The party composition becomes legitimately hilarious when you realise that, ending-wise, your final fight outside of the secret/bonus ending is a mass of giant babies and, between Caim, Leonard and Arioche, you've got three people who, under no circumstances, should be allowed near children for one reason or another. You've spent the entire game building an anti-baby task force without even realising.

What's really interesting is how Yoko Taro was affected by the September 11th attacks on the US- it actually changed his viewpoint on killing in video games. Where with Drakengard his position was that only a completely psychopath could enjoy that much killing, when it came to NieR his stance had shifted to "You don't necessarily have to be a psychopath, you just have to believe you're right" which perfectly sums up how the story of that game plays out. But despite this shift in perspective, he still kept to the principle that "murderers don't deserve happy endings" and so nobody really has a good time by the end.

Fun fact: the chaotic dissonance that formed Drakengard's soundtrack sampled a lot of Stravinsky's "The Rite of Spring," which itself is pretty chaotic.

"What the fuck is this game" is perhaps the best description for Drakengard 1, how this game even got sequals, prequals, split off into a whole different franchise baffles me

This has been my best performing video of the past 17 months. Thank you very much to everyone who watched this video! Sacrificing my sanity on this game was well worth it! Check out some of my other stuff if you're interested in more videos like this. Edit: We reached 20K views! THANK YOU EVERYONE!!!

Since you play a mass murderer, the soundtrack's general theme is supposed to be madness. That's literally the note they gave the composer. Also, Tsukiru/Growing Wings is about Furiae's incestuous feelings for Caim. WELCOME TO DRAKENGARD.

I actually think the unconventional disjointed music fits the dark, chaotic and eerie atmosphere of the game's story.

I love the soundtrack. It's like if insanity had a soundtrack

I've always had the impression Drakengard is supposed to a painful, hostile, alien experience. It's a horrible, dying world inhabited by horrible, nihilistic people. Everything about it is sick to the point of being un-saveable. You solve every problem with mass murder, so much so that it becomes a gruelling dirge. This world ending is frankly a mercy kill. And as things progress, things only get more diseased and more horrifying. An awful experience, and I maintain intentionally so.

Even tho Drakengard 2 is a hot mess, one of my favorite parts about it is that Caim and Angelus are boss fights, and killing Caim is such an impossibility for the protagonists that *the dragon driven insane by ceaseless agony* is the easier of the two to kill.

I agree with everything being said here except for Ending A being a "good ending". Caim literally lost the only person/creature still alive he had any kind of connection with. In a way it's worse than the endings where they die together and Drakengard 2 proves that.

It’s so interesting hearing how you favor ending D, as to me it’s the most *dreadful* Sere’s entire quest was to find a way to help everyone, he wanted to be a hero and let everybody live. A happily ever after. But that’s not what E is. Sere uses his power to infinitely stop time, and hope with all of his heart that everyone will be okay. But if time is stunted for eternity, there is nothing to return to. It’s only delaying the inevitable indefinitely. A lingering will. The “hero’s” don’t go back and rebuild society. The gods don’t smite the remaining specs of humanity. Only stagnation. And that, to me, is an awful fate; Infinity beyond infinity, *dreading* that one day it might all end as you’ve feared. (this is all assuming they’re conscious during the stagnation. if they’re not then it’s effectively the same thing as death)

I remember playing Drakengard 3 about 8 years ago, I was a freshmen at college at the time. Unfortunately, I was never able to finish it. But it did leave me bewildered and astonished in awe when I learned that Yoko Taro made Drakengard 3, as well as the first game, as a form of backlash to known genres and tropes we've come to know. Drakengard 1 was made as a backlash towards the cliched yet traditional story of the courageous, selfless and kind hero who defeats the main villain, rescues the damsel, and saves the day. Yoko Taro also stated that he hated the trope/cliché/theme of the MC's younger sister who has secret feelings of romantic love towards her own brother, which is why Furiae gets killed off. Speaking of which, you left out the part where Manah reveals Furiae's love for Caim right in front of him, which leads to Furiae killing herself with a dagger in shame, but that's ok, I understand that this game is one crazy roller coaster with five characters that range from scum to…just unforgivable deranged. I apologize if it drove you…insane. But on side note, ever since Nier Automata came out, it again left me bewildered and astonished in awe. But also feeling a bit of acceptance, and accepting what happened within the Drakengard/Nier universe. To think that all of humanity went extinct, all because of one small parasitic flower.

This is one of my favorite games of all time. And also one where when people say 'I hate it.' I say .... 'I get it.' Haha But despite the jank on ALL grounds, this whole game was more like an emotional fever dream. I played as a kid, replayed it all the time. I had every Dynasty Warriors game, yet I always came back to Caim's two square one triangle combo. No other game was this dark, this mentally unstable, and unafraid to be a JRPG full of TERRIBLE people as the party. I fell in-love, KNOWING this game was essentially garbage. The music was droning, unsettling, yet it gripped me more than any repeating guitar riff in DW that abused by ears for years. (Don't get me wrong, I love that crap too.) But Drakengard was just that... 'window' into a madman's mind in the form of a janky game. (Not just Yoko Taro, MANY people collaborated in making all this junk.) Caim was based on Guts, and I LIVED for the insanity. This wasn't a game, it was an experience, and lord knows that is NOT for everyone. I love the odd, the macabre, and the strange. So if none of that vibes with your taste of dark fantasy? Then all this is... is just a fucking TERRIBLE game, and I 100% get that. lol Bless you for still giving it a shot, and your thoughts are fully valid. But this IS the game that started it all, and it makes me laugh tot his day knowing that a bunch of fellow weirdos like myself helped Nier be born by being JUST big enough and saying 'Give us more Drakengard.' Haha!

I love Drakengard, even after playing through it and felt the pain of the exhaustion after grinding all the other endings. I love the underline feeling of dread the game has, through the latter part of the game. The soundtrack adds to it i think. Especially for ending E. God i wish this game was remade, and given more depth. Great video!

The soundtrack is actually a masterpice. You just need to develop a taste for tension and uncomfortable sounds.

I do hope this game one day gets a remake, with the same themes and characters, just more fleshed out with better gameplay and varied objectives. Looking forward to when you (hopefully) do the Nier series. Respect to Yoko Taro for doing what he wants and believes in, love him. I’m honestly excited to see what his next big series will be, or single game.

I will admit that Leonard is my favorite character in the game, because he is in my personal opinion a genuinely morally good person who *knows* he has some fucked up fetishes and hates himself for it. He never acts on those urges and became a monk specifically so he'd be forced to take a vow of celibacy to prevent himself from acting on his lusts. I find that that takes a lot stronger of a moral compass than most people would have. Also he has my respect for killing that annoying fucking fairy with his sacrificial explosion spell, so cheers for that.

This game was designed to hurt you in ways you weren't even aware of at the time unless you were an adult. The music is to convey madness, the gameplay is to convey the never ending slog that is war that will only end with your death or you giving up, the story and all of it's endings meant to punish you for powering through the madness of war. Each ending being just as bad or worse than the last completely in contrast to every other game with multiple endings where at least one of them is a good ending. Even in the storyline where you save the damsel in distress she kills herself out of shame because it's revealed she has romantic thoughts about her own brother. You cannot win. War is madness and it will never end. Should you power through you will come out a broken man. This game did what it intended to do judging by the video title.

I must make a confession: I can sleep REALLY well to the Drakengard Ost

The voice acting is overall very good. Especially the dragon's

I unironically love the harsh, clanging, beating drone of the soundtrack. There is nothing good in it. There's metal, harsh strings, banging, clashing dissonance. It's perfect. I was lowkey upset at the beginning when you started using In The Sky Chapter One and we didn't get to the dissonant skipping lol.

The final boss from Route E is referenced in the FFXIV Nier raids. There is a section where players are marked with the black/white rings which are used to counter the wave attacks from the boss.

I loved your ending section! A lot of people talk about Drakengard without really contextualising why it is the way it is, and I think you really nailed it. Yoko Taro loves to deconstruct games and really examine why the players do things, asking them questions with their own actions, and really pushing the boundaries about what the narrative even means. Automata is definitely the most perfected example of this, with its hopeful outlook on struggle in a meaningless world and helping each other to get through. Like you’ve pointed out, Drakengard is much earlier along this thought process, a bit less refined and darker on purpose. The deconstruction in this case is kind of like asking “Do you still want to play this game if murder isn’t fun? If the gameplay isn’t fun? If the characters are awful? If the story only gets worse the further you go?” It’s a really neat exploration of what games can be, and I think it’s really telling just how much of these concepts make completing the game actually feel worthwhile, even though it is the way it is. Also congrats on all the views! I’m glad you didn’t lose your sanity for nothing!

Angelus's voice actor did a great job actually it's very memorable, also the music was like that to cause discomfort which it often did.

I absolutely love yoko taro and everything he stands for

I leveled all the weapons, just because of a feature, that started in this game and is now in nier: gestalt and Nier: Automata: the story of each weapon! Every Weapon has it's own tale and every lvl reveals part of it till you get the whole story at max LVL.

Nice video! Drakengard to me has always been that really weird but highly intriguing game and I really appreciate those kinds of games existing. To push the boundaries of the norm. If I may offer a suggestion, during your story segments, I highly suggest to leave in some of the more important cutscenes and have it played as it will better hammer in some elements that are harder to express into words. Hope you cover more of Yoko Taro's madness!

Great video, tho I must confess I secretly love Drakengard 1's soundtrack. There's unironically a few bangers in it and I think the overall deranged sound was done on purpose

As crazy as it sounds, the Drakengard OST really helps me with my sleep Issues. It just...empties my Mind for some Reason.

The Drakengard OST is a goddamn treasure. It's got a permanent seat in my playlist. Sorry to hear about your shit taste in music.

The music really grows on you after 40 hours of collecting every weapon. I actually have the soundtrack and listen to it occasionally.

The ground combat has that “Devil May Cry 2” energy.

Wonderful video! An interesting thing about the final boss of ending E is the fact that it’s even HARDER if you’re good at rhythm games. It’s tempo and notes don’t match at all and when you a musician tries to get a feel for the beat you start to get lost in its absurdity and chaos. Definitely intentional and crazy but it’s a fun concept just executed very frustrating with the one hit kill 😂

That bit at the end about Yoko Taro really put a nice capstone on the review. Great video!

These games deserve remakes imo. Throw these into the Automata engine and change a lot about the presentation and you have really great games.

This is actually the first time I've actually heard any of these songs, and I must say. I super love them haha. It's legitimately like madness in audio form. Its fucking sick.

Listened to the final bosses theme recently properly, and oh boy does it really make you feel bad, my chest started to tighten and I kinda got a clammy feeling, the song does wonders to make you feel awful with it’s immense tonal dissonance

I honestly just watched one guy do a 'I'm gonna play this game for you with my buddy so you don't have to suffer through it' kinda playthrough Watched it through in one night before I started Nier Replicant, goddamn I enjoyed the lore so much more having that sense of weird ass connection Like cmon Goddamn dragon particles Awesome (Also youtube must be on my wavelength because it recommended the playthrough I watched, maybe. Rasen Bran is the channel)

I love how the music is like receiving constant mental damage. By the time you reach Ending A you're probably insane and will keep spiraling down.

Man, this game impacted me something fierce when I was younger. Me, being the naïve little runt I was, just found this cool looking game on the used games shelf with dragons in it. Popped into my PS2 and things were never the same for me ever again.

Was this the game where it’s hinted at that the protagonist and the Dragon had feelings of love for one another?

I remember getting into this game when it came out. I had played an unhealthy amount of dynasty warriors, before playing this. After all these years and learning more about yoko taro, as well as going back to the game 4 yrs ago- I find it pretty "art housey" (if those are even the right words.) It feels kinda meta, like Caim is a self insert for those who played/addicted to musou games. "we" are caim. I say that because I enjoyed slaughtering and getting the big number up/kill count- always aiming for a thousand or more. It was a hell of an experience for me back then. Especially the part where you're slaughtering kids basically, at first that part rang super hollow when I was younger(they were just another number to the ever growing kill count) . Now I can appreciate what they tried to do there. Sure the game didn't play so great, story felt lacking, and the soundtrack ...I think it was like that on purpose(repetitive, like you're going mad. Maybe to simulate the character you are? I'll admit, it's not good. But I found myself strangely enjoying the ost). I don't think Taro and Cavias ideas were executed well in what they were trying to say with their art, but it got through to some. Even some parts I may have read to far into(reaching for what might not even be there lol). One of my favorite games that I refuse to play through all over again. (oh god I left a paragraph with my opinion on a game that I played 19 years ago- kill me now)

This is probably the best video on Drakengard, I keep revisiting this and recommending it to my friends! Great job.

I still play my PS2, and this game has always been in my top collection. I had never experienced a game like this before when i first played it, and i'll never forget the feeling it produced. Although the story is light it's very affecting, the art direction/design is brilliant, the soundtrack is a masterpiece, the gameplay is addicting, the world is epic. As an avid fantasy/fanfiction writer, this is one of my many side projects that i create movie scripts for. I would honestly love to see this game turned into a full anime movie someday!

I remember mom giving me this game as a present for my birthday, and I play it without knowing the value behind this game. of course, as a child, I always complain about the game being janky, weird and difficult to navigate but I still play it because I like how bizzare and vague the story is. I am a fully adult now, and last month I revisit this game. at first I get that "nostalgic" feeling, but the long I play this game, the more dillemas inside this game exposed to me, and after I pass the true end, now I understand the real reason of this game : to make you cannot choose between what is right and what you believe is right. everything inside this game perfectly design to torture you, morally grey character is there to mock your decision indirectly, janky movement is there to add nuance of how fucked up you (as the MC) are, the chaotic soundtrack is there to mess with your judgement and your focus. and finally you get through the true end, what you got? A children saying "thank you for playing" with such empty, cheerful yet mocking voice that sounds like she blames your decisions and doom the future into dark time (which is lead to Nier universe). Yoko Taro really clever to insert so many dillema inside this game, utilize it to make a game that constantly questioning your concept of ethic and moral.

Honestly i love Nier, but the Drakenguard universe allways intregde me more. if badly executed at times, The concept of fusing once soul with another life has so much potential is actually crazy. But i also like the way Nier deconstrucst the whole idea of what a soul really is.

The one thing I found visually unique about this game was how it used the color red. It’s not bright or loud In gameplay, nor is it dull or bland in character designs.

Gameplay aside, coming back to this to experience the madness is such a treat. There are so many games nowadays that are too generic and don’t give me any sort of emotion. Drakengard may not give me good vibes but I still feel something. It’s like how people watch horror movies to be scared.

Those fucking bells in Ending E will always haunt my goddamned nightmares

The fact that I played this as a kid... got all of the endings....I'm....amazed...go younger me. Also explains how fucked up my mental health was after lol It's a deep game.

Gotta admit, yoko taro is a fuckin trip

While MGS is probably the first game I can think of that did it in a mainstream setting in a "family approved environment", and with lots of money as Taro makes, it wasn't the first one to brutally tackle those issues with these kinds of characters. The NEC PC libraries and the various erotic games of Japan during the 90s also brutally tackled such themes with arguably worse protagonists. One such game was Atlach=Nacha which is very beloved and famous in underground music circles in japan for its soundtrack, being an Alicesoft game. Another is arguably the Rance series before the "softened edges" remakes that people know today. Most of these follow a simple patter of calling into attention various trends and mock them that were prevalent at the time they were so they come as dated nowadays since no one has the context for that weird time in japanese game / anime story development. And to be fair, a little bit of that is formed by a little bit of jealousy and hatred from the creators themselves, some admit it outright, others don't ; Taro is half and half, since he created Furiae and her storyline purely because he was sick of a romance anime at the time so he twisted so hard it became an incestuous story where the player would, supposedly, feel disgusted about the character being like that in the story of Drakengard...the same story where two of your allies go off into the forest and 69 each other while you and the cannibal murder countless soldiers. In general, if one wants to find something similar to Drakngard they need to find series and creators that have that kind of poison in them for the things they want to talk about, like Taro for the "killing games", despite the other creator of Drakengard loving the idea of marrying Musou combat with Ace Combat levels and initially wanted it to be similar to Dragon Quest of all things (rofl) only to later change it into a more Berserk / BASTARD!! kind of setting before Taro made it as it is(hence why Caim is supposedly so handsome, he riffs on Dark Schneider). Other examples include the Rance series and Seinarukana series for the state of Strategy-RPGs at the time and the whole "goody two shoes hero gets a willing harem of babes to follow him around" trope that existed and so on. Despite that, I still like Drakengard despite its jank, same with Nier. People tend to gravitate towards Taro for being the meme man but he works best when he has someone that knows him best when it comes to overload of ideas, like Takuya Iwasaki, the producer of Drakengard and Nier at the time, that can keep the vision in check. When he's unrestrained, it's not really that good, lest he has something really good to excuse all that mess. But it's true, the games have a cult following in the west since he keeps pushing the boundaries for what games are allowed in the space of A-AAA development in your home consoles. Something Japan doesn't care for as it already had those things, just in their PCs, Sega CDs, PC-Engines and so on, not really in the space of "winner mainstream consoles" like Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony. Not like anyone cares, history just repeats itself. Edit : Despite all that, I'd still wish that Square-Enix once upon a time did remake Drakengard 1 and expanded on the endings a little bit, making it more grim and disgusting when they were going through their own grimdark phase with Lord of Vermillion and redesigned Caim, Lenard and Arioch for that game with outfits they'd had changed during their journey to show progression and I'd be down to mow thousands once again, playing like that. And it's more interesting remaking that than Nier, which was already very good.

"just flat out wrong individuals" *camera proceeds to pan to leonard* 57:24

Watching this during my online class with my camera on was a bad idea, as I bursted out laughing at 52:40. 10/10 would watch again

This game is proof video games don't have to be fun to be a worthwhile experience. I thoroughly enjoyed my suffering with drakengard.

Appreciate that you played to get all endings. I wouldn't have the patience for it especially with having to deal with boss E rhythm game. I feel Drakengard would benefit with a remake where they flesh out the characters more and make the gameplay less tedious. But judging what I heard the creator say at the end, the bad gameplay might have been intentional and wouldn't want to change it.

Soundtrack is amazing and fits the game really well. It's vomit inducing and it goes perfectly with the story and visuals.

I love the soundtrack, unironically, fight me

Ah my fascination with drakengard/nier, yoko taro is a man who wants to break the insvible barrier meaning, meaning do a story, that crosses that and consist of an emotional peak, also drakengard was a insane ass game XD

Drakengard is one of those games that absolutely needs a remake. Really harness how much of a fucking serial killer the protagonist is in the combat. And keep the soundtrack the same, it's perfect for the kind of atmosphere the game is going for.

The soundtrack is the best. It mixes so many interesting classical melodies, and I give it bonus points for really making you feel like an actual mad prince!

talking about route b without acknowledging growing wings / exhausted is a crime

Drakengard literally killed the part of me that sees words like 'good' or 'bad' as anything other than subjective terms relaying personal preference when it comes to entertainment media. I genuinely enjoyed it all the way through, and I'm not ashamed to admit it. Is it clunky, janky, and monotonous? Yeah. So? Still had a great time.

I have such a weird relationship with this game. Basically, my brother (who is much older than I am) bought it when I was 7 (so when it was released) and I would watch him play it as I always did whenever he played games. Now at the time, I was too young to tell if it was a mechanically solid game or not, to me there was a guy fighting loads of enemies, you could fly a dragon and there were all sorts of weird monsters. Basically it looked really cool, so sometimes I would even secretly play the game. The issue here was that I was a pretty impressionable kid, when I watched The Lion King I was Simba, when Harry Potter came out I was Harry Potter. See where I'm going with this? Yeah. I was a 7 year old pretending to be Caim which as you might have guessed caused a few "incidents" at school and at home. Safe to say I wasn't allowed anywhere near the game until I was roughly about 10/11 (I think). Anyways, cue to me actually becoming a normal(ish) kid and not being too affected by what I was playing. The level after the big battle around the mid section of the game, so the one where the dead come back to life, freaked me the fuck out. The music and the aesthetic, terrified me, I still have that fucking violin melody in my mind. It took me centuries to even get to Ending A (which I had already seen when my brother was playing) and Ending B because I didn't want to finish that level. The funny thing about this whole thing is that for some reason I can actually go back to this game and have fun now. I know it makes no sense but to me it's like, eating a super weird food combo that for some reason hits the spot. Yep. I think this game fucked me up as a kid and I'm still damaged by it. I love it.

Whatever else you can say about this game, I played it when it came out when I was 20. I haven't played it since and yet I've never forgotten it - I often watch, play or read something and think "this kind of reminds me of Drakengard," or I use it as a shorthand reference point to my friend when there's something that feels so doom-laden or grim. There's something so unique and emotive about it that it just becomes part of your mental landscape. It definitely helped playing it back then rather than now since so many games back then had similar jank - even ones considered to be great. The lack of camera control was the same in the Zelda series until BotW, for example. The 60 minute time limit despite missions being way shorter is a Dynasty Warriors staple. The tedious collectathon of weapons is actually less tedious than, say, collecting all Pokémon. It's just jarring playing this for the first time more recently rather than if you'd played a long running series with similar issues or peculiarities.

I've never played this game, but I watched a walkthrough. Since I love dark ambient and drone music, I got the ost, and I listen to it quite often since. That's how good the soundtrack is, and it fits the game like a glove. It effectively portrays the feelings of madness and despair that the game wants to express. Sadly, it's not for everyone though, and most people will probably bash it for its and chaotic/dark nature. I really love the atmosphere of the game, I think it's beautiful in it's own way. I don't think Drakengard is a good game, but I certainly love it as a piece of art.

You failed to mention Caim was mortally wounded when he discovered the red dragon

I remember playing Drakengard roughly 18 years ago when I was still in high school. The dark and taboo themes left an impression on me that made it a more memorable story than most games were capable of at the time. That and how much of a pain unlocking some of the weapons were.

The heavy angelic lore this game uses is noteworthy to: -All dragons in this franchise are named around angels, and like angels in some parts of Christianity, they are sexless. The English version kind of forgoes that with clearly distinct male or female voices, so it makes some of the dialogue a bit confusing at times. -The watchers are actually a group of rebellious angels in an old occult text known as the book of Enoch, where it’s implied that they either seduced or preyed on human women and thus the monstrous nephilem were born (and these things needed to die for EVERY living thing to live, as they ate plants, animals, and people, like they solely were born to annihilate life.) -the strange writings on magic sceen throughout the game (and the franchise) is from a real life existing occult phonetic system known as the celestial alphabet or angelic script. You can actually translate some of the writings in game using the many celestial alphabet guides online.

I just want to correct you one thing and thats the leveling system: Level up in this game only increases Caim/Angelus max health, if you want to increase the attack power for Angelus, you have to kill enemies with her and for the weapons, you have to kill a big amount of enemies with that particular weapon. Great video , I'm actually a big fan of both drakengard 1 and 3 despite the huge flaws

15:35 who ever worked on OST probably thought he is second Kota Hoshino . Eccentric music is a fine art.

When I was a little kid, no older than 8, I loved dragons. I was obsessed with them. I drew them on my notes at school more than I took actual notes. I was the weird kid who pretended to be a dragon. For the most part, my parents didn’t mind that I had an interest, and my dad specifically was happy I had something that captured me so much. He made regular trips into the city for work and one day while on his way to work stopped off in a game store. He decided to pick up a game for me and my brother. I woke up the next morning. A new game, with a Dragon on the cover art. I grew up with this game. I tried to puzzle it all out make it make sense but as a child it changed me a little. I didn’t understand. But I grew deeply interested in the concepts the game brought forward. Never picking up on the deeper subtext till I was much older. But I remember just becoming hypnotized by the game. One day I just clicked and realized the music was insane and horrible sounding, I thought the game was broken or something. I was bored but couldn’t stop I was to curious about how much darker it could go. I never knew about the other ending as a kid and only went so far as the first one. I was much older when I saw the later endings. Even now a days, people in my friend group, and my brother tell me how my creativity and ideas were so Influenced by this game. How I was influenced. My dad died this year as of writing it. I lost my play station and all my save data when our stuff was robbed. But sometime I think about this game and how sad and strange, and violent it all it. It’s something that has a profound place in my mind that’s hard to fully grasp for me. A story about the end of the world, and the world that keeps going.

When you say "most games" let you dodge roll in any direction you mean most games today. I think even demon souls was released way after this game so it's not like the janky camera or only dodging left to right was exclusive issues to this game and not totally appropriate for the time. Don't get me wrong I'd lose my sanity going back to play this classic too(though that's kind of the point of the game) but for when it was released a lot of it's issues were much more forgivable in that era of games. I remember being legit blown away by the dragon ariel combat and my brother would take over for the ground missions and the amount of weapons you could get was bonkers for an early 2000s game.

I completely resonate with Yoko Taro's thinking when he said that protagonists who kill tons of people should be quite insane and bad. This is something which bothers me too in a lot of games and causes quite the disconnect to the character i'm playing compared on how he is portrayed in the story, which turns the character into a psychopath in its own way but without consiquences or questioning of the characters actions which i find pretty disdurbing, even though its not the intention of the developers. The worst offender in this might be Nathan Drake from Uncharted who is this wise cracking lovable funny guy who kills thousands of people so he can get his hands on some treasure without any sign of guilt. This is just really off putting and disdurbing for me and makes me think that the game was designed by psychopaths themselves who think that there is nothing wrong with it. Now i'm not saying that this is actually the case but it surely comes across that way.

To me, Drakengard was on of the games in 2003 that turned video gaming on it's head. Specifically, it overturned the expectation that gamers had had since Mario Bros.: Throughout many trials, if you rescue the girl, it will all be worth it. You never get the sense that you truely accomplish anything purely good in any of the endings of this game, just relief that the trials are over. In many ways, it set the tone for Dark Souls and the rest of the lore heavy rogue type games that we got in the 2010s.

I can't lie, playing this game when it came out in 2003, I was memorized by this game lol Drakengard has a weird effect on you, as bad as it is its still such an amazing dark crazy game you can't forget it lol plus the soundtrack is badass to me but I'm a hip hop producer so I love the loops n samples lol. Thanks to the success of Nier im hoping for a DoD1 remake soon!

I truly want Taro Yoko to release new mainline drakengard series, not gonna lie.

Drakengard certainly is an...experience. That's the best thing I can compare it to. I first learned of it via Nier. After going through Nier, and loving it despite the gameplay, here comes an issue of Game Informer talking about Drakengard 3. "Oh, hey, that looks cool. I enjoyed Nier, it'll probably be more of the same." And it was there I saw the sheer fuckery that was Drakengard. I enjoyed it, but it was certainly a different experience. Especially the final fight. Still have trauma from that. So I went through Drakengard 1 and 2. 1 was a horrible, janky mess that was edgy by 2000 standards and could've came off of a fanfic site. It was a horrible experience, but it was one of a kind, and I was actually kind of glad to go through it. 2 wasn't good. I'll leave it at that. In short: horrible game full of jank and edge, that led to more jank. 10/10 experience. Definitely worth going through. Fuck the flower.

listening to the soundtrack may summon a sleep paralysis demon...

drakengards ost is so good. best shit ive ever heard. it’s great for work

The OST may be...what it is, but one of the ending songs, Tsukiru, is quite a thing to experience. As nausea inducing as it can be, I've grown to love it. Exhausted, I believe it was called in english.

To be fair about the soundtrack….The world has been without the intoners for years at this point and after hearing the Intoners music and you don’t hear them anymore? You go insane. Like violently so.

I was 8 or 9 when I played this first. I did not get it. Loved it though.

You mentioned the only game you can think of before Drakengard that delved into the meta concept of killing in video games being Metal Gear Solid, but Marathon from 1994 (one of Bungie's first games) also delves into this subject in surprisingly insane detail that rivals the Drakengard/Nier meta timeline shenanigans. I recommend watching Mandalore's videos on the series, including his Pathways into Darkness video (it's also somehow related the Marathon meta narrative)!

Back when it was released I didn't have many games, it was one or two a month tops which I had to ask for, so perhaps I cherished it more because of that limited game selection, but... The dark story was gripping, the insane characters memorable, Angelus... oh god I cried for Angelus, I grew attached just as Caim did over my time with the game. So to see her sacrifice herself for *humans* of all things, then having to kill her later because of the chaos shift.. I cried. The soundtrack after all those years now does for some parts sound like a mess, yet even if some are droning loops there are others that are great in their insanity, invoking feelings of unease, urgency, panic. .. Not to mention some of the tracks are straight up bangers, for real. This is not a complaint on the video. I can accept a lot of the criticism especially with a today's mindset, we have so much better in terms of gameplay and storytelling.

Great video breaking down the gameplay and story of Drakengard into simple to understand portions while also going in depth with the greater analysis of the experience of Drakengard and its greater value and ambition despite not even necessarily being a fun game to play (though I am surprised you chose not to mention how the circumstances of Furiae’s death change in the process of unlocking the other endings, one of which is the infamous scene of Manah forcing Furiae’s incestuous to be spilled out to Caim; and then his rejection/disgust subsequently causing Furiae to kill herself).

The manic vibe the soundtrack fits perfectly with the game.

I dont know what it is, but back on the PS2, this ended up to be one of my favorite games on the platform.

"I'm probably making this game sound worse than it actually is" yes, you are. The game certainly has flaws, but its story was pretty crazy for its time. Criticizing the game from 2022 is like criticizing a 1940s film for not having modern special effects and cutscenes.

I love how chaotic this series is

Man you skipped over one of the best quotes in gaming said by Inuart ''Welcome to a world without song''

Drakengard is one of my favorite game ever made. Like many of Yoko Taro's earlier works, they were intentionally made to be painful. The act of killing is made excessive and ceaseless. The soundtrack is amazing, you may not like it personally but I really think it's hard to say they don't stand out and reflect a chaotic world on the brink of collapse. I absolutely love it. Yes it's a repetitive game but so is Drakengard 3 and Nier Gestalt and I still think they are better than any other games i've ever invested my time in. You say the characters are not fleshed out but that's only if you didn't read the manga and the novellas which do a great job at explaining the history and motives of these unique characters. The world of Drakengard and Nier are as expansive and as interesting as you are willing to invest your time into. The Yokoverse is a expansive multimedia experience. In order to understand even the basic motivations of the main character Zero of Drakengard 3, I had to obtain the special edition of the game that came with a book that contained 12 novellas telling the backstories of all the characters, THEN I had to read the prequel FAN TRANSLATED mangas cause most of this shit never got a American release which is honestly the biggest sin, Yoko Taro claims that you don't have to do any of this but my personality type demands that if I commit my time to something as big as this that I understand and put all the missing pieces together. Some people HATE that sort of thing. As a Twin Peaks fan, I live for this shit. So ultimately these games are not going to be satisfying to the casual single playthough kinda crowd and i'm perfectly ok with that. Most people praise Nier Automata as the best in the series but I disagree and think 2b is normie bait with no interesting backstory or motivations. I feel that the more popular that Yoko's works become the greatest threat to his creativity is the demand from the higher ups to make more and more casual and conventional gameplay choices. There's a really good video on this called "can games be bad on purpose?" that does a better job than me at explaining this. I just hope Yoko doesn't fold and continues to give them the middle finger.

I first learned about Drakengard while reading a text Let's Play by the user The Dark Id. He covered the whole DrakeNieR series, and many other games besides. I read those Let's Plays many years ago, so I have a certain affection for Drakengard. Despite, by any objective measure, the game not being something anyone should actually play. That explanation about Yoko Taro's design process - with the invisible wall and pushing design space - really puts his whole body of work into perspective. For better or worse, whenever you see something really different in a Yoko Taro game, you never forget it.

Personally, I think the soundtrack fits the games mood quite well. And personally, I liked the voice acting. I also enjoyed this game for a looooong time. I leveled up all weapons to lvl. 4 and completed it 100%. I can accept subpar gameplay for an intriguing storyline.

Look here mister! Loved your editing, the script, your style, your comedy and those reference to anime weeb shiz i grew up with and I absolutely love... That use of the pillow's little busters was spot on. I love it! You rock man.

And now: Drakengard 3! Would be curious about that take of yours. And how you would connect that part to the rest (because it throws more questions at you rather than giving answers) of the series.

Drakengard's OST is easily one of the highlights of the game IMO.

gameplay is meant to be awful, but even yoko taro said he overdid that part, the ost is like no other tho, elevates everything immensely

Ah, Drakengard. The game that I absolutely loved and absolutely hated all at once. Gameplay is repetitive, unpolished, and flat out cheap, yet its narrative is so meticulously raw, gritty, ugly, and twisted in every sense you wanna see where it goes. I also think the gameplay was made awful intentionally. The moments where I got frustrated and started banging my ps2 controller really makes you feel like you’re in Caim’s mind, fighting without remorse and full of hate. Drakengard is definitely the most interesting of Taro’s games given his trajectory with the Nier series, which is more depressing, but hopeful. In many ways, Drakengard is essentially, Neon Genesis Evangelion: fantasy edition. And that music. THAT MUSIC. It practically drills into your head and makes you feel mad. Honestly, Drakengard is probably one of the best indirect horror games ever. It doesn’t have jumpscares, ridiculous scenes, or anything wild or OTT, but over time, it starts to feel off and only continues to become more grimy and ugly. I’m not afraid to say that the late chapters set in Midgard with the blood red sky background and empty, broken city streets had me feeling uncomfortable and frightened.