Originally designed for the Sharp X68000 as somewhat of a Ys clone, the SNES port of Lagoon ditches the bump combat in favor of just mapping each swing to one button press. The game isn't rebalanced in any capacity to accomodate for this, and the sword you carry hardly extends out of your own hitbox at all, and so this change fucks up the entire rhythm and balance of everything going on to a completely absurd degree. It becomes insanely difficult and excruciating in this "fake" kind of way where it shouldn't be as bad as it is. The entire game is only about 5-6 hours long, but you will not get used to your wet noodle (according to Terri) of a sword even as it draws to a close. It is fucking inconsolable. It's too mediocre in its other suits to make up for the gameplay failures.

I would replay it before replaying Drakkhen, though. Somehow, it's not the worst of the console's launch year RPGs. No idea why you'd play either over Final Fantasy IV, though.

Reviewed on Jan 31, 2024


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