Name: Flame Dragon Plus (89.66% in 29 votes)
Type: STG
Platform: DOS
Company: Dynasty
Release date: 1998
Reviewed by: Tamahome
Dynasty is the company that made the Flame Dragon Series. I have already forgotten when Flame Dragon 1 was made. Flame Dragon 2 - The Legend of The Golden Castle was made in 1994 and in January of this year, Dynasty has released the third of the series, Flame Dragon Plus - Blazon of The Wind. In the first game, a country was overthrown and the king was killed in the rebellion. One of the King's most trusted general escaped with the son of the King and went into hiding in the woods. The first game was about him getting the Flame Dragon Sword and taking back his rightful thorn.
The second game takes place after the main character from the first game became the king. The main character from the first game now became the king of Lotoria, and he is getting old, so he wants one of his sons to become the King of Lotoria. He has chosen Soar to become King, but Soar does not like the life as King and do not know how to refuse his father, so he tells his trouble to Alex. While they were talking, they found a girl unconscious in the field with a weird looking robot beside her. Her name was Ronnie and the robot's name was Gaia, and so the adventure of Flame Dragon 2 began when Soar and his friends tried to find a cure for her Amnesia, but founding out that there is a much greater Evil Plot behind her.
Flame Dragon Plus is the third and the newest installment of the series. For some reason, they called this game a side story, but I would actually call it number 3, cause it continues where Flame Dragon 2 left off. The main character of this game Lendlice. He has the blood of both Humans and Gods. His mother was captured by evil forces when Lendlice is still a child, and when his father passed away, fate has let Lendlice to meet up with a posioned and wounded Soar. After saving Soar's life, Lendlice decided to go on a journey to look for his lost mother. Together he travelled wth Soar and eventually met up with Ark, Chin Chin, Gaia (yes the robot from 2) and etc. Lendlice also managed to fall in love with a mysterious magician who fell off a cliff and lost her memory (sounds familiar doesn't it). Thus the game began.
I have to say that this game is a little disapointing. Don't get me wrong, I still think this is one of the best games I've played, but it disapoints me to see how little the map graphics have changed from the 2nd installment. And the fact that this game is still made for Dos is kinda weird. With the whole gaming industry going Microsoft Windows, it amazes me that a company would still want to make a game for Dos. But I have to give credit to the character design of this game, it has pretty good art work resembling anime characters. The animation seens of the attacks are also a lot smoother and better from the last 2 installments. There are a total of 30 stages in this game, with the last three being secret levels. In between each stage, the player can visit the town and purchase weapons, items and the church is the place where the characters change their profession when they are between the levels of 20-40.
There are also hidden shops in most of the stages and the hints to access them are given in each town when you talk to the different shop owners. There are also hidden items which does not appear on treasure cheasts on the map. I think I have found most of these secrets, and so I will probably be writing a walkthru, or tips and hints section for it.
Gameplay: 9/10
Good Gameplay, a standard SLG type game, which the person has to utilize different characters to fight the enemies. The only flaw to the game is that the character of fighter type characters are so strong that in some point in the game, the enemy will not even attack them.
Graphics: 8/10
Pretty good anime character designs, and the fighting scenes are animated very smoothly, but I have to make a complain about the maps. some of the maps look worse than they did in number 2.
Story: 9/10
Well I have always love the story of every game in this series, so I like the story in this game too. But again, being a short SLG, there isn't much plot to it. And the conversations in between stages were kept at a minimal as well.
Overall: 8.66/10
Without the music rated, this is what I give to the overall of the game. It is a good sequel to the Flame Dragon series, and die hard Flame Dragon fans would not want to miss this one. People that has never heard of Flame Dragon, this is a game which would start you off, and you will go back to play the second game after playing this. :)
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