Adventure, mythical creatures, and epic loot. These are some of the key factors that go into a fantasy action RPG. Throw in memorable artwork and gameplay and you will have a game that many will remember for years to come. This is why games like the Dungeons & Dragons arcade games, Golden Axe, Guardian Heroes and many others are remembered and loved. While those games are still played today, it has been a while since we had an action RPG that delved into a fantasy world of dragons, swords & sorcery, mythical creatures and high adventure. Then a game came that took every fantasy trope from a wide range of media and cranked it up to 20. That game is Dragon’s Crown by Vanillaware.
Dragon’s Crown had its own adventure to get actually made. The game was a concept that Vanillaware president and art director George Kamitani had for thirteen years. It was originally planned to be released on the Dreamcast, but no publisher wanted to go forward with it. Then during E3 2011, the game had found a publisher in UTV Ignition. However the publisher had to drop the game. Then Atlus scooped up the game in 2012 and the rest was history.
Now Dragon’s Crown is one of the most talked about games to have come out in 2013 mainly due to its exaggerated art style. Is there more to the game than what people are making it out to be? Or has artistic license doomed it from the start?
ONWARD TO ADVENTURE!
Grotesquely Beautiful – I want to get the matter of the art style of Dragon’s Crown out of the way first and maybe enlighten you a bit about this art style. So what do I think about the art style used in Dragon’s Crown? I honestly love it. I am amazed by the fact that everything is hand drawn and flows when in motion. The character and monster models, as stated in the title of this first point, grotesquely beautiful and remind me of classical art works and of Frank Frazetta’s and Gustave Dor’s art.
I know what you’re thinking, “If you love the art style, why did you call it ugly? And what does classical art and Frank Frazetta have to do with it?” First off, I didn’t say it was ugly, I said it was grotesque and here is why. The modern usage of grotesque is used as a synonym for ugly to an extreme. The original meaning/use of the words was to use describe the extravagant style of Ancient Greek/Roman art. This style of art was later rediscovered in the 15th century, which was during a period of rebirth in the arts, sciences, philosophy, music, politics and other aspects of life. If this sounds familiar, it should; this was the Renaissance. Artists and other intellectuals used Ancient Greek mythology as inspiration for their works and added a Christianity spin to it. They took classic passages and scenes from the Bible and designed some of the most beautiful, extravagant, and at the time, offensive art which we now consider masterpieces using these Greek myths. They told stories through this style of painting. This style of art and the philosophy behind it is century reaching, inspiring men like Gustave Dor and Frank Frazetta with their works.
You may be wondering. ”So how do Gustave Dor and Frank Frazetta fit into this? And who the hell are these guys?” Well, you’ve seen their works without realizing it. You’ve heard of Dante’s Inferno right? The book/epic poem, not the video game by EA. When the manuscript was first printed in English, it was Dor who provided the artwork for the book, and it is what we see in modern printings. As for Frank Frazetta, he is one of the most influential fantasy artists of the 20th century. While he did a wide range of works, he is most well-known for his interpretation of Conan the Barbarian. It was his vision of Conan that set the standard of how a barbarian and his surrounding world should look in a fantasy setting which also happens to take inspiration from Greek mythology. It is Greek mythology and its re-discovery during the Renaissance that fed the inspiration for all three instances. If this didn’t influence George Kamitani, then we would have been given a different game. And I’m glad that it did influence him. If this was the intention of Dragon’s Crown’s art team is up to speculation but there is evidence that this was their intention.
The Narrator as a Dungeon Master – The narrator of Dragon’s Crown has to be one of my favorite narrators in game. Instead of just describing what is going on in the story, the narrator is taken a step farther for a true D&D experience and talks as if he was a dungeon master. This bit of fanservice is great to make the players feel that they are in a real D&D campaign. To make things even better, there is a piece of free DLC out right now that lets players replace the default male voice of the narrator for the voice of one of the six classes. Right now I have my narrator’s voice set to the sorceress and I am getting a kick out of her when she speaks for some of the NPCs you encounter. And with a somewhat British accent no less. I do have small issue with the narrator though, but I’ll get to that later.
A Love Letter to Fantasy Media – To say that Dragon’s Crown pays homage to previous fantasy games is an understatement. The game is a love letter to not just video games, but to all forms of fantasy media. From movies and books to D&D modules and other video games, Dragon’s Crown is chock full of these Easter Eggs. Some are subtle enough that you can get a chuckle, like how Roland the Barbarian looks a bit like Conan the Barbarian and knows what is best in life. Others are so obvious that you just facepalm at obvious they are trying to be, like Ricky the Magician’s Apprentice, who can control brooms, make them fetch water, and just happens to be a mouse. Yes they went there. There are so many others that you’ll just have to play the game for yourself in order to experience them.
Each Class Plays Differently – The combat for the classic arcade beat ‘em ups had you spam one, maybe two buttons. Some games even has a separate button for casting magic. Simple and easy to do. If you come into Dragon’s Crown with that mindset, then you will die…a lot. Each character has their own unique combat style. The sorceress and wizard favor magic, with the sorceress specializing in defensive magic, curses and support, while the wizard is a heavy user of destructive magic. Protecting them is paramount as they have to charge their mana each time they run out.
The fighter, dwarf and amazon, though they are all melee centric, have different aspects that make them play different. The fighter is a tank that is able to draw agro and protect fellow party members with his shield. The amazon is a high damage dealer with a lust for battle. As she continues to attack she can enter a berserker mode that increases her speed and strength. The dwarf is a mix of the two. He can deal good damage and is able to take damage. He the only character that can grapple enemies and throw them across the screen and even into other enemies. He is also proficient in explosives and can increase his defense by hardening his skin. As for the elf, she’s a mix of a long range fighter and close up melee. She can keep enemies at bay by shooting her bow & arrows, but if they get too close she can unleash quick kicks to knock them and herself away. Each class has their own sets of attacks that can be comboed into. It takes a while to learn some of the combos, but when you do get the hang of it, it is so satisfying. My favorite combo is having the dwarf attack an enemy with his ax/hammers, then launching them into the air. I then jump and grab them midair and slam it back onto the ground.
Addictive Loot/Item System – For some reason gamers are condition to open every chest, break/smash every crate and pick up anything that remotely looks shiny. If you are addicted to picking every piece of loot and item in the game and say “Pretty, Pretty. Shiny, Shiny” then Dragon’s Crown is what you are looking for. As I mentioned above, loot is hidden throughout the stage in addition in being treasure chests, crates and enemies. Sometimes there will be a shiny spot that you will be able to tap over and over to reveal a trove of epic loot. And if collecting it all wasn’t enough, all the loot adds to your overall score. Now when all the stats have been raised and xp tallied, the loot result menu will appear. This shows you what you have gotten during your dungeon run. There is a catch though. You won’t be able to know what it is you got or how much it real value is worth without getting it appraised. Getting items appraised is a gamble since you don’t if the item is worth a lot, has great stats or is just a regular piece of equipment. That’s where Dragon’s Crown hooks you. You collect more loot because there is a chance a powerful item might drop, it might be worth a lot or you need more money because you have an item that the appraisal cost is high and there is a chance that it might be a good item.
Adventuring With Friends – Multiplayer in Dragon’s Crown is really fun, especially when you have friends along for the ride. For the Vita version of the game, it comes in the form of ad-hoc and infrastructure. But in order to access the multiplayer, you will first have to play at least through the first six hours or so of the story. Most would see this as a detriment to the game, but I can see why Vanillaware decided on this. The first six hours of the game you get to see most of the world on your own, when you get past that, the enemies and the bosses jump in difficulty by at least ten levels. The developers wanted to make sure that everyone had a basic understanding of their character before making a second run through the world. As soon as everyone is on the same page, the fun begins. Being able to chain combos with each other is so much fun to do.
Endgame Content – With most beat ‘em ups, once you finished the game that was it. The only option you had was to go through the game again on a higher difficulty. In addition to each character playing through their own adventure, there is plenty of endgame content. Much like the homages to fantasy media, its best to experience the endgame content for yourself rather than spoiling it. I will say however there are two things that you unlock that affect the story that I will tell you about. One is the PvP arena and the other is the Labyrinth of Chaos. PvP arena is just that, an arena where players fight each other to see who the best adventurer is. The Labyrinth of Chaos is an extract dungeon that is 125 floors long and lives up to its name. See each floor of the labyrinth borrows from the nine stages and enemies. As for the chaos part, the enemies and bosses are given randomly generated levels. Meaning that if you and your party is just starting the first few floors, the game can decided to have several level 100 monsters face you. Some may also see this as a cheap way to extend the game. To them I say this, you just spent the last few dozen hours fighting through some of the toughest boss monsters that the developers took from the D&D monster manual to get here. Stop your whining, draw your weapon and charge into battle.
Money and Loot is Shared Between Characters and Balances – Something that I found out while testing each of the characters on the same save file is that money and loot is shared between characters. This could be seen as cheating since you could grind out one character to get tons of loot and money to make it easier for other characters. Luckily the items are level locked so that it balances that out. However, when your other characters are the level that is required to equip the items, having this is a big help. Sharing gold also helps when playing as other characters to buy items, resurrect adventurerers at the town and buying a credit if you die during a dungeon. Again you might think that sharing gold will be cheating if you die a lot. The game has a balance for this too. Resurrection during a dungeon run cost money and the more you use resurrection the price goes up.
Side Quests Galore – It’s not an RPG without side quests, and Dragon’s Crown has a ton of them. You get these quests from the Adventurer’s Guild and can have up to five active quests at once. At first they will be simple, like kill a bunch of goblins or collect something or find something. As you gain levels the quests get harder such as collect 50 orc heads as the amazon while wearing the traditional amazon armor, beat the boss in under two minutes without using a continue and many many more. Rewards are often money and skill points, as well as a piece of art from the staff members of Vanillaware.
Unique Take on Monster Designs – I know I already mentioned that I loved the art direction of Dragon’s Crown, but my favorite part of that direction is the way that the monsters and the creatures were designed, especially the boss monsters. The team of artists I think did a great job in bringing to life their 2D abominations. Sure goblins, orcs and wizards look like typical goblins, orcs and wizards, but when you get to later stages and higher levels the monsters start to get more interesting. Then there are the bosses. I love how these bosses are designed in a grand scale and how Vanillaware gave each one their own unique take. You feel really tiny when going up against things like the Kraken, which happens to be one of my favorite boss fights. But watch out. If you don’t beat them as fast as you can, there is a chance that either the boss will retreat or force you to leave the dungeon. When that happens you have to start that stage all over again.
Dragon’s Crown Pro for PS4- If you happened to missed out on the game on the Vita or on the PS3, then there’s good news as the game has made the jump to the PS4 as Dragon’s Crown Pro. The game looks even better upscaled to HD and play just as good if not better. Online play is improved and various other bugs have been fixed for this version of the game.
RUN AWAY! RUN AWAY!
Suffers From Screen Slowdown From Time to Time – With everything that I really love about Dragon’s Crown, the game does have its flaws. One being that when the screen is filled with tons of enemies, a full party of four fighting with explosives, magic and other things, the screen tends to suffer from slowdown. This doesn’t happen often during the first few hours of the game, but once you start reaching the higher levels about ten hours in, that’s when you start to notice it. It’s especially noticeable when going into high level boss fights. I have experienced this kind of slowdown, but it seems it happens most often if you have nothing but magic users in the party. So here’s a tip: do not have a party that’s all magic users, their AoE spells cause the game to slowdown when everyone casts.
No Cross Play Feature – Some people are hung up on Dragon’s Crown not being a cross buy game, that doesn’t really bother me that much. However I am disappointed that the game doesn’t have cross play between the PS3 and the Vita even though you can share the save file between them. It’s a minor complaint, but one worth noting.
Narrator Won’t Shut Up – Remember earlier when I mentioned that I had an issue with the narrator? That problem is that he, in my case she, won’t shut up. This is what I mean: as I start in the town, the narrator tells me what mission needs to be done. Ok not a problem right? I then enter the item shop and come back out; the narrator repeats what I need to do even though I was already told. I go to the Adventurers’ Guild to pick up some side quest. As I leave the narrator repeats the mission to me again. It gets annoying after a while when I’m gearing up. There is an option to turn off the voice, but doing that will make you miss out on the experience a bit.
Vanillaware set out to revitalize the action-RPG beat ’em up that dominated the 80’s and 90’s with Dragon’s Crown. They took every single elements that made those games popular, added a narrator that is more Dungeon Master than narrator, beautiful art, diverse combat, a highly addictive loot/item system, fun & challenging endgame content and pulled from every single piece of fantasy from various media types for a great experience. That’s not to say that the game doesn’t have its problems. Slowdown occurs when the screen is full of things exploding & dying, the DM keeps repeating the same thing over when I already heard it once and there is no cross play between the PS3 and the Vita.
Despite these flaws and the false controversy surrounding the game. Dragon’s Crown is the best game I’ve played on the Vita so far. If you love going on high adventure fantasy and are not overly sensitive, pick up Dragon’s Crown.
