Dragon Quest: Journey of the Cursed King review

Never put it past Level-5 to create a stunning RPG. The developer already proved itself more than capable with Dark Cloud and the criminally underrated Dark Chronicle, both on PS2. Now Level-5 is playing in Square Enix territory with one of its biggest franchises.

You see, despite its title – Dragon Quest: The Journey of the Cursed King – this is very much the eighth game in the Dragon Quest series. But like Square’s seminal Final Fantasy VII, knowledge of the previous games is not mandatory.

And it’s to that end this intrepid reviewer found himself when asked to review the only Dragon Quest title released in Europe. And I’m here to tell you, folks: Level-5 has done it again.

It all began with a horse…

To gauge how important Dragon Quest is one must be aware of its impact in Japan. In a recent Famitsu poll, Dragon Quest VIII ranked fourth as the best videogame of all time. The games that beat it were Final Fantasy X, Final Fantasy VII and Dragon Quest III. Despite the top four games this was a poll not aimed squarely at role-playing games, but in general.

The Journey of the Cursed King opens with the theft of an ancient and powerful magic sceptre. Stolen from its confines in the kingdom of Trodain, Dhoulmagus – a character with a voice actor so terrible you’ll want to kill him yourself – transforms the inhabitants into thorny plants, the king into a frog monster and his daughter Medea into a horse.

As a faithful guard of King Trode, you are the only person left unscathed by the vicious attack. You decide to help King Trode and his daughter in their quest to bring down the evil Dhoulmagus, and return the father and daughter to normal once more. You won’t be doing it alone either.

Party of Four

As the game begins it’s just you and the wonderful Bob Hoskins-like Yangus. But as you progress two more characters join your party: Jessica, a vivacious noble from a small town; and Angelo, a disgraced member of the Templars (who bears more than a striking resemblance to Dante from the Devil May Cry series).

Each member of the group brings their own distinct strengths and weaknesses (such as Yangus’ skill with an axe, scythe or club; Angelo’s skill with a bow and arrow or sword; and Jessica’s use of magic and dance), and upgrading their skills relies solely on the player.

For example, I always kept Yangus using axes, my own avatar (Lazarii) a boomerang, Jessica a whip and Angelo wielding a fencing sword. By focussing on one particular weapon skill I could incorporate tactical planning into my group. Jessica and Lazarii were able to attack multiple enemies while Yangus and Angelo got in close with their fiercest attacks.

The Longest Journey

The Journey of the Cursed King is a long one. It can take upwards of 60 hours to complete (concentrating solely on the main quest). Whether or not you stick around that long rests solely on whether or not you dig random battles. Ah yes, the labour of love that has torn western RPG fans for years.

Random battles are a frequent endeavour in Dragon Quest, and they aren’t likely to change your opinion by the end of the game. On a purely subjective level I’m not the biggest fan of them, but I still endured Dragon Quest. This is because the system works much better than it might initially be given credit for.

At face value the system looks identical to any other game of its ilk (and in many ways it is). But like the game as an aesthetic whole, it’s been refined to a point where it’s never less than fun. You begin with four options: Fight, Flee, Intimidate and Tactics. These are self-explanatory.

Within Fight you have the options to Attack, peruse your Abilities for a particular powerful hit, look at your list of Spells to inflict a more magical touch, choose a Defend purpose or just Psyche yourself up (essentially making you stronger for several attacks).

A Hard Day’s Night

The enemies you face deserve special mention too: in short, they are some of the most original designs we’ve seen in an RPG yet. They’re indicative of the kind of game Dragon Quest VIII is in that they look colourful and cute, but tend to pack a powerful punch. That’s essentially how this game begins.

It tricks you with its laughably colourful and gorgeous veneer, before immediately kicking your arse and telling you looks can be deceiving. It’s the sort of game that demands an hour or so just be spent running through the massive countryside levelling up.

Don’t venture too far or for too long in the massive land however. The game uses a day and night cycle that forces all the weakest enemies out during the day, and the harder, nastier types at night. Also, the further you explore the more enemies you meet. Suffice to say the introduction of a new enemy generally means it’s tougher than the last couple you’ve been fighting.

Navigating the land consists of both on-foot and fast-travel, similar to Oblivion on the PC and Xbox 360. However, Dragon Quest uses this fast travel mechanic much better. In fact it makes it a part of the game itself. You see, in all the towns you can buy Chimera Wings for a cheap price. These essentially let you travel to places previously visited.

In other words, Dragon Quest forces you to explore before you can fast travel. This is something that would have benefited Oblivion much more than the immersion-smashing fast travel.

Journey’s End

I’ve whittled on enough about the various mechanics and everything else Dragon Quest does right that you’re probably asking if there’s anything wrong with it. Unfortunately there are some idiosyncrasies that can otherwise spoil your fun.

On a purely graphical level there’s a bizarre engine glitch that causes characters to fade in, right before your eyes, whenever you enter a room or town after the brief load screen. Given that this is the PS2 and how wonderful Dragon Quest looks, that’s rather forgivable. It only lasts a couple of seconds anyway.

What isn’t so forgivable is the way the game chooses not to tell you how much EXP you need to level up. Actually, that’s a lie: you can find that out at the various churches littered throughout the land (where you can also save your game via confession). But by taking it away from the player it can make many of the battles feel aimless, as you have no idea when you’re next going to level up.

Finally, there is the notion of how old school Dragon Quest: The Journey of the Cursed King is. Its biggest problem lies with longevity. Playing the game is a trip back to the halcyon days of RPG’s. A time before games like FFVII. While that game is still loved and endured today, Dragon Quest VIII might not entertain the same audience several years from now.

Whatever the situation, we can only judge the game as it is now. And one thing is for sure: playing it for the first time is a journey that borders on magical.