Topic: Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars

I've noticed that this game pretty much got glazed over as the direct went on, and didn't even get a thread to call it's own, so I opened one myself. Feel free to discuss about the demo, and your opinions on the game itself!

Personally, I think the demo itself was pretty solid. I liked how the game has a tabletop feel, despite being a video game, with everything being based off cards and token pieces. The narrator is kind of odd, with a more apathetic voice, but I kind of liked it in a way. The game also didn't really feel too grindy like other rpg games usually would.

The biggest piece of criticism I have, which could change in the final product, is the fact that the game lacks options that really seem impactful. They give you all these options for dialogue, but they either all do the same thing, or bring you back to the start of the conversation again, removing it as an option.

Other than that, I can't wait to see where this game goes from here, even if the plot does seem a bit generic right now.

Based on the Switch demo, I think there's pretty solid and understandable gameplay mechanics for the overworld and the combat is easy to pick up. Agreed on the feeling of grinding being fairly absent. The side goal of unlocking character and enemies stories on their cards offers a good incentive to talk with everybody and fight enemies multiple times. The random events that offer Monsters with higher experience and gold rewards kept leveling up moving at a fair pace as well.

One thing I noticed was that enemies don't seem to have their elemental weakness located on their cards, even after discovering it. That could be something to add on in the future.

@theepictorkoal I noticed the "Unlocked stories" thing, but I never was able to figure out what it meant.

@VoidofLight The NPCs and monsters have character cards that can be looked at in the menu. To unlock the first side of the story, it seems like you have to talk with the NPCs and defeat enemies multiple times respectively. There is an additional story called a "flip" story for them as well, but it seems like most of those aren't available in the demo.

The stories are mostly background information about the character or monster on the card. They can be informative, lighthearted or somber depending on the card.

For example the cards can mention the goblin/troll enemies can supposedly grow into elderly humans and can blend into their communities according to lore, or that the woman that you carry to the apothecary to heal is living with an abusive husband and this happens daily.

@theepictorkoal Ah, those. Those are pretty interesting honestly, and give some life to the world of the game.

I don’t have any personal history with table top games (that aren’t some form of chess) so I went into this plenty nervous. Yet I find it somehow charming. I am concerned that I make like the initial party more than the party showcased in the Direct though.

Haven't played the demo yet but I like card-based RPGs so I'll keep an eye on this game. There was a lot of new stuff from Square Enix in that Direct which is nice to see.

Don't usually like card and/or dice games, but I enjoyed this demo. It is more like a traditional RPG with a card aesthetic. Very little was completely random which is what I don't like, so I will be looking forward to the full game.

This game is excellent.

I’ve never been into card games. In fact, I can’t think of a single one I’ve ever really liked…

Until now (as I always say- every person can like every genre- you just have to find the right game)

The narrator is so good- he really brings the game to life as game master. The production values are high end for a game of this genre and the quality of details is impressive. I love how you can flip the cards over and read more on the back (not available in the demo, though), zoom in, rotate, etc. The sound effects are also top-notch. It’s like hearing a story read to you, but better.

I love it. Got it preordered. Most people are completely overlooking this game and all I can say is, play the demo. Play the demo and see for yourself.

@JaxonH I'll probably end up picking it up after a bit, since the demo was pretty good, and the price is a great value for a RPG like this. It'll be niche from the looks of it, which surprises me given how it has some pretty big names attached to it.

I really enjoy when traversing the map that you can select cards that have been flipped over to instantly move there. It's a great way to reduce backtracking, and also reduces the amount of random encounters when you have to backtrack.

I do kind of wish some of the dialogue was voiced by the characters on the cards, but I get that's not what they were going for. It's basically a D&D session with the game master describing everything. The narrator does do a great job, I guess I just prefer a bit of variety in the VA. Definitely not something that's going to deter me from buying the full game though.

@Cynas Yeah, I was thinking that too. I'm just used to games with Voice Acting having more actors and actresses.

It's different, but it is what they're going for. Essentially reproducing the experience of a tabletop RPG. I remember in my youth, about 18 yrs old, locked up in county jail (I was a different person back then) and this guy played dungeon master for D&D which he drew out on multiple sheets of paper, and we had dice made of hardened cubes of toilet paper with pencil drawn dots, and a deck of cards. And I played the **** out of that game with him. He was so good at ad libbing voices and narrating the story.

This game takes me back to that (ya! The good ol' days in the clink! Lol)

I've always wanted to get into tabletop rpg's, but I never really knew where to start, or had anyone to start with, so this game pretty much scratches that itch for me, even if it's moreso a normal RPG with a tabletop feel to it.

So they revealed DLC for the game, and a ton of it is Nier related cosmetics. There's Emil dice, an Emil player token, Devola's song pack which seems to have tons of songs from the original game, and a playing mat modeled after Grimoire Weiss. The DLC is in a bundle with the game for about 30 dollars too, so it's not too much of a price jump.

I honestly might get the DLC with the game, given that I've gotten into Nier recently, and having that content as a reference would be fun.

Ended up taking the plunge on this one at launch. Never bothered playing the demo but starting up the full game now.

It's not often that I can finish a whole JRPG in a day but that was pretty fun while it lasted. Hopefully this turns into a series rather than just being a one-off game.

I assume the game itself doesn't have the weird twists and stuff that Yoko Taro is famous for, right?

So, just started playing, and it turns out the demo was a prologue of sorts to where the game starts off. It actually threw me for a loop right away. Like, what? I’m who? Especially after having beaten the demo.

This game rocks. It’s so unique and it looks so good on the OLED in handheld. The blacks in the caves and backgrounds really play well to this system.