Don’t get me wrong. I’m enjoying Dragon Quest VIII quite nicely. But the more I play it, the more I realize that it still has the same stock conventions you’ve seen in other RPGs. Done better than most, but still there. It also sometimes gets hard to carry on. I’m 50 hours into the game and only about halfway into the story and around level 30. Those 50 hours aren’t because of a long complex story. It’s because of all the running around trying to gain experience and gold for the next boss at a snail’s pace. If the characters weren’t so brilliant, I would’ve given up a long time ago. This game is unnecessarily difficult and unbalanced. Maybe I should just boycott the company altogether. But I never learn.
Not exactly on topic, but I’m always amazed at how rabid Japanese fans are for DQ. Its like a religion over there!
You play with fire you get burned my friend 
Nah seriously, Square really does need to come up with a new formula.
Two words: Toriyama Akira.
From everything I’ve heard, I thought the whole draw of DQVIII was the fact that it adhered so stubbornly to old, worn-out conventions.
That why all the people I know love it.
Hm, I thought it was because the mangaka of Dragonball did all the character designs. >.>;;
Um… Conventions of “other” RPGs? Dragonquest invented those conventions. As Brandt has pointed out, the whole appeal to the masses in Japan is the fact that when you buy a Dragonquest game, you know what you’re going to get. It’s a nostalgic thing, really.
Toriyama Akira is only a part of the equation. Sure, there is no DQ without him, but it’s the overall package, not simply because he designs the characters. In fact, he started doing the character designs during the early days of Dragonball, before his status as a manga god was really established.
Though, I have to admit, Koichi Sugiyama (the composer) has done some fantastic work in previous DQ games, particularly DQ4. My cousin bought me the orchestrated version of the soundtrack, and it’s actually really, really good.
The new Dragon Quest…
… Yeah. It sucks.
The only reason I even heard of people buying it was for the Final Fantasy XII preview, and the one person I know who done that said he “wasn’t impressed.”
Sad. Truly sad. They ruined two series…
I’ve only played the first three Dragon Warrior (US name) games for Gameboy Color. At first I hated them but then I started to see the light. There really is something good about them, I think it’s like the video game equivilant of meditation. It’s just so bland I go into some sort of trance while playing.
Also I laugh at the fact that people actually pay Akira Toriyama to design characters. Everything he draws looks exactly the same.
[quote=“Dopefish”]
Also I laugh at the fact that people actually pay Akira Toriyama to design characters. Everything he draws looks exactly the same.[/quote]
… You know, I keep saying that, but there’s always one person who is like, “No, they’re different! See, (insert Dragon Ball Z character here) and (insert another character designed by Akira Toriyama here) are wearing different things! They’re different!”
Pisses me off.
Hey, somebody needs to tell Tetsuya Nomura the same thing. 
He’s an manga man;their depiction of human(oid) beeing tends to be the same thru-out their career…
[quote=“Orta”]
[quote=“Dopefish”]
Also I laugh at the fact that people actually pay Akira Toriyama to design characters. Everything he draws looks exactly the same.[/quote]
… You know, I keep saying that, but there’s always one person who is like, “No, they’re different! See, (insert Dragon Ball Z character here) and (insert another character designed by Akira Toriyama here) are wearing different things! They’re different!”
Pisses me off.[/quote]
My nephew is only three years old and he keeps calling the hero “Goku”! XD
[quote=“Abadd”]Um… Conventions of “other” RPGs? Dragonquest invented those conventions. As Brandt has pointed out, the whole appeal to the masses in Japan is the fact that when you buy a Dragonquest game, you know what you’re going to get. It’s a nostalgic thing, really.
Toriyama Akira is only a part of the equation. Sure, there is no DQ without him, but it’s the overall package, not simply because he designs the characters. In fact, he started doing the character designs during the early days of Dragonball, before his status as a manga god was really established.
Though, I have to admit, Koichi Sugiyama (the composer) has done some fantastic work in previous DQ games, particularly DQ4. My cousin bought me the orchestrated version of the soundtrack, and it’s actually really, really good.[/quote]
Ooops. I guess I should’ve mentioned that Dragon Quest VIII is my first foray into the franchise. The original Dragon Quest may have invented all those tried and true conventions, so maybe the charm of VIII is its return to the old school roots. But I’m comparing it to all the RPGs that have come before because this is my introduction to the series, and it’s all starting to look the same. The characters are great, but even ignoring the typical RPG conventions, I still don’t like how spaced out the level ups are.