DragonFangZ - The Rose & Dungeon of Time Reviews
Get past the iffy localisation and maybe the cutesy characters if you have to, and DragonfangZ is a fun and interesting genre mash up. The roguelike element makes it ideal for a quick pick up and play session, but you'll also be rewarded if you invest more time to build up stats and learn the increasingly deep systems that are more in line with traditional JRPGs. All in all, it's simple-looking yet increasingly deep experience, one that can be as absorbing as it is perplexing.
Somewhere down the track DragonFangZ might be patched again, and if, at that point, it's comprehensible enough to tell its minimalist story in a compelling manner, and get its tutorial in order, then it might well be worthwhile. It has all the presentational and gameplay elements it needs to be really great. But this developer's track record isn't there, so what we've got here is a game with a translation bad enough that it effectively breaks the game.
For me, DragonFangZ is a great example as to why you should not judge a book by its cover alone, because hidden behind the cutesy design is a very enjoyable roguelike – one that, in some ways, challenges a few of the age-old conventions of the genre. The depth and flexibility of the Fang mechanic helps keep things fresh (and your available toolkit vast), and the added incentive to fight out in the open because of the Brave system sets in motion a nice change of pace (and is less claustrophobic than corridor farming). If you can look past the price and the abysmal translation, DragonFangZ has a lot to offer to those that prefer more RPG in their roguelikes.