Dragon Seven review: battling with roulettes?

When I saw that Butterfly Corp had released an RPG with a battle system based off roulette, I was a bit more than skeptical. Taking a genre that is supposed to be skill, strategy, and level based and replacing it with luck is an appalling thought. However, after spending some time with Dragon Seven I have found the game to have a much deeper and involving battle system than I ever thought possible. This Japanese game for iOS is surprisingly addictive, and although it’s not in English, this is one game you may want to watch out for.

Well what is it?

Unlike most RPGs out there, the story is essentially irrelevant. You start out meeting a girl by the name of Ririsu, who reveals to you that she is your sister (whom you’ve never met) and needs your help looking for your father. There is something about seven legendary dragons, research, and a plot that is kind of swept under the table once you actually start playing. I’m not saying that there is no plot development through the game, I’m just saying that it isn’t very important to the gameplay. Which is fairly atypical of an RPG.

Soon after starting the game you will be sent to the battlefield with your troop of 5 monsters (and one monster on loan from a ‘friend’). You control your character and move around the field in an attempt to collect three colored stones that will summon the boss and clear the stage. As you walk around collecting treasures, coins, and monster eggs you are bound to run into a few monsters and will engage in battle.

Wait…roulette?

The battle system is where Dragon Seven truly shines. The game will display your enemy, your monsters, and three roulettes that you will use to power up your monster. On each roulette you will see different element symbols that, once stopped, will be used to fuel up your monster’s attack points. To the left of each roulette you can see where the roulette is and try to time it to land on which elements you want.

There are nine slots on the roulette, which means nine potential contributions to your attack. The more you get of the fire element, the more damage your fire-based monster will deal. However, if you don’t have any fire elements show up on your roulette, then your fire-based monster will not have any attack power to contribute to the fight.

You get bonuses when you spin lucky sevens, or three of the same element in a row, but even without a match, elements on the roulette will contribute to your attack.

Is it all luck?

Some may immediately write off the game’s battle system thinking it is all about luck. Sure you are relying on good elements from the roulette to defeat the enemies, but that comes down to good timing, not luck. On top of that, the monsters you choose and the special abilities that they may possess have a direct impact on the roulette and gameplay. There are monsters that will slow down the roulette, add bonuses or even make certain elements appear more often. You need to take each of your monster’s abilities and elements into consideration before heading into battle. This really adds to the depth of the game and battle system and takes a lot of the luck out of the equation.

Final thoughts

I found the monster’s abilities and roulette battle system to be a refreshing take on the genre, and one that I thoroughly enjoyed. The game wasn’t without its problems, as I would have loved to see more of a story and walking was a bit more challenging than it needed to be, but overall Dragon Seven was a fantastic game. The game is currently only available in the Japanese Apple Store, but I will keep an eye out for an English release.