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| Source // Moby Games |
Monty Python meets The Princess Bride, says the 1001 list's write up for Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King, a cel-shaded 3D JPRG that finally made its way into Europe in with this game.
I know of Monty Python. I don't know of The Princess Bride. That's the one with André the Giant, right? If yes, I've still not seen it. Monty Python, though. Does that mean Dragon Quest VIII is full of surreal humour? Does it mean it won't make much sense? Who or what will it offend?
I suppose I better find out, eh?
Frustrations
Ooh. Yeah. That's not meant to look like that. I'm emulating the PlayStation 2 release, and not very well, it must be said. After a few struggles and alternative solutions that also failed, I managed to overcome the problem and drop into the world of Dragon Quest for the first time.
The tiniest amount of backstory sets us up for Journey of the Cursed King, and the dark times of trying to find the right emulation settings are replaced with the warm glow of Baby Yoda.
Fun Times
So that was what I was supposed to be looking at, is it? Who are you, exactly? Turns out this is Trode, not only one of our party members but the cursed king himself.
He's not the only colourful character in our ranks, as the bandit Yangus speaks up in his incredibly authentic British accent.
I guess all this sort of stuff would be the Python and Princess influence - if they even were influences for the Japanese development team. It's not the first RPG to try to sound funny, but it does at least read well, though the voice acting might be a little too cartoony for some listeners.
Now, what's the plot?
Further Frustrations
You were doing so well, Dragon Quest, until the slimes. Our first opponents are three slimes, the iconic enemy of the series. If there's anything I did know about Dragon Quest before playing, it's that it is the series of games with the slimes. I don't like the slimes. The design - even the idea of them - is just too silly for me. The Japenese character designs I can live with. Slimes I can't.
The combat system is about what you can imagine: A turn-based affair with options to attack, cast magic, use items... you won't get lost in these menus. Not that I'll need to use anything other than attack for these three.
Oooooh-kaaaay. I've got some questions. Luckily the answers aren't too far away.
Further Fun Times
The King and his daughter have been cursed, turned into a troll and a horse, and we're trying to find someone who can reverse it. Simple. It's time to explore this town for this Rylus fella.
Dragon Quest VIII offers a 3D world to run around in, and it's surprisingly smooth to swing the camera around and bask in the view. Ok, most of the picture is devoid of life and not too taxing on the hardware, and the default camera controls are inversed, but I could see myself spending a bit of time with this game if only because of its third-person nature.
Uhh, yeah, sure. Why not? This is how quests start, right?
Maybe not, lady. Who else can I talk to around here?
I was wondering about that still smouldering set of ruins that everybody else in town was just avoiding like it wasn't a burning building threatening their wellbeing. And this is the second time, is it? That's concerning.
The town is full of RPG clichés. Market traders attempt to sell you their wares, kids are useless sources of information, everyone is gossiping about the same thing, a rubbish Jester who came to town not long ago. You can even smash pots, and nobody bats an eyelid.
But we're not here for all this nonsense. We need information. Where do we find it?
Oh, of course...
Not to eavesdrop on your conversation or anything, but that name seems familiar. You're not suggesting that still burning ruin was Rylus' house, and he was still in it, are you?
Before I could get a chance to ask Kalderasha personally, a young lad burst into the pub to break the news of monsters in town. Great! Let's go!
It was Trode all along. We're going to have to find you a disguise or something. It'll be easier to paint you up than it'll be to convince people that monsters are people too.
It's a slight set back, Trode, nothing major. Rylus was just the guy to find another guy easily. He wasn't the guy to remove your curse. We can deal with the situation. If the plot would like to drop some sort of clue into our laps as to where to go next, we'll just pick it up and run with it, yeah?
See what I mean? Perfect.
I'm not going to say that Dragon Quest has started with a bang, but it has started well enough for me to be at least somewhat interested in where it wants to take me. The voice acting is alright, though it isn't present everywhere. The controls are simple, though they're a little backwards when it comes to the camera work. The characters stand out, and I want to see some more of them. So yes, Trode, I will go and see what she wants from us.
Valentina is the daughter of the weird guy from the pub. This guy.
Turns out he is a fortune-teller who was doing surprisingly well until he swapped a seemingly legit crystal ball for a glass one. Valentina thinks that is the solution to his problems but has to act behind her fathers back to see if it is or not. That's where we come in.
Well, that's just too convenient, isn't it? A daughter of a fortune teller dreams about a bunch of travellers that could help her out, and it just so happens that we could do with someone who could help us track down an evil magician and turn the King and his daughter back into, well, the King and his daughter.
I guess we're going to kill two birds with one stone then. Let's explore the world beyond the town walls. South, you say?
The lands are quite sparse, but this looks to be a pretty sizable open space to run around in. It'd be a shame if there were to be invisible enemies that trigger random batt-
Further Frustrations
While the dopey looking cats were a good choice (though still pretty damn weird looking), the random encounters really did sap my interest for Dragon Quest. I knew they'd be a thing - it's a JRPG, when are they not a thing? - but I guess I'd hoped they'd be a bit more obvious. I don't know why. The PlayStation 2 is already pushing out a vast world to explore, and I want monsters walking around the map as well?
By the time I remembered that resting in an Inn was my only real way to recover HP, what with not owning any useful items right now, these guys turned up out of thin air, and I decided to fight instead of fleeing. Why would I flee from everything? I've got to learn where my limits are, right?
I've also got to learn about psyching up. I assume it's some kind of hulking up process, where I get more determined and stronger. A temporary buff that'll see me through the tough times.
Yeah, well, I'll have to research that a bit more some other time. Yangus, can you perhaps drag me back into town?
That's just depressing.
Final Word
My time with Dragon Quest VIII was brief, then, but it was eye-opening nonetheless. I knew it to be a huge series (the 'VIII' gives that away), but because I and Europe as a whole were never introduced to the series until nearly two decades of games had gone by, there was no real way of knowing where to even begin with it all.
As I read it, it is this very title that should be your starting point into the world, and with a Nintendo 3DS remake out there as an option to play, you can dive in however you feel like diving in.
But will I? For all the interesting points, there are things I'm not a fan of. They're not game-breaking issues, however, so should I get the competency to survive a fight against four bloody blobs of slime, I should be able to find a crystal ball and get the story rolling.
And yet I still think I'll more than likely end up watching this instead of playing it, assuming I'm still interested in the plot. As I say, I like the characters so far, and while the writing and the voice work is a little funky, it at least gels with the cel-shaded graphics to give off that cartoony feel.
Dragon Quest VIII isn't what I'd usually go for, but it's made some kind of impression on me to at least warrant further exploration. For what it is, it's doing something right. I don't know what, and it might change, but until then, yeah. This is different. It's got some good points, it's got some bad. Let's give it a little time and see if we like it or not.
Fun Facts
Like other games of the time, this was perhaps sold to a few people on the fact that there was a Final Fantasy XII demo included with it. The things we'd do for the stuff we like...
Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King, developed by Level-5, first released in 2004.
Version played: PlayStation 2, 2005, via emulation.