Dragon's Crown by Vanillaware

On another note: I really love some of the sidequests. Laughed my arse off when I finished a particular pirate cove sidequest, and it was revealed that the quest giver was actually Ali Baba's brother Cassim and the unlocked artwork showed his slave Marjanah boiling the brigand chief alive in hot oil .

So far I found the results of the Hell Hound sidequest to be fairly amusing, but I still have more to complete. I'm also amused by the fact that the Sorceress has the goofiest running animation and by about half of the lines from the various NPC assist characters and their remains. Other funny moments sometimes include the screen-spanning "encounter" images you find (such as Ricky the Apprentice and the Ogre Chef), though someone could have warned me about the random "displaying" female monk warrior you suddenly encounter midway in the game.

I downloaded the Narrator pack and have been switching the main guy out with whoever I happen to be controlling, which is the Amazon right now. I'm somewhat disappointed that the characters don't seem to give their own spin on things, but I like having some variety overall. I didn't like the Amazon's English voice when I first started the game (switched her to Japanese after a while), but I found the narrating Amazon voice to be as compelling a storyteller as the original.

edited 19th Aug '13 6:16:08 PM by Customer

The chastity-belted battle nun is only scratching the surface. I have to admit, after unlocking some of the more risque artwork I'm kinda starting to see why people may feel a bit uncomfy with the game's Refuge in Audacity attitude; not that I would mind personally. Hell, I'm even surprised it got away with a Teen rating, considering how quickly the ESRB was there to slap an M on a clearly teen-oriented game like Persona3 for a tiny bit of implied sexuality (note that the creature nudity was not an issue in other SMT titles).

I like the sorceress as my narrator, her voice seems to fit the game more than the other characters.

I really want to play this game, but I don't own a PS 3 or Vita. I am thinking about getting a PS 4 though, but I don't know if I could play it on that. Could I get it on PS 4 once it's released on PSN?

edited 19th Aug '13 10:35:57 PM by StarOutlaw

Considering the PS 4 won't be backwards compatible, I doubt it. Unless they eventually plan to add a way to download and play the games from the PS 3 era via PSN like they did with the PS One Classics and certain PS 2 titles...

^ They say they'll use Gaikai for that...

Hm, first I've heard of it. But I haven't been paying attention to the newer consoles lately. Personally, I would just get a PS 3 or Vita to play the game anyway, and the PS 3 especially has a huge library of games so it wouldn't be hard to find other games to get for it.

Edit: I just looked it up, but I'll keep any comments about it in the appropriate thread.

edited 20th Aug '13 4:45:02 AM by Customer

Yeah, at this point it sounds like it might be easier to just get a used PS 3 to play the game, along with a bunch of other PS exclusives I missed this generation. I won't be able to get a PS 4 as soon if I do that though, but then I guess I still have time.

So, has the press improved for this game?

Dunno really. I don't usually look at reviews anymore. On Metacritic, both reviewer and consumer scores even out at around 80, so I'm assuming the majority found the game good enough to look past the art as a negative. Or they just learned to take the good with the bad.

Because I'm going to inevitably change my avatar, mega-dark is referring to my avatar, which is/was this image◊.

edited 22nd Aug '13 1:22:39 PM by Customer

It's been received well for the most part from what I've seen. Considered one of Vanillaware's best.

Though the artstyle isn't for everyone, at least the game itself is pretty.

Okay Peach as Momohime is funny.

Back to the reviews, I think there were 2 reviewers who didn't like the game and everyone else think it's a solid game.

Most reviews are between 8 and 9. That's not "solid", that's pretty damn good.

On another note: The first patch is out.

Would be interesting to see if a D&D arcade homage using a more conventional artstyle or a style closer to those games but in HD scores higher. Then we'd know if the art is a factor.

Well, Capcom released HD versions of both of their arcade D&D games as Chronicles of Mystara prior to Dragon's Crown being released, but I don't know how well that's been selling, or how well it did with reviewers. Wouldn't that be a close approximation of what you're asking? Or would it specifically have to be another new homage like Dragon's Crown?

Really, it's not so much the art style itself that's the problem, it's only the specific character designs that's incredibly polarizing. I'm not sure how much of a controversy the game would have caused if the characters were designed more conservatively but now that's a moot point.*

Now that I think about it, it probably doesn't help that Dragon's Crown's release is sandwiched between two other beat-em-ups with questionable character designs (one of them blatantly so)...

Hense why I was happy and groaning when I heard Senren Kagura was coming over. I am still waiting for Kotaku to put their foot in their mouth again.

Senren Kagura looks hype as fuck. Anyone have an idea as to what it plays like?

Hmm, I didn't realize that Dn D HD was out, and it's for 360. It would be a hell of a lot cheaper for me to get that than to buy a PS 3 just to play Dragon's Crown, if I wanted to get my fantasy beat 'em up fix. But still, DC's artwork and animations look so gooooood.....Guess I'll ply Dn D for a while and see if I still want DC.

Well, the comparison only works on the surface. DC is much deeper than the Mystara games.

Yeah, I would assume so since that was an arcade game. I played the Mystara demo for a bit, and I like it, but I really do think I'll enjoy Dragon's Crown a lot more. Eh, maybe I'll get both. There's also some Playstation exclusive games I really want to get, so it's not like I'll buy a PS 3 solely to play Dragon's Crown.

There are enough essential PS3 exclusives. Demons Souls, Journey, you name it.

Well, I caved in and got my PS 3, this game, and the PS 3 version of Anarchy Reigns even though I already own the 360 version because I hear that there are more players on the Playstation side. I haven't had a chance to set it all up yet though.

@Schitzo Side scroller beat em up is the best way I can describe it.

I suppose I meant more along the lines of "Technos Japan Corp-esque, Sengoku 3-ish, or Alien Vs Predator-like?

edited 24th Aug '13 9:40:08 PM by Schitzo