Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars Review (Switch eShop)


Especially in more recent years, the eccentric Yoko Taro from Deny Fame has made a big name for himself as a game designer simply unsurpassed. Any project he works on is sure to be interesting and experimental in certain respects, and this trend has continued with his latest release: Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars. Although this card-based RPG proves to be more traditional than it initially appears, it offers a satisfying and enjoyable take on the RPG genre that you don’t want to miss.

Voice of Cards has an extremely traditional storytelling, but it’s also a fantastic example of how delivery is just as important as content. This is a story that is ‘only’ about a brotherhood of adventurers who travel across the continent to kill a dragon that threatens the land. Throughout their journey, they stop at various cities and get caught up in whatever subplots the chapter requires. Sometimes even a new member of the group joins later. This kind of story is likely nothing you haven’t seen before, but the narrative elevates it to something much more special.

Look, Voice of Cards is really a ‘game within a game’, and the entire dialogue is read to you by the sultry tone of Todd Haberkorn, the Game Master and storyteller. The Game Master is the literal ‘voice of the cards’, and each line of dialogue has a smooth, relaxing cadence that really sells the idea that you are sitting by firelight at a table with a guy who loves telling stories. This effect is only enhanced by the fact that the Game Master proves to be a character in his own right. For example, there are times when you can hear his judgment on a character’s actions and words sliding into his tone as he reads his lines. Or there are times when you mispronounce a character’s name and have to quickly correct yourself before continuing. Little details like this go a long way to selling the kind of cozy and imaginative atmosphere that is pursued; It’s hard not to get swept away

The game follows the template of a standard turn-based JRPG, just one wrapped up in remarkably fascinating aesthetics. Obviously the whole game takes place on an old wooden table in a warmly lit tavern somewhere, and the game world consists of a series of cards laid out on the table in a grid. You navigate this grid with a small totem representing your party and only the cards immediately adjacent to the card your totem is on are turned over to reveal the terrain. In practice, it does not feel that Different from navigating a typical overworld in an old Dragon Quest or Final Fantasy game, but there’s a delightful lure for exploration here that is uniquely tied to the aesthetics of the cards.

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Most cards will only have multiple sea, road, or grass images to represent the walkable terrain, but every now and then you come across something more interesting like a treasure chest, a cave, or another city. So every time you come to a new area and examine a new sea of ​​face-down cards, it’s hard to resist the urge to turn each one over to see what it hides. The environments are sized appropriately too, so it doesn’t seem like turning over each card is too laborious or too fast.

Every few times you jump to the next card, you will trigger a random encounter and this is where the game’s turn-based combat comes into play. Each character is represented on the game board by a card displaying their key art and main stats, and the fights unfold in a simple way where everyone takes turns attacking each other until someone dies. Things naturally get a little more interesting when things like elemental weaknesses are taken into account, but otherwise this is as straightforward as combat in a JRPG.

Interestingly, there is no ‘MP’ in Voice of Cards, but there is an alternative in the form of ‘Gems’. Each member of the group will generate a gem when their turn comes and then it will be thrown into a group that will be shared by the whole group. Most of the more useful spells and attacks will have a gem cost attached to it, which can create an interesting layer of strategy as you plan your turns. Having your mage cast a storm spell could surely wipe out a couple of enemies, for example, but then your healer won’t have enough gems to bring another party member to the brink of death. This limited resource management aspect adds a surprising amount to combat encounters, and it only gets more interesting as you progress and expand your options.

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Character progression at first seems pretty limited (there’s no job system or skill trees to look at here), but leveling up your party eventually unlocks additional spells and abilities that give you Some freedom of action in the type of role you want each character to play. So as each character matures, their potential roles diverge much more from the other party members, and this helps increase the sense of personalization and autonomy, especially since you can only choose three party members at a time to be in. combat. Considering the length and difficulty of the entire game, it seems that the developers struck the perfect balance between simplicity and depth.

Believe it or not, there is also a completely separate minigame that actually plays like a simpler card game. You can play this in any city in an arcade against a myriad of AI opponents and under a few different rule sets, and while it’s not the most compelling card minigame Square has ever come up with, it nonetheless adds an extra fun dimension. a Voice of Cards. Also, this is where the multiplayer component comes in. Unfortunately, you can’t play online against others, but any close friend can join in on their own Switch, or you can take turns on a single console. The rules are simple enough to learn and teach to others, and we’ve found that it can get wildly competitive when you have someone on hand who really understands the nuances.

Although the presentation is stellar and the gameplay loop is well designed, there is still a lingering feeling that Voice of Cards is missing out on some of the potential of its distinctive aesthetic. For one thing, it just feels odd that a game entirely communicated through cards features a simple turn-based combat system, rather than one focused on some kind of deck building. Decisions like this make the singular focus on the cards feel less like a riveting deconstruction of the role-playing game and more like a superficial decoration used to disguise an otherwise ordinary game.

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And yet there is something exceptionally captivating about how all the disparate parts of Voice of Cards come together. It may only last a dozen hours and features an unambitious combat system you’ve seen in a billion RPGs before, but there’s something powerful about how well-executed it shows at the end. Simply put, this is a game that feels tremendously full. In an age where RPGs are often bloated and play times can reach a hundred hours just to watch the credits, it feels incredibly refreshing to play through a quick and memorable experience that doesn’t try to aim too high. and it gets out of your way before it overdoes it. Welcome. You won’t be stuck here with weird characters and poorly explored game mechanics; Everything in Voice of Cards exists for a purpose.

As you’ve probably learned by now, presentation is an absolutely critical part of the Voice of Cards DNA, and the developers have nailed the atmosphere they were looking for. Todd Haberkorn’s charming storytelling combined with a warm and enthusiastic soundtrack from Keiichi Okabe makes for a thoroughly excellent listening experience, while all of Kimihiko Fujisaka’s card art is impressively detailed. Characters may not have a single animation frame, however their poses and designs imbue them with distinct personalities anyway. Most importantly, art serves its purpose of preparing the imagination, as your brain comfortably fills in the gaps and creates for itself a world that the images on the screen only hint at.

conclusion

Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars is a game that certainly won’t appeal to everyone; This is one you have to go into with an open mind. It’s pretty short compared to most RPGs and you don’t risk much with your gameplay, yet the aesthetics of the card are still consistently interesting, it’s backed by an extremely solid presentation, and that game finally proves to be quite satisfying. . For thirty dollars, this card game is one of the best concise RPGs you can buy on the Switch, and if any of its concepts or art pique your interest, we highly recommend that you give it a try.




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