A very great way to pass the time and find enjoyment in most aspects of the game.

User Rating: 9.4 | Dragon Quest VIII: Sora to Umi to Daichi to Norowareshi Himegimi PS2
Dragon Quest is a long running title in Japan that has finally found it's niche in America. This game is a very stereotypical storyline that has a few very predictable turns and a bunch of nice distracting sidequests. The most memorable part of this game is the quite over-the-top characters with bunches of personality and, for some reason, they're all from Great Britain.
The whole game is done in the acclaimed style of "Mr. Dragonball Z" himself Akira Toriyama. From the blazing pointy hair of "high tension" to the levitating take-off when warping from town to town. It all reeks of unyielding stylized anime. Luckily it does it in such a way that you really don't care.
Another overwhelming aspect of the game is the wonderfully composed and perfectly emotional music. Ranging from the soft swooshing waves of the shorelines to the busyness of the bustling towns.
The battling of the ramdom battles, of which there are an extreme amount of. is very straight forward turn-based RPG. Going from level to level takes a very long time and yields very little in the ways of upgradeability, until, of course, the much later levels. You are given points to distribute as you see fit into a select areas of expertise for each of the four major characters in the game, ranging from swords, to hammers, whips, charm, charisma and yes, even sex appeal.
You walk very slowly from place to place due to the almost MMORPG size of the world in which you reside and, as always, have to save. The battles come quickly though seeing as everyone and they're best friends are trying to stop you from keeping death and destruction at bay.
This title is very well done and the storyline is old but done well enough to not lose interest. Give it a try and if you don't like it then that's ok too. This is a highly styilized RPG.