Quote Originally Posted by Bolivar View Post

I would agree DQ was never really about the graphics...

until Level-5 got on board the series. DQVIII and IX are two of the most beautiful games I've seen on the PS2 and DS, respectively. In fact DQVIII was one of the first games that really changed my opinion about cell shading in video games. Looking at how Valkyria Chronicles used cell shading on the PS3, I think DQX would be amazing, at least visually, on that platform.

But like I said, Horii really doesn't care about stuff like that so it will probably not happen.
I'm not surprised, one look at DQVII shows how much he cares, released right after FFIX in Japan and a month before FFX in the US and PAL regions. The game looks at best like an early PS1 game or a late 16-bit game. Course the battle animations were extremely well done and fluid but that's the extent of the games graphical prowess.

Sorry to hear you're not impressed with DQVIII. I guess you have a job-system fetish, to me the real enjoyment of DQ games comes from the sum of all the parts - the artwork, the music, the setting, the characters, and the traditional gameplay coming together in the joy of the adventure itself. I get lost in that reaaal easy.
I've always had a mental disconnect with the series, when I'm playing the game, I enjoy the hell out of it. When I'm not playing them, I have to muster up the will to actually put it back in. As I said before in another thread, for me, DQ tends to embody many of the elements I don't like in RPGs but for some reason, taking all these bad elements together in a game creates some weird inverse parallel paradox where suddenly everything works perfectly well and the elements become super special awesome.

I enjoy DQVIII but so far the elements that make it standout are the elements that make it mostly different from previous installments which is mostly the graphics. I'm a little concerned the game sacrificed (more like slimmed down) game play options in exchange for some visual appeal. Oh well, who knows. I'll get back to it eventually, I just have a lot on my plate right now.

As for the Job class junky thing, I do openly admit I'm a sucker for a well done job class system but funny enough, my favorite entry in the DQ series is actually the very first game. It's just so well made and a lot of thought was really put into the story and pacing for an old school 8-bit game.