Part 3: Episode III: In Which I'd Rather Be Playing Panzer Dragoon

Episode III: In Which I'd Rather Be Playing Panzer Dragoon

Verse 6: Shared Battles


So, welcome to the aerial combat sections of Drakengard. They too suck. Aerial combat is sort of like a really dull version of Panzer Dragoon mixed with the floaty controls of All Range Mode from Star Fox 64.


I'm not even going to ask how this random grunt both managed to spot Caim on a dragon hundreds of feet in the air or why he's perfectly fine Caim is on a dragon hundreds of feet in the air.

If my boss soared past on a fucking griffon or something, I think my first reaction would be something more than "Oh, cool... That'll help."


So, the objective of almost every aerial stage is to just kill everything. The dragon only has three methods of attack. Yeah, it gets old fast...


First up, there is homing fireballs. Holding the attack button and moving the cursor over enemies will cause Red Dragon (who I'm just going to call Red from now on) to lock a shot onto enemies. Or several shots, if the sights are just trained on a single enemy. Right now, she'll shoot three fireballs with the attack. But, with leveling up, Red will shoot I think a maximum of around eight shots (along with having a quicker lock on/cool down time.)

This attack will be used about 98% of the time while playing.



The second method of attacking is a dummy fire large fireball. This shot is more damaging than the locked on shots, but it has no homing ability. There's also several seconds before it can be used again. It's pretty much only purpose is to be shot off once while charging the next homing volley.


The dragon can also evade shots by quickly dodging to the left and right and... That's it...



This stage only has two enemy types: Empire siege cannons and Empire dirigibles. Why the hell the Empire fails to use either of these while Caim is on the ground is a grand mystery. Both only have one attack: shooting a single cannonball. It is easily evaded by just dashing to the right or left.

The dirigibles and other airships actually have some sort of machinegun fire when flying close to them. It does next to no damage other than making the controller shake. So...there is that. Gameplay!


WHY AM I EVEN UP HERE IN THE FIRST PLACE?!
"You're the one that wanted to ride me."
I never said that!
"Oh, but you would have eventually. You humans and your desire to ride things larger than yourselves... I'll never understand it."


If you'll notice the little green meter, the dragon also has a magic attack. The gauge, much like Caim's, is filled by killing enemies.


Using it will cause Red to unleash a volley of lasers that pretty much ruins everything in her airspace's day. This attack is best reserved for the times when the game tosses a stupid amount of enemies at you at once. Something we'll see take place very soon.


What?! I'm trying not to fall off the rampaging dragon while it sets the sky ablaze. I don't remember shooting lightning out of my ass to contribute.
"Oh, is that so? Would you prefer I stop? Maybe you could use me to roast marshmallows and we could invite the Empire to sing songs by the camp fire."
"..."
Wanton slaughter it is.


I'm right here, you know...
"And...?"
"..."



So, that's basically aerial combat in a nutshell. It's worth noting that the dragon gains experience and her attack power increases. But...there's no actual meter gauging what experience is doing and she only levels up at pre-scripted points. So...it's entirely pointless! Gameplay!

Verse 7: Quarry Chosen


It's worth noting the Union has no aerial combat ability until Caim got himself a dragon buddy. How the Empire hasn't steamrolled these guys with air superiority in a battle against an army that has crossbows as its most high tech weaponry is a bit baffling.


So, the only real variation in aerial combat is sometimes you fight some weird shit.



Gargoyles are a rather generic enemy. It is basically a big stone block with bat wings. It protects itself by having some lasers encircle it. It shoots those lasers out to attack. It is all very exciting.


This, on the other hand, is a weird one.



These are err...flying boxes. They float silently across the sky in formation and shoot lasers which only travel in straight horizontal and vertical lines... Umm... Yeah. Moving on...


Here's a lovely aerial view of Castlegenerica. We'll be traveling in there soon enough. It has the strange architecture of being composed primarily of corridors. It's positively kooky.


The third, and by far the most annoying, enemy in this stage are the Imperial Airships. Since, it wouldn't be a game about aerial combat with a dragon if there weren't airships.



Airships are annoying because they have a load of weak points which all must be destroyed to take the thing down. There are 2-3 points which must be destroyed on the carriage, cannons on each side of the carriage, and the two "wing" type things on either end of the ship. You wouldn't think a single functional cannon would be a vital structure to hold together a glorified hot air balloon, but you'd be wrong.


I don't think that's a multiple choice concept...


At the end of the stage an uber-airship must be destroyed. This one is particularly annoying because the camera locks onto it regardless of whether other things are about shooting off screen.


The Uber Airship has roughly ten separate weak points. The most annoying weak points being the three cannon batteries located on top of the balloons. I am not even going to pretend to know how that is remotely aerodynamic.


I'm sure there was a nice satisfying explosion upon its destruction. But the game sees it more fit to circle around to the new objective immediately.


That soldier has one epic set of lungs to relay that message. Goddamn.


Aww, she thinks Caim is going to stop exploiting how overpowered she is. That's cute.

Tune in next time for a study on why crossbowmen are fucking assholes.

Bonus Content:

Concept Art -

Concept Art: Caim


Dragons and stuff


Caim blows a raspberry :p

Music -
Aerial Mission - Chapter 1