vanillaware |

Publisher: Atlus

Developer: Vanillaware

Release Date: 8/6/2013

Available On

Vanillaware is known for one of the hardest JRPGs on the PS2, Odin Sphere, and I was very excited upon hearing about the spiritual successor to that game. While Dragon’s Crown isn’t nearly as hard as that game (it’s much more forgiving), it still has a lot of challenges that await you. Dragon’s Crown’s biggest disappointment is its short length. There are almost no main quests and mainly side quests (about 50). Once you finish the game, you unlock a hard mode and then an inferno mode. Thankfully, the game can be played with up to four players, so it can be a blast.

The story is about a crown that has been taken by an ancient dragon. Your job is to return this crown to your kingdom and kill the dragon. The story is very light, and I know there could have been so much more here. But the super short length makes it impossible to write a better story. There are very few cutscenes and not much spoken dialogue (which is only done by a narrator). Once you jump into the game, you can attack, use items, cast spells, and use the right analog stick to move a hand around the screen to collect treasure. You always have a non-fighting thief with you who can pick locks on hidden doors and open chests. Sadly, you can’t change out your equipment during a mission (most levels can be passed in less than 10 minutes). However, at the end of each level is a boss, and they increase in difficulty throughout all 8 levels or so. Each level has two bosses at different levels for various players.

Once you finish a mission, you can return to town to appraise your items, bury or resurrect bones you find in levels for new AI partners, level up, acquire new quests, and buy runes. Runes are found throughout levels in pairs, which need to be matched with runes in your possession. These add various buffs to your party, which can turn the tide of a battle. Outside of those main things, there’s not much to do besides hit the level cap. The missions are extremely repetitive since you need to find nine talismans before facing the Ancient Dragon (that’s almost all there is to the entire main quest line), and once you are able to beat the Ancient Dragon (probably when you’re around level 30), you do it all over again on a harder difficulty. It gets kind of boring after a while and extremely tough towards the end. It’s best to go in with actual people since your AI partners can mess things up. Thankfully, unlike Odin Sphere, you have lives and can even pay to keep reviving with your coins. This alleviates some of the frustration.

I just wish there was so much more to this game. It feels so small and claustrophobic. The short levels, the nearly non-existent questline, and the story—but at least the characters you pick are fun to use, and the controls work well. The art itself is stunning, with beautiful water-color backdrops and crazy-looking enemies and bosses. This game is mainly designed for fans of the co-op arcade RPGs of yesteryear from Capcom. Not much of a story, but tons of combat, enemies to kill, and levels to acquire. If you want a story-heavy RPG like The Elder Scrolls or Fable, you won’t find that here.

Reviewed On

Publisher: Marvelous AQL, Aksys Games

Developer: Vanillaware

Release Date: 6/25/2013

Available Exclusively On

Muramasa was a highly acclaimed Wii game from Vanillaware of Odin Sphere (and now Dragon’s Crown fame). It had high speed and fancy fight moves, but it was extremely challenging and had memorable characters. It now makes its transfer to Vita in HD with bright, gorgeous graphics and two whole storylines to play through.

I played through Momohime’s (Peach Princess) storyline, so my experience is based on that. Momohime is possessed by a spirit who wants the infamous Demon Blade and will cut anyone down in her path. She goes from hell to heaven and even cuts down gods. The game is 90% combat, and man, is it tough and fun. You can equip three different blades at once and switch between them with a triangle. When your blades are flashing, you can press triangle to unleash a powerful full-screen attack. Each blade has its own special power, which is key to winning hard fights. If you use the blade too much or block it too often, the blade will break, and you will need to switch to a different one and wait for it to recharge. You can use whetstones to hasten this, but as you level up and forge new weapons, they will break less often.

This is basically all there is to combat: you press the attack or use special powers combined with directions. It may seem simple, but the game is so tough that you can’t just button-mash. You have to use strategy, mixing up dodges, blocking, and special and regular attacks. The game constantly kept me on my toes, and I had to learn every boss’s moves and sometimes restart dozens of times. When I finally beat a boss, it was so satisfying. In between, there’s some platforming and item hunting, but you travel from locale to locale and get stopped by fights between each screen. I had a lot of fun navigating the gorgeous environments and even stopping to shop for health items and various other things to help out in fights.

One other small feature is being able to cook with items you find. These are used to heal you, which you will use often. Always make sure you are stocked on health items, or you will never make it through the game. Outside of all the fighting, the dialogue is interesting, and the Japanese voice acting is fantastic. The characters are memorable (I have already purchased a $145 figure of Kongiku), and you will stay hooked. With two stories to play through, there’s a lot of content here.

Vanillaware is known for its unique high fantasy mixed with the ancient Japanese art style, and it really shines here. The game pops to life on the Vita’s OLED screen and just makes your eyes water; it looks so crisp. The controls are perfect and extremely responsive; honestly, even though this is a port, it’s one of the best Vita games available right now. That makes two Vanillaware games on one system. If you love 2D games or action hack and slash games, this is a must-buy.