Dragoneer's Aria Game Sample - PSP
19So, it's been a long time coming, but I finally got around to making a video for this game, NIS America / Koei and Hit Maker's second collaboration, "Dragoneer's Aria". I put it off mostly due to the lack of enthusiasm I had for their first game, "Blade Dancer: Lineage of Light" (to which this is a spiritual successor), and it's like they blew most of their budget on the first game too, because this title is in a few ways worse than BD and lacks a gorgeous opening or ending... but I digress.
There were some conscious (and much needed) quality of life changes made to the game that make it an overall better experience, but it wasn't enough to make the game rise above mediocrity. There are two exceptional things worth noting. First, the illustrations were done by Juno Jeong, the art director for the popular Korean MMORPG "Lineage II" and "LYN: The Lightbringer" and they are gorgeous... though you hardly see this art outside the status screen and packaging. Second, the title screen music is a variation of Johann Sebastian Bach's classic, "Air on the G String", which was supposedly used to play on the emotions between the characters, but they don't have nearly enough depth to be truly memorable, although the main character is perhaps the most feminine non-trap character in a JRPG, so that's something I guess.
The story goes like this: "In ages past, the Holy Dragon was annihilated by the Black Dragon. But from his soul six new dragons were born. Together with the Dragoons, these dragons have been charged with the protection of the world. For centuries, all is peaceful...until the day of Dragoon Valen Kessler's graduation ceremony. The Black Dragon appears and destroys the capital city, Granadis (exaggeration). The Water Dragon appears to challenge the intruder but is slapped briskly aside. When it's all over, Valen runs into Euphe Kalm, a strange young healer (an Empath, a type of healer that returns from Blade Dancer) with some connection to the Water Dragon. Together they're charged with the task of ensuring the safety of the world's dragons, as well as uncovering the dark mystery behind the sudden attack of the vicious Black Dragon..."
It's a very cookie cutter but doable plot that isn't helped any by a lack of character development, sometimes baffling scenes and a silly script, though the pacing is a little better than Blade Dancer (and a little more coherent as a whole from start to finish) and the voice actors this time around try to make the most of the script, which is still cringey from time to time (you can set the language to Japanese). There are also a few plot flubs, such as Langley returning to town when he's hurt, except he hasn't done that to the script yet... oops.
Visually, the characters are less jaggy and the animation and environments are slightly better, though the game still suffers from a tremendous lack of enemy/character/effect variety... ESPECIALLY the effects; the game has Magic (which looks simple) and Dragon Orb abilities... which create a unnecessary haze, are two per orb and lack any kind of splendor, even when you trigger combination magic by doing certain spells in sequence. The first game TRIED to have a few showy attacks, and if combat is gonna be slow as molasses anyway, you might as well embellish a little. The music is similar to the first game, or in other words, okay... a few tracks have a nice tranquility to them and the battle themes are decent, but the music isn't really memorable.
The game's biggest improvement by far is the overall pacing in the gameplay. Lunability of BD was swapped for "Mana" which has the same basic function (a pool of power shared between characters) but is easier to stockpile and gone is the ATB-esque battle system to speed things up a bit. The game world is still small and handicapped in the same way as BD (expect to grind two to five levels every new screen you get to) but characters have field abilities now, giving you a reason to switch your character beyond a cosmetic preference; Valen can dash, Euphe can heal party members, Mary can halt enemies, and Ruslan warps enemies away. These also cost Mana and grow in proficiency (like everything else) the more they are used. You can also warp around at Dragon Domains which makes backtracking a lot more forgiving than the first game.
Each character in combat can also Rush (good melee damage) and has a unique skill such as protecting others, boosting Mana gains, Empath healing (which is still not great, but better than BD) and cleansing ailments (which helps in a pinch late game). The game still has crafting / equipment levels and it's still annoying but necessary for the best gear and balance. Magic grows in levels, but costs way too much Mana for the return on investment (outside like three support skills, so basically useless), so you'll spam Dragon skills the whole game.
Overall, it's a toss-up, though it's ironically one of Hit Maker's best games. This is a vid of various events. Enjoy.