Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King for PlayStation 2 Reviews by Gamers

I liked this game a lot, I enjoyed the way they wrapped the minigame into the story and I really found all the standard elements, graphics, sound, challenge, story all to be well above average. But had it not been for the numerous and enlightening FAQs and guide I found then I would have never gotten through the game. Despite this I enjoyed the game from beginning to end. However I restarted the game and found that I simply did not want to play it again. The game is set up so you can repay the game or play out the game without ending but neither option was satisfying. Were it not for the guides which help immensely when it comes to alchemy I would never have figured out how to make the most of this game. I just wish the system were more intuitive, I mean why would a stick and a nail and a boomerang make a cooler boomerang but a sword and a magic potion and a chunk of metal does nothing. I understand that the game promotes exploration with its hidden alchemy recipes but why not link more items together? Well don't let the grumblings of and old gamer dishearten you, this is a fine game and well worth a rental.

Dragon Quest does what most RPG fail in the game play part. It has some qualities that are really quite neat such as the intimidate and the upgrading weapons and the alchemy aspect. The music is majestic, has quality and is some of the best i've ever heard. The graphics are very good because when you see the large hills, wide oceans, and great gigantic churches, castles, and buildings. The characters are unique really differentiated and all maid by my artistic icon Akira Toriyama (who made some of my favorite manga.) But in my opinion (and some may disagree) I got sick of the same thing over and over again in the story. Go to a new town hear how they saw the jester go to a dungeon beat a boss, I just got so sick of it that i couldn't finish it. Over all this is a very good game and there's no reason not to rent it.