Ten years later, the first Dragon Quest that arrived in Spain returns with a renewed version and multiple improvements. A more agile, fresh and attractive version that becomes one of the references of the genre also in Nintendo 3DS.
Dragon Quest VIII, Analysis of the 3DS version
Portable consoles NintendoThey have traditionally been ideal platforms to enjoy some of the best Japanese RPGs of today and forever. In them we have seen unique works that are not elsewhere (Pokémon, Golden Sun, The World Ends With You, the recent Bravely Default), recover classics for which time does not pass (Final Fantasy VI, Chrono Trigger) or get closer to all kinds of original proposals (Mario & Luigi, Sonic Chronicles). We could say many more names, but the idea is clear: a good place for the JRPG. It happens with 3DS, which comes from offering us names as imposing as Pokémon Sun / Moon, Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse or the revamped Dragon Quest VII. We ended the year showing that turn-based fighting does not go out of style and we started it in the same wayDragon Quest VIII: El Periplo del Rey Maldit o. The same and brilliant Playstation 2 game. But better.
The eighth part of the Square Enix saga is special for many reasons. The first of them, because it was the title that officially inaugurated the Dragon Quest saga in Europe and, therefore, in Spain. In addition, it is considered the best of the numbered series - or one of them, will depend on the lists and perceptions of each one - and is one of the great games of PS2, older words taking into account the catalog of the second Sony console . His arrival at 3DS is not only a way to retake the Periplo del Rey Maldito, but a way to enjoy it for the first time or for the umpteenth thanks to a great amount of news that, in our opinion, improve and much the general experience.
Dragon Quest VIII is the story of a great fantasy tale that begins with our hero and his inseparable friend Yangus accompanying King Trode, fallen into a terrible curse with his daughter and princess of the kingdom. The path is clear: follow the trail of Dhoulmagus , a magician who has transformed Trodes into a horrible beastand that is sowing the evil there where it happens. The idea of 'periplo' that emerges from the title of the game is perfectly captured on our way through the world map advancing explorable open worlds, towns, castles and all kinds of locations that we leave behind as we approach the villain of the game and we add new troops, such as Jessica, who seeks revenge for the death of a close relative at the hands of Dhoulmagus, and Angelo, a young trilero who also wants to pass accounts to this magician for various reasons we see during our adventure.
The Cursed King
This is how Dragon Quest VIII is presented, a story that advances with an argument that adds characters, nuances and unexpected twists in a traditional Japanese RPG format that, yes, does things more than well on a playable level and has several elements that make it a more fresh and accessible title. Two words that should not be misinterpreted. Neither we are before an easier version of DQ8 - although it facilitates the life to the player - nor we are before a game that loses the essence of the original delivery. Mechanics have just been streamlined and elements have been touched that make us a much more solid and satisfying experience. Both for new players and for old ones.
Our journey has a very marked development by several elements that make up the game mechanics. On the one hand we have the exploration throughout the world in which we are, with open areas full of enemies, optional monsters, treasures and additional locations with interesting rewards, and on the other the main areas of the adventure: the peoples and derivatives that they allow us to know more about what happens in those places, equip ourselves with new weapons and learn several extras that can help us during our journey; on the other, the dungeons (in the form of temples, caves, underground, castles, etc.) where we must fight battles with enemies of all kinds, final bossesand also advance with some different mechanics in the form of puzzles and small riddles. At this point, highlight that as a novelty we have the map of the dungeons when we enter (the chests where we could find them have other rewards) something that, here, we believe facilitates our navigation through these areas without it being something really necessary.
Turn-based combat and its peculiarities
All these elements are mixed with each other with video scenes, with certain moments where we open the game to long sessions of optional exploration full of elements that give richness to the game and, of course, with a system of turn-based combat. classic. We share the attack actions between the enemies that we have before us with several factors to take into account. The first is that physical attacks (we can change weapons during combat), the use of magic or skills learned and the use of objects are added other actions: defend ourselves to receive less damage and increase the tension to attack a blow more powerful. One of the mechanics is the Super High Voltage , multiply our tension by 100with animation change included (we look like a super saiyan) and with longer duration than the other surges.
Knowing how to manage the roles of the characters is key to advance the plot and, above all, successfully face the great enemies of the game. Using one character to heal, another to weaken the enemy and a third to accumulate tension and take big hits is something the game demands from the start. We are not facing a JRPG with a curve of quiet difficulty, no. Here from the first Overworld we visit we can die at the hands of Limos if we are not alert or have not explored (and therefore, raised level) enough.
It is precisely in the personalization of the characters that we can create a truly powerful and balanced team. When we move up we gain skill points that we can assign to different skills of each character. For example, the hero can raise the level of weapons such as the sword, spear or boomerang. Yangus has his weapons, but he also has concepts like ' humanity ' that allows him to gain interesting skills for the team. Others, like Jessica, they can upload skills without weapons. Each character has his way, and the choice -minimum a couple of skills must go up- marks the way to play. Depending on what we do, Yangus will not be able to heal his teammates, and that may not interest us because if only the hero does, we lose their attack turns. It is one of the great mechanics of the game, to outline how we want to use our characters according to their skills.
The other great mechanics is alchemy . In a moment of the adventure, King Trodes will offer us a new object in which we can mix items of all kinds to create new proposals. From more powerful medicinal plants to more useful equipment, both attack and defense. Here exploration comes into play: we will find all kinds of manuscripts and books that will explain new formulas to use on our behalf.
A world full of monsters and secrets
Something that is appreciated Dragon Quest VIII and that remains in this delivery is your requirement. As we move forward we realize that there are increasingly more powerful enemies or more annoying skills . At first the lack of level makes a dent and we see how any attack can leave us badly injured. Little by little we move forward and new enemies appear; those who modify their attacks according to some moments of combat, those who call reinforcements, those who invalidate us with enchantments of all kinds ... and the difficulty goes up. The game is raising the bar progressively, never without stopping, and with the final bosses as big inflection points. Overcoming them means that we can advance to the next place of exploration, but there it will touch level, have patience, return to the inns, recover life and return to the load.
We say this because although there are several changes that affect the rhythm of the game, the experience continues to maintain the hallmarks of identity. Without level, you can not overcome the challenges. And therefore, we are forced to fight with the world around us. Including a large cast of final bosses that will make things really complicated with group attacks that can leave the team's healing at the edge of the abyss, with unique characteristics that make us miss the type of magic (or physical attacks) that open their weaknesses, we will be dead. We will be born in the nearest church and we will have to try again.
Naturally, although the main plot has a fairly clear development, the game has an open world experience more than powerful. Not only because there are several moments in which we will have optional objectives to explore, but also because as we move forward we get new vehicles to move around the world and, well into matter, we can fly over the world we knew to reach locations that seemed impossible reaching. There is a lot of fabric to cut during the main plot and also at the end of it.
All the novelties of 3DS: more agile, more fresh
There are several novelties that must be taken into account in this new release. The first of all is that the enemies are seen on the screen. We will not have random combats every four steps, something that weighed like a slab on the development of the title, especially when we had to repeat an area because we had died, and more or less we can dodge them and select who to fight against and when. We say more or less because in more closed areas like dungeons with passages, some enemies will be unavoidable. As we said, this gives agility when it comes to exploring, but it's not an ease in itself: you have to keep fighting. And when you get to the doors of the dungeon to access the Abbey where Angelo lives, if you do not have enough level you'll have to go back and do your 30, 40 or 50 boutsto raise experience and level to face what is before us.
Put another way: the rise of experience and skills improvement is still essential, but it is true that the free exploration in search of some optional bosses, hidden chests and others is more grateful because we can do it without falling into constant fighting. This also speeds up: we make a whole tour of the outside world, inside the temple ... And we die. The return to that place can be done more directly, without having to stop (if you have enough level) to fight again with the enemies that roam the area in question.
It is true, in any case, that the rise of levels and achievement of some skills in the first section of the game is much more agile . It is not something that we have verified in a mathematical way, but the experience gained seems a bit more generous to advance levels. Do not expect anything broken or unbalanced, only compared to the original game leaves this feeling. In any case, with the advanced adventure we verified the experience that certain final bosses gave us and it remained the same as we had received in the original title.
To compensate for this more cheerful rise in levels , which is also due to the possibility of identifying, for example, metal silts (1,300 experience points) visually in certain points (another thing is to beat them for their characteristics, especially in the initial section) or that we have a rapid combat system where battles go faster and become more agile, Final bosses have some modifications to make life more complicated. Among them the great villain of the game or certain dragon have much more vitality and therefore, it takes more hits to kill them. Not only are there modifications in the form of more HP, but also in skills and attacks. Some have infinite points of magic, so resisting is not such a valid option, others have new magical attacks. The feeling, in short, is that the experience against the final bosses has not been broken.
Characters, bosses and surprises
One of the most interesting additions to this new revision is the presence of two new playable characters. The first of them, Morrie , we know when we arrived at the Monster Arena . And you can control if we overcome the S ranking of the Arena, so do not expect to join in your first or second encounter. Enter the team with a level higher than 30 and several points to add to the skills you have. It has several weapons in the purest hero style, including a boomerang, which make it a good complement to those unimproved attributes of the protagonist. In addition to a last tree of skills with a series of healing elements, attack enhancers, improvement of critics and reduction of enemy defenses very interesting.
On the other hand, Rubí , NPC that we met in the pirate's bay, can also join the cast of characters. The same thing happens to Morrie. On the one hand we have skill trees of some weapons already known as the whip, but on the other hand it has totally original weapons. Daggers that cause poisoning, fans that cause distraction, extra damage to specific types of enemies and the possibility of increasing the damage of the group if we have them equipped, or your more personal skill tree in which we get several extras to win more coins and points, steal extra items and other improvements. The plot will be added advanced, in a second encounter with her - not when we try to recover the mare princess - and also with high level and skill points.
In the chapter of novelties in the form of content we have, in addition to some extras as to the plot of the hero and Yangus that we will not enter in destripes, some new events (in the plot of Princess Medea) and two new final bosses. One of them literally destroyed us the first time we faced him (some attacks of more than 400 damage), because we got something just level. While another is probably the most powerful enemy in the game with more than 20,000 points of damage and attacks ranging from 400 to more than 1200.
All this is not missing new minigames, some video scenes that have been modified, some censorship already commented with some extra costumes of Jessica that have been changed in an inexplicable way and photo mode . Basically they will give us dozens of challenges while we take pictures of all kinds of elements. Statues, strange enemies, landscapes ... in exchange for going filling stamps in a notebook and earning rewards as we increase our album in question. Something that invites and a lot to explore once again the places already visited and to make all kinds of photographs that can also be modified and edited.
Technical section
Dragon Quest VIII looks great on Nintendo 3DS if you consider the limitations of the machine. Regarding the original release of PS2 the game has won in definition and contrast, but several details and decorative elements have been lost especially in the open scenarios and we also have some textures that are not level. Note that the game squeezes the Nintendo platform and in some moments endures as it can: we will have more popping than usual (not only enemies, but also some elements of vegetation). In closed settings such as caves, towns, houses and others the game looks much better than in open locations. Note that Square Enix has dispensed with the 3D effect so that the performance of the title is not affected while we are playing.
Among all this, those who come out better are the characters. Detailed and recreated as in the original version, they shine with their own light thanks to the unique designs of Akira Toriyama , clearly inspired by the cast of protagonists of Dragon Ball. The more adult touch of the template, unlike Dragon Quest VII where the style is more deformed-stubborn also allows you to see some prominent figures within your art. Of course, the best thing is again the monsters. Varied, original, surreal and with some of the best designs of Dragon Quest especially when we start to see the beasts that there are from Villahurto (the city of Yangus thieves).
The soundtrack , for its part, maintains the masterpieces that accompany combats, battles with bosses, exploration of the great world or more closed locations. The tracklist of Dragon Quest VIII was a marvel and it still is, although in this version the orchestrated arrangements that were added ten years ago in the West have been lost. It is a relative loss if we take into account that many people did not quite fit that kind of arrangement with what is seen on screen, and in any case the title is still powerful in this section. The voices of the characters are in English, with a quality somewhat inferior to musical themes but with accurate tones and interpretations, and the game is translated into Spanish.
conclusion
Dragon Quest VIII: Periplo del Rey Maldito became one of the greats of the genre when it came out on Playstation 2, and on Nintendo 3DS it still is, now as one of the standard bearers of the JRPG on this laptop. In addition, in general terms the new version, which comes more than a decade later, is undoubtedly a better title in almost everything it proposes at a playable level. Much more agilethanks to several changes: without random battles and fast mode in battles we gain in rhythm, to which a much more grateful exploration adds. We have new characters that expand the options when it comes to personalizing the team, a more agile level improvement in the early stages balanced with changes in somewhat harder final heads, new challenges (one of them, insane) and other interesting details such as photo mode. It is true that some unnecessary ease has been added, but as far as gameplay is concerned, this is a much more rounded and fresh product. The title looks good on an audiovisual level in 3DS, although it has lost some details regarding PS2 both at the graphic level and arrangements orchestrated in a soundtrack that, yes, is still charming.
The best
One of the great JRPG that continues to shine 10 years later, now on a laptop
Important changes in the development of the adventure: no random battles, evident improvement in exploration, rapid combat ...
The new controllable characters, Morrie and Rubí, and the challenge of a certain new boss
Dozens of hours for the main plot and many more to explore an open world full of secrets and surprises
It maintains the original virtues: it is still demanding, the management of team skills, alchemy ...
The Toriyama art fan has here a cast of monsters and characters worth seeing
Worst
At the audiovisual level, there are elements that are below the original game
Some unnecessary extra, like having maps of the starting dungeons
A reference title in its kind, which stands out above its competitors and which you will enjoy from beginning to end, surely several times. A game destined to become classic over the years.
Gameplay 9
Japanese role-playing game with turn-based combats in which on the one hand we have the main adventure chasing a villain who sows terror in a vast world and, on the other, we have almost absolute freedom to explore every corner of this rich map. The formula is still the same as in 2006 but many changes have been added: there are no random battles, the exploration improves for this reason, we have combats in fast mode to speed up the most mundane confrontations, new characters, new events and enemies, photo mode that extends the concept of exploration and tens of hours ahead. Some things have been facilitated (improvement of characters at the beginning) but it has been balanced with others (harder bosses and with new attacks).
Graphics 8
Akira Toriyama in all its splendor. Those who are fans of his art here will enjoy the beautiful with the characters but especially with the cast of monsters, which shines from the first third of adventure with surreal designs, full of humor and others, simply, very attractive. The title wins in definition with respect to PS2 but instead loses in several details. Open world something more empty, more popping of the account.
Sound 8
The soundtrack presents a tracklist of wonderful songs, some of the saga and sign of the saga and others designed for this delivery that go perfectly. The voices of the characters are in English. Of course, unlike the western version of PS2, orchestrated arrangements that were in that version have been lost.
1-6 IMAGECREDIT
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