When you decide to undertake a quest, you can head out to the world map, another drop-dead beautiful piece of scenery to navigate. Stages can be revisited (in fact, they should be revisited often, but more on that later), though there is a sort of linear progression through the narrative, accompanied, of course, by optional quests. However, if you’re starting the game with a new character you’re unfamiliar with, you’ll be treated to an extremely thorough tutorial that will familiarize you with the moveset and skills of the class in question. These can be skipped, but you’d be wise not to: Dragon’s Crown is no leisurely walk through the park.
Dragon’s Crown plays much like the many videos that have been released suggest: with a heavy emphasis on action, and a field of depth, too, requiring tactics beyond merely button-mashing, jumping, and the like. In fact, Dragon’s Crown is pretty tough, especially if you’re trying to hone a high score or simply get through a stage quickly to net some fresh loot. Without using a hodgepodge of techniques and weapons, the AI will make quick work of you. Making matters more complicated is the fact that enemies scale with you – much like the Lunar RPGs from the ‘90s – so no amount of grinding will make the game inherently easier for you to deal with. Bad guys will have more health as you get stronger, and will grow in number the more powerful you get, too. With each level ending with a powerful (and beautifully-drawn) boss, this very fact will give you pause the further you get into the game.
While I experimented with virtually every class – the Fighter uses brute force and the Sorceress relies on spells and the ability to replenish her own lost MP -- I spent a majority of my time on both PS3 and Vita with the Elf, a character with moderate melee strength and exceptional skill with a bow. The thing about the Elf, however, is that you have to be careful with how you use her bow, as her quill only holds a finite amount of arrows. With no guarantees that you’ll find ammo replenishment on your journey, the best way to use her is with quick kicks, juggling your foes mercilessly before following-up with aerial arrow strikes to lay the killing blow. If you run out of arrows, you’ll be out of luck to launch missiles from afar, so balance is truly the key with the Elf. With only melee strikes to guide her and supplement her specialty, you’ll quickly leave yourself at a severe disadvantage.
and Muramasa next month.
. I'll take anything that will scratch the itch
. 
VIta pickin up. Make it stop.
