The 3DS version of Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King is available starting today in North America and Europe.
Here’s a full overview of the game, via Nintendo:
Embark on an epic journey to save your king and country and lift the shadow of the evil jester’s spell in em>Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King.
The story begins when a jester, Dhoulmagus, comes to Castle Trodain and steals the King’s sceptre. He then uses its power to turn his majesty into a troll, the Princess into a horse, and the castle inhabitants into plants. The only one left unscathed from this attack is a castle guard who escaped the curse and must now step up to save the kingdom he’s sworn to protect.
Only by travelling the lands, recruiting allies, and following the trail of destruction that Dhoulmagus leaves in his wake will The Hero be able to retrieve the sceptre in order to restore Trodain back to its former glory.
Whether you’re familiar with the rich story of em>Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King or diving in for the first time, you can enjoy full voice-acting in all plot-important cut-scenes, and new story content that will provide more backstory about The Hero and the villainous Dhoulmagus. There are also extra quests to complete and dungeons to explore, and even a new alternative ending.
Adventurers in a hurry no longer need to rush to a Church to save their progress thanks to the new Quick-Save function, allowing them to save and exit the game at any time. And for warriors in a hurry, battling foes is also much faster with the introduction of the “Speed Up” feature, allowing heroes to cut their way through each encounter with much greater haste.
Want to capture a memento of your quest? At any time outside of battles and cut-scenes, you can pause the action and take a photo of your adventure thus far. These photos can be customized in a variety of different ways, including allowing The Hero and his companions to perform special poses, adding stickers, filters, or putting a frame around the image to add a personal touch to your memory. Once you meet Cameron Obscura in Port Prospect you’ll also be able to unlock Cameron’s Codex, where you’ll earn rewards for taking pictures of certain subjects, monsters, and situations.
All of these images can be saved to your Nintendo 3DS family system’s SD card and shared to other players via StreetPass. Once these photos have been shared, other players can give them a thumbs-up, and the more of these the image earns, the higher the chance of receiving a new item.
Watch the trailer below.