Dragalia Lost, the smartphone action game that is being developed by Nintendo and Cygames, recently received new details in the latest issue of Famitsu. This information includes new information on the protagonists and the world.

Story

“O Legendary Dragon, lend me your strength!”

The story takes place in Alberia, the kingdom where dragons live. All royal members in Alberia have the ‘Dragon Transformation’ ability, where they can wield a dragon’s power by forming a pact with a dragon to borrow their form in battle.

One day, a strange occurrence begins to happen in this kingdom. The Holy Shard protected by the capital starts to lose its power. In order to save his people, the Seventh Prince, who has not made a pact with a dragon, sets off on his ‘Dragon Selection Trial’.

The events that occur during this journey –

The allies met along the way –

The monsters which attack at every turn –

And a chance meeting with a mysterious masked young girl.

This is the chronicle of the battles and kinship formed between the prince and the dragons.

Characters

The story focuses on the journey of the prince, his sister Zecia, and Nahm the fairy. During his journey, the prince will meet over 60 characters who will help him out in his struggles.

Protagonist (CV: Koki Uchiyama)

A bright and cheery prince who always has a smile on his face. He has the courage to rise up when needed, as well as a caring heart.

Zecia (CV: Ai Kayano)

The protagonist’s twin sister, and one of the few priestesses of the Church of Ilia. She’s very determined and cares deeply for her brother.

Nahm (CV: Yukana)

A mysterious fairy who the twins met when they were kids. She’s always spritely and is the mood maker of the group.

Alberian royalty can form a pact with dragons in order to wield their massive strength. The seventh prince will meet various dragons during his adventure and form connections with them.

(from left to right)

Mercury (CV: Kikuko Inoue)

The guardian dragon of the floating city Centrotus. Mercury has lived in the nearly seas since ancient times and has watched over many people in the time since.

Midgarzwarm (CV: Kouichi Yamadera)

An azure dragon who has lived in the Forest of Mist since ages past. Midgarzwarm can control the weather and is nicknamed “The Tempest King”.

Brunhilde (CV: Aya Endou)

A red dragon who lives in the Adra Volcano. Brunhilde is feared for their temper, which flames up as easily as the magma it lives near.

Famitsu also interviewed Hideki Konno from Nintendo and Hiroki Matsuura from Cygames, where they revealed more about why Nintendo and Cygames decided to work together, what the title means, as well as the story volume in the game.

Here are the highlights:

According to Konno, he has always thought Cygames to be similar to Nintendo in the way that they fine-tune everything down to the last detail. Matsuura also has had experience with Nintendo in the past, having been a member of Brownie Brown (now 1-UP Studio).

When asked about what Nintendo has learned from Cygames, Konno answered that apart from the knowhow of running an ongoing mobile title, he believes that even console games from now on will need to provide features that constantly engage players in the same way smartphones do.

On the other side of the fence, Matsuura feels like Cygames has gotten to take a look at Nintendo’s ‘secret sauce’ that makes their games so special.

Dragalia Lost was a top-secret project even within Cygames up until the announcement, and Matsuura says that their employees who were out of the loop were the most surprised when it was announced that the game was being made alongside Nintendo.

Speaking of the title, Matsuura explained that the title came from blending ‘Dragon’ with ‘Regalia’ (referring to the right to rule) and ‘Lost’ (‘to lose’). Dragons in particular are important in both the story and the gameplay.

Despite working on games like Mario Kart, Konno actually really likes dragons. While playing the prototype of Dragalia Lost, he thought it would be great if dragons were the theme of the game, as dragons are popular across the world.

The gameplay of Dragalia Lost is described as easy to pick up, but also technical. Not only can you do things such as cancel into a charged attack in the middle of a combo, there are also tough bosses which need careful assessment before approaching it. While the game is playable solo, it can also be played with up to four players, and this is recommended as enemy difficulty in terms of AI does not change between them.

Dragalia Lost runs on a stamina system to do quests. There are endings for each part of the story, which is split up into Part 1, Part 2, etc. Dragons are contracted through the story as well as through a separate system.

Party members are split into types such as Attack type and Healing type, but there is also the aspect of what dragon to make a pact with. The other party members, despite not being royalty, are able to use the Dragon Transformation by borrowing the prince’s power and using it in their stead. For example, you could double down on Attack by forming a pact with an Attack-type dragon, or make a pact with a Healing-type dragon to recover in a bad situation instead.

The story currently boasts over 600 thousand words, as there are side stories and character scenarios for every character as well. Every event will add another 100 words to the total count, so Matsuura feels sorry for having Nintendo do the translation for all of the text.

Dragalia Lost is currently in development for Apple iOS and Android devices. The game is expected to launch in Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Macau in Summer 2018, and it’ll also release sometime after in North America and Europe.