Dragonview Reviews

Drakkhen's much more fun sequel. Throw boomerangs at toads for fun and profit.

Dragonview is a half decent SNES game. It's meant to be a sequel to the classic hardcore RPG Drakkhen (Dragon View's name in Japan being "Super Drakkhen") with a focus on a story that's a lot more action oriented than the original RPG.

DragonView is a quite interesting obscure RPG that was originally released on the SNES. Over the years it has amassed a bit of a cult following due to some of the aspects that make it unique, and while it's arguably just above average in quality, its uniqueness is what makes it worth playing. The story is probably the game's weakest point. It's a generic story about a hero in a fantasy setting having to save his girlfriend (and the world) from an evil wizard who wants to destroy the world. While not groundbreaking, it does a good job at keeping the player engaged, telling the story in a way reminiscent of dungeon masters in pen & paper roleplaying campaigns. NPC's dialogues will change depending on which part of the story the player's in, so there's always some incentive to go back to earlier areas to talk to everyone again. What sets DragonView apart from other action RPGs? The combat and the structure. While the game remains relatively linear from beginning to end in terms of the order in which you have to do things, the open world gives the player freedom to explore almost every area early on, with plenty of secrets to be found around the continent. The open world exploration has a first person perspective, whereas dungeons and random encounters are done as side-scrolling beat 'em ups, fusing the RPG and beat 'em up genre very well. That said, the game will etiher be too easy or too hard depending on how much you're willing to grind, thankfully, levelling up isn't too hard. The dungeon design is good, for the most part. It can be a bit confusing at times, and so can the overworld map. The directions NPCs give you are usually clear, but even then the first person perspective can make exploration a bit of a hassle. When it comes to the game's presentation, visually speaking it doesn't look too bad, but it definitely won't blow your mind, although I have to admit the sprite's animations are impressive for its time. Soundtrack could have been better, although it does have a few highlights here and there. Why do I recommend DragonView, considering its age and the fact that this is basically an emulator + ROM bundle? Honestly, despite its shortcomings it's a very interesting experience that I think is worth playing to this day due to its unique qualities. The emulator it comes with is not particularly good, so you can always take the ROM from the folder and play it through another one. While cheesy at times, the game manages to retain a certain charm to it that not many other games that have attempted to fuse the beat 'em up and RPG genres have. It took me around 8 hours to beat the game having gotten almost every single optional upgrade and without having done much grinding.

Dragon View is an old B level action rpg from the ol' SNES. The game stars Alex, a young knight in training who's girlfriend gets kidnapped by monsters. From there, things take a very familiar turn with him seeking her out in order to save the land from demons. The gameplay is basic yet solid as it is a beat-em up with some basic platforming mixed in as well. The action isn't linear as other beat-em ups. The graphics are very nice for the time and day it was created. The soundtrack is solid and enjoyable. The tunes aren't exactly super memorable, they do fit the themes and setting rather well. Since this is an old SNES game (how they were able to get the license, I don't know), you are getting the ROM with an emulator. I didn't have any issue with the emulator. Setting up my Logitech controller with it was super easy. So why pick up this game? I recommend it for folks who are looking for a solid action RPG. It's a bit different from other games from the time. It is rather polished, but not to the same extent as some of the other big games from the time such as Super Mario RPG and Secret of Mana. I find this game rather enjoyable in short to medium bursts. The game has obvious, and sometimes frustrating, bursts of difficulty due to enemies having dramatic increases in attack and defense due to changes in areas. For 7 bucks, this is a great game to pick up. There's a reason that this game has such a cult following and it is a shame that it never caught on.

Simply put, if you are a big fan of Drakkhen on SNES you will probably not like this game. The 2D story and battle elements feel loose and generic, the 3D engine looks inferior and pixelated compared to the SNES Drakkhen (which looked poly), and the soundtrack is a generic boring SNES reverb-laden fantasy soundtrack. Dragonview is just generic, in my opinion, and not worth the time of anyone.

This is a must play for any fans of Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link! Great story great pacing and awesome graphics! This game plays like smooth a modern retro title, (The messenger, Bloodstained curse of the moon) Different type of game but the controls are spot on! If you like Action Rpgs or just great games in general this will be a great way to spend 5 bucks!

This game is, in my humble opinion, a masterpiece of SNES era design. The story is uniquely told through an almost storybook presentation, and you control a warrior named Alex- questing to rescue his beloved from the clutches of an evil wizard. It's simple, but effective- with an omnipotent narrator seemingly watching events unfold as you play. Gameplay is a hybrid between first-person exploration of a quite pretty(if somewhat spacious) overworld, and a hack n slash 2D fighting in dungeons, overworld encounters and towns. You'll slice and dice with a standard sword and a not so standard bladed disc of awesome known as the Hauza; both have a pleasant mix of animations and sound effects combining to ensure combat has a satisfying crunch. You'll gain experience, upgrade both weapons and armor(with lovely sprite/color changes for all three), and even equip and enhance various elemental magicks. Friendly wizards are not to be passed by, especially if they appear stranded. Dragonview never feels like a grind, thanks to smart enemy placement, some clever abilities(Sword and Hauza Arts are a life saver) and simply good design all around. Around the gorgeous map you'll find stars, these will glow blue when you've wandered across two that connect, and serve as warp points. Other unique features might be accessible with correct items. Graphics are a pleasant surprise for the time, with verdant greens and desolate plains, excellent large sprites for each enemy and environment, and a variety of effects like weather and fire. The overworld is full of strange areas, from achingly sweet grasslands, snowtouched mountains, eerie swamps, and hellish infernos. Dungeons have a mix of environments too, with no place feeling cookie-cutter or devoid of detail, and each town is a unique place with a delightful array of NPCS. Personality is a huge factor here; you'll find a girl swinging her legs on a water barrel, a concerned father trying to reconnect with his daughter, a shopkeep with a personal quest, and a spooky robed figure always willing to sell you something you can't find anywhere else... Special mention to the map itself, a delightfully varied place full of color and mystery- even if you can't explore every corner, sadly. A few negatives might be the combat system still having some kinks to work out with hit detection, some over powered baddies if you wander too far, and the in-game maps you can access occasionally not overlapping to where you currently are. It happens rarely, but can be frustrating. Guides are available online, and several are invaluable. And finally, the music- it's absolutely gorgeous. 16-bit symphonies of heartfelt tunes range from heroic anthems, spooky sirens, and themes to make you adventure into the sunset to fight monsters. Areas have unique themes, and even some towns do too! The particular theme that plays in the first few grassy overworld sections are my favorites, and just sound delightfully "homey". At any rate, I loved this game, and I think you would too.

This is action rpg with good length from the SNES era that I enjoyed back then. In this version is well emulated, and it has the quick save feature just in case you get stuck. It may be cheating, but it does help in very tedious situations. I also added this game in my curator page since it is DRM free, if you care for a list of games where you don't have to be forced to use the STEAM client. https://store.steampowered.com/curator/38286811-Neo-DRM-Freedom-Ark/?appid=784010

In the mood for an obscure 90s SNES RPG that pretty much no one played? Dragonview might be what you're looking for. Piko's output is kind of hit and miss, but this one is a legit hidden gem that was totally overlooked at the time and worth a few bucks if you enjoy retro games. Dragonview is a strange blend of first-person exploration and third-person hack-and-slash combat. You wander around an overworld map that's legitimately in 3D -running on the Drakkhen engine- and is pretty fun to explore, given the age of the game. Towns and dungeons are in a side-scrolling beat-em-up view a bit like Knights Of The Round, that sort of thing. The beat-em-up action is very well implemented, and handles nicely. As with most ARPGs of the time, your power increases with levels, so difficulty can be mitigated by grinding. (and it's not *that* tough) You've also got the usual assortment of Zelda-esque magical doodads which can be used to attack enemies and solve puzzles. So, it's fun. The dungeons are well-constructed, and the difficulty level is actually pretty balanced compared to other games of the era. Although it isn't shy about brutalizing you if you wander into a high-level area you shouldn't be in. Save(scum) often! Otherwise, you're a hero slashing his way through countless enemies to save his girlfriend and kill the bad wizard, so don't expect a plot that's terribly deep. But, it's actually better-written than some contemporaries, and NPC dialogue frequently updates, which is a nice touch. Oh, and the music is nice enough, although a bit cliched - lots of flutes and pizzicato strings. And... that's really it. This is a 16-bit game, after all. One might wish that there were more to this package than just a ROM+emulator but it is what it is, and what it is is a forgotten classic. If this sounds like something you might like, you probably will.

This is an emulator + ROM bundle. But it's a good way to legally have an actually half decent SNES game to play, if a little cheesy in parts. It's meant to be a sequel to the classic hardcore RPG Drakkhen (Dragon View's name in Japan being "Super Drakkhen") with a focus on a story that's a lot more action oriented than the original RPG. It uses Mednafen which is a decent emulator. It has simple control options(supporting controllers), a "Smoothing" filter which appears to be a simple bilinear filter, and ten save state slots. If you wanna play this in another emulator, the ROM itself is in "/res/game" and is a 2MB ROM. I recommend BizHawk(you'll need to add the ".sfc" extension or it will not load), or higan(extremely accurate emulator, high sysreqs) It's been modified to remove all the old Kemco branding - I can't quickly tell if it's been patched in any other way(such as bug fixes etc) Pros: emulation is fast and uses a decent enough emulator no noticeable slowdown nice backdrop art in fullscreen Controls are snappy and there's no noticeable input lag Cons: Display mode is not 4:3 aspect, game looks squished horizontally. Only one filtering option - no upscaling filters or retro feel/CRT filters. No option to turn off the borders in fullscreen (though they're nice, still no option to turn off) Verdict: I recommend this, because Dragon View is a good game, and the only complaints I have are with the emulator which I feel is lacking in features a little. It's well worth the five bucks if you want a legal way to play the game(given you'd be paying upwards of a hundred bucks for an original cartridge).