Dark Cloud 2, Dragon Quest VIII or Final Fantasy XII

I realise there are most likely hundreds of these threads coming in ever day, but this one might provide a little interest.

Which is the better game out of Dark Cloud 2, Dragon Quest VIII or Final Fantasy XII if your judging it on the following factors:

Graphics
Gameplay
Sound
Frustration Factor (I like a really good challenge, but if something is unfairly difficult it puts you off)
Longevity
Difficulty (As I said a good challenge is fun, I've beaten DMC3 on the Hardest Setting and Jak II on hard)

If you will note they all get 9 out 10 on gamespot, so It doesn't exactly make the decision easy. But then again that's why I'm asking.

Thanks a bunch!

Haven't played Dark Cloud 2 and haven't completed FF12 yet so abstained from the vote but if you like your games on hard then don't expect a challenge from Dragons Quest, you'll die rarely and won't even have to grind to beat the last boss. Its a cute little RPG, very old skool in terms of character personalities/design/story etc kind of reminded me of Skies of Arcadia - also a game that seems to divide opinion some loved it some people were just meh.

As I said not far enough into Final Fantasy 12 but another one which I remember some loving and some hating due to changes in the combat system. Myself I've always loved FF.

Can't go wrong with either though, both are platinum I picked up FF12 for £7 and Dragonsquest for £14.99 last christmas but I've seen it now for £9.99. At those prices you won't be disappointed with either.

i would have to say Dragon Quest or Final Fantasy, i just think Dark Cloud 2(good game) isnt got what the others do.

Sorry if cant explian fully but Dragon quest is just a fantastic game good looking and using the old RPG style of Fighting, well Square Enix old school fighting. That being said i personally think FFXII is better, its new figthing system os great and so is the gambit systems. The sidequest are fun and open areas without having the screen break or make a noise when your about to figh, you can just avoid monsters by just moving around them. Theres lots to do in FFXII.

I'd recommend FFXII first if not then i say Dragon quest

I've played Shin Megami Tensei:nocturne and It was a great game. I loved the story line especially.
And it put up quite a good fight...

But unfortuatly none of the other Shin Megami Tensei are in the special rack, and I'm almost flat broke at the moment...

I thought that FFXII was a grind-fest and nothing more. Running through massive rooms with tons of enemies isn't fun, and rooms with undead monsters are unbearable.

I haven't finished DQVIII, and that's because it is also a grind-fest. It's going through a massive world with tons of random encounters that can be troublesome, and the escape command never seems to kick in when you need it, and the boss battles are long and tedious. Shame, becauseit would of been pretty neat, otherwise.

Dark Cloud 2 is what I prefer. Fun little game with randomized dungeons, and that is not an oxymoron. Plenty of neat minigames too, like Spheda and the obligatory fishing minigame that is actually fun.

i vote for Final Fantasy XII but Dark Cloud 2 is great too. Dragon Quest VIII may be enjoyable game but its not something great

Final Fantasy XII has really huge world, great gameplay and so many things to do. Dark Cloud 2 has many things to do too maybe even more, but somehow I cant play it without break so it bores me after playing it for some hours.

for me Final Fantasy XII is probably the best RPG. i like many RPGs and maybe i liked some of them more but none of them made me want to play a game so much like Final Fantasy XII. i really liked its amazing huge world and to explore it on foot because you can walk from one edge of the world map to the other edge unlike many other games. it has many quests and some of them are like different games. etc etc, i may write many things actually but time is short now so i say FFXII one more time

Completed them all, Dark Cloud 2 (Dark Chronicle over here) was the best, and im a huge final fantasy fan aswell, Dark Cloud 2 has got everything, imagine the story of final fantasy and the music, the gameplay of zelda, and the creativity of age of empires, thats dark cloud 2, genious game, underated in my opinion, plus, ffxii isnt to strong with its storyline nor dragon quest, and if your a final fantasy fan, im guessin you enjoy storylines so id go with dark cloud 2, but play the other 2, there not bad games, just dark cloud 2 is an experience of a game, incredible to put it simply

My opinion is that you get Final Fantasy XII because...

- The battle system (No more random encounters! Straight to the action and fast paced)

- Graphics are top-notch! (This game pushes the PS2 graphical capabilities to the limit. Roaming through the huge environments looks glorious on 1080 p or any large screen television)

- Sound (Voice acting is great and the music is memorable)

- Lengthy (Loads of quests which can take you 40+ hours)

- Quick load times (The game is very seemless from going to one area to another)

- Story (Superb story and memorable characters)

If you finish FFXII then you should definitely check out Dark Cloud 2 then Dragon Quest VIII because they're also great RPGs. But get Final Fantasy XII first!

Hmm, tough one. Having beaten all 3, I think DC2 entertained me the most, followed by DQVIII and FFXII languishing last.

DC2 has great play mechanics, mini games are second to none, Spheda and fish racing were very well made. Weappn upgrade paths and the invention system, all in all its a big package with high production values.

DQVIII was made by the same guys as DC2 so the polish and similarities between the two are unmistakable, that said DQVIII is a very traditional RPG at heart, think early 90's plot with current graphics. Still spent a long time playing it but perhaps not as good as DC2 for me.

FFXII has great battle mechanics, gambits are a stroke of genius. Sadly this is where the praise ends, poor plot progression and cheap ending made me feel like I wasted my time. Not a very challenging game either, had to repeat a fight twice, once with the ancient dragon in Golmore (everyone died on that one!) and once for the final battle, which once you set your gambits right becomes a cakewalk.