Recurring Fantasy Presents Recurring RPG Reviews
#4 - The Legend of Dragoon
Don't get me wrong. I do enjoy me some Final Fantasy. I dedicated a year and a half of my time to playing them all, but it's sad when great games get overlooked because other great/good/meh games came out at the same time. I could try to name more examples of this, but suffice it to say, it has happened more than it should. I'm going to try and rectify that with this review.
Now this is just an "FYI" for those who care... I never actually finished The Legend of Dragoon. I almost fully played through the game twice, but I never quite made it to the end. I did make it to and partway through the fourth and last disc, but I never finished it up. It's sad really because it's such a great game.
ANYWAYS! Here is where I review it.
- Aesthetics
- Gameplay
- Story & Characters
Now, I'm going to be honest. This review has been sitting here for quite some time, and I figure it's going to have to be "now or never" if I plan to finish it. Thus, it's going to be a bit of a rushed version of my basic opinion of the game and its many details. Thus... QUICK REVIEW MODE!
First and foremost, we look over the aesthetics of the game. It came in around the late life of the PlayStation 1. At this point, the games were pretty good looking (comparatively), and this game wasn't exempt from this. The style of the game was pretty close to Final Fantasy VIII, where the characters looked fairly realistic and detailed. It's a pretty good looking game on the whole, and I'd argue that it still stands well even today. The backgrounds are fixed ones, and this works okay most of the time. Much like others with fixed backgrounds, it can be hard to discern details as your character goes further into the back or if it's stretched out. Otherwise? Basically no complaints. It's a good looking game with great cutscenes! (Very few along the way, but they're totally worth it!)
That leaves us with the music. Now... honestly? I don't remember going crazy over the music, but that doesn't mean it was bad. It was good background music that never overstepped it's boundaries. I don't remember being annoyed by any of it at all. (I realize this is a terrible argument here, but stick with me!) Despite the lack of fondness, I went back and listened to it to give myself a bath in nostalgia... My feelings from just hearing the music is a fondness to play the game, but I didn't love the music. The music was fairly light and never had any truly deep or outreaching parts to me. It almost made me feel like it was "old time" RPG music. Where it wasn't always necessarily deep, but it was enjoyable enough to have in the background. Overall? Not bad but not very memorable.
So where does this leave us? The aesthetics are good overall. The graphics and overall look of the game is appealing, especially to a fan of FFVIII's visuals. The music doesn't quite have the punch of a Final Fantasy soundtrack, but it's far from bad or annoying, so it's still acceptable. Thus aesthetics are going to get a good ol' "PASS" from me! Next up, let's jump into what really matters for a video game... THE GAMEPLAY!
With this being an RPG, there's really only a few parts that need to be looked over to consider Gameplay. Exploration isn't really anything new, but the game has parts requiring hitting switches and climbing certain parts to reach various areas. Lots of side paths for items here and there. It's generally worth the effort, but the encounter rate can sometimes feels alarmingly high. Let's be fair. It's annoying when you're just trying to walk a short distance, and you get in a battle like every 2-5 steps, especially in an RPG like this where that's basically nowhere. All-in-all, there's nothing very special about exploration here.
Thankfully, that is basically irrelevant since the fights are just so much fun! A first glimpse at combat can seem pretty boring. You only have a few options available (Attack, Defend, Item, Flee) as well as "unlockable" options later on like the Dragoon with its Magic spells. However, I feel that where the game shines is the attack system! All of your characters have combo attacks, called Additions, that you use and complete by pure timing.
To explain without a visual image... When your character runs up to attack, a square appears on the screen. You simply have to hit X as the square turns to full white from empty. The first additions are generally only one or two hits, but as you level up, you start unlocking new additions with more and more attacks. On top of learning new additions, successful completions of additions in battle causes them to level up as well. When they level up, they start doing more damage per hit or gaining more Spirit Points. (Related to dragoons. It's coming up.) Sometimes you'll even be surprised with a counterattack square that requires you hit Circle instead of X. As far as I'm concerned, this combo system is fun and challenging and adds a depth to battle that keeps them from feeling monotonous.
Items are pretty simple and split between healing and damage. Damage items force you to mash on the X button rapidly to build up a percentage. It boosts the damage done and can be quite powerful if you are a good button masher (or have a rapid fire button). Healing items work in percentages rather than a specific point amount. (THANK YOU SQUARE!) The game also does a unique twist on Defend by making it a "two-for-one" deal. Defending reduces damage from enemy attacks, and it also heals your character! It's a small heal, but it's nice considering you have a limited amount of item space. You can only carry 32 items. It's a lot really, but it can feel quite small compared to most RPGs.
Another big part of the game battles are your Dragoon forms. As you quest through the story, your characters gain the ability to transform into armored, winged forms called Dragoons. To become one in battle, you have to collect up Spirit Points (SP) and fill up the bar beneath your character. You earn Spirit Points with each successful hit of an attack. As you level up the dragoon, it becomes more powerful, learns spells, and gains additional bars to fill. Each bar equals an additional turn of battle in Dragoon form.
Dragoon forms allow for special Dragoon Additions and Spells. The Dragoon Additions are a lot like the regular ones, but it uses a special gauge where you time your button hits to attack up to five times! And Spells are... well they're spells! Each character is a different element of Dragoon, and this is reflected through the spells available to each character. Adding in the bit about Armor, the Dragoon forms are both really cool and powerful asset to the team.
So is there any negatives about fighting? Well, if you aren't any good at timing hits, then the game is going to get very difficult very fast. In general though, you get used to the timing of attacks and things get easier. The random encounters in the game can sometimes come very rapidly it seems, and it can be a huge annoyance to get a battle after battle after battle. Of course, that's random encounter systems everywhere... Realistically? I have no true complaints about the combat in this game. It's nearly perfect. Battles can get kinda repetitive after a while, but what game DOESN'T hit that wall? Now... with gameplay said and done, all we lack now is the Story & Characters.
Ah the Story & Characters! It's what the RPGs are all about! It's what they excel in, and the reason we truly play them. For Legend of Dragoon, it certainly fills that role. The game starts off with the main character, Dart, returning to his home after a journey of pursuing a monster that destroyed his original home town. As he's approaching his village, a large dragon appears and attacks him. Dart is rescued by a mysterious woman, and they quickly part ways. From there, you learn about how the country is undergoing a civil war, and his childhood friend, Shana, has been captured and taken to a prison by the "bad side". (You know how it is. There's a game with a civil war, but the "bad side" is always the one you're against, regardless of what actually started things.) From there, the story grows from a civil war between countries into an ancient evil trying to return.
Overall, it sounds like a typical story of good versus evil and evil being hidden behind some giant war that's a ruse. However, I'm trying to cover it quickly without revealing EVERYTHING here. There's quite a few details I'm missing like how the Dragons and Dragoons are involved. Sad to say, the Dragons aren't nearly as involved as the Dragoons are here. There's a pretty good story going on as it evolves from being the simple war between countries to something epic in proportions! It's been some time since I have played the game, but overall, I do remember enjoy the story.
Then there are the assortment of characters. You've got your main group of seven characters. Now, with that many people, you might think it'd be hard to get each character enough time on screen. Well, that's where you be wrong. Each character evolves and grows as you play through the game. Each one gets spotlight time to reign out front before proceeding to the back of the line known as "the rest of the game", but despite this, each character generally has input and talks when the story comes up for a scene. They have their own styles and abilities, reflected through their Dragoon element, and in the end, they're all pretty good characters. It's a great variety of people within a group.
So... do I have any negatives? As of right now, nothing truly wrong comes to mind. It's a great game with a good story with lots of good and interesting characters. Outside of our leading man and lady, everybody else feels like fairly distinct characters. Thus, I've got nothing bad to say here. So now it's time to give the final wrap up on this post and see what the end grade will be!
First off, we've got a pretty good looking game. Sure it's kinda dated in this day and age, but for the time period, it was pretty good stuff. The music isn't the most remarkable or memorable, but it was far from bad either. Aesthetics is pretty much just all win here.
The gameplay is just top notch. It's a great battle system with challenge and fun to be had. I love the Dragoons and their magic. The items, although limited in number, are more effective than having a massive pile (like most RPGs). Exploration isn't anything new or exotic, but it does get the job done. The only problem to be seen here is that battles can get a bit repetitive. Although that's not really a problem that any game like this can avoid, and thus it's really not a problem so much as a comment to the side.
Then we round all that greatness up with a nice dose of good story. It hits a few points of "I've heard this story before", but then it comes in with a lot of cool and unique elements to be had. The variety of character is top notch here, and there are plenty to pick and choose from. If only more games strove to this kind of originality (in some of the aspects mind you)...
First and foremost, we look over the aesthetics of the game. It came in around the late life of the PlayStation 1. At this point, the games were pretty good looking (comparatively), and this game wasn't exempt from this. The style of the game was pretty close to Final Fantasy VIII, where the characters looked fairly realistic and detailed. It's a pretty good looking game on the whole, and I'd argue that it still stands well even today. The backgrounds are fixed ones, and this works okay most of the time. Much like others with fixed backgrounds, it can be hard to discern details as your character goes further into the back or if it's stretched out. Otherwise? Basically no complaints. It's a good looking game with great cutscenes! (Very few along the way, but they're totally worth it!)
That leaves us with the music. Now... honestly? I don't remember going crazy over the music, but that doesn't mean it was bad. It was good background music that never overstepped it's boundaries. I don't remember being annoyed by any of it at all. (I realize this is a terrible argument here, but stick with me!) Despite the lack of fondness, I went back and listened to it to give myself a bath in nostalgia... My feelings from just hearing the music is a fondness to play the game, but I didn't love the music. The music was fairly light and never had any truly deep or outreaching parts to me. It almost made me feel like it was "old time" RPG music. Where it wasn't always necessarily deep, but it was enjoyable enough to have in the background. Overall? Not bad but not very memorable.
So where does this leave us? The aesthetics are good overall. The graphics and overall look of the game is appealing, especially to a fan of FFVIII's visuals. The music doesn't quite have the punch of a Final Fantasy soundtrack, but it's far from bad or annoying, so it's still acceptable. Thus aesthetics are going to get a good ol' "PASS" from me! Next up, let's jump into what really matters for a video game... THE GAMEPLAY!
With this being an RPG, there's really only a few parts that need to be looked over to consider Gameplay. Exploration isn't really anything new, but the game has parts requiring hitting switches and climbing certain parts to reach various areas. Lots of side paths for items here and there. It's generally worth the effort, but the encounter rate can sometimes feels alarmingly high. Let's be fair. It's annoying when you're just trying to walk a short distance, and you get in a battle like every 2-5 steps, especially in an RPG like this where that's basically nowhere. All-in-all, there's nothing very special about exploration here.
Thankfully, that is basically irrelevant since the fights are just so much fun! A first glimpse at combat can seem pretty boring. You only have a few options available (Attack, Defend, Item, Flee) as well as "unlockable" options later on like the Dragoon with its Magic spells. However, I feel that where the game shines is the attack system! All of your characters have combo attacks, called Additions, that you use and complete by pure timing.
To explain without a visual image... When your character runs up to attack, a square appears on the screen. You simply have to hit X as the square turns to full white from empty. The first additions are generally only one or two hits, but as you level up, you start unlocking new additions with more and more attacks. On top of learning new additions, successful completions of additions in battle causes them to level up as well. When they level up, they start doing more damage per hit or gaining more Spirit Points. (Related to dragoons. It's coming up.) Sometimes you'll even be surprised with a counterattack square that requires you hit Circle instead of X. As far as I'm concerned, this combo system is fun and challenging and adds a depth to battle that keeps them from feeling monotonous.
Items are pretty simple and split between healing and damage. Damage items force you to mash on the X button rapidly to build up a percentage. It boosts the damage done and can be quite powerful if you are a good button masher (or have a rapid fire button). Healing items work in percentages rather than a specific point amount. (THANK YOU SQUARE!) The game also does a unique twist on Defend by making it a "two-for-one" deal. Defending reduces damage from enemy attacks, and it also heals your character! It's a small heal, but it's nice considering you have a limited amount of item space. You can only carry 32 items. It's a lot really, but it can feel quite small compared to most RPGs.
Another big part of the game battles are your Dragoon forms. As you quest through the story, your characters gain the ability to transform into armored, winged forms called Dragoons. To become one in battle, you have to collect up Spirit Points (SP) and fill up the bar beneath your character. You earn Spirit Points with each successful hit of an attack. As you level up the dragoon, it becomes more powerful, learns spells, and gains additional bars to fill. Each bar equals an additional turn of battle in Dragoon form.
Dragoon forms allow for special Dragoon Additions and Spells. The Dragoon Additions are a lot like the regular ones, but it uses a special gauge where you time your button hits to attack up to five times! And Spells are... well they're spells! Each character is a different element of Dragoon, and this is reflected through the spells available to each character. Adding in the bit about Armor, the Dragoon forms are both really cool and powerful asset to the team.
So is there any negatives about fighting? Well, if you aren't any good at timing hits, then the game is going to get very difficult very fast. In general though, you get used to the timing of attacks and things get easier. The random encounters in the game can sometimes come very rapidly it seems, and it can be a huge annoyance to get a battle after battle after battle. Of course, that's random encounter systems everywhere... Realistically? I have no true complaints about the combat in this game. It's nearly perfect. Battles can get kinda repetitive after a while, but what game DOESN'T hit that wall? Now... with gameplay said and done, all we lack now is the Story & Characters.
Ah the Story & Characters! It's what the RPGs are all about! It's what they excel in, and the reason we truly play them. For Legend of Dragoon, it certainly fills that role. The game starts off with the main character, Dart, returning to his home after a journey of pursuing a monster that destroyed his original home town. As he's approaching his village, a large dragon appears and attacks him. Dart is rescued by a mysterious woman, and they quickly part ways. From there, you learn about how the country is undergoing a civil war, and his childhood friend, Shana, has been captured and taken to a prison by the "bad side". (You know how it is. There's a game with a civil war, but the "bad side" is always the one you're against, regardless of what actually started things.) From there, the story grows from a civil war between countries into an ancient evil trying to return.
Overall, it sounds like a typical story of good versus evil and evil being hidden behind some giant war that's a ruse. However, I'm trying to cover it quickly without revealing EVERYTHING here. There's quite a few details I'm missing like how the Dragons and Dragoons are involved. Sad to say, the Dragons aren't nearly as involved as the Dragoons are here. There's a pretty good story going on as it evolves from being the simple war between countries to something epic in proportions! It's been some time since I have played the game, but overall, I do remember enjoy the story.
Then there are the assortment of characters. You've got your main group of seven characters. Now, with that many people, you might think it'd be hard to get each character enough time on screen. Well, that's where you be wrong. Each character evolves and grows as you play through the game. Each one gets spotlight time to reign out front before proceeding to the back of the line known as "the rest of the game", but despite this, each character generally has input and talks when the story comes up for a scene. They have their own styles and abilities, reflected through their Dragoon element, and in the end, they're all pretty good characters. It's a great variety of people within a group.
So... do I have any negatives? As of right now, nothing truly wrong comes to mind. It's a great game with a good story with lots of good and interesting characters. Outside of our leading man and lady, everybody else feels like fairly distinct characters. Thus, I've got nothing bad to say here. So now it's time to give the final wrap up on this post and see what the end grade will be!
First off, we've got a pretty good looking game. Sure it's kinda dated in this day and age, but for the time period, it was pretty good stuff. The music isn't the most remarkable or memorable, but it was far from bad either. Aesthetics is pretty much just all win here.
The gameplay is just top notch. It's a great battle system with challenge and fun to be had. I love the Dragoons and their magic. The items, although limited in number, are more effective than having a massive pile (like most RPGs). Exploration isn't anything new or exotic, but it does get the job done. The only problem to be seen here is that battles can get a bit repetitive. Although that's not really a problem that any game like this can avoid, and thus it's really not a problem so much as a comment to the side.
Then we round all that greatness up with a nice dose of good story. It hits a few points of "I've heard this story before", but then it comes in with a lot of cool and unique elements to be had. The variety of character is top notch here, and there are plenty to pick and choose from. If only more games strove to this kind of originality (in some of the aspects mind you)...
And the final score comes to...
MY RATING - 10 out of 10.
That's right! I gave this game a perfect score. Am I being overly generous here? Not at all. It's a great game that easily holds up to any standard of RPG. It's got everything you could want with a great system to boot. The only sadness this game brings me is the fact that it never got any kind of sequel (spiritual or otherwise) nor will it ever see a remake. It did get re-released on the PlayStation Network as a classic though... So you should go get it RIGHT NOW!
~May the Crystals Guide Me~
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