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Drakengard

Drakengard is an action role-playing game developed by Cavia for the PlayStation 2. It was published in Japan (on September 11, 2003) and North America (March 2, 2004) by Square Enix and in European territories (May 21, 2004) by Take-Two Interactive. A Europe-exclusive mobile phone adaptation was co-developed and co-published by Square Enix and Macrospace for Vodafone devices in August 2004.

The game is the first installment of the Drakengard series and features a mixture of ground-based hack-and-slash, aerial combat, and role-playing elements which have become a staple of the series. The story is set during a religious war between two factions—the Union and the Empire—with the war tipping in favor of the Empire. The player controls Caim, a deposed prince of the Union, in his quest for vengeance against the Empire. Wounded in battle while protecting his sister Furiae, he is forced to make a pact with a red dragon named Angelus. As they journey together, they join with Hierarch Verdelet on a quest to prevent the Empire from destroying magical seals that keep the world in balance: Furiae acts as the central seal, and her death will drop the world into chaos.

Takamasa Shiba and Takuya Iwasaki conceived the game as a hybrid between the popular Dynasty Warriors series and Namco's aerial combat game Ace Combat. It was Shiba's first project as a producer. The dark story was created by director Taro Yoko and Sawako Natori, who wrote the majority of the script. The music was written by Nobuyoshi Sano and Takayuki Aihara. Drakengard sold well in Japan and received mixed to positive reviews in the west: reviewers praised the game's story and music, but were mixed about the graphics and criticized the gameplay for being repetitive.

Drakengard (series)

Drakengard, known as Drag-On Dragoon in Japan, is a series of action role-playing video games. The eponymous first game in the series was released in 2003 on the PlayStation 2, and has since been followed by a sequel, a prequel and a spin-off. It was conceived by Takamasa Shiba and Takuya Iwasaki as a gameplay hybrid between Ace Combat and Dynasty Warriors 2. The story was created by Shiba, Iwasaki, Taro Yoko and Sawako Natori, who were influenced by European folklore and popular anime series and movies of the day. Shiba, Yoko and Sawako have had involvement in every entry of the series since its debut.

The setting of the main series is a Northern European-style dark fantasy world where humans and creatures from myth and legends live side by side, while the spin-off game is set in an alternate reality leading from one of the first game's possible endings. The stories generally focus on the fortunes and personalities of a small group of protagonists either directly or indirectly connected to and affected by the events of the story. Dark or mature plot and character themes and multiple endings have become a staple of the series. Their popularity in Japan has resulted in multiple adaptions and additional media in the form of novelizations and manga.

The series is considered highly popular in Japan, having sold well and gained a cult following, though it appears to be a niche series in Western territories. The main games have become noted for their dark storylines and mixture of ground-based and aerial combat, while Nier stood out because of its mixture of gameplay styles. The series has received mixed to positive reception in both Japan and the West: the majority of praise has been given to its story and characters, while the gameplay has come in for criticisms for being repetitive or poorly designed.