The “Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars Review – Counting Cards” is a review of the game, “The Isle Dragon Roars.” The game was created by the card counter, who has created over 100 different decks.
In a world where the spread of gambling is becoming more and more common, there are some who refuse to play along. The Isle Dragon Roars hopes to help players defy that by putting the player in control of everything from card counting strategies to strict house rules. In this review we will see what all it has going for it- including its ability to make you feel like a true gambler.,
Do you like the notion of curling up with a nice book close to a roaring fire on a chilly night? Voice of Cards seems like the video game version of that: a “comfortable” game in which I’d want to lose track of time. Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars isn’t the most spectacular or even mechanically sound game, but there’s something immensely charming about it.
The fundamental idea of Voice of Cards is revealed immediately away: the whole game is played out as a tabletop RPG, with Todd Haberkorn’s voice narrated in English.
From the buildings and terrain to the objects and people, every facet of the game is represented by a card. Voice of Cards, with its selected format, places a strong focus on text and music, relying on its presentation and the players’ imagination to bring the tale to life. Fortunately, the writing is often excellent enough to keep the experience going, and there’s enough of that signature Yoko Taro weirdness.
The tabletop layout gives Voice of Cards a very distinct feel, but the fact that there is only one narrator in the game never fully clicked with me. Even while I believe Todd Haberkorn does an excellent job here, I found myself wanting at least significant characters were voiced on a regular basis.
The plot revolves on a young adventurer named you and his weird beast-like companion. Your joyful but inexperienced couple sets off to perform the chores after the monarch makes an order to destroy the dragon ravaging the realm, and they encounter a variety of different adventures along the road.
Voice of Cards has a terrific sense of humor and often incorporates its card aesthetic into that comedy. One thing I liked about your character is that he’s always a self-righteous jerk, in the greatest manner imaginable.
You’ll be controlling a miniature board game piece that depicts your group as you move from card to card as you go on your journey. You’ll come across random occurrences, riches, and fights while exploring the world and many dungeons.
While the card system makes Voice of Cards seem to be comparable to Hearthstone, the fighting feels more like a traditional turn-based RPG. Everyone has their own HP pool, attack power, and defensive power, and each party member and adversary will take turns attacking.
You may utilize a number of special attacks by spending crystals from your pool for each character. You get a crystal every time you perform an action, and more powerful talents demand more crystals. As your party progresses, you will unlock more unique and powerful skills.
Combat is quite normal for a turn-based game, but it never rises to the level of excellence. In fact, battle is where I have the most issues with the experience.
When traveling around a multi-leveled dungeon, the random encounter rate seems a little too high. It does bog down the experience at times, and although there are some useful quick travel choices that completely eliminate retracing, I still believe the game would have benefitted from an encounter rate that could be adjusted, similar to Bravely Default.
The complexity is another drawback in Voice of Cards. The game never seems like it’s giving you a difficult task to do. Basic bouts are simple, and there are just a few of boss encounters that seem challenging. I enjoy the game’s accessibility in terms of difficulty, but I believe a strong difficulty slider would have improved the game significantly.
The good news is that everything Voice of Cards excels at more than compensates for the poor fighting. If you’ve played any of Yoko Taro’s games before, you know to anticipate dark twists and turns, and Voice of Cards does not disappoint. At the same time, this is a more “direct” experience than NieR: Automata, and you won’t find the same level of meta narrative here.
I was attracted strangely to the story’s climax due to the presentation, excellent music, and writing.
The Bottom Line in Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars
Pros
- Fantastic presentation that makes the most of the card trick.
- The game’s particular flare is aided by its strong music and scripting.
- Always has a terrific sense of humor.
Cons
- The battle mechanism is simple, but there are far too many random encounters.
- The lack of extra voice acting seems to be a stumbling block.
Voice of Cards is an intrinsically engaging game that takes its premise and runs with it, putting it to good use more often than not. Despite a mediocre battle system, I believe this is an experience worth persevering with, particularly for lovers of Yoko Taro’s prior work.
[Note: The copy of Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars used for this review was supplied by Square Enix.]
