Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King

Written by Chris Reiter  on September 12, 2005

First Impressions: Dragon swallows Warrior. Quest is embarked upon to slaughter Dragon.

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RPGs are practically everywhere these days. But RPG aficionados will always keep in mind the very first two (and really, the only two) RPG series that would conquer above all through numerous iterations since their early days on the NES. These two contenders naturally are Squaresoft's Final Fantasy and Enix's Dragon Quest (or more commonly known to Americans as Dragon Warrior). Two RPG giants with two classic monikers in all the years of great role-playing profiles, have been situated in sort of a battle royal over which RPG giant was the superior. Fans sided with either one or the other as the better. That's all been put to rest though, as Square and Enix collided two years ago. With their combined understanding of a rich RPG history, Square Enix along with Level-5 (makers of Sony's Dark Cloud games) are readying the next installment in the Dragon Quest lore. Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King, the first next-gen and 3D title in the franchise, is going to hit home before you know it.

Evil is a dominant force that can do most anything it wants to others, to make the protagonist appear tiny opposite of the dark intimidating figure that's waiting for him or her at the end of a long and arduous RPG road. The mastery of evil within Dragon Quest VIII is a jester that goes by the name of Dhoulmagus. After acquiring a locked away magical scepter from Troden's castle, Dhoulmagus uses its forbidden power on the entire kingdom. Every last stinking inhabitant is transformed into a patch of prickly thorns. Even the king and princess would share in this awful reign of doom, but as something else. Looking in the mirror, these two would now be staring back at a pair of repulsive beasts masking their former identities. As fate would have it, the only one unaffected by the jester's spiteful ploy would be but a young guardsman named Yangus who now stands as the single minuscule hero right at the starting point of his epic journey onward. Along for the race to restore his kingdom back to the way it was, three friends who share a common grudge against this maniacal jester will eventually tag along with Yangus to join in the fight toward setting things right.

The Dragon Quest series has never been the fanciest RPG franchise. It's always stuck with its old-school roots. That's not changing anytime soon, so don't worry your "I <3 NES" logo cap wearing little heads. But since Dragon Quest VIII is continuing this retro tradition, what'll remain in this overdue eighth edition are the standard regular, special, and magical attack selections. What'll change to raise awareness of some kind of enhancement on the other hand, are a few different elements. Battle-wise, a skill point meter will now allow for upgrades of each individual character's fighting constitutions. Skill points will be earned the more enemies are defeated, and then these numerical values can be spent on enhancing weapon and magical advancements. Party members will become more proficient in one area or another with this tool; helping players to balance out their team in one particular attribute or for something else. A second major implementation for Dragon Warrior VIII is the Tension meter. Engaged in what'll be turn-based battles, characters will be able to augment their offensive force by choosing to wait their turn boosting up. When the next phase comes around, wham! Stronger character, a deader enemy.

Time of day will be another inaugural issue to affect the gameplay. New monsters will show up at night time hours, ones that'll be tougher. Town members will change positions as the minutes of the circling clock ticks to new settings (which will go from daytime hours, to evening, to night, and to dusk). With these shifts in gameplay patterns will also be a branching, never-before-seen makeover for the Dragon Quest series. 3D cel-shading will be a factor for the game's visual engine composing brightly artistic renderings. Famed Dragon Ball Z artist, Akira Toriyama, is the character designer behind Dragon Quest VIII's spiky-haired creations. With larger than large environments to navigate through the game (for instance, forestry green trails surrounded by water) and variations of expressions made from characters in battle (depending on the weapon selection each one has equipped), Dragon Warrior VIII is looking very lively and sharp as one of the most formidable games coming this fall.