Gaming Signal: Dragon Quest VIII

Dragon Quest VIII

I haven't finished it yet so this can't be a proper review, but I wanted to comment on my experience so far with a classic RPG for the Playstation 2, Dragon Quest VIII. From the story to the art to the music, this game delivers on all fronts. If you are at all a fan of RPGs and have no tried this one out, you owe it to yourself to pick it up.

Number eight is the first in the series to move into 3D, and wow, does this game look awesome. The anime art style and 3D characters really look fantastic. The monsters are quirky and the art fits right in. For example, there is a monster known as a Candycat that sometimes rolls over and licks its face rather than attack. There is another called a Hammerhood that almost always misses because his hammer is too big. And there are some quite friendly looking slimes that will beat you to a pulp if you don't get them quick. All these plus the art for your hero and his compatriots help the game feel distinctive and memorable.

The musical score has to be one of the best I've ever heard in a game. It is certainly up there with Diablo II in terms of quality and appropriateness. The Town background has a bright and airy quality, while the dungeon music has a somewhat ominous and booming quality. The voice acting is of generally high quality and also contributes to the value of the characters. The voice of Yangus, a rather stocky friend who is with you from the beginning, has a great Cockney accent in it that contributes to the type of character he is as a former thief now on the straight and narrow.

But what sets this game apart is how compelling the story is. It is somewhat hard to imagine these bright and colorful characters are at each others throats at times, but the bad guy is really evil and his bad deeds some across well in the voices of the other characters.

All these factors come together to provide a wonderful basis for a solid RPG. And luckily, the gameplay mechanics don't hinder it. In general is is pretty basic fare. Each time you have an encounter, your characters get a choice of actions from attacking to using items to casting spells. As your characters advance, they get advanced attack options and more spells, with many of them being unique and not simply upgrades to previous spells. Each time you level up, you get to decide where you want to spend a limited number of skill points - either increasing your ability with a weapon type or one unique non-combat skill per character. These are the only really interesting aspect of character development - for example, your female companion Jessica can develop her sex appeal. And having high levels in these skills can have an interesting impact - as Jessica develops her unique attribute it can stun monsters into skipping a round of combat just admiring her, uh, charms. Interesting to say the least.

The game allows you to follow the story straight through, but offers random encounters in the wilderness (often required to level up enough to take on the next boss) as well as some interesting side quests. The random encounters can be really tough though, and can require more tactical thinking than a boss fight. I was a little dissapointed with how often it seemed these random encounters cropped up, especially while following the paths between locales. You can teleport between cities you have already been to and avoid those paths, but simply traveling during the day can be quite trying. At night combat gets even tougher, and I got wiped out a couple times before I just stopped even traveling at night.

But this is a minor issue with what so far has been a really fun game. It doesn't have the depth of a PC game, but for your Playstation crowd this is one of the better RPGs available.