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This entry within the Dragon Fantasy series takes us into the magical world of Tsufana--a place where wizards and dragons reign supreme. These lands, however, face a grave crisis: Vlad, a famed Wizard hailing from the prosperous lands of Lispen, has defected, and now wields his magics with a dark purpose. In his quest for an unfathomable dark power, he has cursed the world and its inhabitants, transforming them into monsters and various other forms of demonic entities.

You take control of two siblings from the town of Ziazu. Mysteriously surviving their hometown's collapse under Vlad's curse, they set out with help from a brave knight and a well-renowned sage to end the evil wizard's vile curse and restore peace to the land.









Latest Blog

Another's Thoughts

A little while back a member of the community, Unity, played Heroes of Tsufana upon request, and here's what s/he had to say:



"Dragon Fantasy: Heroes of Tsufana by Ephiam is an old-school type RPG. My first RPG was Dragon Quest 1 (or Dragon Warrior 1 as it was called on the NES over here at the time), where grinding, finding treasure, and exploration based on hints you got from NPCs were core gameplay mechanics. Heroes of Tsufana brings back the feelings of those days and those early RPGs, and does it well.

An upfront warning: if you're used to more modern RPGs, be warned that you're going to have to grind for EXP and money, and that rather than having a clear next step in your quest, you're going to have to explore and pay close attention to hints given by NPCs about where to go next. Some may find these to be detriments, but they were a part of the experience in early RPGs.

I found the game a lot of fun to play, and I liked the callbacks to old Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy games. While you start off with just two characters, you get your full party of four pretty early on, as well as a ship so you can explore the world.

Opening up most of the world so early can be a risky move, and some may be turned off by the slew of places that are now open to you, but I found it interesting. It brings me back to old games where if the monsters in an area are outright destroying you, you're probably not supposed to be in that area yet.

The heroes each have a nice variety of abilities fitting their classes, and the game makes exploration feel very rewarding. I've really enjoyed the experience, and will most likely be continuing it after I've finished playing the rest of the game.

I didn't find a lot wrong with the game, but I will point out a few things:

-First, there's no wrap-effect on the world map, so you can literally sail to a corner of the world and the game will stop you there (See my screenshot here). I'm not sure why the wrap option wasn't chosen, which would fit the emulation of the early NES games.

-Second, some towns lack space for you to travel to a single line of tiles. If NPCs are in that line, you have to painstakingly wait for them to move (see my screenshot here, where, if I want to go west, both pathways are blocked by NPCs). This was indeed a feature of old NES RPGs, but not a welcome one, and providing bigger areas to walk would make navigating through certain towns a lot easier.

-Third, the graphics used in dungeons were repetitive. The ones I encountered came in two flavors: caves that always look like this, or interior dungeons that always look like this. Even Final Fantasy 1 went to lengths to make varied locations, using different tiles to make dungeons look somewhat distinct. A little more variety would certainly be welcome.

All in all, these are ultimately small complaints in what's a great retro-style game. Well done! I've liked this one.
"



Also, as an added bonus to the content of this blog and a little something for you to look forward to in the future: Heroes of Tsufana will (eventually) be remade using VX ACE. When? After I've completed Dragon Fantasy REMADE. I've already laid the groundwork for when I do get to it, but that day is at least a year down the road.
  • Completed
  • Ephiam
  • RPG Tsukuru 2003
  • Adventure RPG
  • 06/30/2012 12:28 AM
  • 08/06/2022 12:07 AM
  • 01/05/2013
  • 298414
  • 43
  • 4668

Posts

Thanks for the above info about what to do next. I am down in the area to the far bottom left where the guy talks about the shoes. Am I able to accomplish getting the shoes yet and if so how,and what is that skeleton for anyway? Unless things are pretty linear and I have to work my way past Lispen, which from above is my next place? Unless I am mistaken, getting to Lispen means walking across the poison marshes which the shoes are for anyway? At what level do offensive spells affecting an entire party of bad guys kick in?
Great game by the way!
You should easily be able to find the shoes there. Just search the area a bit. And while it certainly IS possible to get to Lispen without the shoes, it's not really reccomended. Oh, and the skeleton serves no purpose. Just there for looks =P That and youre limited to single-target spells until you get to Lv.60~ and gain access to Ultima.
Didn't mean to be so vague there, but I was without power for a few days and trying to explain things via my phone. Lol. Not a fan of doing that, that be honest!

But yeah, there's no multi-target elemental spells other than Doomsday (not Ultima), and that's learned at Lv.50. I thought it would add a tad more strategy to the game and have the player rely a little more on status ailments rather than blasting enemy parties with a random damaging spell until they were dead. You CAN however obtain multi-target weapons for the Hero and the Sage, and they're pretty useful for when they can be found!

Anyway, as soon as you open the door in the basement of the Temple of Water Walking (place with the skeleton on F2), a staircase will appear outside that leads down to the boots. =)
I have the 4 relics - I've beaten Kentonus - but it won't let me past the barrier - am I missing something - any help thanks - great game so far !!
Did you obtain the Orb of Venaitura from the Tower of Venaitura just East of the Island of Evil (Vlad's Castle)? You need it to access Vlad's lair.

And thanks for the comment! Glad you like it. =)
No, I did not - I will head that way now ! Thanks for the fast response !!
Although since you've beaten Kentonus, it's highly doubtful that anything from here until the confrontation with the final boss is going to be very challenging. Hahaha. =P
Yeah I'm in the cave of trials now building up levels since I read the statement about level 99 can be hard - Vlad was pretty easy at level 55-60. Cave of trials has its moments also ! Haven a good time though !
Yeah, Vlad's meant to be taken on at Level 30-35. Anything above that and the poor old man's not gonna stand much of a chance against your onslaught. Hahahaha.

OMEGA's hard at max level unless you really prepare yourself properly. Other than that, I found most of the bosses in the Cave to provide a real nice challenge. Especially the 2nd last guy. He can be a dick. =P Haha.
The reason it will take me so long to beat Omega is because it will take forever in the cave of trial saving money to buy the 4 shields and 4 medallions - Ha !! Any purpose the Momento serves - just wondering?
Hahahaha. No, it serves no purpose other than to just be there to add some kind of atmosphere and meaning to Ziazu. You can sell it for a few (150?) G, though.

Also, did you manage to make it all the way to the bottom of the cave yet? If so, how'd you find it? Give us your opinions!!! =P

And I definitely should've added in a few more areas, or at least monsters, where you could grind or farm for better G. I'll have to make a list of currently farmable monsters for player reference.
Yes I made it to the bottom. It was tough until I saved enough money to buy 4 hero medallions - then getting to the bottom was easy - beating the final guy was easier - but not easy. Now I am in there just saving to get 4 shield - grinding away. But its easy money now at level 99 and 4 medallions !
Lv.99? Wowza. Good job, sir! You may very well be the first individual other than myself to defeat OMEGA. And perhaps the only one, too. Hahahaha =P

In all honestly, I was kinda thinking about also making a "Hard Mode" version of this game. Just raise the stats of most enemies, maybe make things a little more costly, etc. I've always felt it was a little too casual, so now that the MAIN game is out and available I can upload another so that if people want even MORE of a challenege it's there.

I'd also have to make an easier way to grind for money though, REALLY up the difficulty in the Cave of Trials, have more enemies drop Seeds/Stat Boosters for grinding purposes, et.
Personally, I like this game, but the open-endedness really makes it hard to get to anywhere.
Well, that's kinda what I was aiming for, actually. This gigantic semi-open (but not REALLY) world that a player could explore and find countless treasures. Sure, most of them are fairly useless if one only goes looking at end-game, but at that point I was certain that most people would want to beat it to the end anyway.
JayjeAthravein
Old-School GAM-MAKster DOUBLE DONATOR SUPREME!
1945
Boy this takes me back!!
JayjeAthravein
Old-School GAM-MAKster DOUBLE DONATOR SUPREME!
1945
Boy this takes me back!!
Would this happen to be related to Dragon Fantasy on iOS/Android and the upcoming Book 2 for PS3/iOS? :D Either way, it looks great and I'm definitely going to check this out :)
No sir, it is not! I have realized however that the name IS officially taken, but since I've been using the name since 2007 and have pretty much made a series out of it I decided against not using the title.

Regardless, thanks for the comment and I hope you enjoy the game! Get back to us with your opinion if(when) you get to play!