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[Let's Play] Dragon Force | Finale: The End of the Reign
cj iwakura
The Rhythm RegentBears The Name FreedomRegistered User regular
The Rhythm RegentBears The Name FreedomRegistered User regular
Finale Part 1
The End.
Tristan Empire BGM
Endgame Part 2
Endgame Part 1
Part 24
Part 23
Part 22
Part 21
Part 20
Part 19
Part 18
Part 17
Part 16
Part 15
Part 14
Part 13
Part 12
Part 11
Part 10
Part 9
Part 8
Part 7
Part 6
Part 5
Part 4
Part 3
Part 2
Part 1
Part 0.5
Introduction/Prologue, spoilered for V-Scroll
(Revised)
Way back in 1996, when Sega was still a force to be reckoned with in the console industry, there was a system called the Saturn.
It didn't have a pleasant fate in store for it.
However, that's a story for another thread.
In this one, I'll be revisiting one of the most unique Strategy-RPGs of all time, and the game that, in my book, defined the necessity of owning a Saturn: Dragon Force.
Before we begin the game itself, here's some history on the continent upon which Dragon Force transpires: Legendra.
This opening's narration was originally delivered by the unimitable John Truitt, if you would care to hear it in his own words, but otherwise, I'll be recreating it here to the best of my ability.
One last note: I personally took these pictures, so I apologize beforehand for their lack of quality. If someone knows of a better way to capture images from a Saturn game, I welcome the assistance.
Let's begin, shall we?
Behold, the vast land of Legendra.
This bountiful land was molded from ashen waste and given the breath of life by the six Goddesses.
But this land was not simply given life alone.
Astea, the foremost Goddess, fostered a special love for the new creation, and blessed it with a sky bright and pure, and lush, rolling hills that spread from ocean to sparkling ocean.
The people of Legendra rejoiced that they had found favor with Astea.
And life was good.
However, as with all such tales bordering on morality plays, one lied in wait to cast a dark shadow on the prosperity and tranquility of Legendra.
That one, from time uncounted, was called Madruk.
He and his villainous legions scorched the land and dried the once sparkling seas with a burning fury unequaled in all creation.
His singular goal was nothing less than complete annihilation of the beautiful land that Astea and her sisters had created.
Before the cruel hand of Madruk, the people of Legendra had no hope of survival.
Broken, and despondant, they prayed fervently for a miracle.
Suddenly, the sacred dragon Harsgalt lunged forth to block Madruk's advance.
Enraged, Madruk turned his fiery ardor to Harsgalt.
The battle between the holy dragon and the wicked god seemed to be without end.
In its wake, the winds howled; the oceans crashed, and the vast land trembled violently.
One thousand days passed, and Harsgalt had only enough strength remaining to lock Madruk into a sleep.
That would keep just long enough for eight chosen heroes to be born.
Now, that time is upon us.
The final confrontation rushes forth...
Many years after the sealing of Madruk, relative peace has returned to Legendra.
Yet, the continent is now torn; one of Legendra's eight kingdoms, Fandaria, has waged war on the rest of Legendra.
The question is: whose side are you on?
From the beginning, only six of Legendra's eight rulers may be selected. The last two, Fandaria and Tradnor, are only selectable from the beginning of a second playthrough.
With that in mind, here are our six countries, and their respective rulers, to choose from:
Thus ends the introduction. While I do have a ruler in mind for basing my playthrough on(with one of the less popular, yet quite interesting countries), suggestions are nonetheless welcome.
The End.
Tristan Empire BGM
Endgame Part 2
Endgame Part 1
Part 24
Part 23
Part 22
Part 21
Part 20
Part 19
Part 18
Part 17
Part 16
Part 15
Part 14
Part 13
Part 12
Part 11
Part 10
Part 9
Part 8
Part 7
Part 6
Part 5
Part 4
Part 3
Part 2
Part 1
Part 0.5
Introduction/Prologue, spoilered for V-Scroll
(Revised)
Way back in 1996, when Sega was still a force to be reckoned with in the console industry, there was a system called the Saturn.
It didn't have a pleasant fate in store for it.
However, that's a story for another thread.
In this one, I'll be revisiting one of the most unique Strategy-RPGs of all time, and the game that, in my book, defined the necessity of owning a Saturn: Dragon Force.
Before we begin the game itself, here's some history on the continent upon which Dragon Force transpires: Legendra.
This opening's narration was originally delivered by the unimitable John Truitt, if you would care to hear it in his own words, but otherwise, I'll be recreating it here to the best of my ability.
One last note: I personally took these pictures, so I apologize beforehand for their lack of quality. If someone knows of a better way to capture images from a Saturn game, I welcome the assistance.
Let's begin, shall we?
Behold, the vast land of Legendra.
This bountiful land was molded from ashen waste and given the breath of life by the six Goddesses.
But this land was not simply given life alone.
Astea, the foremost Goddess, fostered a special love for the new creation, and blessed it with a sky bright and pure, and lush, rolling hills that spread from ocean to sparkling ocean.
The people of Legendra rejoiced that they had found favor with Astea.
And life was good.
However, as with all such tales bordering on morality plays, one lied in wait to cast a dark shadow on the prosperity and tranquility of Legendra.
That one, from time uncounted, was called Madruk.
He and his villainous legions scorched the land and dried the once sparkling seas with a burning fury unequaled in all creation.
His singular goal was nothing less than complete annihilation of the beautiful land that Astea and her sisters had created.
Before the cruel hand of Madruk, the people of Legendra had no hope of survival.
Broken, and despondant, they prayed fervently for a miracle.
Suddenly, the sacred dragon Harsgalt lunged forth to block Madruk's advance.
Enraged, Madruk turned his fiery ardor to Harsgalt.
The battle between the holy dragon and the wicked god seemed to be without end.
In its wake, the winds howled; the oceans crashed, and the vast land trembled violently.
One thousand days passed, and Harsgalt had only enough strength remaining to lock Madruk into a sleep.
That would keep just long enough for eight chosen heroes to be born.
Now, that time is upon us.
The final confrontation rushes forth...
Many years after the sealing of Madruk, relative peace has returned to Legendra.
Yet, the continent is now torn; one of Legendra's eight kingdoms, Fandaria, has waged war on the rest of Legendra.
The question is: whose side are you on?
From the beginning, only six of Legendra's eight rulers may be selected. The last two, Fandaria and Tradnor, are only selectable from the beginning of a second playthrough.
With that in mind, here are our six countries, and their respective rulers, to choose from:
Highland Kingdom
Palemoon Kingdom
Tristan Empire
Topaz Kingdom
Izumo Nation
Bozack Nation
Palemoon Kingdom
Tristan Empire
Topaz Kingdom
Izumo Nation
Bozack Nation
Thus ends the introduction. While I do have a ruler in mind for basing my playthrough on(with one of the less popular, yet quite interesting countries), suggestions are nonetheless welcome.
cj iwakura on
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We'll be getting more into that in this update.
Part 1: The March of the Black Knight
This playthrough will be following the Tristan Empire campaign, ruled by Emperor Junon.
Let's get to know our new kingdom a little better.
Many years after the sealing of Madruk, the Fandarian King has been slain.
By his own brother, Goldark: the 'Mad Lion'.
Emperor Goldark has seized control of Fandaria, and waged war against all of Legendra.
Moreover, Junon's father was slain by Goldark.
One might call this personal.
Tristan, the northernmost Kingdom in Legendra, has sent messengers to the far southeast Highland Kingdom to propose a treaty with their reportedly just ruler, King Wein.
However, in the midst of the discussion Emperor Junon convenes with Tristan's generals to discuss Fandaria's threat, complications arise.
Scar, one of Junon's generals, proposes that Fandaria's newfound strength isn't natural.
Gaul and Scythe, two of Fandaria's generals, are considered to have demonic strength, one of which Scar encountered first-hand, to disasterous results.
Having barely escaped with his life, Scar has since vowed to destroy Scythe, and will do anything to see her dead.
Eventually the council is interrupted with unpleasant news:
All of Junon's messengers to Highland were slain.
This outrages Junon, and Tristan prepares for war.
In the meantime, at the grave of Junon's father...
The Emperor swears to honor his memory by placing Goldark's head there as an offering to him, and that Junon will continue to terrorize the fields of battle as the Black Knight of Masked Death.
This is a woman you don't want to be on the bad side of.
Alas, vengeance must wait. Domestic affairs require our attention, as they will every week of gameplay.
This is where most of the behind-the-scenes preparations of Dragon Force will take place. Here Generals can be rewarded and given new equipment, castles can be developed upon, and even captured enemies may be persuaded to change their allegiance to follow Tristan.
However, much of this won't come into play until later.
As you can see, Tristan's armada is still a little small.
Don't worry; it won't be for long.
For now, we'll end our session, and proceed to the world map. Now's the time for strategy.
Home sweet home. Well, as sweet as eternal winter can be, at least.
See that black flag? That's us.
See everyone else? That's them.
Not for long, of course.
Doesn't look that difficult from afar, but let's have a closer look...
This region is basically Ground Zero. The crossroads between Topaz, Tradnor, Fandaria, Palemoon, and Junon. All five regions have access to this area if their influence spreads far enough.
As you can imagine, it sucks to be Topaz(the central Kingdom).
Fortunately, that's his problem. We've got our own fish to fry.
Right now, our only territory is Tristan Castle.
That's not quite good enough for taking on an entire continent.
So, we'll be expanding our influence.
This is a good starting force. (We'll be leaving Ortega behind to hold the proverbial fort.)
Each General has their own special breed of soldier; of which there are approximately a dozen total.
Junon, and much of Tristan, specializes in the Harpy; excellent at taking out ground soldiers with aerial attacks.
Cinna uses Mages, suited for long-range attacks(and not much else), while Scar, Ortega, and Ayrios can also use the Soldier(generic melee combat).
For the most part, we'll be relying on the Harpies, as they can decimate almost 80% of the soldier varieties in Dragon Force with the right field placements.
We'll go more into this soon enough.
Right now, there's invading to do.
Here's a good start.
Four against three seems fair.
Maybe sending Junon herself is overkill, but it's best to use a sledgehammer when taking out mice, just to be sure.
Next time: Weeding out the Mercenaries(or: To Battle!)
Also, "Black Knight of Masked Death" is perhaps the coolest title ever.
It was. In Japan.
Sega Ages PS2 remake. New cutscenes and all.
It doesn't have a chance of being localized with WD dead and gone, so I won't bother getting my hopes up.
Yeah, I was tracking that one for months just waiting on the U.S. announcement...
Aye, the chance for mixed unit types in your armies made me drool back when it was released in Japan. I remember reading about it not being translated. I kicked a baby in protest.
This did not help me feel any better.
There's a good reason it wasn't localized.
The split troops are nice, but the graphics are actually worse. They're less colorful; everything is bland.
Also, not having any idea what's going on hurts.
And yeah, I wound up playing this through like three or four times in a row when I first got it. Every campaign is excellent.
Funny thing about Goldark and Tradnor's campaigns... they're each the hardest, but for different reasons.
With Reinhart, everyone joins you, but your army is weak.
Also, we picked Junon? Pff, that's no fun. Her army is way overpowered.
I've played this game to death between the Saturn and PS2 versions.
Aye, but the problem comes in when you now have monarchs with armies of 100 girls with sticks instead of 100 man-eating dragons.
Or am I the only one who made the all the royalty of the land into a legion of flesh-eating dragon-masters?
I usually want to take out Leon ASAP(I'm sure veterans know why), but I'll most likely move to Palemoon first, just to get the automatic allies.
Junon was my first campaign ever, so I'm biased.
And I really don't like how she's characterized in the other campaigns. She doesn't have the vicious streak in them.
The more dragons, the merrier, but Harpies > Dragons.
They're one of the few troops that can stand up to them.
(Strictly if you use standby formation.)
The game isn't even a challenge with 100 girls with sticks. You gotta suck real bad to need a crutch like that. :P
I can't remember the last time I used any sort of crest in DF.
Its true that you have to try to lose battles to actually fail, but seeing hordes of dragonmen claw face is just way more entertaining than sticks with fireballs.
And harpies were weak against two unit types (mages and archers) to dragons one (samurai). Again though, the actual difficulty admittedly isn't much of an issue. when we say difficult, its pretty safe to assume its being mentioned in context to the rest of the game and not actually "Wow this is hard."
EDIT: This thread can die in a fire by the way as I am now playing it again. As if I'm not backlogged enough as it is.
What campaign are you doing?
Also, playing as Izumo means laughing at any dragon army. I think it was the last of the eight I played as. Or maybe it was Gongos(funniest scenario ever).
I'll be doing a new update on page 2. It'll make this one easier on the loading, hopefully.
I'm so tempted to import that, by the way, but between Dragon Force 2 and Innocent Sin, I've gotten tired of getting games I can't understand.
If you remember enough of the Saturn version, you can get by just fine on the PS2 version. It isn't very different. The only things that were really changed scenario-wise were the addition of two optional boss fights: Ayame & Matsuri and Harseld.
After a few weeks, an event is triggered where your monarch's assistant tells you to check out a town to the south of Moon Palace. Taking your monarch there alone lets you fight Ayame & Matsuri. They're pretty easy. After beating them, you have to travel to the town north of Fandaria to fight Harseld, who is pretty much the most difficult opponent in the game. Decent stats, always matches your monarch's level, starts with 50 dragons, and has a troop regeneration spell that barely uses any of his power meter. It's a timed battle and you can't win via draw either, so it's hard to pull off without Samurai or Dragon troops and a lot of brute force. Defeating him unlocks the bonus archive feature in the Extras menu.
Firstly, a lot of Dragon Force's battles occur in real-time, so I had to take these images on the fly. The quality is a bit haphazard as a result, but I still managed some good shots.
Secondly, this will be a huge update, because I went into detail on the battle system.
Future battles won't be recreated as elaborately, promise.
Without further adieu, let's deal with this Gustav fellow.
What? No terror?
Simple, yet effective.
This is probably true.
Our army is shown on the lower left, Gustav's on the upper right.
They've selected Ramzal(no relation), a Soldier user.
So naturally, we'll send a Harpy user(Ayrios) to slaughter him.
Opening statements, gentlemen?
With that out of the way, to the battlefield!
This is Ramzal's formation: Protect. Specializes in defense; will most likely decimate an oncoming force, even if they have the advantage in character type.
Special Formation places the whole army in one spot, while Offense places most in the front, and Defense places the majority of the soldiers in the rear.
This being my first battle in a long time, I went with my traditional standard.
Special ~> Advance, since Harpies >>> Soldiers.
Go forth!
As you can see, bad idea. Protect wins over Advance, even though Harpies are better than Soldiers.
I think they could use some help.
This is where the Commanders come in handy.
SHINKUU-
There, much better.
Unfortunately, he's not quite down. When both commanders armies are completely wiped out, we go to the Duel.
A one-on-one battle, the loser of which is usually captured(most likely), injured(in the player's case), escapes(very rare, usually only for important characters), or worse case scenario, killed(very rare, but it can happen).
The player can choose to escape, but it's an automatic loss, and that character can no longer be used for the rest of the attack.
Odds are, of course, in our favor, so we're not backing down.
We let him get one shot, just to be fair.
However, victory was inevitable.
One down, two to go...
They're using a different general, so we'll do the same, giving Ayrios a break.
Be pre-paaaaaaaared
Kidd is a Thief.
Thieves like to talk smack. But they die easy.
Kidd's army is playing it more offensively.
So we'll do the opposite.
And let them come to us.
However, Thieves tend to be really quick on the attack.
Fortunately, that special doesn't do any damage to health, but it does delay the commander's Special meter, and it goes through a few soldiers on the way.
This is why you don't bring a sword to a claw fight.
Melee, in this instance, lets the soldiers out on their own, to either take out any remaining soldiers, or in this case(where there are none left), sends them all after the enemy commander.
The birds leave the nest so young these days.
I almost feel bad for him.
Almost.
Well, if you insist...
Can't say we didn't warn him. Wait, we didn't.
Dropping like flies, aren't they? But we've saved the best for last.
I'm sure Junon would want to deal with this moron personally, and so she shall.
Yeah, I wouldn't have much of a comeback to her taunt either.
Gustav here favors the Calvary.
Against Soldiers, they are the deadliest class around.
Against Harpies?
They're done for.
It's not too late for them to run.
Okay, now it is.
Talk about overkill.
Let's add some fuel to the burning ashes.
As the saying goes: toasty.
He got lucky.
Yeah, that's what they all say.
Victory! But, what do we do with the captives?
That's the fun part. ;-)
And we'll find that out in our next installment.
Next time: Diplomatic Immunity
To this day, I still don't fully understand some of the mechanics and stats governing the game though.
Also, I would like to add that dueling Mikhal with your monarch can be a bad, bad idea. The man seemed to pull off 5 hit combos like no one's business.
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3DS: 3454-0268-5595 Battle.net: SteelAngel#1772
Izumo. I have a weak-spot for kickass ninja and samurai generals.
Oh, and Hayate being close by doesn't hurt either.
I've always enjoyed using Izumo for the very fact that you got Hayate so quickly.
I have enjoyed this game very much, if you can't tell by my name.
Part 3: Of Destinies and Decapitations
As we can see, our territory's gotten a bit better. 2 out of , oh, 148 isn't so bad.
We'll be sending Junon and Ayrios back to Tristan, leaving Cinna and Scar behind.
(Why should Cinna be in charge when he had nothing to do with its capture? So he can feel wanted.)
Abandoning a castle leaves it open to recapture, and moreover, it doesn't count towards overall territory unless occupied by a member of our army.
Junon will be taking the captives along this time around(you can leave behind non-important ones if preferred).
Upon returning to base, the first priority is resupplying the troops.
The bigger a castle, the more troops it has to resupply the armies with.
The home castles almost always have the biggest stock.
Before we continue our global conquest, we should deal with our captives first.
With that in mind, we'll wait until the next domestic meeting before waging further war.
Let's take a glimpse back to Ground Zero in the meantime, shall we?
Leon seems to be doing well.
That independent ninja, not so much.
(That thief doing nothing? He'll be there for a long time coming. You'll grow to hate him.)
But we were watching the religious fanatic channel...
So that explains why the pictures are coming out like this.
Foreboding much?
This is Lord Frest, (supposedly) sent by Astea herself. Not even the true genders of black knights of masked death can be hidden from him, so Junon drops the disguise for the remainder of the conversation.
No, but if you hum a few bars...
Junon is skeptical, so further proof is presented.
Frest informs her that for Madruk to be defeated, she must find the other seven members that bear Harsgalt's crest.
That shouldn't take too long. There's only upwards of a hundred castles to search.
But, back to business, and that means dealing with Gustav.
Not very helpful.
Let's try a different persuasion tactic.
That gets results.
It's much easier to negotiate when one still has a head.
Doesn't ring a bell yet, but it will.
Muriko proposes that Golem, a merchant lord, wouldn't attack Tristan on his own.
Still, we should reward Gustav for his assistance.
After a bit more negotiation(more than likely, Junon's just wants him to shut up), we let Gustav join.
Next, the awards.
Every week, whenever battles took place during the past week, there's an award offered to each general that won a victory. Also, if an important battle was won, one gets offered to Junon automatically.
Each award lets that commander use ten more troops of a certain kind in battle(though only the sort he or she has open; blacked out varieties must be unlocked through other means).
After rewarding the victorious(another award was given to Scar, for more Harpies), we move on to the issue of the hostages.
Speaking with generals keeps Junon updated on how they're faring; if they want to fight more, fight less, or if they just outright hate you(this is likely with converted generals).
Kidd shows that even thieves have some sense.
Ramzal on the other hand, turned us down, but we can try again later. Two out of three's a good start.
Back to the battlefield...
Looks like Golem's making his move.
So much for the mercenaries. (As you can see, one is headed right for us. Her funeral.)
Next time: The Fox and the Hound
So dissapointing.
You could finish the endgame with the rulers' default troops, but I don't advise using anything but those two classes against hordes of Dragons(which almost every single endgame boss has legions of).
Also, I have no reservations about seeing this through to the end, so long as there's interest. I know the pictures suck, so if they're significantly affecting the presentation in a bad way, let me know.
I always went with that Samurai when I was a kid.
I'm hoping for the updates to be less extensive as time goes on. Most of the pictures'll be dedicated to story events and field movements. My strategies don't change much.
If they advance, I use standby. If they're on the defensive, I advance, stop just short of their position, hit the army with a special, then full charge.
This assuming my soldier type has the advantage and I'm not using something like archers or mages. (That's only an easy victory if they brought harpies and zombies.)
I'm about to march from Bloodly castle. What was a "Hey, that game was fun, lets dig it out for a laugh" has evolved into a multi-day playfest that makes a heroin addict look tame.
Combining a week vacation from work with threads like these destroy lives.
I figure by 2008 I might have gotten all of the Eight together.
(This of course assuming there's enough popular interest for me to take this that far, and I have my doubts about that.)
Also, after I take out Golem, I plan on getting Palemoon on my side. I don't think eight generals is nearly enough to go to war with Topaz.