Its hard to argue with annoying fans and their crack pairings. I was always a bit indifferent to Jessica as a character, largely because I never felt like she got much more characterization past her intro barring that time she was possessed. Course as I said, VIII's plot was just not quite as clever or memorable for me as other DQ titles.
I mean, maybe annoying is a bit too strong of a word, and I agree that he's amusing... in moderation. So yeah, I'm also worried about how he'all work as a party member. And yeah, that Dhoulmagus addition is cool, but I was honestly pretty content with what we got. What I really don't like is that added new ending where you can marry Jessica... I mean, to me personally one of the coolest thing about her was that she was not the love interest despite being the only girl in the group. Not to mention that kind of wrecks not only one but potentially two canon pairings?
I actually love Morrie, but I also feel he works better as an NPC, and I'm pretty sure he would actually be grating as a main character. Red I'm iffy about because while I did enjoy her character and wished to see more of her, I fear she may detract from Yangus because their relationship is pretty close and it may swallow up the parts that made both of them genuinely likable. For me the best addition I've read so far is that Dhoulmagus will finally get a bit more characterization instead of just being a mouth piece for the Big Bad.
I agree that VII's cast was really cool, especially at the beginning where you were just these three kids that no one have any respect. Then Ruff was incredibly fun, but though I still really like Sir Mervyn and Aishe, I don't think they fit into the party as well as the other three. I also kinda wish they didn't join so late in the game, Aishe especially. VIII's cast just has really good chemistry, owing largely to the fact that they stick together from the beginning to the end and it's just them throughout. Even individually, they're all incredibly likeable. Like you said yourself, Yangus is great because there's really nothing like him both in the DQ series and the JRPG genre as a whole. I also really like Jessica, even despite her overtly fanservice'y appearance. She's just a really cool character with a really memorable personality and motivation, and I like how she's just a much more balanced take one The thundered trope. (I also kinda hate how the fandom treats her because I swear every video review I see says something that amounts to "your party consists of these three characters and a sentient pair of breasts" which is just terrible). Angelo was also pretty cool and his tragic backstory actually inspired many characters I've created in the past. So because of this, I'm kind of both excited and worried about the addition of Morrie and Red to the party. Mostly because I always found Morrie to be pretty annoying.
The villain of VIII kind of lost his cool with me when he became more of the focus. I didn't mind the body swap element but when he finally appeared he was a bit underwhelming. Though I will agree VIII has a better cast than most of the entries but I'm still a bit partial to VII's for some reason. I guess I liked the Brat Pack more cause you don't really see their type too often whereas Yangus was probably the most original character from VIII.
I get that. I kind of need to get VIII, though, since I really rarely have access to my PS2 nowadays and since I've become so hooked on the series I've kind of made it a point for myself to own them all on handhelds Also, I just love the portability and aim looking forward to the enhancements. And playing the other games in the series has really made me appreciate VIII more from what I remember of it (I've actually managed to beat most of it, even got to beat Dhoulmagus and know that it was the scepter all along. From hindsight, I think what really made it stand out from all the other DQs was not only the world, but also the characters who were all memorable and fun. The villain was probably the most interesting in the whole series since he actually had a backstory and even more twists to his identity than Ogrodemir. Though if you count Paarl, then he's the most developed, but I'm pretty sure that's only true for the remake?
Yeah, to be honest, since I already own VII and VIII, they are low priority for me.
Especially VI, since you haven't played it. And I think it's still my favorite.
I still need to pick up VI and VII.
And it looks like the world is still there, even if the graphics are slightly downgraded compared to the PS2 version. I will still definitely buy it, day-one even. It comes out on January 20th and I am so happy to finally have a tangible release date!
