DRAGON QUEST VIII: Journey of the Cursed King – PS2 – Preview

Ok, here is the deal.  In
Japan there are really two main RPGs that captivate the Japanese market, Final
Fantasy and Dragon Quest.  Sure other RPGs are released but they usually fail to
capture the attention of gamers as FF or DQ.  The Dragon Quest series at one
time was more successful than the Final Fantasy series.  In fact DQ became so
popular that a law was passed that made it illegal to release a Dragon Quest
game on a weekday.  People skipped school and work just to buy the newest DQ
games.  But over here in America it wasn’t the same.  It seems that Dragon Quest
(Dragon Warrior) was never going to capture the same audience that Final Fantasy
was grabbing.  But that isn’t to say that Dragon Warrior/Dragon Quest wasn’t a
popular game in America, because it was, but its popularity was more of a cult
phenomenon. 

When the last Dragon
Warrior game was released in American (part seven) the hopes and dreams of the
hardcore DQ fans in
America were
captivated again.  The hardcore gamers loved the game but once again it seems
that Dragon Warrior was meant to be a small blip on the radar instead of a large
blip that all of the Final Fantasy games were creating.  The power of the
internet didn’t let the game die or the legacy of the previous Dragon Warrior
games die.  Just check out eBay for the prices on the original Dragon Warrior
games to see that people still wanted Dragon Warrior in
America.
When the new Dragon Quest game was announced for the Japanese market the
appetite of the American gamers became worse with each new screen shot and
morsel of information released.  The same question was asked over and over again
“Will Dragon Quest 8 come out in America?”  Well I’m happy to report to all of
you that have been waiting for so long that the answer is YES!  Dragon Quest 8
is coming to America and you will not be disappointed. 

The first issue I had
with the game was the name.  Why Dragon Quest 8 and why not Dragon Warrior 8?
Well it seems that Square Enix really wants to push the Dragon Quest name since
it’s been such a huge series over in Japan and decided to keep the name for the
American market.  This isn’t the old school, truly hardcore Dragon Quest game,
this is a Dragon Quest that really shines.  The visuals are amazing with cel-shading
being used on all of the graphics in the game.  All of the characters in the
game were designed by the creator of the Dragon Ball series and with the cel-shaded
graphics the characters look as if it’s an anime instead of a video game.  If
you ask most casual gamers they will probably point out that one big turn off to
the previous DQ games in America were the simple graphics.  Now that isn’t a
problem.  The game looks stunning and regardless if you’re a DQ or a FF fan
there should be no complaints about the graphics.

The game will also
include voiceovers for the characters in the game.  With the demo on hand at E3
not all of the characters were fully voiced but during the cut scenes the
characters had voiceovers.  The voiceovers sounded good with each character
having their own unique voice.  Several characters even had their own accents as
well to add more style to the game.  The game includes the traditional Dragon
Warrior/Quest sound effects that for many gamers have become as familiar as the
Mario theme, Zelda theme or Final Fantasy theme. 

The game is still old
school in the way the battles are handled.  There are random battles that you
will have to encounter during the game.  The combat system is very straight
forward as well with turn based battles that everyone has probably done several
times over by now.  The game does include a taunting feature during combat where
you can taunt an enemy that might result in the enemy being scared away from
battle.  There is a skill points section that allows you to earn points for the
different skill levels the characters possess.  There won’t be a wagon in this
game so you will need to keep a party together to make sure everyone does level
up.

The controls during the
rest of the game are simple and easy enough for anyone to play right away.  The
game is presented in a behind the back third person perspective.  The right
analog stick allows you to control the camera angle at anytime by moving the
stick left or right to move the camera.  The menu options are simple and easy to
understand as well.  Square Enix did mention that the menu screens were updated
for the American release to show a few more small feature displays such as
weapons, items, etc.  This was encouraging to hear since it does indicated that
Square Enix is serious about getting this game ready for the American market.

Dragon Quest 8 looks to
be a tremendous game that should please fans of the series and RPG fans.  If
you’ve never played a Dragon Quest game before than this will probably be a
great starting point with the excellent graphics and easy to use controls.  I
know that the Dragon Quest fans have been rabid for information on this game so
I hope this helps.  I hope this is the first in a long series of new Dragon
Quest games to be released in America from Square Enix.

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