Finished Dragon Quest VIII

Sort of. I defeated Rhapthorne, the final boss character, and then there's a sequence involving the lifting of the curse and the princess' marriage. But a new quest opens up after this, and you're given a chance for a save game with everything your characters have right before you started the final boss fight.

I sort of knew it coming in, because there are "Infamous Monsters" which don't become available until you "beat" the game.

Reading online, there's mention of how this new quest is about the Hero character's background. Not really a surprise here. It was almost immediately obvious, once you reached Argonia in the game, that the Hero is the son of Eltrio, the king's older brother who disappeared.

And unless I'm completely off-track here, it seems very likely that Munchie--the little mouse/hamster the Hero carries around--is actually Chen Mui in disguise; Chen Mui being one of the elders who magically shows up to guide the party through the town.


So I guess finishing this quest will make an alternate ending available, as it should make the Hero the son of Eltrio and Xia, who would have ruled Argonia if Eltrio hadn't died. So having the princess of Trodain marry the Hero would still fulfill the old promise between Trodain and Argonia... and it was too much to expect the current king to find out about the Hero's past and halt the wedding between Medea and Charmles.