Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King
Developer(s): Level-5
Publisher(s): Square Enix
Genre: RPG
Wikipedia: Link
Game review links: GameRankings: 90/100, Metacritic: 89/100
Game description: The Dragon Warrior series makes its debut on the PlayStation 2 with Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King. You can play as a young guardsman who must fight against a curse that he is mysteriously immune to. Characters in the game are designed by the creator of the Dragonball characters and are cel-shaded to provide an "anime" feel. The game is set in a large 3D world ravaged by the effects of the curse. The game also includes a playable demo of Final Fantasy XII.
Test configurations on Windows:
Environment | Configurations | Comments | Tester | ||||
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Region | OS | CPU/GPU | Revision | Graphics | Sound/Pad | ||
NTSC-U | ? |
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pre 0.9.7 beta (r1884) | GSdx (r1846) |
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Enabling x2 cycle rate and IOP x2 cycle rate may give a slight FPS increase. Be sure to enable 8-bit textures in GSdx to get a performance boost. It's a very GPU intensive game, nVidia cards will preform better then ATI cards. With an ATI Radeon HD on 1024•768 resolution you will mostly get 60 FPS but at sometimes it drops down to 55 (mostly in overworld). | 24.59.33.132 |
PAL | Windows 7 Home Premium |
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pre 0.9.7 beta (r2523) | GSdx |
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PAL version tested (Australian, non-platinum version) working great! Full FPS nearly everywhere in 1280x1280 in Rev 2523. Oddly enough, 8-bit textures slow down the PAL version a little bit, so make sure to turn them off! All other hacks were turned on full blast (except VU skipping was only 2x) | 124.180.6.80 |
NTSC-J | ? |
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0.9.8 | GSdx (r4459) |
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Enabling EE cycle rate (3) may give a slight FPS increase. | Machina |
NTSC-U | Windows |
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1.0.0 | GSdx |
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SCPH-70012.bin/v02.00/USA/2004, This can be a demanding game. My graphics card barely held up full speed at 3x. Software mode is required to see Empyria's shadow when going into the Dark Realm. | |
NTSC-U | Windows |
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1.1.0 (r5480) | GSdx SSE41 (5442) |
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Runs above full speed. | |
NTSC-U | Windows |
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1.2.1 (r5875) | GSdx (r5875) |
*LilyPad 0.11.0 (r5822) |
EE/VU Rounding: Chop/Zero, Game runs smoothly with no issues. | |
NTSC-U | Windows 7 Ultimate |
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1.3.0 | GSdx |
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Game runs fine at 60 FPS with 2x Scaling, FXAA and Shader FX, 16x Anisotropic Filtering. I activated the WildArmsOffset in HWHacks to fix some glitches texture. | Wwsnkneo |
NTSC-U | Windows 10 |
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1.5.0 (dev-2445) | GSdx 1.1.0 | SPU2-X 2.0.0 | Game runs at 60+ FPS at all times without noticeable spikes using : x6 Internal Resolution, x8 Anisotropic Filtering, CRC Hack Level on Default. Had to set Round Sprites to Half and Skipdraw to 2 to fix some bugs but nothing game-breaking | Wynd |
Environment | Configurations | Comments | Tester | ||||
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Region | OS | CPU/GPU | Revision | Graphics | Sound/Pad | ||
NTSC | Ubuntu 12.04+, Archlinux |
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1.2.2 | GSdx |
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GPU's used: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 Ti, AMD Radeon HD 6850 & 7850. Catalyst runs faster than Radeon open source but has freezes in Farebury in the church; open source Radeon r600 driver more compatible than RadeonSI, but both are very slow; Nvidia closed source is much better; game able to be completed with occasional slowdowns; software mode required in flashback scenes and it will be very slow regardless of GPU driver; you may need to adjust clamps in Farebury to enter Kalderasha's house | DaTankAC |
NTSC-U | Manjaro 17.0.2 Gellivara |
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1.5.0 (dev-2175) | GSdx AVX2 |
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Runs pretty much perfectly at 2x native res - 100% speed, slowdowns occur with 3x res although this is down to the GPU. |
Trivia
- Original names: ドラゴンクエストVIII 空と海と大地と呪われし姫君 (SLPM-65888) & (SLPM-66481), ドラゴンクエストVIIIプレミアム映像ディスク (SLPM-62490)
- Also known as Dragon Quest VIII: Sora to Umi to Daichi to Norowareshi Himegimi (JP), Dragon Quest: The Journey of the Cursed King (EU, AU), Dragon Quest: L'odyssée du roi maudit (EU)
Known Issues
Empyria's shadow
- Status: Active
- Type: Major
- Description: Software mode is required to see Empyria's shadow when going into the Dark Realm
- Workaround: Use software mode there (F9)
Missing shadows
- Status: Active
- Type: Minor
- Description: Shadows are missing in hardware mode.
- Workaround: Go to Config > Video (GS) > Plugin Settings, turn on "Enable HW Hacks", go to Configure Hacks, and set Skipdraw to "1". Or go to Config > Video (GS) > Plugin Settings, and set Renderer to any of the "(Software)" options.
Black Boxes
- Status: Active
- Type: Minor
- Affected Game Versions: All
- Description: A black box appears around a character when psyched to maximum Up.
- Workaround: Go to Config > Video (GS) > Plugin Settings, and set Renderer to any option but "Direct3D9 (Hardware)".
Text Artifacts
- Status: Active
- Type: Minor
- Affected Game Versions: All
- Description: At higher than native resolutions, pseudo-random artifacts appear around the text in dialog boxes and menus.
- Workaround: Go to Config > Video (GS) > Plugin Settings, turn on "Enable HW Hacks", go to Configure Hacks, and set Round Sprite to "Half".
Opaque Sepia Filter during some Cutscenes
- Status: Active
- Type: Major
- Affected Game Versions: All
- Description: Cutscenes that use the sepia filter are corrupted and will become opaque
- Workaround: Go to Config > Video (GS) > Plugin Settings, turn on "Enable HW Hacks", go to "Advanced Settings and Hacks", and set Skipdraw to "2". Or use any "(Software)" renderer
The gallery
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Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King (SLPM 65888)
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