Many years ago, great dragons roamed the land, protecting the human kind from evil. However, a bitter rivalry between the Black and the White mages disrupted this harmony. The dragons have mysteriously vanished, and so have the leaders of the magic guilds. Four friends - the fighter Bladus, the mage Rinakles, the dwarf Dobranur, and the elf Andariel - have been summoned by an elderly wizard in the city of Pegana. They are entrusted with the task of locating the dragons and learning the high art of magic to restore balance to the world.
Dragonflight is a fantasy role-playing game primarily drawing inspiration from Ultima series. There is no character creation and the player is immediately put in control of the four protagonists as a party. Overworld travel and town navigation are displayed from a top-down perspective; house interiors are not shown graphically. Dungeons, on the other hand, are done in first-person pseudo-3D style, similarly to Dungeon Master. Game progression is non-linear, with the player able to travel to most locations from the onset.
Monsters are sometimes encountered wandering the wilderness, and are also found at fixed locations in the dungeons. When combat initiates, the game switches to a side-scrolling view with a grid displayed above it. The player can move characters over the battle field, attack with melee or ranged weapons, and cast spells, all in a turn-based fashion. Experience points are awarded for vanquishing monsters. Characters can also learn magic by mixing reagents and choosing between the Black and the White schools. The game can be saved at any time on the overworld. There is no auto-mapping feature.
