Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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58 of 61 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
American Version - FANTASTIC!!! Make sure you buy this!!!, 16 Feb 2006
I have been playing the American Version of Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of The Cursed King (or Dragon Quest: Journey of The Cursed King as its to be known in Europe) and I have to say its one of the best RPGs I have ever played!It all starts off with you journeying to find the evil jester Dhoulmagus, as he has turned King Trode into a toad and the Princess Medea, into a horse. The kings castle has also been intertwined with vines aswell. Along with these two characters you start off with another character called Yangus, an ex-bandit whos duty is to serve you 'the guv'nor' and you find out why as the story progresses. Two more join later on, Jessica and Alfred, and this makes up your party of four with Yangus and yourself, an otherwise unknown character with you to put your own name to. Pretty bog standard RPG stuff. The cel-shaded graphics are amazing, and they should be as this is developed by Level 5 who did Dark Chronicle, Dark Cloud and the soon-to-be-released (hopefully in Europe) Rogue Galaxy. I have never ever seen such a massive world in an RPG before and you get to explore every last bit of it. Towns are relatively small in size, but charming nonetheless. Akira Toriyama (Dragonball Z) has done a wonderful job on the character design, and each is voiced with a wonderful British regional accent, something I found a bit unusual in the American version as normally with RPGs they are dubbed with squeaky American ones when they come out over here! But I found this adds to the charm of the game and it suits it perfectly. Fighting in the game is very "old-skool" in that the way its turn based and kept very simple. This makes the fighting system easily accessible but not necessarily easy. I often found myself dying even when fighting creatures on the world map! Skill points are awarded when you level up and you use these to customize certain attributes of your character, which it turn leads to new moves being learnt. Weapons, armour, accessories - all the same equipment as other RPGs. Plus you get to synthesise your own items, after finding the recipe of course, with the alchemy pot. There is so much I could tell you about this game, but I wont, it would spoil it for you guys that have had to wait just over 2 years for this. All I will say is BUY IT when it comes out over here as it would be a shame to let such a beautiful RPG experience go to waste!! I just hope Square does a good job with the PAL conversion as this game looks amazing running at full screen 60Hz.
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Dragon Quest: Journey of the Cursed King review (actually written by my son), 18 April 2006
Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars
Dragon Quest:Journey of the Cursed King is a truly spectacular game. After a long wait, a new RPG that is on par with the likes of final fantasy 7.
I'm not going to reveal too much about the storyline, but certain parts will have you in stitches and you will find yourself unable to stop playing just so you can find out how the story continues.
Most RPGs find themselves with the same problem - the sheer amount of random battles that occur out while exploring the world map. This factor is intensfied even further by the further by the size of the world map. However, with the battle system being hugely enjoyable and far from tedious, the battles are just as much fun as oggling the amazing graphics.
Along with the large main story / quest, there is a large amount of extra sidequests and activities to participate in, the game manages falls into the 80 to 100 hour category depending on how much you level up, search for treasure chests, etc.
This game has truly done justice to the RPG genre and I strongly recommend those who haven't tried this genre to dive straight into this game. Those who are familiar with this genre, why are you reading this review, buy the game now!!!
As always, there is something to complain about, but it isn't about the actual game itself, but the fact that we didn't get a final fantasy 12 demo just like the Americans.
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Absolutely fantastic!, 4 May 2006
Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars
First of all I will state something very honest (which is obviously the point), this game ranks in my top 3 best ever games! Here are my top 3/4 best games in no particular order:
- The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time
- Final Fantasy VII & IX (Joint in best)
- Dragon Quest: The Journey of The Cursed King (Here it is!)
I truly feel that this is a marvellous game and almost anyone will like it, this game will provide stimulating gameplay for lovers of RPG's and Platformers. It combines elements of the Zelda series and small parts of the Final Fantasy series which results in an exceptional game.
Graphics: The graphics are very unique, the cel shaded graphics have only recently been established with games such as Zelda: Windwaker. This is a totally fresh and new type of graphics, it provides an uplifting and charming feel to the entire game! The graphics are so good, even if this game had rubbish gameplay I'd still play it quite a bit. Overall - Exceptional and beautiful (10/10)
Gameplay - I have had the game for 2 weeks and I haven't stopped playing it hardly at all. The gameplay is very good and will keep you going for a long while with it's interesting characters, quests, storyline and it's overall charm. If you enjoy adventures/RPG's then this gameplay will sit magically, setting on long journeys to unravel mysteries and exploring the beautiful, vast world.
There are enough extra features i.e. skill & character upgrades i.e. spells, physical abilities etc, battle records and alot of additonal extras according to sources. There are hidden treasures all over the world and intriguing side quests which are interesting and that will keep you on your toes. Overall - 9/10 Also brilliant, people that do not have alot of patience may find the battle stops tedious at times, but they are not too invasive and are interesting.
Oh and there is another small bit I've recently come across, within the first 13 hours of the game you'll be able to create new weapons and items using a cool alchemy pot which the 'Cursed King' created... very cool, you can make loads of interesting things!
Overall - 10/10
The game is almost perfect, there are endless lists of secrets and extras and the characters, graphics, storyline and additionals will keep you with the game for a long time!
Buy this game, you will not be dissapointed, if you like Zelda, you'll also love this!
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