So exhausted.. must feed game addiction more...-Dragon Quest 8 review pt 2

It's quarter till 4 here and it feels as if it were later. I was up till 4am playing, and woke up a few hours ago. I am simply exhausted from the traveling and the Christmas goodies it's not even funny. Must.. get.. coffee.

Well, so much for playing an old favorite for now. I am determined to keep playing Dragon Quest 8 until I beat it. It is very old school playstyle, but wow. I love it. It makes me feel like I am a kid playing Dragon Warrior again.

My favorite monster so far has to be this one called the pupeteer. I will have to try and find a screenie of it if I can later.

This game is great though.
I have gotten all of the characters for my party now. My favorite character has to be Jessica though. When she is equipped with a whip, she can hit lines of enemies in one attack. I have been banking a lot of her points in that skill. Eventually I may put some in the staff skillset though.

Oh, each character has 5 skillsets where they can put points into in order to gain additional abilities. As you level up, you aquire points in which you can put into special skillsets. There are 5 skillsets lines per character. Every character has the fisticuffs skill choice, as well as some sort of humanities skillset. The humanities type of skillset differs from each character- for example the main character (the hero or whatever you chose to name him) has the courage skillset for his humanities skill line; where he can use magic to assist the party. However, Jessica's humanity skill line is called sex appeal; where she can use her feminine charms against her enemies. Each of these is different- but fitting to the storyline and character style of each individual toon.
I am experimenting with the different skillsets to see which areas I like the best. I like the diversity of choices available.

I am also playing with the alchemy skill. You get to use a pot to combine items to make rare items. I just finished making myself a few new weapons for my party.

The weapons and shields will change the appearance of the characters on the screen. I was a bit disappointed that most of the armor did not.

Well, I am off to get some coffee and play some more. I will post more for this review later on most likely.

Dragon Quest 8- my first impression

So I decided to try out Dragon Quest 8 late last night...
I remember back in the days of NES when I would tinker for hours on Dragon Warrior. Apparently, the old crow told me that the series later turned into Dragon Quest. I'd never played those games. I guess somehow I must have skipped over em in the transitions to other consoles.
Nonetheless, I tried the game out and can say for the most part I am really pleased with it.
I love the cell shadeing graphics style. Anj says it looks like you are playing a cartoon.. but I think that's part of what makes it look so cool. It reminds me of how Dragon Lair for PC looked. Of course, more modern and mixed with a DZ look to it. The screenshots shown are from actual gameplay. Courtesy of ign.com of course =)
One thing that I cannot stand is that there is no jump button. I know that probably sounds picky. It just drives me nuts walking in places and seeing these counters and things but no ability to jump up on em.
I am only in the first parts of the game however... I started extremely late last night, so only got a bit of touch and go. One thing I can definately say though.. is that if you could actually get an accurate perception of something just by the looks of it, I would have to say that this should seriously be good.
More info as it comes though.

This episode: So sorry to disappoint you.. + dusting off the ole FFX-2

So, you think I just fell off the planet and got sucked into the real world huh? Where's all the colorful commentary about the latest games I promised huh?
Well, to answer the questions a little bit... Eeep! I'm human. But I didn't forget all of you kiddies. No, I have been working my little butt off trying to write some articles for Stratics recently. That, and of course, playing with my pre-Christmas toys =)
I admit, I have been sitting on my laurels a bit these days. Plopped in front of the boob tube watching the latest contraversies on television, and playing on my PS2.

You thought that I was talking about the new Xbox 360 huh? Nope, you lose. I haven't really ever been a fan of the almighty Xbox personally. We have one here, but I find the titles to be much better on the PS consoles. Oh, and nothing really "good" came out with the Xbox 360-- least nothing that I would really be interested in playing; with the exception of Perfect Dark Zero of course.
I'll save our cash for those more interesting systems.. the coveted PS3 and the innovative Nintendo Revolution. By then, the taxes will have come in as well, so we will have our gloriously delicious new big HDTV to play on. Man I love kids at tax time =)
So, in the meantime, I have been killing a bit of time dusting off an "old" favorite of mine. Something, that, sad to say, I never got to finish because the MMO world sucked me in before I could.
I've been playing Final Fantasy X-2. Yes, insert the macho girly remarks. I know that many guys didn't care for this since the only characters you get to use happen to be all female. The songstress dresspehere as well... not too many men that I know of don't get teased if they chose to play a bard type character. (I am biased of course though)
I must admit, that the way that the storyline and things are set up though,I could see that angle... as they do somewhat appeal to a more feminine type of audience.
My favorite part in the entire game has to be of course, the massage session with LeBlanc. Oh man is that chick hot. And then you get to hear her moan in ecstasy as you get the spots right... Oh my gosh, my bi side is showing now.

I like the game though, and think it has great replay value. I know that in my first attempt, I missed out on getting the Trainer dresssphere because I didn't have the faction for it. I also missed the mascot (since I didn't get 100% completion) and Lady Luck. I had gotten the book when I got the game, but refuse to look in it unless absolutely necessary.

Regardless, it is cheap now. I think if you haven't played it yet, it is definately worth looking into. And, if you have, it's worth dusting off until the next Final Fantasy chapter comes out. Damn those lucky lucky Japanese eh?)
So what did I get pre-Christmas? Well, I will be writing reviews on it in the coming days. Just to name a few: Para-Para Paradise (that was actually a birthday present, but I got to play it finally recently.. horray Japanese import PS2 =), Guitar Hero, Resident Evil 4, Dragon Warrior, a bunch of Tycoon games, and the list goes on. (Yes, I am spoiled rotten.)
I was going to write the review already for Guitar Hero but, have had some family things going on. Well, after all this is Christmas and I have kids. Yeah yeah, sue me.
Don't fret though. I will be back in buisness shortly. Hopefully something will be up by Friday at the latest (well, other than this =p)
I'm off to play me some Tabloid Tycoon now. Happy Holidays folks.




*Edit-upon looking for images to add to this edition, I ran across a Japanese version of X-2 called International Last Mission. So, I decided to lace this edition with a couple of samples of some screenshots from the game. Damnit, now I have to learn Japanese faster! I swear, the more import games I see from there, the more I wish that I just lived in Japan and knew the language already. You miss out so much in the states it's not even funny. Boo hoo! Wa wa!
Ok, I'm over it now. Anyways, enjoy =)