Discovering Dragon Quest VIII | A Beautiful Surprise, 20 Years in the Making
My heartfelt reflection on a game I never expected to fall in love with
A Bit of Background
I mentioned Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King in my introduction post of The Saved Game as a short reflection. I wasn’t sure if it would be the right game or subject to start off my newsletter. However, after giving it a bit of thought, I realized that it was the game I needed to kick off this newsletter with!
This realization came because Dragon Quest VIII captures the meaning of what I want The Saved Game to be in a lot of ways! It is a game that meant so much to me when I discovered it last year, and is one that I consider to be one of the best games I have ever played. Even though I did not play it when it first came out in 2004/2005, it carried itself across time with such confidence and charm that it feels timeless.
Why am I writing about a game that’s now around 20 years old?
Why does it mean so much to me, especially when I just played it fairly recently?
And most of all, why would I recommend that you plug in your PlayStation 2 and pick up Dragon Quest VIII to play?
We’re going to explore all of that together, and I hope that by the time you’re done reading this newsletter, you’ll be tempted enough to make the choice and jump into Dragon Quest VIII! Either for the first time like I did last year, or to return to a world you once loved!
First off though, I want to extend my warmest welcome and send my thanks to you for the privilege and honor of your time! My name is Joe, and The Saved Game is a weekly newsletter that will be a space about video game nostalgia, new and old favorites, and finding ways to rekindle your love for why you played video games in the first place!
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How Dragon Quest VIII Found its Way into My Life
There was a series of events that led to me playing Dragon Quest VIII for the first time in 2024.
A few years back, around 2022 or so, I received a number of video games from a family member, including a variety of JRPGs. Among them was Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King on the PlayStation 2 (PS2)! It stood out immediately to me. The colorful game box art and the visual style made it stand out next to the rest of my PS2 games. I didn’t even know it was Akira Toriyama’s artwork at the time, but I loved it. Something about it stuck with me, and I would think about playing it from time to time.
But still, I just shelved it and figured in my mind that I would never get around to trying it out.
It was an old game anyways… I told myself.
Fast forward to the summer of 2024. It was hot in North Texas, as it always is during the humid and scorching summer months. I was trying to cool off while working on a project, with some YouTube videos playing in the background. The videos I had playing were from a YouTube game reviewer named Happy Console Gamer. He has been making gaming content for a long time, and he dives into the video games that shaped his life and what they meant to him. He always has a very enthusiastic attitude, and I enjoy the excitement he shares about gaming! The various videos I had on from him were about a game series that he was excitedly talking about, which was the Dragon Warrior/Quest series!
I didn’t see any spoilers at all for Dragon Quest VIII when he discussed it, but once he showed a few gameplay clips of it, and then when I realized that it was an open-world game that ran well on the PS2, I knew that I had to give it a try. My decision was made even easier because I already owned it for awhile at that point! So, I reached for the easily recognizable, vibrant box on my gaming shelf, popped it in my PS2, and decided to give it a go.
I’ll give it at least a few hours… I repeated to myself in my mind, just to see what it would be like.
A little over 93 in-game hours later, I had finished one of the best gaming experiences of my life!
The Surprises of Dragon Quest VIII
The first time I played Dragon Quest VIII was surprising, and even a bit shocking to me. Not in a bad way! But, as soon as the main title screen played, I realized that this game was different.
The music itself, composed by Koichi Sugiyama, was phenomenal. It was music that set a happy tone, that was full of life, and had an easy-going pleasantness at the same time! The title theme/overture in particular had this warm, bright energy to it. It was deep, almost cheerful in a way, but never silly or shallow. It struck me as instantly memorable. Not just because it was catchy, but because it felt like the beginning of something special. I highly recommend listening to it here or watching the intro here if you want to feel what I felt in that moment! The rest of the music throughout the game was just as strong, and very fitting for the various settings, menus, and situations!
Once I started playing, I was pleasantly surprised by the initial start of the game and the incredible voice acting! The first character that stood out to me was, of course, Yangus. He appears as a bit of a brutish and brawling character, with his thick British/Cockney accent, but he also had some big-hearted loyalty that developed him into a much deeper character. There was a shock though! Which was seeing a talking toad-like character named Trode and a horse named Medea for the first time in the starting area, which added to the mystery.
The characters themselves were way more interesting than I expected to be as I spoke to them and got to learn further about the plot of the story! Beyond the characters I have already mentioned, there were many other party characters and NPCs that truly breathed life into Dragon Quest VIII!
Whether it was the fiery red-haired mage named Jessica Albert that wanted revenge, or the complicated and always flirting Angelo who wanted to prove himself, they all fit the story and world so well! The personalities of the characters I met throughout all of the locations, whether they were party members or NPCs, meshed extremely well together! Every conversation added something, and it never felt like a waste of time when talking to someone!
For a game that came out in the mid-2000s, it was surprising to me to see how well-thought out all of the locations were. Whether it was the first town of Farebury, or the rest of the world that was left to explore, they were all rewarding to visit!
The map itself was massive, which I was not expecting, and offered so many thoughtful places to explore! Click here to view a detailed and labeled map. One of the best things about exploring was being able to revisit earlier locations in the game to get treasure that I now had access to get, due to finding new items or unlocking modes of transportation that allowed me to revisit once-inaccessible locations. It all added a sense of curious exploration and marvel to just walk around the different areas to find new things, and helped to draw me into the shockingly well-built world of Dragon Quest VIII!
The Unexpected Charm of Dragon Quest VIII’s Design
As I explored and continued to play the game, there were many mechanics and designs that were not only smart and clever, but also hilarious at times in Dragon Quest VIII!
One of the first dungeons/caves I went to was called Waterfall Cave, that was located outside the town of Farebury. I was being a bit reckless when I went in, because I knew I had an item called a Chimaera Wing that I thought would be able to warp me back to the starting town of the game. This item’s description seemed straightforward enough to me, so I continued on my way, deeper into the cave with limited health and supplies.
“Allows you to warp instantly to a selection of places you have previously visited.”
—Item description of a Chimaera Wing
Nice and simple… I thought to myself.
However, since I had never played a Dragon Quest game before, I didn’t realize that the Chimaera Wing would not work in caves and dungeons. So, when I tried to warp out after getting in over my head, I watched my character launch into the air for the spell’s usual animation... only to smash his head on the cave ceiling and crash back down. I was stunned, as well as laughing! Then I pressed on, eventually getting to the boss without Yangus, and died anyway. Likewise, my party’s characters turning into coffins in battles was equally hilarious and stunning the first time I witnessed it!
All of that, and more, made me realize how much personality and charm this game had!
On a more serious note, there were many mechanics that worked amazingly well and allowed me to test around with various ways of playing the game, usually by trial and error. What was important to me, is that these mechanics and design choices enhanced the gameplay in a positive manner, and were not forced in an unnatural way.
I do not want to go into many spoilers, but there were two main mechanics that really enhanced the gameplay for me. One of them was the Alchemy Pot, which allowed me to test around making items, weapons, armor, and consumables. Trode helped get everything set up to start brewing something, and then I was able to retrieve the final creation after a set amount of time! It was fun exploring and tinkering around with this, and exciting to find new recipes to try!
The second mechanic that was incredible was the Monster Teams! I loved recruiting monsters, and a very enthusiastic and passionate character I met a bit further in the game helped explain their uses, as well as to train the monsters I had! This mechanic made combat and battles so much easier, and it became a point to journey throughout the world to hunt down monsters, recruit them, research them, and to build the best team!
The Emotional Rewards that Mattered
There are not a lot of games that provide me with an emotional journey throughout the entire duration of the game. Even fewer that leave something with me long after I put the controller down for the last time.
However, Dragon Quest VIII did this. And it did it damn well.
It was funny, heart-felt, whimsical, endearing, and fun. All the while, it wrapped me up in its engaging story. When I was playing it, I was in a great spot mentally. I literally enjoyed it from the first moment I loaded up each save and got back into the world, progressed through the story, and engaged with the characters until the time I confessed (saved the game file) and turned off my PS2. It was a pleasure to play, and likewise, it has been a joy to talk about it for the past year after I finished it!
It all gave me this calming sense of comfort. I’d sit down, fire up my PS2, and just feel good being back. Even now, nearly a year after finishing it, I still talk about it with the kind of fondness usually reserved for childhood favorites. It was the type of game that latches onto your heart, and reminds you how good it was when you played it.
There was one thing I did with Dragon Quest VIII that I have never done with any other game before:
Notes. I took actual notes while playing.
I had a Google Doc opened up for note-taking while playing to keep track of characters I talked to and quests I found myself getting caught up in! It was so much fun to do it like this, by taking notes, and checking things off as I went! It definitely immersed me into the world, and I was able to engage a lot more with the gameplay!
Dragon Quest VIII was not, as far as I remember, a game that had arrows or quest markers on the map that easily guided you to your next task or objective. But for me, that was perfectly okay!
More so, I wish that more games actively encouraged players to do this, and to give them ways to explore without showing them directly to their next checkpoint or task! In my mind, it would encourage exploration, the type of immersion that would let you appreciate the design and world you’re living in!
The battle system was fun and rewarding, and I never felt like I was grinding in this game unless I chose to. I am not a huge JRPG player, so any game like this usually has to be fairly straightforward for me to stick with it. Dragon Quest VIII definitely did that though and pulled it off beautifully. The spells made sense while being easy to learn, the abilities had fun animations, and the enemies/bosses were clever enough to put up a decent fight! I enjoyed the reward of learning all about the battle system, trying to figure out the best strategies to use, and I loved recruiting and using monsters throughout my time playing!
Final Thoughts and Looking Back
Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King is, in my opinion, a must-play game on the PlayStation 2. More so, it’s a game I would urge you to play or rediscover, even though it’s been around 20 years since it first came out!
It has a breathtaking and massive open world that is incredibly detailed, that also functions amazingly well on the PS2. I never had any bugs or crashes, and the loading times were completely normal for the age of this game. In fact, they were better than I expected!
The whimsical storyline and range of engaging characters made for a fantastic gaming blend that all worked so well together and felt perfectly cohesive! The exploration throughout the locations and world were super fun, and despite the unexpectedly large scale, they never felt boring or like I was grinding through anything. The art direction and style were amazing and cheerful, where I loved traveling to new places and finding different characters so that I could discover and learn more about their backgrounds! There was mystery and suspense, as well as happy and hilarious moments, which all led to this game ending on a bright and positive note for me!
Personally, Dragon Quest VIII was one of the best games I have ever played. It was also the first Dragon Quest game I had ever played, but will not be the last! I have already been eying and waiting to play Dragon Quest XI for some time now, and I know that I will be bringing the same heart to that game that I had with Dragon Quest VIII! Likewise, I am excited to see some of the older Dragon Quest games get remastered and remade for newer consoles, as I look forward to checking those out too! I hope that at some point in the future, they will also look into remastering Dragon Quest VIII on modern consoles too!
My hope is that something I wrote here will inspire you to go out and try Dragon Quest VIII! Or, if you have already played it in the past, whether on the PS2 or Nintendo 3DS, I hope that you will remember some of the great experiences you had with it, and choose to give it another go by revisiting the world that meant so much to me!
As far as I’m concerned, the only complaint I have about Dragon Quest VIII is that I can’t play it again for the first time!
Thank you for reading, and for the privilege and honor of your time! It means a lot to me, and I hope that you enjoyed this week’s newsletter!
Take care, and I’ll see you next Saturday morning!
Joe
What are Your Thoughts
I want to hear from you!
Let me know down in the comments what your experiences are with Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King! Have you ever played this game before? Or was this the first time you have heard about it?
If you have played it before, I would love to know more about what this game meant to you, whether you played it on the PS2 or the 3DS! Did you get the chance to play it more recently like I did? Or were you able to play it many years ago, closer to when it first came out?
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“The Saved Game”…nice newsletter name! Wish I had thought of that 🤦🏾♂️
Anyway, I think you and I are gaming twins becuase I played DQ 8 for the first time last year after it sat around for like 15 years in my collection. And, like you, it took hearing someone else talk about it (Nadia Oxford on Retronauts podcast, ep. 605) before I decided to finally just play the damned thing.
Unfortunately, I got about halfway through the game (I think) and Petered out because I felt too tired in the late evening to really spend quality time with it without dozing off (living that dad life).
Also, I knew I couldn’t finish it before DQ III HD-2D came out and I wanted to play that game ASAP…which I also Petered out from after a few weeks for the same reasons.
But yeah, I also love the humor the series is known for. I had the same reaction as you when play DQV on the DS and tried warping while inside a building. That “thunk” sound was such a surprise and hilarious. 🤣
All that to say…nice write up! And I’ll get back into DQ8 at some point. Also, if you enjoyed that game, you are going to ADORE Dragon Quest 11.
It's rare in this day and age, for someone to give an old game a chance. A chance to a game from their way-back backlog. It's awesome that you did and found such a cool gem of a game!
I recently did something similar... went back to waaay-back to find one of my favs and play it with Junior :D, quite the experience! Article in the works xD.
Great Review! Keep up the good work!