Dragon Fantasy: The Volumes of Westeria

Genre: Turn-Based JRPG

Players: 1

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Review:

Dragon Fantasy: The Volumes of Westeria, elsewhere known as Dragon Fantasy Book I, is a Turn-Based JRPG released on PC and mobile devices in 2011, remade on PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita in 2013, then in 2015 ported to PC, Wii U, and Nintendo 3DS, and then in 2019 ported to PlayStation 4. The game’s title is an allusion to Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest, games that clearly had a direct inspiration on this game (as well as other classic 8- and 16-Bit RPGs like Earthbound)

Dragon Fantasy features a retro-style pixel art presentation (you can actually choose either an 8-bit or 16-bit style for the visuals), along with a decent but not memorable chiptune soundtrack (though this too can be selected in an 8-bit or 16-bit style). While it is very appreciated how much this game goes out of its way to mimic the games of the 8- and 16-bit eras, it sorta’ loses its own identity in the process, since there’s very little that distinguishes this game from those games it’s trying to imitate.

The exception is the writing and sense of humor, which are both excellent here, with a great tongue-in-cheek style that serves the game well and even dishes up chuckles every now and then, such as the various ways monsters “attack’ you by doing mundane things like laughing menacingly or complaining that you haven’t done the dishes. It is this sense of humor more than anything that is this game’s biggest draw.

Sadly, the combat and character management definitely isn’t on par with that part of the game. This is pretty bog-standard stuff. Not bad, but extremely uncreative.

If you’re craving an old-school JRPG with a good sense of humor, Dragon Fantasy: The Volumes of Westeria is definitely worth a look. The gameplay and presentation aren’t going to do anything that will set it apart, but the strong nostalgia factor and great sense of humor give this game something that makes it worthwhile.

tl;dr – Dragon Fantasy: The Volumes of Westeria is a Turn-Based JRPG that does a good job capturing nostalgia, but kinda’ fails at creating its own sense of identity. The one exception is the game’s excellent sense of humor. If you’re craving an old-school JRPG that will give you a few chuckles, this game is well worth a look.

Grade: C+

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