Dragon Quest VII is already a hit in Japan, where (according to Square Enix figures) it has already sold millions of copies. And that's no surprise when you hear who's behind the game's development: a who's who of developers and artists, all under the watchful eye of series creator Yuji Horii. Dragon Quest VIII represents the ultimate vision of Horii; a freeform role-playing game experience set in a fully 3D world where players spend hours up countless hours exploring and finding hidden things to their hearts' content. It sounds magical and whimsical, this unexplored world of theirs, and if you believe the press machine at Square Enix, then the North American release of the game will offer some small but interesting changes to the game's visuals and play style that North Americans fans will truly appreciate. Admittedly we haven't had any hands-on time with the North American version of the game yet (it's coming), but we can take you on a tour of what we know and show you some nice visuals as an added incentive to read on..

While several installments of Dragon Quest have been released in North America in the past (under the Dragon Warrior moniker), Most have not been the commercial success that they could have been. Dragon Quest games are traditionally turn-based and have always offered a plain old vanilla menu system for battles. Square Enix has gone out of its way to change the look and the feel of Dragon Quest VIII to make it more appealing to casual (and hardcore) RPG gamers in both Japan and North America by creating an overland world that is bright, vibrant and full of life.

To create this 3D world, Square Enix teamed the original creator of the game series, Yuji Horii, with seasoned RPG developer Level 7. Level 7 is best known for its work on the ultra popular Dark Cloud series. That same art style is all too familiar in Dragon Quest VII, offering cell-shaded graphics combined with 3D and 2D art to create a world that fans will enjoy exploring every nook and cranny of.

But beyond that Square Enix also brought on artist Akira Toriyama, the world renowned comic book artist behind the legendary Dragon Ball franchise, to create character and monster art for the game. His style is obvious and familiar if you check out any of the screenshots that accompany this preview. The art style is simple, but sterling, giving the game's characters and baddies a unique manga style that fans will appreciate.

Add to that a soundtrack created by renowned composer and conductor, Koichi Sugiyama. This wonderful score was written to fit in with all the other elements of the game including Level-7's world, Horii's narrative and story and Toriyama’s visuals. There's no denying that, with all this talent backing the game, it's easy to figure out why it has sold so well in Japan.

But Square Enix is not stopping there. The North American version will have a few small nuances that will make it easier to play and will offer additional entertainment to boot. The Japanese text-based menu system has been totally rebuilt into a graphical user interface for the North American version, with the addition of icons representing items and magic. The North American edition will also feature a hefty amount of voice acting to supplement the humorous and entertaining storyline already present in the game. These touches, combined with game's already impressive features, Should make Dragon Quest VIII an RPG worth waiting for.

But there's more to this game than the people making it, the graphics or the extra features being built into the North American version of the game. Dragon Quest VIII offers all these things, but it doesn't forsake its core gameplay. That gameplay is pure turn-based fun in combat, combined with colorful characters, a myriad of unique monster and a handful of friends to bring along on your journey.

The combat in the game doesn't stray to far from what you'd expect from a Dragon Quest title. The combat is menu based and offers players offensive and defensive actions, a variety of attacks (both mundane and special), and magic. Three things worth noting are the way these battles are presented in this latest title, the tension system and the battle A.I.

First the presentation aspect of the game. In previous titles you'd see very little action on screen - save a paltry animation or two and a graphic of a bad guy. In Dragon Quest VIII players will actually see these battles unfold, with characters and bad guys attacking in glorious 3D scenes. And since it's turn-based you can enjoy the game while not having to worry about mashing buttons.

Then there's the battle A.I. Players can control each party member or they can use the A.I system to give each character a command or strategy to handle a battle in a certain way. This is good for players who don't want to go through the paces of fighting for each character in every boss battle.