Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King[a], known in the PAL regions as Dragon Quest: The Journey of the Cursed King, is a role-playing video game developed by Level-5 and published by Square Enix for the PlayStation 2. It was first released in Japan in 2004, and was later released in North America in 2005 and PAL regions in 2006, making it the first main series installment released in the PAL region.[9] It is the eighth installment of the popular Dragon Quest series and it is the first English version of a Dragon Quest game to drop the Dragon Warrior title.[10] A version of the game for Android and iOS was released in Japan in December 2013, and worldwide in May 2014
Dragon Quest VIII uses cel shading for the characters and scenery and is the first game in the series to have fully 3D environments and character models.[11] The game retains most of the series’ role-playing game elements, such as turn-based combat and the experience level system. Dragon Quest VIII follows the silent Hero, the main character, and his party of allies as they journey towards the goal of defeating the wicked Dhoulmagus. The kingdom of Trodain has been cursed by Dhoulmagus, with the King, Trode, and his daughter, Medea, transformed into a troll and a horse respectively, and it is up to the Hero to return them to their original form and save the kingdom. Dragon Quest VIII was both a critical and financial success, becoming a Sony Greatest Hits game.
