Dragon's Crown

[brunoafh]

I don't mean to offend but honestly Gamerforlife it sounds like you are just frustrated with the game for whatever reason and are not grasping the tools the game gives you. It is not a "hard" game by any means and is quite the opposite. If you have a full party and good gear/skills, you can almost button mash to get through anything. Overwhelming difficulty is just not a valid complaint.

Is it the next Guardian Heroes? Not really. It's a good stab at the formula, but it's definitely not the best this genre has to offer. It's almost like the creativity was stretched too thin, and certain parts of the game are amazing, while others don't quite rise as high as they should. I do have some complaints with the game I'll probably share once I have a more complete experience with it, but overall my thoughts on this are positive.

The complaints that it is drawn out are pretty much subjective, either you like the game or you don't. ie a drawn out 100 hour experience that feels like an orgasm rocks, a short and painful crotch ramming does not. If it feels orgasmic to you then you should be pretty damn happy that there is a ton of replay value and content, but if you are finding it tedious and boring then I guess it just didn't do it for you. As I said, I do have some complaints so I can understand the latter mindset.

[Gamerforlife]

If not for the tons of money that obviously went into the visuals, production value and soundtrack, I would say that this should have been a 15 dollar XBLA/PSN title.

In fact, I'm being pretty generous saying it's an 8 hour game. It's just 9 levels about the length of your average beat 'em up. You can get more hours out of your first playthrough if you also do the side quests and grind a bit though, and maybe mess around with multi-player. Plus, there is the B paths too, so maybe you could get 8 hours in your first playthrough if you're really taking your time.

Beating the game opens up the 99 floor Labyrinth of Chaos, so there's that I guess, but the levels of cheese I've seen in that mode are amazing, and I've heard it gets much, much worse the deeper you go. I've already seen bosses show up as regular enemies. I've seen a room where I had to fight enemies with fire everywhere, burning my characters. The game is just cheap

In any other game, I'd be like, "okay, the shit's hard. Fine, I'll just level a bit". Well you'll need about 2 hours of chaining stages together to gain ten levels in this game. I could get 10 levels in fifteen minutes in something like Caste Crashers, Scott Pilgrim, or Fist Puncher. Or get that many level ups from two stages in Shinovi Versus

Dragon's Crown is just a game that tries to artificially lengthen everything to justify its high purchase price. People say the level chaining is a brilliant idea. I think it epitomizes everything that is wrong with this game. You do far too much work for far too little reward.

[Gamerforlife]

I don't mean to offend but honestly Gamerforlife it sounds like you are just frustrated with the game for whatever reason and are not grasping the tools the game gives you. It is not a "hard" game by any means and is quite the opposite. If you have a full party and good gear/skills, you can almost button mash to get through anything. Overwhelming difficulty is just not a valid complaint.

How far are you into the game? I have a level 63 amazon on infernal difficulty and a level 30 something sorceress on Hard. So I think I have a fairly good grasp on the game and I just find the ways in which the game tries to be challenging cheap, contrived, lazy, uncreative, and annoying.

That is just my opinion...and that's coming from someone who was initially high on the game and wanted to love it since the day I first heard of it.

[brunoafh]

How far are you into the game? I have a level 63 amazon on infernal difficulty and a level 30 something sorceress on Hard. So I think I have a fairly good grasp on the game and I just find the ways in which the game tries to be challenging cheap, contrived, lazy, uncreative, and annoying.

To be fair, I'm still on my first playthrough. So I could be wrong. But I would be shocked if the difficulty spiked up to the point where it felt un-doable.

And "cheap, contrived, lazy, uncreative, and annoying" pretty much sounds like it could be applied to any beat em up, as it's very likely that the difficulty is upped by just increasing enemy HP, damage, and defense. Like every other beat em up.

[Dylan]

How far are you into the game? I have a level 63 amazon on infernal difficulty and a level 30 something sorceress on Hard. So I think I have a fairly good grasp on the game and I just find the ways in which the game tries to be challenging cheap, contrived, lazy, uncreative, and annoying.

To be fair, I'm still on my first playthrough. So I could be wrong. But I would be shocked if the difficulty spiked up to the point where it felt un-doable.

And "cheap, contrived, lazy, uncreative, and annoying" pretty much sounds like it could be applied to any beat em up, as it's very likely that the difficulty is upped by just increasing enemy HP, damage, and defense. Like every other beat em up.

Also, if you're playing alone you're making things much harder for yourself. Online mode lets you assemble a team of humans with little difficulty, which makes your party unbelievably stronger than having AIs.

[Retrogamer0001]

I'm only at the very end of normal difficulty, but my thoughts on the game are also mostly positive. I didn't buy this game expecting some huge, epic quest that would take me 100 hours to complete; I didn't want Skyrim in beat-em-up form. What I wanted was a decent challenge akin to Guardian Heros in the current generation, in a fantasy setting with some nice art direction, and I feel like Dragon's Crown delivers in that respect.

I have no intention of being a masochist and maxing out every character on the hardest difficulty setting just for giggles. However, if that's your thing, then you shouldn't expect it to be a cakewalk; it's quite obviously going to be seriously challenging. Like others have said, going online is usually a big help with multiplayer RPGs, but if you're really not enjoying the game at all, then maybe you should walk away for a few days and play something more enjoyable.

[ZenErik]

The game should be a challenge. But I'm not likely to get to the higher difficulties as I've gotten my friends interested in Diablo 3 for PS3. Out in 2 weeks. will provide the 4 player coop we want except more well done. Will be interesting to see how the game goes over with everyone.

[Retrogamer0001]

The game should be a challenge. But I'm not likely to get to the higher difficulties as I've gotten my friends interested in Diablo 3 for PS3. Out in 2 weeks. will provide the 4 player coop we want except more well done. Will be interesting to see how the game goes over with everyone.

Do you really like D3 that much? I was a day one buyer, pre-ordered the Limited Edition and everything, and was EXTREMELY disappointed in the game. Something about the game just seems wrong. Diablo II was so much more fun to me and it seemed like Diablo III just did everything in a more bland, boring, generic way. I haven't played in six months, so maybe things have gotten better, but I was very unhappy with the game.

[ZenErik]

I felt the similar, I guess? I thought it was a solid game, but I didn't end up playing it for more than maybe 100 hours. But they've made a lot of changes since I originally played. Plus the 4 player local co-op will be a blast. And unlike Dragon's Crown everyone will be able to use the characters they use at home when we get together and play all on the same screen.

One of the big reasons I think Diablo 2 is favored by a lot of folks is because that's what we played for years. Expectations were higher for D3. Diablo 2 had no endgame. And one of the biggest D3 complaints was the lack of endgame when it was released. Blizzard has definitely worked on fixing that. I look forward to giving the game another shot. Just like I played D2 on and off for 10+ years. And played Diablo 1 for quite a few as well.

For local co-op I 100% believe it will be a better experience than Dragon's Crown and be fun for much longer. And it even has a better story.

Dragon's Crown goes on my disappointments of the year list along with Ni no Kuni. But I enjoy it far more than Ni no Kuni, for what that is worth. Was just so hyped up because I loved Muramasa Rebirth. I got maybe 6 hours out of Ni no Kuni before quitting. Have gotten a good 20 hours out of Dragon's Crown so far and will likely get at least 20 more because some friends will want to play. And it's a fun game to play together even if it's not as satisfying as I had hoped.

[EvilRyu2099]

I'm lvl 99 with supposedly the hardest class to use in the game with the elf and even beat the Labyrinth of Chaos boss.. Game is not hard at all with some planning and good use of the evasion button.. I like it, it gets repetitive sure, but so do most RPGs especially MMOs and dare I say Borderlands 2? I have no complaints whatsoever.. A solid 8/10 game with a few flaws..