never had this much fun in YEARS...

It is an awesome game. It's the most fun rpg I've ever played. The music brings the game to life. I have the music stuck in my head because its so awesome. It's the best Square Enix game yet!

If there's one thing the Dragon Quest/Warrior series has never done, it's screw with tradition. Sure, the world is 3D now, a la "Ocarina of Time", except HUGE, and the battle interface has crossed into the Final Fantasy style of being able to see your own characters. But these changes add to the spirit of the game, rather than trying to overpower it. Fans of the series will recognize most of the sound effects, and even the title theme, from the early NES games, re-orchestrated from 4bit midi. :) A masterwork, and a must have for any RPG fans who knows there is more to the genre than "Final Fantasy"… Expand

Incredibly addictive. Everything Dragon Warrior was and more, it lives up to the name far more than DW7. It also seems better than FFXII will be (and definately trumps FFX-2) -- I did not expect that at all.

I couldn't even get past a couple of hours playing this game. Yes, it's difficult; but more importantly, it's tedious. Right off the bat the game seems to demand a huge amount of fight, heal, save grinding. The healing and saving part means you have to head back to town, go to the inn, sit through the dialogue and animation, head to the church, sit through the dialogue, wait for it to save etc. Where's the fun in that? On the plus side, the graphics and music are excellent.… Expand

One of the best classic rpg's I've ever played! Plus it has a nice sense of humor and one evil looking villian! The music, graphics,story, and voice overs are well done. The night and day cycles are perfect and it's fun to explore the large environment. The camera controls are great as well.

This game is soo fun! You wont be dissapointed.

Great game! Fun! Much, much better that the FF XII demo..

Awesome game! It's been a long time since I saw an RPG this good. Music, simple yet engrossing character development system, graphics, the works! The included FFXII demo was a really nice added bonus.

Growing up on Dragon Warror games, I have always loved them. Even the worst Dragon Warrior (I can't seem to find one) game is better than the best Final Fantasy. Dragon Quest VIII is no exception. Extremely fun, and over 90 hours of gameplay with still more left to do. Dragon Warrior VII was the best RPG I had ever played. This may have beaten it.

Great Game. Lots of play time and a great plot and characters is what this game is all about.

I can't recommend this game enough! I turned into an RPG fan after playing Final Fantasy X a couple of years ago. And after finishing FF-X, I longed for another game that would take its place. I finally found it! Engaging storylines and superb graphics, great gameplay. When playing it, you can just feel the effort of time and effort it took to develop this game, and it paid off in the end. If you're into RPG games, this is certainly one to get!… Expand

Dragon Quest Viii is one of those sleeper hits. This game will give you sex appreal, humor, and an epic adventure all in one package. The graphics are anime done what adds to the game play. The battle system is turned base so it is made up of you hitting the enemy then they hit you. The boss battles are fun and challenging as long as you dont build up to an extreme hight level. After you beat the game their are a few area that you can go to and get more of the story which just adds more replay value to this game. You get 4 characters with one being a really sexy girl that does moves to add to the sex appreal. So with final fantasy XII out already and beaten with why dont you go grab this gem and give it a shot highly recommonded.… Expand

I'm a big fan of the 'Dragon Quest/Warrior' series, and when i heard about a PS2 version, i was understandably excited. This game did not disappoint me at all. i'm very picky about what games i buy and this is probably one of my top games that i own. Now, my saying this may be confusing since i didn't give it a ten, but then again, i'm not a hardcore gamer. The main reasons i didn't give this a ten was that the game doesn't have great replayability and there's not much to be done after the main storyline is completed. Besides that, it's amazing.… Expand

Should have been called Dragon Grind VIII. If I wanted to play a game with shallow characters, non-existent plot, and a combat system that feels as tedious as a grind, I would have played an MMO.

Tedious, lame story line, obvious expectations from people you need stuff from ie you have to go out of your way to get a lame item. Unlike the final fantasy series with a balanced level up period, dq8 presses for long level up time or be owned by our nasty sea ocean monsters. The dialogue seems to be read out, majority characters lack emotion in their voice and lack personality. game gets unfairly difficult in a short distance in certain areas which calls for a night at the inn. If a good lvl up is wanted you have to prepare yourself almost a few days of playing ( if you are playing 8 hours a day) to start gaining levels at a good pace due to the building of items that can give you some hope of not starting at a save point again or losing your gold. I dont think anybody would want to spend a day just leveling up. it gets really really boring. Some items are almost completey unused by the hero since he got its effects built in his spell list... lame! Resurrecting a character is more %&$% $&^# rather than a phew. The battle system was abit different with funny monsters and a few unique status effects which i liked. The area design and layout of towns and the surrounding nature was good to look at. Other than that not much positives. just another rpg with the same turn based system. Its nowhere near close to even ffx nor as gripping but it does manage to keep you interested.... that is if you dont get pissed at the level up time you spend then its ok. Not a complete fail and worth the buy at a bargain price.… Expand

Great, GREAT RPG. While Dragon Quest VIII does not re-invent the wheel, it definitely has perfected it. It just gets so much right, and it's no surprise considering the creators behind it. The combat is consistently challenging with some awesome boss fights that will really challenge your RPG skills. You absolutely have to pay attention, which is refreshing for an RPG. The story is simple yet wonderfully told with some touching moments throughout. The graphics, while simple, are carefully crafted with heavy attention to detail. Every room, enemy, and scene is crafted with care. The game is also huge. Lots of secrets, lots to see, lots to do, and a long story to play through. It will take you 60 hours easily to finish the main quest. My only criticism is that the skill system is quite vague. While I enjoy the surprise of finding out that next ability, you never know how many points you need for the next ability or what you're going to get. It really makes planning your party out a bit more arbitrary than I'd prefer. So it's always a shot in the dark when you choose to go with swords versus scythes, but a minor gripe to be sure, when the combat and game play is so expertly done and consistently entertaining. I'm currently doing my second play through and I'm having as much fun as I had the first time through. A true sign of a wonderfully crafted RPG. It's just plain FUN.… Expand

This game was my childhood. Between me, my brother and a close friend we logged about 300hrs into this game. I only wish the ps3 would remake this game so I could have no life all over again.

Having been a HUGE fan of DQ since the very early 90's, I can say that this is the absolute pinacle of the jrpg. It is a semi-slow grind-fest, but if you're into jrpg's that's probably what you like anyway. A twelve year old obsessed with Skyrim (which is great btw) may find this game terribly boring and unrewarding, and that's okay. This game,despite the cel-shaded graphics was not made for them. It is an homage to DQ's fans, and a spectacular one!… Expand

Does anyone else notice the horrible English in the brief about this game (under the picture and score)? It doesn't even make sense. A lot of Japanese games are like this now. Whatever happened to real translators instead of people using google language tools to translate everything. Also, this game is no different than any other japanese RPG, long, boring and the story is retarded (See Star Ocean, FFX, etc.). Want to play a good game? Check out Shadow of the Colossus, Star Wars: KOTOR, Neverwinter Nights, Morrowind, or Fable.… Expand

This game goes up with Final Fantasy XII and FF IX on my list of favorite RPG's. The sense of scale and high-quality quantity of exploration should be reason enough for any RPG fan to spazz out and obsess over for years to come. The amount of content in this game is just amazing.

Story:
The story is almost nonexistant in the beginning of the game and takes too long to reveal itself, and when it does, it remains just an average story. Although there are only 4 party members, each member is as shallow as if the party had 12 members.
Gameplay:
Dragon Quest VIII's gameplay is very old school which isn't a bad thing but i would've liked some twist to it. The saying, "if it ain't broke don't fix it," remains true here. So if you're tired of the same old thing look elsewhere. This game is also very tedious. You can only save at churches which are only in towns. Going back to town just to save wastes a lot of time. Make sure you won't have anything to do later while playing this game or else you'll have to backtrack a lot.
Graphics:
The graphics are beautiful, vibrant and pleasing to the eye. So even if the difficult and tedious battles piss you off, you can at least enjoy the view. The character designs were also done by the same person who drew Dragon Ball. If that kind of art isn't your style then you may have a problem.
Music:
Like the graphics, the music ids actually pretty good. However, most of the better tracks are either underused or overused to the point where it gets annoying (I'm looking at you overworld theme).
Overall this game is somewhat fun but it doesn't really bring anything new to the table. Think of it as an enhanced remake of preivous RPGs. Same battle system, with better production values.… Expand

ugh...the game was fun....and ugh....it was good but i only got like a lv41 in everyone and i cant pass rhpathorne i just want to kick his fat ass to hong kong but noo there arent any hacks or stupid weird dances but overall it is a....ownage game!!!!!!!!!i tried to convince my friends to play it hehe i think its working im soo close to teh end but i dont have a slime crown i wonder if u can find one im still working on beating rhapathorne and ppl i have a little tip u know ridons tower theres a hill next to it use the god birds stone tht makes u fly and land there u fine every slime known to man so ugh... thtll make it easier to increase and u know the red slot machine in baccarat use it but its a 100 coin slot machine i got like 30,000 coins off it lmaooo… Expand

A strong RPG that is only superficially compelling, DQ8 doesn't do alot to RPGs that hasn't already been done so much as it synthesizes the formula. It's a mostly engaging experience all the way through, but, with so many RPGs that are catering to more specialized crowds, DQ8 will probably appeal more to the standard player than it will the progressive RPG enthusiast.

I'm kinda conflicted about it. I do enjoy it, but I also get tired of it quickly because the non-boss battles tend to just turn into attacking over and over, and it gets tedious because the encounter rate is so high. But nonetheless, great classic gamer experience.

Funny, involving story with great graphics. However, the XP treadmill is horrible. The average monster encountered after level 40 does not give you nearly enough XP. Leveling after 40 is so rare you begin to wonder if you're playing a MMORPG.

Awesome! This is game is simply awesome, I pity the reviewers who gripe with the games old school classic RPG fundamentals that is what makes RPGs so good, that is why FF7 and FF3 and old DQ titles trump FFX and FFX2... don't fix what is'nt broken, what makes DQ8 so amazing is the shear size of the game, it is a very big game.. travel is almost real time which I like, traversing from town to town is an adventure in itslelf as you have very far too go with many dangerous monsters lurking about, the Night and Day system is cool too, all RPGs should have that system. I enjoy the weapon proficency and skill system it reminds me of Dungeons and Dragons a bit, the graphics and sound are great, nice soundtrack and the game is absolutely beautiful in design, the mechanics may be old school but the graphics smash any other modern RPG game! I have not had this much addictive fun playing an RPG since Zelda: Ocarnia of Time! Buy it now over anything else!!… Expand

While I'm really enjoying this game and I would highly recommend it to any RPG fan, it does have its warts. The "load times" after every battle are noticeable and really breaks the flow of the game. In stark contrast to every review I've read, I didn't like the voice acting and ended up turning it off.