Dragon Spirits 2

A VN-monster catcher hybrid that surprised me with how fun it actually was. The good: + Dozens of beautiful panoramic dungeons resembling an abstract collage + A big roster of dragons to choose from, each with their gimmick and moveset + A simple but solid plot with fun characters to keep you company + Addictive gameplay loop with sidequests, mini-dungeons and fulfilling the conditions to bond with and epand your roster + Barely any grinding There's only one serious issue I can point out, but its a big one — horrendous English translation. The dialoges are litered with grammatical errors in every sentence, characters talking about themselves in third person, directly translated Chinese idioms, nonexistent words and other similar issues that make it hard to follow the story and actually enjoy talking with the cast and reading the codex's flavor text. Really hoping the devs have a chance to re-localize the game, as it is a genuinely fun experience otherwise.

Dragon Spirits 2 approaches the creature-collecting RPG formula from an unusual angle, combining turn-based strategy, visual-novel storytelling, urban fantasy, psychological mystery, and monster recruitment within a contemporary city. Instead of transporting players to a conventional fantasy world, it establishes Metapolis as a seemingly normal urban environment gradually being transformed by an increasingly dangerous overlap between reality and virtual information. Developer FHNBHJ uses this premise to create an adventure that feels more narrative-driven than the average monster collector, while publishing duties are shared by 2P Games, Electronic Sheep Games, and FHNBHJ. The story follows a female game developer whose fictional creations suddenly begin appearing in the real world. Dragons originating from her own work are only the beginning, as unfamiliar creatures soon emerge alongside a disturbing phenomenon affecting the minds of Metapolis residents. The protagonist becomes a pactsealer, forming contracts with dragon spirits while investigating why fiction and reality are becoming intertwined. Cognitive pollution, mysterious conspiracies, urban legends, and questions surround…

Pretty good battle system held back by...pretty much everything else. Mediocre VN aspect with lots of awkwardly translated text that makes the story really hard to absorb, cumbersome exploration that's just a lot of clicking around and hoping you end up where you want to be, annoying pixel hunts that aren't clear, poorly done progression where I had level 90 dragons long before I was supposed to without even trying, barely acceptable QoL and UI aspects. I haven't played Dragon Spirits 1, but I could see how some people could think it's better if it involves less interacting with the awkward VN and clicking around aspects. Despite all these cons I just said, I still recommend it for the battle system because it is one of the best I've seen in an RPG, and I'd like a Dragon Spirits 3 if it improves on everything else. Although the game did get pretty boring once my Agility got high enough for the 7 second Confusion move to last long enough to give me back all my SP. There's a few enemies in the game that counter Confusion but not very many.

If you are a fan of creature-collecting games, then this might interest you. My overall experience has been both challenging and fun, moreover if you are able to contract the all of the dragons in the game. Nothing beats that and the experiencing their abilities first-hand. The translations might do some work, but the story is understandable as well as the game mechanics.

The battle system and dragon designs make up for the wonky cocoon exploration

Dragon Spirits was a diamond-in-the-rough of an RPG Maker game that I loved, despite flaws. Dragon Spirits 2 is an improvement in all ways over the first, learning from it and changing things up in a major way. It's no longer RPG Maker, but Unity-based, and it shows- This game is stylish, well-written, and mechanically brilliant. If Dragon Spirits was a hidden gem, Dragon Spirits 2 is a hidden dragon's hoard. This is a creature-collector where you pit some absolutely beautiful pictures of dragons against other dragons. The mechanics of this game are rather unique, but take only a little bit to get used to, and when you do, you'll realize there's a world of different dragon builds to make and execute. You get absolutely busted quickly- until the enemy has something that immediately dismantles your game plan. Compared to the first game, there are much less extreme "puzzle bosses" than the first, mostly thanks to the fact that there are 100 levels of XP to gain than 20 now. I didn't struggle nearly as much with absurd unlock conditions for boss dragons, which I appreciated. However, by the very end of the game, it quickly becomes so that stat numbers get inflated, and raw stat number…