When comparing Orbital vs DRAGON QUEST VIII, the Slant community recommends DRAGON QUEST VIII for most people. In the question“What are the best Android games without in-app purchases/paywalls?” DRAGON QUEST VIII is ranked 43rd while Orbital is ranked 108th. The most important reason people chose DRAGON QUEST VIII is:
Instead of a class system that is found in all of the previous Dragon Quest titles where players upgrade their player through beating monsters a certain amount of time, Dragon Quest VIII uses a skill system to level up the characters and learn new skills by placing skill points earned through battle into the available skill tree, this allows for a more fine grained approach of leveling a character up.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Simple intuitive gameplay
The gameplay consists of firing orbs into the playing field to then fire more orbs to remove those orbs. Pretty simple to understand but not always easy to accomplish, making for an arcade puzzle style game that can be played easily but still requires some strategy and thought.
Pro Free version available
There is a free version available for download that has no in app purchases but is limited to 20 points to which the game is cut off. Makes a good trial version to see how the game plays.
Pro Three single and muti-player modes
There are three play modes available in game, Pure, Gravity and Supernova. The first two modes change up how the orbs move once fired upon, one allows the orbs to shoot off in straight lines, the other has the orbs shooting and bouncing off of one another. Supernova offers a twist on these by making the player shoot 5 shots instead of three.
Pro Local same device 2 player mode
Two users can play a match against one another on the same device, making for a good game to play when friends are around.
Pro Fine grained controls over leveling each character
Instead of a class system that is found in all of the previous Dragon Quest titles where players upgrade their player through beating monsters a certain amount of time, Dragon Quest VIII uses a skill system to level up the characters and learn new skills by placing skill points earned through battle into the available skill tree, this allows for a more fine grained approach of leveling a character up.
Pro One handed gameplay design
The game plays in portrait mode to cater to the hardcore Japanese gaming audience that enjoy being able to play with one hand while commuting.
Pro Really long game
Including side quest the game can easily last over 100 hours.
Pro Classic JRPG battle system
As one would expect of a JRPG there are random battles on the map that are strictly turn based.
Cons
Con Controls could be more accurate
Shooting orbs can be less precise than wanted, this is something that could be improved on.
Con May not hold interest for long
Being that the game is pretty simple, users may get tired of the gameplay quickly.
Con Removed content from North American PS2 release
Things like the original orchestrated music and voice acting that were in the original North American Playstation 2 release have been removed from the mobile version of the game. Most likely to save room.