DQVIII is a great game. It is a very meat n potatoes RPG. The attacks aren't as Spectacular as Final Fantasy's, but it still manages to be a lot of fun. The story is fun and the characters are amusing and well developed. People have criticised the game for "making you level up too much" and "forcing you to fight for hours to get gold", but I really haven't had to do much of either. Any boss that poses any sort of challenge can be beaten not by levelling up, but by re-thinking your strategy. Ignore the haters, they're just philistines.