Dragon Quest VIII for Nintendo 3DS adds two new playable characters. Red, a fan wielder, has a passive ability that boosts the amount of gold you earn from battles. You can use the extra money to buy better gear or toss coins at enemies using Dosh Toss. She also gets Dance of Life, a reliable resurrect spell, before you can learn Kazing.
Morrie, the hot-blooded Monster Arena owner, can join your party and one of his unique abilities is Intesso. This ability can increase an ally’s tension one or two levels. Combine this with the Timbrel of Tension you can jump up to three tension levels in one round. Monster Mia calls a group of monsters to help you in battle like a group of slimes that can heal, a pack of Sabercat cubs or Mazin, the Rank A golem from the Monster Arena. Morrie can deal a lot of damage using claws and abilities like Hand of God, an attack that ignores defense, but he’s kind of like a glass cannon since he can’t take that much damage.
Speaking of the Monster Arena, Dragon Quest VIII has new X-rank battles including a fight with Bangers and Mash. Square Enix also added photo quests, new dungeon gimmicks, two new dungeons, and this version does not have random monster encounters. Similar to Dragon Quest IX, monsters appear on the field and if you touch a monster a battle begins. Additional story scenes elaborate the hero and Dhoulmagus’ backstories.
Siliconera confirmed with Nintendo that the music recorded by the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra will not be in the Western release. Square Enix recorded additional voice acting for new story scenes and the English version has a different voice actress for Jessica. The voice actress who played the magician in Dragon Quest Heroes reprises her role for the 3DS version.
Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King comes out on January 20 in North America.
Published: Dec 22, 2016 06:00 pm