I pre ordered this and am having a lot of fun with it. I like the dragon quest series and just finished dragon quest VII 3DS. I bought two copies of this so my son can have one too. I bought from Amazon and another online retailer and the other retailer arrived yesterday. So I've already got about eight hours in. I'm really enjoying it, but I like dragon quest games. I'm an adult so I appreciate a portable version of the game because I don't have as much time to sit in front of a TV anymore!
MY SHORT REVIEW:
If you like RPGs with turn based battles, this is one of the best. It modernizes a little bit, but it's still old-school in many ways. It's a full-length RPG. You get 70+ hours of gameplay and it's worth playing. If you haven't played other dragon quest games, this is one of the best. You don't need to play other ones first. And if you're not a hardcore RPG person, it's probably good to skip a lot of the other ones. I really suggest it:
MY REALLY LONG REVIEW:
This is my third version of dragon quest VIII. I played it all the way through on the PS2. I played it some on the IOS but I didn't like the cramped view nor did I like the touch controls. I plan on playing it through on the 3DS. I don't think this is the definitive version. There are pros and cons to all the versions. But I'm really liking this 3DS version so far.
GRAPHICS:
The graphics aren't exactly like the PS2 version, but I think they're as good as the 3DS can do. I think there are the same number of polygons as the PS2 version, but the edges are more jaggy. The textures are lower resolution so things are sometimes fuzzier. Compared to other 3DS games, the graphics are great. I think the graphics are a step up from Dragon Quest VII on the 3DS. The graphics are among the best graphics on the 3DS and the animation is spectacular. It's one of the few RPGs with fully animated battles. If you're expecting 3DS style graphics, they're very good. I'm willing to overlook the graphics knowing I can take it with me. And I much prefer the button controls to the IOS/Android versions.
BATTLES AND GAMEPLAY:
Seeing the enemies on the map is good, but it doesn't mean you'll be fighting less. Yes, you can avoid more of the battles, but it doesn't mean you should.My first time out of town: I spent some time fighting, went back to town to go to the inn to heal, went fighting again, went back to town before moving on a little bit. It's not a casual RPG, and I wouldn't want it to be. You can avoid battles and be picker about who you fight, but you'll still be battling a lot. It's maybe less grindy, but it's not a "no grind" game.
The battles are turn based. This was the first Dragon quest that showed the whole battle field and there are great turn based battles. You can speed up the battles a bit with an option in the menus. I really appreciate seeing what my characters are doing. This game has my favorite turn based battles that aren't strategy games. It's old-school in that it's menu driven battles, but it works. I'm a computer tech who often plays for ten minutes while I wait for something to happen on the computer I'm working on. So turn based really works for me!
You can up your characters stats with skill points you get from battling. The skill point system may be a little less flexible than a class system because you can never really change a character's roll. But you can customize the characters enough to make them your own. On the PS2 you applied skills without knowing what it would do. On the 3DS you can see where upping certain skills will take you. That's a huge upgrade to the gameplay on the 3DS!
OLD SCHOOL:
There are some modern improvements, but there are still some quirks that are not as common in modern RPGs. It starts really slow, and you have to do some stupid running around at the beginning of the game that just drags. It gets a lot better after that. I also think the further you are in the game, the better it is. It's a slow build up, but it builds up. Battles have some old-school oddities. Your character has to be holding items to use them in battle for instance. If you've been playing the series, you're used to the quirks. But if you're new to Dragon quest, getting by the quirks is worth it!
STORY AND CHARACTERS:
The story isn't epic, but it's really good. You get more involved in your party characters than previous Dragon Quest games. It's not a surprise twist kind of story. It's more that you enjoy the story even though you can see where it's going because you want to see what happens to the characters and what they do.
EXPLORATION:
There's lots to explore in this game. It's an epic size game. It's very linear. There isn't a ton of stuff at every spot, so you are walking from one area to the next with battles in between. There is sometimes a chest hidden around the corner. There are a few but not many side quests. There is some post game content. The towns and places you go are often very detailed. Over-worlds and towns you can explore have been going out of fashion. Even though there aren't secrets in every corner, the whole world is fleshed out.
Conclusion:
You don't see many turn based RPG games anymore unless you like strategy RPGs. This is one of the best ever and it's worth playing. It has its quirks and it's not perfect, but it's a really good game.
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$127.99
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