A Hidden Gem? - Dragon Marked For Death Review

[@jvts8916]

Thing is, the game had a seriously bad early release filled with bugs, the game not telling you the stage drops which made the postgame unbearable. This also had ripples as many made guides *before* the updates so players joining around 1.2 would be frustrated as the advice wouldn't work, including myself. There's also the part where the level cap would constantly increase after updates resulting in players having to grind the same stages in higher difficulty to get to the new content. There was also some major disappointment that the playable Oracle and Bandit added in updates weren't Amica and Rivalis and that their story was done in an even more minimalist approach. The floor 120 of the Cavern of Torment was also hyped up as hosting the true final boss and it makes me wonder if the team knew the difference between a true final boss and a superboss because the Cavern of Torment has zero story.

[@InfiniteComboReviews]

Oh wow. Being a newer title I really didn't deep dive into the history of this one. I do wish that I had based on how much you mentioned so I could have included it, though my personal experience with it does hint at such problems unintentionally, though fortunately I think my review encapsulates what newcomers can expect now. Though I never bothered with the big multi floor trail. I didn't feel like grinding for hours for what I assumed would be a minor payoff. Thanks for all that info. I'm gonna pin this.

[@jvts8916]

There's also a few annoyances that stuck for the entire lifespan of this attempted live service: Agility/AGI. It covers the chance to evade an attack, which is stupid in a platformer where you can clearly see the attack hit and you could just move out. In fact, you're recommended to have over 130 AGI to have a proper Oracle build. Luck/LUC. For some reason, the game is as vague as possible when it comes to this stat and its actual effects are ridiculous. It does *not* increase the chance to get a crit, that also goes to AGI. Instead, it affects the chance to get a rare drop. Bad class balancing. Let's face it, some classes are just more useful than others. Warrior is the tank class with the drawback that it can't jump very well, which is not a very good gimmick in a game that is part platformer. Witch and Oracle are the only ones that can heal without consumable items, which makes them almost the best single player class by default (especially Oracle, who is also quite agile and doesn't require as many button inputs for the rest of her moveset). Paralysis: You thought poison was bad? You can actually respond when you're poisoned! When you get paralyzed you can't dash or attack, leaving you a sitting duck. And if you're playing a magic character, spells also become unusable, making paralysis the only status effect that cannot be removed without items or waiting it out. It's so bad that I'd sometimes recommend deliberately getting affected by a different status effect over staying paralyzed.

[@InfiniteComboReviews]

@@jvts8916 I don't tend to follow builds and just power up however I please, but I get what you're saying and why that's offputting. Personally, I wasn't keen on the witch due to the button commands, especially since healing items are a bit busted. My buddy and I just played this again recently and he heal tanked the entire game XD

[@AlejandroRodriguez-cy8ee]

@@jvts8916 i feel like the paralysis bit is fine. cause that is essentially what paralysis does and is, make the body unresponsive and in a state of shock.

[@bananarama6808]

This games is so good, I just started playing it a month ago. I bought it along side my brother in law and we are addicted. I switched from emperes to shinobi and love him. Also the emperess is a playable character in blaster master zero 2. Good review

[@InfiniteComboReviews]

Thanks. I haven't actually played the Blaster Master games.... unless you count the one back on DOS. We had it in 1st grade for some reason.

[@bananarama6808]

@@InfiniteComboReviews you can buy the digital now, but best buy sells the physicalsl 1 and 2. Or for the same price you can get all 3 from play asia

[@InfiniteComboReviews]

@@bananarama6808 I know. I've seen them there and remember when the collectors editions were up on Limited Run.

[@agreedboarart3188]

What sold me on this game is the fact that you can not only play as not-Zero, but also not-Copen as well!

[@InfiniteComboReviews]

Okay. So I know who Copen is, but I've only played the first Gunvolt so far. Which character is not-Copen.

[@agreedboarart3188]

@@InfiniteComboReviews Shinobi for his tagging attack. Copen, who is introduced in Gunvolt 2 (arguably the best Gunvolt game btw), is an aerial type of character who can air dash and bounce off of everything like a madman, and when he dashes into an enemy, he tags them and can then release a flurry of bullets on them. :D

[@InfiniteComboReviews]

@@agreedboarart3188 Ah. Okay. Cool. I actually just did a second play through with a friend of mine recently and I mained the Shinobi so I'm looking forward to giving Copen a go. Also Copen was introduced in the first Gunvolt. You just couldn't play as him.

[@CaptainStupendous]

I'm not going to comment on the game, but on your review itself. This was a really good review. I got exactly the kind of information I wanted out of it and was entertained along the way. I'll go browse your videos to see if I can find more items on my wishlist (I have decided to remove this game from my wishlist, lol).

[@InfiniteComboReviews]

@@CaptainStupendous Thanks so much! That's exactly what I hope for when people watch my videos! Also I'd recommend Gal Guardians. It's made by the same team.

[@KenAthomos]

Great video dude! I remember seeing this game back then and thought it look interesting. Fell in love with the art style because it's Inti Games and I love the Mega Man Zero series. Kinda sad to hear that the game is hit or miss.

[@InfiniteComboReviews]

Yeah. RetroDrew ducked out of it pretty fast.

[@Majo_Ellen]

Buy it and play it wiff me. >:[

[@InfiniteComboReviews]

Yeah Ken! Buy the game and play with Majo!

[@Majo_Ellen]

@@InfiniteComboReviews YEAH KEN!!!!!!!! ..... (I can't help it, I'm lonely.)

[@InfiniteComboReviews]

@@Majo_Ellen Ken actually lives in the Philippians so he is definitely 100% asleep right now.

[@olmofirewolf]

Dude, have you grown with subs during this time? I really can't explain why you are not a bigger channel, you work well, you emanate positivity and something else that I don't know what to say but it's absolutely positive (I've been following you for long enough but I discovered you by chance)

[@InfiniteComboReviews]

What time frame are we talking here? I've been growing, just extremely slowly, like 1 or 2 subs a day. I appreciate the kind words.

[@SonicSlash51]

It happens a lot.

[@InfiniteComboReviews]

@@SonicSlash51 Indeed

[@Hambs23]

I agree. While I really enjoyed DMFD, I think some of its aspects could be rounded up in a sequel if the devs listened to feedback and kept supporting and advertising the game in the long term. I believe they announced they would stop updating the game after 1 year to focus on other projects. Which is understandable for a small company, but also hurts a co-op game like this too much for its own good. There's not a lack of content (if you consider only finishing the story and not going full in the max level endgame), the movement and combat feels really good and tight, character design is top-notch and it can be fun tackling some of the more difficult bosses in a group (even if you find a strategy to kill them in less than 10 seconds, it still is a cooperative achievement). The music is not that memorable or impressive, but it's not irritating either, it fits as BGM and doesn't go beyond that, and that's as far as I can bad-talk this game's points individually. DMFD has a design issue. It doesn't fully utilize its strong aspects to their full potential, and that's a damn shame. It reuses the same enemies for too long and doesn't utilize them in different ways to mix things up, in higher levels combat is basically binary (either you're dead and the enemy is fine, or the enemy is dead and you're fine), gets grindier and a lot more repetitive the longer you play, and it has a very steep learning curve for begginers to get invested into it. I still think it's worth playing it if you have someone else willing to do so, but from my experience, it's hard to keep others interested for too long when there's so many other games wanting your attention. Even with 2 players it's already a fun experience to go through all the quests at least once. This game deserves another chance, with all its issues taken into consideration.

[@InfiniteComboReviews]

Yeah. I think with another go in a sequel they could do wonders and since Gunvolt and Masterblaster have gotten sequels there is still a chance. Though I doubt my friends will be giving this one another try but I beat it myself.

[@Saint-Ocean]

Found this video while googling the game I really like your style of review mate take my sub and keep up the good work

[@InfiniteComboReviews]

Thanks a lot! I have a small playlist for games this company has made, my Inte Creates playlist, if you are looking for other similar games.

[@Saint-Ocean]

Thanks ill be sure to cheak it out you also have a lot of other stuff I like so I think I'm just gonna binge your channel

[@InfiniteComboReviews]

@@Saint-Ocean Cool. Hope you enjoy!

[@GlitchHuntingGamer]

A very thorough and entertaining review SpammerD. I have to agree with you that I really wanted this game to be great and not just good. The Art, Pixel Style Graphics, character Designs, platform adventure game, 4 player coop and RPG elements are all massive Pluses for me. The game is rough around the edges, with aggressive status effects and pallet swapped enemies but the controls are super tight. I actually enjoyed the feeling of playing the game. I believe with some more enemy variety early on exploring the world would be a better experience. I am that guy that exhausts dialogue options in RPG’s so discovering more about the world through chatting with the characters within was done better here than many other titles. The cryptic secret objectives were pretty brutal though. They are marked on the mission select screen with a blue flag when completed, but every mission has a blank space for one of these flags. How the hell do you know if there is a mission in a stage? If you me you spend hours looking and than consult a guide to see what the heck that flag means. The walls of light were annoying too. Having parts of maps blocked off or accessible when revisiting maps, with a beam of light so you can’t tell if it it passable until you arrive there. These transition points could have used a visual cue like an impassible wall or other natural looking obstacle so large you can't see the other area. Even some colour coding of the mini map to shade out inaccessible areas could have worked to better communicate to the player. I can’t say I have the fortitude to complete this game on my own. But Multiplayer was a fantastic experience, and I regret not crushing the final boss with you. We could have wrote much Drewm to the enemies of the Dragon Blood Tribe. I would recommend people to try it on Steam. There is a return period if it is not your thing, but it just might be.

[@InfiniteComboReviews]

Thanks. Yeah there is so much more to say about this game, but I didn't want to spoil too much either and the video would have been loooooong. I cut a lot out.

[@ThatGuyGreen8710]

New to this channel, liked the video. But a correction i have to make is that 4:15 you can change dashing to not be pressed every 2 seconds. Although i don't understand why they made that the default.

[@InfiniteComboReviews]

Thanks! Ah, guess I didn't realize it. Thanks for the tip. Yeah, it is weird that its the default, thats kinda why I never looked into it though that was only the example I chose. I'm not a big fan of how the swinging mechanic on the Empress works either.

[@ThatGuyGreen8710]

I can't relate on the Empress swing mechanic because i don't play her a lot, but i can see why that would get annoying after a while .

[@ZeitGeist446]

@@InfiniteComboReviews the dash change was added in an update a while ago so yeah early on pumping the dash was a tad tedious.

[@InfiniteComboReviews]

@@ZeitGeist446 Oh, okay. Thanks for the heads up.

[@ThaMobstarr]

Man, glad I am not the only one who bought the game based on the kickass frontcover art. xD

[@InfiniteComboReviews]

Kick ass art can do wonders!

[@YukiShiro-64]

I’m not gonna act like the contact damage isn’t annoying but I think it’s there mostly because MMZ also had it

[@InfiniteComboReviews]

@YukiShiro-64 That makes sense.

[@nynjamaica]

This game deserves a sequel.

[@InfiniteComboReviews]

I agree!

[@inavela_artsy]

I remember seeing one of my friends playing this game, and the style really caught my eye. Since I had bought the Megaman Zero Collection before, I decided to get the game and OH BOY I DO NOT REGRET BUYING IT. The story is simple but so deep, with a lot to explore and speculate about, and with my completionist self buying the full character pack and playing all of them [The main four characters, with Empress and Witch being my mains], I managed to unlock the best ending, and boy did I broke into tears. Every single ending is interesting and really makes you think how the story would've been afterwards. Kinda sad the game hasn't had many updates afterwards, cause I really wanna take a deep dive into the lore of the game, how the Celestial fits in the world other than in the main story, maybe extra content that expands the world.

[@InfiniteComboReviews]

You seem pretty passionate about DMFD. I hope you get your DLC or a sequel. If it helps, the Azure Strilker Gunvolt series was made by the same devs and might scratch that itch. I know that's why I looked into them. I've got a review of t bt e first game in t hff at series if you're interested.

[@inavela_artsy]

@@InfiniteComboReviews I really hope so, even if it's like a sudden surprise update. DMFD helped me a lot during the dreaded 2020 since I wasn't able to spend time with him, so we played online most of the time. That same friend told me of the ASG series and I've seen him play the games, I'm hoping on buying them since I enjoy difficult fights, and by the looks of it, the bosses have some interesting mechanics, and the Gunvolt world seems pretty interesting. Plus there's a new game coming out, so why not buy them after all!

[@InfiniteComboReviews]

@@inavela_artsy Exactly! I'm glad the game helped you out during such a rough year. Also the Empress is a character in another Inti Creats game, Blaster Master 2. Though I haven't played it myself.

[@darcy7257]

Nice video, I’ve got about 10 hours in the game and there is something I find cosy about it.

[@InfiniteComboReviews]

Thanks. Yeah, I can see that. I think it's the controls

[@esk8jaimes]

Strangely, the listing for this on the Nintendo Eshop says we can't buy it?

[@InfiniteComboReviews]

Weird. Are you sure its not the DLC you're looking at because their website has it listed and I own the physical copy.

[@esk8jaimes]

@@InfiniteComboReviews There's two other Dragon: marked for death games on the eshop too, they're okay to purchase.

[@InfiniteComboReviews]

@@esk8jaimes Weird.

[@ageisfang8566]

You can change your dash through options so you don’t have to spam

[@InfiniteComboReviews]

Yeah. Another commenter mentioned that too. Still it's an odd default.

[@tiago4826]

Been playing Bandit non-stop since i bought the game on Steam last week. I'm trying to get strong enough to defeat a Named Monster and get the Platinum Throphy (it's probably the hardest one)

[@InfiniteComboReviews]

Get that Plat!!!

[@tiago4826]

@@InfiniteComboReviews after that, maybe I'll try getting Lv100 and the Bandit's Ultimate Equips, i hope the Dagger of Thieves looks cool

[@InfiniteComboReviews]

@@tiago4826 Go for it!

[@tiago4826]

@@InfiniteComboReviews YES! I defeated a Named Monster today at CoT, i wasn't even aware it was an NM XD Now i just gotta finish the game with the other characters (and kill Purplants :v)

[@InfiniteComboReviews]

@@tiago4826 Let's Go! I've only completed the game with the Empress and Ninja myself.

[@imatiu]

This Game is heavy on the action RPG elements, this is a problem when your combat is Megaman combat (particularly Megaman Zero combat) because that combat focuses on a pixel perfect dance that you can only be done correctly after a huge amount of practice, when You have to grind that particular dance, it becomes one of the most vexing things to play, because a few mistakes can cost You a level and when that is translated into more grinding it is infuriating. Add the fact that bosses can stat wall you as well as pattern wall you and it is not surprising that megaman fans aren't crazy about this Game. All in all the fact that this is a grindy and difficult action RPG is probably a Big wall for many people.

[@InfiniteComboReviews]

Well said. Thankfully, you can alter your stats with an easily purchased item which let me wall the DLC final boss. Regardless, I never thought about it like that. Thanks for the insight.

[@hiruyabebaw807]

i had this game before my switch died and it was one of my favorites

[@InfiniteComboReviews]

How did your switch die?

[@TheGamingDuck3]

Probably the internal battery is dead

[@RameoMTL]

I see nothing wrong with the "goomba" syndrome. It's just like castlevania and megaman games that I grew up and still love. You have plenty of ways of not getting hit by them.

[@HazardLife]

Great vid just subbed

[@InfiniteComboReviews]

Thanks a lot!

[@MyLittlePonyTheater]

Just set dash to Continuous in the options.

[@InfiniteComboReviews]

Yeah, I've had a few people mention that. I'll keep it in mind for future play throughs.

[@pnmartinez2710]

😂 loved the video and thanks for the tips

[@InfiniteComboReviews]

Thanks! :)

[@kyle35_36]

Are a lot of people still playing this online? Or is it already barren?

[@InfiniteComboReviews]

Can't say for sure. When I was playing on PC, I never found anybody playing but it might be different for the Switch. This video is still getting A LOT of traction so I think if nothing else, people are at least interested in it.

[@furyberserk]

​@@InfiniteComboReviews A long time ago, you needed to look up people on a fan made site like you did on destiny. It sucked.

[@InfiniteComboReviews]

@@furyberserk Not surprised. This game isn’t that talked about sadly.

[@Vil_Granted]

Yeah looks like a interesting game.

[@InfiniteComboReviews]

I certainly is.

[@aidankhaos7687]

The game is actually great

[@InfiniteComboReviews]

Yeah. I like it.

[@zacharydobbins6267]

Shame it had little notice. I loved it since I also do monster hunter

[@InfiniteComboReviews]

Yeah, well you can still gather up a group of friends and have at it.

[@Bloodstained2077]

I hate online I hate co-op and I hate multiplayer they all suck I like playing just the by self

[@InfiniteComboReviews]

Then just enjoy playing by yourself.

[@rhovenom04]

Bro. The characters needs to be bought. How stupid is that.

[@InfiniteComboReviews]

I unlocked them after beating the game, but the Thief was probably apart of the DLC which just comes with the game when you buy it now

[@ramonhuitz920]

Where can I buy my copy for the PlayStation 4?

[@InfiniteComboReviews]

PS4 version is digital only.

[@ramonhuitz920]

@@InfiniteComboReviews thank you 😭💔

[@InfiniteComboReviews]

@@ramonhuitz920 Sorry my fellow physical fan