Dragon Quest 8 Collection

So we climb all this way and finally reach the top, only to be greeted by a monster ugly enough to turn milk sour. -Angelo

Dragon Quest VIII: The Journey of the Cursed King (released in Europe 2006) is one of my favorite games of all time. I've very fond and frustrating memories of this one. DQ8 is the second game I bought for the PS2 system. What initially got me interested in the game series was of course the fact that Akira Toriyama (Dragonball Z ♥) was responsible for the character design.

I bought the guidebook after my initial play through of the game, but it came in handy since I've played it two times after that. I won't bother to check it out, but I think I can safely say that I've put over 300+ hours into this game. Never did beat the secret boss and all of his damn forms, though.... so I guess I didn't truly complete the game.

Slightly off topic, Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker is so far the only other game of the DQ series that I've played....and never finished it. When I bought it, I didn't quite realize how different the gameplay was going to be. I obviously have to give this game another chance and I simply must pick up the previous installments of the series that were remade for the Nintendo DS.

Play Arts Action Figures. The box art on the back shows how supposedly posable the figures are, but I wouldn't risk it (I will never again trust the joints of an action figure, not after that one incident which ended with a figure with a broken arm). Each figure comes with a stand and a switchable set of hands; a pair of clenched fists and a pair of hands for holding their individual weapon, besides that there isn't any other accessories that comes with them. Which is a shame because there definitely would have been plenty of different weapons to choose from; spears, boomerangs (Hero), bows and arrows, magic staffs (Angelo), scythes, clubs, flails (Yangus), knives and whips (Jessica).

Hero/Eight or whatever you want to call him is my favorite out of the bunch. I find it so endearing that he doesn't talk throughout the game (although it is implied that he does talk). The game doesn't have a default name for him, so the player has to name him. I always named the hero "Spartan" for a reason I can no longer remember. Hero was the first of the DQ figures I bought.

By default the figure has clenched hands on them, so I had to switch Angelo's hands in order to make him hold the rapier. First of all the damn rapier was stuck in its hilt and second, the damn hands would not snap into their place.  Grrr >.< I say! As frustrating as it was trying to get a few pictures taken, this figure is nevertheless very elegant and one can only admire all the small details put into it.

 Yangus, what went wrong? When I first laid my eyes on it, I thought it was ugly and I passed the opportunity to buy this figure a few times just because I couldn't stand it. I finally gave up when it was on sale and now I am happy that I bought it even if it's still as ugly as ever. Don't really know what it is that bothers me so much in this figure, something's just off. Maybe it's my imagination, but the Yangus figure looks "stretched" which makes it look a lot taller than the in-game Yangus would be. It was a challenge to get figure to stand on its own, but that's no wonder, check out those tiny feet!

My party is incomplete because I'm missing the Jessica figure, but maybe someday...

There were two other keychains to choose from, the Thief's Key and the Magic Key but I chose the Ultimate Key because I thought it was the prettiest (it's the red gem that does it). Besides, who wouldn't want a key that can unlock any door? :D

Nothing official, but this is how my old phone used to look like. l loved that the Nokia 3200 (came out in 2003) had customizable covers. I'd probably still be using this phone if it was in working order, but unfortunately it's not.

That was short-lived... I was hoping to bask in the drunken delight of victory a little longer. -Angelo