Awesome / Dragon Quest VIII

• It may not be as awesome as the first time you get to fly. However, the cut-scene where the playing of the harp causes the desert to "remember when it was an ocean" and carry the stranded ship out to sea for your party to sail is still rather impressive. Also a moment of awesome for Medea.
• During the Initiation in Argonia, where Charmles is abusing Medea, King Trode tries to get Charmles to stop, and when he initially fails, says that Charmles can beat him instead of the horse-princess.
• Dhoulmagus hurling a maelstrom of thorns at the party in an attempt to curse them only for them to shatter as shield of light envelopes Hero. It's the first time an attack, not to mention the curse, has failed before his eyes, as well as the first he loses his cool. No grin, no laugh, he's completely stunned.
• Any time one of the classic monster teams perform their Fusion Dance. The foes you face confronted with a trio of slimes or drackies think victory's in the bag when they merge to become a giant, glowing version of themselves. Ultrus the Ultra Slime, an even bigger, even mightier king slime, and Gracky the Great Dracky, an enormous Dracky, both of which have incredible power. Ultrus in his high Hp, defense and attack, and Gracky in it's high attack and speed, ability to hit twice in a row, and dodge every other attack thrown at it, if even that often. Both have an extremely powerful attack which hits all enemies, to boot. As for the final team of golems, already more than adequate in terms of power, merge to become a massive golem, the monstrous Mazin, immune to nearly every status effect, Attack, Defense and HP as high as they can go, and his critical hit will vaporize everything but bosses and metal slimes. As a matter of fact, those two groups are the only ones who even stand a chance against him, and even against the mightiest bosses, he'll still last long enough to get in one good punch.
• Marta single-handedly incapacitating Evil Sir Leopold using powdered Nook Grass. This also completes a Chekhov's Gun set up by her son at the end of the previous dungeon.
• Marcello, Angelo's estranged brother. He fights off being possessed by Rhapthorne, the lord of darkness and the Big Bad of the game, by stabbing himself in the arm.
• High Priest Rollo completing his Heel–Face Turn by volunteering to stay behind while the party escapes from Purgatory Island while telling them to not worry about him and learn the truth of the Lord High Priest's death. Yangus even calls him "a good bloke."
• You cannot deny that Marcello's speech before your battle with him is worthy of applause, even if he does simply mean he's the only one fit to rule.
  The Lord High Priest, our kings, our Goddess! All of them reign over us from their high exalted thrones! Each one as useless as the next!
• It's not often that you see a party actually celebrate a victory over the Big Bad. Yangus sums it up nicely: "We dun it, guv! We only went an' bleedin' dun it!!"
• King Trode in the normal ending, where he disarms a guard wielding a halberd using nothing but a small twig. Then he knocks him out with one blow to the stomach.
• Like his fellow ruler, King Clavius gets one during the ending when he finally calls out his worthless Spoiled Brat of a son, and reveals he knew all about Charmles' cheating the ritual by buying an Argon Heart. He'd given Charmles every chance to own up and show some character, but Charmles wasted them all, expecting everything to keep going his way just because of his rank. Even sweeter in the good ending, where he then reveals that the Hero is his cousin, and thanks to Charmles' trying to cheat, the Hero completed the Rite of Passage instead, and has proven himself a more fitting and able heir.
  • The Golden Jessica Ending takes it up yet another notch: Charmles not only gets his bride taken away at the last second, but Clavius reveals the original Argon Heart in full view of the guests, giving him some very much-needed humble pie for all to see.
• Both of Hero's accomplishments, beating Morrie and becoming champion and his successor in the Monster Arena, and beating all the Dragovian trials, deserve a mention. Defeating the strongest Monster Team user in the ultimate battle for glory, and the strongest of the Dragovians at the height of his power, proves him as beyond exceptional as a leader, as well as warrior.
• In the 3DS version of the Normal ending, Morrie leaps in to help the hero fight off the guards.
• Morrie, Red, and Jessica are the top-tier characters to use against the post-game bonus bosses. There is no greater feeling in the world than unleashing a 100-tension Hand of God, Blade Cascade, or Magic Burst and delivering a One-Hit Kill as a result. Giving the Dragonlord Claw and Dragonsbane to Morrie and Red respectively also turn the Dragovian Trials into a joke, and it feels great!
  • Similarly, equipping the hero in full Dragovian armor after completing all of the Dragovian Trials and using a max tension Dragon Soul to defeat Rhapthorne is especially cathartic.^note A book in the Black Citadel mentioned that the Dragovians were far more of a threat to Rhapthorne than Empyrea and the Seven Sages and suffered numerous losses, leading them to isolate themselves to avoid extinction.

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