Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King: Difference between revisions

| designer = [[Yūji Horii]]

{{Translation|'''Dragon Quest VIII'''|ドラゴンクエストVIII 空と海と大地と呪われし姫君|Dragon Quest VIII Sora to Umi to Daichi to Norowareshi Himegimi|Dragon Quest VIII: The Sky, the Ocean, the Earth, and the Cursed Princess}} is the eighth installment in the ''[[Dragon Quest (series)|Dragon Quest]]'' series, developed by Level-5 and published by [[Square Enix]] for the PlayStation 2 video game console. It was also later released for the [[Nintendo 3DS]] in 2015.

''Dragon Quest VIII'' begins when the evil jester Dhoulmagus steals a magical sceptre from Trodain Castle. With this powerful sceptre, he transforms the inhabitants of Trodain into plant-like statues, as well as changing the king into a toad-like monster and the princess into a horse, while covering the majority of the castle in large, green magical thorns. The Hero, a young Trodain guardsman, is the only resident to remain uncursed. Accompanying the cursed king and princess, he hunts Dhoulmagus, in hopes of restoring Trodain to its former glory. The Hero is eventually joined on his quest by three companions: a scarred, inarticulate bandit named Yangus, a wand-waving tomboy named Jessica, and Angelo, a rapier-wielding Templar Knight and self-proclaimed ladies' man. During their travels, the party runs into Dhoulmagus several times. A couple of these encounters involve Dhoulmagus killing someone beloved by members of the Hero's party. Individuals slain by Dhoulmagus include Alistair (Jessica's brother) and Abbot Francisco, who is head of the abbey where Angelo lives. The party finally tracks down Dhoulmagus to the Dark Ruins, where they find him recuperating, and finally face off against him. After his defeat, he tries to curse the party with his sceptre, but the hero is again unaffected by the curse, blocking the blast and sparing the other party members. Dhoulmagus then uses his menacing power to change into a hideous creature. However, even with his new powers, he is no match for the might of the heroes. Much to their surprise, however, they find that even with his defeat, the curse still has not been lifted. Concluding that something else must be maintaining the curse, they leave the ruins, with Jessica picking up Dhoulmagus' sceptre as they exit.

The next morning, the Hero and the others find to their surprise that Jessica is missing. While searching for her, the party enters a town called Arcadia, arriving just in time to save a magician named Dominico from an apparently-possessed Jessica wielding the Sceptre. After chastising David, his young servant, Dominico sends the heroes to find the Kran Spinels to aid in warding off Jessica. Once the heroes return with the jewels, Dominico uses them to create a more effective barrier against Jessica. While he prepares the incantation to erect the barrier, the party engages Jessica outside in an attempt to stall her, discovering in the process that her true objective is David, an heir of one of the seven great sages. After the battle, Dominico's barrier is able to release Jessica from her possession.

After recovery, Jessica reveals what her possessor had planned, as well as giving it a name -- Rhapthorne, The Lord of Darkness. His soul had previously been imprisoned inside the Sceptre by the seven sages, and he plots to remove the seals by killing their heirs as soon as possible. At that point, the party realizes the Sceptre is missing. They rush over to Dominico's estate, only to see that Rhapthorne has succeeded in mortally wounding David after taking control of Dominico's dog Sir Leopold as his next host. After Rhapthorne flees, David utteres his final words, as a repentant and grieving Dominico laments over him. With only two heirs left to kill, the possessed Sir Leopold absconds to the snowy mountain valley of the north. An old woman named Marta, who happens to be the one of the two remaining heirs, lives in the wintry countryside.

After running an errand for Marta and finding her son Marek, the party comes back to Marta's house only to see it set ablaze by Sir Leopold. Holding her son Marek hostage, Sir Leopold forces Marta to come out and face him. He manages to kill her, and flies away to find the last living heir. Enlisting the aid of the legendary godbird Empyrea, the party tracks Sir Leopold down to the Lord High Priest's mansion and engage him. After putting down the possessed Sir Leopold, he loses his grip on the Sceptre, and dies. The Lord High Priest goes into shock, and faints. Meanwhile, Marcello (the new abbot, and Angelo's half-brother) enters, and frames the party for attempting to assassinate the Lord High Priest, and has them exiled to Purgatory Island. Marcello picks up the Sceptre, but manages to resist Lord Rhapthorne's evil influence. He assumes his position of the Lord High Priest thereafter.

The party manages to escape from [[Purgatory Island]], returning to face Marcello on the holy isle of Neos, and defeats him. In his weakened state, Marcello gives in to Rhapthorne's influence. With all seven sages killed, Rhapthorne is resurrected in flesh and blood. He transforms Neos into the Black Citadel, and raises it into the sky to stage his attack upon the world. The heroes battle their way through the Citadel and defeat Rhapthorne in his first body. However, by doing so, Rhapthorne is able to unleash his full power and incorporate the Black Citadel into himself, transforming himself into a massive devil looming over the land. Empyrea calls upon the heroes to destroy Rhapthorne once and for all. The Sceptre of Trodain, imbued with Empyrea's essence, is now an essential weapon for the party, able to unlock the power of the seven orbs containing the spirits of the seven sages, to penetrate into Rhapthorne's mighty barrier and engage him in mortal combat. After finally ending the reign of Rhapthorne, the party restored peace to the world. King Trode and Princess Medea are changed back to their human forms, and the curse of Trodain, along with its thorns, is lifted and removed.

Seven months later, the Hero is assigned to escort Princess Medea to her arranged wedding with Prince Charmles of Argonia. After reuniting with his three friends, the hero sets sail for Savella Cathedral with the king and princess. Prince Charmles meets with the entourage personally, and forbids the party from attending the ceremony within the cathedral. On the day of the wedding, the Hero manages to slip into the cathedral with Yangus' help. However, the Princess is nowhere to be found. The Hero escapes, and finds the Princess at the cathedral courtyard waiting for him. They return to Trodain in a carriage steered by King Trode, and live happily ever after.

An "alternate ending" can be achieved once the first ending has been viewed, which unlocks the Dragovian Realm. A well-experienced party of heroes can challenge the Lord of the Dragovians at the Heavenly Dais. If successful, the hero's true origins are revealed, and the alternate ending will replace the first ending, where the player defeats Rhapthorne again. In the alternate ending, the Hero is revealed as the son of the lost prince of Argonia. His mother was a Dragovian maiden who escaped to the human world and met Clavius' older brother, but her father did not agree to the relationship and took her home. Following after, the Prince died just short of the Dragovian homeland. The hero was born shortly afterwards, but sentenced to exile in the human world, as his birth took the life of his mother. Ashamed for his actions, the maiden's father went with his only surviving kin, as the mouse Munchie. Upon defeating the Dragovian lord, who had become mad after trying to abandon his human form, gives the Hero his father's ring. Clavius, King of Argonia and Prince Charmles' father, acknowledges the hero's right to marry the Princess after seeing the ring, which allows him to finally feel at peace with his lost brother. The two are wed at Savella Cathedral, much to the scorn of Charmles, who is finally confronted by his father over his initiation test earlier in the story. The newlywed couple come out of the cathedral together and embrace each other, much to the surprise of the other party members. They return to Trodain in the same fashion as the first ending, and live happily ever after.

*[[Hero (Dragon Quest VIII)|Hero]] - The hero is a royal guard of Trodain, who journeys with King Trode to hunt down Dhoulmagus and make him pay for his crimes. His pet mouse, Munchie, usually rides in his right coat pocket.

*[[Jessica Albert]] - A voluptuous, short-tempered, and tomboyish sorceress born to a wealthy family in the town of Alexandria, and the third party member. She seeks to avenge her brother Alistair, who is slain by Dhoulmagus.  

*[[Angelo]] - Angelo is one of Maella Abbey's Templar Knights and the fourth party member. Though unable to live with the strict moral code of the Templars, with his lust for gambling and women, he is faithfully devoted to Abbot Francisco.

*[[Red]] - Red is a thief who was an old mate of Yangus. She is interested in old, precious treasures. In the 3DS version, she joins the party in hopes of finding valuable loot after being disappointed by a certain pirate's treasure.

*[[Morrie|Morrie Mozzarella]] - Morrie is a mysterious, energetic older gentleman who runs the Monster Arena. On 3DS, he is the sole optional party member. He can join the group if the Hero manages to impress him, beating Rank S.

*The player can now select how long they wish to stay at an [[Inn]], changing the time of day.

*In the event of a full party wipe out, all characters are automatically revived at the last church the game was saved at.

*[[List of character statistics#Wisdom|Wisdom]] now improves the power of offensive spells, addressing the infamous schism between the usefulness of magic and skills in ''VI'' and ''VII''.

At a certain point in the early game, the party receives an [[Krak Pot|Alchemy Pot]]. This device can be used to combine two items into a third (usually more powerful) item following various [[Alchemy recipe|recipes]]. The combination takes a certain amount of time, depending on the power of the combined item and the level of the pot. This "time" only advances as the wagon moves, on the overworld. Later in the game, the pot is upgraded to hold three items, allowing additional, even more powerful recipes.

An invalid recipe will be rejected immediately without consuming the items, allowing the player to experiment to find new recipes. In the Bonus Dungeon, the player gains a pot that can mix items instantly.

In addition to learning spells when reaching a certain level, characters are now able to attain new abilities by allocating skill points into one of five categories. The types of skills are the character's three favored weapon, unarmed combat, and the character's innate personality. Skill points are awarded upon leveling up, or when using a [[Seed of Skill]]], and must be used immediately or the menu will not close.  

*[[List of character statistics#Style|Style]] has been removed.

''Dragon Quest VIII'''s designers include Yuji Horii as scenario director, Akira Toriyama as the art designer, Koichi Sugiyama as the music composer, and the company [[Level-5]] handling development.

Preliminary development began 2001, with Sony's recently released PlayStation 2 console being considered a logical choice thanks to its breakout sales figures and the popularity of the previous iteration of hardware. Troubled by the rough development period of the previous game and its mixed reception from fans, as well as the drastic changes taking place in the industry during the shift to the sixth generation of console hardware, Yuji Horii struggled to form fresh ideas for what would become the eighth game. During this time a representative of Enix, Tatsuhiro Watanabe, approached [[Akihiko Hino]] of Level-5 over the possibility of developing the next Dragon Quest, explaining that he was deeply impressed with the quality of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Cloud Dark Cloud]. Hino initially declined the offer, being occupied with the development of Dark Cloud 2 and feeling that such a project was beyond him at the time. However, he and Watanabe would later meet at a drinking party where Hino would list off his several complaints about ''Dragon Quest VII''. Watanabe responded to this by stating that if he loved the series enough to have so many issues with the latest game, then why not make the next one himself? The Watanabe piqued Hino's interest further by stating that Level-5 would have to develop a working prototype to be compared against other candidates.

Hino's competitive spirit was fired up with the context of the selection process being framed as a contest, and Level-5 completed its prototype in December of 2001.  When it was presented to Horii for his evaluation, he was shocked by both the quality of the demo and the strong technical understanding of the PlayStation 2 hardware the company demonstrated. Level-5 was selected as the developer of ''Dragon Quest VIII'' and Hino was appointed as the director, which caused much surprise among Japanese fans of the time as none of the company's staff had any prior involvement with the series. Regardless Hino and his staff proved themselves to be more than capable developers, with ''VIII'' being the only time that a title experienced no delays from its announcement to release.

Being developed by Level-5, with many staffers being fans of the series since their childhood, ''VIII'' is a love letter to the entire franchise. Several characters from previous ''Dragon Quest'' games make a cameo appearance, among which are the Martial Artist and Warrior from ''Dragon Quest III''; [[Ragnar McRyan|Ragnar]], [[Healie]], and [[Torneko Taloon|Torneko]] from ''Dragon Quest IV''; There is even an allusion to the [[Dragonlord]] from ''Dragon Quest I'' present. Additionally, extra care was taken to ensure that the feel of the classic titles was maintained in all aspects, such as using a stopwatch to time how long it takes for the magic sound effect to play after a spell is cast to even the time of opening and closing the menu compared to the 8-bit titles. Level-5's prowess with the PS2 hardware also invigorated Toriyama and Sugiyama, who were able to rely on the company to realize the more detailed character designs and richer compositions they had prepared. In regards to the former, the staff watched several dozen hours of the anime adaptation of Toriyama's ''Dragon Ball'' in preparation for developing the walking, speaking, and battle animations.

Square Enix released a mobile port of Dragon Quest VIII on December 12, 2013 in Japan and on May 29th, 2014 worldwide. This mobile port was based on the original Japanese release, so it lacked some features the western fans had come to love from the original release: orchestral soundtrack, voice acting, and the more intricate interface. Some of this version's characteristics and changes compared to the Japanese PS2 version are:

* Basic phone utility changes.

* Touch control and other adaptations needed. The text boxes are much simplier and npcs have a circular interaction area around them, for instance.

* Locked in portrait mode, cannot be played while on landscape mode.

* It's not compatible with controllers.

* Alchemy is instantaneous starting from this version. (The Dragovian reward is now 10 Super [[Seed of Skill|Seeds of Skill]])

* Pots and barrels are destroyed on the spot.

* AI for Hero.

* Skill points don't need to be used immediately upon leveling up.

* Changes to certain spell and skills, like [[Pearly Gates]] using it's animation from the western PS2 release.

* Trode has been removed from the battle record screen.

* Unlike the other versions of the game, it is only available in English and French in Europe.

* Two new playable characters: [[Red]] and [[Morrie]]. The former is recruited automatically at certain point in the story, while the later can be obtained after beating Rank S in the Monster Arena.

** Due to this, the S Rank Battle is delayed until the party defeats a [[Jessica Albert|boss]] in [[Arcadia]].

* This version has symbol encounters like most 3D ''Dragon Quest'' games released after [[Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker|the first Joker game]]. To compensate for it's technical charge, the overall draw distance for trees and other elements was reduced.  

* Colors are much more saturated than on any other version.

* Like in the mobile port, alchemy is instantaneous.

* New scenarios to get more context to the Hero and Medea's relationship, and [[Dhoulmagus]]'s original motives.

* A button on the lower screen allows players to access a variety of useful spells and items like [[Zoom]], [[Baumren's bell]] or the [[Alchemy pot]] much faster.

* A side-story with [[Marcello]] and [[Juggerwroth]]. This sidestory is unlocked very near the end of the main story, and gives players some insight on one of Rapthorne's strongest followers.

* A new [[Monster Arena|monster arena]] rank: Rank X. It becomes available after unlocking Morrie.

* The Japanese release has orchestral soundtrack, by the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra. The Western release uses midi soundtracks.

* Japanese voice acting available for the first time.

* New English lines were recorded where needed (new scenarios, changes like Red's role, etc), and Jessica's VA was replaced due to her original actress leaving the dubbing industry.

* New ending with [[Jessica|a certain lady]] and some minor additional scenes leading to it were added.

* New sets of outfits for every playable character.

* The Hero keeps his bandana when going into high-[[tension]] mode.

* Some of the most revealing outfits for Jessica were toned down or altered.

* Two scenes, one involving David and another involving Marcello, were also toned down.

* New "rarified" monsters that only appear under specific conditions, like [[Cherreevil Blossom]], [[Crème caraslime]], or [[Morrimp]].

* A [[Cameron's Codex|new camera mode]] is available. There are several sidequests related to it, giving players rare rewards. The last few quests contain a [[Stella|a character]] from {{Dragon Quest IX}}. The game includes a limited photo editor for pictures taken with the new mode.

* There is DLC equipment in this release, most notably {{Erdrick's sword}}.

* New items were added. With a couple of the new items, players to ride a [[Silver sabrecat|silver]] and a black great sabrecats.

* Some bosses, skills and spells were re-balanced. The most notable example is the [[Twin Dragon Lash]] skill.

* [[Princess Minnie]]'s rewards are expanded. Some include new weapons and even costumes.

* A [[Walking corpse]] operates a night shop in [[Arcadia]] where a [[Seed of skill] can be purchased once every 24 hours in real time.

*On PS2, DQVIII had synthesised music in Japan, and orchestral elsewhere. On 3DS, the situation was the opposite: orchestral music in Japan, and synth everywhere else.

* [[Angelo]] cannot be seen in any of the game's box artworks despite joining the party relatively early in the game.

*Music composer: [[Koichi Sugiyama]]

*Music: Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Koichi Sugiyama

*Music programming: Koichi Sugiyama (SUGIYAMA KOBO), Hidenori Miyanaga (TOSE), Ryoue Takagi (TOSE)

Image:DQVIII Promo Poster2.jpg|A Japanese promotional poster for the game

Image:DQVIIIPS2_box_art.jpg|PlayStation 2 (NA)

Image:DQVIIIPS2_Europe.png|PlayStation 2 (EU)

File:DQVIII soundtrack.png|Soundtrack

File:DQVIII 4koma comics.png|4koma comics

Image:DQVIII_3DS_Japan.png|3DS box (Japan)

Image:DQVIII_3DS_box.png|3DS box (NA)

File:DQVIII 3DS wallpaper.png|

File:Dragon Quest VIII 3DS wallpaper.png|

File:DQVIII Main Characters.png|V Jump cover art

File:Monster Battle Victory DQ VIII group.png|''Monster Battle Victory'' splash art