YMMV / Dragon Force (Sega)

• Awesome Music:
  • Goldark's theme, a slow, ominous march that manages to sound grand and melancholy at the same time.
  • The "Apostles of Darkness" theme deserves a mention: a quiet, ominous melody that builds slowly into a magnificent crescendo that fits perfectly with their battles (which can be extremely intense and harrowing if you're new to the game, and even if you exploit every last weakness they have, the last battle with them can still come quite close).
  • The battle with Madruk's One-Winged Angel form uses a remix of the game's opening theme, making your monarch's Finishing Move that much more awesome.
• Complete Monster: The wicked god Madruk came to Legendra to destroy it. Sealed off after killing countless innocents and even sinking the entire continent of Izumo to wipe out its populace, Madruk is eventually released and resumes attempting to annihilate the world. Assembling his forces, Madruk ravages the countryside to destroy all he encounters. Upon being encountered by the Dragon Force heroes, Madruk reveals he intends to destroy the Gods themselves along with their world, dedicated only to his own domination and love of slaughter.
• Fridge Brilliance - The manual states that Beasts get a serious terrain penalty in snow, and Harpies get a similar terrain penalty in forests. Why? Beasts wear only a Loincloth (and are jungle natives), so they can't perform well when they're freezing their asses off; Harpies are clearly flying troops, which would find it hard to maneuver in an enclosed forest!
• Game-Breaker: Dragon troops (but not the generals). They're good against everything except other dragons (Tactical Rock–Paper–Scissors obviously does not come into play in a mirror match), and Samurai (their only weakness).
  • Actually, Mages are pretty effective against dragons as well, if utilized properly. A good way to take them out is to put the mages on standby mode, then have a general (usually a Spirit User/Magician/Priest) cast a spell with a long cast time. Then watch as the mages continue to shoot while the melee troops can do nothing but move for the entire duration.
    • Harpies on standby mode also fare well against dragons that are moving around the battlefield. Since troops on standby get to attack first, this gives them a slight advantage. Doubly so because Harpies have the fastest attack speed of all troops.
  • Not so much a general game breaker, but in the early game, if you can keep your other fronts defended in Leon's campaign, a savvy player can abuse the fact that cavalry troops (a Fandaria staple) are weak to monks (of which Topaz has many), and practically wipe Fandaria off the map from the get-go!
  • Averted during the final battle against Madruk, where he doesn't seem to be weak against any particular troop type (he doesn't have his own troops, thankfully). However, shooters (Mages & Archers) tend to perform terribly against him.
    • In a way, the entire final battle seems to avert this, with the exception of Gaul, who uses Dragons. Scythe uses a unique troop type (sirens? ghosts?) that isn't covered in the manual, and Katmando fights solo, like Madruk.
  • Cinna of Tristan is a borderline case. His/Her starter spell, Flame Cannon, has a power rating of *only* 5 (compared to 10 for other Magician generals), meaning that it consumes very little of the Power Bar (see Cooldown on the main page), and incurs a very short Cooldown. Cinna can effectively spam this spell to burn down an enemy general in the blink of an eye. Oh, and Cinna's Flame Cannons still do the same damage as other Magicians' do.
  • Uryll. A Succubus general (who begins in Reinhart's army) who starts out commanding Dragons. Get her to level 5, and she learns the spell Resurrection. Said spell costs only 2 mana, and Uryll gets rather impressive mana growth as a Succubus general (she starts with 8 mana at level 1!). Altogether, this allows you to flood any enemy with Elite Mooks until they drop dead or time runs out. The hard part is getting her on your side, of course (unless you play as Reinhart).
• Narm - When casting Sonic Boom, some generals will yell out "Behold, the BOOM of DOOM!" Exceptionally cringe-worthy...
• Spoiled by the Format - There are eight member of the Dragon Force and eight rulers, is it any wonder that Goldark turns out not to be the villain and is the last member of the Dragon Force?
• That One Boss:
  • Zanon. Oh dear Astea, Zanon. The guy has tons of MP, takes only 1hp of damage from regular troop attacks, and can wipe out entire armies all by himself. Oh, and his Evil Weapon heals him to full health after every battle, even if he retreats.
  • Ryskym, thanks to his huge mana pool, will constantly resurrect his zombies time after time after time...though, unlike Zanon, he isn't that tough in combat.
  • Zado, for the similar reasons to Zanon, plus having an army of 100 dragons.
• Tear Jerker - Zanon's end really takes the cake. After many battles, Yuri, one of Zanon's closest friends, realizes that Eclisis is turning Zanon from a Blood Knight into an all-out Ax-Crazy, murderous psychopath. He attempts a Get A Hold Of Yourself Man via Cooldown Hug while Zanon's in the middle of a rant, and it goes about as well as you'd expect. This drives Zanon over the Despair Event Horizon, as he comes to terms with his addiction to Eclisis' power, and he finally defies its control via suicide by stabbing himself with the Evil Weapon.
• Woolseyism - In classic Working Designs style.

---