Drakengard
| Drakengard | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Original title | ド ラ ッ グ オ ン ド ラ グ ー ン | ||
| Studio | cavia | ||
| Publisher | Square Enix / Take 2 | ||
| Erstveröffent- lichung |
 September 11, 2003 March 2, 2004 May 21, 2004  |
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| platform | PlayStation 2 | ||
| genre | role playing game | ||
| Game mode | Single player | ||
| control | DualShock 2 | ||
| medium | 1 DVD-ROM | ||
| language | English (voice output); German, English, French (subtitles) | ||
| Age rating |
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Drakengard (in Japan Drag-on Dragoon , OT: Japanese ド ラ ッ グ オ ン ド ラ グ ー ン , Doraggu on doragūn ) is a computer role-playing game that was developed for PlayStation 2 by the Japanese company cavia . The game was released on September 11, 2003 in Japan by Square Enix and on May 21, 2004 in Europe by Take 2 Interactive . The music was composed by Nobuyoshi Sano .
The sequel Drakengard 2 was released on June 16, 2005 in Japan under the name Drag-on Dragoon 2 and was published on March 2, 2006 by Ubisoft in Europe. In 2010 NieR was released , a spin-off that ties in directly with Ending E of the first Drakengard. In 2013, Drakengard 3, a free prequel set about 100 years before the events of Drakengard, was released. In March 2017, NieR: Automata was released , the story of which takes place several thousand years after NieR, which was published in 2010, and at the same time represents a continuation of the play "YorHa" by the series inventor Yoko Taro.
history
The medieval-looking world of Drakengard is kept in equilibrium by the seals, but the overwhelming empire wants to initiate the complete change of the world by loosening the seals and the death of the goddess and therefore attacks the Union, an amalgamation of many, small states. When the castle of the goddess (the headquarters of the dwindling Union forces) falls into the hands of the empire, Caim flees with his sister, the goddess . As the story progresses, Caim joins allies, his sister is captured by the Empire, and his best friend Inuart defies the enemy. In the course of the game all seals are destroyed and finally the goddess is killed. The game tells five different versions of how this story could end and how small changes affect the entire story. Drakengard doesn't have a happy ending.
Drakengard 2
(OT: jap. ド ラ ッ グ オ ン ド ラ グ ー ン 2 封印 の 紅 、 背 徳 の 黒 , Doraggu on doragūn 2: Fūin no kurenai, Haitoku no kuro ) In the first end of Drakengard the dragon Angelus becomes the seal of the gods again and the world is in balance again . Eighteen years later, the seal knight Nowe finds out that the seal knights sacrifice people to maintain the seal. At the same time, Caim, pact partner of Angelus, destroys the districts around Angelus from the seal. At the side of Manah, the antagonist of the first part, Legna, the black dragon of the first part, and Eris, his superior, the orphan Nowe learns more and more about his world and his own past. Among other things, a visit to the dragons' mausoleum, if one knows how to decipher the enigmatic language of the voice, shows that Nowe is the son of Inuart and Furiae. Because he is the son of the former goddess and a man who pacts with a dragon, Nowe is endowed with superhuman powers.
Finally he succeeds in defeating the meanwhile freed Angelus, but without the seal the world falls into chaos and threatens to be destroyed by the gods. Drakengard 2 presents three endings. In the first round of the game, Nowe fights Legna, who as the holy dragon wants to destroy the gods with Nowe. Eris finally sacrifices herself and becomes a seal herself. In the second playthrough Nowe fights against the toy of the gods, which was activated by Manah. Ultimately, people compete on the side of the holy dragons against the gods. In the third and all subsequent rounds of the game, Nowe has to defeat both the Toys of the Gods and Legna. The world is freed from the yoke of gods and dragons, humanity can find its own way.
The game follows a linear story that is divided into chapters and verses. The verses are divided into aerial battles with Legna and ground battles with Nowe. In addition to the story mode, there are free missions that provide further background information on the story as well as weapons and money.
Characters
- Caim
Caim is the 24-year-old protagonist of Drakengard . He comes from a royal family. Since his parents were killed by a black dragon of the Empire , he has been fighting alongside the Union against the hated enemy. His pact partner is the red dragon . Caim had to give his vote for the pact, he wears the sign of his pact on his tongue. Caim can be controlled in the game.
- Red Dragon (Angelus)
The red female dragon is almost ten thousand years old. After falling into the clutches of the Empire , the only choice is between certain death or a pact with Caim . Although she despises the people, she decides to make a pact with Caim and accompanies him in the further fight. The red dragon is controllable in the game.
- Furiae
Furiae is Caim's younger sister. Before she was given the role of goddess , she was engaged to Inuart . The burden of the goddess rests heavily on her, and the Empire is ceaseless in pursuit of her, to change the world through her death.
- Inuart
The excellent singer Inuart is one of Caim's friends and was engaged to his sister Furiae before she became a goddess . His pact partner is the black dragon . For the pact Inuart had to surrender his wonderful song, he wears the sign of his pact on his neck.
- Verdelet
It is Verdelet's job to watch over the seals and the goddess . He is a high-ranking figure in the Union. His pact partner is the Petrified Dragon . For the pact he had to give up his hair, the sign of his pact is on his skull.
- Leonard
An evil fairy forces Leonard into a pact with her while he is in shock after the death of his brothers. His pact partner is a fairy . For the pact he had to give up his eyesight, the sign of his pact is on his eyes. Leonard can be controlled in the game.
- Arioch
The elf went insane to watch the Empire kill her children. Your pact partners are Undine and Salamander . For the pact she had to give up her womb, the sign of her pact is on her abdomen. Arioch is controllable in the game.
- Seere
Seere is six years old and has a twin sister. He always suffered from the privileged treatment his mother gave him while she severely neglected his twin sister. His pact partner is a golem . He had to give up his time for the pact, which means that he no longer ages, the sign of his pact is on his entire body. Seere is controllable in the game.
Game flow
History mode and free expeditions
The story mode is divided into chapters and verses. Once played, they can be played or viewed again at any time. Some of the verses can only be played under certain conditions and lead the Drakengard s story down a path away from the standard ending. There are a total of thirteen chapters, divided into five endings, as well as an additional chapter for each of the three companions ( Leonard , Arioch , Seere ). During the course of the story mode , the Free Expeditions are unlocked. Free missions are skirmishes whose story does not directly contribute to the main story. They are used to train your weapons and your own martial arts, as a reward for successfully completing a mission you receive a new weapon for the first time.
Ground and air combat
In aerial combat , you steer the red kite through Drakengard's air and fetch various opponents from the sky. In ground combat , as a Caim (or one of the three companions) you fight your opponents with one of 64 weapons that can be found in the game and their magic. In ground / air combat , depending on the situation, you can either scorch your opponents with dragon fire from above or fight with caim .
The game is available in the difficulty levels easy and normal , it is possible to change the level of difficulty during the game. In light mode , some weapons cannot be found, and certain auxiliary objects do not appear. In Normal mode, the opponents' defense and attack are increased.
useful information
- The world map in Drakengard is a map of Western Europe (upside down and inverted).
- In the Japanese version of the game, Caim and his pact partner are spoken by the same actor, the famous drag queen Peter . Shinnosuke Ikehata , the actor's real name, is given for Caim , while Peter (pseudonym for the actor's female roles) was used for the red dragon . The red dragon is female in the Japanese version too.
- The fifth storyline of Drakengard ends in Tokyo from 2003. Caim and the Red Dragon chase the final opponent (a huge consumed female sculpture "The Grotesqueries Goddess") through a dimensional portal and fight near the Tokyo Tower against this in a fight that is very different from the rest of the game (the player must react to sonar waves emitted by the opponent by promptly pressing the right buttons until a time window is closed and the fight is automatically ended in favor of the player). After defeating the final opponent, Caim and the dragon are shot down by the Japanese army, and the killed dragon lands on Tokyo Tower. In the meantime, the opponent's body dissolves and scatters spores into the earth's atmosphere, which in the course of the next few years will trigger a plague epidemic, the "White Chlorination Syndrome". The subsequent historical sequence in the world leads over to the events in the game Nier .
Footnotes
- Jump up ↑ Drag-on Dragoon 2 - Memory of Blood (in Japanese). 電 撃 PlayStation 編 集 部 (2005), p. 80.
- ↑ Nier Scenario Timeline Translation (from Grimoire Nier) - listing of the events from Drakengard to Nier from the Grimoir Nier. Accessed August 3, 2012.