Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1264 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: Take 2
• Released on: 2004-05-21
• Platform: PlayStation2
• Number of items: 1

Manufacturer's Description
Drakengard cast in a chaotic world of pact-beast allegiances and warfare, Drakengard, weaves action packed gameplay and unique character and weapon development into a profoundly tragic saga. An action game overlaid with stunning RPG elements, for which Square Enix have become famous.

The lead characters are Caim – adisinherited prince out for revenge – and his Red Dragon, the flying, fire-breathing monster bound to him. SCREEN SHOTS

Customer Reviews

Drakengard - Is it a smouldering hot game or is it a pile of dragon crap?
Well, I must say, I agree with the other review claiming it was a trap. But, personally, I think `trap' is too strong. I was thinking more `misleading' or `misunderstood'. The cover and perhaps the stuff can convince a range of people to buy this game. Something I don't think should have happened.

Reasons are because it is more like an RPG than the Action Slashing game it gives off to be. And RPG genre is either loved or hated. So, in my opinion, the ones who bought it and thought it was rubbish expected the wrong game.

Anyways, on with reviewing. The game begins with Caim, the main protagonist, fighting a war against the Empire and seems to be losing. He then comes across a dying dragon, who despises mankind. The two, who both have a strong desire to live, form a pact and from there go on all sort of crazy adventures, and, boy, do I mean crazy.

The story starts simple enough, fighting against the Empire gaining allies along the way. But things get a little hectic soon afterwards and then off the rails later on. This may attract or repel people. Personally, being a fantasy person, found the story interesting, especially as it get towards the end, as one crazy thing was leading to another. I found most ending were quite disappointing or depressing due to the fact that everyone dies making you efforts in the battle before pointless. What is nice is that the game tells you how the get the different endings. The last one is quite long to, you have to collect all weapons and upgrade them, which can be long considering there are 50+ weapons, and some of them are rather useless.

The gameplay of the game is not too good. At first seems rather interesting with the idea of Dynasty Warriors plus cool looking magic, but as you go on you find that it quickly gets repetitive; hacking enemies in mediocre looking combo, before unleashing a fireball on a crowd of them and getting slightly excited. The dragon is a saviour at times, but controlling it quite an annoyance in the ground. In the air is much better for the dragon. There you fight a range of beast and machines. But the problem with the ground slowly spreads to the skies as they, too, become repetitive. But it takes longer, because killing things in the air, especially with the dragon's special is more satisfying than killing with a sword.

What is nice, the range of weapons you can get from swords to axes to spears, and most weapons have unique magic while some just are copies of others. Weapons are acquired through the course of the game, but most of them are done by fulfilling secret requirements, which aren't told by the game unfortunately. The weapons grow in levels as wells as Caim and the dragon. Their experience is kills, where Caim's is experience points from kills. Weapons levels are from 1-4, changing as the level up.

OK, this is the part of the game that made me play it for so long, the weapons look really good when they reach level 4. And some of the magic is great, for example an axe can summon meteors to crash down and mage damage to enemies. But getting them there is the problem...

As Caim levels up he just receives more health, where as the dragon gets strong and through the course of the game changes which is a nice plus.

Other Positives points:

I. Voice acting throughout most of the story, good for those who are lazy to read or like story driven games.

II. Free Expedition mode is good for training up if you're stuck and getting extra weapons.

III. The battlefields are large. (Perhaps, too large in some cases...)

IV. The graphics are good, especially the pre-rendered cut scenes.

Other Negative points:

I. Archers...If you play it, you'll soon find out why...

II. Some bosses seem unbeatable first time round and require some training.

III. The weapon requirements are quite hard and specific. There is little chance of you getting them all by yourself and guessing.

IV. Quite slow placed, plus there's a time limit, so that's no good.

Overall:
A good game at first, but the little annoyances swiftly become noticeable and are too great in number, and soon gather to make a void in this promising game.
Repetitive and strictly for RPG fans due to gameplay.
A lot of imagination put into it and if you have the patience of a saint (like me :)), this game can be very rewarding.

P.S. I apologise for any spelling or grammar mistakes. I don't re-read. ^_^

One of the best games ever!
This game is brilliant! It's an RPG Hack n' Slash in which you take control of the character Caim as well as many other characters travelling with Caim to defeat the evil empire.

Caim forms a pact with a dragon in order for them both to stay alive. Caim's main reason for this is to fight the empire, in revenge for killing his parents. Only with the power of the dragon is he strong enough to take the empire on.

This is a great game with a superb story. Choose from many weapons all fully upgradable. Then fight on your drogons in the skies or take the battle down to earth. The choice is yours!

A game with potential...
I have recently gotten back into gaming and as my favorite genre is RPGs ive decided to buy a whole bunch of japanese RPGs to tide me over until the PS3 comes out, probably sometime this summer.

I bought this game for £5 and judging from the reviews this game has received i wasnt expecting too much, but i was pleasantly surprised. This game was definitely value for money and it is not as bad as ppl say. I can understand some people being annoyed if they played full price for it as they thought Square-Enix game = masterpiece, unfortuantely Square-Enix only published this game, they did not develope it.

This game is very interesting and entertaining, very dark with a gripping storyline. It has beautiful CG cut scenes which add to the overall atmosphere and experience. The only bad aspect of this game is the repetative game play. Jus hack n slash all the way through far too similar looking enemies... tho u can call ure dragon and take control of him to wreak havok on the swarms of enemy creatures.

Drakengard is not a masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination but it is enthralling and will keep u busy for around 40hours of game play, with levelling up, secrets and multiple endings to achieve. Its well worth the decreased asking price its currently being sold at... so if you're waiting patiently for the many games that will be out (mostly this spring) then i well advise u to pick up a copy of this underrated game to tide u over until then.

And as i said, this game has potential so if ure interested Drakengard II will be released this march and it will be interesting to see what improvements they have made.

Here is a list of the other PS2 RPG games that are currently available or are being released soon that i would recommend checking out:

FFXII (August 2006)
FFVII Dirge of Cerberus
Shadow Hearts: Covenant
Kigdom Hearts II (May 06)
Grandia III (March 06)
Xenosaga II
Star Ocean: Til the End of Time
Dragon Quest VIII (April 06)
Phantasy Star Universe (June 06)
Suikoden IV
Suikoden V (March 06)
Magna Carta: Tears of Blood
Radiata Stories
Tales of Legendia (Feb 06)