Dragon Crystal
Encyclopedia
Dragon Crystal is a video game released for the Sega Master System
and Sega Game Gear
. Its gameplay derives from roguelike
s, with a more intuitive graphical interface and is an 'unofficial' sequel to Fatal Labyrinth
.
The player awakens in a forest with a large egg following behind. This forest is a huge maze, crawling with dangerous creatures. The player finds weapons and other items scattered around with which to fight the monsters. The only way out is to continue onward, defeating monsters and growing in power along the way.
level covered by the fog of war
. The first ten levels are a random mixture of trees and cacti
, the next 10 are brick walls and the final ten are metal. (In the Game Gear version, the levels are a mix of trees, cacti, sunflowers, and Easter Island
style statues.) Progress is achieved by completing each floor then "warp
ing" to the next by walking the character to a differently coloured square, found by clearing the level.
Weapons, armour, potions, rings, food, money and enemies are randomly placed on the ground. If a player walks around for too long without picking up food, he will die of starvation. Cake objects give 11 to 27 and meat objects 42 to 46 food points and each food point allows the character to move six spaces on the screen and the maximum number of food points is 100.
The player has a number of Hit Points dependent on the level achieved, these increase by killing monsters and advancing to the next Character level. Hit Points are traded in battle with the enemy and recovered by moving around. Money is used to revive from death, increasing in cost with the number and severity of previous deaths.
The game is essentially turn-based, with each movement or action the equivalent to one turn and both monsters and the player will take it in turn to make an attack. This means getting surrounded can be particularly dangerous as every enemy would get one attack for every one attack the player makes. Likewise, a player who wanted to take their time in thinking about what to do next in a battle could do so without being attacked by just standing still.
Items picked up in the game, with the exception of armour and weapons, are coloured coded, with colours representing an effect that cannot be discovered until the player uses an item of that colour. Once, say, a Bronze Book has been used, all future Bronze Books will be renamed to reflect its powers. Generally speaking, Pots are potions that can heal or poison the player, Books provide either maps or spells that may strengthen the player in some way or negate a harmful effect (such as removing cursed items), Rods cast spells that affect enemies and Rings provide bonuses to stats (or sometimes are cursed, such as the Hunger Ring, which makes the player consume food much more quickly and requires a Bless Book to remove). Unwanted items, such as armour or weapons weaker than the ones already worn by the player or cursed or poisonous items, can either be dropped or thrown at enemies for minor damage. The player may only carry a limited number of items
As the player equips with better items, their in-game appearance changes to reflect the new gear, if it's sufficiently different. Robe, Cuirass
and Leathers all have the same basic appearance, while Chain mail
gives the player a new look.
As the player gains levels, the egg accompanying the player hatches into a dragon that grows with the player as he moves through the levels.
Each enemy has a unique attack. Toads can poison the player, Fire Diamonds cause dizziness (which had the effect of randomizing the direction the player moves), Ninjas teleport around the map, some Slime Blobs create copies of themselves and so on. The game ends when the player finds and picks up the holy goblet hidden in level 30.
It has been confirmed that the Game Gear version will be heading to the 3DS as part of its Virtual Console lineup. So far this has only been confirmed for the Japanese service.
#175 by Hartley, Patricia, and Kirk Lesser in "The Role of Computers" column. The reviewers gave the game 5 out of 5 stars.
Sega Master System
The is a third-generation video game console that was manufactured and released by Sega in 1985 in Japan , 1986 in North America and 1987 in Europe....
and Sega Game Gear
Sega Game Gear
The was Sega's first handheld game console. It was the third commercially available color handheld console, after the Atari Lynx and the TurboExpress....
. Its gameplay derives from roguelike
Roguelike
The roguelike is a sub-genre of role-playing video games, characterized by randomization for replayability, permanent death, and turn-based movement. Most roguelikes feature ASCII graphics, with newer ones increasingly offering tile-based graphics. Games are typically dungeon crawls, with many...
s, with a more intuitive graphical interface and is an 'unofficial' sequel to Fatal Labyrinth
Fatal Labyrinth
Fatal Labyrinth is a role-playing video game produced by Sega. Originally available exclusively on the Sega Meganet multiplayer gaming service in 1990, it was later remade for the Sega Mega Drive in . The game appears in Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3...
.
Story
As the player rides a bicycle one late afternoon, he turns down an alley never before noticed and enters an antique shop. There, a mysterious glowing crystal is sitting on a shelf. Upon approaching the crystal and gazing into it, a powerful force pulls the player in, causing a blackout.The player awakens in a forest with a large egg following behind. This forest is a huge maze, crawling with dangerous creatures. The player finds weapons and other items scattered around with which to fight the monsters. The only way out is to continue onward, defeating monsters and growing in power along the way.
Gameplay
The player starts off in the middle of a mazeMaze
A maze is a tour puzzle in the form of a complex branching passage through which the solver must find a route. In everyday speech, both maze and labyrinth denote a complex and confusing series of pathways, but technically the maze is distinguished from the labyrinth, as the labyrinth has a single...
level covered by the fog of war
Fog of war
The fog of war is a term used to describe the uncertainty in situation awareness experienced by participants in military operations. The term seeks to capture the uncertainty regarding own capability, adversary capability, and adversary intent during an engagement, operation, or campaign...
. The first ten levels are a random mixture of trees and cacti
Cacti
-See also:* RRDtool The underlying software upon which Cacti is built* MRTG The original Multi Router Traffic Grapher from which RRDtool was "extracted".* Munin -External links:******...
, the next 10 are brick walls and the final ten are metal. (In the Game Gear version, the levels are a mix of trees, cacti, sunflowers, and Easter Island
Easter Island
Easter Island is a Polynesian island in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian triangle. A special territory of Chile that was annexed in 1888, Easter Island is famous for its 887 extant monumental statues, called moai, created by the early Rapanui people...
style statues.) Progress is achieved by completing each floor then "warp
Warp
Warp, warped or warping may refer to:- Books and comics :* WaRP Graphics, an alternative comics publisher* Warp , comic book series published by First Comics based on the play Warp!...
ing" to the next by walking the character to a differently coloured square, found by clearing the level.
Weapons, armour, potions, rings, food, money and enemies are randomly placed on the ground. If a player walks around for too long without picking up food, he will die of starvation. Cake objects give 11 to 27 and meat objects 42 to 46 food points and each food point allows the character to move six spaces on the screen and the maximum number of food points is 100.
The player has a number of Hit Points dependent on the level achieved, these increase by killing monsters and advancing to the next Character level. Hit Points are traded in battle with the enemy and recovered by moving around. Money is used to revive from death, increasing in cost with the number and severity of previous deaths.
The game is essentially turn-based, with each movement or action the equivalent to one turn and both monsters and the player will take it in turn to make an attack. This means getting surrounded can be particularly dangerous as every enemy would get one attack for every one attack the player makes. Likewise, a player who wanted to take their time in thinking about what to do next in a battle could do so without being attacked by just standing still.
Items picked up in the game, with the exception of armour and weapons, are coloured coded, with colours representing an effect that cannot be discovered until the player uses an item of that colour. Once, say, a Bronze Book has been used, all future Bronze Books will be renamed to reflect its powers. Generally speaking, Pots are potions that can heal or poison the player, Books provide either maps or spells that may strengthen the player in some way or negate a harmful effect (such as removing cursed items), Rods cast spells that affect enemies and Rings provide bonuses to stats (or sometimes are cursed, such as the Hunger Ring, which makes the player consume food much more quickly and requires a Bless Book to remove). Unwanted items, such as armour or weapons weaker than the ones already worn by the player or cursed or poisonous items, can either be dropped or thrown at enemies for minor damage. The player may only carry a limited number of items
As the player equips with better items, their in-game appearance changes to reflect the new gear, if it's sufficiently different. Robe, Cuirass
Cuirass
A cuirass is a piece of armour, formed of a single or multiple pieces of metal or other rigid material, which covers the front of the torso...
and Leathers all have the same basic appearance, while Chain mail
Chain Mail
"Chain Mail" is a single by Mancunian band James, released in March 1986 by Sire Records, the first after the band defected from Factory Records. The record was released in two different versions, as 7" single and 12" EP, with different artworks by John Carroll and, confusingly, under different...
gives the player a new look.
As the player gains levels, the egg accompanying the player hatches into a dragon that grows with the player as he moves through the levels.
Each enemy has a unique attack. Toads can poison the player, Fire Diamonds cause dizziness (which had the effect of randomizing the direction the player moves), Ninjas teleport around the map, some Slime Blobs create copies of themselves and so on. The game ends when the player finds and picks up the holy goblet hidden in level 30.
Sequels & Ports
Dragon Crystal is the "unofficial" sequel to Fatal Labyrinth (1991). A sequel to Dragon Crystal, entitled Dragon Crystal II, was planned for mobile phones, but was never released.It has been confirmed that the Game Gear version will be heading to the 3DS as part of its Virtual Console lineup. So far this has only been confirmed for the Japanese service.
Reception
The game was reviewed in 1991 in DragonDragon (magazine)
Dragon is one of the two official magazines for source material for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game and associated products, the other being Dungeon. TSR, Inc. originally launched the monthly printed magazine in 1976 to succeed the company's earlier publication, The Strategic Review. The...
#175 by Hartley, Patricia, and Kirk Lesser in "The Role of Computers" column. The reviewers gave the game 5 out of 5 stars.
Sources
External links
- Dragon Crystal at RPGClassics Shrine