Picked up Dragaon Quest VIII yesterday at an amazing price. I was gonna pick up Xenosaga II as well since it's finally dropped the price to become a bargain game. BUT, I won't have time to play two long RPGs simultaneously.
This game was released in Japan last year and it was the Game of the Year voted by many Japanese game magazines. It took Square-Enix a while to translate everything into English, but it is worth the wait. They even go further to polish the game menus to be easier for english speakers to enjoy. Sweet.
As a veteran RPG fan I can assure you this is one of the best RPGs in a while. I actually have not play an RPG for a while (last was 'Shin Megami Tensei ~Nocturne~') because I simply do not have those times to sit down and spend several hours developing the characters. But with DQ8 coming along, I just have to do better time amanagement :) I want to know what makes 4 million people go crazy in the land of the rising sun. What is so attractive and enjoyable about DQ8?
From first glance after I pop the CD into my PS2. I can see that different aspects of the game are of high quality. DQ8 is very easy to pick up. The menus and controls are very intuitive. Walking around town is a breeze. The voice acting is one of the best I've seen in RPG, with people having different accents like British, Indian, Southeast Asian etc. The characters use some interesting words I find myself needing to look them up in the dictionary. The cell-shaded characters are very well-designed and do not feel anything kiddish or too cartoonish.
Then the battles! One of the most important elements in an RPG is the playability of battles. If it is not designed well, it will get boring because battles make up the majority of an RPG. I'm 3 hours into the games and I've been doing constant battles already. There is non-stop action. And the battles themselves are quite exciting with needing to use some brain-power to analyze what to slash first, or when to boast up your power. A lot of strategies are needed to complete a quest. Monsters are intelligent. They give you critical hit from time to time. You will get killed if you are not careful, and the money you got will be halved.
The music of the game must be one of the best I've ever heard. The music when running around on the worldmap reminds me of going to a symphonic concert. The score is amazing. And, music changes at different times of play for same location. Sound effects are very well made also.
I am looking forward to spending some time on this gem. No console game fan should let this slip away. RPG fans must pick this one up otherwise you'll miss one of the best RPGs ever made.