I’ve been waiting to tell you this for a while, dear readers: I’ve played Dragon’s Crown. I’ve played it extensively, in fact, and have been left both thoroughly impressed and exceptionally excited to jump into the final product this summer. Dragon’s Crown is shaping up to be every bit the game Vita and PS3 gamers hope it is, and there’s every reason in the world to put this game at the very top of your personal “Most Anticipated Vita Game” list (and PS3, too).
Dragon’s Crown is a side-scrolling action-RPG by way of Vanillaware, a Japanese developer with a decidedly old-school-style pedigree. Their newest romp takes inspiration from a lot of corners – perhaps most notably from Golden Axe – but it’s also very much a Vanillaware game, what with its absolutely gorgeous graphics, solid gameplay, and deep mechanics that fans of their previous offerings, such as Odin Sphere or Muramasa, will very much appreciate.
...Dragon’s Crown is all about playing the game exactly how you want to play it.
At its core, Dragon’s Crown is all about playing the game exactly how you want to play it. As such, there are six totally unique character classes to select from – Fighter, Amazon, Elf, Dwarf, Sorceress, and Wizard – each with his or her own fighting style, weapons, strengths, weaknesses, and more. Cleverly, Vanillaware has built its character system as a sort of difficulty gauge: the Fighter, Amazon, and Dwarf are designed for newer, less skilled players, while the Elf, Sorceress, and Wizard are catered towards those who already know what they’re doing. This gives Crown inherent replay value along with a unique way to change difficulties without toggling through a sterile menu, though you should take the difficulty settings as suggestions and not as gospel.
When you begin the tale – which is meant to be replayed and re-experienced, mind you – you’re greeted with one of the most clever character-select screens you’ll probably ever see. Seated at a circular table in a bustling medieval tavern are our six characters, clearly familiar with one another and feasting on some good food and ale as they figure out their next move. They’re all chasing the same goal, hence the cooperative nature of the game that allows up to four adventurers to play at one time.
Dragon's Crowns awesome character select screen.
Once you select your hero, you’re met with a wonderfully voice-acted intro, and you can then move out into the town itself, one ripped out of the likes of Zelda II and Faxanadu, but with staggeringly gorgeous graphics replacing the 8-bit look those games took advantage of. You can speak with the townsfolk, though most won’t have much to say at the outset, and you can even mess with them, punching a basket of apples out of a merchant’s hands or some jugs of water out of a townsperson’s grasp. Naturally, there’s much to see in the town, not only in terms of locales to visit – shops, guilds and the like – but in terms of gorgeous vistas in the background and other aesthetical sights to behold.
Seriously: Dragon’s Crown looks amazing.
Dragon’s Crown is no leisurely walk through the park.
When you decide to undertake a quest, you can head out to the world map, another drop-dead beautiful piece of scenery to navigate. Stages can be revisited (in fact, they should be revisited often, but more on that later), though there is a sort of linear progression through the narrative, accompanied, of course, by optional quests. However, if you’re starting the game with a new character you’re unfamiliar with, you’ll be treated to an extremely thorough tutorial that will familiarize you with the moveset and skills of the class in question. These can be skipped, but you’d be wise not to: Dragon’s Crown is no leisurely walk through the park.
Dragon’s Crown plays much like the many videos that have been released suggest: with a heavy emphasis on action, and a field of depth, too, requiring tactics beyond merely button-mashing, jumping, and the like. In fact, Dragon’s Crown is pretty tough, especially if you’re trying to hone a high score or simply get through a stage quickly to net some fresh loot. Without using a hodgepodge of techniques and weapons, the AI will make quick work of you. Making matters more complicated is the fact that enemies scale with you – much like the Lunar RPGs from the ‘90s – so no amount of grinding will make the game inherently easier for you to deal with. Bad guys will have more health as you get stronger, and will grow in number the more powerful you get, too. With each level ending with a powerful (and beautifully-drawn) boss, this very fact will give you pause the further you get into the game.
While I experimented with virtually every class – the Fighter uses brute force and the Sorceress relies on spells and the ability to replenish her own lost MP -- I spent a majority of my time on both PS3 and Vita with the Elf, a character with moderate melee strength and exceptional skill with a bow. The thing about the Elf, however, is that you have to be careful with how you use her bow, as her quill only holds a finite amount of arrows. With no guarantees that you’ll find ammo replenishment on your journey, the best way to use her is with quick kicks, juggling your foes mercilessly before following-up with aerial arrow strikes to lay the killing blow. If you run out of arrows, you’ll be out of luck to launch missiles from afar, so balance is truly the key with the Elf. With only melee strikes to guide her and supplement her specialty, you’ll quickly leave yourself at a severe disadvantage.
Making matters more complicated is the fact that enemies scale with you...
Apart from the Elf’s own innate skills (or any character class you choose to use), there are special items and weapons that can be utilized during the course of battle, at least if you’re lucky enough to find them. One such example is a crossbow, an exceptionally powerful sidearm designed to be used at a safe distance from your foes. And of course, foodstuffs found in the environment can be used to regenerate lost health. In fact, the latter is quite cleverly done, for if you have something like an apple in your inventory and stop moving for a moment, your character will automatically start eating it to restore some lost energy on the fly. This doesn’t only make for a cute animation, but it’s quite practical, too. It allows you not to live your life in the menus and get right back to the action.
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