3RRDC Dvine Luv

Truth be told, the number of RPGs released on the shores of America
for the DC is quite small. Everyone will tell ya about Grandia 2 and
Skies of Arcadia, and then you'll get into the lesser games of Evolution,
E.G.G., and Time Stalkers. But for the import hounds out there, you
have access to a ton of Dreamcast goodies that were never released
in the States. One such game, and an RPG at that, is D+Vine [Luv].
Yeah, I know pretty weird title, but once you actually dive into the
game you'll see that it's pretty fun! While it may not be an epic like
Skies or Grandia, it does offer some RPG goodness to sword-wielding
fan boys in search of another level to gain. Oh, and it's also got some
hot date sim elements just to spice things up! All right let's get divine!

Here's what I gathered from the story. You are Hyde, a swordsman,
and you are living at an inn where a hot girl, Sakura (your childhood
friend), works. Life is fairly peaceful in your little village. However, just
outside the town is an ancient cave. Inside the cave there is rumored
to be some sort of magic civilization that used to exist. And so the
local hunters' guild sends in some warriors to check it out. Hyde also
ventures into the cave and finds this girl, Yura, sealed in a crystal.
Yura wakes up, and thus begins the story of D+vine [Luv].

There's the classic evil swordsman, Slayn, who wants to find the
powers of the ancients and use it for mischief. You also meet up with
Teres, a sword-wielding babe who may or may not be evil. The cast is
fairly expansive, and mainly female. But let's get on to the actual
gameplay first. The story isn't too hard to follow for a non-Japanese
speaker. We can tell that Slayn needs to be stopped and that there are
love triangles with Hyde and just about every girl in the game. (Nice).

This is a 2D hack-and-slash dungeon crawling import RPG. In other
words, it plays like Diablo (PC). There are five dungeons and a final
boss fight. Each dungeon has three floors and is filled to the brim with
monsters to slay and treasures to collect. Level-up, learn magic, equip
and find stronger weapons; it's not too hard to figure out how to play.
You can only hold so many items though, so bring the essential stuff
with ya into the cave.

Gameplay wise, you go into the cave, beat a dungeon (or a floor of a
dungeon) and then go back to the town to trigger cutscenes. Normally
this means visiting the inn or the hospital (where Yura, the crystal girl,
is held). Of course, there a ton of side quests to partake in to get with
the local women. Many of them require items found in the caves, and I
found a few and gave them to the girls. Then you get some nice CG
anime pictures of them and that's about it really. Still, it's enjoyable if
you like hot anime girls.

Right outside the cave, is a building where you go to turn in the magic
jewels you have found hidden around town and the dungeons. These
go towards upping various stats like attack and magic. Other places of
interest, is the bar where the bar tender tells you about things in the
game, some magic shop, a weapons shop where you can upgrade
items, a hospital where you go to trigger cutscenes, and the inn where
you go to sleep and recover health. I don't know how to save in this
game, but it just kind of does it automatically. I think it saves every
time you enter or leave a dungeon.

The game starts off with a very nice anime opening, and then we get to
the game itself. First thing you'll notice is that the load times are god
awful. So be patient. The graphics are 2D and they look like the
Genesis could have handled the in-game graphics. However, when the
game fuses in the date-sim aspects, the CG scenes are really nice!
There aren't too many pictures to look at early in the game, but later
on they become more frequent. Oh, and there is no nudity. This was
ported from the dirty bird PC version, but all sex scenes are taken out.
However, there is a fair amount of fan service with girls in other states
of undress-Like the CG where Hyde walks in while Sakura is trying to
use the bathroom and her panties are around her legs and she looks
up in disgust. Pure gold.

There are also pictures next to the important people when they talk,
and characters have a wide range of facial expressions. Graphically,
this game will not wow you. It looks very similar to another import DC
RPG, Izumo.

The game is bundled with a bonus music CD that has the opening
theme song in long, short, and karaoke versions. It's pretty cool (a nice
bonus). The music in the game ranges from repetitive as hell (the town
theme), to cool techno (the 4th and 5th dungeons), to slow romantic
pieces (when things get...steamy?). There is no full voice over, but the
important scenes have the characters with voices. They sound okay, I
guess; I mean it is all in Japanese.

Replay? Well, who knows how much CG there is to unlock.
Unfortunately, there is no omake mode after you beat the game, so
that sucks. I think that once you beat it, unless you love hacking and
slashing 2D monsters, then this one will sit on the shelf for a while
after it's done. Still, it's enjoyable while it lasts.

IMPORT WARNING: It's an RPG, but not an expansive one. There is only
one town, and only five dungeons. The hard part is knowing where to
go to trigger a cutscene so you can advance to the next dungeon. For
example, at one point in time, the inn keeper's kid goes missing, and it
took me three months to find the brat. Seems he was at the end of the
first floor in the first dungeon stuck in some blob monster. Knowing
what the items are is another hard spot. Sure swords look like swords,
and it's not too hard to figure out that you take the swords to the
weapon shop to upgrade them to max level, but all the fruits and
healing items and what not are harder to figure out. The side quests
with the girls wanting items will be impossible for the most part I think.
Still I beat the game so I was able to plow through it eventually.

If you are looking for a different kind of RPG experience for the
Dreamcast, and maybe you want 90% of the cast to be women, then
this game is for you. Just look out for the long load times and the
occasional feeling of being lost. It's got that addicting gameplay that
you can pick up and play for a while, fused with the dating sim
goodness we all know and love. D+vine [Luv] may not be the longest
game (took me about 8 hours of playing) but it is fun while it lasts.

Review by: Orochi Sonic