PS2 Dragon Quest VIII - New Import

Under threat of death from spoiler-phobic fans, we present a spoiler free rehash of our DQ8 write-up from many months ago.    The eighth edition of DQ features a cel-shaded visual style which is an evolutionary leap from the Super Famicom-ish stylings of Dragon Quest VII. The adventuring portion of the game features a Toriyama-designed lead hero who spans the world in fluid motion. An omnipresent camera hovers nearby to take in the action and interaction between town folk and party members. When its time for skirmishes, the scene changes to a 3-D close-quartered battlefield where attacks and magical spells are shown with elegant flourish and accompanied by gee-whiz special effects.    Square Enix will likely sell over 3.5 million copies of this title and perhaps even hit 5 million copies. One would think that with such volume, a price of Y6800 would lead to more sales than Y8800. However, one has to remember that DQ is an institution in Japan. This is the game that forced the Japanese government to pass a law mandating that Dragon Quest games only be released on weekends. School children and salary men alike were skipping their appointed rounds in order to buy Dragon Quest on the day of release. Economists would call the demand for Dragon Quest inelastic - there are few substitutes for the product and buyers will pay for the game. Apparently, Square Enix understands this concept...