Game:

Dragon Shadow Spell (2007)

Category:

Let's Play

Duration: 56:32

11,627 views

0

Advanced gameplay begins at 29:08

Dragon Shadow Spell is a strategy RPG made by Flight-Plan, a company most known for the "Summon Night" and "Black/Matrix" series, back in 2007. DSS had the scenario planning done by Asuka Suzuki (who worked on Summon Night: Swordcraft Story, Black/Matrix OO, etc.) and it also featured Yu(u)ki Takano (character designer of B/M OO, etc.) and Shinichiro Otsuka (character designer of SN: SS, etc.)...to make a long story a little shorter, there was a lot of talented people involved in this game (Kaito, the hero for another example, is voiced by Mamoru Miyano). Why? Well, it is said that it is the first game under Flight-Plan's own brand (FP published it themselves with their name).

The game does have a lot to it that I can't fit within YT's text limit, but you can read a good deal of what I could tell you on Jeremy Tan's review at RPGFan:

http://www.rpgfan.com/reviews/dragonshadowspell/index.html

At the risk of sounding lazy, that review does cover mostly everything I could hope to discuss on DSS; even the annoying platforming (moving and jumping around the ship where platforms lack shadows to show their relative position on the screen, etc.). However, I will give a few glimpses of my insight and how I feel about the game. The game really combines the relationship building and events of a Summon Night work with the somewhat slow progression and level building of Black/Matrix. There are multiple endings and you must find and do well on as many character events as possible to learn about them. Levels are done like B/M; after battles, you get experience points and can use them to level up whoever you want; this is useful because some RPGs/SRPGs will want healers who aren't so great at battling to kill to gain experience and level-up; you don't have to worry about that in DSS. You gain "code" when you defeat demons (or daemons) and use code points to learn skills.

Gaining code in DSS can be every bit as slow as gaining a good deal of Blood Points (or BP) in B/M; as a result, learning skills can seem slow and character development seems slow in general unless you force one character like Kaito or Arthur to kill nearly everything in sight for several battles to have enough code to learn decent abilities. The character progression process is further delayed by the "Matrix" system. Your characters fight demons with "Matrix Gear"; weapons made that can defeat demons. You don't just get code for defeating demons; you get "species points". For example, for every elemental you defeat (regardless of what kind it is), you get points (or "mastery knowledge" of sorts) toward that "family" of demon. The more points you get for killing elemental enemies, the more you know about them and you get access to new skills from elemental demons...whether it be MP+8 or MP+50.

An example would be you kill 50 elementals to get 10% mastery of the elemental family. At 5%, you can get MP+8 by spending 300 code points. At 10%, you now have access to learn MP+50 for 1000 code. You would have to kill 500 elementals to get the mastery gauge to be full (100%)...naturally, that will take ages even if every battle had 10 elemental demons on it...and that's just one type of demon. Different demon family require different points and impart different skills. Generally speaking, the bigger and tougher the demon, the less points you need to master them because they appear in lesser numbers on the battlefield. Story battles give more species points and there are "albino" enemies (rare versions of regular enemies) that will grant rare "star" skills when you kill several of them.

The visuals are pretty nice (it was good of them to use 2D sprites after the bland 3D of Black/Matrix II...) and the game is highly artsy because the game uses numerous art styles (the term "Poison Pink" is used in the game and some of the artwork does remind me of Poison Pink AKA Eternal Poison). Using quick animated anime pictures during certain special attacks was a nice touch and characters animate decently (such as Kaito's sister, Tatsuki, when she casts magic, etc.). The game also has excellent music throughout. I already mentioned Mamoru Miyano before (known for his work in Death Note, Kingdom Hearts, etc.) so it generally goes without saying, but the game also features a lot of talented seiyu(u) and voicework.

Really, other than the pacing and the platforming segments designed to be a completionist's nightmare, the game has no major faults that I can think of. It has mini-games, replayability and game clear bonuses, lots of content, good graphics, a decent opening movie (I love how the dragon, Suihi, doesn't completely animate offscreen at the end though, lol), and lots of personality. Flight-Plan clearly put their heart into DSS and it shows. While the game sold okay in Japan, I don't think it sold nearly enough to entertain the thought of a sequel (why Atlus didn't publish it back in 2007...I have no clue).