Dragon: Marked for Death

[Sméagol]

@Hero of Time beat me to the trailer, but I was searching if a thread already existed. I thought it did, but can't find it (if so, please merge).

The online 4 player co-op action rpg from Inti Creates we've all been waiting for.

Still no solid releasedate, but slated for winter 2018.

[Hero-of-Time]

Easily one of my most anticipated Switch games.

 

[Grazza]

Visually, I love what's in front of me.  It reminds me of how WayForward used to do things - a company I once loved, but whose games have changed subtly in tone recently.  The quality of the sprites and even the way you chip away at small amounts of HP reminds me of their Thor tie-in on the DS.  Perhaps IntiCreates hoovered up some WayForward staff?

 

Gameplay-wise, as much as I admire them making a 4-player game, I just hope it's a good single-player experience as well.

[Sméagol]

 

[Hero-of-Time]

 

Bah! I hope we get this edition of the game. At the moment it has only been announced for Japan.   

[MindFreak]

Physical edition of the game has been confirmed to come out here in Europe as well. The game has been postponed to January 31st and it is priced at $14.99 / €14.99 for each pack of two figures. The remaining two figures can be purchased as DLC.

Source

Edited November 20, 2018 by MindFreak

[Jonnas]

So, is this game also a decent single-player experience. The people who made this are clearly the same folk from the Megaman Zero series, so the pedigree's pretty respectable.

[MindFreak]

New trailer:

 

[Sméagol]

So who's going to pick this up immediately, and who's waiting for the physical release in March?

I'm going physical, but with the delay, and it being a multiplayer title, and because of their weird release / pricing structure, I might double dip. Though I think I prefer to wait and perhaps get a (half) digital version in a sale somewhere in the future.

So basically, who's online end of the month and who in March?

[Hero-of-Time]

1 hour ago, Sméagol said:

So who's going to pick this up immediately, and who's waiting for the physical release in March?

I'm picking it up be i'll be waiting for the physical release.

[S.C.G]

I'm waiting for the physical release, as with every other major Switch game, all of my games are in a couple of boxes at the moment while I'm sorting out my collection.

#gonnaneedabiggershelf

This game should be one to look forward to though, I only hope that I'll find the time to play it.

[Hero-of-Time]

I've been reading the reviews for the game this morning and sadly it looks as though the game is a bit of a dud. It seems the game's difficulty isn't balanced for single player and the game sounds like its a frustrating and repetitive experience. Shame as I was really looking forward to it.  

[Grazza]

I'm afraid to say, the fact it looked like WayForward's Thor tie-in set off alarm bells for me - great sprites, but bosses with ridiculously high HP that take ages to defeat.  From Nintendolife's review, it sounds exactly the same principle.

[Hero-of-Time]

I've playing this on and off since the physical version was released and its not as bad I thought it was going to be. The game kinda plays like a 2D Monster Hunter.

First things first, the game looks gorgeous. The art style and sprite work used is absolutely fantastic but this shouldn't be a surprise for those who are familiar with Inti Creates previous games. Here's a few shots that I took during my time with the game.

At the start of the game you have 4 classes of characters to choose from. Depending on how you want to play the game will pretty much dictate which character you will pick. The Warrior is slow but strong, the Shinobi fast but weak, Empress is more balanced and the Witch is mainly ranged based. I started the game using the Warrior character but I found his movement to be too slow for my liking. After doing a couple of missions with the Warrior I then switched to the Shinobi and this was much better. The combat went from being slow and precise to being far more fast paced and energetic.

The mission structure is like Monster Hunter in that you need to go to the tavern to select a quest, prep yourself for the mission and then you are sent out into the world to complete the task that has been assigned to you. Quests vary from simply killing a boss to finding various items. Ah the classic Monster Hunter fetch quests.  Again, like Monster Hunter, certain quests are locked until you have reached the required level. Levelling up is pretty easy though as you get exp for killing enemies and finishing quests. When you repeat quests you have the option to level the quest up. This makes the enemies harder the amount of exp you get increases as do the quality of the weapon drops.

A few complaints from reviews were that the game wasn't balanced to single player mode and I haven't found this to be the case at all. Granted, the game has had a few patches since release and a major one also dropped when the physical version was released, but so far i've found the game pretty straight forward without any real need to grind. I have repeated a few missions here and there but that's because I like to power level in games.  

The game won't be for everyone but i'm certainly getting some enjoyment out of it. It's a game where I can play in between other things by just doing a quick quest here and there. It's a shame the online mode seems to be dead because I think the game would be quite fun playing in co-op.

[Jonnas]

@Hero-of-Time , is the single-player mode short? I figured this was a mostly multiplayer game, but if the single-player's meaty enough, I might consider it after all.

[Hero-of-Time]

8 hours ago, Jonnas said:

@Hero-of-Time , is the single-player mode short? I figured this was a mostly multiplayer game, but if the single-player's meaty enough, I might consider it after all.

It doesn't appear to be that long. I think I read that there are 29 missions to complete. I've done around 20 of them so far and that's with me just gradually picking away at the game. I think the game is built around players going through the game with all 4 classes and playing online co-op for large periods of time. 

[Sméagol]

Yeah this fell off the radar a bit. I didn't post about the delay, the game hasn't been out that long yet, it's been out since end of April. It was originally slated for March.

To be honest, it's a lower priority for me at the moment, the fact that it's such a limited release doesn't help (it's incredibly hard to find on mainland Europe).

BUT. if some other people will get the game and want to get some 4 player sessions going, I'll import the game from Spain straight away.