Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King

Written by John Scalzo  on November 10, 2005

Hands-On Preview: A Final Fantasy 12 demo ain't got nothing on new Dragon Quest. Verily.

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"Either Or" is a fun little game that video game fanatics have been playing since almost the very beginning. Basically, it's the fanboy game that states you can be only be a "true fan" of one thing in any Either Or set. Mortal Kombat or Street Fighter. Mario or Sonic. Nintendo or Sega. Madden or NFL 2K. The list goes on and on and on. And if you reach back far enough into the gaming timeline: Final Fantasy or Dragon Warrior.

I have been a Dragon Warrior man since the beginning. Receiving the first Dragon Warrior game free with my subscription to Nintendo Power was an awesome little bonus and has hooked me to each subsequent entry. Sadly for me, Final Fantasy and it's fans overtook the RPG wave in America and Dragon Warrior (known as Dragon Quest in Japan) was never really able to catch on here. So that's why DW fans are grateful to even get our hands on Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King in America. Yes we finally get to use the original name here in America. And it doesn't even have to be good. Except it is.

I got a little hands-on time with the newest DQ just before it ships across North America and it's everything a PlayStation 2 Dragon Quest game should be. This is an RPG like how they used to be and if the game could be shrunk down to NES size it would have found a home on the little gray box. But we're not on the little gray box anymore, so DQ had to grow up too.

The new look of Dragon Quest VIII was created by Level 5, famed creators of another underappreciated RPG series, Dark Cloud. For DQ8 they've gone back to famed anime artist Akira Toriyama (creator of Dragon Ball Z) to develop a new look for the series. And what a new look. As a kid in the early 90s, I had no idea who Akira Toriyama was, he was just a name in the Dragon Warrior instruction booklet next to the title "Monster Designer." For DQ8 he took many of those familiar designs (be they Slimes, Babbles, etc) and new designs (Dancing Devil, Mecha-Myna) and gave them all a cel shaded look. In fact, everything has a beautiful cel shaded look that finally gives the DQ games the same coloring book fantasy world that was hinted at with the drawings in the instruction book and strategy guides in previous games.

The other major change to the series is that battles no longer take place solely in first person mode. Sure the enemies still randomly appear out of thin air to engage in a fight and they face you in the beginning. But once the battle begins a dynamic camera jumps from angle to angle showcasing the battle from many different vantage points. It's a new look for the series and a welcome change to finally be able to see the battles.

But seeing is not playing and in that case, the DQ8 is very much like the Dragon Quest games of old. Battles are simple turn-based affairs where the player picks which action to take from the menu and then watches the battle unfold. Attacking, Item Usage, Spellcasting and Defensive Stances all make their return to the series. New in DQ8 is the "Psyche Up." Setting a character to Psyche Up with a turn will increase their strength so that they can unleash a stronger attack on their next turn. And Psyche Ups can be stacked so a character can Psyche Up several turns in a row until they unleash a fatal fury of fisticuffs. Oh yeah.

Also new to the battle system is the inclusion of Skill Points. Most times you level up the game rewards you with Skill Points that can be distributed to any weapon class so that when your character uses a weapon of that type they gain additional strength, abilities or magical powers.

Even with the new 3D look, maneuvering around the landscape works just as it did before. If you can see it, you can walk to it. Only water and giant boulders will block your path and traveling in different environmental settings will set you up for attacks from different monsters. A pathway features different monsters from a grassy area which features different monsters from a forested landmass, etcetera, etcetera.

The demo looks like it takes place from the very beginnings of the game in typical DQ fashion. An unnamed warrior stands outside the gate of a new city. Something evil has happened (in this case a house has been burned to the ground and a local sage was killed). For a first in the series, the hero is accompanied by two other heroes, Yangus and King Trode. Their stories will be told in flashback as the game progresses. King Trode's fate is revealed at the end of the demo, Yangus' story will assuredly be revealed in the full game.

Once in this city the player is encouraged to talk to everybody (remember that old bit of advice?) to learn about Dhoulmagus. Pages and pages of dialogue unfold from the townsfolk and actual voice work as well. Each character speaks with a British accent (including the nice work of rough and tumble strongman Yangus) and it gives the game that true old English charm that has been with the medieval England-set series since the beginning. Dhoulmagus is never seen in the demo but shortly after talking to everyone the hero is set out on a quest to find the fortune-teller's lost crystal ball.

The quest for the crystal ball takes you across a monster infested field to an underground cavern. Searching this cave brings treasure, tougher monsters and the nighttime. Yes, the passage of time, a staple of the DQ series, returns in part eight. Just as before, an unseen clock ticks down from morning til dusk til dark til dawn and back again. The nighttime is when the strongest enemies roam the plains separating the city and the cave.

The demo ends with a boss fight against some kind of merman with a speech impediment who is rather easy to take down once your party is leveled high enough. Yes, even in a short one town, one dungeon demo there is still a steep leveling curve to advance safely without getting killed. Ah Dragon Quest, how I've missed you.