Glad to help

Honestly, this is one of my favorite games of the last generation.  The same as you, I bought it, let it sit on the shelf for a few years, and then finally played it.  I really regretted not getting to it sooner.  Classic JRPG at its best.

I still need to beat it.

Awesome game, setting, plot... Akira Toriyama... this game has it all.

I've looked at this game a few times in the past... Good one to start with if you've never played a Dragon Quest/Warrior game before?

 I would say it's the perfect start

bigguy, I'd say most all the Dragon Quest Games (except 9 I guess) are pretty much very similar.  All RPGs in the classic Japanese sense of the word.  Each successive one just seems to get more polish and is a better experience.  So yeah, I'd say start at the top with 8 (though I love all of them for different reasons - especially try the DS remakes).

dragon quest vii is like 30 hours longer than 8, and worth playing if you can devote a good 2 hours whenever you play it.

But ya dragon quest 8 is probably the best of the series

I had this game for an afternoon. I played the FF12 demo in it, then tried to play it. I hated it and took it back for Magna Carta: Tears of Blood. I should have just gotten a refund on it.

 Man you seem to hate every single game you try XD XD

Not really. But when it comes to RPGs, I'm picky.

Other than those two, it's really just Kingdom Hearts I don't like.

I don't like the excessive fandom from FF7, but it's a semi-solid RPG. There are some things that were trite and cliche in it, but it was on the easy end of the RPG spectrum.

 So what is your idea of a near perfect RPG? People seem to think that about FFVII but VIII is my personal favorite.

That's the world's hardest toss up. Either FF6 or Chrono Trigger. I'm with Roo on that one.

For the PS, it's probably Xenogears.

To me, FF8 is my second favorite FF-- behind FF6.

I just never was able to get into the Dragon Quest games.

I have been looking for this type of RPG since Final Fantasy on the NES.

Dragon Quest VIII is the first game and only game that I like the characters and cut-scenes in, I spent hours exploring the fields looking for treasure chests, making zero progress in the game, has gotten me into the Dragon Quest series and made me a fan of Level-5. Thinking about this game I can not think of a single problem with it.

To be a fan of the Dragon Quest series, you have to love Japanese-style RPGs.  Since the first RPG I ever played was Dragon Warrior (Quest) 1, then you can see where I was molded.  You have to not mind a bit of grinding, power leveling, and generally uninspired gameplay.  But for what it is, DQ does it better than most anyone, which is probably why it's sold something like 100 billion copies in Japan.  (I think people make their houses out of it or something.  That and Nintendo DSs.)

Hey White Mage, have you by chance played either Dark Cloud or Dark Cloud 2?

Bought the first Dragon Warrior game because it and Final Fantasy were the RPGs for the NES and I do not like the game, it has to do with needing to with the grinding. Right now I fight three battles over the first bridge and need to double back home to heal.

Yes I have played Dark Could and Dark Cloud 2, just to mention I have all Level-5 games for the consoles I have expect Professor Layton games (due to not my gameplay type) because on Dragon Quest VIII.

Dragon Warrior was notoriously bad for grinding.  For some reason, some of us are masochistic enough to like that.  I can't explain why.

And I thought that Dark Cloud 2 was remarkably similar to Dragon Quest 8, almost like a proto-DQ8.  Right down to the alchemy system.  And the first Dark Cloud was also remarkable for being one of the few decent launch-era games for PS2.

Roo, if you want to talk about grinding, I'm still playing FF9. I haven't gone to Terra yet and everyone is level 99 and I have almost all the abilities for everyone.

I think I must have gone off RPGs - I think I'm just getting lazy!

The first RPG I played and enjoyed was Suikoden on the PS1, I then fell in love with the genre for a short while and finally fell out of love with it around the time FFXII was released. I've struggled to get back into it since then.

I tried playing DQ8 yesterday, but I just can't be bothered with it. I don't like this new me  :(

If it makes you feel better, I find it harder to enjoy Dragon Quest games now, even though they were seriously in my top 10 when I was a kid. I didn't enjoy DQ9 nearly as much as I should have; maybe it's because of the heavy focus on grinding post-game. To get better maps, you literally have to get to level 99 in a class, then go back to level 1. And the quality of maps only increases slightly, and only when you get back to level 99. Thankfully, the process "only" takes about 5 hours with a special map I have. I like randomized dungeons, but they should have done it better.

But I used to love DQ so much. DQ3 was by far one of my favorite games, and in DQ4 I got everyone to level 99. Even when I was older, the first two Dragon Quest Monsters games totally sucked me in. And you don't want to see my DQ7 save file. I played through fan translations of DQ5 and 6 with an at-the-time girlfriend, and they had some nice emotional moments.

I dunno how they modeled DQ9 after my favorite DQ game (3) and it still doesn't stack up to it in my mind.

Looking for a sheet of paper that has passwords for an NES game when I came across a piece of paper that has one of my favorite quotes from King Trode.

I'm sure this doesn't apply to you, but leaving the console power on while you go wandering off to do other things is most uncouth! It gets quite hot in here, you know!