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Dragon Quest VIII - how did you like it?
Highlander_77
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I realize I'm well behind the times with this one, but I just got this game a few weeks ago (somehow missed the boat when it first came out...probably because WoW still had me held captive in its evil, iron clutches at the time...). I'm pretty close to the end (I think) now, about 80 hours in...and I'm finding that this is one of the best RPGs I've ever played, possibly breaking into my Top 5 of all time (can't say for sure until after I've finished it and had some time to reflect on the whole thing).
Now, I realize the game introduces nothing new to the genre...and that it holds to some very old RPG conventions that most modern RPGs have eschewed in favor of newer systems. But everything it does is done so well...and I, for one, had actually (without realizing it) been hungering for a good, old-school RPG. I think one of the reasons I had been largely staying away from the genre recently was that I didn't care for the direction most of the games in it had headed. To me, DQVIII was like a breath of fresh air.
So why didn't I hear more about it at the time when it came out? Was I just not paying attention? Did it get largely overlooked by gamers?
Oh yeah, and why do I keep hearing people complaining about how tough the Godbird fight was? After everything I had read, I went into that fight expecting a royal ass-raping (with no lube)...and instead found it moderately challenging at most. I had a much harder time with the Dhoulmagus fight (though I may have been slightly under-leveled for that...I didn't have multi-heal yet. I imagine that fight would have been much less of a headache if I did).
Now, I realize the game introduces nothing new to the genre...and that it holds to some very old RPG conventions that most modern RPGs have eschewed in favor of newer systems. But everything it does is done so well...and I, for one, had actually (without realizing it) been hungering for a good, old-school RPG. I think one of the reasons I had been largely staying away from the genre recently was that I didn't care for the direction most of the games in it had headed. To me, DQVIII was like a breath of fresh air.
So why didn't I hear more about it at the time when it came out? Was I just not paying attention? Did it get largely overlooked by gamers?
Oh yeah, and why do I keep hearing people complaining about how tough the Godbird fight was? After everything I had read, I went into that fight expecting a royal ass-raping (with no lube)...and instead found it moderately challenging at most. I had a much harder time with the Dhoulmagus fight (though I may have been slightly under-leveled for that...I didn't have multi-heal yet. I imagine that fight would have been much less of a headache if I did).
"Madre de Dios! Es el Pollo Diablo!"Highlander_77 on
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[spoiler:4653ab41e8]I know damn good and well how I got sidetracked, I started playing Kingdom Hearts II again.[/spoiler:4653ab41e8]
The graphics were beautiful but I just couldn't play it. The battle system just frustrated me too much. If your turn came up and you needed to heal a party member, you don't know who will go first on your turn. So you have to have like 2 guys try and heal him. That pissed me off. Bah, I just didn't like the way that was done.
Also, this is a small gripe, but having to walk BACK out of the dungeon was extremely stupid. I know you can get items or skills, but the fact that the programmers put that in is just ridiculous.
Also, status effects lasted after the battle aswell. This just lowered my enjoyment of the game.
The level grinding was bad aswell. There was no smooth transition into the toughness of the enemies. It's like a visible line. You fight enemies that are easy, then bam! Cross over the line and the enemies are handing your ass to you.
That.. what's-his-name.. is hard.. I need to grind for five levels or so for Healing AOE spell.
you werent paying attention
As for the actual game, it's my favorite RPG of the generation. There's a certain whimsy about DQVIII that you have to accept the second you step out of that first town. There's a path that leads directly to the waterfall, yeah, but you can go off that path and explore around. Take a right and you see a dragon walking around with an axe and looking really pissy. Take a left and see some small animals running around a flower bed. Or the first time you walk out of the new port town and see the ruins of something out of the corner of your eye. They're not ruins that contain the boss or a treasure that is conveniently exactly what you need. They don't hold the secret to an ancient civilization or cure the main character of his crippling amnesia. They're just...ruins. Broken down old buildings that might have some herbs or something.
Dragon Quest VIII is not a world that exists specifically for the story. It's a world where the story takes place, which is the reason why I loved it.
That is all.
Boost the main character's tension up to max, and then try saying that.
I loved the crap out of 8. The visuals made the artists' (I always forget how to spell his name) work just pop out and come to life with no fudging whatsoever. (The puppet-like Blue Dragon, on the other hand, just leaves me cold.) It was beautiful, and I couldn't wait to run into another beastie. The skill system was also well-handled... simplified, yet pretty much every skill was useful.
The story left me flat, though. I couldn't get drawn into the attempts at emotions, and the ending was far, far too looooooooooooong.
I don't know...I don't recall ever having to actually hoof it back out of any dungeon on foot, except maybe the very first one. You get the 'Evac' spell real early on, and you can always use that to just warp back to the entrance.
I actually think it's kind of lame in most modern RPGs that status effects and such are instantly cured immediately after the battle...kind of takes most of the sting away. Why bother even using an antidote or whatever when the effect is just going to be removed right after the battle anyway? Who cares if half your party gets wiped out in battle if they're just going to be resurrected when it's over? In DQVIII, at least until you get the 'Zing' spell, there's some actual consequence to what happens in battle that carries over even after the battle has ended. That's how RPGs always used to be...
As for not knowing who's going to go first...that does annoy me a little sometimes (though the only time it's usually really a problem is in boss battles...most of the time I don't even bother healing during a regular fight, just wait until it's over and heal up then). It seems to be influenced partly by the characters agility, but it also seems somewhat random sometimes.
Very possible...like I said, WoW held me in it's thrall for far longer than I can possibly justify. Thank God I got away from that...
What makes the game work (and admittedly, I've left it languishing for a bit somewhere around the 35-hour mark due to not using my PS2 for much else besides a Guitar Hero machine) is that the sense of scale makes you feel like there's this ginormous world out there to explore. When you have to run halfway across the continent to make it to the next town, you're genuinely glad when you make your way up to the top of a hill and then see the town below you. And when you first take the ship out for a spin ... it's breathtaking, really.
The cel-shading is really beautiful, too. It's the first game since forever that I would actually just stop and pan the camera around from time to time just to marvel at how great everything looked.
As far as the turn-based battle menu ... it's Dragon Quest, mang. You might as well get mad at Doom 3 because you have to shoot people in it.
You hit on several of the things I love about it. It doesn't take itself too seriously (unlike a lot of current RPGs seem to do), and it doesn't lead you around by the nose for the greater part of the story. I liked the fact that I didn't always have a big flashing red cursor pointing out my next destination to me, and the fact that there's lots of optional, off the beaten path stuff for me to explore and discover.
And the fact that it has an actual WORLD MAP that I can traverse and explore at will. I don't know why this feature has fallen by the wayside in so many modern RPGs, but it definitely should be used more often.
It was an RPG with a simple plot but extremely lovable characters. No teen angsty self important philosophy here. Just some classic goodness with a gorgeous world and fantastic music. Probably one of my favorite JRPG and games of all time. (and I hate a ton of JRPGS).
My second favourite RPG ever.
Also, it rules even harder than others have said because of this guy
PM me if you'd like me to add you.________And yes, the last number is a 7.
I just go, "Oh... um... thanks?"
Edit for horrible spelling and grammar.
True, it wasn't a boring, ugly piece of shit that went for way too long, lacked a coherent story for 90% of the game, and damn near killed my love for a series I've enjoyed since childhood.
Goddamn, I hated DQ7...there was just no excuse for that after the awesomeness that was DQ 5 and 6, on a weaker system.
edit: Yeah, I loved the shit out of DQ8, there was a perfect balance of the old school DQ "feel" and many the modern more open, yet story-driven world.
My only problem with the Puppeteer character is that he's not a playable character on your team. I just wanted to see him more often.
PM me if you'd like me to add you.________And yes, the last number is a 7.
Final Fantasy it was just kind of like... I always had a metric ton of money and I never had to worry about buying weapons or leveling up or if the boss was going to kick my ass. I've said it many times over the last few years, based soley on my experiences playing Final Fantasy and the Final-Fantasy-alikes, "nobody plays RPGs for the gameplay", because Final Fantasy really doesn't feel like it has any game to play. You go here, press a button and the boss dies with very little effort or strategy.
DQ8, at least from what I saw of the demo, really forces you to grind levels and worry about your stats and what weapons and armor your guys have equipped. And it's fun because of this. I spent three hours in the story mode of the demo, on a quest that probably should've only taken me 30 minutes, just running around and killing stuff until I had bought one of everything at the shops. Once I did that, I wandered around and willingly got into Random Battles just so I could beat the rare/special enemies (The Dinosaur with the axe, etc.)
There hasn't been a turn-based RPG where I've actually wanted to get into random battles in a long, long, long time.
Hey, watch these videos of mine. DO IT.
You can beat it faster than that, just some folks get addicted to the DQ VIII Grind. My best friend clocked something like 120 hours on the thing before finally beating it -- 'cause he wanted to.
PM me if you'd like me to add you.________And yes, the last number is a 7.
[spoiler:cdc434b8fb] Dragovian Trials, but I'll be damned if the Dragovian King doesn't kick my ass everytime. [/spoiler:cdc434b8fb]
On topic, DQVIII does what it should have for the PS2; reintroduce the series to American gamers on a positive note. DQVII was late in the US rpg scene for the psx, and not alot of people liked that it had 120+ hours of gameplay plus endless grinding depending on how advanced you wanted your jobs to be.
The only thing that irked me was the fact that DQVIII replaced all the original spell names with crap and messed around with the menus.
The DQ IV remake would have won people over if it wasn't for it being cancelled in the states.
edited for spelling and clarity