Dragoon

Dragoons are individuals imbued with the power of a Dragon. A "knight of the Dragon," these legendary warriors signaled the beginning of the Dragon Campaign. By harnessing the power of a Dragon, humans and other species wrestled their freedom from the Winglies.

Lore

Origins

Over eleven thousand years ago, humans were being enslaved by Winglies: a species with vast magical abilities. They and many other species were subjugated by the Winglies, even to the point of being pitted against each other in fatal arena matches. All of that would change with the discovery of the Dragoon - a mighty warrior combining human intelligence with the destructive force of a Dragon. It is a humanoid encased in organic Dragon flesh; and equipped with potent magical power. The first Dragoon spirit was discovered in Gloriano, a country established by human rebels at the start of the Dragon Campaign.

When a Dragon dies, its eyes fuse together into a single gem - the Dragoon Spirit. This gem must be harvested within mere moments, else its power is forever lost. The gem can be harvested by anyone, but only select individuals may be recognized. If chosen, the individual may attempt to transform into a Dragoon. Every time they do so, there is a battle of wills. The spirit of the Dragon who died to make the Dragoon Spirit is inside it, and must be tamed with mental prowess by the wielder. In the event they cannot overcome the Dragon within, the latter will take control of the Dragoon form and wreak indiscriminate havoc. However, if successful, the wielder gains control of the form and can channel the Dragon's physical and magical strength in combat.

Following this discovery, Emperor Diaz, the holy emperor, declared war on the Winglies at Fort Magrad. He sent seven Dragoons to spearhead an effort to liberate humans - and other species - from the domination of Wingly rule.

Although humans gained the power of Dragons, Winglies had their own power play: Virage. These large, powerful creatures rivaled Dragons and even Dragoons. Winglies were somehow able to prevent them from fulfilling their original purpose; instead being used as puppets in the war. However, Dragoons could still compete with and overcome them.

Present

As Dart nearly completes his journey home, he comes into brief conflict with a group of Sandoran soldiers. Before the fight begins, a large Dragon appears scaring the soldiers away. It engages Dart, forcing him to retreat through the forest. A passing warrior saves his life, noting the raid on the nearby village. As Dart sprints to his home, this warrior's Dragoon Spirit activates to indicate another one was on Dart.

Abilities

The capabilities of a Dragoon will vary, but they generally have a similar pool of powers and follow key rules. Some may have a focus on offense or defense, single-target or area-of-effect attacks, healing, protection, and more. Abilities may differ between any two wielders of the same Dragoon Spirit as well. Some Dragoons have the ability to teleport. All Dragoons have a maximum flight speed of 1,200 kilometers per hour, meaning they can just barely break the sound barrier. <-- find and add reference-->

As with Dragons, a Dragoon's amount of power is determined by the number of eyes within the Dragoon Spirit. If for example a 5-eyed Dragon dies and its Dragoon Spirit is harvested, it becomes a five-eyed Dragoon Spirit.

Dragoons can also command living Dragons as their subordinates. To do so, the Dragon in question must match the Dragoon's element and have a lower number of eyes. In the historic Dragon Campaign, Rose commanded Michael, child of the Darkness Dragon which became Rose's Dragoon Spirit. They fought together in the final battle at Kadessa, where Michael assisted in defeating a large number of Virage.

Gameplay

Dragoon Spirits

Before a character can transform into a Dragoon, the player must acquire the character's corresponding Dragoon spirit. Dragoon spirits are goods, or quest items, only obtainable during prescribed story events, except for Kongol's, whose spirit has two possible acquisition methods.

Spirit Points

Once a character's Dragoon spirit has been obtained, that character will automatically begin earning Spirit Points, or SP, in battle. A character earns SP by attacking enemies normally with the Attack command. Different Additions will award varying amounts of SP. Shana and Miranda, who do not have any Additions, always earn the same amount of SP for each successful attack depending on their Dragoon level. SP is necessary for a character to be able to transform into a Dragoon in battle. Like EXP for the purpose of normal leveling, earning SP is also necessary for gaining Dragoon levels. SP can be awarded instantaneously with the use of a Spirit Potion. Like HP, SP has a maximum usable value in combat.

Dragoon Level

Like normal leveling, Dragoon transformations can also level up. Each Dragoon starts at level 1 and maxes at 5. Dragoon stat bonuses increase with their Dragoon level. Dragoons start with one magic spell and will learn an additional spell at each level except for level 4. Kongol is an exception; he does not learn a new spell at level 2. Dragoon level also increases maximum SP. SP is capped at 100 per Dragoon level. However, SP accumulation is never wasted for the purpose of leveling up. SP will continue to count toward leveling even if the character is already at maximum SP. It is never necessary to actually transform in order to level up. Dragoon stat bonuses are viewable from the Stats option on the System Screen.

Transformation

Characters may transform in battle by selecting the Dragoon command from the battle menu when they have at least 100 SP. A transformed character will remain in Dragoon form for one turn for every 100 SP the character had when they transformed. Any SP between intervals of 100 is lost. For example, if Dart transforms with 299 SP, his transformation lasts two turns, and the 99 surplus SP becomes 0. While transformed, a character cannot use the Item, Defend, or Escape commands. Therefore, transforming is a strategic decision, and sometimes, it may be wiser not to. It is not possible to manually revert. A transformed character automatically reverts at the end of their eligible turns. Having their HP reduced to 0 also forces a Dragoon to revert. Although the amount of SP a Dragoon has decreases each turn, the number of turns a transformation lasts is tracked by an invisible timer that is set at the time of transformation and ticks down each turn, not by the amount of SP the character has. Even if another character uses a Spirit Potion on a transformed character, their transformation will only last as long as it was eligible for when they transformed.

Additions

While in Dragoon form, one of the available commands is D-Attack. Like their non-transformed counterparts, Dragoons may perform Additions. However, the execution is different. A spirit meter, composed of a light and a compass, appears on screen. Upon pressing the Cross button the first time, the light will begin revolving clockwise inside of the compass. The objective is to press the Cross button again each time the light returns to the starting position. Dragoon Additions may yield up to five strikes, except in the case of Kongol, whose Addition has a maximum four strikes. If able to perform a perfect Dragoon Addition, the final strike is accompanied by a colorful special effect. Despite the appearance of this attack, it has no corresponding elemental damage. Dragoon Additions use the character's AT stat and its corresponding Dragoon level bonus. They do not award SP.

Magic

While in Dragoon form, Magic is the second available command. Attacking spells deal damage based on the character's MAT stat and the corresponding Dragoon level bonus. The various playable characters have an assortment of "specializations" with some of them focusing on dealing damage while others provide buffs and healing. Specific spells are viewable in the relevant party character article. Spells consume Magic Points, or MP, and each spell learned at higher Dragoon levels requires increasingly more MP to cast.

Special

Special is a Dragoon-related battle command usable in the non-transformed state. It requires that the battle party include three characters; that they are not currently transformed; and that they all have maximum SP. The Special command does not even appear until these conditions are met. When used, Special will transform all three party members simultaneously, and the battlefield will visually change to an "elemental field" corresponding to the character that used the Special command. The field increases elemental damage matching the character's element to twice normal while reducing the damage of the opposing element to half. For example, activating special with Dart increases Fire-elemental damage while reducing Water-elemental damage. These bonuses and penalties apply to all combat units equally. Therefore, Dart's Special will weaken Meru's Water-elemental magic and make her even more susceptible to Fire-elemental damage. When the character who activated Special expends all of their Dragoon turns, they and the elemental field automatically revert. If any other characters still have Dragoon turns left over, they will remain in Dragoon form.

Trivia

1. One of the influences for the art style of Dragoons was H.R. Giger. Earlier in development, Dragoons were slated to have a more grotesque appearance to an extent. Concept art of this style has since been found by DrewUniverse. Further, a portion of this art style is still present in the game via Miranda's torso armor in Dragoon form.