Dinosaur Lumberjacks

Well, the Dork Side has led me onto a new and interesting path.  For once I followed through on my gaming schedule, and after beating Tales of Vesperia again I went ahead and popped in Dragon Quest VIII for the Playstation 2.


Hoo boy; I've heard it said a few times that the PS2 is the JRPG console, and they weren't kidding.  I've tried out Dragon Quest I, II, and VI at random, and never really got hooked.  A guide for VII appeared in a lot I acquired a year or so ago, but I can't make myself get the game itself for some reason.  Then I stumbled upon VIII during a traipse through TV Tropes.  I tell you, it does not disappoint. 


I should hate the thing, it's a grindfest with only four playable characters (yes there's six the remake), a fairly linear storyline, combat is pretty by-the-book turn-based fare, saving your game requires going to a chapel or abbey, attrition can wreck your party in a hurry, it goes on.  And it's awesome.  It's like Squeenix just grabbed an 8- or 16-bit from their archive, and just updated the hell out of it without using the pervasive modern trends.  No freaky emo-warriors. The world does not suck to live in.  The tragic backstories are tastefully understated and don't overshadow the narrative.  Nobody's dressed like they went the Carousel Boutique while the proprietor was watching J-Pop videos and guzzling Nyquil.


And the monsters are fun, too!  They're mostly cartoony, goofy critters, like a bunch of background Muppets decided to get together and become medieval marauders.  And they're still pretty badass.  We've got stuff like angry anthro roosters that can slice the crap out of you, Jawa archers that can rain pointy doom, and freakin' firebreathing dinosaur lumberjacks!  FIREBREATHING DINOSAUR LUMBERJACKS!  And to sweeten the deal, you can recruit certain monsters for kickass arena battles.  And you can eventually let them loose to assist you in unleashing doom upon the forces of badness.


Throw in a nifty, understated crafting system, fun party members (all hail Yangus and his best frienemy King Trode), and a magic/skill system that actually makes you think tactically, and it's no surprise.  The Harvest Never Rests!