Dragon's Crown

[fake]

God damn!


I guess the head developer of the game actually did work on at least one of the CPS2 D&D games. He said he's been wanting to make this for 13 years and that it was originally planned for the Dreamcast. Broadband adapter yes.

 

[Fritz]

Looks Awesome! I will be picking this up for sure.

 

[Blue Steel]

Yep

 

[SouthtownKid]

I am put together extremely simply, and they might as well have dedicated this game to me right in the credits. I will buy it. But holy crap, that is brutal to let us know about it a full year in advance of our being able to play it. That is some fucked up shit.

 

[2Heed]

Watching that trailer, I'm reminded how -- during the midst of early PS1 titles in particular -- it looked like sprite-based games would become completely extinct (at least on a mainstream home console). Very Odin Sphere-ish look to it; I would have preferred art direction more similar to the arcade D&D games, but I'll be damned if it doesn't look like CPS3 on steroids.

Day 1 purchase.

 

[Zero Satori]

Anyone else impressed by Dragon's Crown? It's by Vanillaware (Muramasa, Odin Sphere), so it's a guaranteed buy for this guy. As always, I love the art style.

My fiancée and I really love to get in-front of the television screen and bust-out Gauntlet: Dark Legacy on the PS2 because it's simple, exciting, and has a certain level of depth which rewards adventure and traveling beyond hack-and-slash. Another comparable idea is something like Dungeon Siege, which is far too deep for Dragon's Crown's genre (with equippable weapons and a video role-playing game-length story) yet still works in the traditional mythos of "select a class, then get to work!"

Even though Dragon's Crown appears to be going the almost-arcade route for its gameplay, I would enjoy it if there were "character alternatives" in that a person could be a lightly-armoured FIGHTER or a Tarzan-type male AMAZON, for instance--just for variety in visuals during gameplay. Because if two people want to be a SORCERER, it would suck if the only differences were minute colour and clothing schemes and suck even harder if (like, say, arcade beat-'em-ups like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or The Simpsons) the character was chosen sheerly by being 1P, 2P, 3P, or 4P in the chain.

 

[Lagduf]

This is like a dream come true. Fuck yes.

Is a PS3 release?

 

[Zero Satori]

This is like a dream come true...Is a PS3 release?

I think that Kotaku reported it as being released on PS3 and the new PSVita system. I have to admit, it's kinda disappointing for people that own neither of the systems, but good news for Sony for people who don't want to spend the money on a PS3 but would consider getting the PSV.

 

[2Heed]

The North American website is already up:

http://dragons-crown.com/na/

God-tier. I'm PUMPED for this.

 

[Orpheus]

I just want to say that I feel that Vanillaware is one sound design team and their offerings are some top tier efforts that really make being a fan in this day and age bitter sweet.

However, I also feel compelled to point out that this design team is in danger of becoming one note on many fronts.
Since Oden Sphere it has been ONE graphical engine that has been utilized for all thier releases. The formular of applying the same aesthetic to a rather generic genre that has been done and mastered over the decades will only hold up for so long.

Yes, Vanilawares business model and offerings make the most of these genres that they tackle in many ways and the aesthtic is definitely one that can be called thier own but what make things even worse to me is the fact that everything I see from them is beutiful in stills but when you see it on the fly it is far from poetry in motion. The main reason for this is becuase all the characters are rendered in multiple segments. They are not truly hand drawn sprites with fluid animation they are more like cut out sections that are pieced together and move at the joints. Add to the fact that the backrounds are beutifull renderings, but somehow at times devoid of life.

I'm not trying to put any of this companies titles down. I'm just expressing my displeasure with some of the shortfalls of the graphical aesthetic this company has created and become known for. THey are creating thier own niche but they are far from being a company of treasures caibre who exemplifies the attitude of charting new territories both graphic and gameplay wise.

This being said I am still looking forward to Drogons Crown. It is one of the only titles that has caught my attention from this E3.

 

[Hot Chocolate]

 

[Magician]

Same here.

 

[neojedi]

This will be bought. I have CPS2 boards for both D&D games, though they probably committed seppuku years ago because I dishonored them by not playing them enough. I haven't had the guts to boot them up lately and know for sure. I used to 1-credit Shadow Over Mystara back in the day and hope this game allows skill players to do that and still have fun, vs the first D&D where you need to 'walk on eggshells' to avoid dying.

 

[Taiso]

This.

 

[NeoSneth]

Why am I gettin excited for this? It looks terrible.
You are better off playin Dungeon Fighter Online.

Have you people not looked for alternatives to the CPS D&D games before?

 

[LoneSage]

I'm curious what the animation looks like. Sure there's a lot of detail in the sprites themselves but...

 

[Magician]

I'm curious what the animation looks like. Sure there's a lot of detail in the sprites themselves but...

Didn't you see the trailer in the second post?

 

[mesmer]

I've been playing Odin Sphere recently. This game looks incredible!

 

[LoneSage]

Didn't you see the trailer in the second post?

Guess I overlooked it, thanks.

Holy SHIT at the Amazon. There's definitely gonna be loads of doujinshi based on this game.

Animation is about what I expected...player models are smooth, but other enemies, especially the dragon, look choppy - similar to flash animation, like moving the whole sprite body instead of drawing new frames.

But whatever. I'm sure I'd have fun with it if I had a PS3.

 

[Lagduf]

Guess I overlooked it, thanks.

Holy SHIT at the Amazon. There's definitely gonna be loads of doujinshi based on this game.

Animation is about what I expected...player models are smooth, but other enemies, especially the dragon, look choppy - similar to flash animation, like moving the whole sprite body instead of drawing new frames.

But whatever. I'm sure I'd have fun with it if I had a PS3.

It does kind of have a weird look but I wouldn't describe it like flash animation necessarily...that just seems demeaning. Have you ever played Odin Sphere?

 

[Lagduf]

Why am I gettin excited for this? It looks terrible.
You are better off playin Dungeon Fighter Online.

Have you people not looked for alternatives to the CPS D&D games before?

Is Dungeon Fighter Online any good?

 

[SouthtownKid]

Why am I gettin excited for this? It looks terrible.
You are better off playin Dungeon Fighter Online.

Unless you are actually part of the development or design team on Dungeon Fighter Online, I think you have horrible taste. That game looks nowhere near as good as Dragon's Crown. Honestly, head to Lenscrafters.

 

[fake]

Guess I overlooked it, thanks.

Holy SHIT at the Amazon. There's definitely gonna be loads of doujinshi based on this game.

Animation is about what I expected...player models are smooth, but other enemies, especially the dragon, look choppy - similar to flash animation, like moving the whole sprite body instead of drawing new frames.

But whatever. I'm sure I'd have fun with it if I had a PS3.

Actually, yes it is a technique similar to Flash animation - at least it was for Muramasa, so I'd assume that it has been since Odin Sphere (dunno about Princess Crown). The pseudo-sprites are basically 3D, but they're flat. They're made up of a bunch of different parts (eg: arm, leg, top torso, etc) that can be moved on X,Y, and Z axes, and probably even stretched / skewed if they needed to. So you just move the different parts - relative to each other - frame by frame to create an animation.

 

[Magician]

Is Dungeon Fighter Online any good?

The Korean Beat'em Up/MMORPG, DFO is suppose to be coming to XBLA in a few months.

 

[Poonman]

Unless you are actually part of the development or design team on Dungeon Fighter Online, I think you have horrible taste. That game looks nowhere near as good as Dragon's Crown. Honestly, head to Lenscrafters.

Pretty much what needs to be said.

Keep in mind it's a pretty small team of guys working on this thing and they aren't really rolling in $$$$ so I don't know wtf half you guys are expecting here.

Every unique frame is pretty much like a painting and there is soooo much shit they plan on putting into this game.....I'm sure they could listen to you guys and really animate the shit out of it....and that would either postpone the game till 2020 or just cut the game's content down to a 10th of what they have planned.



Frankly, nobody needs to give a fuck about anyone who holds this game to such a high technical standard when it is (clearly) all about style, presentation and artistic merit......and maybe gameplay, perhaps?

If you're here to get your mind blown with amazing three-dee grafix, just gtfo.



And once again, the game is total doujin fodder unfortunately. I wonder how many japanese guys are already wanking to the idea of the big strong amazon locking them in a face to crotch figure 4 and farting in their faces.....and there is nothing they could do about it because she's SO much bigger and stronger than them.