Developer/s: Vanilliaware, Atlus
Publisher: Atlus
Price: $49.99 (PS3), $39.99 (Vita)
Release Dates:
Japan – July 25th, 2013
North America – August 8th, 2013
Europe – Fall 2013
Where to buy: Walmart, Gamestop, Target, Atlus(which includes more great retailers)
Dragon’s Crown is a deep, and passionate love letter to Beat-em-up fans. Specially to those who loved and praised games such as Guardian Heroes. You get a mixture of Action RPG, with fantastic story telling, and a bold touch of charm and re-playable content that will keep you going for many, many hours to come. With this world comes a breath taking art style that is unique to Vanillaware’s iron clad artists.
The setting is in a medieval fantasy realm of Hydeland. The kingdom is in peril, a lore speaks of a relic, or a fabled item called the Dragon’s Crown, said to control the ancient creatures. All narrated, you are usually instructed in a very interesting Dungeon and Dragons style story feel. Where introductions and conclusions to every dungeon you explore is carefully formatted with precision. One thing that you will ether get used too or try to skip while going through the A paths(will be explained after) in the game is the narrations during quest stories. Such as going through the Pirate’s Cove I usually farmed this place a bit, for some gold plus experience points. However online, which is the true intention of the game. While it is single player friendly, it would be heavily suggested to play it online if you do not have friends locally to game with. While this occurs, some cool features appear, as it is a important and useful bit, you can use a finger cursor via right Analog stick. With this you can then touch highlighted loot, chests, doors, etc. You can also view other players online with there cursors too, this applies to voting for Route A or B. Usually as I played I discovered it was more beneficial to play online ( was much more fun Vs playing singleplayer for me.) The main reason why was as the AI in the game, usually, while decent at first, end up being useless. At the first fragment of the levels they spam there special items before even making even close to the conclusion of the stage. Leaving them hitting for lackluster damage. So as the difficulty of the bosses get tougher and tougher it is a given to have 3 other characters on screen to help give the Doom Beetle, Medusa, or even the hairy Horned guy some Steele, or booby justice.
Scale of this game can if you where to play with every character is impressive, roughly one hundred and thirty plus hours. The online gameplay itself, along some friends is pretty lengthy, if you count farming new and better loot. Which the games item drop system is great. Every completion of every level grants you a list of items. Out of those one out of five times if you visit every secret area or locate B+ chests scores you epic loot. Items do play a big role in this game, if you are poorly geared, you are not going to go very far. Most likely rage quit even before unlocking, Multiplayer. Apparently, the first nine levels of the game are the instructional bits to the game. Past that you are given 9 more B routes. Routes in the game are presented in a voting format if you play online. Which the majority rules, and filters out the ones who picked ether route in said voting. For the B routes play a general important role for advanced gameplay, for those who wish to level up even more, plus benefit the main story. I personally felt the concept was very effective and interesting. Whatever your flavor is during the said play through I generally wanted to level up more and make my Amazon have the best thunder thighs in history. Thunder so powerful that Thor would turn his head. With the said principle also comes more tougher bosses, which all looked awesome. Chimera being one of my favorite creatures in the game, while somewhat easy to fight, it stood out.
The soundtrack in this game is incredible. Setting the mood in this game by a long shot. Compelling battles exploding with the intense action do you get greeted cellos, and trumpets hitting your eardrums like a thunderbolt. The most impressive thus far from Vanillaware.
Combat in this game is generally like most arcade beat-em ups you recall from childhood and 
onward. The controls are tight, but also do not satisfy as strongly on the Analog stick. I soon after a few hours into the game instinctive hunted for a way to swap to the Direction pad controls, which in the options swapped it. Otherwise if they only had the analog for the set up would case some lackluster responsive mechanical button mashing. Each character has its own combos, where you unlock additional from the Adventures Guild in game. For the Amazon I focused a ton of juggling combinations, where she mostly shined in, her ground slam abilities were not as strong over time. The games very open minded format of how you wish to set up your character is fantastic. Sort of like if Dungeon and Dragons, and Golden Axe had a lovechild plus it had large breasts.
The sexual tone of this game is something I really wanted to discuss as it has been the center key point many people are bringing up. Mostly from Feminists.
While I respect there ideals, as I do for most of culture in the world. I see the over sexual presentation of the Amazon, and the Sorceress as the only two they complained about. The factor is being the Overly abstract size of the breasts of the female mage. They felt this was a exploit to say women are being used as sexual objects rather then a equal counter parts to the other characters in the game. While I could say it is slightly tasteless, who cares. The creator being a pervert himself said he built a game he would sit and play. I suppose he has a thing for large thighs and breasts, so be it. Its like women who enjoy like big swords. Here is what I see when I play this game, I do not focus on the sexual aspects of the two female characters out of the three in game. The third being the Elf. Which is set up as something tasteful by creative standards. Out of all the characters in game the Sorceress is the most 
empowering as well as challenging to use. Leaving her with a powerful essence. Someone who could be constructively destructive to the evil foes in the game. Equal to the Wizard. So do you really think in the mid-evil times women dressed up as nuns, or barely had any clothes in the first place. Its a Fantasy game. If the woman bothers you that much, simply do not play the game, or play as the Wizard. The next target is the Amazon, which has a large backside and massive muscular thighs. Embodying the female counterpart to the Fighter. Who is also a big time crowd control specialist with the Elf being in close second place. She wears a skimpy outfit, generally like Tyris Flare, but on steroids. While I am a guy here, my soapbox is as strong to the point of the two women under fire at the end of the day is fan service, but not something that dis-toned the principle that they are inferior. To me they are women of strength and empower themselves in the goal of defeating the final goal. (noticed how no one said crap about the other games Vanillaware putout and those characters outfits might as well breast feed the air they were exposed too, irony.)
For your selection of characters to play you are given a choice of the Dwarf, who is set up as the Scottish sounding grunting male who drinks so much ale his insides ripple with veins. Who is a general hybrid of Crowd Control, and beastly damage. He is well known so far for tossing around 
enemies like pieces of balled paper. Next is the Wizard, the counterpart of the Sorceress, which handles more like a Druid, or based off Nature then the undead. Who does large area of effect powers as well as having his wooden golem run amok. The Fighter is the most casual friendly character in the lot of them. Combining slick move sets, as well as awesome crowd pleasing abilities that help the team he plays with big time. Examples, when he defends in a stance, he can boost the defense of other players while they are behind him, giving them a boost of Melee damage. A easy to play character who also takes a bit to master in the long run for massive supportive control. The sorceress being one of the few who requires a bit to master next to the Wizard, and Elf in terms of skill. She prefers necromancy over the nature stuff. Also sporting Fire, Ice, and Lighting, and Air spells on balance with the Wizard. Next up is the Elf, she is tiny compared to the rest leaving her in that stance of being the “loli” of the pack, however she is much older then assumed. Her ranged combat makes her a beast. Her strengths are being a Critical machine. Dex, and Luck being her bread and butter I noticed. Her along with the Amazon play a womance (woman romance) when it comes to juggling, have the amazon set up the targets, and have the Ranger plow them down with a array of arrows. Overall none of the characters felt underpowered powered or useless, unless you had bad gear. Which would result you to visiting the Witch.
A character breakdown:
• The Fighter, who uses his armor and quick-hitting attacks to tank and destroy enemies
• The Sorceress, who uses ice magic and summoned skeletons to control the battlefield
• The Amazon, who moves quickly and wields a giant axe to unleash massive damage
• The Wizard, who blasts fire at single targets or in pillars to incinerate foes
• The Dwarf, who specializes in getting up close and personal with grapple attacks
• The Elf, who uses her bow and agility to launch devastating volleys and escape danger
This game after every stage would give you a final score, as well as experience points. Which over a long play session if you are playing online results to tons of leveling. Loot is the major turn on to me, I kept trying to find better gear every few sessions online. The Witch in the game is your general vendor. You identify items, such as weapons, and necklaces.
The Rune system in this game is pretty fun to use, as perhaps a very simple-to-do puzzle set up. you format together a word. These words combined spawn chests, reveal hidden things, or even helps you advance in the world. While in a multiplayer game, every person can do the letter combinations, this of course grants loot for everyone, or any one to pick up for the party.
In Closing:
This game is a gem, a overly fun, addicting and well composed game. That if it never came out would have been a damn shame. A big time props to Atlus and Vanillaware for keeping it afloat and releasing it. While having no access to a Vita at the moment, we truly enjoyed the over all experience of this title. It showed high production valve. Keeping the charm and funny humor of the bits and pieces along the way. A well written storyline came into the format of a Dungeon ‘n Dragons set up. The English translations were clear and very pleasing to the ears. The online is solid and works with complete accuracy. With the fact Vita, and the Playstation 3 does not have cross play enabled, it is not a deal breaker. You are given off the bat a way to transfer your saves between the two platforms. So if you are on the go, and own a vita including the game you can play it ether way. In a world with a ton of Beat-em-ups already out there this one shines out for modern gamers. It is recommended to use the D pad for this title. Otherwise live in a world of unresponsive combinations. Get This Game!
9.5
