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Simply the best!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 13
Date: January 31, 2004
Author: Amazon User

The game is originally Japanese released called Drag-on Dragoon. Some of the gameplay is copied from Panzer Dragoon, which was made by Sega for Sega Saturn. Square-enix intend to make this game to be the combination of Panzer Dragoon and Final Fantasy(VIII).

The game offers three battle modes: you can either fight air battles high in the sky, mid-air battles during which you strike at enemy forces on the ground from above and last but not least hand-to-hand ground combat.

It will be released three months from now. Enjoy it!

OK

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 2 / 11
Date: February 17, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I played it on the march issue of playstation magazine demo.The only things bad are that its exactly like Dynasty Warriors and Panzer Dragoon but not combined very well.Theres not many attacks and the game makes you dizzy.But the game has good action and its fun on the dragons.

Best Graphics on PS2

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 5
Date: March 05, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I'm personally a graphic & RPG freak, and out of all the other RPGs,(yes, I've played them all) this one's the best of both graphics & RPGs. I LOVE this game.

An interesting game...

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 7 / 7
Date: March 08, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I just bought this game today, and at first I wasn't all that impressed with it. But after playing it for a while, I began to see it's potential. Drakengard has a load of gameplay that will be moderately entertaining most of the time. Although the FMV's and character designs are great, the detail in the area's you fight in are done in a very poor fashion. However, Drakengard makes up for it in it with everything else. It's a solid game, and I recommend it to anyone who's a Dynasty Warriors fan.

The Best Adventure Game ever!!!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: March 12, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This game is the perfect blend of "Final Fantasy" meets "Dynasty Warriors"!!! I have always like Final Fantasy, but I never liked to take turns while attacking, and I have always wanted dynasty warriors to have a more in-depth storyline!!! This game is the perfect blend of RPG/action combo. The cut-scenes look like "Final Fantasy" and the gameplay is that of "Dynasty Warriors". As you roam the lands battling the entire Empire alone, you have the ability to call upon your Dragon. You can either fly over the battle-fields unleashing hell upon your opponents or fly through the air dogfighting other creatures. This game is truly amazing; I get so caught up in the story as well as slicing my way through the opposing soldiers. As you go through the game, you pick up new weapons that improve through exoerience points. (as in most RPGs) Also, As you play, your Dragon grows larger & evolves into an even more lethal killing machine.
This game is AWESOME!!! If you like the myth of "Dragon Riders", you will love Drakengard!

Great Fusion of RPG and Strategy

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 14 / 16
Date: March 13, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Drakengard is sort of a fusion of Dynasty Warriors and Final Fantasy with some dragons thrown in for good measure.

From a RPGers point of view, this game has it all. The orphaned hero. The strong, beautiful sister who is kept apart from the man who loves her. The need for revenge, and the hard choice to pair up with a sworn enemy. You build up skills as you go, learning more about your enemy and finding ways to defeat them.

From a strategy point of view, the game is amazing. It's based on the Dynasty Warriors gameplay which is brilliant. The use of maps, of health information, and gathering new weapons and powers is very similar. I've always loved the Dynasty Warriors map, with the way it lays out the enemy locations, your location and your objectives.

The graphics are quite nice - the textured grass, shading on rocks, details on the bodies all draw you into the world you're inhabiting. The sounds are good as well. Even the voices are rather good, making you feel the emotions of the characters.

There's really something to be said for being able to leap on a dragon, fly up into the sky, and then let loose a flame barrage on your enemies!

I highly recommend this if you're into RPGs and strategy gaming - it brings the two worlds together quite nicely!

Repetitive, but nonetheless fun, action

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 14 / 14
Date: March 17, 2004
Author: Amazon User

A big criticism of this game is how repetitive the gameplay is. Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't the gameplay in all RPG's the same? Don't you basically use the same tactics in every battle? I don't really get the repetitive argument, especially when the actual gameplay itself isn't bad. If the game had been just Caim on the ground killing thousands of enemies(I'm up to 19,000), then the game wouldn't have been nearly as good. If the game had been only Caim on his dragon, flying through aerial missions against other dragons, griffons, and assorted targets, then the game would not have been nearly as good. But the fact that these two aspects of the game were combined into one game makes it well worth the purchase. The story and characters are also unlike most anything you'll find on the videogame market. It's ashame the game isn't more popular, but then again it's premise pretty much guaranteed it to have a niche role, the same as the two games that spawned it; Dynasty Warriors and Panzer Dragoon. The game can simply be described as a no-bull action game that delivers where it counts.

"Gard" against monotony...

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 9 / 11
Date: March 17, 2004
Author: Amazon User

"Drakengard" is what happens when you take "Draken: The Ancients' Gates," mix it liberally with "Dynasty Warriors" and "Panzer Dragoon," and throw in an anmie copy of the plot for the film "Dragonheart." It offers a fun diversion in short spurts, but gulp down too much at a time and you're sure to be hit by the numbing repetition of it all.

You're cast as Caim, a wounded hero who makes a pact with a wounded dragon and ultimately sets out to rescue his sister, the goddess Furiae. Does that mean Caim is a god himself? Apparently not. And who captured Furiae? A nameless Empire with secret intentions that ultimately translate into "ruling the world." Some other characters come into the mix, but few of them (despite their extensive biographies in the instruction manual) play into the events of the game in any way that justifies their inclusion. In other words, if you're seeking a game with a good story, "Drakengard" is perhaps the last place you should look. Despite this, it doggedly attempts to tell a story in long, painfully written cut-scenes that ultimately prove incoherent. At least the rendered movies make for some spectacular eye candy, even if they fail to shed any light on the unintelligible plot. The opening cinematic is sure to fire your blood and whet your appetite for the game that follows...

...And the game that follows starts out at a rapid clip, thrusting you into the thick of a siege. You'll wonder almost immediately why you're the only warrior fighting against the Empire even as beleaguered (and apparently invisible) soldiers cry out for assistance. For a game that wants so desperately to stick you square in the middle of a battle royale fantasy style, the lack of allies is a glaring omission. Even if battling comrades were nothing save window dressing, it would have helped to immerse you. As it stands, the action is still furious and fairly engaging. Blood spurts are satisfying, but more so the way your weapons send your enemies soaring in waves (like Sauron in the opening of Peter Jackson's take on "The Fellowship of the Ring"). You only have a few moves at your disposal, so like everything in "Drakengard" it eventually wears thin, but it's good fun for a while.

The monotony of ground combat is broken up by... well, the monotony of aerial combat. This is, in my opinion, the weakest aspect of the game. Caim battles a host of foes from astride his fire-breathing dragon, but the dragon's limited abilities and some poor camera work ultimately weaken the experience. On top of that, the enemies displayed in this mode make no logical sense. It's hard to get excited about frying giant bats and winged chests-of-drawers with the same molten breath over and over and over again. Boss battles, at least, liven things up - and all of them take place in the sky.

"Drakengard" claims to be an RPG, but there's no actual roleplaying. The stats included are useless and amount to nothing, which is just fine since this is clearly an action game - but why the false claims? I don't know. Ignore them. "Drakengard" is as deep as kiddy pool, but it's good for a splash every now and again. Missions objectives are never diverse enough to make one mission feel any different from the last. The scenery changes, but the graphics (all but the main character models) are bland as dirty dishwater, and scenery "pop in" is a noticeable (and laughable) issue. The game's soundtrack is certainly different, but it tends to perfectly mimic a cat being repeatedly slammed against a pole while Gregorian monks chant in the background. This is not helped by the constant babbling of your "companions," who consistently spout misplaced and distracting anti-wisdom when you'd rather focus on the task at hand.

All in all, it's worth playing if you don't ask too much from your gaming - but wait until it goes down in price before you invest.

Final Score: C

Dynasty Warriors' Less Fulfilling Twin

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: March 23, 2004
Author: Amazon User

As an avid fan of the Dynasty Warriors franchise, I was looking forward to this fantasy take on the idea. Unfortunately it falls short.

Where Dynasty Warriors(DW) had loads of strategy, Drakengard has almost none. DW required you to balance the attacks of your army and keep their morale in check to help sway the battle in your favor. DW found you fighting alongside hundreds of friends and foes. Drakengard, on the other hand, leaves you fighting alone against hundreds of enemies.

Where DW's enemies constantly moved to meet your advance, Drakengard's enemies stand perfectly still until you find them. If you move too far away, they go back to their resting spot till you return.

By itself, this flaw is hardly a reason to hate this game, but it does make the game very repetitive.

One of the coolest features of the game is the ability to carry up to 8 weapons into battle. These weapons, found by defeating certain characters or locating hidden chests, can each be leveled up by defeating enemies. This adds a nice incentive to revisit some levels to increase the strength of these weapons.

Battling on the dragon can be challenging, which is good, but also has some drawbacks. When the computer opponents can attack in hand-to-hand, but you can't, there is a problem. When enemies can attack in 360 degrees while right on top of you, and you must continually move forward, there is a problem.

Besides this, since your dragon shares a health meter with your character, the only way to level the dragon up is to fight without its help. This all causes the dragon to be a bit player that you seem almost forced to used in certain instances.

Overall, however, this game is a pretty good diversion. Square-Enix has done a wonderful job with the cutscenes, as always, but has given up some of the gameplay in return. As such, Drakengard seems like a rushed attempt for filling the time before Final Fantasy XI. I would highly recommend this game as a good rental for a lazy weekend, or for anyone trying to fill the time before the next Dynasty Warriors.

Great Game, Worth the Buy..

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: April 18, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Alright, so it's no Dynasty Warriors, we'll give it that. But, trying not to compare it to another game and just rate it on it's own, Drakengard is a fairly good game. It's not the most incredible thing you'll ever have seen in an RPG, and indeed some of the missions are repetitive. (The last battle, as well, was rather frustrating, as it suddenly gets extremely difficult to stay alive). The voice acting made me wince.. it's done well, but the accents are a little.. irritating. However, it kept me occupied well enough, and is definitely worth a shot.

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