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Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King

Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King

  • Publisher
    Nintendo
  • Developer
    Square Enix
  • Release date
    27 Nov 2004

Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King, known in the PAL regions as Dragon Quest: The Journey of the Cursed King, is a role-playing video game developed by Level-5 and published by Square Enix for the PlayStation 2.

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AGM score 88%
IGN 9
GameSpot 9
Metacritic 84
anime
strategy
health
death
explosion
helmet
cutscene
classes
instant kill
political thriller
hit points
adventure
destructible environment
water
overworld
sequel
nameless protagonist
multiple protagonists
hammer
e3 2005
fantasy
dagger
flight
turn-based
gambling
party system
experience points
moral decisions
voice acting
greatest hits
role playing
palette swap
non-player character
stat tracking
s-rank
table
fan service
first-person perspective
currency
power of friendship
gender exclusive equipment
boss fight
save point
staircase
multi-phase boss
scripted events
magic
sword
backtracking
dungeon crawling
inventory
boomerang
giant insects
shield
silent protagonist
sword & sorcery
human
shopping
bow
key
treasure chest
side quests
slashing weapons
knight
coming of age
monster chest
fetch quests
poison
portal
fast travel
status effects
timeskip
retroactive achievements
damage over time
multiple endings
possession
original soundtrack release
blindness
horse
spear
gold
armor
grinding
day/night cycle
leveling up
character creation
romance
artificial intelligence
dialogue trees
amnesia
good vs evil
mounts
revive
axe
knife
active ability
optional boss
damage numbers
mp
english accent
tentacles
throne
elements
plot twist
new protagonist in sequel
flashback
plate armor
random encounter
battle screen
roman numerals
potential love interest
ye olde english
dullahan
happily ever after
alternate costumes
cel-shading
creature compendium
dragons
depth of field
bandana
alcoholic beverages
breast bounce
milk
coffin
royalty
cheese
dress
minigames
ship
escaping imprisonment
sea monster
alchemy
war hammer
first person melee
skeleton warriors
repetitive chitchat
restoration
comic relief
usurper
golem
rich snob
narcissist
reading
crown
teenager
wand
pax prime 2014
streetpass functionality
whip
slime
scythe
item combination
mummy
rod
weapon blur
sequel by a different developer
terror
alchemy pot
sabre
rapier
secret identity
monster capturing
snakes
moat
one-handed gameplay
giant squid
character screen
bunny suit
covered wagon
ancient curse
circle pad pro support
medical herb
jester
igloo
broad sword
lady's man
jailcat
sabrecat
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About Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King

Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King is released by Nintendo in 27 Nov 2004. The game is designed by Square Enix. Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King is a typical representative of the Role-playing (RPG) genre. Playing Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King is a pleasure. It does not matter whether it is the first or a millionth hour in Role-playing (RPG), there will always be room for something new and interesting. Thrilling levels and gameplay Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King will not leave anyone indifferent. The complexity of gameplay increases with each new level and does not let any player get bored.

In addition to it in 27 Nov 2004 released games such as:

In addition to Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King, the representatives of Role-playing (RPG) games also belong:

A complete list of games like Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King can be found at AllGame here.

Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King is versatile and does not stand still, but it is never too late to start playing. The game, like many Role-playing (RPG) games has a full immersion in gaming. AllGame staff continues to play it.

Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King is perfect for playing alone or with friends.

At AllGame you can find reviews on Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King, gameplay videos, screenshots of the game and other Role-playing (RPG) representatives.

Dragon Quest VIII : Journey of the Cursed King - Critique

Author: John Robertson
Date: 2020-07-30 23:19:29
Translated from English by IGN France.

Some portages give you the pleasant feeling of having reunited with an old friend, while others are like an awkward reunion in the company of old comrades with whom you no longer have anything in common. Fortunately, Dragon Quest VIII: The Odyssey of the Cursed King is a timeless role-playing game that is proving to be as valid and wonderful as it could be when it was first released in 2005. Its mechanics and basic structure remain solid. , and these are even reinforced by the arrival of certain new cleverly implemented functions.

Basically this is a Japanese RPG in its purest form. The turn-based combat system differs little from those adopted by its countless colleagues, the quality of its storytelling constantly oscillates between “charming quirk” and “bizarre charm”, and the way you travel between towns, dungeons and open environments overflowing with enemies feel surprisingly familiar.

What differentiates this adventure from the majority of its peers, including all those released after its great debut on Playstation 2, remains the control it shows when it comes to making its entire universe coherent. Not a single introduced element feels out of place, and not a single feature sees its potential spoiled, in this game's relentless quest to demonstrate just how rewarding the traditional structure of a JRPG can be. Everything from visual rendering and writing to battles and world map design has been thought out and designed with obvious flair and skill, and such successes can only be done by developers who understand. precisely the video game framework to which they are attached.

Take for example the character design, which turns out to be simply amazing and certainly represents one of the best works of famous manga artist and character designer Akira Toriyama. This is the man who drew a plethora of characters that you inevitably know, from Dragon Ball to Chrono Trigger, and the cast offered by Dragon Quest VIII meets the same quality standards as the aforementioned sagas.

The main reason why the game continues to be so attractive and timeless comes down to its character-design, its graphic cell-shading style and its wide palette of colors which manages to protect it from the ravages of time. This quality of design helps to give each character a unique personality, even before they have said a word. Yangus is more of the chubby and short legged type, a body type that perfectly portrays his rough and inelegant personality to say the least, while the sometimes pompous and arrogant Angelo adopts a very elaborate and trendy dress style, which turns out to be perfectly matched to his personality. .

This important work in terms of visual identity is further reinforced by a complete vocal dubbing (knowing that some voices are exclusive to this portage), and the strong presence of the different dubbers gives even more weight to this brilliant localization carried out in the language. by Shakespeare. Much of the vocal work produced takes on a burlesque dimension that emphasizes the humorous initial script, and this bias remains in perfect harmony with the deliberately grotesque approach adopted by the main plot.

The plot behind this campaign, which blithely exceeds 80 hours of playtime, takes on a simple concept: you must travel the world to discover how to break the spell that turned King Trode into a tiny little green troll and the princess into a big horse. White. Here's a synopsis that wouldn't have gone wrong in the Aqua Teen Hunger Force movies, Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, or in one of the Monty Python feature films - but with (usually) more swords and dragons.

The main story is obviously not the primary reason for losing yourself in the narrative, which instead boils down to the fantastic dialogues and the fun interactions between characters. It is truly a game that gives pride of place to improbable relationships and associations, which aims to demonstrate how people who seem to oppose everything are able to overcome their differences and unite in order to strive for a goal. which they would have been unable to reach individually. In this story, it is much more about the relationships between the characters than any quest.

An option to allow you to perform time lapse battles has been added, and this is an excellent feature that takes into account the nomadic nature of the 3DS console. The relatively brief moments of daily bus and train journeys can now allow you to progress quickly through the various dungeons, since you no longer have to wait during the combat animations. This is also particularly useful when you grind to gain levels in anticipation of a boss fight promising to be difficult.

Aside from this time saving option, the biggest change in how battles work is in confrontations, which no longer trigger randomly. If in its original version the monsters attacked you without warning (like a Pokémon or a Final Fantasy VII), you can now see them move within the play area and choose whether or not to engage combat (as is the case in Ni No Kuni or Final Fantasy XV).

This approach greatly changes the overall pace of the adventure, as it is now up to you to choose how often you draw your sword. If you come to the conclusion that it is better not to fight, due to low health or a lack of medicinal resources, you may choose to take a roundabout path to a town or refuge. which will allow you to avoid conflicts. Ultimately, it's always best to fight as often as possible in order to level up and become more powerful. Still, being able to retreat with my tail between my legs (rather than losing precious progress) is a welcome novelty, and it makes me feel even more responsible for my own destiny.

Battles take the basic turn-based approach, and require you to choose wisely when to attack or defend. The exploration component requires you to find the right compromise between the potential rewards that are open to you and the risk of dying and having to retrace your steps. By constantly placing me in front of this type of choice, Dragon Quest VIII managed to stimulate my interest and my attention, while embellishing these decision-making with a crazy script that regularly came to fill in the downtime with a little lightness.

These new features add some added value to this port, but they're not the only reason to devote your time to Dragon Quest VIII. As was the case more than a decade ago, these additions prove to us above all that it is quite possible to bring added value to a video game genre without necessarily breaking one of its fundamental rules.

If you've ever played the original game on Playstation 2, this nostalgic throwback will remind you how awesome this adventure was the first time around, and most of all prove to you that it hasn't aged a bit. If you discover this wacky adventure, it will give you a great example of the best that traditional JRPGs have to offer. Whether you are a novice or a connoisseur, the conclusion remains the same: Dragon Quest VIII is proving to be as entertaining as it could be in 2005.

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Screenshots

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