Voice of Cards: The Beasts of Burden

Last updated
Voice of Cards: The Beasts of Burden
VoC Beasts of Burden artwork.png
Developer(s) Alim
Publisher(s) Square Enix
Director(s)
Artist(s) Kimihiko Fujiyama
Writer(s)
  • Yoshiho Akabane
  • Agata Rokuro
  • Yoko Taro
Composer(s)
  • Oliver Good
  • Shotaro Seo
SeriesVoice of Cards
Platform(s)
Release
  • PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Windows
  • September 13, 2022
  • Android, iOS
  • March 23, 2023
Genre(s) Role-playing
Mode(s) Single-player, multiplayer

Voice of Cards: The Beasts of Burden [lower-alpha 1] is a 2022 role-playing video game developed by Alim and published by Square Enix for PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch and Windows. It was released for Android and iOS in 2023. It is the third game in the Voice of Cards series, which uses the aesthetic of a tabletop role-playing game for its story and gameplay. The player controls a woman out for revenge against the monsters that destroyed her home. Gameplay involves travelling between towns, completing story quests and fighting in turn-based battles, with the party able to use captured monsters as powerful abilities.

Contents

Several staff members from earlier Voice of Cards titles returned including creative director Yoko Taro, executive producer Yosuke Saito, lead director Maasa Mimura, artist Kimihiko Fujisaka, and composers Oliver Good and Shotaro Seo. Yoko also contributed to the scenario due to time pressure. Alongside gameplay additions, the overall tone was made darker in both its story and art design.

Gameplay

A battle in Voice of Cards: The Beasts of Burden; protagonist Al'e uses captured monsters in an attack. VoC Beasts of Burden gameplay.jpg
A battle in Voice of Cards: The Beasts of Burden; protagonist Al'e uses captured monsters in an attack.

Voice of Cards: The Beasts of Burden is a role-playing video game which presents its world, characters and battles in the style of a tabletop role-playing game; everything is represented using cards, with the player navigating environments as a game piece, with environments being obscured until the player approaches and adjascent cards are flipped over. [1] [2] The player explores both a segmented overworld environment, and self-contained dungeon and town areas through a linear story campaign. [2] [3] In towns, players can rest at a local inn, and buy and sell items and equipment from merchants. [2] [4] Players can also engage in a card-based minigame, with the aim being to match card types and scores while working with or around random card effects, with the winner having the highest score. The card minigame supports four-person local multiplayer. [1] [2]

Battles play out through both scripted and random encounters with a party of four controlled by the player. [4] During combat, the player can perform standard attacks, use items, and perform skills using gems generated once per turn and added to a pool. Some skill effects are dictated by rolling a dice. During some battles, happenstance cards are triggered, granting an effect to both the player and the enemy party. Damage from attacks is calculated using the attack and defense values on each card, while each character can only have one positive and one negative status effect at a time. Upon winning, the party is awarded with gold and experience points, with leveling up raising a character's health and attributes. [4] [5] After a certain point in the story, the player can also capture some defeated monsters and convert them into ability cards, which include powerful attacks and healing the party. Gaining a higher rank version of an existing card will cause the old card to be discarded, and all cards are single-use. [1] [4]

Synopsis

The Beasts of Burden is set in a world without stars where humans live underground and have waged hate-filled war against monsters for a millennium. When Al'e's underground village destroyed by a large monster, she is rescued by L'gol, an emotionally-distant young man serving the council of the surface city of Steelborough. Rescued due to a legendary ability of underground dwellers to control monsters, Al'e is sent to capture a powerful entity dubbed the Steel Primal, which has gone on a rampage and stirred violence in the local monsters. When Steelborough's elders attempt to take the Primal, as they sought its power to declare war on a neighbouring power and caused its rampage, L'gol betrays and kills the council to avenge their abuse of him and flees with Al'e into the surrounding desert lands. They are joined by Pulche, a scholar studying monsters after his parents apparently died in a monster attack; and Tralis, a half-monster beast tamer who Al'e initially mistrusts due to her hatred of monsters.

At Pulche's request, Al'e aids him in studying the cause behind monsters. Finding a settlement using the Fire Primal's energy despite it slowly killing them, Al'e captures the Fire Primal and decides to seek the legendary Newterra, a land abundant in resources that could help the people of the lands. During their journey they discover further cases of the enmity between humans and monsters causing tragedy. Scaling the ice wall enclosing Newterra, capturing the Ice Primal in the process, Al'e's party finds Newterra is inhabited by monsters, including the one that destroyed Al'e's village. While they destroy the large monster's village, they discover monsters are as sentient as humans and harbor equal hatred. The group find the path to a large modern underground city under the monster village, a remnant of the "old world". There, fighting monsters wearing modern clothes, they discover Pulche's mother Mizar is still alive, losing the captured Primals to her.

Confronted, Mizar reveals that monsters were originally humans who willingly and permanently mutated themselves to fend off biological weapons that ran amok in the wake of a war; humans rejected them, spawning the millennium of conflict and the fall of the old world. Mizar and her husband were captured by the monsters to study the mutagen, and Mizar killed her husband when he attempted to abandon the project. She now intends to use the mutagen to change all humans into monsters, and used the young L'gol as a test subject. The party defeat the Primals, fatally wounding Mizar in the process, then are cornered by the pursuing forces of Steelborough. L'gol, transforming into a monster, saves the others and defeats the Steelborough forces. Reuniting with the transformed L'gol, Al'e sets off with Pulche and Tralis to bring night back to the world and see the stars. The narration claims that while the hatred between humans and monsters remains, Al'e's story offers hope for an eventual peace.

Development

The Beasts of Burden, as with the first two Voice of Cards titles, was developed by Alim and published by Square Enix. [6] [7] Returning staff included creative director Yoko Taro, executive producer Yosuke Saito, lead director Maasa Mimura, and artist Kimihiko Fujisaka. The scenario was co-written by Yoshiho Akabane, Agata Rokuro, and Yoko. [1] [6] Voice of Cards was envisioned as a trilogy sharing a card-based tabletop aesthetic for gameplay and story. With the third game, more features were included such as the monster capturing, the story's tone was darker, and a female lead was introduced as opposed to the male leads of previous titles. [6]

The story's theme was described as showing the other side of the conflict between humans and monsters, with the moral positions of the different sides being reversed at some points. Yoko, who had previously had minimal input in the series' scenarios, contributed to the writing due to unspecified development problems. Fujisaka's character designs and artwork drew inspiration from Yoko's Nier games, adopting a darker color pallette compared to earlier titles. [6] The gamemaster, acting as the narrator for the story, was voiced by Carin Gilfry in English and Yui Ishikawa in Japanese. [8] Yoko had grown tired of male voices, and Mimura decided on the change as part of the general tonal shift. [6] Ishikawa, who had worked with Yoko as the voice of 2B in Nier: Automata , was interested in the Voice of Cards series before being offered the role. She found the role challenging, as she had to take the unfamiliar role of narrator, and keep going through small mistakes so it sounded natural. [1]

The Beasts of Burden was announced on September 1, 2022, set for digital release on September 13 for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and Windows. [8] As part of the Deluxe Digital Edition and also sold separately was themed downloadable content, including character redesigns and music from the mobile game Nier Reincarnation . Additional themed cards and items were available exclusively as a pre-order bonus. [1] [8] In commemoration of the third game's release, merchandise themed around the series was released through Square Enix's store. [6] [9] It was ported to Android and iOS on March 23, 2023. A bundle of all three Voice of Cards titles was released on its original platforms on the same day. [10]

Music

As with the other Voice of Card titles, the music was handled by Monaca, a group headed by long-time collaborator Keiichi Okabe. [6] While previously a composer, Okabe shifted to the role of music director, with the music being handled by returning composers Oliver Good and Shotaro Seo. [11] The soundtrack was describe as both a "culmination" of the series music, and a blend of the best-liked elements from the previous two games' soundtracks. [6] Good and Seo collaborated on the score, carrying over the Latin American elements from The Forsaken Maiden while adding Northern European ethnic instruments. The music's tone was more "morose" for The Beasts of Burden, though lighter music was present for comedic scenes within the story. Each composer created seven tracks each. [11] The female vocals were provided by Yukino Orita and Saki Nakae, while Seo contributed male vocals. [6] [12] [13] A soundtrack album was released digitally alongside the game on September 13. [11]

Reception

Related Research Articles

<i>Drakengard</i> (video game) 2003 action role-playing video game

Drakengard, known in Japan as Drag-On Dragoon, is a 2003 action role-playing video game developed by Cavia and published by Square Enix for the PlayStation 2. The game is the first installment of the Drakengard series and features a mixture of ground-based hack-and-slash, aerial combat, and role-playing elements which have become a staple of the series. The story is set during a religious war between two factions—the Union and the Empire—with the war tipping in favor of the Empire. The player controls Caim, a deposed prince of the Union, in his quest for vengeance against the Empire. Wounded in battle while protecting his sister Furiae, he is forced to make a pact with a red dragon named Angelus as they journey together on a quest to prevent the Empire from destroying magical seals that keep the world in balance.

<i>Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories</i> 2004 video game

Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories is an action role-playing video game co-developed by Square Enix and Jupiter, and published by Square Enix in collaboration with Disney Interactive in 2004 for the Game Boy Advance. The game serves as an intermediary between the two larger-scale PlayStation 2 games in the Kingdom Hearts series. It was one of the first GBA games to incorporate full motion video (FMV).

<i>Drakengard 2</i> Action role-playing video game

Drakengard 2, known in Japan as Drag-On Dragoon 2: love red, ambivalence black, is an action role-playing video game developed by Cavia and published by Square Enix in Japan and Ubisoft in all other territories for the PlayStation 2. It is the second entry in the Drakengard series, set after the events of the original Drakengard: the story revolves around Nowe, a boy raised by the dragon Legna, fighting against a tyrannical faction of knights, encountering characters from the previous game and becoming entangled in the fate of the world.

<i>Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo Tales</i> 2006 video game

Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo Tales, released in Japan as Chocobo to Mahō no Ehon is a Nintendo DS adventure game developed by h.a.n.d. and published by Square Enix. It was released in Japan on December 14, 2006, in North America on April 3, 2007, and in the PAL region in May.

<i>Dragon Quest: Monster Battle Road</i> Video game series

Dragon Quest: Monster Battle Road is a series of Japanese arcade games based on Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King. Players battle monsters and can win real-life cards with monster data imprinted on them. The first game, also titled Dragon Quest: Monster Battle Road, was released in 2007 only in Japan, using the Taito Type X2 system. A sequel, Dragon Quest: Monster Battle Road II Legends, was announced at the 2009 Jump Fiesta in Tokyo, and a third game in the series, Dragon Quest: Monster Battle Road Victory, a port of the Legends game, was announced for the Wii in 2010. Dragon Quest: Monster Battle Road Scanner was scheduled for release in the arcade in 2016.

<i>Nier</i> 2010 action role-playing video game

Nier is an action role-playing video game developed by Cavia and published by Square Enix for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in April 2010. In Japan, the game was released as Nier Replicant for the PlayStation 3 with a younger main character, while an alternative version titled Nier Gestalt with an older main character was released for the Xbox 360; Gestalt was released outside of Japan as Nier for both platforms. A remaster of the PlayStation 3 version of the game, Nier Replicant ver.1.22474487139... was released worldwide for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Windows on April 23, 2021.

Tanken Driland is a Japanese mobile game developed by GREE, Inc. A manga adaptation began serialization in Jump Square in 2012. An anime series by Toei Animation and TV Tokyo began airing on 7 July 2012.

<i>Guardian Cross</i> 2012 video game

Guardian Cross is a smartphone game for iOS and Android, created by Square Enix. It was released on September 13, 2012, for iOS, and on August 5, 2013, for Android. In it, the player captures creatures to form a deck of cards that they use to battle human and computer opponents. Battles take place as turn-based matches on the device, while capturing creatures is a first person shooter mini-game. Although reviews were not complimentary towards the game, it sold well. The multiplayer servers for the game were shut down on January 10, 2017.

<i>Drakengard 3</i> 2013 action role-playing video game

Drakengard 3, known in Japan as Drag-On Dragoon 3, is an action role-playing video game developed by Access Games and published by Square Enix exclusively for PlayStation 3. It is the third main game in the Drakengard series and a prequel to the original game. The game, like the rest of the series, features a mixture of ground-based hack-and-slash combat and aerial battles. The story focuses on Zero, a woman who can manipulate magic through song. Partnering with a dragon named Mikhail, Zero set out to kill her five sisters, who rule the world's regions. As she travels, the player discovers the true reason behind Zero's rampage.

Drakengard, known in Japan as Drag-On Dragoon, is a series of action role-playing video games created by Yoko Taro. The eponymous first game in the series was released in 2003 on the PlayStation 2, and has since been followed by a sequel, a prequel and several spin-offs. A spin-off series titled Nier, taking place in an alternative timeline set after a different ending to the first Drakengard than the one 2005's Drakengard 2 followed, was started in 2010 with the eponymous game. Yoko directed every game in both series, with the exception of Drakengard 2 in which he only had minor involvement.

Drakengard is an action role-playing game released on PlayStation 2 (PS2) in 2003 in Japan and 2004 in the West. The first entry in a series of the same name, it spawned two follow-up titles; a direct sequel Drakengard 2 (2005), and a prequel Drakengard 3 (2013). A subseries spun-off from one of the original game's endings began in 2010 with the release of Nier, which was followed by Nier: Automata (2016) and Nier Reincarnation (2021). Both the Drakengard and Nier series have been supported by expanded media.

Zero (<i>Drakengard</i>) Fictional character of the Drakengard series

Zero is a character of the 2013 action role-playing game Drakengard 3, the third main entry in the Drakengard series, developed by Access Games and published by Square Enix. She also appeared in the arcade game Lord of Vermilion III. Zero is an Intoner, one of six god-like beings who control magic through their singing abilities. In trying to destroy the flower that gave birth to her powers and tried to use her to destroy humanity, she sets out to kill the five other Intoners spawned from her body by the flower to carry out its mission, referred to as her sisters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yoko Taro</span> Japanese video game director

Yoko Taro is a Japanese video game director and scenario writer. Starting his career at the now-defunct game company Cavia, his best-known work was on the action role-playing video game series Drakengard, and its spin-offs, Nier and Nier: Automata. Yoko was born in Nagoya, Aichi, and studied at the Kobe Design University in the 1990s. While he did not initially intend to pursue a career in video games, after working at Namco and Sony, he joined Cavia and became the director and scenario writer for the first Drakengard game. He has since worked extensively on every game in the series, and on mobile titles, after becoming a freelancer after Cavia's absorption into AQ Interactive.

Keiichi Okabe is a Japanese composer and arranger, best known for composing music for the Tekken and Drakengard series. He started his career at Namco in 1994, where he primarily composed for arcade games. Outside of video games, he has composed for anime series such as Working!! and Yuki Yuna is a Hero, along with arranging tracks for J-pop artists. He established the music production studio Monaca in 2004, which composes for various types of media.

2B (<i>Nier: Automata</i>) Fictional character of the Drakengard series

2B, full name YoRHa No. 2 Type B, is a fictional android (gynoid) from the 2017 video game Nier: Automata, a spin-off of the Drakengard series developed by PlatinumGames and published by Square Enix. One of the game's three protagonists, 2B is a soldier for YoRHa, an android task force fighting a proxy war with alien-created Machine Lifeforms. Her story arc focuses on her backstory within YoRHa, and her relationship with her partner 9S, a reconnaissance android. She is also featured in related media, such as the anime Nier: Automata Ver1.1a.

<i>Nier Reincarnation</i> 2021 role-playing game for mobile

Nier Reincarnation is a 2021 free-to-play role-playing video game developed by Applibot and published by Square Enix. It was released for Android and iOS devices in Japan in February 2021, and worldwide in July 2021. The game is the third installment in the Nier universe, and the sixth installment in the Drakengard series. Set in a pocket dimension called the Cage, the game follows the story arcs of multiple characters, each exploring their own troubled pasts. Gameplay is split between narrative-driven exploration within the Cage and Weapon Stories, and turn-based battles against monsters infesting the Cage.

<i>Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars</i> 2021 video game

Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars is a 2021 role-playing video game developed by Alim and published by Square Enix for PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch and Windows. It was released for Android and iOS in 2023. Using the aesthetic of a tabletop role-playing game, the player controls a party of adventurers in the wake of a legendary dragon's reappearance. Gameplay involves travelling between towns, completing story quests and fighting in turn-based battles.

<i>Voice of Cards: The Forsaken Maiden</i> 2022 video game

Voice of Cards: The Forsaken Maiden is a 2022 role-playing video game developed by Alim and published by Square Enix for PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch and Windows. It was released for Android and iOS in 2023. Using the aesthetic of a tabletop role-playing game, the player controls a young man who escorts a magical maiden on her quest to collect relics and protect their home from destruction. Gameplay involves travelling between towns, completing story quests and fighting in turn-based battles.

<i>Avalon no Kagi</i> Sega arcade game

Avalon no Kagi, alternatively known as The Key of Avalon is an arcade game developed by Hitmaker and published by Sega on the Triforce arcade board. It is the third card arcade game by Sega, following World Club Champion Football and Mushiking: The King of Beetles. It is a combination of sugoroku style board game and combat trading card game. It was followed by a sequel called The Key of Avalon 2: Eutaxy Commandment which was updated as The Key of Avalon 2.5: War of the Key.

Kainé is a character from the 2010 video game Nier, a spin-off of the Drakengard series developed by Cavia and published by Square Enix. She is a lead character and player companion in Nier, and prominent in related media and merchandise. During Nier she accompanies the protagonist in his quest to help a young girl called Yonah, first to cure her disease and then to rescue her from a being called the Shadowlord in a post-apocalyptic world beset by creatures called Shades. Kainé's storyline focuses around her quest for revenge against a monstrous Shade called Hook, and her history of discrimination due to being possessed by a Shade and being born intersex.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 シリーズ第3弾「Voice of Cards 囚われの魔物」が9月13日に発売決定！ ストーリーや登場キャラなどが公開. Game Watch Impress (in Japanese). 2022-09-01. Archived from the original on 2022-09-01. Retrieved 2022-10-08.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Heaney, Duncan (2022-09-01). "Everything you need to know about Voice of Cards: The Beasts of Burden". Square Enix . Retrieved 2022-10-08.
  3. 1 2 Vogel, Mitch (2022-09-19). "Voice of Cards: The Beasts of Burden Review". Nintendo Life. Archived from the original on 2022-09-22. Retrieved 2022-10-08.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Bowling, Audra (2022-09-27). "Review - Voice of Cards: The Beasts of Burden". RPGFan. Archived from the original on 2022-10-08. Retrieved 2022-10-08.
  5. 1 2 Woodhouse, John (2022-09-27). "Voice of Cards: The Beasts of Burden Review". RPGamer. Archived from the original on 2022-10-03. Retrieved 2022-10-08.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 ヨコオ氏「スクエニさんからもらうお金が少なくて」「吉田明彦さんですら直してくれるのに」。裏話だらけの『Voice of Cards 囚われの魔物』発売記念トークショーをリポート【TGS2022】. Famitsu (in Japanese). 2022-09-18. Archived from the original on 2022-09-18. Retrieved 2022-10-08.
  7. ↑ 『Voice of Cards 囚われの魔物』 発売決定のお知らせ (in Japanese). Alim. 2022-09-01. Archived from the original on 2022-10-08. Retrieved 2022-10-08.
  8. 1 2 3 Fuller, Alex (2022-09-01). "Voice of Cards: The Beasts of Burden Launching This Month". RPGamer. Archived from the original on 2022-10-01. Retrieved 2022-10-08.
  9. ↑ 『Voice of Cards』シリーズの新作グッズが登場。シリーズ3作のキービジュアルを使用した美麗なアクリルアートボードなどを要チェック！. Famitsu (in Japanese). 2022-09-04. Archived from the original on 2022-09-29. Retrieved 2022-10-08.
  10. ↑ Romano, Sal (2023-03-23). "Voice of Cards Trilogy now available for iOS, Android alongside series bundle for existing platforms". Gematsu. Archived from the original on 2023-03-23. Retrieved 2023-03-23.
  11. 1 2 3 "Voice of Cards: The Beasts of Burden Original Sountrack". Square Enix. Archived from the original on 2022-09-18. Retrieved 2022-10-08.
  12. ↑ Orita, Yukino (2022-09-13). "Yukino Orita - 5:08 PM · Sep 13, 2022". Twitter . Retrieved 2022-10-19.
  13. ↑ Nakae, Saki (2022-09-13). 中江 早希 Saki Nakae - 8:44 AM · Sep 13, 2022 (in Japanese). Twitter . Retrieved 2022-10-19.
  14. ↑ "Voice of Cards: The Beasts of Burden for Switch Reviews". Metacritic . Retrieved 2023-03-11.
  15. ↑ "Voice of Cards: The Beasts of Burden for PlayStation 4 Reviews". Metacritic . Retrieved 2022-11-24.
  16. ↑ Shive, Chris (2022-09-20). "Review: Voice of Cards: The Beasts of Burden". Hardcore Gamer. Archived from the original on 2022-09-25. Retrieved 2022-10-08.
  17. ↑ Chamberlain, Paige (2022-09-27). "Voice of Cards: The Beasts of Burden Review". RPG Site. Archived from the original on 2022-09-27. Retrieved 2022-10-08.

Notes

  1. ↑ Japanese: Voice of Cards 囚われの魔物, Hepburn: Boisu ofu Kādo: Toraware no Mamono
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.