Uploaded August 2024 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
It's been a few years since I last played this, so it felt like a good time to revisit it with a new character. Up to now, I've only ever used the Amazon, so it was fun seeing how the game feels with a different character. I'll eventually go through all of them, but it takes a decent chunk of time to get up to level 99, so it'll be a while before this project gets finished. The Elf is very fun, anyway. She's fast and agile, and she can do massive burst damage with her charged spread attacks. I actually tried to let a few of the bosses breathe a bit so you can see how they play out, because if you really go all in on damage, you can wipe them out before they can do much of anything. To balance things out, you have a limited amount of arrows at your disposal. Attacking enemies with your close range melee combos can make them drop a few arrows to replenish your supply, so you need to mix things up enough to keep a good flow going.
Dragon's Crown is still one of my favorite beat 'em ups, and Vanillaware consistently makes some of the best looking games in existence, so of course I can't recommend this enough to anyone who owns a PlayStation! It regularly goes on sale for an obscenely low price, like $3 or $4, so by all means wait until the next sale and spend maybe the best five bucks you can on PSN.
PS. Since I last played this, I got a PS5 and a 4K capture card, so I think this is the first time I've actually put both to use for a YouTube video. I played in HDR, which I thought my capture software would correct for, but it seemingly didn't, and it caused some problems. I had to tweak the colors myself in Davinci Resolve, and while I think I made it look pretty accurate, it might be a bit off. I'll get this sorted next time!
0:00 Intro
2:42 Mage's Tower - Route A
10:59 Lost Woods - Route A
18:39 Ghost Ship Cove - Route A
28:12 Bilbaron Subterranean Fortress - Route A
34:44 Castle of the Dead: Catacombs - Route A
41:30 Ancient Temple Ruins - Route A
48:21 Wallace's Underground Labyrinth - Route A
55:47 Forgotten Sanctuary - Route A
1:04:19 Old Capital - Route A
1:12:18 Mage's Tower - Route B
1:18:58 Lost Woods - Route B
1:26:17 Ghost Ship Cove - Route B
1:34:30 Bilbaron Subterranean Fortress - Route B
1:41:10 Castle of the Dead: Catacombs - Route B
1:45:08 Ancient Temple Ruins - Route B
1:51:24 Wallace's Underground Labyrinth - Route B
1:56:59 Forgotten Sanctuary - Route B
2:05:57 Old Capital - Route B
2:12:26 Illusionary Lands
2:18:12 Ending
Amazon playthrough: youtu.be/Z26aaTEM5Bc
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Beat 'em Ups (e.g. Final Fight): youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfI6IYca_kvMhpG1GR9sk8OYiWQMZZTgl
2D Action (e.g. Metal Slug): youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfI6IYca_kvNFjpnJ59Th6N0IU1PSpD3d
STG/Shmups (e.g. Dodonpachi): youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFE6B3779BE759F71
It's been a few years since I last played this, so it felt like a good time to revisit it with a new character. Up to now, I've only ever used the Amazon, so it was fun seeing how the game feels with a different character. I'll eventually go through all of them, but it takes a decent chunk of time to get up to level 99, so it'll be a while before this project gets finished. The Elf is very fun, anyway. She's fast and agile, and she can do massive burst damage with her charged spread attacks. I actually tried to let a few of the bosses breathe a bit so you can see how they play out, because if you really go all in on damage, you can wipe them out before they can do much of anything. To balance things out, you have a limited amount of arrows at your disposal. Attacking enemies with your close range melee combos can make them drop a few arrows to replenish your supply, so you need to mix things up enough to keep a good flow going.
Dragon's Crown is still one of my favorite beat 'em ups, and Vanillaware consistently makes some of the best looking games in existence, so of course I can't recommend this enough to anyone who owns a PlayStation! It regularly goes on sale for an obscenely low price, like $3 or $4, so by all means wait until the next sale and spend maybe the best five bucks you can on PSN.
PS. Since I last played this, I got a PS5 and a 4K capture card, so I think this is the first time I've actually put both to use for a YouTube video. I played in HDR, which I thought my capture software would correct for, but it seemingly didn't, and it caused some problems. I had to tweak the colors myself in Davinci Resolve, and while I think I made it look pretty accurate, it might be a bit off. I'll get this sorted next time!
0:00 Intro
2:42 Mage's Tower - Route A
10:59 Lost Woods - Route A
18:39 Ghost Ship Cove - Route A
28:12 Bilbaron Subterranean Fortress - Route A
34:44 Castle of the Dead: Catacombs - Route A
41:30 Ancient Temple Ruins - Route A
48:21 Wallace's Underground Labyrinth - Route A
55:47 Forgotten Sanctuary - Route A
1:04:19 Old Capital - Route A
1:12:18 Mage's Tower - Route B
1:18:58 Lost Woods - Route B
1:26:17 Ghost Ship Cove - Route B
1:34:30 Bilbaron Subterranean Fortress - Route B
1:41:10 Castle of the Dead: Catacombs - Route B
1:45:08 Ancient Temple Ruins - Route B
1:51:24 Wallace's Underground Labyrinth - Route B
1:56:59 Forgotten Sanctuary - Route B
2:05:57 Old Capital - Route B
2:12:26 Illusionary Lands
2:18:12 Ending
Amazon playthrough: youtu.be/Z26aaTEM5Bc
-----
Beat 'em Ups (e.g. Final Fight): youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfI6IYca_kvMhpG1GR9sk8OYiWQMZZTgl
2D Action (e.g. Metal Slug): youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfI6IYca_kvNFjpnJ59Th6N0IU1PSpD3d
STG/Shmups (e.g. Dodonpachi): youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFE6B3779BE759F71
