Dragon Quest VIII Impressions
For those that are interested I thought I might post some info about the latest RPG offering from Japanese behemoth Square-Enix. Both companies became one some time ago with Square being the developers of titles like Final Fantasy and Enix the company behind the massively popular (in Japan) Dragon Quest series. I’m a big fan of the Final Fantasy series with 7 and 10 being my favourites though I felt 10-2 was an horrific departure from an otherwise stella franchise. As for Dragon Quest I knew it was very popular in Japan but unfortunately have never had the opportunity to try any of the games up until now. I also have a long history or perhaps a love affair with Japanese RPGs in general, including classics like Chrono Trigger and Phantasy Star as well as more recent offerings like Xenosaga, .Hack, Star Ocean, Breath of Fire, Golden Sun and of course Final Fantasy. I’ve always been a huge fan of turn-based party RPGs and unfortunately western developers or perhaps more accurately western publishers have had very little interest in the genre for many years now with seemingly little acknowledgement of their success in the east. I long for day when someone realises that there is still market for the next Fallout or another Planescape or Baldur’s Gate with out getting sucked into the mass market, flashy 3D, action/RPG hybrid formula that masquerades as single player RPG experience these days (notable exceptions - Gothic 1 & 2, Wizardry 8, Silent Storm). I blame the Xbox, but that’s another story…
The artist is Akira Toriyama who created the DargonballZ series so that gives a you a good idea of the art style.
The Director is Akihiro Hino who worked on the Dark Cloud series. In fact the developer of Dragon Quest VIII is Level 5 who also developed the Dark Cloud series.
The producer is Yuji Horii and he worked on Chrono Trigger and others in the Dragon Quest/Warrior series.
So hopefully from that list you get some idea of the influences in the game. The art style, a combination of cel-shade 3D for characters and standard, though highly saturated, colourful 3D artwork for environments is pleasing to the eye and defies the now 5 year old tech limtiations of the PS2. The world is massive and is free roaming with no loading screens other than entering towns, combat and/or buildings.
As for gameplay, make no mistake Dragon Quest VIII is an ‘old school’ Japanese RPG. If you don’t like parties, random encounters or trun-based combat this game is not for you. However, if don’t find those things too daunting or you’re a fan of that style of RPG this is a must get game. The world is vast, the story is pretty cool (if a little cliched), the characters are awesome and the art is gorgeous. As with most Japanese RPGs the character development system is great, while not as complex as most. And though the combat is turn-based (not a downside in my book), it’s very easy and quite quick for most battles. You even learn abilities later in the game that allow you to dispatch annoying low level monsters almost instantly or not encounter them at all.
I have been playing the game now for around 30+ hours and I think I’m maybe half way through it so you really get your money’s worth of content. There’s also extra stuff you discover like gambling games and best of all the monster arena. You can collect certain monsters you encounter throughout the world to become part of you group and even send them in to fight for you in battles or compete against other monsters in the monster arena. I’m blown away by the amount of stuff in this game and I find it a refreshing change from the piles of fumulaic licensed and serialized drival that fill retail shelves in the local game stores these days.
The only downside for some is that the PAL release for the game is not due till April 06 according to the official European site so if you want to play it now you will have to order from the US/Canada and have an NTSC compatable PS2 to play it. Yet another example of the appalling region lock system that makes life for most hardcore gamers more difficult than it needs to be for no recognisable advantage. Thanks Sony…NOT!
Official US Dragon Quest VIII Site
Official European Dragon Quest VIII Site
List of Reviews - Game Rankings
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posted by rob · at 1:20 pm · filed under News, First Impressions
You might want to check out the demo for Gods- Lands of Infinity. It’s a TB RPG. Seal of Evil might also appeal; there’s a review of it I wrote on www.rpgdot.com Fallout 3 is in production and Gothic 3 is due for release later this year. We carry all the best RPG news and 3 of the Staff, including the Editor in Chief are Australians!! :)