Dragon Quest VIII is by far my favorite game on the PS2 and I’m trill to see it coming back on mobile device. Hundred of hours of story, fight and grinding in a beautiful and massive world.

Dragon Quest is well-known to have defined the JRPG genre so don’t be surprise by finding everything’s know from your beloved JRPG. DQ VIII battles reflect that more than anything else, the encounters are invisible and random, and the fights are turn-based. However DQVIII added an useful new thing called the tension meter, which allows you to use a character’s turn to charge up for a powerful attack. Tension actually makes this one of the easier Dragon Quest games, but you still have to remember to use buffs and debuffs to your advantage if you want you don’t want bad surprise.

Battle & Skills system
Unlike some the proceeding and following DQ game, there isn’t a job class system in Dragon Quest 8. Instead, when you level up, you get points that you can put towards any of five different categories. When a certain number of points are put into each category, your character will learns a new skill or ability.

Skill trees should be planned for the whole party. Thin air is a great move but getting it for three character is redundant. Not getting a critical hit move on just Hero or just Yangus is perfectly fine but getting critical hit skills for neither of them can cause trouble in the postgame, especially if Angelo did not get charming look. A staves build in which Jessica can use caduceus has more value if Angelo has gone down swords which has no focus on Angelo’s healing role. Your party is a team, not a sum of individuals.

Check out this post from gamefaq for more info on skills.

There much more than that, the classic casino is there, there a battle arena, a hand full of side quest and the Alchemy system to bang your head on.

Dragon Quest VIII is a solid game that will take probably 70 hour & more to complete and probably 100hr + if you want to complete all the post game quest. Some might say the game is a slightly strange fit on mobile devices, specially with to lost of voice acting and the hardware limitation, but it’s definitely worth playing.

Review of the PS2 Game by Clan of the Gray Wolf

Game Play Video by Touch Arcade

Related News:

Dragon Quest VIII (Touch arcade)

DQ VII: Journey of the Cursed King (Pocket Games)

Browser Games indies news

Not much in the indies browser game world this week

I saw an interesting one at Indiegames.com, king of bee. It’s a game insired by old school text adventures and “badly translated story material from Japanese NES and Genesis games” (quote from indiesgames.com)

You can finish it pretty quickly, I actually made peace with the king of bee, I haven’t tried killing him though, tell me what you did in the comment if you want.

Link and related news:

http://bphennessy.com/kingofbees.html#1h

http://indiegames.com/2013/06/king_of_bees_in_fantasy_land_a.html

Mobile news

Infinity blade 2 at 0.99$

Remember a post I made a post about Infinity blade being at 0.99$ (well now it’s free lol) the sequel is now getting the same ridiculous price.

And this one is for fun (A parody, NSFW)

Related:

http://toucharcade.com/2013/06/21/infinity-blade-ii-on-sale-for-a-buck-until-the-end-of-june/

http://infinitybladegame.com/

https://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/infinity-blade-ii/id447689011?mt=8

RPG

A really nice RPG caught my attention it’s called 9thdawn. It’s 2.99$ and it’s for a good cause, a small team of indie dev. It’s a massive world to play and the control might be a bit tricky but it’s definitely a nice game if you’re into RPG.

Related:

Official site: http://www.valorware.com/9thdawn/

News: http://toucharcade.com/2013/06/21/9th-dawn-review/

Kingturn RPG Plus

Remember I’ve talked about Kingturn RPG? Well there a new game (both free and paid) with new story and new classes.

Related :

http://onlinesgamestips.com/2013/06/mobile-games-its-the-kingturns-to-see-sonic-taking-care-of-the-defenses-of-plants-vs-zombies-in-terraria/

http://forums.toucharcade.com/showthread.php?t=193610

RPG Quest – Minimæ

A RPG with a old 8 bit look “à la Dragon Quest/Warrior”, I haven’t tried this one though but you can have a look nonetheless.

Related :

http://indiegames.com/2013/06/ios_game_pick_rpg_quest_-_mini.html

Puzzle Pirate

Puzzle pirate is coming out on mobile, I’ve played a bit with this game on the pc and it’s quite fun but a bit time consuming. If you like puzzle game you will love this one.

Related News:

http://toucharcade.com/2013/06/20/puzzle-pirates-hits-the-app-store-for-ipad-my-real-world-social-life-now-officially-over/

Baldurs Gate get pulled out of the app store

Remember when I wrote about Baldur’s gate on the app store, it’s seem they pulled it out of the apps store because of some contractual problem. You can check the news here.

I did a quick check around the web to find nice new and upcoming mobile game. Here a quick list :

Sonic the Hedgehog (2.99$)

Sega made a new sonic game for iOs and android, it’s not free (2.99$) but it worth a look if you’re a fan of the franchise. Check out the full review at Inside social game here. (Full Review)

Defense Technica (free/0.99$)

Defense Technica despite having a really weird name is a full flesh out 3d tower defense like there is a million of them. The graphic are actually really nice for the ipad.  Where you put your turret is on predefine spot on the map and you use your tower or barricade to bloc some path from your enemies. You check  the video they made, it’s awesome and will give you a idea of the gameplay. (Full Review)

Kingturn rpg (free)

Kingturn is a nice tactical RPG that look a little like final fantasy tactic (that I’ve talked recently) you move each turn your troops and you can cast spell. From the prologue campaign you have access to a few class, the main character is Nicolette a mage and her follower are warriors, archers, a paladin, a trickster, and summoner. From the enemy you meet you already know that there is more class available has you will progress (knight, wizard, thief, etc)

The prologue campaign is free and the full campaign can be unlocked for $4.99.

(Full Review)

Other notable game that I didn’t have time to play

Warhammer Quest (4.99$) – Full Review from Indie Game

Mansion Run (0.99$) – Full Review from Indie Game

Upcoming

Plant vs zombie 2 (free)

While there is no shortage of zombie game (link to previous post), plant vs zombie was a fresh take on the tower defense and zombie genre at the time it came out. The formula might seems a bit rehash but since I’ve liked the original game I will probably give a shot to this one too.

It seems that it will be free with in-game purchase and it’s come out on the july 18th.

If you liked the original you should definitely check it out when its out.

Related news :

Touch arcade review : Plant vs zombie 2: it’s about time

MCV Uk : Plant vs zombie 2: Free to play

Terraria (?.?? $)

I love terraria, it’s like a 2d minecraft game with boss. I’m very happy to know that there is a mobile version of the game coming. If you’re fan of this game or you just want to try it on mobile, you will only have to wait until this summer to get a grip on the mobile version.

Related news:

Touch arcade: 2d Minecraft Terraria out on mobile this summer

MSV Uk: Terraria hit mobile device this summer