Familiar KEMCO Foundations with Fresh Strategic Depth
It’s about that time of month where a new KEMCO game appears on the horizon, usually a retro styled JRPG if past form is anything to go by.
This time, that retro JRPG goes by the name of Dragon Spira, and it very much follows the usual pattern for a KEMCO game: retro style graphics, turn based combat and a story that pulls us through the game. To be honest, apart from a couple of new features, I could just copy and paste from any of the other many, many KEMCO JRPGs I’ve reviewed in the past. Although when I suggested this, the editor of this fine website was less than keen, so I’ll attempt to use new words instead. Let’s go and meet the Spirit Beasts, shall we?
Pixel Art Personalities and Chiptune Vibes
Kicking off with the presentation of Dragon Spira and the news is pretty much as expected, although more retro than the run of the mill KEMCO title. You see, this is a pixel art style game (think early Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest and you won’t go far wrong) and while the graphic style is by necessity quite limited, the designers have done a good job of shoehorning personality into what is, at the end of the day, just a pile of pixels.
The different members of our party are easy to tell apart (especially Ouve, but you’ll see why when you play it) and the world that the developers have built is about as classic old school RPG as you can get; an over world we can walk about on, dotted here and there with towns to visit and dungeons to delve.
Sound is also very much on the retro end of whatever scale sound is measured on. The music is chiptune in style, and extremely forgettable, to be brutally honesty. Battle sound effects are limited and repetitive, and so you can see that while it is a proper retro experience, not everything in the garden is rosy. Another thing that annoys me is the way that the enemies have a few basic archetypes, and then when you visit different areas of the game, they are coloured in with a different colour palette, rather than seeing new foes. A minor point, but a niggle nonetheless.
A Compelling Narrative
What about the story then, can this lift the experience? Well, yes, is the short answer, as the narrative that has been crafted is quite compelling.
We play as Fal, a young boy who is a member of a guild, an organisation that sets out to fulfil requests from ordinary people. We are sent to find some missing guild members, and come across someone claiming to be a Child of the Divine. This is supposed to be a hero, but appears to be consorting with monsters: what has gone wrong there? Well, you’ll get a chance to find out as the journey to get to the bottom of things plays out, recruiting Spirit Beasts and taking out the minions of the baddy on the way to a thrilling climax. I’m not going to say more for fear of spoilers, but suffice it to say that the story has held my interest.
Turn-Based Combat and Difficulty Spikes
Of course, you’re probably here to find out how Dragon Spira plays. Well, familiar, is about the best way of summing it up.
We move our band of heroes around a world map or a dungeon, depending on what we are doing at the moment, partaking in random battles, as per usual. These are turn based in manner, and follow the usual pattern. When it is our turn to act, we have a variety of options to make the most of, attacking in standard fashion, using abilities tied to a job role, or making the most of specific unique attacks or items. So far, so normal, yeah? Well yes, and Dragon Spira starts out pretty easy, but very quickly gets difficult, and staying on top of your leveling and equipping your characters with the latest and greatest gear becomes vital.
Deepening the Hero
The way that the characters get stronger is actually pretty interesting. Gaining EXP allows leveling up, as is usual, but then there is also JP, which is used to increase the level of jobs. Get one of those high enough and skilled jobs comes into the equation. Further, we also earn one final type of points from fighting, these are called RP and are spent in a mini game called a Sugoroku Boards.
You will travel around these Sugoroku Boards almost like a board game, spinning a roulette wheel in order to get around the board. There are also various items that pop up along the way; items that switch up directions in the path, for instance, or others that will allow us to force the roulette to give us a set number of moves. The objective is to not only finish the board, but also to visit all of the nodes on the board. Finishing the board for the first time will give a reward, as will completing it for the first time: but the main benefit is the way we can increase the stats of all our characters by moving around the board. Of course, it not all is plain sailing, and enemies will chase us around the board, forcing a fight when they catch us.
Rising Above the Typical KEMCO Swathe
With this system (there are new Sugoroku Boards to find as progress is made) along with the job system, Dragon Spira does enough to raise itself above the usual swathe of KEMCO retro styled JRPGs.
An interesting story and fun mini games make this one of the better releases and so if you want to get involved in a pixel art RPG, there are worse choices out there. Not everything works brilliantly, but there is fun to be had.
Important Links
Dragon Spira Spins A Classic JRPG Tale Onto Xbox, PlayStation, Switch And PC – https://www.thexboxhub.com/dragon-spira-spins-a-classic-jrpg-tale-onto-xbox-playstation-switch-and-pc/
Buy from the Xbox Store – https://www.xbox.com/en-GB/games/store/dragon-spira/9P24W9DJMBVF/0010
There’s a Special Edition – https://www.xbox.com/en-GB/games/store/dragon-spira-special-edition/9NJGHW1QVJVH/0010
