Crimson Dragon: Side Story initial thoughts

I’ve played through the first three stages of Crimson Dragon: Side Story’s story mode. My phone is currently charging, but I’ll likely play through the remaining two levels tomorrow.

Initial thoughts:

The music is fantastic. Very resemblant of PDO’s music. I had to turn the sound effects down to hear it properly, but that was a simple change in the options menu. The music volume really should be higher by default though.

The controls are a bit icky. You control the dragon with your left hand, moving it up and down the screen. However sliding my thumb isn’t always very responsive and I’ve died numerous times because of that. Quite a let down.

Because you touch enemies to lock onto them, much of the field of vision is hidden. This can make dodging bullets hard sometimes because they’re hidden by the player’s right thumb.

The jewel system is horribly gimmicky. When you die it asks you to purchase a jewel to continue (or you must restart the level), just like that insert coin system from the arcades. You can unlock more jewels by completing the levels though; 5 jewels are unlocked for the completion of each level (the first time you complete it). I don’t like it, it feels like they’re exploiting players. The game is quite hard because of the controls, so I’ve used multiple jewels on each level, especially during boss fights.

The enemies are cool. They remind me of the monsters from Panzer Dragoon quite a bit. Just monsters so far, native creatures of Planet Draco.

The feel of the game is much lighter than the Panzer Dragoon trilogy. It feels more like Orta. The second level in particular is a forest stage which reminds me a lot of Altered Genos.

The story is minimalistic, told using background images with text overtop which you scroll through. There’s not much of it, just a few screens worth of text before each level. It’s a step up from Panzer Dragoon Mini, but considering that I’m over half way through the story already I’m not expecting anything special.

I’ll make another post when I finish the story mode. Haven’t touched the other modes yet.

Thanks for the first impressions, Solo! That jewel system does sound pretty bad. What happens if you’re not good at the game and use up all jewels? Are you supposed to go and buy them? I seriously hope they don’t end up including this pay-to-win style in the actual Kinect game.

All in all, it doesn’t sound like this is really a must-have then?

You can also unlock jewels by covering distance in the real world. So, if you take your phone with you to work (or wherever), the game will use the phone’s GPS to detect how far you’ve travelled and reward you based on distance covered.

Otherwise, you might have to keep practicing until you can complete the level without losing any lives.

I should add that your dragon gains experience points and these stay with you even after you die. My dragon has gained a few levels now, unlocking different attacks which make the game a bit easier.

It’s hard to recommend the game to non Windows Phone users at this point, but I’ll add more thoughts here as I progress further.

Finished the Story Mode. I had to buy a jewel pack to get past that final boss unfortunately.

I’ve gotten a bit more used to the controls, but they’re still fiddly. I wish this game had come out on a console or handheld (3DS/Vita) instead as it would be much easier to control.

The story is minimal but interesting, and seems like it will link with the main Crimson Dragon game.

I’ll see if I can find some way of recording the game, or if not, type up the dialogue from the story scenes.

Fun facts: There is a skill called Panzer Breaker (which I have yet to unlock) and a boss called Hestrine in this game.

After playing this some more, I think it’s entirely possible to play without needing to buy any Jewel packs. The missions in Mission Mode reward you with jewels the first time you complete them, and some are quite easy. Also, after practicing a bit, the last boss gets easier (that might be partially due to levelling up too). Every time the last boss is defeated you get 15 jewels, so it’s possible to grind the last boss in order to obtain more of them.

I finished all of the missions (there’s a lot of them!) which are remixes of the levels in Story Mode. It’s going to be difficult to get an S rank on all of them (100% shot down ratio) in order to unlock all of the skills and obtain the White Reaver Unleashed achievement.

Did you try to connect your phone to your TV with a Mini hdmi Cable if is possible.
It would be better for a playthrough isn’t it ? :anjou_embarassed:

I don’t have one of those cables, sorry. If someone else wants to try making a better playthrough I’d be glad to add it to the site though.

I?d prefer a resemblance to PDS, but this is still great news to hear! :smiley: Do you know whether the tracks are available for download anywhere?

So would I, PDS has the best music in the series.

CD:SS’s music can be downloaded here: thewilloftheancients.com/cat … y-game-rip

Oh, brilliant ? thanks a lot!

Is either of the MP3 or Ogg versions transcoded, or does the game include both? Either way, I?ve downloaded both for posterity and will mainly use the MP3s, but I?m curious. Anyway, thanks again!

Edit: A bit more reading shows that the game originally uses WMA. Not the most useful of formats, but might CheloXL?s or another direct rip be available anywhere? I?d buy the game and get the tracks myself in a shot, but my phone is several centuries too old to play anything good.

I’ll upload the wma files in a few days when I’m back on my fast connection, Ancient Weapon. I converted the wma files to wav and then to mp3/ogg from there.

The track names are my own as well since the original names are named unclearly. The original filenames are:

  1. Main Title = MainTitle.wma
  2. Camp = Camp.wma
  3. Preparation = SpeedUP.wma
  4. Memoir = Memoir.wma
  5. Lake Area = World1_1loop.wma
  6. Glyrin = Boss2.wma
  7. Mission Accomplished = Clear_4dbup.wma
  8. Forest Area = World2_1loop.wma
  9. Hestrine = Boss1.wma
  10. Underground Maze = Multi.wma
  11. Orkinuss = World3.wma
  12. Original Base = World5_1loop.wma
  13. Eel-K = World4-2.wma
  14. Dark Phantom = L_Boss.wma
  15. End Credits = Ending_Staff.wma

You, sir, are a legend by uploading the soundtrack (amongst everything else you have done). Hestrine was stuck in my head since the first time I watched the first trailer, and I was just as eagerly anticipating the release of Crimson Dragon just to hear the music.

Now I can listen to Hestrine, and all of those other tracks, whenever I want now. I salute you!

Yeah, thanks very much, Solo!

I?m just about to have a listen to the MP3 verisons; somehow I?ve not gotten around to listening to them yet. Very exciting!

It?ll be cool if you get a chance to upload the original WMAs, but don?t worry too much.

No problem. :anjou_happy:

Ancient Weapon, I’ve sent you a PM with a link to the wma files.