Drakengard

Written by Adam Woolcott  on March 29, 2004

Full Review: Square Enix Suit: So, do we release Final Fantasy X-2: Last Mission or Drakengard?
Other Square Enix Suit: Gee that's a toughie, you know those Americans like shallow, violent games like Drakengard. It's not as if anybody buys Final Fanta

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Since the Squaresoft/Enix merger that brought Final Fantasy and Dragon Warrior together under the publishing arm of Square Enix, the games released by the publisher have been wholly of the Square side of the company. From the various Final Fantasy games (Tactics Advance, X-2, and Crystal Chronicles, to be specific) and some duds like Unlimited SaGa & Legend of Mana, the collection of US releases has been all Square, all the time. Until now, thanks to Drakengard, developed by Cavia, known in Japan as Drag-on Dragoon, exclusively for the PlayStation 2. The first Squenix game that started under Enix's banner is a major departure for either company (though less Enix than Square, since Enix did make the Actraiser series that has vanished from thin air), an action game that borrows elements from the popular Dynasty Warriors series, and the horrifically underrated Panzer Dragoon franchise and mixes them with some RPG elements and trademark visual presentation. Sadly, all the promise turns to mediocrity, as Drakengard struggles with repetition, boredom, and a set of characters that rank as some of the worst, most pathetic, depressed and worthless to ever be presented in a game with Square's name on it. It has its moments, but Drakengard just doesn't cut it in the action genre.

Drakengard's tale is one seeped in darkness, surrealism, and depression. You play as Caim, a Union warrior and purebred royalty, like his parents. One day, the Empire attacks a Union castle, where Caim's sister, the Goddess Furiae, who they wish to kidnap due to her importance. See, she wasn't born a Goddess, instead, she was mere royalty until she was chosen to bear the seal of the Goddess, one of the four seals in the world. If al 4 were to be opened, the Seeds of Resurrection would arise, bringing terror to the world. In this battle, Caim is mortally wounded, tackling the entire Empire on his own. As he approaches the castle, he sees a dragon, left for dead, prepared to join Caim in the afterlife. However, the pair reach a Сpact' where they join lives effectively and are returned to their original strength, if not stronger. For a human, a pact is a major sacrifice, giving up something important to them to live again. In Caim's case, he gives up his speaking voice, making him a mute, unable to communicate with others aside from body language. Caim and his dragon Сfriend' (as the dragon kinda hates the guy, but the pact let her live, so they get along) then march on the Empire, looking to topple it and return peace to the land, as well as get Caim's revenge for many past acts.

Normally, a story like this would be interesting, even exciting and full of twists, but in Drakengard's case, it's downright depressing and morbid. All the different characters Caim meets up with seem to be even more depressed and self-important than the last, and everyone just sort of mopes around instead of gathering strength to topple evil. This makes the game completely unbearable at times, as there is not a single character I could stand for more than 5 seconds without wanting to slice them down myself. While this isn't as story-driven a game as a typical Square Enix game, Drakengard's tends to draw you out of it due to its ultra-depressing feel. Say what you will about Final Fantasy X-2, but at least all the characters weren't sad, depressed, pathetic, whiny creatures who moped around and popped prozac pills all day long (well, except Shuyin, anyway), and I'll take characters that are loaded with personality and life rather than a batch of people that make Goths look like cheery mall surveyors. It doesn't help that the story is highly predictable, making many plot twists about as boring as standing in front of your dryer waiting for the thing to finish.

While the bad, depressing, predictable story can be overlooked, gameplay is something that cannot be. Drakengard makes attempts to be creative, though it's very derivative of other games. There's 2 main playtypes Ц flight missions and on-ground battles. The flight parts put you on the back of your dragon, blasting stuff out of the sky on the way to your next objective. These elements come right out of Panzer Dragoon, right down to the ability to lock onto multiple enemies and fire magic attacks that wipe the screen clear of enemies. It's almost as if they don't even feel ashamed of ripping off the game Ц after all, it's not as if anybody even bought the Panzer Dragoon games in the past, so Cavia can sneak one by and nobody will probably notice it. This is definitely the least inspired aspect of the game, as the enemy types are lacking any kind of variety, as you'll see many of the same kinds of enemies level after level. It serves merely as a means to an end, getting you from one part of the world to another for the next big ground battle level.

The ground levels can actually be played two ways. One is on foot, running around a battlefield whacking Imperial soldiers and completing objectives. This aspect comes right out of Dynasty Warriors, only with the Сone man army' quotient jacked up high. While it gets very repetitive and fairly boring after a while, the on-foot parts are the best aspect of Drakengard, with some good old-fashioned hack & slash action that isn't very strategic, but it does the job. Caim has different attacks to go along with just swinging his sword. He can use a basic magic spell that might not kill all enemies (and will not even work against some enemies), but it will give some breathing room to set up attacks. He can also use a finishing blow, which ends a combo with a huge swipe that wipes enemies either to their death or near it. Also, you can do a charge attack that clears enemies, by running and gaining speed, then attacking. It does little damage, but can give you room to pick apart a target without interference. Caim also can employ something called a Weapon Wheel that lets him use 8 weapons in any stage, and switch them as he goes along, at will. This lets Caim use different magic and weapon attacks, and lets him level up weapons as well. Caim also gains allies as he goes along, which you can set up and use in a dire situation. Pressing circle will let you use your ally in battle, though for a limited time, but enough to give Caim some breathing room. It's pretty much an afterthought, but it is there to use in case of emergency.

On the other hand, you can bring the dragon into ground levels, to really clear the battlefield a bit, by using her magic and fire attacks to wipe out the opposition en masse. While she's ineffective against enemies with magic barriers, your dragon cohort can ease the pain of the confusing ground levels a bit, swooping around, attacking, and weakening opposing forces for easy kills. It's wise to learn the balance between your playtype, as the experience you earn will make all the more difference late in the game.

Drakengard has numerous RPG aspects, like the aforementioned weapon leveling. In addition, your dragon and Caim will earn experience for killing enemies, which in turn level the characters up to higher health and magic abilities, along with strength as well. This adds reason to actually fight, as you could for all intensive purposes merely battle the required Сtargets' and move along, leaving minimal kills and little experience. To Drakengard's credit, if you're struggling, you can use Free Expedition battles, letting you replay levels and kill lots of stuff to level up more so you can lay waste to those mean bastards bothering you. So if you can actually stand the boredom of slicing and dicing lookalike enemies all game long, there's some depth to the game in terms of leveling.

The confusing aspects of Drakengard is what really hurts it, however. As Сtargets' appear all over a map, you have to find them and clear them to advance objectives. They're all listed on a map, and that's the only way you'll make it, as the radar doesn't pick up everything. This effectively renders the game into a set motion of attacking, wiping out designated targets, checking the map, and repeating level after level until you want to hang yourself with a long rose thorn. As occasionally fun as the battling can be, the repetition sets in at about, oh, level 3, making it a drag to play through this game unless you really, really, really like slicing enemies that all look pretty much the same, and somehow can stomach the ridiculous and sad characters talking to you all the time.

Despite the fact that there's actually multiple endings, Drakengard, to me, isn't worth beating more than once, seeing as while there's branching paths depending on what you do, it's still the same old hack, slash, magic, fly, attack, magic, crap every possible way. It would be one thing if Cavia managed to make the flight levels as epic and insane as a Panzer Dragoon level, or strategic and smart like Dynasty Warriors, but instead the combination feels like a homeless man's version of both games (forget poor man's version, this is actually worse). You're better off actually buying Panzer Dragoon Orta and Dynasty Warriors 4 than Drakengard, because you'll get more out of either one than this disappointment. In all honesty, Drakengard feels like a rushed, uninspired, hack job of a game that is nowhere near the polished quality of usual Square Enix games. Why they bothered releasing this here I'll never know, with other great games sitting on the cutting room floor in Japan begging to be translated (like, you know, FFX-2: Last MissionЕmake it so or I shall stab from the depths of hell at thee, Square!). There are other, worse games out there, but Drakengard is just soЕdepressing on all levels, it's a game that fails to be fun. If you want a game to make your pitiful existence feel better, damn, this one will make you feel like the king of the world even if you're making 5 bucks an hour flipping burgers at McDonald's.

Drakengard's visual presentation is just as off-kilter as the game itself. While the CG cutscenes are usual Square quality Ц they rock mighty hard and look downright amazing Ц the main engine itself reeks of 1st generation PS2 quality. Hordes of enemies that all look the same, limited sets of animations, ugly textures, constantly repeating levels (even Halo doesn't have this many repeating levels), and a general drab look hurt the game. Enemies actually just pop up out of nowhere, as you can be inches in front, then suddenly see your next kills. It just feels soЕ amateurish given the company behind the game (which is probably why I'm hard on it, you come to expect games with loads of polish from Square Enix) to see a game that seems ambitious but got cut off at the pass for deadline reasons. While the CG's amaze as always, the rest of the game will disappoint visually, with large levels but lacking details and ambience.

The audio fares no better. The music that plays in each stage isn't all bad, but, after hearing it nearly every single level without a lot of different compositions, it gets old fast. There's some solid effects, with swords clanging, the screams of battle, and dragons burning Imperial forces to a crisp, which is given due credit for sounding good. The voice acting tumbles however. It's not terrible, but badly translated (a line early in the game goes like this - СForgiven. Not forgiven. Unforgiven. No.' Pardon me?). The voices do a decent job of selling the madly depressed and/or insane characters, but the translation leaves a lot to be desired. I guess if you're going for mediocrity, Drakengard might as well cover all the bases, eh?