Drakengard 2

Drakengard 2
North American box art
Developer(s)	Cavia
Publisher(s)	JP Square Enix INT Ubisoft
Producer(s)	Takamasa Shiba
Designer(s)	Kimihiko Fujisaka
Composer(s)	Nobuyoshi Sano Aoi Yoshiki Ryoki Matsumoto
Platform(s)	PlayStation 2
Release date(s)	JP June 16, 2005 NA February 14, 2006 EU March 3, 2006 AUS March 9, 2006[1]
Genre(s)	Action role-playing game Aerial combat
Mode(s)	Single-player
Distribution	1 DVD-ROM

Drakengard 2, called Drag-On Dragoon 2: Sealed Red, Immoral Black (Japanese: ドラッグ オン ドラグーン2 封印の紅、背徳の黒, Hepburn: Doraggu on doragūn 2: Fūin no kurenai, Haitoku no kuro, commonly abbreviated as DOD2) in Japan, is an action RPG for the PlayStation 2. It is the second entry in the Drakengard series and a direct sequel to the original Drakengard. Like the original, Drakengard 2 combines on-foot hack and slash with aerial combat stages reminiscent of Sega's Panzer Dragoon. It was developed by Cavia, published in Japan by Square Enix on June 16, 2005 and released in North America and Europe by Ubisoft on February 14 and March 3, 2006 respectively.^[2]

Gameplay

As with the original Drakengard, the game is split into large chapters subdivided into ground-based and airborne missions. The story of the game dictates which missions come when during the initial playthrough and how they play out, though as the player progresses, new remixed versions of the various playable levels called "free missions" are unlocked, which allow the player to go through the missions with the story elements removed. In between the various chapters and missions, the player builds up their characters using experience points earned in battle: the characters' weapons and abilities, and the abilities of the player's dragon, can be gradually improved. The player's view of the world is through a fixed camera, as with the original game, which tracks the player's progress across the player area. Collectables in the form of weapons and items such as armor and health points and items needed to progress within the level are also available for the player to seek out.^[3]

The player can jump between the game world's self-contained areas via a world map unlocked after the first chapter.^[4] Combat in the game is similar to its predecessor, with the main series of missions beginning after an opening tutorial. In ground combat, the player controls multiple characters, switching between them via the pause menu: you change characters as you change the type of weapon you wish to use. Combat is generally geared around hack-and-slash mechanics, with the player characters using their various short-range weapons to attack enemies. Also available is magical attacks, where the characters can launch fireballs into enemy formations. Aerial gameplay puts the main character atop his dragon, which is guided round by the player to attack enemy formations and large structures on the ground or enemies and airships in the sky. The dragon has the ability to launch two types of fireballs: a homing variety that deals damage to single enemies, and a widespread attack which does damage to groups. Alongside this, the dragon and its character can combine their magical powers to perform a special attack called "Dragon Overdrive", which kills many normal enemy units outright and deals high damage to bosses.^[4]

Story

Setting and Characters

Drakengard 2 takes place in an unnamed land nearly two decades after the events of Drakengard. In the original game, two powers, the Empire and the Union, waged war against each other over the Seals, magical bindings tied to a chosen Goddess of the Seal that kept dark deities known as the Watchers from appearing in the mortal world and destroying humanity.^[5] Caught up in the conflict were Caim and Angelus, a human and a dragon who had made a pact (a magical ritual that linked their souls), and fought to try and keep both the Seals and the Goddess safe. They failed, and the world was in danger of collapse, but Angelus allowed herself to become the new Goddess. Eighteen years later, the Seals are protected by the Knights of the Seal, who eventually grow to become a dominating force in the land.^[6]

The game's main character is Nowe (ノウェ, Nōe), a Knight of the Seal gifted with superhuman powers. Nowe's companion is Legna (レグナ, Reguna), a dragon who helped raise Nowe and was involved in the events of 18 years before. Accompanying Nowe on his journey is Eris (エリス, Erisu), a female Knight of the Seal and Nowe's childhood friend; Manah (マナ, Mana), a woman who was possessed by the Watchers in her young years and now seeks to free the people from the oppression of the Knights; and Urick (ユーリック, Yūrikku) a former Knight who made a pact with the Grim Reaper in exchange for his mortality. The main villain of the game is Gismor (ジスモア, Jisumoa), leader of the Knights of the Seal. Returning from the first game are Caim (カイム, Kaimu), the previous game's main protagonist; Angelus (アンヘル, Anheru), the current Goddess of the Seal; and Seere (セエレ, Sēre), once a companion to Caim and now the Hierarch of the Union.

Plot

The game begins with Nowe, a boy raised by a dragon, joining the Knights of the Seal, whose purpose is to protect the keys holding the red dragon's seal in place, which prevents the end of the world. Nowe begins to wonder about the ethics of the Knights when he discovers that the keys are powered by the life force of some of the land's citizens. His faith is further shaken when the leader of the Knights, General Gismor, tries to poison him, then reveals that he poisoned his predecessor, General Oror, Nowe's adoptive father. Nowe's anger prompts him to attack Gismor, severing his arm, before fleeing from him and the other Knights. Eris, a friend of Nowe's within the Knights, sets off to convince Nowe to return. While on the run, he is accompanied by his dragon Legna. They soon meet Manah, a sorceress on a quest to free the people from the rule of the Knights. Nowe decides to join her. During their travels, they meet Urick, an ex-Knight who trained under General Oror. After some time, they arrive at the District of Shining Life, which Caim is already assaulting. Nowe then discovers that Urick is the guardian of the district. Because he has become close friends with Urick, Nowe attempts to save Urick's life by challenging Caim himself. Urick, however, is still mortally wounded during the battle; Urick manages to push Caim into a chasm before he dies. With Urick's death, the key in the district is destroyed.

Nowe repeats this for the other keys, killing their guardians to destroy their keys. The last key, Nowe discovers, is guarded by General Gismor, who Nowe discovers is actually a phantom of darkness. Eris is stabbed and thought to be killed at this time, as Gismor uses her as a human shield. Nowe defeats Gismor, but before he can strike him down, Gismor destroys his key so Nowe can’t have the pleasure of killing him. With the destruction of the keys, Angelus, the red dragon of the seal, is released. She begins a rampage across the land, having been driven mad by the tortures of being the seal. Nowe receives a note from Caim saying to slay Angelus because he just wants to see her one more time. Nowe and Legna then battle with Angelus and slay her. As she dies, she is reunited with Caim and the two fade together.^[7]

With Angelus dead and all the Seals destroyed, Legna carries Nowe to a repository of knowledge created by the holy dragons, where he learns of a prophecy that he will end the war between the dragons and the gods. At this time, Eris catches up to Nowe and joins him. Legna then carries Nowe to an artifact called the Bone Casket. Legna says that Nowe must enter the casket to fulfill the prophecy. The player is then given the option of having Nowe enter the casket or refuse to do so. If Nowe refuses, Legna attacks him, forcing Nowe to slay Legna. Eris reveals herself to be a goddess, and becomes the seal to restore order to the world, much to Nowe and Manah's sadness.^[8] If Nowe agrees to climb into the casket, the casket attacks Nowe, forcing him to battle it. During the battle, the casket merges with Manah, forcing Nowe to kill both the casket and Manah.^[9] At this point, Nowe, Legna and Eris resolve to join the dragons in their war with the gods.^[10] In a third ending, Manah manages to stop the casket merging with her, and faced with this defeat, Legna reveals that he only cared for Nowe so he could use him as a weapon, prompting the battle between Nowe and Legna. With Legna's death, both the gods and the dragons fade away, negating the need for a seal and allowing humanity to make their own future, whatever it may be.^[11]

Development

Drakengard 2 was announced in December 2004.^[12] It was designed to keep the dark aesthetics of its predecessor, with immorality as one of the key character and narrative themes, as well as themes of war and death present in the first game.^[13] Character designer Kimihiko Fujisaka returned to the team,^[14] alongside actor Shinnosuke Ikehata, who voiced the dragon Angelus and its partner Caim in the previous game.^[13] The cast featured multiple film and television actors, including Ryo Katsuji, Saki Aibu, Koyuki and veteran actor Yoshio Harada.^[15] The game's producer, Takamasa Shiba, commented at the time that he felt they had gathered a very good voice cast for the game.^[16] Drakengard 2's soundtrack was composed Nobuyoshi Sano, who worked on the music of Drakengard and co-composed the score with Aoi Yoshiki and Ryoki Matsumoto.^[17] The soundtrack was designed to evoke the story's theme of "fusion", the emotions of the various characters and the feeling of battle.^[18] The game's theme song in Japan, Hitori, was sung by Mika Nakashima, and based on a previous composition for Star Ocean: The Second Story.^[19] Nakashima also worked as a producer for the soundtrack.^[20]

In contrast to the previous game, the game contained far less of the mature themes found in the original. Shiba, speaking in a 2013 interview, said that the reason for this was that Square Enix, the company's Japanese publisher, wanted that aspect toned down to make a more mainstream game.^[21] While Square Enix published the title in Japan, they entered an agreement with developer and publishing company Ubisoft to publish the title overseas.^[22]

Reception

Drakengard 2 sold well in Japan. The game sold 100,000 units in its first week on sale.^[22] It eventually sold just over 206,000 copies by the end of 2005.^[30] The game received mixed to negative reviews in the west, with many aspects, such as the story, graphics, sound and other aspects coming in for shares of both praise and criticism. The gameplay was universally criticized as being repetitive. On aggregate review sites Metacritic and GameRankings, it scored 50/100^[24] and 62.70%^[23] respectively.

IGN's Ed Lewis gave it an average 6.3/10, citing the graphics as "more interesting than the first game, but marginally so", the gameplay as being without strategy and "just dumping in more boring enemies to wade through", and that the fixed camera as having "a terrible habit of snapping in close (as close as Nowe's belt), or zapping another way while whipping back and forth." Lewis praised the character designs, although he found the enemy designs lacking, and also found that the story "[continued] the bizarre and fantastically medieval world that was established in the original game." He rounded out the review saying that "[the game] improves in every area of the original except where it needed it most: the repetitive gameplay."^[29]

The reviewer for 1Up.com gave the game a low rating of D+, criticized it for repeating the mistakes of the original. The reviewer heavily crisscrossed the graphics as "[not being able to] hold up to the visual quality of Cavia's other titles like Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex [or] Naruto: Uzumaki Ninden". The controls the reviewer called "essentially the same", and that the combat was "almost sickening to look at.", althoguh the RPG elements did receive praise, being called "one of [the game's] few redeeming qualities". The reviewer ended by saying "If there's any reason to recommend seeing this wholly lackluster sequel through to the end, it's that there's a clear undercurrent of "maybe the good guys are the bad guys," and if you've already put down the money to play the game, you might as well get what you came for."^[25]

GameTrailers gave it a rating of 6.2/10. The reviewer referred to the game's story as "a cookie-cutter RPG plot", saying that players "should be able to predict nearly every plot twist the game throws at [them]." The combat was criticized, with the reviewer saying there was "there’s nothing new here." The graphics were cited as a mixed batch, with character animations receiving praise, but the environments being cited as bland, while the reviewer felt that there were too few FMVs and too many game engine-driven cutscenes, which he described as "awful". The reviewer ended by saying "The tools were definitely in place for Drakengard 2 to be an epic adventure. [...] Unfortunately, these tools were unrealized. Drakengard 2 fails with its basic game design, all too common hack ‘n slash combat and predictable storyline."^[28]

GameSpot's Gred Meuller gave the game a more favorable 7/10. He cited the story "Interesting [...] with plenty of twists and turns", and the music and voice acting as good, although he noted that "a couple of the voices do tend to get annoying, which is unfortunate, since they happen to be the voices you'll hear the most." He cited the mission gameplay as "dull at best and frustrating at worst", while he noted that the graphics seemed "dated", with environments seeming "bland and drab, and the enemies [looking] generic, so you'll see the same few foes reused constantly throughout the entire game." He ended by saying: "While Drakengard didn't do anything specifically new, it managed to offer an interesting blend of different action and role-playing elements, as well as a crazy storyline. [...] Add it all up, and Drakengard 2 is an appealing package, despite its flaws."^[27]

Eurogamer's Simon Parkin gave the game a score of 6/10. He cited the story as being very good, though he found Nowe "a little nauseating to watch as the weighty, dark (and pretty good) plot unfolds". He praised the characters' levelling system, but felt it was undermined by Nowe being the only one who could use the dragon in battle. He criticises the game's graphic capacities, commenting that players would "stop watching the main screen instead fixing upon the little map in the corner to guide your character towards hostile red dots that only materialize polygonal just seconds before you lock swords." He also called the battle gameplay "lightweight" and the balance between ground and aerial combat poor. He ended by calling the game "a split sequel", citing both the ambition behind it and the poor or repetitive design and gameplay choices.^[26]

Legacy

In September 2013, the game was given an honorable mention among Kotaku's Tim Rogers as one of the best games on the PS2. Rogers gave praise to the game's parry mechanic and atmosphere.^[31] Yoko and Shiba teamed up again to create another game in the series, but that eventually developed into Nier, a spin-off from the first game's fifth ending.^[32] After Nier's release, Cavia was absorbed into AQ Interactive,^[33] then Yoko left to become a freelance.^[34] An attempt by Shiba to begin development of a third Drakengard game at AQ Interactive were unsuccessful.^[35] Drakengard 3 was eventually unveiled in 2013, with Shiba, Yoko and Fujisaka returning to their former roles and the story being set before the original game.^[36][37] Both Shiba and Yoko have voiced their willingness to continue the series on next-generation consoles if there were sufficient sales and funds, while Yoko also expressed interest in making a second spin-off, although he did not specify whether it would be set in the world of Nier or not.^[38][39]

See also

• List of dragon video games

References

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Drakengard

• Official website (Japanese)
• Official website (English) (North America)

v t e Drakengard series Main series Drakengard 2 3 Characters Spin-offs Nier Music Book • Category