Dragonview

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.

Ein echter Geheimtip zweier Genres Dragon View ist eine echt clevere Mischung aus Rollenspiel und Beat' em Up-Brawler. Ihr mögt die Strukturen klassischer Rollenspiele, habt aber keinen Bock auf Rundenkämpfe? Dann schaut euch dieses Spiel an! Die Fights sind leicht zu steuern, actionreich und hängen letztendlich doch von den Statistikwerten des Helden ab. Soll heißen, dass der Spieler den Schwierigkeitsgrad durch das Allheilmittel „Grinding“ selbst bestimmen kann. Ist der aktuelle Bossgegner zu hart, können ein paar Level-Ups wahre Wunder wirken. Negativ betrachtet ist der Einfluss der Statistika vielleicht sogar zu eingreifend, aber wie auch immer. Die andere große Besonderheit im Spiel ist natürlich die 3D-Karte, welche eine Semi-Open-World offenbart, die so einige Power-Ups und Schätze versteckt hält. Hierdurch lädt das Spiel sowohl zum Erkunden, als auch zum Verirren ein, denn Karten für die Oberwelt bekommt man erst nach und nach zur Verfügung gestellt. Schade, dass sich die Oberweltkarte etwas sperrig anfühlt. Auch die Ladezeiten beim Übergang in neue Levelabschnitte zerren auf Dauer an den Nerven. Diese gewöhnungsbedürftige Zähigkeit ist dann auch der große Knackpunkt an Dragon View. Dennoch ist das Spiel ein waschechter Geheimtipp, den ich jedem Interessierten wärmstens empfehlen kann. Pro und Kontra: Pro: - cleverer und sehr spaßiger Mix aus Brawler und RPG - NPCs mit Relevanz und Persönlichkeit - lädt zum Erkunden ein - ansprechende audiovisuelle Präsentation (auch wenn die Oberklasse in dieser Hinsicht nicht erreicht wird) Neutral: - solide Spieldauer von 10-15 Stunden - fairer Steam-Preis von 3,99 € Kontra: - ca. 40 Prozent des Bildschirms werden vom HUD beansprucht - technisch beeindruckende aber optisch hässliche und sperrig zu navigierende 3D-Weltkarte - die RPG-Statistiken haben einen zu hohen Einfluss auf den Schwierigkeitsgrad - die Ladezeiten bei Übergängen in neue Levelabschnitte sind auf Dauer nervig und machen das Spiel dezent träge

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

As someone passionate about old and obscure games, it was hell of a experience. I wasn't expecting this game to be that good. If you encounter a bug in the Ortah temple, just load the game normally (from within the game, not from the emulator).

RPG com elementos semelhantes ao antecessor Drakkhen. Um game que eu adoraria ter jogado na época em que foi lançado pela primeira vez. Acho muito bacana o trabalho da Piko, que resgata games dos anos 80 e 90 que foram pouco divulgados.

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.

Bieda RPG oryginalnie wydany w 1994 roku na SNES. Port PC jest w porządku, ale do sterowania koniecznie potrzebny jest pad. Uruchamia się i śmiga bezproblemowo. Jest to całkiem niezła gra a byłaby dobra, gdyby nie backtracking, nieczytelna główna mapa z widoku FPP, po której się poruszamy (można się łatwo zgubić)- jeśli wejdziemy do danej miejscówki to widok jest z boku i jest wtedy dużo lepiej. Fabularnie nawet nie pamiętam o co tu chodziło. Po prostu szedłem zgodnie ze wskazówkami od NPC. Wrogowie w danych miejscach po ponownym wejściu do nich odradzają się. Walka jest nawet Ok. Rozwój postaci minimalistyczny, na który nie mamy wpływu. Bardziej to gra akcji. Muzyka z czasem robi się irytująca. Niemniej jako całość wypada nawet dobrze. Ot niezły staroć dostępny nierzadko za kilka złotych. Tylko dla miłośników takich "wiekowych" produkcji. 6,5/10

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!

Really could have used a once-over or at least an emulator with more features. Dragon View is technically better than OG Drakkhen but somehow managed to age worse than Super Drakkhen by no longer being interestingly bad. On paper DV has better gameplay just by virtue of letting you actually control the action. But in practice, it's a beat 'em up that gives enemies invincibility time after every hit so you're not allowed to combo or do anything more interesting than poking and running. The fights end up feeling more plain and redundant than having a whole automated party shambling around at once. As an RPG, the fantasy story elements are mind-numbingly generic and all action maps are hallways so there's basically nothing to explore, just tiresomely backtrack. Every vertical screen transition is painfully slow as you watch the protagonist spend several seconds waddling up or down to the next screen. It's so bad that an emulator with a frame skip is practically a must, and this Steam version is missing that. This is a game so grindy that it pads out your ability to see the world map, where pro action replay codes to skip things like gathering money is one of the only ways to make it feel like it has any flow. The game is technically better than Drakkhen. But, man, do I wish they added some polish. A smoother moving 3D map. Combo mechanics. An ability to equip multiple items and weapons using modern controllers with more buttons. Just a slight rebalancing on drop rates to make things less grindy. Faster vertical waddling. Fantasy beat 'em ups with RPG elements are a weirdly sparse genre to this day, so getting to see one of the oldest fulfill some of its potential would have been neat. Maybe enough weirdos like me spent money on this that Atari can fund a real sequel like with Yar. I'd love to see a game that's as bonkers weird as the original Drakkhen but continues the SNES tradition of improving its mechanics to be more playable.

so sick...