Dragon’s Crown Pro Review

<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>Dragon’s Crown Pro<&sol;em> is a 2D&comma; 4-player action-RPG&period; It is a remaster of <em>Dragon’s Crown<&sol;em>&comma; released in 2013 by Vanillaware&period; This is the same developer behind cult hits such as <em>Odin Sphere<&sol;em> and <em>Muramasa<&sol;em>&period; Is<em> Dragon’s Crown<&sol;em> worth a revisit and how does this remaster differ from the original&quest;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3>Modern Beat-em-up Done Right<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>From the get-go&comma; the core of this game is revealed&period; You choose a class and start a clear tutorial on the combat system&period; Once that is finished&comma; the game immediately thrusts you into its simple but engrossing gameplay system&period; <em>Dragon’s Crown Pro<&sol;em> revolves around an aim to prioritize gameplay and art style first&period; This sense of direction harkens back to classics of side-scrolling beat-em-ups like <em>Golden Axe<&sol;em>&period; However&comma; it stands out from its spiritual predecessors by injecting a fine dose of Hack-and-Slash sensibilities&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>These sensibilities lend themselves in great harmony to side-scrolling’s conventions&period; A more complex combat system than similar games is evident here&period; Combos can be executed in a variety of stylish ways&period; Pressing the attack button while moving the joystick in a particular direction can launch&comma; trip and slam&comma; respectively&period; You can also juggle enemies in the air&comma; allowing for combos&period; These modern touches ultimately give more depth to the arcade-based gameplay&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;138243" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-138243" style&equals;"width&colon; 1000px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"size-large wp-image-138243" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2018&sol;05&sol;13120641&sol;Dragons-Crown-Pro&lowbar;20180510232330-1024x576&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"1000" height&equals;"563" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-138243" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Dragon&&num;8217&semi;s Crown Pro&comma; Vanillaware<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<h3>Classes and Adventuring<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>With a solid gameplay foundation comes a hefty amount of variety in the form of six distinct classes&period; These are the Amazon&comma; Dwarf&comma; Elf&comma; Fighter&comma; Sorceress&comma; and Wizard&period; Each class has a completely different combat style&semi; some are harder to master than others&comma; as noted by the character select screen giving difficulty levels&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><i>Dragon&&num;8217&semi;s Crown Pro<&sol;i> has a level structure consisting of 11 short stages&period; These play out mostly like their retro predecessors but with more modern tunings&period; As stages are progressed&comma; bonuses such as chests and hidden rooms appear&period; These can yield valuable equipment and are given their own ranking system&period; Defeated enemies give points in a system that rewards your performance after a boss is slain&period; After each adventure&comma; XP is gained and you can sort out your gathered items in a reward system which derives inspiration from <i>Diablo&period;<&sol;i><&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3>There&&num;8217&semi;s no Place like Hub<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>A unique and very cardinal decision from developer Vanillaware was to include a hub area&period; This is because every element links back to the hub&period; Here&comma; you have several areas that each serve a fundamental purpose&period; One of such locations is the tavern&period; Here&comma;  you can save your game&comma; create characters&comma; and sort party&period; There are also general and magic shops where you can buy and sell items&period; However&comma; trading is admittedly rough around the edges&period; You cannot compare equipment stats and the UI feels unfinished&period; Also&comma; the witch and wizard ask generic questions each time you buy or sell such as &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Which one would you like&quest;” this can become monotonous&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The remaining areas to visit are more original&period; In Canaan Temple&comma; the remains of fallen players found in stages can be resurrected and buried&comma; making for new AI-controlled allies and rewards&period; Think of this process as a meshing of the messaging system from <em>Dark Souls<&sol;em> and pawn system in <em>Dragon’s Dogma<&sol;em>&period; Some player death messages can be hilarious and resurrection is quintessential to forming a team when online is not an option&period; The temple also offers the ability to pray for a stat-boosting miracle&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;138239" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-138239" style&equals;"width&colon; 1000px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"size-large wp-image-138239" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2018&sol;05&sol;13120012&sol;Dragons-Crown-Pro&lowbar;20180510205159-1024x576&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"1000" height&equals;"563" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-138239" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Dragon&&num;8217&semi;s Crown Pro&comma; Vanillaware<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>Lastly&comma; there is The Adventurer’s Guild where you can accept and turn in &OpenCurlyQuote;requests’&period; These can be conveniently completed during adventures&period; The guild is also used for utilizing skill points after a level up&semi; spending these on class-specific attributes or general ones can lead to a great build for the player’s character&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3>Impaired Interface and the Reason for it<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>With trading being barely serviceable&comma; how does the equipment menu fare&quest; Well&comma; it feels very bare bones but still usable&period; Equipment slots are not conventionally split up&period; For example&comma; a symbol of hands for gloves&comma; etc&period; Instead&comma; there are just 7 empty slots&period; This can be confusing and handling equipment is not as seamless as most mainstream RPGs&period; And for a game filled with visual grandeur&comma; the menus are blandly transparent&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;138246" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-138246" style&equals;"width&colon; 1000px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"size-large wp-image-138246" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2018&sol;05&sol;13120825&sol;Dragons-Crown-Pro&lowbar;20180511000628-1024x576&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"1000" height&equals;"563" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-138246" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Dragon&&num;8217&semi;s Crown Pro&comma; Vanillaware<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>In defense of this seemingly glaring flaw is the possibility that Vanillaware purposefully spent less time on menus&period; <em>Dragon&&num;8217&semi;s Crown Pro<&sol;em> is an experience that demands constant grind&semi; the combat requires your attention more than anything else&period; I have not played a game for awhile where 98&percnt; of my playtime is virtually comprised of combat&period; It is both a refreshing and exhausting grind ahead for people used to Western RPGs in general&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3>A Quest for the Crown<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p><em>Dragon’s Crown Pro<&sol;em> presents a journey filled with political deception&comma; monsters&comma; magic&comma; and mystique&period; A narrator is used as the main medium to tell the tale&period; It really gives the game a charming&comma; storybook-esque quality&period; Although there is a somewhat refreshing conveyance of non-diegetic storytelling&comma; <em>Dragon’s Crown Pro <&sol;em>fails to stand out from the crowd and ultimately succumbs to typical fantasy fare&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In terms of expectation&comma; the campaign confused me in a confluence of amusement and chagrin&period; The game would sometimes take a humorous break from the generic plot and make references to beloved films such as <em>Fantasia<&sol;em> and <em>The Holy Grail<&sol;em>&comma; with the latter being a boss fight with a killer rabbit&period; On the other hand&comma; the game could not decide whether to take itself seriously nor subvert fantasy conventions&period; These flaws fester into&comma; essentially&comma; a game about stopping an ancient and evil dragon&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3>Refreshing Art Department<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>In an industry saturated by the desire to achieve the uncanny valley&comma; there were titles that strove to bring out the artistic potential of the video game medium&period; Dragon&&num;8217&semi;s Crown Pro had this goal&comma; and it is mostly achieved in an enchantingly pretty way&period; Vanillaware used a combination of flash and traditional 2d sprite animation to create a unique look&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Conceptually&comma; though&comma; the art department fumbles&period; Classes suffer from over-the-top character models that consist of oversized muscles and other disproportionate aspects&period; Also&comma; a handful of character designs look like generic fantasy characters&period; The town wizard wears a familiar blue outfit while your fairy companion looks uncannily like Tinker Bell&period; On the surface&comma; these hackneyed appearances make the game look unoriginal&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;138238" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-138238" style&equals;"width&colon; 1000px" class&equals;"wp-caption alignnone"><img class&equals;"wp-image-138238 size-large" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2018&sol;05&sol;13115935&sol;Dragons-Crown-Pro&lowbar;20180510161359-1024x576&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"1000" height&equals;"563" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-138238" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Dragon&&num;8217&semi;s Crown Pro&comma; Vanillaware<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>Environmental design&comma; however&comma; is a triumph&period; Every location you visit has a completely distinguishable look from each other&period; They range from catacombs to temple ruins&semi; fortresses to coves&period; The contrast between areas is an incredible feat for a dungeon crawler&period; Even after revisiting these areas for the 100th time&comma; they are always able to enrapture with splendor&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;138242" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-138242" style&equals;"width&colon; 1000px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"size-large wp-image-138242" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2018&sol;05&sol;13120247&sol;Dragons-Crown-Pro&lowbar;20180510223247-1024x576&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"1000" height&equals;"563" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-138242" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Dragon&&num;8217&semi;s Crown Pro&comma; Vanillaware<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<h3>Differences In Remaster<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>Although the game has not aged one bit visually&comma; <em>Dragon&&num;8217&semi;s Crown Pro<&sol;em> manages to be slightly sharper than the original&period; With full 4k support&comma; the colors will pop out with a PS4 Pro&period; A clearer image of detail can also help when combat gets hectic&comma; helping you track your character&period; However&comma; expect a nearly identical gaming experience when playing without 4k&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>There is a couple of fine benefits for audio purists&period; For one&comma; the remaster includes the narrator pack of 7 DLC alongside their Japanese versions&period; Japanese is also available for player call-outs&period; The best part of this remaster is easily the live orchestra rendition of the original soundtrack&period; An option to switch between the scores is available but you won&&num;8217&semi;t want to because the orchestra surpasses it with exuding haunt and beautiful harmonies&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3>Conclusion<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p><em>Dragon’s Crown Pro<&sol;em> is a solid remaster that still boasts a beautiful 2&period;5D art style and addicting gameplay&period; Although it offers little to veterans when considering minimal graphical updates and a shared trophy list&comma; this re-release offers this generation the chance to try a side-scrolling great&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Disclaimer&colon; A review copy was provided by the publisher&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;