In about the year 2000 I used to try and hunt down rare JRPGS that barely got released here in the UK. At the time I used ebay, paper adverts, second hand stores, charity shops etc. It was a different time back then and I steadily got hold of games like Suikoden 1 and 2, Vandal Hearts, Wild Arms, Star Ocean the Second Story, Koudelka, special edition of Symphony of the Night among others. Legend of Dragoon I had never heard of. Walking into a video rental store that used to also do video games I saw it on the shelf, I'd never seen this anywhere else so I asked if rather than rent it if I could buy it. The clerk called the owner who said it had been recalled after two weeks so was pretty rare but said I could buy it for £17.99. An absolute steal now looking back and the game was in fantastic condition having barely been borrowed as almost no one here was aware it even got released. My friend now has that copy as I no longer physically collect media, quite the opposite but still it's a core memory of a different time. As for the actual game? I played it up to disc 3 somewhere and remember it being okay but never got around to finishing it. As it got released on PlayStation premium and my memories of it were hazy I figured now was a good time to jump in and actually finish it. Having spent 80 hours over the last few weeks on and off playing it my opinion of it hasn't really changed much, it's good.
The real issues I have with the game stem from the writing, I have heard in part it's down to a poor localization, and fans have patched the game with an improved version I understand but playing the original certainly leaves a lot to be desired. The issues stem from more than that though and into the heart of the games story. Take Shana for example, she is the childhood best friend of the protagonist Dart. Her entire personality is that she is in love with him and a woman. The game hits you over the head with this so often it's sort of ridiculous. At one point the game makes sure to really emphasize that she is weak as she is a woman (despite her proving she can fight) and instead of patrolling she should cook food for the men, of course her cooking is then also mocked. It's just painful to sit through. That said not every moment in the game is that level of, well, garbage. Though not as deep as I may have liked some moments are quite well realized with some characters, almost poignant at times it's just so inconsistent or the dialogue just glosses over what feel like quite emotionally impactful events.
That aside the game is good. Visually the game is fantastic. The character models are well detailed for the time with the baked in backgrounds. The art design is generally cohesive and well realized with some great music and it's certainly got a lot of content to it though for an RPG it's incredibly linear. I liked that you never have to level grind, it's almost impossible as you get so little experience and money that fighting most regular battles is barely even worth it. The party essentially levels up at boss fights and that's it, but it's all you need to see you through to the end.
The combat is fully turn based, 3 characters can fight at a time and party members not in battle receive maybe half the experience points so unless you swap characters all the time will become completely unusable as they did to me. There was an 8-10 level difference between my characters by the end of the game and I beat it at level 39 so I just used the same 3 characters. The combat itself rather than just select attack has some interactive prompts called additions. You have to time pressing x to squares coming into the screen almost like a rhythm game. This is pretty cool initially but quickly becomes a chore where there isn't enough variety in these once you get the strongest. Occasionally you have to press a different button to stop the enemy countering which even if successful is needlessly irritating as it blocks your view so you might fail the next input anyway on the more complicated end game additions.
The combat balance is all over the place generally actually. Largely the game is insanely easy where you can defend to regain 10% of your health and enemies aren't a threat. This is such a case that a lot of bosses have insta kill attacks you cannot stop. They are the only time I died. You can go into a Dragoon form which you can use extremely limited magic and attacks that are barely stronger than normal physical attacks in most cases so feel pointless. Add that you can only carry 32 useable items and I ended up leaving most treasure chests as my inventory was full and I had no idea if the item in there was better or not (It almost always wasn't when tested).
So overall this is a hard game for me to score to be honest because despite how negative I may seem, I don't dislike it. I like the general story idea of races born sequentially. I like Rose's storyline and the general atmosphere the whole game permeates. I can see why people like it, I can see why fans call for a remake or a sequel as this could have been something special, but it's just kind of average. Worth playing now it's more widely available for sure though.
+ Presentation values are great.
+ Decent amount of content.
+ No level grinding.
- The writing is mostly bad.
- Party in reserve get small XP amounts quickly making them useless.
- Item limit is annoying and pointless.
Here is a bonus making of video from the time. Look at those PCs!
The real issues I have with the game stem from the writing, I have heard in part it's down to a poor localization, and fans have patched the game with an improved version I understand but playing the original certainly leaves a lot to be desired. The issues stem from more than that though and into the heart of the games story. Take Shana for example, she is the childhood best friend of the protagonist Dart. Her entire personality is that she is in love with him and a woman. The game hits you over the head with this so often it's sort of ridiculous. At one point the game makes sure to really emphasize that she is weak as she is a woman (despite her proving she can fight) and instead of patrolling she should cook food for the men, of course her cooking is then also mocked. It's just painful to sit through. That said not every moment in the game is that level of, well, garbage. Though not as deep as I may have liked some moments are quite well realized with some characters, almost poignant at times it's just so inconsistent or the dialogue just glosses over what feel like quite emotionally impactful events.
That aside the game is good. Visually the game is fantastic. The character models are well detailed for the time with the baked in backgrounds. The art design is generally cohesive and well realized with some great music and it's certainly got a lot of content to it though for an RPG it's incredibly linear. I liked that you never have to level grind, it's almost impossible as you get so little experience and money that fighting most regular battles is barely even worth it. The party essentially levels up at boss fights and that's it, but it's all you need to see you through to the end.
The combat is fully turn based, 3 characters can fight at a time and party members not in battle receive maybe half the experience points so unless you swap characters all the time will become completely unusable as they did to me. There was an 8-10 level difference between my characters by the end of the game and I beat it at level 39 so I just used the same 3 characters. The combat itself rather than just select attack has some interactive prompts called additions. You have to time pressing x to squares coming into the screen almost like a rhythm game. This is pretty cool initially but quickly becomes a chore where there isn't enough variety in these once you get the strongest. Occasionally you have to press a different button to stop the enemy countering which even if successful is needlessly irritating as it blocks your view so you might fail the next input anyway on the more complicated end game additions.
The combat balance is all over the place generally actually. Largely the game is insanely easy where you can defend to regain 10% of your health and enemies aren't a threat. This is such a case that a lot of bosses have insta kill attacks you cannot stop. They are the only time I died. You can go into a Dragoon form which you can use extremely limited magic and attacks that are barely stronger than normal physical attacks in most cases so feel pointless. Add that you can only carry 32 useable items and I ended up leaving most treasure chests as my inventory was full and I had no idea if the item in there was better or not (It almost always wasn't when tested).
So overall this is a hard game for me to score to be honest because despite how negative I may seem, I don't dislike it. I like the general story idea of races born sequentially. I like Rose's storyline and the general atmosphere the whole game permeates. I can see why people like it, I can see why fans call for a remake or a sequel as this could have been something special, but it's just kind of average. Worth playing now it's more widely available for sure though.
+ Presentation values are great.
+ Decent amount of content.
+ No level grinding.
- The writing is mostly bad.
- Party in reserve get small XP amounts quickly making them useless.
- Item limit is annoying and pointless.
Here is a bonus making of video from the time. Look at those PCs!
HylianBran
9 months ago