Dragon Quest VIII

[Zidane007nl]

Dragon Quest VIII has been released in North America today. Does anyone bought it? It comes with a FF12 demo.
Never played a Dragon Quest game, but looking to the trailer on the official website it's looks very nice. Even one magazine rated this game 10/10!

[Trigani-Maru-Suke]

My friends used to be in love with the older Dragon Quests, but I never really liked them. I got a demo for VIII when i re-bought my FFX and the demo was pretty good. The battle style wasn't as nice as I was hoping but it wasn't bad. If it wasn't for the fact my ps2 is broken I would consider getting this game.

[Depu Techiikue]

I reserved my copy months ago, but Gamestop won't be getting them in until tomorrow. :(

I can't wait until I play it. The first thing I'm going to do with it is play the FFXII demo, then write a report on it for HHN. :P

[Deknor]

I have some older versions of DragonQuest. I personally like the games, and they have relatively good storylines in my opinion. I saw that it came with a copy of Final Fantasy XII! :) It should be very coolness. :) I want to know about it before I buy it though.

[Depu Techiikue]

Man, I'm glad I reserved it a while ago. GameStop and EB Games have both sold out of reservations. The game is selling out everywhere across North America, however there are still some copies available in some locations.

[gaara15]

Yeah I work at GameStop and we sold so many last night. Every few minutes we had people coming in to pick up there reserves, but we didnt sell out. Also it was a smooth time to sneak in some pre-orders for FF:XII. Suckers.

[Deknor]

Lol. So, how good is the game? Has anyone actually played it?

[Depu Techiikue]

I played a little bit of it earlier this morning. I woke up early and couldn't go back to sleep. It's very fun. There is absolutely no limitations to your freedom (so far anyway). You can go around town picking up barrels and breaking them to take items. You can go through people's houses and find items. You can do so many things. Unfortunately, the hero doesn't talk, but that's okay. The voice acting is good (so far). Yankus (I think that's his name) is hilarious. He reminds me of Ed from Shaun of the Dead. He has a British accent, and talks just like Ed.

"Ey, see that ol' chap up in 'ere?" lol

I won't say much more because I don't want to spoil anything.

Also, FFXII is going to be very... VERY... different. Forget what you know about the previous FF games as far as gameplay. I've played through one half of the demo, after school I'll finish the rest. Then, I'll write a big report on it, complete with HHN exclusive screenshots and video footage. :P

[Derek]

I bought it last night, and it is awesome! I love the battle style and the game play. I am not really far yet, only been to two villages and only level 10. I have to go to work like in 30 minutes so I had to stop playing :(. I will play some before I go to bed tonight though..

[Depu Techiikue]

Derek, and anyone other new person to the game... Spoilers below.

Make sure you do not buy the "special item" from the armor merchant in the first town, which can be triggered by sneaking to the back of the armor shop and talking to the merchant. Instead, go to the next town, and after you're done, come back to this one and sneak around the back and talk to the merchant again. He will say he gave the "special item" to someone else already, and if you want to you can find the item by the church bell at night.

Set your controller down until night, and then go into the church. Go around the back (still inside), and go up the stairs and up the ladder. Pick up the item, which was the recipe for the thief's key!

Just a way to save 600 gold coins. :P

[Derek]

Yeah I did that, saved me some money :D. Is it just me or is most of the stuff expensive on that game??

[Depu Techiikue]

lol, yeah stuff is pretty expensive in the game. But...

Once you get the Ancient Ship, and reach level 27 or so with your characters, you can go to the island Neos. There are some monsters there you can fight called Gold Golems, you run into groups of two or three, and one golem by itself drops like 800 gold coins. Also, when you go to the Dark Ruins, you'll gain gold coins and EXP very fast when you level up in there. I racked up about 9000 gold coins in there within an hour.

Anyone else got this game yet? It's superb.

[Zidane007nl]

I'm waiting on the release here in April. Maybe I'm gonna buy it too then and hopefully the Final Fantasy XII demo will be included.

Edit: Oh, damn! Just red that Square Enix will not release the Final Fantasy XII demo with the game. Damn Square!! :upset: :upset:

[Depu Techiikue]

:o What?! Are you serious? :(

That's a dumb move on their part... because the FFXII demo boosted the sales of the game by about 30% here in the US (on a side note, thats why I wanted to wait to release the FFXII demo preview, so that way people wouldn't get a bad impression of the demo or something, and not buy DQ8 because a lot of people in the US bought DQ8 solely for the demo lol).

I wonder if they even read message boards of like IGN and GameSpot, 'cause all the fans who got the American version keep talking about the demo more than the game. Well, hopefully they brighten up on this move. If not, the preview will be coming sooner than planned. :P

[Dreyga]

i have definitly been thinking abolut picking this ne up but im not a big cel shading fan but this game just looks fun and cool and like he said it got a 10/10 in magazines so i think ill get it

[Omnicrone]

whats the newest Dragon Quest out? The one where the drawings look like DBZ, since they helped out with it...that one looks kool

[Depu Techiikue]

Dragon Quest VIII, Omnicrone. lol

Akira Toriyama (sp?), the artist of Chrono Trigger, Dragonball Z, etc. is the same artist for Dragon Quest VIII.

A weird thing is, when you look at the screenshots of the game, it looks kind of disappointing, as it looks like it's a weak cel shaded game... but once you play it, it's completely different. It's like you're not even looking at the screenshots in motion, it's weird. lol

One thing I LOVE about this game is how big the world map is. In fact, it's so big that it has to load the world map while you're playing... constantly. So, the world map is streaming from your disc the entire time. And there's so much to do on the world map too... find hidden areas, find hidden treasure, fight infamous monsters, etc.

This game is one of my favorite RPG's now... once I beat it, I might have to change my profile on the HHN Staff page. :P

[Omnicrone]

i hope to get it soon...but i think its on ps2 only or something. I only got xbox and gc

[Dreyga]

i hope to get it soon...but i think its on ps2 only or something. I only got xbox and gc
yes its ps2 only but i am also going to pick it up eventually

[Omnicrone]

Well I will just have to get it once I buy ps3 :D

[Dreyga]

which will be awihle from now

[One Winged Angel]

i got game about 3 days ago and i have reached level 13 and how do you get thief key recipe if you have not doon they talk to weapon guy do i have to buy it or do i have to what long time to get it.

[One Winged Angel]

whats an easy was to beat dhoulmagus if you aren't at lvl 29 cause I couldn't beat him at 23 but now I'm at 26 and wondering of I could beat him now or not.

[Zidane007nl]

I bought the game today and I got the official strategy guide for free! :D
Haven't started yet with the game but will soon. It will be my first Dragon Quest game! :)

[lukeman]

Never played the full game but played the demo.

Personally I don't like it. I think maybe the colours do it, its much more of an assault on the eyes than something like FF or Star Ocean. I know some people like this sort of thing, but It's not my sort of thing unfortunatly.

Still, on the other hadn, Random, turn-based battles, always a good way to go!

[Zidane007nl]

I'm now playing Dragon Quest VIII for 8 hours (not much I know) and so far I really like the game. The shell-shaded graphics are one of the best I've seen and I love the characters' design. Sometimes I laugh because of the comedy in the game.

Jessica just joined my party and I got the Alchemy Pot and made the Thief's Key with it so I can open all locked chests. :P

[Depu Techiikue]

whats an easy was to beat dhoulmagus if you aren't at lvl 29 cause I couldn't beat him at 23 but now I'm at 26 and wondering of I could beat him now or not.

Hmm, it's best for you to wait until your Angelo is at level 30 so you can use the spell "Multiheal" (heals 100+ HP to all party members).

For me, I started the Monster Arena quests before I fought Dhoulmagus, so I was able to summon my monster team in battle with him, having them take a lot of the damage instead of me.

Since he can use "Wave of Ice", I'd suggest you use your strongest two characters to constantly attack, and raising your tension to 20 or so and attacking. Use Angelo to use Kabuff, and if Jessica is your weakest of the remaining 3, have her use Accelerate, then all four can attack until Dhoulmagus uses Wave of Ice. Also, be sure you use Multiheal every couple of turns, to keep all four characters alive.

[One Winged Angel]

Thanks for help .KrytikaL. now I'll go to island really close to kingdom and fight metal slimes and get lot of EXP.

[Zidane007nl]

When I turn on my PS2 everytime I play Dragon Quest. Too bad my PS2 isn't turned on for long, cause I'm just playing for 16 hours. Now I have to go to Pickham, but I'm doing some chest hunting first. :P

[Blue Moon Dragoon]

I've played Dragon quest VIII for about 80 hours, and im up to the final parts of the game. It gets quite challenging near the end too. Im not very good at the Alchemy pot thing though lol. As for the characters, I find King Trode one of the funniest people I've ever seen in an RPG. Angelo's my Favourite character too.

[Zidane007nl]

I really like it when Yangus says "Cor Blimey!" :)

I have to fight Dhoulmagus now at the Dark Ruins. But I can't beat him. I think my level is too low, especially with Angelo. I don't even have Multiheal. Leveling takes ages in this game...

[Depu Techiikue]

Hmm, Zid, have you unlocked the monster team yet? If so you can use them in the Dark Ruins to level up a bit faster. Also, what level are your characters at right now?

[One Winged Angel]

I beat game about 1 month ago and now I'm working on dragovian sanc. which is somewhat easy at beganing but after you beat lord of dragovia then it getts much harder so I'm asking what level does one think they should be at before taking on LOD and winning very easily?

[Zidane007nl]

Hmm, Zid, have you unlocked the monster team yet? If so you can use them in the Dark Ruins to level up a bit faster. Also, what level are your characters at right now?
No help needed anymore. I got past Dhoulmagus finally! :D
At the 2nd battle I used my monster team strength increase magic. Also I was extremely lucky, since 2 characters died and I had to revive them. When he was defeated only Jessica was dead. Think the battles took a total of 50 minutes.
The hero is at level 30, Yangus at 29, Jessica and Angelo at level 28.

[DemonKnights1928]

Yea Dragon Quest VIII is a good game but it takes FOREVER to get maxed lvl but After like 5 months i got my guys to lvl 99 but theres no use...

[Idomis]

The difficulty of DQ8 is what makes it so much fun. I'm so tired of wiping the floor in Final Fantasys after having found decent weapons. As frustrating as it is, in retrospect, every battle I die in in a challenge worth overcoming.

[Sephy88]

I agree, the game is very difficult to level up in, but the thing that bugs me, is the bland ass battle system, i mean, its like they stand there, like alot of rpg's, but the way that one is set up, it gets old fast

[NeoShadow1288]

That game was realeased in 2005, but its really good! I have it, its gets a 38/30 from me!!!

umm accually Final Fantasy XII did get realeased with the DQVIII.

Please don't double post -- it's against the rules

[Zidane007nl]

After 3 months of not playing the game (due to Kingdom Hearts II and Final Fantasy XII), I've continued with the game. I have to fight that bird Empyrea now. She's really hard, because of her very strong attacks and high defense. And when I finally have a high tension she casts a wave and your tension gets back to normal...
But I'll manage, hopefully. Otherwise I'm gonna level a little.

umm accually Final Fantasy XII did get realeased with the DQVIII.
There was a demo released of Final Fantasy XII with Dragon Quest VIII in the US, so Final Fantasy XII was released later then Dragon Quest VIII.

[Zidane007nl]

* bumps *

I've recently continued with this game and finally got past Empyrea (after some little help and created a King Axe). I can now fly across the world to new places I couldn't reach before. :)