The court jester Dhoulmagus of the kingdom of Trodain stole a powerful magical scepter sealed beneath the royal castle. Using the power of the scepter, Dhoulmagus destroyed the castle, placed a curse upon the kingdom and its people, and turned King Trode into a troll and the princess into a horse. A sole surviving castle guard journeys with the king, the princess, a reformed bandit named Yangus and a few other companions in search of the evil jester and a way to break the curse.
Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King is a traditional Japanese-style role-playing game. It features random enemy encounters, simple turn-based combat mechanics, and management of a party consisting of four characters, each belonging to a clearly defined class. The game has a continuous world with fairly vast landscapes and integrated towns and dungeons, rather than using world map traveling and locations represented by icons. The player receives experience points and skill points from battles, which can be manually allocated into a skill category of the player's choice. These categories include different kinds of weapons, fisticuffs, and discipline unique to each character. As the player invests in these categories, their characters learn new abilities or become more proficient with chosen weapons.
The Alchemy Pot system allows players to gather recipes and mix items to create new ones. The game also features full camera rotation and optional first-person view.
The international version of Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King includes voice acting, graphic menu, symphonic soundtracks, and flashier effects compared to the original Japanese version.
When released for the Nintendo 3DS, some alterations were made. Random encounters have been eliminated in favor of battles starting when running into visible enemies on screen. Other changes include faster battle animations, quick save ability anywhere, a photo mode feature, and instant item production from the Alchemy Pot system. The updated game also includes new characters that can be recruited into the player's party, new story sequences, challenging dungeons, monster arena challenges, costumes, recipes, equipment, and new monsters.
