Dragon's Crown
Sony PlayStation 3
Developer: Vanillaware
Publisher: Atlus
Rated: T for Teen
Released: 2013
Completed: 23 August 2015
Arcades may be all but extinct, but the arcade spirit lives on. All things retro are hot right now, and that includes genres which seemed to die with coin-operated cabinets. In the last few years we've seen a resurgence of 2D fighting games, shoot 'em ups, and brawlers. They may look much prettier with their flashy HD graphics, but many of them still retain that old school feel that kept kids like me feeding quarters into arcade machines.
Melding elements of beat 'em ups and RPGs into one gigantic package, Dragon's Crown feels like a spiritual successor to Capcom's classic Dungeons & Dragons arcade games, and with good reason. Many of Vanillaware's team worked on Capcom's games, which saw a bundled release of their own in 2013. The constant threat of repetition is always on the horizon when it comes to arcade games, but Dragon's Crown does a great job of staving off feelings of boredom by slowly adding new elements to the experience as you progress. By the time you've completed your first playthrough, you may find yourself so addicted you could theoretically pump hundreds of hours into its unlockable randomized dungeon mode.
You begin by choosing from one of six different classes including a human or dwarven fighter for beginners, the elven archer of the amazon warrior for intermediate players, or the wizard or sorceress for advanced players. Each subset of classes plays strikingly different, with magic-wielding players having to carefully manage their spell points during battles. Shortly into the game you will open up the ability to bring up to three computer-controlled characters on your adventures via bones you find in dungeons that can be resurrected at the local temple. Don't get too attached to any particular set of NPCs because you'll constantly be swapping them out for higher level ones as you progress through the game.
Finding the right balance of characters is often critical to success, especially since you can't swap out NPC equipment. That level 15 dwarf may have more HP than the level 16 sorceress, but the latter's ability to create food, which restores health in dungeons, may just save your life.
Juggling your own equipment is just as much a gamble. During my playthrough as a wizard, I was partial to lightning-based attacks, particularly his jumping area of effect attack. However, when I found a fire rod late in the game that offered not only considerable more damage, but also granted a resistance to physical attacks and lessened the damage I received, I opted to swap out my weapon. Loot is randomized with various statistics and additional effects which can often make a big difference, and like any RPG game it's always a thrill to sort through your spoils at the end of your adventure.
Unlocking new features as you go really helps keep the game interesting. About midway through the story you'll unlock the ability to go online so you can join with friends or other random players. This is definitely preferable to your AI teammates who often act foolishly. There appears to be no way to program their behavior, so expect fellow magic-users to burn through their spells in the first few enemy encounters in any given level, leaving them with little to use against the end of level bosses. This is why your party's formation is so important. A team of wizards and sorceresses are potentially devastating to groups of enemies, but what good will it do you if they waste their spells on a trio of goblins instead of waiting to fight the giant, humongous dragon at the end of the level?
The game's lone town acts as a hub where you can choose which allies to take with you, resurrect bones or pray for helpful status effects at the temple, buy, sell, and repair items, accept and turn in quests at the adventurer's guild, and advance the story. While it may not win any awards, Dragon's Crown story is at least somewhat interesting even if it's presented in mostly static (albeit very pretty) portraits with voiceover narration. You can choose one of several narrator's voices, so if you want the story told via the amazon's gruff and raspy voice you can have it your way.
Early on the game's plot incorporates some political elements about the nation of Hydeland, where you're adventuring, and their enemies in Bolga. This is almost completely tossed aside and ultimately the story boils down to kill the big bad monsters and reclaim the titular Dragon's Crown because that'll show Bolga who's boss! It's simplistic fantasy tripe, but it's serviceable and the narration is actually quite excellent.
As I said before, the gameplay is pure arcade-style beat 'em up action. The RPG elements are light and mainly in the form of equipping new gear and spending skill points to customize your class to your liking. Both class-specific and generic skills are available to you, but it's impossible to unlock them all, so choose wisely and tailor your character to fit your play style.
In the dungeons, swarms of enemies will rush in and it's your job to beat them down. There are a hefty amount of moves and attacks at your disposal no matter what class you're playing as. While traversing the levels, you'll uncover secret areas (many of which are key to completing side quests later on), avoid traps, and pick up loot hidden all over. The right analog stick controls a mouse-like cursor that will reveal hidden treasures, and if you find enough in a given level, your party will earn an extra life for that particular romp.
Also found in dungeons are runes, which are also unlocked for use around the midway point of the game. Using combinations of runes found on walls and ones you can buy in town, you can cast powerful rune magics that often grant helpful status effects or unlock even more secrets. The runes are vaguely in the shape of letters, and you'll soon learn to keep an eye out for all-important score boosts like THF - Treasure Hunter's Friend - which reveals a hidden, often very valuable treasure chest, or DSB - Double Score Bonus - which makes it easier to earn those much-needed lives by doubling the value of everything you pick up for a short time. Some rune magics are offensive in nature and can petrify enemies or even completely wipe out any undead foes on screen. The only problem is navigating the cursor around a crowded battlefield can sometimes be difficult, and sometimes it's very finicky and doesn't want to click the rune when it appears to be hovering right over it.
The overcrowding is the game's major fault. It's often difficult to keep track of where your character is in the midst of all the chaos. Enemies, spell effects, and your other party members all crowd together and you'll resort to mashing buttons, hoping to hit something. It's not a game-breaker, but it can be annoying to die simply because you couldn't even see where you were on screen.
Apart from that, the first thing you'll notice about Dragon's Crown's visuals are how incredibly gorgeous they are. The hand-drawn, high definition sprites and backgrounds are marvelous, but I did feel the animation was a little stiff. The dwarf's walking animation especially looks stilted and weird. Many media outlets made a big deal out of the game's exaggerated character proportions and sexist portrayal of female characters, with their giant bouncing breasts and bare bottoms, but honestly I couldn't care one way or another about it. It doesn't affect the experience positively or negatively for me because I'm not a whiny, politically correct gamer crying for attention.
Generally the game's dungeons are superb, which is good because you'll be running through them a lot. Dragon's Crown only offers around a dozen unique stages, and while you later unlock alternate paths through them, it can be a little disappointing having to run through the same stages over and over to complete the side quests. It's notably problematic when those quests involve killing a certain amount of a specific type of enemy. One such example is killing ten owlbears, which shouldn't be a big deal, but since the enemies are also somewhat random you may not get the exact enemies you need and have to restart the level a half-dozen times before you reach your goal. None of the stock enemies offer much challenge, but the bosses are generally extremely fun and actually worth fighting multiple times if you're looking to farm some experience points. Their designs are, without exception, highly detailed and massive and I looked forward to discovering what sort of monstrosity awaited me at the end of each dungeon.
The visuals may be superb, but the audio falls a little short. Sound effects and voices are good, even if hearing Rannie the Rogue (your NPC helper who accompanies you on every run no matter what) repeat the same three lines becomes tiresome, but the music is largely forgettable. Honestly, I couldn't even really tell you if there was any music in the dungeons. In a puzzling move, the audio is only two channel stereo as well. There is no way to get 5.1 surround sound at all. It's by no means the worst thing to ever happen in the history of video games, but it's strange for a game released in 2013 and it's the weakest part of the whole package overall.
Control is slick and responsive with the minor exception of occasionally wonky hit detection. It will sometimes look like you're even with a background element or an enemy, but you'll whiff your attack because the game decided you weren't squared up properly. Again, it's not game-breaking - more of a minor annoyance - but it's worth mentioning. The only other gripe is that I often found myself inadvertently performing the slide attack, accomplished by hitting down+square, when trying to avoid and counter enemy attacks. Other than that, control is well laid out and it's easy to manage with key combos for using special attacks, magic spells, or consumables.
The best thing about Dragon's Crown is how insanely addictive it is, and how much content there is to feed your addiction. My playthrough took 20 hours and 16 minutes, which included completing every available side quest, and a few chained dungeon runs - another aspect of the game you'll unlock as you play. Instead of one-and-done quests, you can choose to continue adventuring at the end of a level. Each time you continue, your rewards will be greater, but the catch is that your equipment degrades and will break over time. The only way to fix it is to head back to town, but you can also buy multiple bags from the shop and keep backup equipment sets that you can switch to between stages during a run. Again, these are the same stages you've been through a bunch of times, but it's amazingly fun to tackle dungeon after dungeon without stopping and earn new, better loot. Between stages you will occasionally be able to play small cooking minigame as well where you mix ingredients to restore health for you and your companions' next venture.
Finally, once you've beaten the game once, you unlock a secondary story (basically New Game+ mode). You can also enter a randomized set of dungeons called the Labyrinth of Chaos, or the Colosseum to battle other players and earn gold. There's just so much to do you could honestly play the game for years, or at least until you hit the level cap of 99.
One final feature worth mentioning is cross-platform saving and play with PlayStation Vita owners (or "owner," since I know literally one person with a Vita). I didn't have a chance to try it out, because like most of the gaming populace I don't own a Vita, but it's a nifty feature in principle to be able to pick up right where you left off at home when you're on the go. For a game like this, where you can complete a dungeon run in 10-15 minutes, it seems perfect for a portable gaming device and for those who want to max out their characters.
With so much on offer, Dragon's Crown is a fantastic package. It took me way longer to finish than I'd hoped, but that was because I simply fell into a funk and didn't play any games for several weeks. It's not an indictment of the game, and it's a testament to its quality that the 20 hours I put into were over the course of only four sit-downs. If you've played Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom, or its sequel Shadow Over Mystara, or any of Vanillaware's previous games such as Odin Sphere or Muramasa, you really owe it to yourself to see what they created with Dragon's Crown. It's got a few shortcomings, but it's so much fun and jam-packed with things to do it more than makes up for it.
Dragon's Crown was completed on a PlayStation 3 with no cheats.
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