Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King

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Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King

Game general and emulation properties:
CERO rating: A
ESRB rating: T (Alcohol Reference, Fantasy Violence, Mild Language, Simulated Gambling, Suggestive Themes)
PEGI rating: 12+ (Violence, Bad Language)
OFLC rating: PG (Mild fantasy violence, Gambling references)
Widescreen supported natively
GPU intensive game
CPU intensive game
Languages supported:
English: SLUS-21207 & SLUS-29157 & SLES-53974 & SLUS-21207GH
Japanese: SLPM-62490 & SLPM-65888 & SLPM-66481
German: SLES-53974
French: SLES-53974
Spanish: SLES-53974
Italian: SLES-53974
Region NTSC-U:
Serial numbers: SLUS-21207
SLUS-21207GH (Greatest Hits)
SLUS-29157 (Demo)
Release date: November 15, 2005
2006 (Greatest Hits)
CRCs: F4715852
Windows Status: Playable
Linux Status: Playable
Mac Status: ?
Region PAL:
Serial numbers: SLES-53974
SLES-53974P (Platinum)
SLED-53977 (Demo)
Release date: April 12, 2006 (Australia)
April 13, 2006
2008 (Platinum)
CRCs: 945FBF31
Windows Status: Playable
Linux Status: Playable
Mac Status: ?
Region NTSC-J/C/K:
Serial numbers: SLPM-65888
SLPM-66481 (Ultimate Hits)
SCAJ-20110
SLPM-62490 (Premium Disc, DQ5 bundle)
Release date: November 27, 2004
July 20, 2006 (Ultimate Hits)
CRCs: 1F3D5031
Windows Status: Playable
Linux Status: ?
Mac Status: ?

Developer(s): Level-5
Publisher(s): Square Enix
Genre: RPG
Wikipedia: Link
Game review links: GameRankings90/100, Metacritic89/100
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
Region OS CPU/GPU Revision Graphics Sound/Pad
NTSC-U ?
  • 3.0GHz+ CPU
  • ATI Radeon HD 4870
pre 0.9.7 beta (r1884) GSdx (r1846)
  • SPU2-X 1.2.0
  • ?
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
  • E4400 Core2 Duo @ 2.40 GHz
  • NVIDIA GeForce 9600GT
pre 0.9.7 beta (r2523) GSdx
  • SPU2-X
  • ?
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 ?
  • AMD Phenom II X3 720 @ 3.60 GHz
  • ATI Radeon HD 4870 @ 1 GB
0.9.8 GSdx (r4459)
  • SPU2-X 1.4.0
  • LilyPad 0.10.0
Enabling EE cycle rate (3) may give a slight FPS increase. Machina
NTSC-U Windows
  • Intel Core i5-2500K @ 4.50 GHz
  • ATI Radeon HD 6970 @ 900/1400
1.0.0 GSdx
  • SPU2-X
  • ?
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
  • Intel Core i7 @ 3.40 GHz
  • NVIDIA GeForce GTX 285 @ 768 MB
1.1.0 (r5480) GSdx SSE41 (5442)
  • SPU2-X 2.0.0
  • LilyPad 0.11.0
Runs above full speed.
NTSC-U Windows
  • Intel Core i5 @ 3.00 GHz
  • NVIDIA GeForce 210 @ 512 MB
1.2.1 (r5875) GSdx (r5875)
  • SPU2-X 2.0.0 (r5830)
*LilyPad 0.11.0 (r5822)
EE/VU Rounding: Chop/Zero, Game runs smoothly with no issues.
NTSC-U Windows 7 Ultimate
  • Intel Core i5-2310 @ 2.90 GHz
  • NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 @ 2 GB
1.3.0 GSdx
  • SPU2-X 2.0.0
  • ?
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
  • Intel Core i5-6500 @ 3.20 GHz
  • NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 @ 6 GB
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
NTSC-U Windows 10 Pro
  • Intel Core i7-8700K @ 3.7 GHz
  • Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 Ti (8 GB)
v1.5.0-dev-3264-gd77d440a0 GSdx 1.1.0 AVX2

<spoiler show="GSdx Settings" hide="Hide">

  • Renderer: OpenGL (Hardware)
  • Interlacing: Automatic (Default)
  • Texture Filtering: Bilinear (PS2)
  • Allow 8 bit Textures: Disabled
  • Large Framebuffer: Disabled
  • Internal Resolution: 6x native (~2160p 4K)
  • Anisotropic Filtering: 16x
  • Mipmapping: Automatic (Default)
  • Automatic CRC Level: Automatic (Default)
  • Accurate Date: Fast (Default)
  • Accurate Blending: Basic (Recommended)

</spoiler> <spoiler show="HW Hacks" hide="Hide">

  • Disable Safe Features: Enabled
  • Round Sprite: Half

</spoiler>

  • SPU2-X 2.0.0
  • LilyPad 0.12.1
Playable at full speed. Round Sprite on Half fixes artifacts on text when upscaling. As of v1.5.0-dev-2868-gf2f66c02d, requires "Disable Safe Features" to fix character outlines.

• EE/IOP settings at defaults. • VU settings at defaults. • Speedhacks at defaults, except MTVU enabled.

pandubz



Test configurations on Linux:

Environment Configurations Comments Tester
Region OS CPU/GPU Revision Graphics Sound/Pad
NTSC Ubuntu 12.04+, Archlinux
  • AMD FX-4300
  • multiple
1.2.2 GSdx
  • SPU2-X SDL
  • ?
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
PAL Linux Mint 19.1
  • Intel Pentium CPU G3258 @ 3.20GHz
  • NVIDIA GeForce GT710
1.4.0 GSdx (GCC 7.3.0, SSE2) 1.0.0 [libGSdx-1.0.0] SPU2-X 2.0.0 [libspu2x-2.0.0] BIOS: Europe v02.00 FPS 48/50 (Pal games run only at 50fps). OpenGL Hardware , Shade Boost all Set to 50, Full Depth Emulation ,Internal Resolution X2 Native , Blending Unit Accuracy Basic , Automatic CRC Level Partial , Speed Hacks Enable INTC Spin Detction Enable Wait Loop Detction mVU Flag Hack. Only player the first level its seems to play fine but more testing might be needed. Logeater
NTSC-U Manjaro 17.0.2 Gellivara
  • Intel Core i5-7600k
  • NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650
1.5.0 (dev-2175) GSdx AVX2
  • SPU2-X SDL
  • ?
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: Serious
  • 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: Fixed
  • Type: Minor
  • Description: Shadows are missing in hardware mode.
  • Workaround: Resolved in 1.5.0 development builds. For older builds, 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: Fixed
  • Type: Minor
  • Affected Game Versions: Prior to v1.5.0-dev-2784-gfce391856
  • Description: A black box appears around a character when psyched to maximum Up.
  • Workaround: Build v1.5.0-dev-2784-gfce391856 and newer do not include Direct3D9 and will not have this issue. For older builds, 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: Fixed
  • Type: Serious
  • Affected Game Versions: Prior to 1.5.0
  • Description: Cutscenes that use the sepia filter are corrupted and will become opaque
  • Workaround: Resolved in 1.5.0 development builds. For older builds, 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

Character outlines are blocky and misaligned

  • Status: Active
  • Type: Minor
  • Affected Game Versions: v1.5.0-dev-2868-gf2f66c02d and newer
  • Description: Character outlines will appear blocky, oversized and out of place.
  • Workaround: Go to Config > Video (GS) > Plugin Settings, turn on "Enable HW Hacks", go to "Advanced Settings and Hacks", and check the "Disable Safe Features" box.

Black lines on edge of screen

  • Status: Active
  • Type: Minor
  • Description: When upscaling, black lines will appear along the bottom and right sides of the screen. The lines will fade/flicker in and out as the camera rotates.
  • Workaround: Keep Internal Resolution at Native, or use a Software renderer. Alternatively, enable Half-pixel Offset to thin them out (small lines will still be present), but this will also break some other effects (water will now have lines going through it).

The gallery


Public compatibility forum links