History Videogame / DragonQuestVIII

* CatchPhrase - Yangus' "COR BLIMEY!" and Dhoulmagus' "Such a pity." The latter is also a MadnessMantra, as anyone who comes in contact with him and manages to survive the encounter is repeating this.
** Actually "Such a pity" is [[spoiler:the catchphrase of the Big Bad, Rhapthorne, who controls anyone that holds the staff.]]

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* AWorldwidePunomenon - Started the tradition for the English localizations!

* LuckyTranslation - This one's easy to miss unless you know Basic English AND Basic Japanese. At one point, Yangus mentions he noticed something while he was picking his nose... picking some ''flowers''. It works both way, as "Hana" is both the Japanese word for "Nose" ''and'' "Flower" and in English, [[DontExplainTheJoke picking is something you can do to both ones nose and to flowers.]] [The [[AWorldwidePunomenon pun translates into both languages.]] Though the pun used is different, the joke is the same.

** [[spoiler: When you first meet King Clavius, he bolts of his throne and clears out his eyes when he sees the Hero. The King then tells his minister that he looks like someone he knew but must be mistaken.]]

** [[Spoiler: When you first meet King Clavius, he bolts of his throne and clears out his eyes when he sees the Hero. The King then tells his minister that he looks like someone he knew but must be mistaken.]]

* [[Spoiler: When you first meet King Clavius, he bolts of his throne and clears out his eyes when he sees the Hero. The King then tells his minister that he looks like someone he knew but must be mistaken.]]

* BeastlyBloodsports - Mori's Monsterous Pit, where the player is given a starter set and is tasked with finding and recruiting stronger ones to battle in the arena.

** [[spoiler:Prince Charmles]] in both endings and to the much lesser degree, King Trode.

* ContinuingIsPainful. Losing half your gold is nothing to laugh about. That is, until you find a bank and start selling excess armor and weapons.

* FaunsAndSatyrs: Satyrs show up in the bestiary. Apparently, they use their flutes as a weapon.

* GlassCannon: Empyrea. As a boss, her hitpoints are about half that of other bosses at this point in the game, but she makes up for it by having some devastatingly crushing attacks, and is arguably harder even than the final boss.

** Some characters' skillsets contain moves that play this trope straight. Yangus uses some strange attacks, including [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOC23Dq8Tqc an odd dance move]] and [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dsHXl3zUuwa stampede of elderly people led by King Trode (about 3:15 into the video).]]

* IOweYouMyLife - Yangus's reason for following the hero.

* JustAStupidAccent - All over the place. While most are variants of British accents, a few others are out there. After all, the game was localized in the UK to give it a medieval European theme used by the rest of the series.

* NintendoHard - Unless you have a penchant for grinding heavily, which in it's own right is, you will die against quite a few bosses. A LOT. Specifically [[spoiler:Dhoulmagus(mainly his second form), Empyrea,]] and everything in the [[spoiler:Dragovian Trial]] Bonus Dungeon.
* NostalgiaFilter - The Western version of this game gets criticized by ''Dragon Quest'' purists complaining about the inclusion of voice acting; replacing the dated, Super NES-era synthesized music in the Japanese version with the orchestral score; and removing the classic battle sound effects [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks ruining the classic feel of the series]], [[CompletelyMissingThePoint completely ignoring the fact that this game STILL PLAYS like a classic Dragon Quest game.]]

** Japan also does not get the visually enhanced interface and the symphonic score that the Westerners got.

* RunningGag - King Trode will pop up and make a comment when the team least expects to see him, always prompting a "COR BLIMEY!" from Yangus. Lampshaded late in the game, when Trode shows up at Tyran Gully, and Yangus starts to say his line, but then stops and says [[OverusedRunningGag he's getting sick of that old bit.]]
** Near the very end of the game it even gets subverted: after you have defeated the BigBad, you're flying away on Empyrea and Yangus looks around, expecting Trode to show up ''on the back of a giant bird'', then laughs at his gullibility.

** Given that he was not only designed by AkiraToriyama but also looks a ''lot'' like teenaged Gohan, it's a nice nod to DragonBall fans either way.

* SpeechImpediment - Another Charmles trope. He talks like Elmer Fudd, except higher-pitched and more abrasive.

* TheWonka - Morrie. When we first meet him, he's standing on a roof staring off into space, then he arbitrarily chooses you because he sees promise. It turns out half the people in here fall into this category, those who didn't buy their way in. He's not a total weirdo, but he garbles phrases ("I shall be waiting with bad breath"), refers to the arena by an extremely interesting name, and is generally similar to the Trope Namer.

* {{Video Game 3D Leap}} - ''DragonQuestVII'' was a minor leap in comparison; ''VIII'' brought the true presentation upgrade.

* YouAreTheTranslatedForeignWord - Averted. Although it is what Morrie always refers to Hero as, we are never told what "Ragazzo" translates as (It's italian for boy). Then again, his voice actor apparently wasn't told either, so it makes little difference.

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* LargeHam - Morrie. [[spoiler:Rhapthorne engages in this too once he gets his physical form back, to somewhat hilarious effect in his first form, though YourMileageMayVary.]]

* [=~Everything's Better With Princesses~=] - Medea

* FastForwardMechanic: You can stay at an inn until either sunset or sunrise, in case you wish to interact with NPCs who only appear during the day or night.

Web Comics

** Also, at one point [[spoiler: Rhapthorne posseses Marcello, transforming him into...Magus from ChronoTrigger.]]

* BlueAndOrangeMorality - Uncertain, but being lord of the Moonglow Realm, Ishmahri is a likely candidate (he'd probably help anyone who came to his gate). Still, it's not clear exactly (since only the hero's party meets him) what he would and wouldn't do. That he is actually dressed in ''blue and orange'' almost makes this a Trope Namer.

* LevelGrinding - Pretty much a requirement, even before the first dungeon. ''You will die on the way'' to the first dungeon if you aren't at least level five.

* TakingYouWithMe - [[spoiler: Gemon, one of Rhapthorne's minions, destroys Empyrea's egg with his death explosion. [[IGotBetter It gets better]]...kind of.]]

* IGotBetter - It's not explained in the ending just ''how'' [[spoiler:the new Lord High Priest Rolo]] survived.
** An interpretation for this is late in the game, as the party [[spoiler: escapes from Purgatory Island after being imprisoned with Rolo for one month after being wrongfully accused by Marcello for killing the Lord High Priest. They could not raise the cage lift without using the nearby lever to activate it. Rolo elected to stay behind and activate the lift. The two guards whom were knocked out so they could make their escape cornered Rolo, who accepted his fate. As the party gets off the lift when it reached the top, the chain snaps, sending the lift plummeting into the shaft. Note that Rolo and the two guards were standing in the vicinity of where the lift was. This still does not explain how Rolo got out though.]]

* JerkAss - Charmles again. Honestly, he's like the worst parts of Elmer Fudd and Fat Bastard. His name is supposedly pronounced "Charmulls", as his father does, but the vain prince insists on [[ItIsPronouncedTroPAY "Sharm-LAY"]]. Marcello, a few [=NPCs=] in Pickham and that [[strike:[[{{Homestuck}} insufferable prick]]]] great magician Dominico also count.

''Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King'' broke ground in several respects: it's the first ''DragonQuest'' game on the PlayStation2, the first ''DQ'' game in three dimensions, the first released in Europe (not counting the spin-off DragonQuestMonsters), and the first released as ''DragonQuest'' in the United States (as SquareEnix finally acquired the rights to the name).

** [[spoiler:In a way, Marcello had a valid point. His willpower was so great that he was able to resist Rhapthorne's possession, which effectively made his own body Rhapthorne's new [[SealedEvilInACan can]]. Until you beat him within an inch of his life, at which point Rhapthorne is able to escape. Then again, it's unclear just how long Marcello could've held up even if left alone.]]

* ShoutOut - If the main hero can reach maximum tension, his bandana comes off, his hair gets a couple shades lighter (though pinkish purple instead of blond) and gets incredibly spiky. Of course, AkiraToriyama ''did'' do the character designs, so the fact that the hero can go [[DragonBall Super Saiyan]] should surprise nobody.

** Last but not least, his whole outfit is the same outfit [[DragonBall Tapion]] wears, except for the bandanna.

* PALBonus: Amazingly, despite its popularity there contrasted with its unpopular status elsewhere, Japan has never gotten (and will never get) the version of this game with voice acting.
** Japan also does not get the visually enhanced interface and the symphonic score that the Westerners got.

* CursedWithAwesome - In the epilogue, it's revealed that the main character [[spoiler:had his memory wiped as a child... with the side effect being that he was given immunity to curses. This shows up in gameplay as well, as he cannot be afflicted by the Cursed status ailment, though he can be affected by cursed equipment.]]

* GameplayAndStorySegregation - Averted, at least in one case. Thanks to his preexisting [[CursedWithAwesome curse of awesome]], Hero was the only person to be unaffected when Dhoulmagus cursed everyone in Trodain Castle. In battle, he's completely immune to the Curse status condition.
** Played straight in plenty of other cases, particularly whenever there's a storyline death. Party members die all the time... all you need to do is cast Kazing, or drag them to a church.