Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King - Nintendo 3DS Game | Adventure RPG for Handheld Gaming | Perfect for Travel & Commute Entertainment

I pre ordered this and am having a lot of fun with it. I like the dragon quest series and just finished dragon quest VII 3DS. I bought two copies of this so my son can have one too. I bought from Amazon and another online retailer and the other retailer arrived yesterday. So I've already got about eight hours in. I'm really enjoying it, but I like dragon quest games. I'm an adult so I appreciate a portable version of the game because I don't have as much time to sit in front of a TV anymore!MY SHORT REVIEW:If you like RPGs with turn based battles, this is one of the best. It modernizes a little bit, but it's still old-school in many ways. It's a full-length RPG. You get 70+ hours of gameplay and it's worth playing. If you haven't played other dragon quest games, this is one of the best. You don't need to play other ones first. And if you're not a hardcore RPG person, it's probably good to skip a lot of the other ones. I really suggest it:MY REALLY LONG REVIEW:This is my third version of dragon quest VIII. I played it all the way through on the PS2. I played it some on the IOS but I didn't like the cramped view nor did I like the touch controls. I plan on playing it through on the 3DS. I don't think this is the definitive version. There are pros and cons to all the versions. But I'm really liking this 3DS version so far.GRAPHICS:The graphics aren't exactly like the PS2 version, but I think they're as good as the 3DS can do. I think there are the same number of polygons as the PS2 version, but the edges are more jaggy. The textures are lower resolution so things are sometimes fuzzier. Compared to other 3DS games, the graphics are great. I think the graphics are a step up from Dragon Quest VII on the 3DS. The graphics are among the best graphics on the 3DS and the animation is spectacular. It's one of the few RPGs with fully animated battles. If you're expecting 3DS style graphics, they're very good. I'm willing to overlook the graphics knowing I can take it with me. And I much prefer the button controls to the IOS/Android versions.BATTLES AND GAMEPLAY:Seeing the enemies on the map is good, but it doesn't mean you'll be fighting less. Yes, you can avoid more of the battles, but it doesn't mean you should.My first time out of town: I spent some time fighting, went back to town to go to the inn to heal, went fighting again, went back to town before moving on a little bit. It's not a casual RPG, and I wouldn't want it to be. You can avoid battles and be picker about who you fight, but you'll still be battling a lot. It's maybe less grindy, but it's not a "no grind" game.The battles are turn based. This was the first Dragon quest that showed the whole battle field and there are great turn based battles. You can speed up the battles a bit with an option in the menus. I really appreciate seeing what my characters are doing. This game has my favorite turn based battles that aren't strategy games. It's old-school in that it's menu driven battles, but it works. I'm a computer tech who often plays for ten minutes while I wait for something to happen on the computer I'm working on. So turn based really works for me!You can up your characters stats with skill points you get from battling. The skill point system may be a little less flexible than a class system because you can never really change a character's roll. But you can customize the characters enough to make them your own. On the PS2 you applied skills without knowing what it would do. On the 3DS you can see where upping certain skills will take you. That's a huge upgrade to the gameplay on the 3DS!OLD SCHOOL:There are some modern improvements, but there are still some quirks that are not as common in modern RPGs. It starts really slow, and you have to do some stupid running around at the beginning of the game that just drags. It gets a lot better after that. I also think the further you are in the game, the better it is. It's a slow build up, but it builds up. Battles have some old-school oddities. Your character has to be holding items to use them in battle for instance. If you've been playing the series, you're used to the quirks. But if you're new to Dragon quest, getting by the quirks is worth it!STORY AND CHARACTERS:The story isn't epic, but it's really good. You get more involved in your party characters than previous Dragon Quest games. It's not a surprise twist kind of story. It's more that you enjoy the story even though you can see where it's going because you want to see what happens to the characters and what they do.EXPLORATION:There's lots to explore in this game. It's an epic size game. It's very linear. There isn't a ton of stuff at every spot, so you are walking from one area to the next with battles in between. There is sometimes a chest hidden around the corner. There are a few but not many side quests. There is some post game content. The towns and places you go are often very detailed. Over-worlds and towns you can explore have been going out of fashion. Even though there aren't secrets in every corner, the whole world is fleshed out.Conclusion:You don't see many turn based RPG games anymore unless you like strategy RPGs. This is one of the best ever and it's worth playing. It has its quirks and it's not perfect, but it's a really good game.Cor Blimey, Guv!The original PS2 game was so friggin good but dare I say it, this remake manages to surpass it in so many ways. The graphics are awesome, the music is awesome (orchestra be damned, big deal!), the characters are engaging and the story is told in some very entertaining cutscenes. And it's just flat out funny sometimes. The guy who voices Yangus needs an Oscar or the video game equivilent of one. Let's get down to the nitty gritty on what's new to this remake for fans of the original game!PROS:*Visible encounters done RIGHT. Unlike the new DQ7 remake's visible monsters it's much easier to avoid battles if you want to.*Two new playable characters for a total of six team members to swap out at any time.*The ability to hold your skill points over upon earning them. No more having to assign points immediately after leveling up!*It now shows your entire skill tree on the bottom screen when assigning skill points. No more guessing what does what!*two new weapon classes (fans and claws)*New blue chests that respawn their loot every day (I think they got this idea from DS9's grottoes)*No more waiting 25 minutes for alchemy pot items to cook, it's instant now*Two new bonus dungeons, including a very challenging post game area*New equipment, weapons, monsters, and arena recruitable monsters to find*A new Rank-X arena team fight (!!)*Voice acting is really good and re-recorded for the new scenes. They remembered the "ACTING" in voice acting!*The inventory menu has been reworked and there's no super lag like there was in the PS2 version now*Brand new camera function to take pictures of anything you want with the ability to pose your characters in them (WAY more fun than it sounds)*A ton of new side quests using the camera with some extremely good rewards, like skill seeds*A whole new ending possibility, but I won't spoil it here!!CONS:*The music isn't done with a real orchestra anymore. I don't care, but some people might.*Some of the top screen texts appear a bit blurry when the text bubble is full size (best example being the battle messages).*Some MINOR censoring on Red and Jessica's outfits, which doesn't bother me but many people were super P.O'd over it. If I want to check out a scantily-clad woman there's plenty of real ones elsewhere on the internet, right?*The inventory menu has been reworked so that you can no longer see the little pictures of your items on most screens.*Breaking pots and barrels is instant now. Before you could pick one up and walk around with it.*They censored an semi-important scene where before a guy forces a kid to eat dog food out of a dish. I'm only listing this as a con because I feel it's supposed to show just how much on an A-Hole the guy is.EITHER WAY:*When making stuff in the alchemy pot the game automatically grays out any impossibilities. Before you had to do a lot of guesswork and had to rely on finding recipes and now you don't. It makes the whole process sort of easy, which could be a negative or a positive depending on the person. I'm not sure how I feel about it to be honest.* The game is easier than I remember for the most part. You get automatic HP & MP refills upon leveling up and you earn more XP and gold per fight overall for example. I still manage to get my guys killed off here and there so it's not TOO easy but I figured I'd throw this out there.In short: Extremely entertaining and high-value game, worth every penny and more. It not only holds up to the PS2 original you remember, it's just plain BETTER. Get this game now, and let's hope Dragon Quest XI will be this good!EDIT (2/11/17):VERY important news, guys! As of a couple of days ago they've brought the dlc servers online. BUT you won't be able to download any of the dlc prizes without doing these steps first (for whatever reason):*Go to the 3DS system settings*Go to Data Management*Go to Extra Data*Delete the extra data from your Dragon Quest 8 files. This will NOT erase your saved game, just your pictures you took in game!*When you play DQ8 next, it will create a new extra data file (which is normal)*You will then be able to download the daily / weekly prizes from the Misc menu!From all accounts, it looks like you'll only have to delete that extra data file one time. Further, I'd guess most of us have to do this because we had started playing our games before SquareEnix brought their servers online. I think anybody buying the game brand new after the fact will be okay.The dlc item I got yesterday is a Candy Cane (scythe). It hits for exactly 1 point of damage. It might sound like a joke weapon however it also guarantees 1 point of damage vs. metal enemies and can be really good for the early game. It can also be used by Yangus to attempt to steal items off of enemies using the Steal Sickle and Stainless Steal Sickle abilities again and again, since dealing only 1 point of damage per whack won't kill most things outright like your normal scythes will.Happy hunting!!For those who haven't played the original I high recommend this especially if you enjoyed Dragon Quest 11, the story was fun to follow, I love the new additional endings, I love now the removed the random battles in exchange for having enemies out on the fields, the characters fun to watch, the only issues I have is some scenes and Jessica's costumes were censored and the Hero not having super saiyan hair when his reaches max high tension, but I did enjoy the two totally OP new party members, and the new bonus boss.Now DO NOT buy this from scalpers, You can buy the game digitally on the 3DS/2DS for far cheaper.Mi opinión está sesgada porque amo Dragon Quest. Sin embargo, puedo decir sin temor a dudas que este es uno de mis favoritos de la serie. La forma en cómo cuentan la historia es impecable. Las adiciones a la versión original son muy buenas también. Lo único malo es que quitaron el soundtrack original que era con la orquesta sinfónica de Tokio. Ni modo. Aun así el juego es muy bueno si te gustan los RPG's tradicionales japoneses (A.K.A. combate por turnos con historias increíbles).Yo tuve este título en el original Ps2, y pues como paso ya tiempo, opte por hacerme de este remake en 3ds, el resultado es excelente, si bien los gráficos puede uno decir que están en un rango inferior, no afecta a la experiencia para nada, además que se actualizo por así decirlo en el sistema de juego, así como personajes extras con los que dispones, si amas los RPG o eres fan de esta saga es una compra obligadaDragon Quest VIII es considerado uno de los mejores RPGs que se han hecho, por eso no dudé en comprarlo, pero después de haberlo jugado de inicio a fin, realmente me parece qu ese título es sobrevalorado, como juego es un muy buen RPG, pero no entiendo que lo hace estar entre los mejores que se han hecho, si es por la historia, la historia esta bien, pero hay juegos con mucho mejores historias.Muy buen juego, no por nada me lo recomendaban tanto, si bien esta censurado con respecto a los vestuarios de Jessica, no es nada grave y el juego se disfruta de igual manera, solo tuve un problema con el envió (me lo perdieron) pero me hicieron la devolución del dinero casi de inmediato y termine comprándolo otra vez.no hay mucho que decir dragon quest es una de las mejores sagas de videojuegos y DQVIII es uno de sus mejores títulos, este port para 3DS esta hecho con mucho cuidado y amor, y dada la naturaleza de la portátil definitivamente es un juego devora tiempo, lo recomiendo para fans y nuevos adeptos a la saga.