Dragon Quest VIII commences in US

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Unlike Final Fantasy, the Dragon Quest role-playing games have never caught on the US market. Square Enix is taking another chance at it today by releasing Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King for PlayStation 2 console. In addition to launching a multimillion dollar ad campaign, Square Enix has positioned the game for success in the market with new updates exclusive to the North American version of the game. Among the changes made are new voice-overs, a full orchestral soundtrack, a reworked menu system, new battle abilities, and revamped animations. And if that's not tempting enough, the company is also including a playable demo of the much-anticipated Final Fantasy XII.

Brief Story:
After an evil wizard steals a magic scepter, the castle from which it was taken is cursed, and the king is turned into a toad like creature, with the princess becoming a horse. Now it's up to players, as the lone unaffected resident of the castle, to set out with a portly companion (the king) and the princess to track the wizard down, reclaim the scepter, and break the curse.

Dragon Quest VIII is rated T for Teen and retails for $49.99.

News source: GameSpot

Question:
Another extremely nice RPG has been released. Do you think this RPG will have any effect in Final Fantasy or any other massive role playing game sales? Enan Hawk

#1 HellBender on 15 Nov 2005 - 23:18

Wow, that's a very provocative question at the end there. It's almost as deep as asking something like "will the release of the cheeseburger affect sales of other burgers?"

Way to smack the nail on the head with some hard-hitting journalism there.

(1 reply) #2 ev0| on 15 Nov 2005 - 23:32

After an evil wizard steals a magic scepter, the castle from which it was taken is cursed, and the king is turned into a toad like creature, with the princess becoming a horse.

NOT VERY ORIGINAL

#2.1 Pug on 15 Nov 2005 - 23:36

I think RPG companies should start to think about making more mature stories... People playing RPGs are getting tired of the same plot in each game!

#3 Englishkid on 15 Nov 2005 - 23:47

I played the demo of this it's rubbish believe me i was playing for 30 mins didn't have 1 fight havn't played it since

#4 icecaveman on 16 Nov 2005 - 00:42

[Useless comment please delete]

Last edited by 32471 on 16 Nov 2005 - 02:04

#5 Jack31081 on 16 Nov 2005 - 03:08

this is on my GameFly Q if for no other reason than it comes with the FFXII demo.

clever marketing, square.

(1 reply) #6 Joshie on 16 Nov 2005 - 05:18

The demo was poorly done, but for what it's worth, I was in battle within 20 minutes of playing. That demo was not of the beginning of the game, and seemed to have more to do with showing off NPC interaction than anything else. Also, there was a way to just demo battle mode, if you really wanted to see it so badly.

Not to stick up too much for it. I've always been a DQ fan, but for the love of god, the voice acting 'bonus' is a train wreck. For your own sake, mute it. Save hearing abuse for the stereo in the car at stop lights, like a good attention whore.

And you know, this is the USA release. USA! Not England! If the final version has all that armoUr crap the demo version did, I'm gonna have a headache through most of the game.

#6.1 SkankyGangs7a on 16 Nov 2005 - 22:34

armour is such a nicer way of spelling it

(1 reply) #7 Bryan000 on 16 Nov 2005 - 17:42

I preordered the game but it looks like my copy is delayed, so I can't play it yet!! Anyway, YES, the story is cliche... this is a BIG problem with Japanese RPGs. The stories are so unoriginal and they never get better. They rehash the same stuff over and over and OVER. On the flip side, the games themselves (voice acting, music, battle systems) continue to improve. I'm excited about DQVIII despite the sad excuse for a storyline. But I've come to expect that from Japanese RPGs (unfortunately...) Square in particular needs to hire some good writers to improve the stories in their games, then other RPG makers should follow suit.

#7.1 DivADPArADox on 16 Nov 2005 - 18:21

In my opinion, cliche' stories are a problem with most Japanese fiction period. The every Japanese consumer seems to have a much higher threshold for the cliche' than most other people. Which is why it always made me chuckle when people claimed to be cultured because they enjoyed Japanese shows/anime/music. Must of it would make Aaron Spelling blush over how simplistic it is.

#8 jstillion on 21 Nov 2005 - 05:24

The art style is the same creator of Dragonball / Dragonball Z / and the Chrono Trigger game.

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