Dragon Quest 8 demo
Posted by: j_john | From: October 14, 2005
One of the best ways to market a new game is the demo disc, and today I received one for the upcoming Square-Enix RPG Dragon Quest 8. I had fun for awhile, finding it somewhat challenging (I actually died!), but I had mostly already decided I would get this title before trying it out. I remember the first NA release in the series "Dragon Warrior" back in 1989 quite fondly, as it was my first exposure to the RPG genre. Having only played that title and the first NES sequel, I figured I'd waited far too long to get back into the series.
Immediately upon starting the demo I was overcome with anticipation. The artwork was beautiful, the camera options plentiful, the voice acting solid, and the overall fantasy (and less sci-fi) elements had me hooked. Even though I love the Final Fantasy series with all my years of dedication, I have always been more a fan of the more traditional knights and dragon elements. Now that the latest Zelda title is pushed back until Summer 2006, I have my rainy days lined up to play Dragon Quest VIII: Journey Of The Cursed King.
Check out this interesting info I just learned from Wikipedia's Dragon Quest page about the history of the North American market name-change:
Dragon Quest's North American name change was necessitated due to a trademark conflict with the role-playing game DragonQuest, which was published by veteran wargame publisher SPI in the 1980s until the company's bankruptcy in 1982 and purchase by TSR, which then published it as an alternate line to Dungeons & Dragons until 1987. In 2003, Square Enix registered the Dragon Quest trademark in the US, signalling the end of the Dragon Warrior name.
