So it looks like DQ8 is finally getting the remake attention it deserves. I always thought it was a disgrace how FFX, FFX-2, and the KH series all got HD remakes for home consoles, with DQ8, the much more popular game in Japan by a landslide, getting a mere smartphone port... in portrait mode. What is it with Japan's obsession with portrait mode? Portrait mode is for shit idle games like Game of War, not proper console RPGs.

Anyway, the game won't be for home consoles but for 3DS, which, honestly, I prefer anyway (though a Vita version would've been even better...) Like the original Western release, the game will now have voice work recorded for it (or maybe they're just shipping it with the English voices only -- not entirely unprecedented), and the soundtrack will be replaced with symphonic soundtrack from the English release rather than the original midi soundtrack.

As for new content that will actually be relevant if it ever gets a Western release... Morrie from the Monster Arena will now be playable, as well as a female thief named Garda. There will also be a new story scenario.

Anyway, I'm very excited for this. Despite the fact that I consider it my 2nd favorite game of all time, I've only played through it once, and I've been looking for excuses to play through it again. I've actually been sitting on a Japanese copy for several years now, which I intended to play so I could have the "genuine" DQ experience with the midi soundtrack and the original white-on-black text-based menu system, but I just haven't gotten around to it. I mean, it's a long game... A really long game. At 70 hours, it is by far the longest game I ever played, so it's quite daunting to pick it up back up again.

But I'll definitely pick this up the moment it gets released in Japan this August. Here's hoping it actually makes Westward, though, unlike... well, the other 4 DQ games currently on 3DS.