Little Dragons Cafe - Release Thread

All other video games not related to the main farming series - Pokemon, Stardew Valley, My Time at Portia, and other indie-developed games.

Which version of the game are you picking up?

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RopeMaidenKirie
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Developers: Aksys Games / TOYBOX lnc
Localization (Europe): Rising Star Games
Publisher (Japan): Marvelous Inc.
Platforms: Nintendo Switch / Playstation 4
Official Website (ENG): https://littledragonscafe.com/
Official Website (JPN): https://www.marv.jp/special/game/ldc/

Japanese release: August 30th, 2018
North America release: August 24th, 2018
Europe: September 21st, 2018
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Story
The story begins with a twin brother and sister learning to cook and manage a small café under their mother’s tutelage. All was peaceful and routine until one morning when the twins discover that their mother has fallen into a deep sleep and won’t wake up. Suddenly, a strange old man appears to inform them that they must raise a dragon in order to save her life. Working together with three quirky café employees, the two siblings must figure out how to a wrangle a dragon and manage the family business while finding a way to save their mother.
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Key Features
Dragon Husbandry - Embrace your parental instincts and raise your very own dragon! Through wise decisions, proper nutrition, and empathetic nurturing show the world the true potential of your dragon companion!

Culinary Capitalism - Learn new recipes and master the art of cooking while running your very own café. Explore the world, discover new ingredients, and expand your menu (and your restaurant) while catering to the whims of your customers.

Grow Your Own - The tastiest dishes use the freshest ingredients, and the best way to insure that is to grow your own produce. Till the land and fish the rivers to gather the most flavorful fixings for your signature dishes.*

Serve the People - Feeding is nurturing, so you not only cook for your neighbors, but also help them with their problems to increase your popularity and the general happiness of everyone around you.

(* Note - Farming is automated, so you don't actually farm like you do in farming sims)
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FAQ
Watch Jay RPG's great in-depth FAQ video which answers a bunch of common questions about the game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDay0sxuO5w


Is this like Story of Seasons/Bokumono/Harvest Moon? No and yes. This is a story driven character heavy game that focuses mostly on its story. It has some life sim elements as your typical Bokumono (fishing, gathering, cooking, etc) but don't go in expecting a full blown farming sim, or else you might end up disappointed.

How long is the game? - 30-40 hours to finish the story depending on your playstyle. If you try and 100% the game and do some of the post game content, it might take longer.

Are there relationships/marriage? - No, the main characters are children.

Can you play as a boy or a girl? - Yes, you can choose either the brother or the sister at the start of the game. The sibling you don't choose to play as helps around the cafe.

Is there customization? - You can change your dragon's scales colors through feeding it different types of food. The characters themselves are set characters, so you can't change their hair/eyes/etc.

Is there multiplayer? - No, this is a single player game.

*Have other questions? Post and ask in the thread! :D
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Media
Spoiler:
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The Making of Little Dragons Café - Episode One - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xmrLK6IIAc
The Making of Little Dragons Café - Episode Two - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eU4t3lPvKxs

Dragon Colors
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RopeMaidenKirie
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Lemme know if there's anything else I should put for information in the OP!

My copy shipped, so I might be getting it tomorrow. Would be rather lucky considering I never get games early, lol.

Edit: First review (thought embargo was tomorrow? But Aksys retweeted it lol) https://www.hardcoregamer.com/2018/08/2 ... fe/309772/ 4/5
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Kikki
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RopeMaidenKirie wrote:Edit: First review (thought embargo was tomorrow? But Aksys retweeted it lol) https://www.hardcoregamer.com/2018/08/2 ... fe/309772/ 4/5
The link seems to have gone non-functional...maybe they temporarily took it back down again?

My copy shipped this morning, too. So it should definitely be here on Friday in time for release day, unless something goes wrong. I'm hoping to be able to play the Switch version properly...anxious to see if that will be the case or if they will be offering any kind of patch or update for the Switch version to make it as nice and smooth as it is on the PS4. (Is that even possible, though?)

The trophies for the PS4 version are nice, though...I kind of like collecting trophies. (No Switch games have trophies, do they?)

Which character are you guys going to play as...Rin or Ren? Gonna change their names? And what colour dragon is everyone going for? I'm almost definitely going to choose Rin cuz she's just so cute and I love her outfit...and teal for the dragon because it, er...well, it matches her outfit, lol.
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I think I'll start with blue for my starter colour, so I guess it's fish for breakfast in my file! :) (Btw, if you want the colour chart for your post for any reason, Kyrie, you can have my screenshot clip there. I also have it showing the pink dragon instead, if you want. Though I don't know if you really need it for anything.)
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RopeMaidenKirie
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Hah, yeah it seems like they put up their review too early, so they took it down for embargo tomorrow to lift. Seems like there's a bunch of streams of the game up now, so if anyone is on the fence, there is plenty of footage out there in the wild.

Definitely playing Rin, will change her name and then have either a pink, purple, teal or white dragon. Haven't decided >_> Thanks for the photo, I'll put it under media!

There could definitely be a day one patch to help stabilize the Switch version, but not sure if that's even in the cards at this point. I sure hope so, but I'm not counting on it.
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ryume
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As you guys probably already know, I ordered both copies. I will most likely keep the PS4 version since I am not a handheld playing gamer unless it's a handheld exclusive. JayRPG's Q&A was very helpful, but I am going to wait for more reviews to come in before making the final decision on whether or not to keep. 30-40 hours can be respectable, but I still think the price point is a bit high for the type of game and amount of content there APPEARS to be at this point. Also, I tend to finish games in the shorter estimated time frames, so 30 hours for slightly over $51 is a bit too short IMO, unless the game is pretty top-notch in most aspects (i.e. Battle Chef Brigade for me is the perfect example of a short game being worth every single penny). Essentially, I just need more information until I make my final decision, but I AM excited even so :)

Edit: I will probably be the boy because I tend to play male characters when romance isn't a part of a game. As for dragon color, I need to see the environment and how the various colors look in it before I make a final decision. I foresee a lot of cooking in my future :lol:
Last edited by ryume on Aug 22, 2018 4:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Ronin19
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I am excited about this game! I hope I can finish up West of Loathing before Friday, but I doubt it. I got a call from GameStop that they're doing an early release of the game, but I'm working!
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Kikki
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I usually play as the boy character, too, in any game where you don't get to make relationship choices, and especially if you also don't get to customize your character. But I'm crazy about Rin's outfit. In particular I just love how she only wears one legwarmer. I also love her patterned stripes and loose boots with the wrapped laces, her hat with the pom-pom tassel, and her long, loose orange ringlets. I love looking at her. :) She makes me revisit that wish that I had a cute, pixie-ish straight figure so I was suited to that sort of thing, lol.

I'm wavering on which colour to start as. I was gonna go with blue because I figured it would be prettier with the grass (and green would blend in too much) but then I looked at the chart and realized that it might take less feedings to change to teal from green than from blue, since the way you change the colour seems to be by feeding them elementary colours that will gradually shade them toward that.
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Haven't heard anything about an early release here (EB Games) so i'll expect it on release day. I'll pick it up after work and spend a good amount of time playing it on Sat, my day off this week.

I'll be playing as Rin because she's a QT. Green dragon for starter and i'll be turning him yellow once I figure out what recipes change it to the shade I want.
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Night Owl
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My copy finally shipped the other day. I'm expecting on release day, and I can't wait. I saw a streamer play the game earlier, she had gotten permission from Aksys, and the game was just so adorable. I got the Switch Limited Edition, so I just hope it doesn't get too roughed up in the shipping truck.

I'll be playing as Rin, and most likely keeping the default names for the twins. I'm undecided on dragon color to start with though. Part of me really wants to turn it purple later on, so I guess I could start with blue or red in that case.
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Kikki
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Anybody know what they want to name their dragon? Mine hit me out of the blue a few days ago...I'm pretty sure I'll call him Dart, since I like it for both a little dragon and a grown up one. I am prone to changing my mind, but as of now, that's what I want to call him. (Or her...don't know if the dragon has a gender.) I'll be leaving Rin and Ren's names as default, but according to the site I think the dragon's default name is Draco, which is too generic for my taste.

Also, noticed after seeing a video review of the game by Gammalad that eggs grow on trees in this world. Two of my favourite things in the world (trees and decorative eggs) have been combined! Of course, maybe they're not eggs...maybe they're some kind of egg-shaped vegetable or fruit. But the important thing is that they LOOK exactly like stripey eggs.
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Bluie
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Does that naming choice have any relation to Legend of Dragoon? :3c

IDK what i'm going to call my dragon. I'll probably pick some colour related name or name it after some character I like. If i'm gonna keep em' yellow, maybe something cute like Marigold? I keep that as the placeholder for now.
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Kikki
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I've never heard of Legend of Dragoon :) Nope, it just popped straight into my head as I was watching a video a few days or a week ago. Perhaps because of the way the dragon moves, particularly when it gets older...long and low to the ground, and pretty fast...or maybe the way you just sort of aim your dragon at an enemy and he charges them and they go poof, like a burst balloon. Dart just seemed right. Had no idea it had ever been used on a dragon before :) Actually that's a little disappointing that it's already an established dragon name, lol. (I'm the type to jump off if I find out I'm on a bandwagon, ha ha...I prefer my names to be unique, when possible.) I may have to think of a different name, now. Well, for the time being, it's Dart. If I think of something else, I'll go with that when the time comes. I'm also considering 'Flit'.
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Ronin19
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Bluie wrote:Does that naming choice have any relation to Legend of Dragoon? :3c

IDK what i'm going to call my dragon. I'll probably pick some colour related name or name it after some character I like. If i'm gonna keep em' yellow, maybe something cute like Marigold? I keep that as the placeholder for now.
I'm probably going to name it Onyx and I'll watch it be like pink for the rest f the game.
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RopeMaidenKirie
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So for those who like to read and watch reviews:

Destructoid - 85/100 https://www.destructoid.com/review-litt ... 9585.phtml
DualShockers - 70 https://www.dualshockers.com/little-dra ... witch-ps4/
Twinfinite - 70 https://twinfinite.net/2018/08/little-d ... fe-review/
RPGsite - 5/10 https://www.rpgsite.net/review/7635-lit ... afe-review
JayRPG - Yes and No (mostly because of the massive technical issues) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiMQftw5zwg
Gammalad - 8.25/10 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ki_12tFC7-k

Basically, the technical issues are really bringing down the scores for most people. On the plus side, the story/characters all seem to be super charming according to the reviews.
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Kikki
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I don't know how responsive Toybox and all are to feedback, but hopefully the widespread (practically unanimous) response that there are some truly off-putting technical problems will prompt them to put out a patch sooner than later, even if there is nothing on release day itself. Some people don't MIND the problems much, but everyone seems to be noticing them.

I had been a bit dubious about the whole 'slacking off' thing, too. As soon as I heard of it, I thought 'man, that's going to be ANNOYING, to get those messages when you're out exploring and have to transport back when you were still trying to gather stuff'. Jay RPG certainly hated that part, anyway, though I haven't yet noticed anyone disliking that one aspect as much as he did. It's one of the things I thought right away would bug me, though... It is irritating that you can only cook one dish at once, but I probably won't be that annoyed by it.

The technical shortcomings probably won't bug me much unless I literally can't play the game because of them. All along I've been most drawn to the fact that the characters seem really interesting, so it's nice to hear that that, too, is almost unanimous...the characters seem to be a definite highlight. Overall it's sounding pretty much like I expected, and only the question of how badly the technical problems will affect me is still really uncertain.
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