Dragon Quest VIII: Like or Loathe?

[Koby]

My sister bought this game and I played it for just a little bit before she sold it. I even played the Final Fantasy XII demo that had came with it. My sister said it was a decent game but it got boring real fast and she just couldn't stand to continue playing it.

Well when I was done playing it I was still at level 1, LOL. I thought it was okay up to where I'd gotten thus far. But I don't know, I've heard alot of people get bored of it fast as well.

I'll post my sisters' view since she has more knowledge of it.

I've got mixed feelings with this game. Yeah it looks pretty and the voice actings not bad, but I hate the boss battles. So frustrating because theres no save points near bosses and you can only save in churches in towns; Huge let down there in my opinion.

I don't understand why there are only save points in churches, its ridiculous and you can't save on the map or camp! And I hate the fact that when you die, half your gold is taken from you!

[Rawkstar]

lol your sister is soooo right... That's dumb you can only save in churches!!!!

Well, I only brought this game for the FFXII demo but after playing this game for a while it grew one me. I like the art-style and voice-acting. It's too samiler like Zelda (the main leader *The Hero* looks too much like him) I enjoyed the battle system but it's too far hard to level up... You have to fight, fight, fight, fight... Sooo repatitive and it gets boring after a while... I'm already bored with the game but I want to finish it. I also liked the side-quest in this game. I forgot but this feature in this game was fun the uhhh Team Monster Battle... I think was the name. You had to like form three monsters, find some powerful ones and then go to the Aerna and fight then get a rank.

Last but not least, I loved the transportation in this game. You can fly like an egle (be one), ride on a tiger, and sail on a boat. It was fun! AND, this game is HARD!!! H-A-R-D >

lol I don't understand why they have those bunny suits LMAO!!!!

[Koby]

I'm considering buying this game. I have no earthly idea why..

If they still have it at $17 at game stop tomorrow I will get it. >_<

[unerasable sin]

its a decent game, with a lot of thought gone into it, but i must admit boss fights are generally tough and save points are few and far away. the feel of the game is pretty awesome with voice acting as a bonus, plus the games graphics are really quite crisp but the fact that there's no FMV or CG kinda spoils a potential awesome game from Square-Enix.

[hotspot]

I like dragon quest 8, it was deffinatley a good improvement.

[Koby]

Well this topic is old.. but a lot of people have recently showed interest in playing it, so I'm going to bump this topic, plus update on it about me.

I played it, got all the way through the game in less than a week. Loved every bit of it..

I honestly don't see what the fuzz was about. Sure it may not have a very strong story or great music, but it's still a really fun game. It's nice to play something like this which reminds me of the old RPG turn-based battles compared to all this new stuff that's active and based on graphics like Final Fantasy XIII.

[lhbnna]

The game was a let down for me after it received a lot of very good reviews. The story did not interest me enough to complete the game. I will certainly give the game another try sometime in the future now that my expectations is not too hi.

[LadySumire]

I enjoyed DQ8 personally. It did have it's slow points, but it didn't bore me so much that I couldn't play the game. I thought it was rather fun & the alchemy an interesting side quest.

[superskull69]

DQ8 was a bad game

[xTyranityx]

Personally I enjoyed it ^.^ although I do see your point of view with the saves and boss fights. Now that was aggravating.

[PseudoSage]

Definitely an old-school RPG with all the annoying bits intact.

Story: Bland and generic. No curve-balls. Just a Hero and his cohorts doing tasks for everyday citizens that will somehow allow them to save the world.

Art: Akira Toriyama at his finest. Hope you two of the main characters looking like DBZ characters! (I'll give you a hint: Trunks and Gohan.)

Sound: Decent. Music gets the job done, but it's not that memorable. As for voice acting some will shine and others fall flat. Favorite to hear speak was Yangus, "Cor Blimey!"

Gameplay: Well it is the traditional turn based. Instead of choosing classes you get points to pour into weapon and magic proficiencies for preset characters. Alchemize items and weapons, different weapons can hit multiple opponents, etc. Standard DQ affair. The leveling-up does take a toll and I only got my team up to around level 60 after beating the final boss at 50 and with seemingly a hundred hours of grinding unsuccessfully! Leveling up at that stage depends solely on what super rare enemies appear and if you can kill them before they flee.

Overall if you're looking for something just to pass the time this is it. The sidequests like Monster Arena fighting and finding stuff to alchemize is pretty fun actually. However the meat of the game is a glammed up version of previous Dragon Quests. You'll be selecting the same weapons, same attacks, and putting points in the same trees as in the last installments. It would be forgivable, but after obtaining every item and getting to about level 50 you'll have little incentive to replay this gem.

This over specific review brought to you by PseudoSage! "PseudoSage: He's kind of like a false prophet, only he doesn't take your money!"

[† Mute point]

In the previous installments, you didn't have skill trees to put points into.

I have not played this yet.. But I intend to look for it everywhere in town until I find a copy. Huge DQ fan (Both Dragon Quest, and Dairy Queen. lol)

[Kid Ryan]

I love the game, almost done playing it.