Title.

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, also, it frustrates me more that the main hero is a mute Gameplay: 5/5 This is were the game shines. The game play is old school RPG, so your not getting any Junction system, or Xenesaga's battle system, your getting Old school, take turn fighting. Which i like a most, since most RPGs now are so confusing to learn. In battle, you have attack, abilities, spells, defend, item and Charge. There is also the alchemy pot which allows you to make your own items, but can take a long time till the item is complete. but i like it. Also, this game is hard as hell, from the random battles to the boss battles, which makes me like the game even more So, in the end, if you love Rpgs like me. then this is a must have, if you don't like RPgs, but you like Dragon ball, try it out, if you don't like any of these, then you should consider renting it. I loved the game and I'm sure you would to

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 less than half of the dialogue is voiced other, it's understandable. The graphics aren't going to amaze you, but they get the job done. The one thing Dragon Quest does have is a fairly unique skill system, allowing you to improve your use of different weapons as well as your magic with full customization in your hands. Not to mention the fact that the main character is able to use a boomerang, very cool way to shy away from the standard, swords and staffs you see in rpgs.

Overall the game is fairly challenging, with many easy bosses, as well as hard ones. You will have to do some leveling up outside of the storyline, which may be bothersome to some, as it literally takes hours to level up, when you get deep into the game. The length of the game is quite long, and depending on how many sidequests you partake in, could take you anywhere from 70-110 hours, which is nice. It feels like just about the right length. When you do finally reach the end, you'll feel like it's about time to you've beat the game, but not that it was a burden as far as time spent.

Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King, is an old school rpg, that your probably used to if you've been playing since the playstation, nintendo 64, and even the Nintendo days. It gets the job done with interesting characters, and an interesting storyline. I reccomend that any rpg fan should at least check this one out.

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 Jessica and Angelo, and all these people are after Dhoulmagus for their own reasons.

This a quite a traditional style RPG, with many traits of that genre. For example there are random battles. They occur with just the right frequency, allowing you to travel a reasonable distance without being attacked so you don't get annoyed. The combat is also turn-based, but it's very enjoyable and snappy.

Of course you gain experience from all these random battles and level up. You gain skill points which you can choose to allocate to the various attributes of the character. After allocating a certain amount of skill points to an attribute you gain a new skill or move in that area.

The landscape is vast. You're free to travel wherever you please around the giant, beautiful-looking land looking for treasure or just wandering around.
The characters all have distinctive personalities and back-stories, and they all have British accents. Being British, I liked this a lot. The voices fitted the characters well and it almost felt like the game had been made with me in mind.

The alchemy pot is a nice way of making new and rare items you can't get any other way. There's a wide variety of weapons and armour to buy but the best items can't be bought. That's where you have to use thr alchemy pot. It's not overly confusing but still has a good depth for making new items, and you often find snippets of recipies and have to figure out the rest from clues.

Overall I found this to be not just the best RPG on the PS2, but also one of the best games on the console. It's a very traditional style RPG which won't appeal to everyone, but if you like that sort of game as I do then you can't afford to miss out on this game.

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 fought.

The side quests in this game are very entertaining. Later on in the game you will get access to the monster arena. In DQ8 while on the world map you'll see monsters roaming around. Don't fight these until you get access to the quest to collect the starter 3 monsters to open the arena. Once you have your monster team, and beat a couple of ranks you can use your team in battles outside of the arena like you would use summons. This is a nice addition to the game play.

All in all, this is a classic RPG that provides a great challenge. I recommend it to any RPGer for a buy but if you're still not sure then rent it. This game should not go un-noticed.

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 annoying after four hours.
King Trode's voice is especially frustrating.
Saving and Reviving can be a big hassle.
Most alternate weapons are completely useless, and Fisticuffs are just plain stupid.
HERO, Yangus, Jessica, and Angelo are the only characters you get in the entire game. Not too bad for most, but I just like having a variety of characters in RPGs.

SUMMARY:
This is one of the best RPGs on the PS2, hands down. The story can be a teensy bit boring at times, but usually it keeps your interest. The gameplay is classic turn based 4 vs ? fighting, something that's been suspiciously absent as of late. It's been a lot of quirky, oddball fighting systems and real time combat for the past few years, which has left me yearning for a game like this for awhile.

The graphics are Dragonball Z inspired, because, like I said, Akira Toryama did the character designs. This is also the reason HERO's hair sticks up like a Super Saiyan as he goes into Super High Tension.

The colorful and friendly appearence of the world and character/monster models are decieving, however. The storyline is wraught with death and tragedy, vengeance and malice. It's much darker than you'd think.

The basis of the storyline is that a jester, Dhoulmagus, stole a super-powerful scepter out of Castle Trodain. He turned King Trode into a toad-like creature and turned Princess Medea into a horse. The scepter's power was too much for him, and as such he accidentally released a curse upon the castle, covering it in thorny vines and turning everyone inside into pseudo-living plants, trapped in time. Everyone, that is, except you.

As HERO, you've set out with King Trode and Medea on a journey to find Dhoulmagus, running into the bandit Yangus along the way. Some talk is exchanged, a bridge collapses, you save his life, he joins you. Soon after that, you meet the sharp-tongued mage, Jessica, and the healing swordsman, Angelo, and the five of you (six if you count Medea) try to find Dhoulmagus, for your own reasons. (Actually, Yangus is just following you around, he doesn't really have a beef with Dhoulmagus.)

All in all, this is a superb game that you should not hesitate to buy if you are an RPG fan. If you're not, try it first, but I personally enjoy it greatly.

(And I'm not biased towards RPGs, I'm a Halo player also.) =)