Editing Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King (section)

==Development==
[[Image:DQVIII_3DS_Art.png|right|border|325px]]
''Dragon Quest VIII'''s designers include [[Yuji Horii]] as scenario director, [[Akira Toriyama]] as the art designer, [[Kōichi Sugiyama]] as the music composer, and the company [[Level-5]] handling development.

Preliminary development began 2001, with Sony's recently released {{PlayStation 2}} console being considered a logical choice thanks to its breakout sales figures and the popularity of the previous iteration of hardware. Troubled by the rough development period of the previous game and its mixed reception from fans, as well as the drastic changes taking place in the industry during the shift to the sixth generation of console hardware, [[Yuji Horii]] struggled to form fresh ideas for what would become the eighth game. During this time a representative of [[Square Enix|Enix]], Tatsuhiro Watanabe, approached [[Akihiro Hino]] of Level-5 over the possibility of developing the next {{Main Series}}, explaining that he was deeply impressed with the quality of ''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Cloud Dark Cloud]''. [[Akihiro Hino|Hino]] initially declined the offer, being occupied with the development of ''Dark Cloud 2'' and feeling that such a project was beyond him at the time. However, he and Watanabe would later meet at a drinking party where [[Akihiro Hino|Hino]] would list off his several complaints about {{Dragon Quest VII}}. Watanabe responded to this by stating that if he loved the series enough to have so many issues with the latest game, then why not make the next one himself? The Watanabe piqued Hino's interest further by stating that Level-5 would have to develop a working prototype to be compared against other candidates.

[[Akihiro Hino|Hino]]'s competitive spirit was fired up with the context of the selection process being framed as a contest, and Level-5 completed its prototype in December of 2001.  When it was presented to [[Yuji Horii|Horii]] for his evaluation, he was shocked by both the quality of the demo and the strong technical understanding of the {{PlayStation 2}} hardware the company demonstrated. Level-5 was selected as the developer of ''Dragon Quest VIII'' and [[Akihiro Hino|Hino]] was appointed as the director, which caused much surprise among Japanese fans of the time as none of the company's staff had any prior involvement with the series. Regardless Hino and his staff proved themselves to be more than capable developers, with ''VIII'' being the only time that a title experienced no delays from its announcement to release.

Being developed by Level-5, with many staffers being fans of the series since their childhood, ''VIII'' is a love letter to the entire franchise. Several characters from previous {{Main Series}} games make a cameo appearance, among which are the [[Martial Artist]] and [[Warrior]] from {{Dragon Quest III}}; {{Ragnar}}, [[Healie]], and [[Torneko Taloon]]  from {{Dragon Quest IV}}; There is even an [[Lord of the Dragovians|allusion]] to the [[Dragonlord]] from {{Dragon Quest}} present. Additionally, extra care was taken to ensure that the feel of the classic titles was maintained in all aspects, such as using a stopwatch to time how long it takes for the magic sound effect to play after a spell is cast to even the time spent opening and closing the menu compared to the 8-bit titles. Level-5's prowess with the {{PS2}} hardware also invigorated [[Akira Toriyama|Toriyama]] and [[Kōichi Sugiyama|Sugiyama]], who were able to rely on the company to realize the more detailed character designs and richer compositions they had prepared. In regards to the former, the staff watched several dozen hours of the anime adaptation of [[Akira Toriyama|Toriyama]]'s ''[[Dragon Ball]]'' in preparation for developing the walking, speaking, and battle animations.

===Localization===
''Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King'' was released in North America on November 15, 2005, and shipped with a playable ''[[Final Fantasy]] XII'' demo disc. Additions and changes to the North American version of ''Dragon Quest VIII'' include: voice acting, new animations, enhanced music and sound effects, a new menu interface, and an extended ending sequence. It was also the first game in the {{DQSeries}} to bear the original, Japanese "{{Main Series}}" name (rather than "''Dragon Warrior''") in North America. {{Main Series}}'s North American name was changed, due to a trademark conflict with the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Role-playing_game role-playing game] ''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DragonQuest DragonQuest]'', which was published by wargame publisher [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simulations_Publications Simulations Publications] in the 1980s until the company's [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bankruptcy bankruptcy] in 1982 and purchase by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TSR,_Inc. TSR, Inc.], which then published it as an alternate pen-and-paper RPG line to ''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeons_%26_Dragons Dungeons & Dragons]'' until 1987.

A demo disc for ''Dragon Quest VIII'' was released in America during the fall of 2005 through certain venues, including ''Shonen Jump'' magazine. ''Dragon Quest VIII'' is also the first flagship ''Dragon Quest'' game to be released in Europe. It was released in Europe on April 13, 2006, under the title ''Dragon Quest: The Journey of the Cursed King'', dropping the number. Unlike the North American version, the European version does not contain a ''[[Final Fantasy]] XII'' demo.

Unlike the original Japanese version, the North American and European localizations of the game include voice acting in nearly all cutscenes. The game nevertheless retains the series' tradition of allowing the player to name the lead character, avoiding issues by having the voice acting script skip all incidences of the {{Hero 8}}'s name by use of stand-in monikers and occasionally replacing the name with Yangus' nickname for the {{Hero 8}}, "Guv'" (as in "governor," pronounced with a Cockney accent). ''Dragon Quest VIII'' also marks the first time that no content was censored for the international release. The English translation is credited to Plus Alpha Translations and AltJapan.