Vanillaware is known for one of the hardest JRPGs on the PS2, Odin Sphere, and I was very excited upon hearing the spiritual successor to that game. While Dragon’s Crown isn’t nearly as hard as that game (it’s much more forgiving) it still has a lot of challenges that await you. Dragon’s Crown’s biggest disappointment is its short length. There’s almost no main quests and contains mainly side quests (about 50). Once you finish the game you unlock a hard mode and then an Inferno mode. Thankfully the game can be played with up to 4 players so it can be a blast.

The story is about a Crown that has been taken by an Ancient Dragon. Your job is to return this crown to your kingdom and kill the dragon. The story is very light and I know there could have been so much more here. But the super short length makes it impossible for a better story. There are very few cutscenes and not much-spoken dialogue (which is only done by a narrator). Once you jump into the game you can attack, use items, cast spells, and use the right analog stick to move a hand around the screen to collect treasure. You always have a non-fighting thief with you who can pick locks on hidden doors and open chests. Sadly, you can’t change out your equipment during a mission (most levels can be passed in less than 10 minutes). However, at the end of each level is a boss and they increase in difficulty throughout all 8 levels or so. Each level has two bosses at different levels for various players.

Once you finish a mission you can return to town to appraise your items, bury or resurrect bones you find in levels for new AI partners, level up, acquire new quests, and buy runes. Runes are found throughout levels in pairs which need to be matched with runes in your possession. These add various buffs to your party which can turn the tide of a battle. Outside of those main things there’s not much to do besides hit the level cap. The missions are extremely repetitive since you need to find 9 talismans before facing the Ancient Dragon (that’s almost all there is to the entire main quest line) and once you are able to beat the Ancient Dragon (probably when you’re around level 30) you do it all over again on a harder difficulty. It gets kind of boring after a while and extremely tough towards the end. It’s best to go in with actual people since your AI partners can mess things up. Thankfully, unlike Odin Sphere, you have lives and can even pay to keep reviving with your coins. This alleviates some of the frustration.

I just wish there was so much more to this game. It feels so small and claustrophobic. The short levels, the nearly non-existent quest line, and story, but at least the characters you pick are fun to use and the controls work well. The art itself is stunning with beautiful water-color backdrops and crazy looking enemies and bosses. This game is mainly designed for fans of the co-0p arcade RPGs of yesteryear from Capcom. Not much of a story, but tons of combat and enemies to kill and levels to acquire. If you want a story heavy RPG like The Elder Scrolls or Fable you won’t find that here.

While not my favorite, the beat-em up genre is a great platform to play to Vanillawares strengths, with an infusion of some RPG progression on top to sweeten the deal. Arcade-style levels with questing and secrets, set in a D&D-heavy world with a Diablo-style loot grind in the post-game for people who want to keep going. Dragons Crown is also home to some of the most creative and dazzling boss fights money can buy, this shit rocks.

Something something Sorceress large tiddy yada yada, I know gaming sometimes has an issue with provocativeness but it also sometimes feels like gamers have a very repressed relationship with sexuality. The large chested woman wont hurt you - and shes shares a roster with a woman who has abs that can cut diamonds. The indulgent character design is on purpose.

(Winner of Eye Candy Award for best visual aesthetics, speech below)

With the release of next gen consoles, 4k TVs, and a whole new slew of technical buzzwords, most people think that “visual aesthetics” is a synonym for graphics. Dragon’s Crown proves that association to be false.

The signature Vanillaware, George Kamitani 2D artstyle is in full force, the likes we’ve admired before in Odin Sphere and Muramasa. Hand-drawn visuals are used for a majority of the game’s content, displaying a grandiose world with statuesque heroes and titanic bosses. The exaggerated artstyle brings the high-fantasy world to life, dropping any notion of realism and instead embracing the otherworldly stylings of a Dungeons and Dragons style adventure. By using traditional art assets that enthrall the player and envelop them within the world of the game, Dragon’s Crown shows that strikingly impressive visual aesthetics will always be more important than graphical prowess, and takes /v/’s pick for Eye Candy Award of 2013.

(Winner of Plot and Backstory Award, speech below)
Finding a respectable female protagonist in modern vidya is a difficult task. Thankfully, Dragon’s Crown gives you three. With the Amazon’s raw strength, the Elf’s nimble perseverance, and the Sorceress' bountiful spells, players have a choice of female characters known for more than just their sexuality or gender. None of them are fragile escorts or overbearing, independent women, but are valuable members of the party system, with capable combat skills and… assets. Ample backstories add to their presence as characters, all reflective of the game’s party characters right down to each NPC, stimulating the player’s enjoyment of the game.

All jokes aside, this game gives you female protagonists befitting the grandiose fantasy style larger-than-life world that enhance the experience rather than detract from it. Instead of offering cardboard cliches or lectures on sexuality, Dragon’s Crown represents women as characters who are fully capable, and it deserves praise for embracing women instead of castrating or covering them up. The game represents women just as they are - curvy, capable, and characters worth playing as. Dragon’s Crown takes /v/’s pick for Plot and Backstory Award for 2013.

And it happens to have pendulous breasts, too!

(Winner of /v/irgin Award for best new IP, speech below)

Let’s be honest - Dragon’s Crown is an odd pick for “Best New IP”. On paper, it’s the kind of high fantasy multiplayer beat-em-up you would expect from a 90’s arcade game only with added character progression. And yet we haven’t really had anything like that SINCE the 90’s, and Dragon’s Crown is bringing it back and kicking it up to 11, adding drop-in online co-op and beautifully hand-drawn visuals that ooze with so much style and gratuitous sex appeal that one disgusting male player was driven into a bestial fit of violent sex-crazed rage after viewing so many objectifying depictions of women, he was reported to have gotten up from his chair after playing the game and forcibly violating every woman in a five mile radius, securing the status quo of the patriarchy and its prevailing rape culture for at least another decade. We thank you, Dragon’s Crown, and future generations men and boys will remember what you have done for us. All hail the patriarch broodfather.