Drakengard 3 - PlayStation 3

The game runs great. No issues at all so far. I'm glad I bought a refurbished PlayStation 3, because this game is fun, hilarious & exciting.

If you’re a fan of Nier Automata/Replicant and you’re looking for more games like that, you’ve probably discovered that there’s not many that can give you such a unique experience. While this isn’t on the level of Nier Automata, it’s still recommended that you should try it out. This exists in that same Drakenguard/Nier universe, albeit at a very different place in the historical timeline.Obviously, with this being on the PS3, the performance is not always stellar, but it’s perfectly playable and you would need a powerful PC to emulate the game and get better results than the native version. It’s unfortunate that there is no PS3 backwards compatibility on PlayStation 4 or PlayStation 5. So many unique titles like this are not accessible on current gen hardware. There is no PC version either, sadly. But at least it can still be acquired for a reasonable price.

Like many gamers, I recently became a massive fan of Yoko Taro over the last few years thanks to the release of NieR: Automata. I jumped on Nier (PS3) pretty quickly before it occurred to me that I was still missing one of Yoko Taro's games from the PS3/4 library: Drakengard 3. The game has its fair share of criticism, and I'll admit, some of it is justified. The frame rate drops horrendously in ways that could be game-breaking depending on how deep in the level you are. The combat is far simpler than its successors. The side quests are repetitive to the point of redundancy. But despite its flaws, I still give it a 5/5 review for one simple reason: the things I loved the most about Nier and NieR:A are accomplished in spades here. The things I was hoping to see from an earlier Yoko Taro game appear and far surpassed my expectations. It has the same brand of weird, nihilistic black comedy that newbies to his work have come to know and love, as well as a delightfully creepy amount of blatant sex talk. It is convoluted and disturbing for all the right reasons. It makes you question almost immediately if you're the hero or the villain, and those lines don't really become any clearer as you progress through the story. The maps are linear and the combat progression is exceedingly simple, and as someone that's played more than his fair share of convoluted RPGs, this was an almost refreshing change of pace. Each strike on an enemy creates a PS2-esque spray of blood and by the time you've made it through each level, you're drenched in blood. The music is just as gorgeous as you would expect if you were spoiled on entry like I was. In a nutshell, this game has its flaws, but it's easily established itself as one of my absolute favorite PS3 games, and if you know what you liked about the Nier games, you can decide from my review if this game is for you.

The game came perfectly even if it’s old, but I bought cause I played the nier games.

I am playing this game, and have been for a while. It is awesome, and I love the hilarious moments between Zero and company, along with Zero and her Intoner Sisters. Mikhail is hilarious, and the graphics and story for the time are astonishing. It is a prequel to the first Drakengard, which is also a precursor to both NieR: Replicant and NieR: Automata.The story also breaks off in the DLCs (which are separate and found in the PS3 store), as you follow the Intoner Sisters and their separate journeys, which is awesome as well. The final boss is quite the kicker as you switch from the fighting mechanics you're used to in exchange for rhythms and going with the flow of the music. Hence why Branch D's final verse ends with "Final Song".It's so good to see such a good game on an almost archaic system as the PS3. And it is a recommend for all the DrakenNier fans out there!

Glad to have a physical copy of an awesome game

As badly as I want to give this game 5 stars, I can't. It'd be disingenuous. Do I recommend you get or play this game? Absolutely, with the understanding that you will 100% experience certain issues while playing it.Let's get the bad stuff out of the way first.This game absolutely does not look like it came out in 2013. I don't care much about amazing graphics, but some people do, so I figured I'd go ahead and get that out there. The real issue lies in the game's performance. It's... not good. At all.I'd like to preface this by saying I am NOT a snob when it comes to frame rate. I don't care if it doesn't run at 60fps, or even 30fps, as long as it's mostly consistent. I say this so you understand that a game has to have REALLY BAD frame drops in order for me to notice or even care, much less warn people in a review about it. The frame rate definitely will drop below 10, and it will do it often, usually at a time when you really don't want to be having frame drops. This can and will result in you taking damage that you should have been able to avoid had the game not turned into a slide show. The frame rate drops at times where it doesn't even make sense for it to drop. Lots of enemies and magic and explosions going off? Sure, okay, whatever, I expect that. But at times, it'll randomly drop when you're just fighting a few knights, when it's normally fine. I can muscle through it because I love the game, but I know something like this can be a deal breaker for someone else.A couple issues I found during gameplay is the camera. You're gonna need to slow the horizontal camera speed down. There's also no real auto-target feature, where your character automatically faces the nearest enemy to them to attack. So this ends up with you missing enemies that are right next to you just because you're not faced right at them. Locking on kind of helps mitigate this, but it's not perfect.It might sound like I'm harping on the gameplay a lot, but the combat, when it works, is actually a lot of fun! You have 4 types of weapons (swords, spears, gauntlets, and chakrams) that you can switch between on the fly to make new combos. Swords are balanced in strength and speed. Spears are heavy hitters and guard breakers, but are slower to use. Gauntlets do slightly less damage, but hit very fast. Chakrams are good for crowd control and range. There is also Intoner Mode, which is a gauge you build up through combat, like a limit break or Devil Trigger. You get a big damage boost, and become invulnerable for a short period. It also adds vocals to whatever background track is playing, which is a wonderful touch. It's fun, despite the performance issues, and definitely miles ahead of past Drakengard games.The story is easily my favorite part of this game. It's dark, and funny, but also emotionally impactful. It has multiple endings, a staple for any game made by this creator. You find yourself in a world called Midgard, a land which was until recently, torn apart by war and strife. One day, a group of five sisters who could wield magic through the power of song came to Midgard, and together they were able to put an end to the age of war and usher in a new era of peace. Each sister rules over their own domain, and together they help maintain balance and order. Until one day, their sixth sister makes an attempt on their lives. She says she wants to be the only Intoner, and labors to steal her sisters' powers by killing them.She is also the protagonist and the character you will be controlling. Zero is an interesting protagonist, a far cry from the typical JRPG protagonist. She's brash, has a terrible temper, foul-mouthed, murderous, and uninhibited around men. You control Zero on her journey to destroy her sisters, with the aid of her dragon, Mikhail, who is clearly her foil. A sweet, innocent baby dragon who just wants peace, and tries to dissuade Zero from ending her sisters.As you make your way through Midgard to challenge Zero's sisters (each named One, Two, Three, Four, and Five), you recruit new companions to your cause, each with their own distinct personality.The game is dark, and has an... interesting sense of humor. There's a lot of fourth wall breaking, and a LOT of sexual humor. But when the game decides to take itself seriously, it pulls out all the stops. It's gut-wrenching at times. The art direction is actually not bad, and the soundtrack is by the same composer as NieR and NieR: Automata, so you know you're in for some beautiful music. My only complaint is that the soundtrack could be... larger? Some songs repeat a bit too often, but it's good music.All in all, as I said, I recommend this game, but understand that the frame drops are going to be your biggest opponent while playing. I really hope they one day remaster this game and fix the performance issues. It deserves it!