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

Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King (view source)

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*[[List of character statistics#Style|Style]] has been removed.
*[[List of character statistics#Style|Style]] has been removed.
*Characters cannot be renamed.
*Characters cannot be renamed.
*[[Vehicle]]s are shown at their actual size, and the world map is scaled down appropriately when they are in use. The [[ship]] has a bridge which it uses to dock with the land, and its altitude can be changed to match the shorter cliffs, if necessary.
*A Sabrecat steed replaces the traditional [[Flying Carpet]], and is unlocked via a sidequest at [[Chateau Felix]]. It moves much faster than the Hero, allowing the party to move further between random encounters (although they still occur at the same rate).
*Although the party has a [[wagon]] throughout the game, it has no effect on gameplay other than housing the [[Alchemy Pot]], since the party is essentially fixed throughout the game. Also, it is not normally shown on the display, only appearing during cutscenes or the [[Party Chat]] screen.




==Vehicles==
==Development==
[[Vehicle]]s are shown at their actual size, and the world map is scaled down appropriately when they are in use. The [[ship]] has a bridge which it uses to dock with the land, and its altitude can be changed to match the shorter cliffs, if necessary.
[[Image:DQVIII_3DS_Art.png|right|border|325px]]
''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.
 
===Localization===
''Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King'' was released in North America on November 15, 2005, and shipped with a playable ''[[Final Fantasy]] XII'' demo disc. Additions and changes to the North American version of ''Dragon Quest VIII'' include: voice acting, new animations, enhanced music and sound effects, a new menu interface, and an extended ending sequence. It was also the first game in the ''Dragon Quest'' series to bear the original, Japanese "''Dragon Quest''" name (rather than "''Dragon Warrior''") in North America. ''Dragon Quest'''s North American name was changed, due to a trademark conflict with the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Role-playing_game role-playing game] ''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DragonQuest DragonQuest]'', which was published by wargame publisher [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simulations_Publications Simulations Publications] in the 1980s until the company's [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bankruptcy bankruptcy] in 1982 and purchase by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TSR,_Inc. TSR, Inc.], which then published it as an alternate pen-and-paper RPG line to ''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeons_%26_Dragons Dungeons & Dragons]'' until 1987.
 
A demo disc for ''Dragon Quest VIII'' was released in America during the fall of 2005 through certain venues, including ''Shonen Jump'' magazine. ''Dragon Quest VIII'' is also the first flagship ''Dragon Quest'' game to be released in Europe. It was released in Europe on April 13, 2006, under the title ''Dragon Quest: The Journey of the Cursed King'', dropping the number. Unlike the North American version, the European version does not contain a ''Final Fantasy XII'' demo.
 
Unlike the original Japanese version, the North American and European localizations of the game include voice acting in nearly all cutscenes. The game nevertheless retains the series' tradition of allowing the player to name the lead character, avoiding issues by having the voice acting script skip all incidences of the Hero's name by use of stand-in monikers and occasionally replacing the name with Yangus' nickname for the Hero, "Guv'" (as in "governor," pronounced with a Cockney accent). ''Dragon Quest VIII'' also marks the first time that no content was censored for the international release. The English translation is credited to Plus Alpha Translations and AltJapan.
 
==Trivia==
*''VIII'' is the first, and so far only, entry in the main series to begin with a battle sequence. This is a response to fan criticism of ''VII's'' notorious prologue.
 
==Credits==
===Core design group===
*Scenario & game design: [[Yuji Horii]]
 
*Character & monster design: [[Akira Toriyama]]
*Music composer: [[Koichi Sugiyama]]
*Director: [[Akihiro Hino]]
*Scenario staff: Jin Fujisawa, Atsushi Narita, Amo Kamimura, Shigeki Nakadera
 
===Level-5 Inc.===
*Programming director: Yasuhiro Akasaka
 
*3D system programmer: Kenji Matsusue
 
*Main programmer: Tomohiro Misei, Yoichi Kawaguchi
 
*Battle system program: Takayuki Kobayashi, Koji Chado, Mamoru Itagaki
 
*Motion systems & plug-ins: Makoto Shikasho
 
*Scenario script: Masahiro Noda, Yoshio Fukushima, Tetsu Konno, Yukinori Yamaguchi, Keiji Noda, Naohiro Ikeda, Takaharu Takesada, Kiyonori Tsutsumi, Kazuma Shinkawa
 
*Programming support: Usuke Kumagai
 
*Character director: Jun Sonobe
 
*Main character models & motion: Akiyuki Tomita
 
*Sub-character design: Tomokazu Arisaka
 
*Sub-character models & motion: Kengo Todaka, Shinya Hayakawa, Chie Sasaki, Hiroto Jinnouchi, Akiko Shigeto, Jun Suzuki
 
*Event motion: Emiko Ikeuchi, Takashi Hara
 
*2D Graphics design: Noriaki Sonoda, Miho Tanaka, Noriko Maruya, Kazuyuki Koga, Takahiro Koshio, Yukari Fujiki
 
*Event movie arrangement: Eiji Ishii
 
*Monster & effects director: Ken Motomura
 
*Monster models & motion: Jun Maeda, Takahiro Fujimatsu, Takehiro Fujii, Tomoe Ueda, Yoshiaki Kusuda, Hiroshi Niwa, Hiroshi Sawano, Takayoshi Hirose, Kenichi Kurakari, Yuuki Kokubu, Takeshi Akasaka, Mineaki Sugata
 
*Effects design: Yoshiaki Kōya, Rika Yamashita, Youhei Fujimura, Mitsuhito Nakajo
 
*Art directors: Takayuki Sameshima, Kazunari Matsuo
 
*Original backgrounds: Shinichi Matsumoto, Nobuyuki Yanai, Kaoru Minami
 
*Map graphics: Naoko Mori, Miyuki Sumiyoshi, Noboru Tsuda, Tadahiro Masuya, Wataru Shimanouchi, Akari Uchino, Hisami Miyamoto, Daisuke Koga, Kōsuke Uemura, Yasuyoshi Sasaki, Tatsuya Asano, Hidenobu Sasaki, Kengo Okabe, Yasuhito Tsugimoto, Hiroshi Matsuyama, Tetsuya Maeda, Nahoko Kawabata, Satoshi Baba, Masako Arakawa, Daisuke Simakawa, Naotsugu Zushi, Yasuhiro Fukuyama
 
*Sound effects: Dai Yamanaka
 
*Sound production support: Tomohito Nishiura, Yumiko Hashizume, Takeshi Inoue
 
*Special thanks: Takeshi Majima, Taku Tanaka, Jiro Morinaga, Keiji Nagao, Koji Hori, Noriko Ikeura, Tatsuru Nakaza, Yukiko Harada, Tomoko Hirayabu, Asako Fujita
 
*Music: Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Koichi Sugiyama
 
*Music programming: Koichi Sugiyama (SUGIYAMA KOBO), Hidenori Miyanaga (TOSE), Ryoue Takagi (TOSE)
 
*Dialogue production: SIDE UK LTD.
 
*Voice casting: Andy Emery, Cheryl Prince
 
*Voice direction: Kate Saxon
 
*Sound engineer (dialogue): Ant Hales
 
*Lead actors: Ricky Grover, Emma Ferguson, Blake Ritson (as Blake Riston), Jon Glover, Victoria Shalet, Josh Cohen, Keith Wickham, Brian Bowels, Richard Pearce, Jessica Martin, Jonathan Keeble
 
*Other actors: Kerry Shale, Sarah Hadland, Cate Debenham, Morwenna Banks, Simon Greenall, Stephen Grief, David Holt, Eve Karpf, Jo Wyatt, Jon Voce, Jonathan Kydd, Peter Dickson, Ewan Bailey, Emma Tate, Robbie Stevens, Stephen Critchlow, Caroline Bernstein, Lewis Macleod, Maria Darling, Mark Silk, Walter Lewis, Rob Rackstraw, Laurel Lefkow, Rupert Degas, Jack Burke
 
===Square Enix Co., Ltd.===
*Project management Division 4th Unit (Dragon Quest Series) - General Manager Yū Miyake
*Project management Division 4th Unit (Dragon Quest Series) - Public Relations Ryoichi Kuramochi
*Project management Division 4th Unit (Dragon Quest Series) Staff Takamasa Shiba, Hiroshi Satō, Mayumi Takita
 
*Localization director: Jin Kimura
 
*Translation director: Richard Mark Honeywood
 
*Translators: Will Blatchley (PLUS ALPHA TRANSLATIONS), Clare Saracine (PLUS ALPHA TRANSLATIONS), Matt Alt (ALTJAPAN), Hiroko Yoda (ALTJAPAN)
 
*Localization editor: Morgan Rushton
 
*Localization assistants: Naima Yamamoto, Mizue Uda
 
*Other localization staff: Yuko Tomizawa
 
*Localization general manager: Masashi Hiramatsu
 
*QA coordinator: Koji Numata
 
*QA assistant planner: Mikihiro Hayashi
 
*QA technical engineers: Kazuya Okamoto, Hisato Iwatsuki
 
*QA technical assistants: Yusuke Sadamasa
 
*QA senior tester: Minako Ikeda
 
*QA testers: Masaki Nakamura, Akira Morishita, Yasuhiro Hayashida, Kenichi Yamamoto, Mei Ito, Takaaki Hagiwara, Shinya Kawamura, ...and all other QA staff
 
*QA technical director: Hideyuki Kato
 
*QA manager: Yukihiro Shibuya
 
*QA general manager: Koji Yamashita
 
*Senior vice president & General Manager (publicity): Koji Taguchi
 
*Publicity staff: Minako Gotō, Ayako Kawamoto, Makiko Noda
 
*Ratings advisors: Hiroko Hamada, Reiko Kondo, Sueko Kogai, Akira Kashiwagi
 
*Legal manager: Ayako Hino
 
*Special thanks: SUGIYAMA KOBO, Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru, Kaori Okada, Keiji Honda, Katrin Darolle, Hiroshi Hatajima (GAL ENTERPRISE)
 
*Assistant producers: Eisuke Yokoyama, Noriyoshi Fujimoto, Naofumi Matsushita, Naomi Ozawa
 
*Producers: Ryutaro Ichimura, Yoshiki Watabe
 
*Chief producers: Yū Miyake, Taichi Inuzuka
 
*General producer: Yukinobu Chida
 
*Publisher: Yōichi Wada
 
===Square Enix, Inc.===
*Quality assurance manager: David Carrillo (Ribs)
 
*Assistant QA manager: Mohammed A. C. Wright
 
*Senior QA coordinator: Aaron J. Adams
 
*QA associate: Jason Sanders
 
*QA coordinator: Mathew A. Clift
 
*Assistant coordinators: Alfred Holz, Greg Melancon, Robert Allen Peeler
 
*QA team: Sam Baek, Cheryl Baker, Tim Bui, Carmelo Cabezo, John Clark, Kythera Contreras, Jesyka D'Itri, John Fournier, Jeremy G. F. Goldsmith, Chandler Green, Cassidy Hammermeister, Isagani Camangian, Alicia Y. Kim (Alicia Kim), Harley Meeks, Max P. Mena, Matt Sanchez, Lila Shin, Adam Raun, Steven Ray, Kien Trieu
 
*QA translators: Arthur T. Kawamoto, Emi Bliss, Kazuo M. Tanaka
 
*Localization manager: Yutaka Sano
 
*Public relations: Sonia Im, Kumiko Hakushi, Frederick K. Hashi
 
*Product marketing: Fernando Bustamante, Felice V. Wu, Philip Ser, Dais Kawaguchi
 
*Marketing communications: Patrick H. Cervantes, Jonathan Cooperson, Tim Law
 
*Sales: Alaine C. de Leon, Traci Jones, Shundea K. Brooks
 
*Legal counsel: Neal Black
 
*Executive director, Sales & Marketing Shinji Futami
 
*Senior vice president Shinji Hashimoto
 
*President & COO: Daishiro Okada
 
===Square Enix, Ltd.===
*President and CEO: John Yamamoto
 
*Senior vice president: Tomohiro Yoshikai
 
*Senior vice president - sales and marketing: Michael Sherlock
 
*Senior European marketing manager: David Dyett
 
*Marketing communications manager: Stéphanie Journau
 
*PR managers: Alex Huhtala, Charlotte Fraczek


The other available vehicles are a Sabrecat steed (summoned with a magic bell), which moves much faster than the hero, allowing the party to move further between random encounters (although they still occur at the same rate), and a stone, which allows the party to turn into birds.
*Associate manager - marketing & PR: Abbass Hussain


Although the party has a [[wagon]] throughout the game, it has no effect on gameplay, since the party is essentially fixed throughout the game. Also, it is not normally shown on the display, only appearing during cutscenes or the [[Party Chat]] screen.
*Chief of production department: Sebastian Ohsan Berthelsen


The player can also use the Godbird Soulstone, which can be obtained later, enabling flight.
*Associate localisation producer: Yuko Tomizawa


*QA supervisor: André Woitczyk


==Development==
*Technical assistance: Alex Moresby
[[Image:DQVIII_3DS_Art.png|right|border|325px]]
 
Like the other games in the series, ''Dragon Quest VIII'''s designers include Yuji Horii as scenario director, Akira Toriyama as the art designer, and Koichi Sugiyama as the music composer.
*QA coordinator (English team): Morgan Rushton
 
*QA coordinator (French team): Isaak Vié
 
*QA coordinator (German team): Stefanie Jahn
 
*QA coordinators (Italian team): Alessandro Bovenzi, Carlo Trevisan
 
*QA coordinator (Spanish team): Ricardo Robredo Quintana
 
*English QA team: Lao Akintoye, Oli Chance, Alex De Moller, Sofie Dodgson, Liban Hassan


Unlike the original Japanese version, the North American and European localizations of the game mark a departure from previous ''Dragon Quest'' titles, due to the inclusion of voice acting in certain parts of the adventure pertaining to the advancement of the storyline. The game nevertheless retains the series' tradition of allowing the player to name the lead character, reconciling the two by having the voice acting script skip all incidences of the hero's name (''e.g.'', the line, "Okay, [Hero], my boy..." appears onscreen, while the voice acting says, "Okay, my boy..."), and occasionally replacing the name with Yangus' nickname for the hero, "guv'" (as in "governor," pronounced with a Cockney accent). In addition, small changes, such as the removal of the traditional 8-bit sound effects that accompany attacks, and magic abilities, were made. Despite other games in the series being edited during localization for North America, ''Dragon Quest VIII'' has no editing in it. The English translation is credited to Plus Alpha Translations and AltJapan.
*French QA team: Cindy Bamba, Julien Bouille, Laure Deslandes, Eric Lestang, Jess Mallevre, Selçuk Sarpdag, Dimitri Siger-Perian


Several characters from previous ''Dragon Quest'' games make a cameo appearance, among which are the Fighter and Warrior from ''Dragon Quest III''; [[Ragnar McRyan|Ragnar]], [[Healie]], and [[Torneko Taloon|Torneko]] (here called Torneko Taloon, a combination of the names by which he's known in Japan and America) from ''Dragon Quest IV''; and the legendary bird [[Ramia]] from ''Dragon Quest III''. There is even an allusion to the [[Dragonlord|Dracolord]] (Dragonlord) from ''Dragon Quest I ''present during the course of the game.
*German QA team: Jay S. Bannmüller, David Gudisch, Inna Kaysina, Larissa Kogleck, Alastair Morse, Nora Neye, Miika Virtanen, Matthias Winter, Joe Witt


===Localization===
*Italian QA team: Dario de Cesare, Rachele Dini, Mario Donisi, Enrico Ghira, Lorenzo Grimaldi, Riccardo Rossi
''Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King'' was released in North America on November 15, 2005, and shipped with a playable ''[[Final Fantasy]] XII'' demo disc. Additions and changes to the North American version of ''Dragon Quest VIII'' include: voice acting, new animations, enhanced music and sound effects, additional spells and attacks, and a new menu interface. It was also the first game in the ''Dragon Quest'' series to bear the original, Japanese "''Dragon Quest''" name (rather than "''Dragon Warrior''") in North America. ''Dragon Quest'''s North American name was changed, due to a trademark conflict with the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Role-playing_game role-playing game] ''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DragonQuest DragonQuest]'', which was published by wargame publisher [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simulations_Publications Simulations Publications] in the 1980s until the company's [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bankruptcy bankruptcy] in 1982 and purchase by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TSR,_Inc. TSR, Inc.], which then published it as an alternate pen-and-paper RPG line to ''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeons_%26_Dragons Dungeons & Dragons]'' until 1987.


In 2003, Square Enix registered the ''Dragon Quest'' [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trademark trademark] in the US, making the "''Dragon Warrior''" name obsolete. Thus, this instalment of the series was the first after 2003 to be released outside of Japan and to receive the word "''Quest''" in its title.
*Spanish QA team: Ivette Bermúdez Cañete, Juan Carlos Chaparro, Álvaro Fernández González, Iria Lamas Pérez, Ana Lastra Álvarez, Raúl Nieto García, Píndaro Vargas-Farías, Alejandro Vivancos Galiano


A demo disc for ''Dragon Quest VIII'' was released in America during the fall of 2005 through certain venues, including ''Shonen Jump'' magazine. ''Dragon Quest VIII'' is also the first flagship ''Dragon Quest'' game to be released in Europe. It was released in Europe on April 13, 2006, under the title ''Dragon Quest: The Journey of the Cursed King'', dropping the sequel number. Unlike the North American version, the European version does not contain a ''Final Fantasy XII'' demo.
*Localisation team: Stefanie Deinet, Geneviève Marier-Howard, Rafael Rios Perez


==Trivia==
*Special thanks to: Katrin Darolle, Antonio Marfuggi, Joshua Wong, Ikuyo Sanford, Rustam Roy, Kumiko Kondo, Tomoko Nunomura, Toshio Murouchi, Michel Sainisch, Phil Spencer, Mark Bulley, Saori Hill, Andy Clark, Andi Ewington, Jo Wain, Anthony Hinds, Kirk O'Connor, Jim Smith
*''VIII'' is the first, and so far only, entry in the main series to begin with a battle sequence.
*''VIII'' enjoyed a relatively smooth development process compared to its peers, being the only game to never be delayed from the initial announcement.


==Gallery==
==Gallery==
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File:Dragon Quest VIII 3DS wallpaper.png|
File:Dragon Quest VIII 3DS wallpaper.png|
File:DQVIII Main Characters.png|V Jump cover art
File:DQVIII Main Characters.png|V Jump cover art
File:Monster Battle Victory DQ VIII group.png|''Monster Battle Victory''
File:Monster Battle Victory DQ VIII group.png|''Monster Battle Victory'' splash art
</gallery></center>
</gallery></center>


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