Dragon Quest VIII, The BEST JRPG on the PS2 - sackchief 

My favorite part of the ending is when eight says “this has truly been a dragon quest”

I NEED this game to be remastered on modern consoles! This is one of my favourite all time games and I think a remaster of it would still sell so well as it has so many fans!

I can't explain how much this game shaped my adolescence and my perception on what a videogame should be Easily one of my favorite games of all time

I think the important thing to note about the censorship in the 3DS version is that it was NOT done just for the English version, the Japanese version has the same changes because there have been changes to how games are rated

The idea that Sack once never knew what dragon quest was sounds like such a crazy thought to me 💀. I feel like he was born with the game in his hands

Dragon Quest VIII is my favorite video game of all time. Growing up, the game was practically my third parent for how often I watched my dad/brother/uncle play it. I remember that when I was little, I would always be scared of the boss fights when I played. It was the first video game I ever played and it served as a gateway to the rest of the series. I'm an adult now and I consider the cast of DQ VIII as part of my family. It will always have a place in my heart

I just started Dragon Quest VIII and did not plan on having the entire game spoiled for me but hey this video was too well made and greatly detailed, I couldn't stop myself. 😂

Omg more retrospectives, I wanna hear a retrospective on DQ2 and DQ6 😂

The most memorable thing for me about this game is how Trode appears in the menu to give some flavour text depending of your actions and story progression. 2019 was the year I finish this game, and it was an occasion while I was playing that I had to stop for a moment mid playthrough to help my mom with some things and paused the game. When I came back Trode was complaining that I left the PS3 on for too long and he was really heated lmfao

This is one of the greatest games of all time. I recently bought a PS2 along with this game again with the strategy guide just to do everything I didn't do as a kid lol..Almost 20 yrs later this game will always have a special place in my heart.

DQ8 and FF12 together cemented in my mind that a game world functions best when it shows it could feasibly exist in such a world. Houses for people to live in, farmland to feed them, rivers to keep them alive ... every bit of it is crucial to the overall experience. DQ8 may have been the first to use somewhat ridiculous spell names (the same ones we still have now) but the move from top-down 2D to full-on 3D was jaw dropping and so masterfully done.

This game man.....its something special. Not only it was the most ambitious DQ game at its time, but also was the first title to actually realize the experience usually told in the manuals and box art perfectly into game-form; it pushed everything the series is known and loved for to an extreme; the models finally look 1:1 to Toriyama's style, the world looks just as enticing to jump and explore as it is on the trailers and artworks cause of the jump to 3D and the atmosphere of its solid art direction, music-wise, it was one of Sugiyama's greatest hits, full orchestral music for DQ back then was something crazy to see, I believe DQVIII is Toriyama's true vision for the series; how the world and NPCs interacts with you on a deeper level with changing dialogue depending on your actions and time of day conversations containing either juicy info or interesting knowledge to keep with moving on, how there is technically "no side quests" in hindsight, as there isn't any indicators or markers of the former, but instead hidden so you can find them on your own and the design for these quests was made to engage you with the characters to start thinking more in non-linear fashion to approach the upcoming adventures, its so well done, truly how a regular adventure works in stories and mangas. Definitely my favorite game of the series, and one of my personal fav games of all time. A wonderful lightning in a bottle type fairy tale, no DQ managed to perfect the adventuring aspect as VIII did.

I'm really glad I watched this video. There's so many things that I missed in my playthrough of VIII that I didn't know you could do. For example, Munchie being able to attack in battle. There are still sidequests I never completed, and the logo being Medea was another thing I never noticed. Really great video Sack.

dq8 was one of the first video games i ever played. my mom got it as a gift from someone who got dragon quest confused with king's quest, but she still enjoyed it and i had the time of my life watching her play it as a little kid, then starting my own save file when i was old enough, then replaying it over and over throughout my life. it's one of my favorite games of all time, if not my #1 favorite. great retrospective

The amount of care and detail you put into these videos is great and deserves more love keep it up man

This game is truly amazing. The progression and the monster summoning is purely addictive.

I Grew Up With DQ8 Playing It With My Dad, We Explored The Entire Map Multiple Times Beaten The Game Numerous Times Throughout My Childhood And Is One Of The Reasons Me And My Dad Are So Close Nowadays, I'll Never Forget This Amazing Game For The Many Memories I Have It To Thank For

I love that Angelo and Alvis from Xenoblade have the same voice actor, even though they have very different personalities.

Also a nice little bit of character development. When you fight the lord of the dragovians if everyone uses only the fisticuffs, he asks your party if he really looks that non-threatening to you and then calls your party arrogant. Also with Jessica, they added in two very specific cutscenes for her in the 3DS version to show that she was falling in love with Eight throughout their journey. Eight is even gifted with her brothers armor after the second special cutscene. So it did not come out of nowhere, but rather built up if you chose to pursue the hints

If they remaster this, I can die in peace.

I just recently beat this game and found myself rewatching this video. I just want to mention how great this video is. I mean, yeah, the game is too, but damn. Great work on this video, man!

I always build up Jessica with staves. She gets so many great perks with that. Her spell damage goes up, her MP boosts like crazy, she gets a free group heal ability which is a LIFESAVER in boss fights. I think she even gets one where she automatically recovers a couple MP every round.

I'm currently playing it again on my PS2 slim with the original disc. What a treat! And my old controller still works perfectly. :)

It STILL looks good, especially on PS2 emulators that can soup up the visual settings. I think the cel shading is why it aged so much better than other PS2 games.

Excellent summary and review of my favorite game OF ALL TIME!!!

This is my favorite game of all time. I really wish they remade it from the ground up on modern platforms including the added content. It deserves it.

Yooo this was such an amazing video. I can tell all the time and effort you put into making it. I’d love to see more videos like this for some of the other dragon quest games!

You didn't need to tell the horse was a princess. It just came out of nowhere but for those who have not played the game it takes away the surprise.

Hey Sackchief, I know this video is a year old, and I'm not sure if you check comments here anymore, but the mobile version for Android is absolutely fantastic now. I'm not sure if you heard, but a VERY dedicated fan overhauled the entire game with a Remaster mod. He brought back ALL the voices, including an option to switch to the 3DS dub for those who prefer it. The full orchestral suite is back as well. He also redid ALL of the textures in full HD, and they look very sharp. He also made a number of other quality life & balancing changes on his own. One thing I really like, even if some may argue about it ruining the difficulty, is that he turned on auto-saving after every battle. One of the coolest things is he actually fixed the poor framerate, and you can play it up to 60fps now if you so desire. It runs and looks beautifully. He's looking at adding more playable characters now, such as Marcello, who he already added. Updates aren't super frequent, but are fairly sizeable as he releases them. I implore you to check it out. If you like it enough, maybe make a video on it to spread awareness?

Dragon Quest 8 is the reason my oldest brother got sober from drug abuse. Such an amazing RPG

This was my first Dragon Quest, I only picked it up because I thought the cover looked cool and oh boy, I'm glad I did.

I remember an explanation for the music changing was because they no longer had a contract with the symphonic band that did the music for the PS2 version or a licensing issue with the symphonic band.

Yay I'm so excited to watch this over the weekend!:)

This was my first dragon quest game (mainline. I played the monsters as a small child) I had just gotten a ps2 with that as my first game. I was relentlessly trying to beat it for years. I got lost in it for so long and just soaked up the atmosphere loving it all

I want VIII on modern consoles so bad! It's genuinely my favorite game of all time!

I've waited so long.

"It's time for the Dragon to go on a Quest." - Eight, probably. 8:52 I love how Angelo looks at the screen, he knows exactly who his admirers are.

A girl with huge talents....I can't believe they got away with that

A retrospective about my favorite DQ game? Let's go!!

The thing tht sold me on this game was the super sayian transformation

When you finally release a new video but I can't watch it because I haven't played the game yet😭😭😭

This game will always hold a special place in my heart as my favorite video game of all time. Such a beautiful and amazing experience that I would take with me on the go with my 3DS through it's music, gameplay, environment and storytelling. It's disappointing that this game doesn't have the attention it deserves and I'm even beyond amazed that Eight made it to Smash Bros, something that I would have wanted more than anything in the world but didn't believe could happen and yet here we are. Maybe one day we'll have a remaster or a remake of this masterpiece and when that day comes you better believe I'm getting a copy.

"A girl with HUGE... talents" lmfao nice video!

DQ Viii, FF X and SMT 3 nocturne are tied for my fav ps2 Jrpgs

This was great. Subscribed!

My Favourite Dragon Quest game

Okay, you have me dying at "Purple Gabriel Iglesias"

Literally my favorite game and favorite OST hands down. An absolutely masterpiece of an RPG that I will probably go back and play every few years for the rest of my life.

To me, the holy trinity of PS2 RPGs were This game, FFX, and SMT Nocturne.

It's simply beautiful and amazing, there's no other words to it. The Hearth that the Dragon Quest series brings is perfectly capsulized in Dq8, and I played on the Ios/Android version, it's not tainted by being on a mobile port and that alone is beautiful

For me the dragon quest ps2 version was the best version of the three versions that exist.

DQ8 is also my first Dragon Quest and first RPG experience! A timeless classic that introduced me to my favorite video game series. I want to see another remake that can do it justice.

Great video. This really brings back memories. DQ8 is the game that really got me back into JRPGs when it came out. I had completely forgotten about Dragon Quest/Warrior until a friend recommended DQ8 when it came out. The last Dragon Warrior game I'd played up to that point was Dragon Warrior 2 at release on the NES. I really hope that a remaster is done for this game at some point. I'd love to play it with PS2 (or better graphics) and the 3DS additions and quality-of-life updates. I did replay DQ8 a few years ago on emulation and even just having it run at a higher resolution made a big difference but this one deserves a real update if any JRPG does.

I've been working on my first playthrough of DQ8 (PS2) since the beginning of the year & I love it! My first DQ was XI S on the Switch & I beat it to completion

DQVIII Definitive Edition is a MUST

This retrospect is what I needed. I couldn't make my mind of whether to buy DQ7 or 8, but now I'm certain that 8 will be the best choice. Great vid!

My friend had this game when I was a kid and I was hooked on the story! I remember just being amazed that it kept going on and on, I came over his house everyday until he beat it

Making dragon quest 3 like 8 would be groovy

Great video really enjoyed it Hope you do more

Playing for the first time on 3ds. Great so far. Only finished 3, and 11.

Nice look back on this game. With the demo, I experienced it at a mall. On the second mode(Exploration), I noticed that others had let party members die, so I ended up reviving them.

Nice Retrospective. The way I play this game was the 3DS version. Japanese VA and English Texts with Orchestrated Soundtrack. Fun Fact: Jessica's VA Ayana Taketatsu is married to Eight's VA Yuki Kaji (In Smash Ultimate). What's more sweet is that they are having their first child. What an Adorable couple!

Seriously, we need this game on PC. Was such a classic that I found miles better than XI. Actual challenge and a story that actually had the balls to follow through on itself with actual twists and turns with fantastically well realized characters.

This game is incredibly special to me on a personal level. I used to play this with my dad all the time. I had never played a Dragon Quest game before. Now, whenever I play a DQ game for the first time, I name the main character Guv as a tradition. I am not kidding when I say DQ8 is one of those games that I can play over and over again, start to finish, non-stop, any day, and never get tired of it. I still have the original version, with the strategy guide. My ideal, "perfect" version of the game would be: Remaster the 3ds version, but with graphics on par with DQ11. Put the original orchestrated soundtrack and the original UI and menus back in. Put the game on modern consoles. That's about it; everything else is fantastic. At least for me, that would be a perfect game.

Just started this game and loving it

I love this video, thank you!

wow you're an underrated RU-vidr bro!!

I bought a PS2 collection just for this game, so now I'm digging out one of my copies and one of my ps2s so I can play it.

I know i'm late but god I freaking love this game! Might be about time to give it another play.

I never noticed Medea was in the logo, that's awesome !

It was the same for me when I started playing the series (got the demo and then got the full game). It was just beautiful and amazing to play. I named him EIGHT as well. Great minds think alike.

Im gonna be playing this again picking up an 8bitdo wireless controller receiver. This game is SOOOOOOOOO good im pumped! Much love my dude!

This game and Tales of Symphonia were my childhood and I never let them down, still play both of them sometimes and I've played many others DQ's and Tales of since I've played many other JRPG's and RPG's but none that resonated as much as those two for me, DQ in particular as I get older (almost 27 yo already yikes)

FF7 was cool as my first RPG... But DQVIII spoke to me on a soul/spiritual level where I just had a true awakening for my love of the JRPG genre.

the one thing they never explained is how Rollo got out of purgatory island

My first Dragon Quest game was IV.

Your videos are so fucking good. I pray for a remake of this game on the PS5 in the looks of DQ XI. They are easily my 2 favorite DQ games

With the drop of Live A Live today there is no reason this franchise should not be remastered. Could you imagine? Well done with this video it is awesome. Always enjoy your videos!

My hope is that DQ8 gets a port to PC with all the content of the 3DS, but with all the original Jess models.

I remember the first time I reviewed a game I really loved and it was this one. Some said "well yeah, it's just a game with a basic story." But I don't believe it. Dragon Quest 8 was really something else. I really loved it in all his shapes. The music a masterpiece of his own, the colorful aspect of the game. While it may look childish a bit it still has some very dark moments that could shock some. But what I really liked in the game is about the real ending. It has some stoicism aspect in this matter. The hero while saving the world couldn't bother too much about his royal bloodline. Well, the story itself wanted the hero to be recognized as the true heir of the kingdom and for me this is something special. Someone so ordinary became one of a kind. Dragon Quest 8 is by far one of my favorite.

The light that nullifies the curse for the hero always bugs my mind

6:35 TRUE MY BROTHA PREACH THE GOOD WORD

22:59 I've been playing this game for years and I didn't once notice Medea in the game's logo lmao

idk if anyone else pointed this out yet but the japanese 3ds version does have orchestral soundtrack

In a way, DQVIII has the same kind of problem as Persona 3. The PS2 version has better graphics but is pretty dated in many ways. The portable version (PSP and 3DS) has worse graphics but a bunch of additional content and quality of life changes. Both games I love but would be nice to get a real definitive edition for both.

This reminds me of when I gave a slide presentation on DQVIII for school and I made it way too long bruh

My first DQ experience was the fan-translated SNES DQ coincidentally right before DQ VIII was going to come out, so I went and bought that one on release. They share the spot of top game in the series for me, having played all of them apart from DQ XI. Haven't had the time for that one yet sadly.

This was my first “Dragon Quest” game and the game (along with “SMT III: Nocturne” that came out around the same time) that made me fall in love with turn-based JRPG’s! Haven’t played the 3DS version due to the downgrade in graphics and censorship, but the added features sound really cool! (And I was a big fan of the character Red and think it’s awesome you get her as a playable character!)

@sackchief, how did you manage to play the game in such high definition details?

Oh wow, coincidentally I decided to reminisce about DQ8 myself and found this video. I too first heard about the game through Shonen Jump, although it was a print ad instead. I actually did get the Demo Disc later, at a Best Buy for free. It must be a different version, because it starts you in a forest with a church and with Yangus and Jessica in the party.

I saw and ad of DQ 8 on Electronic Gaming Monthly years ago but never got to buy it but once I got a job as a call center agent, I looked for the game last 2009 and bought it really cheap. I played it for hours and I got to the part where I obtained the bird and was looking for some orbs or something, and then my PS 2 went bust. To this day, I still have not finished DQ 8. I like the graphics, the symphonic soundtrack, the gameplay, everything. Do I regret not finishing it? Yes, but perhaps I will finish it using my old save file and PS 2 game someday, but not now since money is extremely tight right now (I can't even have my old PS 2 be repaired and my Japanese PS 2 game cannot play the US version of DQ 8). Thanks for sharing some of the things I'm not aware about this game. More power to your channel.

Dragon Quest VIII is my favorite PS2 game, the sense of adventure is so compelling. Great video dude! Gotta say the 3DS's Jessica marriage ending doesn't make much sense for me, the hero's been alongside Medea for years of his life, he's know Jessica for some months only. Smells like fan pandering.

This is an insane idea that would never happen but I'm still going to pray they one day make remake every mainline DQ game in the same engine as DQ11 and sell it as a collection. I'd easily pay the $660 for that as would basically all of Japan lol

I remember buying this game on release day.

Only version i ever played was the 3ds version for the first time like 3 years ago. Still holds up great today, actually just replayed it a few months ago. Only mission i hated was the one where you have to take a picture of that fairy wearing different colors especially since its random. I just never completed it but yeah love this game, don’t think i could ever go back to the ps2 version and try it due to hating random encounters now

I'm playing this on my Xbox series s right now. Haven't played it since high school.

I miss this game sooooo much I really wished they did a remastered version

I got this game for PS2, the first dragon Quest game I played since dq4 (called Dragon Warrior 4). I absolutely loved it. I really would like a Switch or PS4 port.

Imagine if they remade Dragon Quest 5 though. But yeah this game needs to be remade in the Switch. I just finished it finally today September 8th 2023. Late I know since I played the demo in the PS2.

The mobile version really is a good way to experience this great game for anyone who doesn't have a PS2/3DS or just wants to play DQ VIII wherever they can use a phone. The visuals are great, the midi music grew on me, and the quality-of-life upgrades (instant alchemy pot, auto-maps, auto-running, auto-saving) are very nice. I played all 80 hours of the main game and postgame on Android and had a wonderful time doing it.