Drakengard / YMMV - TV Tropes

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Critical Dissonance: The series has frequently received a lot of low scores from reviewers and critics, but it nevertheless managed to garner a strong cult following (even among some of Square Enix's higher-ups), which was further helped by NieR: Automata's Newbie Boom which lead to the older games receiving newfound attention. However, it is widely acknowledged, even among the fans, that the actual gameplay of all the games in the canon pre-Automata ranges from So Okay, It's Average to outright shoddy, with the story and characters being the main draws.
Cult Classic: Thanks primarily to Yoko Taro's unique and bizarre storytelling and how he incorporates unconventional tropes that subvert common JRPG expectations. While the series didn't initially do too well in the sales department (particularly outside Japan), it garnered a strong enough cult following that allowed for more sequels and spinoffs to be greenlit, culminating in the release of NieR: Automata which was the first game in the franchise to enjoy mainstream global success both critically and financially.
Enjoy the Story, Skip the Game: While this is mostly limited to earlier installments, the series has always had some gameplay issues (Cavia itself admitted they were originally trying to make a Dynasty Warriors clone with the first game and botched that due to inexperience and budget constraints), crude graphics, little in the way of variety, and lots of grinding if you wish to see the different endings. Nevertheless Drakengard 1 has become a Cult Classic that garnered enough interest for multiple sequels and spinoffs to be made, largely thanks to the unique storyline and characters as well as other elements such as the soundtrack, worldbuilding and art/design. NieR: Automata would be the first game in the series to fully avert this, and it retroactively helped repair this reputation for older games, as the remake of Nier was greatly polished with hints taken from Automata.
Everyone Is Jesus in Purgatory: Prior to the release of NieR: Automata, the poor gameplay of the series was occasionally argued to be somehow intentional as a way of highlighting their deconstructive nature via making them explicitly unfun, hammering the point of how morally wrong the characters are since the player would be just as guilty as them for sitting through the experience. Taro has stated in the past that he was someone who saw "good gameplay" as being something that was worth going against, but whether or not this was actually reflected in any of the games' development cycles is unclear, as not only have the developers been fairly honest about the development issues they had, but Square Enix isn't afraid of firmly putting their foot down when Yoko Taro gets too out there with his ideas.
Fanfic Fuel: The games' many different endings are prime material for alternate universe stories by fans and official writers alike.
Fan Nickname: "Drakenier", for the franchise as a whole.
Friendly Fandoms: Fans of the Drakengard and NieR franchise as a whole tend to be very chummy with Metal Gear fans, as both franchises mix dark and gritty Deconstructionism with complicated and weird plots and moments.
Player Punch: The series is very fond of making a punching bag out of its players, often via Sadistic Choices, forced fights against characters who are sympathetic or even completely innocent, or by incorporating plot twists (which the player characters may or may not be aware of) that retroactively make your past actions seem heinous. The Nier games are especially fond of this with additional playthroughs revealing details that cast everything you've done so far (and are expected to do going forwards) in a far more questionable light.
Vindicated by History: Sure, the first game did not have the best budget and gameplay, but for a game of its time, it was unique and rare. Because it was so different and did not have the high-end graphics or amazing gameplay of other RPGs at the time, it was largely pushed aside. That is, until a few years later that Nier was published, and a lot of gamers are attracted to the game's shamelessly dark storyline, while amazed by the sheer audacity of Ending E that allowed the Nier universe to happen.

Drakengard 1

Awesome Moments:
- As terrifying as Caim is, you cannot deny that his ability to tear through entire armies singlehandedly is incredibly impressive.
- Poor as the flight controls might be, the first time you ride Angelus, you'll feel unstoppable.
- If you can get past the poor flight controls, the dogfight between Inuart and Caim rocked.
- "Death need not be the end of hope!" And he took the damn fairy with him too!
- Ending C, where Caim runs out to face an army of dragons bent on destroying humanity, grinning all the way.
- Seere's Prayer. Goblins kidnap Seere, so, in one of the few times Caim ever does something genuinely heroic and selfless, he barges into the Coliseum and butchers the lot to save the child. It's an incredibly satisfying moment and a rare case of the game throwing players a bone and letting them be a real hero for once with no strings attached.
- Seere himself gets one in ending D by abusing his own immortality to lock the Watchers away for good, albeit of the cost of the main characters being frozen in time forever alongside the Watchers. Aside from ending A, it's the closest thing to a good ending the game has.
Awesome Music:
- Both Attract Mode songs for the first game. Sadly only ''Growing Wings made it into Drakengard's soundtrack, even in Japan.
- First Chapter- In The Sky:When Angelus forms a pact it must be one of the most remembered songs for the fans.
- Seere's Prayer - In the Sky is also particularly loved. So much so that it got a chiptune remix and a remix as DLC music for ''Drakengard 3''
- Most of the soundtrack in general is done by sampling live performances of old classical pieces (with lots of "Psycho" Strings) mixed together in anxiety-inducing loops and with intentional audio glitches. The result, while certainly not traditionally "pleasant to the ears", is a very stressful, manic and unnerving soundtrack that goes perfectly with an unhinged genocidal maniac out to murder everything in sight. First Chapter ~ On The Ground, the very first battle theme of the game, perfectly sets the tone for the rest of the game, while Chapter VIII ~ Closing, the battle theme for the Final Boss of Ending A, is a good example of how distorted and experimental and the soundtrack can get.
Breather Level:
- "Event" sequences in the first game are short gameplay sequences with limited numbers of low-level enemies that are easily dispatched.
- Then there's Chapter 10, Verse 3, which has no enemies in the level whatsoever.
Common Knowledge:
- The misconception that Ending E was meant to be a "Joke Ending" before being given importance later on in the series. In fact, it was the first ending conceptualized for the game and is crucial to its development cycle, as it underwent many modifications (see the Trivia tab) and was one of Yoko Taro's biggest visions for the game, rather than being a throwaway gag to cap off the game. It's no more a Joke Ending than End of Evangelion, which was a direct source of inspiration for Ending E in terms of its surreal nature and intended impact on the audience^note.
- The idea that the game intentionally plays bad. While the game is subversive and is conceptualized around breaking down the concept of the Inferred Holocaust caused by video game protagonists (and has an intentionally unconventional plot and sound design), things like the poor camera, controls and combat are ultimately just a byproduct of the studio being inexperienced. Though it does, if inadvertently, play into the game's commentary on people choosing to put themselves through an unpleasant experience just to experience a simulation of mass murder.
Cult Classic: Especially in recent years, but in Japan it reached this status immediately following its release thanks to its unique and often shocking plot developments and characterization.
Demonic Spiders:
- Archers (which are so universally despised that in one popularity poll they ended up in sixth place), undead enemies, and in the endgame, the Watchers.
- Any red-colored enemies. It's not enough for them just to be immune to magic and dragon breath, the fact that they actively punish you for using them on them by instantly countering with a projectile attack means even one of them amongst a horde of normal enemies makes using magic and Angelus more trouble than it's worth. Red Wizards are easily the worst of the lot, since they combine the worst of the red enemies and the worst of the archer enemies and can take off a whole circle of health with a single projectile.
- Red shield wall enemies can basically turn themselves invincible and bowl you over with a charge attack. And they love to hang out in groups in tight corridors and spam their charge as much as possible to stunlock you into oblivion.
- Take the Red Wizards, give them a ton more health and an affinity for hanging out in packs of 5. You now have the Grotesqueries.
Enjoy the Story, Skip the Game: Drakengard is often hailed as having one of the most bizarre, disturbing, and memorable story and characters in video game history and is worth experiencing if you're not faint of heart. However when talking about the actual gameplay, even diehard fans will describe the ground combat as a tedious and boring slog and the air combat to be clunky at best and frustrating at worst.
Funny Moments: Yes, even a game as oppressive and bleak as this can have its share of comedic moments. Most of which are Black Comedy, but still.
- Caim's general demeanor can be this. Whether it's repeatedly stabbing an already dead Imperial soldier, kicking an elf begging for help in the face, or kicking Verdelet while he's down following Furiae's kidnapping, he's almost comically rude.
- Upon the group meeting the Faerie King, he decries them for the burning of the forest (which was actually the Empire's fault). Angelus' response? Tell him to fuck off.
Angelus: Go threaten someone else. We have no time for you.
- If you're quick enough, you can actually rack up combos on dead enemies.
- Caim's reaction to Arioch attempting to eat him; it comes off as more confused than alarmed.
- Seere getting unceremoniously knocked to the ground by a dancing Manah... while trying to keep people from attacking her.
Game-Breaker:
- Iron Will/Hymir's Finger is a slow sword to swing due to its size, but jump attacking with it is just as fast as with any other sword. This makes it good choice for one-on-one fights, like in the alternate path which ends with Caim fighting Angelus. And even outside of those scenarios, it's still a good weapon if its swings are well timed, able to absolutely demolish almost any enemy in four to five swings, tops.
- On the complete other end from Hymir's Finger is Ancient Overlord/Kingsblood; when fully leveled, it hits very hard for a sword weapon and its magic, which only requires one magic bar, rains down a barrage of devastating lightning bolts that temporarily paralyze any enemy they don't kill.
- Faith/Nobuyoshi, when fully leveled, is a blue katana that summoned tendrils of ice that freeze enemies and deal damage to them. This normally wouldn't be terribly broken... except that if an enemy is moved by, say, being attacked, they'll take damage every time they move, resulting in damage stacking up fast. Combine that with solid damage and fast swing speed and it's a very good weapon for tight spots.
- Arioch as an ally. With just one magic cast, she can completely obliterate scores of enemies; even more so since ally magic can be charged, resulting in essentially a full screen clear. And due to how ally magic works, even against enemies normally resistant to magic, if a battle is particularly tough you can summon her and just press triangle to win. The fact that allies can only be summoned thrice per mission somewhat mitigates this, but well-timed usage of Arioch can trivialize even the goddamn Watchers.
- Seere is also a very powerful ally; while his melee ability is absolute trash, his magic consists of him summoning Golem to attack enemies. While less flashy than Arioch's, it's still an extremely effective attack.
Jerkass Woobie: Almost the entire cast, but Leonard in particular. Despite having what is generally considered the most disgusting proclivities known to man, he works so hard to repress his disorder and hates himself so badly that it's hard not to feel sorry for him. (And even with that aside, having to put up with the fairy all the time would be an extreme punishment for anyone.) It really doesn't hurt that he's one of the only people in the party to pull a full-blown, altruistic Heroic Sacrifice.
Memetic Badass: Caim will kill everything that moves and then some. As Kratos is to Olympian deities, Caim is to goddamn everything that gets in his way. Also kids; Caim is an equal-opportunity killer.
Memetic Mutation:
- Some of Caim's facial expressions in the cutscenes, though not as memetic as the ones from Drakengard 2, are still plenty memorable.
- Manah's scream upon being defeated at the end of Ending A, especially in the Japanese version.
- Anything and everything to do with Ending E. "Is this the land of the gods?!", "Thank you so much for playing!", the shot of Angelus impaled on Tokyo Tower, and the final unlockable version of Angelus, a Sukhoi Su-47, which is frequently joked to be an actual physical transformation she undergoes rather than just being a bonus skin.
Narm:
- The voice-acting from the first game is cheesy as all get. Chief among them is Manah, whose voice actor when she is "possessed" sounds completely bored out of his mind, making what could have been an unsettling character into a source of jokes.
Together with Mother! MO-THERRR!!!
- In the Ending B path, as creepy as Furiae's resurrection scene is, her eyes rolling around in her head can also make her look like a ridiculous googly-eyed toy.
- The game's Japanese title, Drag-on Dragoon, is so Engrish-y that it borders on Narm Charm, but it was nevertheless deemed too silly to market as-is in English speaking territories.
Never Live It Down: You have three guesses as to what Leonard is primarily known for.
Nightmare Fuel: Like saying grass is green.
The Scrappy:
- Verdelet is greatly disliked by many players due to the fact that he is worse than useless and will not shut up. It's not even in an Annoying Video Game Helper sense; he's just constantly whining about the seals being broken. (Although granted, what they were holding back may be worth whining about.) These fans were delighted to find out that Verdelet had died sometime in between the two games, and if they leveled up a certain weapon all the way and read its history, were even more delighted to find out that Caim killed him. Hatred of him is so great that he was voted most hated character in the entire Drakengard franchise in an online poll in which he had more votes than every other character combined.
- There's not many people out there who like Verdelet, if any, but while nowhere near as universally despised, Seere still gets some hate for being an obnoxiously idealistic, annoyingly voiced child that ends up completely diverting the story in an (admittedly fun) set of levels after getting kidnapped by goblins, forcing Caim and co to go after him due to his connection to Manah. It doesn't help that him ordering Golem to kill Manah is what sets off the absolute clusterfuck that is Endings D and E.
Scrappy Mechanic:
- For all that the plot is incredible, the controls for any and all aerial levels will make you want to break down crying — for some people. Those with superhuman reflexes or simply an uncanny ability to hit things in the right place may find it the most enjoyable part of the game. Flying on the dragon during field levels, on the other hand, requires a dizzying amount of backtracking and circling.
- The fact that aside from one-time use treasure chests, healing orbs can only be gotten from racking up combos, which means that if you're too good at killing things it's harder to heal yourself.
Signature Scene: Depending on who you ask, either the reveal of the Watchers from the Ending D path or Caim and Angelus getting shot down in Ending E.
That One Boss:
- The game's True Final Boss, The Queen Grotesquerie, is an infamous Unexpected Gameplay Change into a staggeringly hard rhythm game.
- The mutated Furiae from the end of Route B is fond of spamming hard-to-dodge projectile attacks and has a move where she turns invisible and summons a wheel of swords around herself that will eventually tear through the player for massive damage if they don't manage to shoot them down in time.
That One Level:
- The mini-chapter "Leonard's Regret".
- Chapter 12, Verse 3: The level before it introduces the Grotesqueries, one of the aggravatingly deadly enemies in the game, but in that level you're fighting them on dragonback, where there's plenty of room to dodge and you have projectile attacks at your disposal. In this level you're forced to fight them on foot, in packs of five, even, as they've arbitrarily gained immunity to dragon breath and magic. Bringing Seere along to abuse his Golem attack is an absolute must.
Vindicated by History: The soundtrack received mixed reception as it was an experiment using sampled classical music; at worst, it's considered repetitive and cacophonous but has in recent years considered "delightfully strange" that highlights the madness of the Drakengard setting.

Drakengard 2

Alternate Character Interpretation: In part due to his status as The Scrappy in the previous game, some argue that Verdelet is essentially a Greater-Scope Villain of the sequel. Some, if not all of the pointlessly dickish things the Knights of the Seal do can be traced back to him, most notably him making the Goddess seal more painful for Angelus for no clear reason. This not only drives her homicidally insane, thus making someone integral to the world's survival a huge threat to it, but also puts him and the Knights as a whole at the top of Caim's murder list. While Gismor is the corrupting influence on the Knights in the story proper, Verdelet is arguably the man who caused the organization itself to start rotting, creating a perfect pretext for some idealistic heroes to revolt and accidentally break the world he was nominally trying to protect.
Awesome Music: The one thing that the fanbase is in perfect agreement of when it comes to this game, it is that the music is mind-blowing.
- The boss theme "Fate," used for Caim and Angelus. Also used for Nowe's Journey to the Center of the Mind later.
- ''Symphonic Poem ~Forbidden Prelude~''
- The remix of ''Growing Wings''.
- Vein Of Grief.
- In the Japanese version, Hitori, which is sadly very hard to find due to copyright issues.
- Breakthrough, a pretty energetic piece.
- The Final Battle kinda speaks for itself.
Breather Level: Chapter 7-8 is full of almost nothing but low level orc type enemies, by the time you reach it even on your first playthrough you should be able to mow them down like wheat, and the level will be mostly just exploring the maze like hallways to solve the puzzles needed to move on.
Contested Sequel: Drakengard 2 was not directed by Yoko Taro, and it shows. While it isn't necessarily a constant parade of positivity, it is noticeably less dark than the first game and has a more conventional storyline and characters more similar to most JRPG's. This has made the game controversial in the fanbase, because while the Lighter and Softer nature of the game and improved gameplay won over some people who felt the first game was too dark, many fans of the first game and the rest of the series feel that this direction made the game far less memorable and runs counter to what draws fans to the series in the first place, which is the fact that it ISN'T like mainstream games. The divide is such that some don't consider it canon since Yoko Taro didn't make it, while others argue that Taro not making it doesn't automatically mean it isn't canon, or that it doesn't deserve to be treated as a terrible game.
Die for Our Ship: Nowe/Manah fans vs. Nowe/Eris fans. It's actually quite surprising how sharp the divide is here. Possibly the reason why the first game's only love stories were either about obsession or incest.
Fanon Discontinuity: While the game is regarded as canonical thanks to the series' multiversal nature, it's still occasionally ignored by fans for reasons mentioned in Contested Sequel above. Making this easier is the fact that NieR, which actually was directed by Yoko Taro, continues from a different ending of the first game altogether. ^note
Goddamned Bats: The second game's air-stage-only enemy Griffins. It takes a long time to kill them and they're hard to ignore, as they're one of the few melee enemies encountered in the air.
It Was His Sled: The fact that Legna is the "black dragon" from the first game was supposed to be something of a twist, and according to the game's director it's the reason he starts off as blue instead of black. This didn't really have the intended effect and nowadays it's common knowledge that they are the same character, to the point where the name "Legna" is commonly used in reference to his Drakengard 1 appearance even though he wasn't actually named that until Drakengard 2.
Heartwarming Moments: Caim and Angelus's reunion and subsequent death is this and a Tear Jerker.
Angelus: Is it over yet?
Caim: It's over. We're together now.
Moment of Awesome:
- The Boss Fight between Nowe and Caim was fairly impressive as well.
- Even more impressive was what Caim did after the fight, killing Death.
- Those who played through the first Drakengard will love the reveal that not only is Verdelet dead, but Caim killed him.
Memetic Mutation: Caim's toothy Slasher Smile portrait◊ is arguably one of the most memorable things about the entire game.
Moral Event Horizon: You'll be calling for Gismor's blood when you see him use Eris as a human shield and force Nowe to run her through.
Replacement Scrappy: Nowe for Caim. Replacing Caim with him is generally seen as a bad decision since Nowe lacks the same uniqueness Caim had, and feels too out of place for the setting. What made Caim interesting was that he turned most of the standard video game protagonist tropes on their head because his Axe-Crazy, almost heartless nature deconstructs and satirizes most players' tendencies to just grind levels in RPGs by mindlessly killing enemies and how players often overlook some morally ambiguous things they do. Nowe, on the other hand, is not only a walking JRPG protagonist cliché, but is also written as an All-Loving Hero, which does not fit in the Drakengard universe, especially when you consider that, gameplay-wise, he has a body count almost as high as Caim's. Even people who like Nowe agree that he doesn't really work well as the protagonist of a direct sequel, and instead feel he would be fine as a supporting character.
Signature Scene: The one thing even those who haven't played the game probably knows about is seeing Caim's return, who arrives with a slaughter so powerful that it sounds more akin to a thunderous explosion than a sword to bone, and Manah's Heroic BSoD at realizing who she sees.
So Bad, It Was Better: A common appraisal of the game is that it's definitely quantitatively better than the first game in a lot of ways, but the first game being so bad was a lot of what made it appealing, and while 2 did improve, it isn't improved enough to warrant Play the Game, Skip the Story.
So Okay, It's Average: It's commonly held that while it is a mechanically better and more polished game compared to its predecessor, it came at the cost of sanding off most of the things that made the first Drakengard interesting in spite of its many issues, and it didn't improve significantly enough to be a conventionally good game, mostly landing in the realm of mediocre and forgettable.
That One Boss:
- Yaha and his gnomes. When they aren't a whole lot of noisy gnomes attacking Nowe en masse, the floor randomly lights up with circles that produce highly damaging stalagmites. And once that's over, there's the giant gnome/rock monster thing itself... with a tendency for overly powerful attacks, including one that is nearly impossible to dodge. Rinse and repeat until you kill it. Ugh.
- Gismor also qualifies. Instead of staying within weapon-range like a nice evil entity, he either jumps around the four platforms that you cannot reach because they are about three feet away from the edges of the cross-shaped walkway that you can stay on, even though your party members can jump about twice their height, or stands at one of the four arms of the walkway and shoots lasers at you that you have to move in a specific pattern to avoid being killed by. While on the platforms, he fires magical energy balls at you that, if you manage to break them, give you a magical boost, but are about as easy to hit as Fire Keese. And you need magic, because you have to hit him with magic to get him to move to the walkway
- The Bone Casket, a gimmick boss fight overflowing with Fake Difficulty.
That One Level: The castle part of the District of Heavenly Time. It's long, confusing, filled with lots of Heavily Armored Knights, and there's a ton of dead ends that lead to nowhere.

YMMV / Drakengard

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