Knights vs Dragons: Chronicles

Promo poster for Knights vs Dragons: Wind, Flower, Song, Snow

***Knights vs Dragons: Chronicles*** is a tactical role-playing book developed by and published by Sapphire Games Ltd. It is the sixteenth installment for the KvD franchise. It will be released for the Switch in Spring 2020.

## Setting

The game takes place on the continent Valhalla. The landmass is divided into five nations; Askia to the south, Flonia to the west, Dranon to the north, and Crinea to the east. The distinctive Pleura forest nestles in the heart of Valhalla.

## Development and Gameplay

On January 18, 2017, the then unnamed sixteenth *Knights vs Dragons* game was announced briefly in a special *KvD* Sapphire Direct without any footage, and with an estimated release in 2018. On June 12, 2018, the first gameplay trailer debuted during the E3 2018 Sapphire Direct video presentation, and the game's title, *Knights vs Dragons: Chronicles* was revealed. The estimated release date was also updated to Spring 2019. *Chronicles* will be the first *KvD* title in over a decade to release on a Nintendo home console since *KvD: Legends Awakening Remake* was released for the Wii U.

The E3 trailer revealed that the game will feature some manner of free-roaming exploration outside of combat, expanding on the My Castle portions of *KvD: Swords of Fate* and the dungeons of *KvD Echoes: Shadows of Ronaxe*. Cutscenes in the game are depicted in outlined CG animation, also like *Shadows of Ronaxe*, giving off an illusion of hand-drawn 2D animation. The tactical gameplay, however, is depicted entirely with polygonal models, as in *KvD: Emblem Eternal*.

Battles also now depict at least some individual characters as leading whole units of generic soldiers in some manner. Red "aggro lines" appear as part of the battle UI, indicating an enemy's current intended target on their next turn.

## Gameplay

*Chronicles* features a revamped battle menu with new options not found in previous entries. "Attack" and "Magic" are now separate command actions, alongside "Combat Arts" and a new "Formation" command.

Weapon durability makes a return after being absent from the previous two entries: *KvD Swords of Fate* and *Shadows of Ronaxe*.

## Characters

The following are named characters seen in book that are confirmed playable:

* Teacher
* Zera Scales (Shepherd/Leader of the Blackwater Guardians)
* Yuri Seidlitz (Draco Art) (Dragon Mage of the Blackwater Guardians)
* Taliyra 'Falco' Talonclaw (Mystic Knight of the Blackwater Guardians)

The following characters have been shown in the E3 trailer without a clear defined role in the book aside from having a unique name and character portrait while being an enemy.

* Steffen (Back up Cavalier for the Guardians)
* Hilda (Princess of Askia)

## Weapons

The first few frames unveiled weapons wielded by each character:

* Ghalahad (Blade of Libra)
* Dragonbris (Tome of Dragons)
* Nagagale (Lance of Aquila)
* Sagittarios (Bow of Chirons)

## Classes

New classes include:

* Aristorcat

## Trivia

* The Japanese title is a reference to a Chinese poem of the same name, which was adopted in Japanese culture. The poem uses the analogy of snow, the moon, and flowers to represent winter, autumn, and spring, respectively.
* *KvD: Chronicles* will be the third KvD game to use 3D character models instead of sprite artwork on the gameplay maps. The previous games were *Legends Awakening Wii U*.
* This will be the third main *Knights vs Dragons* game to have its English voice acting recorded by Cup of Tea Productions, after *Legends Awakening* and *Echoes: Shadows of Ronaxe*.
* KvD Chronicles eventually became a scrapped project and was turned into *Dragoma* instead.