Crimson Dragon - spiritual successor to Panzer Dragoon

[Barry the Nomad]

Expected as much given the shift from 360 to One so late in development. I think people expected a lot more from a next gen title, but it ended up looking like a 360 game with minor improvements.

As a 360 Summer of Arcade title featuring Kinect and controller support, it would have probably been more favorably reviewed.

[Saturn Memories]

http://www.metacritic.com/game/xbox-one/crimson-dragon

At first I thought that CD being a railshooter was what would turn reviewers off, but some of the game's harshest critics actually harbor fond memories of the Panzer Dragoon series. Seems Futatsugi tried to blend Saga's RPG elements with PD and Zwei's shooter elements and it just didn't work out. Being a $20 launch title that looks like it belongs in the last generation and forcing players to either grind or pay for upgrades probably didn't help matters either.  So much for a revival...

[Aki-at]

Pay for upgrades? This is using some sort of DLC pay2win format?

[Saturn Memories]

Pay for upgrades? This is using some sort of DLC pay2win format?

From what the reviewers are saying, you have to replay stages multiple times to get upgrades that are actually effective, which isn't exactly ideal for a shooter. If you want to forgo the grind though, you can pay for upgrades with real-world currency. There might be some upgrades that you can only use money to access, but I'm not entirely sure on that matter.

[Aki-at]

From what the reviewers are saying, you have to replay stages multiple times to get upgrades that are actually effective, which isn't exactly ideal for a shooter. If you want to forgo the grind though, you can pay for upgrades with real-world currency. There might be some upgrades that you can only use money to access, but I'm not entirely sure on that matter.

I never thought someone like Futatsugi would stoop that low, that's pretty horrible and I imagine it would hindered the game design a bit. What a shame, was looking forward to it too :/

[Centrale]

I expect the game is designed with replayability in mind -- perfecting your score on those stages. It's just perceived as 'grinding' to these young gamers who think games are supposed to just be easy interactive movies where the goal is to get to the next big setpiece as quickly as possible. The pay-for-upgrades aspect was probably seen by the publisher, Microsoft, as a compromise.

[Barry the Nomad]

Moved the Crimson Dragon topic from General SEGA to this existing topic, given the game is not developed or published by SEGA.

[Saturn Memories]

I expect the game is designed with replayability in mind -- perfecting your score on those stages. It's just perceived as 'grinding' to these young gamers who think games are supposed to just be easy interactive movies where the goal is to get to the next big setpiece as quickly as possible. The pay-for-upgrades aspect was probably seen by the publisher, Microsoft, as a compromise.

If a 100% shotdown ratio isn't possible with the base weapons on the first stage, that's an issue. Upgrades should be something that have more value later in the game, but I'm getting the impression from these reviews that you need them from the onset if you really want to have a productive run. That means grinding the first few levels again and again.

If you want to stress replayability, come up with a unique scoring system, have branching paths with multiple endings, come up with some different ways the dragons/riders can interact with the environment that might alter the way things unfold... Stuff like that.

Moved the Crimson Dragon topic from General SEGA to this existing topic, given the game is not developed or published by SEGA.

Sorry, Barry. Didn't realize this topic existed. Figured since the game was Sega-related, it wouldn't be too out of place in the Sega forum.

[fernandeath]

So, was the game a flop ?
I feel bad for mr. Futatsugi.