So I missed last week... forgot about it while writing my Monthly Musing entry. My bad!

In the last two entries of my super-ultra popular series, The Greatest Adventures Ever Played, I covered one particular thing that Oblivion and World of Warcraft hold in common: a great, wide, expansive and believable world. Part of any good adventure is immersion, and those two games had immersion in spades. Likewise, the rest of the games also have that same level of immersion, down to the tiny details like finding secrets and meeting enjoyable NPCs. But the top three adventures hold something else in common: their stories are classic.

When most of us think adventure now, being the video-game obsessed nerds we are, we default to the epic destiny of God of War or the pointy-clicky fun on Monkey Island. But if you went back in time and quoted the word "adventure" to your little, five-year-old self, they'd probably do two things: one, they would call their mother to do away with the strange person soliciting them. Two, they would think of castles, kingdoms, and princesses.



These are three elements Dragon Quest VIII has in spades. There is not much in the way of a deep, moving plot here; the Hero will find himself spending thirty hours chasing an evil sorceror who has enchanted your kingdom such that the king is a little green man, the princess is a horse and the Hero himself inexplicably remains the only young man capable of saving them. Here is the heart of the adventurous feeling: In Dragon Quest VIII, the Hero doesn't have any complicated reasons to do what he does. He does what's right, he does what's pure. Somehow this supercedes story, and you find yourself enjoying the gentle quest to save the kingdom.

Despite it's lack of complication and narrative, the story of Dragon Quest VIII manages to be as engaging as any convoluted RPG. Over the course of your adventure you'll encounter many different places and locales. In each instance you're exposed to another little story. Each chapter has its own beginning and end and when you leave to move on to the next such quest the characters and stories of the last journey implant themselves firmly in your head. This is not a Final Fantasy where you leave a town and never agan worry about the faceless NPCs you encountered; every person has a personality and soul. It is this element that makes Dragon Quest VIII one of the perfect adventures of video games; that every person place and thing remain stuck in memory. This all comes together, and the real nature of the grand adventure is revealed.

Most of the Hero's journey takes place on foot. Eventually you gain a boat, and then the ability to fly - and this is where the magic happens: when the hero first takes to the air, and the entire world is before him. As you soar for the first time over the world of Dragon Quest VIII, every bit of the landscape is clear before you. Every town is visible, every hill and crest and even the treasure boxes you may or may not have gathered along the way. In one sweeping journey over the land and sea every memory of the journey is triggered. In this moment every piece of the puzzle that is Dragon Quest VIII comes together, and you realize the impact of what you've done.



Many games have taken the player on a journey across a gigantic and expansive world. Many have also given the player the opportunity to explore that world from the sky, seeing everything they have done. But only in Dragon Quest VIII is the world recreated in such minute detail. Only in Dragon Quest VIII are the characters and memories created along the journey so memorable. Only in Dragon Quest VIII do you truly feel when the time comes to fly that not only can you travel the world, you want to go back and see each and every hill and hamlet you once visited. Each entry in the Hero's story feels like a chapter in a story book. Each is worth going back to to revisit the trial and reward of that part of the journey, and each part leaves the player feeling like their hero has grown and accomplished something new. When the Hero finally does face the Sorceror for the final time, or [spoilers] the true enemy, he is saving the King and Princess, just like he would in any story book - but he's also saving the world that he came to care for and protect bit by bit along the journey to this very spot.

It's this sense of adventure that keeps the Hero coming back to the world to explore. Beyond the threat of the land there's always more to uncover, ensuring that sense of adventure never fades away. Perhaps the Hero will become a masterful monster tamer. Perhaps he'll fight Dragons and take his place among the long lineage of Dragon Warriors adorned in armour. Or perhaps he'll just go back to visit his friends in a small city off the coast. No matter what he does, it feels worth writing a story about, and that's what makes it a great adventure.



Honours: Shadow of the Colossus
Where Dragon Quest VIII fills every bit of world with a beautiful fairy tale, Shadow of the Colossus leaves the player to fill in these details themselves. The adventure across the Forbidden land to each colossus is frought with the potential to expand the journey, and little discoveries stay in the mind of the player so what when they stare across an open expanse and see the ruins they once visited, they remember. This is all linked by the omnipresent bridge and temple, housing the woman that Wander loves in the same simple princess story that has been the heart of all the best tales of adventure.