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O.M.G.
I've been playing this since Friday morning and it's unbelievable! Over 170 characters and each with multiple lines of real speech dialog boggles the mind how they fit it all onto a single GD-ROM. This game is HUGE! So far I've discovered 4 huge maps, each with sooo many quests. The gameplay is hardly liner. There are some areas that can only be unlocked by completing certain tasks, but they're few and far between. You can go anywhere and do anything. The mini quests are really fun. In the game you have the chance to power up in four areas: knowledge, reputation, strength, and health. Health only maxs at 100% but you have to increase each of the other through 8 levels. Once you reach certain levels you can then access parts of the game where the mini quests require minimum levels. I haven't touched it ever since I got it about a year ago. The most I did was just try out the beginning where you have to oil your dragon, but that was it. I can't believe I let this one sit on the shelf for so long. The only downside to the game is the incredibly long loading times ( I just checked and one clocked in at 40 seconds.), but the maps are big enough that there's a lot to do before you need to go to another area in the game. Has anyone else played this / won it yet? Right now I've made it to the fourth island (I won't say anything so I don't ruin the story). |
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This game is based on a book series. My brother has read most of them and is a bit fan. He got the game a while back but, it was either to scratched, or was a PAL version in an NTSC case. I still need to take a look at it.
The fun you are having right now with this game, is one of the huge reasons why the Dreamcast amazes me so much. There is always some obscure title you can find, that you never thought to play, and will be totally blown away by. I wonder if the loading times for this game rival Soldier of Fortunes. 40 seconds is a long time, but I think Soldier of Fortunes were over the minute mark. I will have to try and track this game down, or ask my brother to come over with his copy so we can play it. |
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| _________________ I'm already numero uno on Dark Helmet's hit list... |
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Yeah, I saw that on the front cover of the case. I'm actually tempted now to go out and get the series so I can learn the full story behind it. They make a lot of references in the game that are really easy to forget / get confused by but there are tons of in-game scrolls to read that give a lot of background information.
The game is very similar to Shenmue in that you have to go around asking a lot of questions to solve the mystery of Pern. In some respects, it's also a bit like Prince of Persia (coincidentally a game that Ubi also did) since there's a bit of leaping onto / pulling yourself onto ledges / cliffs). The guy also sounds a lot like the voice actor who did the North American Ryo voiceover. I'll have to look it up to see if they're the same. It's definitely worth picking up. The loading times aren't too bad. I think you're right Nikon about Soldier of Fortune. The loading only really bogs down when you're loading a really big part of the game like the outdoor markets. The areas of Soldier of Fortune weren't really that big to begin with given the loading times. |
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| this isnt the PAL version of draconus is it? sounds alot better however Dranconus got called somthing else over here (pal). what genre would you say it is? im interested now lol. lozz. | ||||
| _________________ It has to start somewhere It has to start sometime What better place than here What better time than now All hell can't stop us now |
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No, Draconus: Cult of Wyrm and Dragon Riders: Chronicles of Pern are two differnt games. Here's the PAL version: link. | |||
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I read on Pern story years ago. Heavy emphasis on the dragons and the populace constantly living in fear of Thread. Seemed like a cool universe, but I didn't have time back then to really get into it.
I've been trying to track that game out for quite a while, but I've been a little put off by negative reviews on several websites. Good to hear a hands-on from someone that is positive. |
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Dreamcast ™ wrote:
Has anyone else played this / won it yet? Right now I've made it to the fourth island (I won't say anything so I don't ruin the story). I own it and beat it quite a long time ago. I really enjoyed the story and the worlds, but the gameplay is very sloppy and there are quite a few bugs. And like you said, load times are petty bad, especially for a game that's not really exceptional looking. But again, it's a pretty solid game as far as story and adventuring go. The main problem that I had is the control method. I like absolute control methods where I push a direction and my character moves in that direction. This game uses relative controls where you turn a direction and then hit up on the stick to move in that direction (I think it's because it's a PC port and that control method actually makes sense on a keyboard). It's pretty diorienting sometimes, but you kind of get used to it. I remember one bug where I couldn't get out of a cave because the exit to the cave was kind of hidden by a rock and when I walked behind the rock, I lost sight of my character which meant that I should have been taken to the next screen. However, my character got stuck behind the rock and because of the fixed camera angles and the relative control method, I couldn't tell how the hell to get back to where I was to try to get the area to load again. Eventually it all worked out, but it took like 10 minutes. Another thing that was pretty bad in my opinion was the combat. The sense of depth in this game is weird, so you'll swing your sword, notice you're too far and then nudge a little closer, try again, lather, rinse, and repeat. But really, despite all of these flaws, I liked the game. I also liked the cool little dragon thingy that you can breed to follow you around. |
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| _________________ "From now on, ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which I will not put." (Winston Churchill) |
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Was the cave part right after you hear from Jim (the lost boy) and he tells you that you have to go around?  Haha, I had the same problem. I just keep turning a little and then held the button down until I could get out. It was pretty frustrating.
Personally, I think the game looks great graphically given the amount of sound samples on that disc. I'm sure they probably had to bump the bitmaps down. I don't know if it's a PC port. I know it came out for both DC and PC platforms, but I think they came out around the same time. |
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Yeah, the PC and DC versions came out at around the same time, but I think it's pretty obvious that the controls were designed around the PC version. It looks pretty good just not great, but again, my memory is pretty fuzzy. I haven't popped the game into my Dreamcast in probably 2 1/2 years. I really don't remember at what point in the game I couldn't get out of the cave, but since you had the exact same problem, I'll assume it was at the same place. I think there was a snake or two to kill inside that cave if that helps at all. | |||
| _________________ "From now on, ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which I will not put." (Winston Churchill) |
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Yeah, that's exactly where it was. | |||
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Sounds like an awesome game, but i have to say i've never heard of it until I opened this topic! I'll have to look for a copy.
Loading times don't really bother me...except Soldier Of Fortune. I believe if you were good you could complete the first level quicker than the time it took to load it...not good at all. |
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Great to see others enjoying it. Personally I think the graphics are very good. The areas are huge and impressive.
There are some flaws, most of them mentioned already. The odd bug here and there, the sloppy combat, the fact you can't ride the dragon in realtime(now that would have been good , the loading times.....
BUT!, the world of Pern is well realised, the story is good, the music exceptional. The voices are well done and lip syncing is cool despite not being 100% accurate. Yes it had loads of terrible reviews, but I think that is true of most adventures on the DC. People generally wanted bright arcadey games on the DC and were put off games which are usually the preserve of the PC. Nomad Soul, Shadowman, D2 and even Sonic Adventure and Shenmue were criticised by some for being boring ! With the 'endless wandering' and 'interaction between your character and NPC's' leading to many reviewers- those hooked on Crazy Taxi and Virtua Tennis -having a problem with their attention span. If you'd like a long, immersive adventure fix on DC then I'd recommend it. |
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