Ghost of Dragon

跑路的丢人玩意

[b]Overall[/b] This is a better game than its predecessor in most respects, but it is lacking some of the unique charm of Dragon's Cliff. The amount of changes to the core system make it clear this is a spiritual successor rather than a true sequel to Dragon's Cliff. Those who go into it looking for a sequel will be disappointed, those willing to accept an Idle RTS-RPG with similar themes will be delighted. [b]Upsides[/b] It's a much deeper and more complex story that is definitely reminiscent of Dragon's Cliff. The translation is significantly better than in Dragon's Cliff. The grammar is much improved and the dialogue is generally coherent despite some very long monologues (yes, this is a low-bar, but it's miles above most other entries in the genre). The battle graphics are very well-done and more distinct 3D instead of charming but generic pixel art. Town management is significantly more engaging. Most elements of the combat and forging systems were retained. There's a nice battery/cpu saving mode for idling that Dragon's Cliff could sorely use. Game has more content than Dragon's Cliff. [b]Downsides[/b] Dragon's Cliff executed pixel art so well that a decent execution of a 3D transition still somewhat disappoints. The art direction in Dragon's Cliff were much more unified. The tavern, battle arena and town screens all feel like they could be from separate games in Ghost Of Dragon. The Adventurer icons overlap. NPCs talk in walls of text. Translation's rarer missteps are much more notable due to the greater emphasis placed on the narrative. (One sidequest is particularly mangled) Game has more content than Dragon's Cliff, but is abandoned.* *Note - as far as I can tell, about 10 untranslated lines, a bad side-quest translation, and a post-game artifact system placeholder are the only truly not implemented items. The 'Soul' element is also somewhat under-represented, with not enough adventurers to fill a full line-up, but there are sufficient pets to deploy a 7 soul unit team out of 8. [b]YMMV[/b] (Your mileage may vary) Late and post-game are significantly slower than Dragon's Cliff. Expect some timewalls of a few days. 8 units instead of 5 units. Time-based instead of turn-based combat. Combat end-condition is based on time passed rather than turns passed. *** [b]In-depth Review[/b] Let's get this out of the way. This is not a normal abandoned game that isn't complete. It's closer to 99.99% complete. The main story is completely done, and the post-games only issue is having a placeholder graphic. It looks like the Developers abandoned it right before the finish line after it received worse feedback than their prior project. I've played many AAA releases with worse issues AFTER their day 0 patches. Why was it so poorly received? The translation is of acceptable quality, the graphics are good, the storyline isn't bad. Two reasons, both of which are jarring changes from the predecessor. The walls of text NPCs is an understatement. It's a large change from the minimalist NPCs in Dragon's Cliff. Secondly, The battle system has some differences that feel minor at first but wind up being very large. In Dragon's cliff, the game was balanced around both surviving and doing enough damage within a turn limit. In Ghost Of Dragon it is instead about doing enough damage within a time limit. This turns it into a time-based rather than actions-based game. This may sound minor, but it's an entire philosophy change. Going up to 8 unit teams makes combat even less similar to the predecessor. It's actually a quite good implementation of combat with a lot of overlapping mechanics, but GoD feels more like a semi-idle RTS than a semi-idle turn-based RPG. This game is for people who really liked the story, theme, and mechanics of Dragon's Cliff. Those who played it for the charming atmosphere and nostalgic pixel warriors will be disappointed.