Ever play Legend of Dragoon on the PlayStation? Ever want a sequel to that classic title? Do you like tales of dragons and RPG gameplay? Well if you answered yes to any of these questions then Hitmaker and NIS has a title for you, with Dragoneer’s Aria. Take roll of Valen, a young Dragoon who has his future pretty much laid out for him in advance. Valen has attended school, trained, and has passed the entire school curriculum to become a mighty Dragoon so that he can help maintain peace throughout the land of Granadis. However, there is a slight problem when everything seems to go in the wrong direction on inauguration day. On the day you’re expected to be received as a Dragoon, the city of Granadis is attacked by the ancient Black Dragon, which wreaked havoc centuries ago, and the entire world is thrown into turmoil due to this unexpected attack and revival of the ancient evil. Enter the world of Dragoneer’s Aria.

Valen has just joined the legendary warriors known as Dragoons. The Dragoons are the keepers of the peace throughout the world and have maintained this tradition since ancient times. The Dragoons once fought along side Grinlek, the Holy Dragon, against the evil Black Dragon. However, Grinlek was destroyed by the Black Dragon and now six remnants of Grinlek’s soul remain. Through the remaining pieces of his soul, six dragons were born each carrying an elemental characteristic. Only with the help of all six dragons can Valen and the other Dragoons be able to stop the Black Dragon. Under normal circumstances the Dragoons have all six elemental dragons under control and can teleport to each dragon’s lair. However, when Granadis was attacked by the Black Dragon everything goes to hell and it’s up to Valen and the other Dragoons to find out what happened to the elemental dragons, as well as what has caused the Black Dragon to return.

With the attack on Granadis, Valen and the others can no longer simply teleport to the locations of the dragons throughout the world. This of course leaves only one option and that is to travel on foot to each of the dragon’s lairs. Now it’s time to enter the world and this means it’s battle time. Like Hitmaker's previous PSP RPG, Blade Dancer, the game will not feature random battle encounters instead it will have the enemies floating around the levels in the forms of big black eyes. This allows for players to decide whether to battle or not to battle the enemies. Once engaged in battle players will be reacquainted with a traditional turn-based battle system. Valen and the other members of his party will each have their own unique abilities which can be used as mana is acquired in battle. Mana works like magic points except players aren’t assigned with a limit at the start. As you attack the enemies, the mana gauge will increase and will then allow players to perform special attacks, abilities, and even unlock abilities that can be used on the overworld map. During battles, the special attacks will vary pending on what the characters have equipped. Characters will be able to perform elemental attacks, heal, and perform incredibly powerful attacks that can kill an enemy instantly. When outside of the battlefield, mana can be used as well in the form of Field Skills, which differ with each character in the game. Valen, for example, can dash and run much faster than normal. Others include recovering HP as for a set amount of time or even warp away from incoming enemies. These offer some new ideas to the basic over world exploration.

Of course with every battle experience points, items, and money come. One of the key items within the game is lusces. Lusces are magical gems that will bestow new abilities on the characters. Of course, your character must be at a high enough level to equip certain lusces and unlock the abilities within. In most RPGs players would have to journey back into town and sell the items they had no use for, but now they can do something with them without visiting towns. Players will be able to use useless items in recipes and make new items out of them or even forge old armor or weapons back into new items.

In case single player isn’t always your thing, Dragoneer’s Aria does feature a full fledged ad hoc multiplayer mode allowing for up to four players play in a side quest known as Dragoneer’s Mode. Now instead of partaking in a journey, players will be able to team up and fight against enemies in a nesting area. Once you all defeat the monsters within the area, players will then fight against the leader of the nest. Once it’s defeated, players will then split the treasure of the beast, which will improve the player’s characters.

The game is using a solid 3D graphic engine and is going for a more realistic look than most Japanese RPG’s. The build was still early but the graphics are fairly sharp and is looking nice for a PSP title. The game has some small special effects when special abilities are used in battle.

The preview build we got our hands-on was still early and the game has been improved on since then. With E3 around the corner Dragoneer’s Aria will be shown once again with an updated build of the latest Hitmaker and NIS RPG. We’ll have more on Dragoneer’s Aria very soon, so stay tuned for more coverage on this new PSP RPG.