Warning! The Following Review was done by someone that might be Insane.

It is also horribly put together!  It also might contain some mild spoilers..

Not like I’m listing bosses but.. you should at least guess what

the last boss is by now.. Read the title of the game… Read IT!

You have been warned?

Dragon's Crown.. The 100 Million Yen game made by Vanillaware is finally out... 
So before we get this "Review/Me beating up a keyboard like I am murdering it"...
You Will Have Two Paths to Pick! 
You may pick Path A... The Real Short Path...
Or you may pick Path B... The Long Path... 
Wait.. This is Like that game I played.. What was it called...

                                      

                                     PATH A!

You Picked Wisely! You want to go straight to the point right away! 
You just Died of Conjunctivitis! Wait.. No your still alive..
Well your on the short path so... I say.. 
Dragon's Crown is one of the best games to ever be released on the Vita.
See.. That was short.. To the Point.. No Violence.. Lots of Dots.. Go Buy The Game..
Or you can continue onto Path B?

                                     PATH B!

Welcome To Path B! Its a long Path, So be prepared!
Dragon's Crown is a hybrid Beat em up meets RPG developed by Vanillaware and 
Published by Atlus for the Playstation 3 and PlayStation Vita. Most that will
read this has heard of Vanillaware.. They made games like Princess Crown, 
Odin Sphere, GrimGrimoire and Muramasa. If you have played any of those
you kinda know the art style that comes with a Vanillaware developed game. 
George Kamitani art direction has a unique look and style that can be easily 
spotted out of anything else on the market.. but enough about the developer.. 
What about the game you ask!

The game is being released for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita. It has 
a nice cross save function so you can easily switch back and forth between the
two. As for trophies.. The game shares the same list between both releases.

Well Let me tell you about my adventure. Dragon's Crown starts off with a normal
Story line.. And You get to pick a character from six classes. 
Those six classes are
Fighter.. Aka A Knight
Amazon... Aka A Brute Fighting Woman..  
Wizard... Aka A Guy That Uses Magic..
Elf...... Aka A Woman With a Bow...
Dwarf.... Aka A Short Brute Fighter..
Sorceress Aka A Woman that does Magic.. 

So you have a choice of Fighter, Magic or Long Range. Three Guys and Three Gals
Some are for Normal players.. Some are for experienced players... As for me...
I went with Dwarf for my play through for Normal. Now you might ask.. " Why Dwarf?"
And I will respond with... Why not.. Dwarfs need love don't they!



So you start the game off in a town. At first it guides you around to a few spots.
You visit the the Adventure Guild to get quest and to learn skills.
You visit the castle for assistance to the queen.. aka the story line..
You visit Morgan's Magic Item Shop to buy spells, sell stuff, repair items and to 
appraise items.. Appraise items you asked.. Well I will get to that in a bit..

Imagine a picture of the gate.. Until I can screen cap-one.. You have Imagination!

Before you know it your at the Gate! And so your adventure begins! You get dropped 
off in stages and fighting bosses in no time. Along your path you will find 
treasure chest and doors that you can select with your right stick and L1 or on 
the vita by just touching them.. your thief buddy will unlock them in a few seconds
and you will rack up coins and Items in no time... You go through the stage and 
you come across some bones..First thing that will pop into your head is " Don't 
touch them.. they might be evidence!" No.. Touch them.. Collect them.. You will 
need them..

You may die and notice that you have a set of lives for each stage. Once these run
out you can pay to be revived or get the game over screen. This can be costly if 
you die a lot in one stage.  

Once you are done with the stage, you will get a bonus from what ever type of score
you racked up. Now you will also see what items you picked up.. but guess what..
They don't really say what it is.. Just what Rank.. What lvl you need to be to 
equip and who it is good for.. This is where the appraisal system kicks in. The 
higher the rank the more your going to have to pay to get it appraised.. Or you 
can just sell it "as is" for less. 

Well you get to go back to town after your first stage and what shows up? A Temple!
The Temple is a very important part of the game.. This is where those bones come to 
use. You can pay a small fee and resurrect! You will get all information about the 
character also.. So you can pick and choose who you want to bring back from the 
dead! You can also bury bones.. But if you do this.. They are long gone... Another
neat function of the Temple Is the Pray selection.. You can purchase a boost for 
your next stage. This is helpful all throughout the game. 

Once you have resurrected the bones, You can go into the Inn and use these 
characters to help you in battle. You can also mark the characters to Join in 
or Join Off. This will be explained in a bit. 

If you appraised any of your items you can now select them to use with your 
character. This is where the RPG elements really come in with equipment that 
needs certain lvl and classes. Some items can be used with everyone.. some are
just only for one. You can easily do this by hitting start and going into 
Equipment. You use bags that you can custom load with clothing and items 
for your character. Sadly you can not edit or fix found characters items..
Also reviving a character in a stage will not fix broken items or anything also.

You go back to your adventure with help and a new set of tools to use.
You travel to the gate and it shoots you off to your next stage! As a Dwarf.. 
I was a up front brawler. I would hack and slash and unleash my special with the 
circle button. Once your special is used your weapons will be thrown down on the
grown for a few seconds. During this time you be fighting with your bare-hands 
until your weapon can be picked back up. You can also pick up special use weapons
in the stages.. from cross bows..bombs.. torches and other items. 
Now once you are done.. Something new happens

Now you can continue on your journey or go back to town. If you continue on your 
journey you will go straight to the next stage. Your health and lives will be the
same as where you left off.. You also will reach a cooking mini game sometimes 
after stages.. This is where you can cook and get coins/health. After awhile you 
will have to go back to town to fix your items..
Other places slowly open up on your first 9 stages. Like Lucians Tower and the 
stable. In the Tower you can buy magic items. The stable is where you are finally
allowed to have online play. You can wait in the stable for friends to show up... 
Jump in to a random player game or even just go on like normal and if you have a 
character that is under Join In.. Randoms and friends can join in. The game also 
has couch co-op from the start on the PS3.. Now on the vita has ad-hoc.. but 
that only unlocks at the stable.



By the time you get all of this unlocked you should of also ran into these 
"Runes". Runes are used to unlock special power ups and hidden items/rooms in
stages. You get a few for free and a total of 3 you must buy in Lucians Tower.
These runes are located in random spots in stages. To select them on the vita 
you just touch and hope you get the correct combination. On the ps3 you use the 
right stick with L1 to select. I found this on the PS3.. not the best and prefer
the touch. Runes are a nice touch but most online players do not mess with them
and they can be a distraction when enemies are around.

Once the first 9 stages are done.. Your warp gate goes crazy and your faced to 
pay to travel by the stable or use that crazy gate and be randomly taken to a stage.
You also get to pick out where you want to go now.. because guess what.. You have 
9 more stages to go through to get some talismans.. And now you have a B Path to 
go through to unlock these... These bosses are all new and a Lot Harder! 

To Unlock these Talismans you must also complete the B Path under a certain time..
Basically you have to take down those bosses quick before they get to what I like 
to call" stage 2" ending. This can be from events in the stage that wraps the boss
battle up.. You want to take them down yourself before this happens. 



Once you have done all of this... You get to fight the Boss Dragon!
This is no easy task.. You will die.. You will die a lot and you can not be 
revived passed your set number.. The goddess can not help you here.. 

Once you pull off this Miracle.. You would think.. Game over man.. Game Over... 
But No.. you just completed Normal Mode.. and your being sent back to HARD NOW!
You have 9 more talismans to get.. a goddess to free and another dragon that will
kill you like your a cockroach.. WHAT DO YOU DO! 

Do like you do in any RPG.. Grind.. Grind..Grind! Most Enemies in hard mode are 
in the Level 40 to 60 Range.. This is a massive jump from the mid 20's that you
are use to fighting. You can go into the temple and switch difficulty at any time
but be reminded once you do this.. your talismans are gone! Playing through on 
Normal again might be a good idea to some.. Normal does have a level cap of 35. 
You can go over this level in normal but it will act like a level 35. 

Hard has a higher level cap.. and if you can beat hard.. you have another 
difficulty Infernal. 

Imagination Time... 
THE END!...... Wait your still here! Fine then.. Here is a conclusion! 

In Conclusion...Dragon's Crown is a solid Bralwer/RPG that will give you hours
and hours of game play.. As for me I have put a good junk of time in already and 
I am still going strong..Some even say it takes around 130+ hours to finish with
all characters... I believe them... I believe them.. It is also one of the best
games to play on your vita.. Your vita needs this game!

Should you buy it right now... YES! 

Should you pick it up for the PS3 or Vita? I preferred the Vita.. But watch out
cross play isn't in this game.. It is best to get the release most your friends 
will be playing!

Dragon's Crown is for The PS3 at $50 and the Vita for S40
Developed by Vanillaware
Published by ATLUS

 Disclosure? I was supplied a code for a digital copy for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita from the Publisher.