Drakengard 3
While we’re on the subject of video games made by Yoko Taro, I thought I’d bring up Drakengard 3 as well. The Drakengard series isn’t particularly popular, nor did it exactly make a splash in mainstream media but, like NieR, it’s garnered a bit of a cult following. Drakengard 3 isn’t quite as dark as the original Drakengard (pedophiles and baby-eaters, anyone?), so even some of the series fans might’ve passed up on it, but hey, just because it’s a little different doesn’t mean it’s bad.
Here’s another action RPG where you take control of Zero, a woman who is hell-bent on murdering her five sisters. She also has a flower growing out of her eyeball. You have four types of weapons at your disposal, and you can chain combos by swapping between weapons on the fly. Killing enemies soaks Zero in blood and fills up a meter, which allows you to activate Intoner Mode, in which she essentially goes batshit crazy and starts killing enemies at an even faster rate. You also get to fly on a dragon.
When it was first released on the PS3, many critics panned Drakengard 3 because of its shoddy framerate, incredibly crude toilet humor, and the lack of explanation as to why Zero wanted to kill her sisters.
The thing is, terrible framerate aside, when you play a Drakengard game, or even its spinoff NieR for that matter, you need to play it all the way through to see what the game’s really all about. Trust me on this, Drakengard fans; the crude humor and the sex jokes are just a veneer for an emotionally heavy story about a woman who isn’t quite as cold-hearted as she lets on. It’s also worth mentioning that Keiichi Okabe, the composer of the NieR soundtrack, makes a similarly epic musical comeback with this game as well.
And even if you’re a newcomer to the series, that’s okay too. Drakengard 3 serves as a prequel and origin story, so you won’t be too lost even if you haven’t played the other games. Drakengard 3 might not be for everyone, but it has a lot of heart. Take a chance on this quirky gem, and you just might fall in love with it like I did.
