text: drakengard 3 drakengard 3 is an action role - playing game developed by access games and published by square enix exclusively for the playstation 3 . the game was released in december 2013 in japan and in may 2014 in north america and europe . it is the third game in the drakengard series and a prequel to the original game . the game , like the rest of the series , features a mixture of ground - based hack - and - slash combat and aerial battles . the story focuses on zero , a woman who can manipulate magic through song . partnering with a dragon named mikhail , zero set out to kill her five sisters , who rule the world 's regions . as she travels , the player discovers the true reason behind zero 's rampage . the game , created to cater for hardcore role - playing game audiences , was developed by the same team who created the original drakengard and series spin - off nier , including producer takamasa shiba , director taro yoko and writer sawako natori . the music was composed by keiichi okabe , who also scored nier . unlike previous titles in the series , the team developed the game at access games , due to the company 's experience at developing action titles and the team 's wish to address criticisms laid at the gameplay of previous drakengard games . drakengard 3 received mixed to positive reviews and sales in japan and mixed reviews in the west . the ground - based gameplay and story were generally praised , while common criticisms included the dragon gameplay , graphics and multiple technical issues . gameplay drakengard 3 features hack - and - slash gameplay and aerial combat on a dragon , as with previous entries in the series . the player controls the main protagonist zero during the entire campaign and for most levels is accompanied by up to two ai - controlled companions . in ground - based combat , zero performs multiple attacks on various enemies . these can be combined into combos , which fill up zero 's tension gauge . when the gauge is filled to any degree , zero can temporarily enter intoner mode , a hyperactive state which enables her to move quickly and deal high damage to enemies while also making her immune to attack . as zero levels up , weapons grow more powerful and zero gains access to multiple weapon types as the game progresses . each weapon type produces a different set of attacking moves . unlike previous titles in the series , the player does not have to pause the games to switch weapons , instead being able to do it at any time without pausing . zero can switch between four weapon types : swords , spears , combat bracers and . each weapon has a four - level cap and can be leveled up either through combat or by spending money acquired during levels . each weapon has different effects depending on enemy - type and combat situation , with spears being useful against heavily - armored or shielded enemies and swords being a default weapon . while exploring levels , zero can collect items from chests and fallen enemies which earn money for buying potions , as well as buying and leveling weapons . zero can also complete sidequests as the player progresses through the game : these sidequests place within areas of normal levels and limitations on the player 's abilities . the player 's performance during them earns special items and the number of items you earn increases with the number of enemies killed . for aerial combat , zero mounts her dragon mikhail . the two main types of aerial combat are rail shooter - style missions and free - roaming combat which enables both aerial and ground - based combat . mikhail has multiple attack types at his disposal : while on the ground , after zero has mounted , the dragon can perform a sweeping attack using his wings and snap at them . during combat in the air , mikhail can breathe fire down onto the ground and at airborne enemies . mikhail is fully controllable while in the air , flying through the environment and being able to evade enemy fire . mikhail 's main attack , breathing fire , features a lock - on feature which can take in multiple enemies . mikhail can also enter intoner mode while zero is mounted , which magnifies the amount of damage he can deal . during ground - based missions , zero can also call in mikhail to deal damage to enemy units . story setting and characters drakengard 3 takes place roughly one hundred years before the events of drakengard , acting as a prequel to the first two games in the series . despite being a prequel , drakengard 3 mostly follows separate timelines unrelated to the events of drakengard . in earlier times , the land was ravaged by conflict between warlords . at the height of the carnage , five mysterious figures called intoners appeared and using their ability to utilize magic through song , defeated the warlords and ended the conflict . due to this , they become worshiped as deities and became rulers of various regions of the land . an unspecified time later , in the game 's present , the strongest intoner , one , wishes to unite the five once again and bring stability to the land . the source of the intoners ' power is an evil flower that saved zero from death to use her as an instrument for mankind 's destruction . zero was its original host and she now wishes to destroy all those affected by its power , herself and ' sisters ' spawned when zero attempted suicide and ensure the safety of the world . the player controls zero ( ゼロ , zero ) , the main protagonist and antihero , considered a traitor by the intoners and their followers because of her mission to kill them . aiding her on her quest is the dragon mikhail ( , ) , who aids her and is her mount in aerial battle . the other five intoners are : one ( , wan ) , the current ruler of the intoners ; two ( , tou ) , the more cheerful member of the group and ruler of the country of sand ; three ( , ) , ruler of the country of forest and an obsessive over dolls ; four ( , fou ) , ruler of the country of mountain and the only virgin of the group ; and five ( , faibu ) , ruler of the country of sea and a woman consumed by greed for everything . traveling with zero on her quest are the disciples , a group who formerly served the intoners and accompany zero after their original mistresses are killed . they include : cent ( , ) , a dumb and overconfident man , as well as the lover of the intoner two ; octa ( , ) , an old and cunning man obsessed with sex ; decadus ( , ) a gentlemanly warrior with a masochistic streak ; and dito ( , dito ) , a sadistic young man . each of the disciples helps the intoner summon angels and daemons into battle . the game is narrated to the player by accord ( , ) , an android created by the " old world " to monitor and document all timelines . plot zero and her dragon michael slaughter their way into the cathedral city , the center of power for the intoners . zero 's attempt to kill them directly ends disastrously : she and michael are gravely wounded by one 's own dragon , gabriel . a year later , zero and her dragon , now a childlike reincarnation named mikhail , set off to try killing the intoners again . they first travel to the land of seas to face five : during the fight , five is killed by her disciple dito , whom zero takes into her service . the group then journey to the land of mountains and face four : after four 's death , zero recruits decadus . they then proceed to the land of forests . there , three 's disciple octa attempts to betray his mistress , but she forces him to help her fight zero . she is killed by mikhail , who is then attacked and captured by daemons summoned by two and cent . zero pursues them to the land of sand , freeing mikhail from captivity and facing the two . mikhail kills two and cent joins zero . the group then fight their way into the cathedral city , where zero transforms the disciples into their true dove forms , freeing them from their service to her . during her battle with one , mikhail dies wounding gabriel , allowing a distraught zero to finish off gabriel and one . zero is then killed by a male clone of one , who decides to create a new religious order in memory of his " sister " . after this , accord tells of three alternate series of events or " branches " , caused by a group of singularities ( zero , her sisters , and the disciples ) coming together . in the second branch , while in the land of forests and having already recruited cent , zero finds the surviving sisters being driven insane by the power of the flower : three dies of unknown causes , causing her soldiers to go mad . eventually , the group find one has been killed by a deranged two . brought back under her influence , cent turns on the group , killing octa and dito . two and decadus kill each other , while zero kills cent : before dying , two and cent summon their angel raphael , which poisons mikhail before being killed . in order to save mikhail , zero activates the flower 's power and forms a " pact " , resurrecting him . in the third branch , after rescuing mikhail from two 's stronghold , the dragon is devolved back to his child form by two 's powers . upon arrival in the cathedral city , the group faces two , who destroys the four disciples when they kill her . zero then faces one , who reveals that she knows the true nature of the intoners and reveals the reason behind zero 's partnership with mikhail : once the other intoners were dead , mikhail was to kill zero , destroying the flower 's power . gabriel and mikhail kill each other and zero and one engage in an enraged battle . after killing one , zero , still in shock from mikhail 's death , sets off to try to find another dragon who can kill her . it is implied in accord 's closing report that she fails . in the fourth and final branch of zero 's set of timelines , as she proceeds on her quest , she encounters each of her sisters possessed by the flower 's power , as well as interacting directly with accord . in each battle with the sisters , the disciples summon their angels and transform into doves until only octa remains . in the cathedral city , zero and octa face off against one while mikhail challenges gabriel . octa sacrifices himself to restrain one . finally , accord decides to intervene and sacrifices herself so zero can kill one , which in turn kills gabriel . upon absorbing the power of all five intoners , zero transforms into a stone monster and goes with mikhail to another realm , where they engage in a rhythm game - style battle . upon winning , mikhail destroys the monster and accord 's voice declares that the flower 's evil has been sealed away , although there is still the possibility of it reappearing in another time and place . she also suspects that zero might have survived . in a post - credits scene , a new version of accord replaces the one destroyed by zero and many others join her in helping record world events . as they disperse , the new accord speaks to the player , hoping to see them again and thanking them for playing , before the screen goes black . development drakengard 3 was conceived when takamasa shiba and taro yoko , the respective producer and director of the original game , met up years after cavia , the company where they created the series , was absorbed into aq interactive . the two resurrected early plans to create a third entry in the series . as part of the brainstorming process , the company used fan questionnaires , from which the team learned that many wanted a dark story similar to nier for the next entry in the series . speaking about the creation of the game , shiba said that drakengard 3 was made partly because the company was making fewer single - player rpg console games and he wished to capture the atmosphere of earlier days . alongside that was shiba 's ambition to show that the rpg fanbase was now a mainstream community that wanted a more hardcore gaming experience . the game was developed by access games , who were noted for the survival horror deadly premonition . shiba noted that the company was " just really good at creating action games " , which would enable the team to address criticisms laid at the previous games in the series for their poor combat while still being able to craft a story true to the drakengard series . by the time the game was unveiled in early 2013 , it was 60 % complete , and yoko commented " it 's not drakengard or nier . if you 're expecting that , you 'll be disappointed . " world design kimihiko fujisaka , character designer for the previous entries in the series , reprised his role . in designing the characters , fujisaka used the previous two games ' " medieval europe " inspiration for the enemies , while leaning towards more modern designs for the main characters . in addition to fujisaka , actor shinnosuke ikehata , who had voiced key characters in previous games in the series , returned to do voice work , and writer sawako natori , who had worked on drakengard , drakengard 2 and nier , returned to write the scenario with yoko . the story was written to have " a good balance of darkness and humor " , according to shiba : he said that there was " actually a good bit of [ darkness ] , in the in - game dialogue for example . " the team did not want to turn it into a completely dark story , instead still having scenes that people could laugh at . yoko did not want the emotions of the various characters to fall into simple stereotypes , or for there to be a simplistic take on the situation . he also wanted to create a strange " abnormal " picture for the players : the cited instance was the contrast between the fear and terror displayed by enemy soldiers and the often vulgar dialogue between zero and her companions . he also stated that he went through a large part of the game 's development " half - laughing " . during the story development process , the team decided upon a female protagonist as the game 's lead , in contrast to the previous games which had featured male protagonists , along with a large number of other female characters : this was primarily because all other proposals had been rejected or scrapped . many aspects of zero 's design and abilities were intended to evoke the game 's gritty atmosphere , while the flower growing from her eye was almost cut when shiba thought it would be too much of a risk for the series when coupled with the character 's gender . a couple of yoko 's ideas that were cut out or rejected during development included a fully contemporary setting with a school - girl protagonist , and calling the game drakengard 4 instead of drakengard 3 , with the story revolving around searching for the missing installment in the series . yoko , natori and supplementary writer emi nagashima were jointly responsible for creating the disciples ' personalities . yoko wanted nagashima to write cent to be as much of an idiot as possible , while she received some negative feedback for her portrayal of decadus despite her best efforts . octa was the character natori and nagashima best understood , though nagashima found it difficult writing his novella . while writing mikhail 's dialogue , natori was asked by yoko to embody the good qualities of animals and children in him . instead of being realistic , natori borrowed elements from other fiction to create his personality , finding him the most fun to write . the dialogue between zero and her disciples was written by yoko to contrast in content with the violent combat . elements of fourth - wall breaking were included in the game , such as some of zero 's dialogue or accord 's actions during the final ending : this both acted as a callback to drakengard , and to suggest that the real world was simply another branch of the drakengard universe . fujisaka 's design for zero was the first to be approved by yoko . the other intoners were designed fairly quickly after that : yoko told fujisaka to " think puella magi madoka magica " when designing them . each character had different design themes : for example , five 's was nudity and knitwear , four 's was her being a female captain , and two 's were underwear and " lolita " . three was meant to have bangs covering her face and multiple hairpins , but this was dropped . the characters ' number - based names and differing eye colors were meant to help players identify them , while aspects of zero 's design were incorporated into the other intoners to emphasize their connections . the apostles were designed and approved quickly as they were not a high priority . they were designed around prime male archetypes : cent , originally the group 's sadist , was the " pretty boy " , octa was the " old man " , decadus was the " middle - aged man " , and dito was the " little boy " . music the game 's music was composed by keiichi okabe , who also created the score for nier . okabe wished to match the work of nobuyoshi sano , finding creating it a new experience . he was also requested by yoko not to follow the musical route of either drakengard or nier and was inspired by the games theme of " the sense of contrast " . one of the game 's theme songs , " kuroi uta " ( , black song ) , was sung by eir aoi , a singer native to hokkaido who was a self - confessed fan of the drakengard series . her liking of the series was the reason shiba selected her to perform the theme song . the lyrics were written by kikuchi hana , one of nier 's scenario writers . the game 's second theme song , " this silence is mine " , used in the game 's tokyo game show trailer , was specially written and sung by onitsuka chihiro . drag - on dragoon 3 original soundtrack was released on january 21 , 2014 under the catalog number sqex - ~ 5 . the theme songs were released both as part of the soundtrack and as singles . release and merchandise drakengard 3 received few gameplay previews and was promoted in the form of novellas : this was because shiba wished for the game 's story to be a mystery for players . the game was originally meant to be released in october 2013 in japan , but was pushed back to december due to square enix wanting to improve the overall quality of the game and ensure it met fan expectation . while it received a physical and digital release in japan and north america , drakengard 3 was released in digital format only in europe . it was also localized into chinese with the assistance of sony computer entertainment japan asia , in an attempt to actively tap into the chinese - speaking market . the collector 's edition released in japan also included an outfit inspired by kainé , the female protagonist of nier . a limited collector 's edition was also released in north america , europe and australia through square enix . it contained a prequel novel concerning the game 's main characters , a scenario involving one , and dlc for both japanese voice acting and a costume for zero inspired by the first game 's protagonist . alongside the game , there were also two manga released in japan written by emi nagashima under her pen name jun eishima : drag - on dragoon : utahime five , a prequel focusing on the other intoners , and drag - on dragoon : shi ni itaru aka , which acts as the game 's sequel . both manga were created and written with yoko 's supervision . the game was complemented with multiple dlc packs : they included multiple character outfits for zero inspired by previous series protagonists , cosmetic adornments for mikhail , and six prequel chapters detailing past events in the lives of both zero and her sisters . this dlc was later released in the west along with alternate music for zero 's intoner mode sequences . ascii media works also published a complete guide to the game , which included guides to the series history and a novella following on from shi ni itaru aka which retold the events of drakengard . a novel , drag - on dragoon 3 side story , was released on 28 august 2014 . the novel detailed a fifth series of events connecting the narratives of drakengard 3 and drakengard , as none of the game 's endings did so . reception during its first week on sale in japan , drakengard 3 sold 114 , 024 copies , coming fourth in japanese sale charts and reached 125 , 500 units by the end of the year . total physical sales in japan as of may 2014 have reached 150 , 866 units . it reached 79th place on famitsu 's list of 100 best - settling titles of the year , while it reached 62nd place dengeki online 's list . drakengard 3 received a 34 / 40 from famitsu , with the four reviewers giving it scores of 9 , 9 , 8 and 8 . the game received " average " reviews , according to western video game review aggregator metacritic . anime news network 's todd ciolek named drakengard 3 game of the year in 2014 . the story received mixed reviews . dengeki playstation called it the best story of the drakengard series , while famitsu was generally positive about the world and characters , praising the character dialogue . destructoid 's chris carter stated that the story compelled him to " truck forward and figure it all out for [ himself ] " , while he found the dialogue between the characters funny and their relationships entertaining . game informer 's kimberley wallace was less enthusiastic , saying that while there were a few interesting scenes , " the narrative and characters make a lot of missteps . " ign 's meghan sullivan criticized the story for being too slow and too reliant on foreknowledge of the previous games , while calling the main characters " poorly written " . gamespot 's heidi kemps generally praised the story , especially the ways it poked fun at the genre and focus on the many paths the game took players down , while gamesradar 's becky cunningham called the story " the main reason to play [ the game ] , especially as it approaches medieval fantasy with dark comedy instead of straight - laced tropes . " eurogamer 's chris schilling said that the game played out " like a jet - black comedy " , calling its narrative far colder than that of nier , while praising zero 's characterization . in contrast to previous titles in the series , the gameplay received praise . dengeki praised the redesigned battle system , citing the ability to switch weapons instantly as its best feature . famitsu was also positive , despite it not having many distinguishing features to separate it from other video games in the genre . sullivan praised the ground aspect of gameplay , especially zero 's intoner mode , but criticized the dragon gameplay as awkward and exacerbated by the poor control layout . cunningham said that the combat will " keep [ players ] on [ their ] toes " , praising the balance between character and enemy power and the weapon switching ability , but being more mixed about the dragon gameplay . carter called the action gameplay his " favorite part " , referring to it as a faster and smoother version of combat from the dynasty warriors series , while kemps found it generally satisfactory despite its simplicity , while citing the dragon sections as " a welcome , if not always particularly well - designed , break from stabbing troops directly . " wallace was positive about many aspects of the system , but stated that it got bogged down by the level design and predictable enemy movements . schilling enjoyed the ground - based gameplay despite its simplicity , comparing it to " a cross between [ dmc : devil may cry ] and dynasty warriors " , but cited the dragon gameplay as far less enjoyable . poor ai for zero 's companions and dragon drew criticism . the graphics and level design were generally criticized . cunningham called the environments " very bland " when compared to the narrative , while wallace generally criticized the in - game level and character design , though cited the cinematic cutscenes as an improvement . in contrast , carter praised the character design and called the other visuals " absolutely beautiful " . sullivan was generally negative , citing the level design and narrow color palate as part of her critique , and comparing the graphics to a game from the playstation 2 era . schilling generally faulted the game for its textures , graphics and character design , despite noting the developers ' attempts to lampoon gaming conventions . technical issues such as frequent frame rate drops , an erratic camera and screen tearing were cited as general faults with the game . game quotes