PS2 Dragon Quest VIII - New Import

All preorders for the Japanese version of DQVIII are shipping today after the Asian version from last Wednesday. New orders are welcome to ship this afternoon.    Please note that the Dragon Quest Slime controller is expected on Wednesday of this week. We will honor all preorder prices at US$45 for the controller but due to the decline of the dollar against the yen between the time that we started preorders and when the actual shipment was sent, we are raising the price for new orders to US$53.    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.