Ok, so all of these DLCs are bad, but at least they keep being bad in different ways that give me something to write about for each one. This one is bad in two unique flavors: its a gauntlet DLC, and the writing is a perfect distillation of bad chained writing.

The other two DLCs I played before this one at least had some spice in gameplay. Either some riding around on dragons, fighting giant, juicy crabs, genociding some sky pirate elves - this one has the gimmick of, "fight the same enemy multiple times, but sometimes it'll be a different speed / a different size / there will be more of them." Like, come on. Throwing around the term "copy + paste" content is often reductive, but yeah, that's what this is. It's embarrassing.

What's more bizarre is the writing, which sets out to "answer questions" in a way I don't know how people fall for. In the base game of Drakengard 3, we know that Three makes puppets, monsters, and chimeras, and her desciple leaves her for two reasons. (He says he is disturbed by her creations, but really is just sad she's grown bored of their sex life.) I'm not sure what needed to be expanded upon in this scenario!

And the game sure doesn't either, because we learn nothing new. At the point I'm in the base game, having beaten routes A and B with C and D remaining, there is no explanation for how magic works in this universe. I only know that every one of these sisters has a "song" that gives them the means to be a boss fight. So how does Three make her monsters? Is she good at a combination of magic and science? Is her magic good for more than summoning her boss fight mechanics? Do all of the sisters have the ability to use magic in a way that does more than make a boss fight? I mean, none of those answers really matter, but that seems like the kind of information I'd expect for how Three differs from how her other sisters are presented!

Alternatively, we could ignore the logistics and peer into the why she does this "bad stuff". All this DLC gives us is... because she's like that. She has a curious nature, so she does messed Frankensteining on animals, monsters, and humans alike. Not for any particular goal. No real attachment to what she creates.

These DLCs have been trying to be funny, and since Three is such a charisma vacuum, we get more dialog from the dragon Gabriella than the others. Who goes on rants about office style mysogony, and other topics that make absolutely no sense for the setting and world these characters inhabit. It this serie's shock-value style comedy at its most desperate, which is a real shame since I've been enjoying elements of it this go-around.

1 star, D rank, the writing is so bad that it starts losing its frame of reference. If you want to be irreverant and absurd, you still have to be intentional as to what you are joking about, and mindful of what the assumed frame of reference would be for your audience. Three's desciple, Octa, is the supposed butt of many jokes for being a horny old man. But in the text of this DLC, he wasn't hopelessly lusting as a sex pest, but bringing forward real greviences in a long-term relationship - only to be brushed aside without any communication from the other party. If anything, this makes his "jokes" less funny in the main game, in a way where I am convinced that was not intentional. Not because I have strong views on the subject matter, but because Three was such a nothing character that I would happily root for anyone slighted by her for any reason.

Also, her scissors sword for Zero to use in the base game super sucks yet again. Why are the most enduring parts of the DLCs the worst ones???

autistic girl... save me..

autistic girl

save me autistic girl