Dragon Quest VIII

[Euan_hmfc]

Can I just ask a few things about Dragon Quest VIII:

1) Is it similar to the FF series?

2) If not or if there are similarities, how does it play? What is the levelling up like?

3) Does anyone know if there any plans to release DQ VIII in PAL regions. I know for a fact that DQ VII wasn't released here, and there appears to be no information on Amazon.co.uk or Play.com (two UK websites) about this game being released.

I'm playing through FFX just now, and after that, I NEED A NEW RPG!

[Paninipower123]

1) It's an RPG like FF.
2) Battles are like FF and the leveling up is the same.
3) ?

Play the other FF's why don't ya.

[Doc Sark]

3. Games TM recently confirmed it would be released in PAL territories.

[Dreddz]

It plays quite like FF, although it system is more of the old RPG style, which isnt a bad thing.
Its the usual RPG fare with DQVIII, Leveling up is pretty standard. All basic, I leave you to decide if that is a bad thing.
It will make it too PAL regions, but expect a Long wait.

[Paninipower123]

Does anybody have any strategy to defeat the Lord of the Dragovians for the Dragovian trials because I am stuck on him?

[NM]

Eurogamer.net has it lested for a TBC February release.

[Euan_hmfc]

Yeah I saw the release date on Eurogamer, but then I looked up Amazon and Play.Com, and they're usually pretty up-to-date, so it was a bit of a disappointment to see it.

I don't mean is it a RPG, I knew that beforehand, I mean is it similar difficulty to the FF's, how long does it take to complete, how hard is it?

[Paninipower123]

For me it took around 100 hours.

Lots of training and side quest fun. :)

(And I just saw the second ending and I am very pleased. Nothing to great, but still good.)

[DJZen]

It's like FF and also not like FF. It's much more old school. FF is more wildly experimentational while DQ has always been much more traditional. Fight monsters, level up, defeat the boss, save the princess. And you get cool swords and stuff.

[Doc Sark]

It will make it too PAL regions, but expect a Long wait.

Yeah, depends what you'd classify a "long wait".

[dynek]

i already have 27hours in this game passed... the game is not bad and have a nice story... the characters make you remenber dragon ball characters... but it is funny

[Mercen-X]

I posted here a couple of days ago. The computer freaking screwed me. Why is it that every 5 minutes this site tells me I'm no longer logged in?

Anyway, I was just about ready to fight Dhoulmagus for the first time at Dark Ruins when I had to return DQ8 to the rental shop. At what point am I in the game? Halfway, Thirdway, Quarterway?

I'm Rank C Champ with Talos, Bladewolf, and Potbelly. Bw and Pb die too fast in the D rounds.

Do I get anything for depositing some sum at the gold bank. I've given 5000 so far.

I've completed Jessica's Bunny outfit *smirks* and have collected the Staff of Divine Wrath from Princess Minnie.

Can anyone tell me what this special medicine is that Dodgey Dave wants?

[dragoonknight_kain]

Will I have to go to the church everytime I want to know how much EXP I need to get to the next level till the end of the game? And is it possible to get all the abilities (there is enough Skill Points)?

[Moshenokoji]

The fight with Dhoulmagus is just above half. The medicine for Dodgey dave is just that, Special Medicine, out two strong ones in the pot and there ya go.

Yes, you need to go to the church everytime you wanna now about next LVL EXP. No you can't get all the abilities I think you're able to max 2 sets of skills, which for the hero needs to be swords and courage. Each character has the same amount of skill points, a few of the faqs and threads on www.gamefaqs.com list alot of the character info.

[RSL]

And is it possible to get all the abilities (there is enough Skill Points)?
It is technically possible, though the amount of time you would need to devote to the game is beyond insane.

First of all, at level 99, every character will have gained 350 total skill points no matter what. It will just eventually even out that way. Obviously you would need 500 to max everything.

The way to do this is through skill seeds. These are an item you can find that gives you 5 skill points just by using it. However, you'll only find a handful throughout the game. There are a couple enemies that can drop a skill seed. The drop rates are incredibly low, but it is technically possible that you could spend enough time fighting these monsters until you find enough skill seeds to accomplish your goal. You would need 30 seeds per character, for a total of 120.

So yeah, technically possible, but not many people are going to do this.

[~SapphireStar~]

the characters make you remenber dragon ball characters
Cause, believe it or not, its the same DBZ artist, Akira Toriyama.

[Moshenokoji]

Toriyama has done a good little bit of work for Square in the past, and i think some people fail to recognize that he did Chrono Trigger also.

[RSL]

I always thought it fairly obvious that the same guy did Dragon Ball and Chrono Trigger.

[Vyk]

His art style is easily recognizable. Its sad, but I've heard so many people crying foul because DQ8 characters look like his work. Um, hello? He's been designing these characters since the beginning, hasn't he? If you look at official art from any game its all the same fair. Only difference is the video games themselves couldn't represent the art style (same problem with Amano and old 2D FFs). Now it's finally the way he invisioned it, the way it's supposed to be, and has supposed to have been all along, and people are mad or confused? Quite odd. I'll say I like the look of the game. Just not into the whole dubious amounts of random encounters and leveling up stuff. But I may check out the game someday

[dragoonknight_kain]

It's annoying playing with Angelo and remembering Trunks.... Toriyama doesn't have good characters, he has one, Goku, the rest of them have different hair styles.

[Vyk]

And Amano's FF character concepts all look alike. Yes, we've had this discussion many times. I guess artists aren't allowed to have trademark styles. Yes they can do different things, but then the more dedicated fans would cry foul. I think they're going for the appreciation thing

[RSL]

I guess that since I never watched anything Dragon Ball related, it didn't bother me that much that the art style was similar.

[dragoonknight_kain]

One thing is "that guy reminds me of someone.....", this is normal, the problem is when it's like "WTF is Trunks doing in my party!? Why is he with gray hair? Look, there goes Vegeta...."

[Moshenokoji]

It doesn't bother me at all that it has some similarites to Dragon Ball characters. Yah, Angelo looks like Trunks and the hero looks like Goku when at full tension but hey, he looks awesome at full tension. Over all the graphics are nice.

[Mercen-X]

Yes. That is awesome. Though I was somewhat disappointed when none of the other characters had the same reaction to Super High Tension as the Hero.

My original beef with the game was having to travel all the way back to town and pay outrageous fees for resurrecting my characters. That went away the very second that Angelo learned Zing! Now my main concerns lie with accumulating vasts amount of wealth and treasure.

. . . and yeah, at first, I thought it was weird how the character designs were so similar to Dragon Ball. The Hero kind of looks like Gohan or someone. I don't care though. I mean, personally, I don't prefer the Dragon Ball art style to begin with, but I'm not bothered by it or by being reminded of it.

[dragoonknight_kain]

Also, I was annoyed with that huge world you have to walk if you wanna all the treasures, but I just got that magical ship and now it's quite fun.:D

Is there some kind of transport later in the game? Something that works like a chocobo? Coz if there is I'll leave the treasure hunting for later on.

[Zeromus_X]

Also, I was annoyed with that huge world you have to walk if you wanna all the treasures, but I just got that magical ship and now it's quite fun.:D

Is there some kind of transport later in the game? Something that works like a chocobo? Coz if there is I'll leave the treasure hunting for later on.
you do get the ability to fly, which is the only way to get some of the better equipment/items in the game. (not to mention neccesary to complete the game...)

[dragoonknight_kain]

Thanks. I suppose that's faster than walking on that wilderness.

[RSL]

You also get a Sabrecat later on. It allows you to travel much faster, but you can still get attacked and you can't get anywhere that you couldn't before on foot. It's kind of neat, but not all that useful.

The zoom spell is still preferable to getting around when compared to flying, in my opinion. Flying is only useful for getting to areas that you can't otherwise gain access to. Otherwise, it's fairly clunky and takes to much time to load up. A quick zoom spell is much more efficient.

[Zeromus_X]

you only have to do a short sidequest to get the sabrecat, but would you really want to walk through argonia? *shudders*

plus its a kitty! he cant be called anywhere though, like in empycchu...okay, you probably arent that far yet, nevermind:cat:

yes, but like the above post said, flying is only for getting through some parts of the story, and reaching places that you couldnt get to without it. (if there are thick white clouds, then its a place reachable only by flying.)