Dragons have always captivated mankind. In Dragoneer's Aria not only do humans join up with Dragons, but there is an elite group of people known as Dragoons that work with Dragons to keep the peace of the land. Dragoneer's Aria tells the tale of Valen Kessler, a young Dragoon, who has come from a noble family and has to live up to his name. However, before becoming a full fledged Dragoon before his peers, a problem arises from the past in the form of the Black Dragon. The Black Dragon was a legendary evil that wreaked havoc centuries ago and put the entire world into shambles. The revival of the Black Dragon has thrown everyone off and it comes down to Valen and the other Dragoons to discover what has happened.

The Dragoons once fought along side Grinlek, the Holy Dragon, against the evil Black Dragon. However, Grinlek was destroyed by the Black Dragon. 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. However, when Granadis was attacked by the Black Dragon everything goes to hell.

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 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.

With every battle experience comes points, items, and money. One of the key items within the game is Lusces. Lusces are magical gems that will bestow new abilities on the characters. Your character must be at a high enough level to equip certain Lusces and unlock the abilities within. 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.

Although you will have the options of running from enemies when on the over-world map, it isn't exactly easy to accomplish. The enemies will chase you down or you will eventually get double-teamed by another enemy. Now this isn't saying that it is impossible to avoid all confrontations in the game because that is untrue. Once in bigger more open settings it is easier to avoid the enemies without much concern. By not partaking in battle you will not level up and once you engage in higher level battles your characters won't have much of a chance of succeeding.

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. 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.

Graphically the game won't disappoint. Using a more realistic 3D engine the game does have a nice appeal and won't frighten gamers who are scared of the Japanese anime style graphics of common Japanese RPG titles. The character models and enemies are all nicely detailed but unfortunately the environments are a little bland. Since the game is based on journeying throughout huge lands, it is disappointing to see the world mostly empty. Occasionally, you'll see some trees and other aspects of nature throughout the world but isn't anything impressive that a game like Monster Hunter would show you.

For those of you who don't want to read every conversation in a game will be pleased to know that the game does feature voice-acting. The American dubs suit the game well and sounds solid coming from the PSP's speakers. The game does also offer you the option of using the original Japanese dubs in case you'd rather hear all the dialogue in Japanese as opposed to English. Outside of the voice acting the game has intense battle music and the town music is pretty solid. The game uses a more classical approach in music and for the most part the soundtracks matches the game pretty well.

Like most RPGs, this game won't appeal to everyone. This is an extremely hardcore RPG and only hardcore RPG players will find the title really enjoyable. With the game's high difficulty level and high customization options the game won't appeal to the casual RPG gamer. Like most NIS titles the game will please fans of intense Japanese RPG titles but will keep casual gamers away due to complexity. However, for hardcore RPG fans make the game an 8 because you'll find an enjoyable game.