Aural and the Dragon of Light (Free Hack and Slash RPG) Walkthrough and Review | The Demon Lord's Disease and the Ancient Treasure

This article is about "Aural and the Dragon of Light ~The Demon Lord's Disease and the Ancient Treasure~," an RPG in which eight monster girls take on the challenge of conquering a dungeon.
This is a hack-and-slash RPG where the party members are all unique monster girls, with no human members.
While the characters' unique personalities are certainly eye-catching, the combat balance during dungeon exploration is also exquisite, making it a very enjoyable game to play.
I think this game will be enjoyable for both those who are drawn to the characters and those who like hack-and-slash dungeon RPGs.
The main story took 12 hours to complete, and defeating the hidden boss in the EX dungeon took 22 hours.

Game Overview

This game was created using RPG Maker MV.
The main characters are Aural, a monster and hero who defeated the Demon King a year ago, and Sele, the dragon of light.
The story follows Aural as he challenges a dungeon where a wish-granting treasure awaits, in order to save a girl afflicted with the "Demon Lord Disease" at the request of an acquaintance of his.
The introduction might suggest there's a previous installment, but this is actually the first game in the series, and a prequel is currently in production.
As the game progresses, the individuality of each character will be explored in more detail.

A major distinguishing feature is that all of Aural and the other party members are monster girls.
Since there are no human party members and all the characters are female monsters, I think this game will deeply appeal to players with a specific preference.

In the main story, you choose four members from a group of eight to take on the dungeon.
You cannot change party members while exploring a dungeon.
On the other hand, there is no penalty for a total party wipeout, and when you try again, you can start from the floor you reached.
Therefore, there's no need to overthink it; I think it's fine to just try it with your favorite members, and if it doesn't work out, then try other members.

Characters not only have different stats, but they also possess unique "racial skills."
These racial techniques are abilities that consume TP accumulated during battle, and all of them have powerful effects.
Racial abilities can be learned by spending Dungeon Points (DP), which are obtained by clearing dungeons.

In the dungeon, a boss called an Area Guardian is placed on each floor.
If you're having trouble, you might need to reconsider your team composition and try out different racial abilities.

"Magic" consumes MP to use, and unlike racial abilities, many members share the same magic spells.
Furthermore, since skills can be freely acquired through equipment, it is possible to add depth to your tactics.
While this might give the impression that the power is somewhat modest, it allows you to enhance or compensate for the character's strengths.

The battles are turn-based command battles.
When a turn begins, characters act in order of their agility, starting with the one with the highest agility.
As mentioned earlier, if your entire team is wiped out, you will be returned to your base, but there is no penalty.

Please note that characters who are incapacitated at the end of a battle will not receive experience points.
Substitute members will receive a fraction of the experience points.
Therefore, the system is designed to prevent a significant level difference between party members and reserve members.

Review (no spoilers)

The story was compelling, and the gameplay, including the dungeons and battles, was challenging and rewarding.
I'd say the difficulty level of the battles in the main story is about average.

As for the area guardians protecting each floor, and the bosses waiting at the very back, none of them were particularly malicious.
My impression is that if you make adjustments after fighting once, such as changing your team members to more effective ones or improving your equipment, you can probably win most of the time.
Boss battles don't often involve excessively intense attacks, so I feel that if you can turn it into a long, drawn-out battle, you can often win even on your first try.

Each floor has an area guardian that could be considered a mini-boss, so you can't just breeze through it.
However, it's fun to obtain new equipment from treasure chests in dungeons, so you'll find yourself wanting to collect them all.
If you fill your party with characters who have high luck, you can efficiently obtain the highest rarity items.
If you get stuck on a boss, it might be more important to collect high-rarity equipment than to level up.

The story, while hinting at the existence of previous works, is well-crafted and compelling.
However, this game is fundamentally designed as a dungeon RPG, and I think efforts have been made to avoid interfering with that aspect.
Players can freely skip the character conversations and other dialogues that are inserted throughout the game.
It's designed to be user-friendly, making it less stressful even for those who want to focus solely on the gameplay.
The story is intriguing, making you wonder what happened in the past, and it has the appeal of making you want to play the prequel.

The characters are unique and appealing, both in terms of their roles in the story and in combat.
I felt that the game was well-balanced, allowing you to fight reasonably well no matter what party you put together.
Those who want to stick with the same characters can manage even with a fixed team composition.
Conversely, if you prioritize efficiency, you might discover some surprisingly strong members by working with a variety of team members.
My policy was to keep the members fixed and only change them when there was a problem.

After clearing the game, a high-difficulty dungeon will be unlocked where you can switch out party members during battle.
Since there are new things you can do, I think you'll be able to play with a fresh feeling even after clearing the main story.
The equipment you can acquire is all more powerful than what you get in the main game, so collecting it is really fun.
However, since the boss difficulty is quite different from that of the main game, you may need to adjust your approach accordingly.

Overall, I feel that this game is designed to be enjoyable for a wide range of people, with a difficulty level that appeals to everyone.
While the difficulty of the main story might be insufficient for hardcore players, I think most players will find it very enjoyable.

Game walkthrough (contains spoilers)

Tips for winning

I'd say the boss battles in this game are of average difficulty.
It's not the kind of thing you can defeat without thinking at all; it's more like you can defeat it with a little preparation.
I'll share some methods I tried when I got stuck on an area guarder or boss.

- Member changes
If the boss's attacks are elemental, it will be easier to replace party members with those who have resistance to that element.
Remove any members whose attacks are weak to the boss's elemental attacks and replace them with members who have resistance to those attacks.
Even just having to reduce the amount of time and effort you need to dedicate to recovery makes a significant difference in terms of perceived ease of use.

Review your equipment.
Having equipment that matches the boss's attack attribute will make things much easier.
Even without specific attributes, equipping gear that prioritizes magic defense can be effective.
In this game, even small numerical increases seem to have a significant impact on damage output.
Adding Sheni to your party and collecting treasure chests will make it much easier to obtain rare items.

- Mastering magic
Equipping magic stones is also important for expanding your tactical options.
Members with high magical power can be equipped with "healing magic stones," which are highly dependent on magical power, to enhance their defenses.
For members with low magical power, provide support with items whose effects are not affected by magical power, such as "Hard Wall Magic Stone" or "Barrier Magic Stone."
Status effects are also quite effective; darkness and silence can significantly reduce damage taken from enemies.
It's quite effective even against bosses, so give it a try.

- Aim for critical hits to inflict massive damage

In this game, critical hits deal significantly more damage, dealing approximately three times the normal damage.
Equipping characters with skills that deal multiple hits with critical hit gems and similar items can make them a significant source of damage.
Increasing critical hit rate and performing multiple attacks is a shortcut to dealing significant damage.

Stuck boss battle

Using the method described above, you should be able to defeat most of the bosses in the main story.
However, the bosses in the EX dungeons are quite formidable, and there are many situations where you'll need an extra level of strategy.
Here are some of the bosses that I found particularly challenging.

Fragment of Sun

At the end of the turn, it will deal additional fire damage.
The attacks are intense, so I think you'll need some fire resistance.
By using ice-based magic from characters like Ellis or Prune, you can lower the enemy's burn level and reduce the additional damage they take at the end of their turn.

Accelerator

The higher your agility, the more powerful your attacks will become.
Resetting or canceling agility will make things easier.
Since the attacks are primarily physical, taking physical countermeasures will make the fight easier.

Ancient Archmage

Through pre-casting, the character can act twice per turn, using both stored magic and their own actions.
The type of magic being cast in advance is displayed in the upper left corner of the screen, so you can take some countermeasures.
I thought I could easily win with Tetepi's Reflection, but it gets destroyed and then he throws a spinning kick at me, so it doesn't go that smoothly.
During this boss fight, I felt I had reached the limits of my own fighting style, so I searched online for strategy information.
As a result, I successfully defeated the hidden boss, which I will describe in the next section.

Strategies for conquering EX dungeons

After suffering repeated defeats against the "Ancient Archmage," I had no choice but to fundamentally revise my tactics and level up my characters.
For information on equipment for defeating subsequent bosses, I referred to the following website.

First, let's talk about the equipment for the physical attackers.
Weapons can be purchased at shops."Sharpsting sword"is.
Because it ignores defense, it can deal consistent damage to any enemy.

And the ornaments"Bracelet of Consecutive Attacks"Equip three of them.
This allows for consistent damage output and TP supply.
By using normal attacks as your primary attack method, you can allocate all of your TP to recovery and support.

Regarding protective gear"Robe of Life"Equip it.
While its durability isn't high, it recovers a significant amount of HP at the end of each turn, greatly increasing the party's stability.

The "Bracelet of Consecutive Attacks" and the "Robe of Life" can be obtained from treasure chests on the first floor of the EX dungeon, so bring Sheni along and run through it many times.

Magic-type members can be obtained from rare treasure chests in the later stages of the game."Grand Yggdrasil: The Great Staff of Genesis"is.
The accessories increase magical power by 30%."Advanced Grimoire" and "Blast Ring"Equip a total of three of these items.
The armor is the same as that of the physical attackers."Robe of Life"is.
Equip your characters with magic stones that allow them to use advanced single-target magic suited to their abilities, as well as magic stones that provide healing and resurrection.

Sheni is special; equip her with the "Fortune Hammer: Golden Hammer" and the "Robe of Life," and fill her accessories with items that increase luck.
Since luck seems to play a role in how easily status ailments are inflicted, items like "Mixed Powder" become more effective even against bosses.

As you collect these pieces of equipment, your level will likely increase rapidly.
I think that once you reach level 99, you should be able to clear the EX dungeon with ease.
However, if you don't increase your defense and magic defense with passive skills or utilize buffs, there's still a risk of being wiped out.

The Dark Dragon, which you can fight after clearing the EX dungeon, is dangerous even at level 99 if you're not careful.
If you don't stack up buffs and increase your maximum HP with Aural's "Earth Boost" or Tetepi's "Song of Life" before fighting, you risk being defeated very quickly.

You'll need to prepare items like "Miracle Drops" that can restore HP to near full after being incapacitated, and ensure that multiple members can use "Al Resurrection."
However, with the level and equipment mentioned above, I was able to win on my first try, so I don't think it's extremely difficult.

The Dark Dragon will change into different elemental modes one after another each time it takes a certain amount of damage.
After defeating them, you enter a power-up mode before the final boss.
In this mode, the enemy will not attack you at all, but you must deal 50,000 damage within 10 turns.
If you have the right equipment, I think you'll be able to get it without any trouble.

Impressions of using the characters in the main story (contains spoilers)

・Aural
"Tentacle Parry" is an evasion technique that can be used until the very end.
It doesn't have a dramatic effect, but it's an effective technique against any attack method, so using it provides a sense of security.
When they have free time, they can recover through photosynthesis, making them a reliable resource.
In the early stages, "Spin Rush" was very effective, and in the later stages, "Light Boost" allowed for multiple attacks aimed at critical hits.
Because they can handle a variety of roles, they are a flexible character who can adapt their role to the needs of other members.

・Sele
You can gain an advantage against enemies that use magic attacks by using "Shine Wall" or "Prism Wall".
Since it doesn't have many powerful offensive abilities, it's probably best to use it as a healer and buff provider.

・ Ulve
Personally, I'd say he's the MVP.
At the start, with "Guidance of the Wind," the TP charging speed of everyone increases, and I"Shinrou Arashibu"The goal is to land a critical hit with an eight-hit combo.
His "Whirlwind Kick" attack was also powerful against multiple enemies, making him a very reliable attacker with high burst damage potential.

・ Sheni
If you're aiming for rare equipment, this character is essential for increasing its rarity.
In the final dungeon, by including Sheni in the party and collecting treasure chests, I was able to acquire the best equipment one after another.
Since their racial abilities can only inflict status ailments, it would be ideal to use magic stones to assign them roles in healing and support.
"Secret Technique: Mixed Powder" is often effective against bosses as it inflicts various status ailments, making it useful in long battles.

・Meruza
I often included them in my party early on, either as a physical attacker or a tank.
However, as the game progressed, the need for a tank character decreased, and they were used less and less.
Aside from HP, their overall toughness depends on their equipment, so they aren't particularly suited to being a tank.

・Tetepi
He was the next most useful member after Ulve.
The "Song of Vitality," "Song of Healing," and "Song of Demonic Regeneration" significantly increase the party's stamina in prolonged battles.
Using "Secret Technique: Song of Life" significantly reduces the chance of being incapacitated in battle, allowing you to fight safely.
The "Aeroblast" attack, which enhances wind-element attacks, is also quite powerful and proved useful in various boss battles.

Prun
Due to its attributes, I only used it in lava areas.
With powerful healing abilities like Heal Rain and Revive Touch, it can be used as a tough healer.
Since it is inferior in offensive capabilities, it is best used primarily for healing and support.

Marine
Dark-element magic seems to have few enemies that are resistant to it, so you can fight comfortably against any opponent in battle.
The single-target attack magic "Magic Burst" is also quite powerful.
Characters with high magic power also have a high success rate with healing magic, so you can rely on them by giving them a "Healing Magic Stone."

Review (contains spoilers)

This game consistently seems to place a strong emphasis on the gameplay aspect, specifically "conquering dungeons with monster girls."
This policy is evident from the fact that the battle against the Demon Lord, which is the climax of the story, is treated as an event battle.

The way reserve members provide support during this event battle is one of my favorite RPG tropes.

It was a bit of a sudden turn of events, but it was a very exciting and thrilling story.
After defeating the Demon Lord, the atmosphere felt like it could be the ending, so I couldn't help but think, "Wait, it's not over yet?"
The goal stated at the start—"obtain the treasure at the deepest part of the dungeon"—is strictly adhered to until the very end.

The next installment will apparently depict the past exploits of Aural and his group in Astevine.
I'm really looking forward to finding out how each character met and what paths they've taken.
This time it was a dungeon RPG, but I have a feeling the next game will be more of a classic RPG.
I think it will be a while before it's released, but I'm looking forward to its completion.
(This article was written on September 21, 2020.)