Why Should You Be Excited for Drakengard 3?

Some games out there are just kind of a hard sell.  We like them, love them even, even though there are many, many flaws to them.  Many flaws.  Many.  Multiple.  They're not perfect by any stretch, nor can we even say "Oh, yeah, there's -this-, but you can ignore it" because the flaws are big ones.  Drakengard 1 and 2 each have their own which make them particularly hard sells in their own right.

Drakengard 1's combat is archaic, to put it lightly - the entire game about murdering things doesn't actually lend itself well to really getting out there and slaughtering by the tons.  Sure, you'll end up with bodycounts in the hundreds and thousands (Seriously one level in particular you can, oftentimes -do-, end up with a bodycount between 1,000-2,000 enemies) but getting to that point....wasn't that great.  It's unfortunate, really.  Drakengard 2's combat wasn't much better (though some outlets claim it was playable...perhaps I'm a bit biased against it) but it was, apparently, better.  Of course, the entire reason to play Drakengard 1 was for the story which got progressively and exponentially more and more batshit crazy as it went along.  Drakengard 2's story, on the other hand wasn't nearly as good and focused on a cast that was meant to be likeable in contrast to the original's group, yet ended up feeling hollow and annoying at best, going completely counter to point.

Nier, on the other hand, was much, much easier to recommend to folks.  Combat wasn't flashy and amazing, but it was far more capable than the two iterations in the Drakengard series.  Plus, as with Drakengard 1, the story is worth paying attention to, but not because it gets batshit, but because it gets more and more involving, touching and, at times, depressing.  The cast is wonderfully developed as well and remains the only instance in (Action) RPGs where they've introduced a child character that wasn't annoying in every facet of her existence.  Complaints ranged from vapid (as in meritless) - That whole fishing fiasco kerfuffle, whining that the game is ugly, uses too much bloom - to reasonable ones - trying to 100% the game takes forever and is not encouraged, nor worth it, a couple of the areas -are- a bit much, in terms of forced combat and length - but overall are mild enough that, even pitting the litany of them against the pros of the story, the characters and the soundtrack, it's still something we can easily describe as "Worth it" and have it fit a broad enough appeal of the phrase to be correct.

Nier is, however, a decidedly different beast than what Drakengard 1 and 2 were and while it may be the actual progression of that style, I'm not quite sure it will be.  Where Nier had a semi-open world to travel across, Drakengard had levels (Chapters and Verses, rather) that had a set-up for each and every one.  You are in a forest level for this reason, the sea temple for that reason, etc. etc.  It's very constricted, which is something that we've by-and-large out-grown in the games that have come out since.  Not saying that it isn't possible to make each of those levels wonderful so that it's not a problem, just that it's not immediately accessible to people.  Combine with the likelihood of Drakengard 3 following that, with the history of the first and second games and the idea that combat may be merely good at best, it's hard to tell you that Drakengard 3 is a game that will sit alone on a pedestal as a game you should look into, should have excitement for, feel -anything- for.

Yet, that is precisely the reason you likely -should- be excited, should be looking forward to Drakengard 3 for.  Some games have their over-the-top spectacle to fall back on, to be the thing that embeds them in your mind.  We'll all remember Uncharted 2 for that moment when you were inside a building that was physically falling over and God of War 2 where the tutorial was murdering the hell out of the Colossus of Rhodes.  Other games maintain that a tightly-controlled, polished experience will keep you coming back for more and more, and the technical workhorses that are the Call of Duty games (while we may groan, they -are- usually locked to a butter-smooth framerate and tuned to accentuate the shooting) are a good example of this as well given their commercial and critical success, no matter how many people who call themselves 'hardcore' or what have you roll their eyes.

Only a select few games really try to have a story or an experience that will burn itself into your memory.  Games like Heavy Rain do this by making the story personal - the ending you get, considering your actions, is -your- ending from then on, even if you go on to play it again.  Others do this by making the story something truly provocative, intellectually or morally, so that you paint things in other games by your freshly expanded mental toolset.  Games like Knights of the Old Republic 1 and 2, like Planescape Torment, made particular use of this tactic and because of that, you still hear about them to this day.  While I'm not suggesting Drakengard 3 will be in the same 'hallowed halls' as these games, I -am- suggesting it will likely be special enough to be singled out for a similar reason, as was Nier.  And, in a sense, Drakengard 1, given that it was an experiment in wallowing in Anti-Heroes in a terrible world that only succeeds in getting more and more messed up the further down the rabbit hole you get.

Drakengard 2 was just awful, though.

Drakengard 3 is Officially Official

By officially official, I mean that it has a Japanese Squeenix web page that just so conveniently more or less confirms everything we've found out about the game thus far. This is more or less the 'point of no more news' for a while I would think since this is out there to get initial hype, where in a couple months, there'll be some follow-up and a month or so afterwards again, etc.  You know how the beast operates when it comes to the hype machine and while it won't be working over-time for this game for a lot of people, there are the few, like myself, that will go absolutely froth-at-the-mouth-crazy in the meanwhile whenever something else pops up.  Yet I don't expect anything for a bit, is the point that I was trying to make.  You'll hear it from me if I'm wrong, of course, but for now, let's just cover what we've got.

Some primary things to cover first, of course.  In Japan, the game is only slated for a Playstation 3 release which isn't surprising because PS3's actually sell in Japan unlike the other counterpart of the "HD Twins" as they're often referred to.  (Noted by the 360's inability to crack 1,000 sales last week and definitely not the first time)  In some localization cases, I would suggest that there might be a 360 version outside of Japan, but that's a hard one to count on, really.  Most critics will say that the game probably won't be localized and, unfortunately, there's a chance of that because it's Squeenix and Squeenix is a factory of dream-crushing and terrible games that -do- get localized for whatever stupid reason. 

However, I'm of the opinion that it -will- be localized because it makes perfect sense to do so...in that it -doesn't- make sense at all to do it.  Drag-On Dragoon 3 will release in the tail-end of 2013 for Japan, right around when the PS4 hits that will not be able to play PS3 games...like Drag-On Dragoon 3.  Not a great time for what is, by all accounts, a niche title, to get released.  Localization tacks on at least half a year, I'd assume, so it would come out in North America mid-2014 when the PS4 will likely be in the tepid "Okay, but where are the games?" phase that all new consoles go through which means, for all intents and purposes, that it's probably a better time for release, actually.  People will be picking up PS3's because the PS4 isn't up to snuff yet, but they've got an itch to scratch anyway, etc. etc.  However, it's going to be a budget thing - so a PS3-only release is likely in my head at least.  Which means it is entirely possible that Squeenix will go full-bore and make a 360 version as well.  It's hard to pin down.

As previously stated, the 'Cavia Dream Team' will be working on the game, but under the banner of Access Games, instead of a Squeenix subsidiary or, heaven forbid, a re-formed Cavia.  Because why would we have nice things, Squeenix?  If you're thinking to yourself, "Self, where have I heard of Access Games before?", and haven't gone off to check it through Google or Wikipedia, then allow me to make it easy for you.  Access Games is the developer behind a few niche titles, but Deadily Premonition is likely chief above them all for its cult following and over-the-top absurdity in the ranks of the classic Twin Peaks, since it was...kind of modeled after the show.  It's also the developer that SWERY calls home; SWERY, of course, being the writer and director of the mentioned Deadly Premonition, as well as the writer for the Lords of Arcana/Apocalypse games for PSP (with the latter getting a Vita version eventually).  SWERY is also a pretty righteous dude in his own right and is an absolute joy to follow on Twitter.  (You probably should.)

With the basics out of the way, however, let's get down to the juicy bits, yes?  This is the main character, Zero.  I'm sure I don't have to say a lot about Zero after you take a look at her, but let's just set matters straight.  Yes, that is a metal prosthetic left arm, not a gauntlet, nor armor or anything like that.  Yes, a flower is growing out of her left eye.  No, she's not modestly dressed, nor will anything about her be modest - it's been suggested that Zero is...liberal and very in-touch with her sexuality, let's say, and isn't afraid to let it be known.  Knowing Cavia, it'll be less 'easy' and more 'aggressive, border-line predator' which kind of crosses the line twice to go back into 'yeah, that's okay' territory.  Finally, yes, that is a pretty awesome-looking sword she's got, very similar to other weapons in Drakengard/NieR, and no, she is nowhere near afraid to use it.  Come on, this is a Cavia game - be grateful it's not constantly dripping blood or always disemboweling somebody.

Oh, yeah, about that.  That's a good segue into some of the game mechanics since, well, they do introduce elements of that.  As you can tell from these screenshots, the game is going to be very bloody and, as suggested with the second screenshot there (which, I'm certainly hoping isn't indicative of the final graphics build - at this point, it honestly can't be), some blood will be persistent.  One of the key mechanics -is- getting all bloody from slaughtering your enemies, actually.  Zero is a Songstress, or someone who draws magical power from song, and her magical ability actually grows more and more powerful as she is covered in the blood of her enemies.  No, I am not kidding.  Yes, it is, indeed, metal as fuck.  Pretty....pretty literally, actually, given some of the associations with the metal genre.

That, honestly, is the bulk of the information we have about Drag-On Dragoon 3/Drakengard 3.  While there's another character, One, who is Zero's much more conservative and innocent sister.  And...just happens to have glowing red eyes like a certain other blonde girl in the previous two games.  As in Drakengard 1 and 2, Zero has a Dragon companion, who is featured in some of the art and screenshots, specifically here and here, but doesn't have a specific character page just yet.  In what I can only assume is an assurance of an American localization, the dragon is White, whereas the previous dragons were Red and Blue for Drakengard 1 and 2 respectively.  Let me dream, okay?  Until we get more information, pretty much all I have are dreams, but, well, all I had were dreams before it was announced as well.  So perhaps there -is- something to them!