Dragon’s Crown Gameplay Footage Released

Long are the days of true side-scrolling action RPG’s. Games like Dungeons and Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara, the Ys series and others that took the design elements of classic side-scrolling fighting games and the gameplay elements of the RPG and combined them together for a wonderful beat ’em up title. However, with less than three weeks to go, Dragon’s Crown is scheduled to be released next month, returning the genre to its former glory.

The crew over at 4Gamer got a chance to play Dragon’s Crown in advance of the July 25 Japan release date, and it looks fantastic. You choose to be one of six different character classes: Fighter, Amazon, Wizard, Elf, Dwarf and Sorceress. As with most RPG’s, these classes have their pros and cons. For example, the Amazon has strong attacks and improved agility at the cost of defense.

The plot is based around the search for the Dragon’s Crown, a treasure sought after by evil wizards. The characters in your party (up to 4 local or online players) search the ruins for the crown to prevent it from falling in the wrong hands. On that journey, players accept quests from town NPC’s in exchange for rewards.

Mainly, though, Dragon’s Crown is about the gameplay. Scouring dungeons to defeat unique monsters, extravagant bosses and finding monumental treasures is what it’s all about. It’s all brought together by a beautifully-painted animated world developed by Vanillaware and Atlus (the latter of which is selling off operations, but will not affect game publications). And, at $49.99 MSRP for the PS3 it will be cheaper than most new titles at launch.

Below is a 14 minute gameplay trailer published by 4Gamer on Youtube(in Japanese), illustrating just what makes this game look fun. Dragon’s Crown will reach North American stores on August 6 for the PlayStation 3 and PS Vita.