Games PlayStation Legend of Dragoon

Legend of Dragoon

Written by Toma-kun January 04, 2009 Hits: 238 Favorites

Game Info:

Platform:

PlayStation

Developer:

SCEI

Publisher:

SCEI

Players:

Format:

4 CD-ROMs

Gallery:

PlayStation » Legend of Dragoon (6)

Editor review

Sony's foray into the RPG world

First of all, let me say this: L.O.D is not a bad RPG, despite the criticism it received, sure the game has flaws, weak translation, the combo-system can get annoying, especially for the better combo's where you need to push the buttons 5 or 6 times faster and faster, also after a big boss fight you still have to go back to your next location while fighting monsters in random battles. One big mistake was the limitation of carrying items (Only 32?) L.O.D. starts out with the typical young warrior whose village is attacked by an evil force, you will meet new characters, some mysterious (Rose), some laughable did not like Meru for example), encounter villains and there the story starts. Something I really not liked was the animation of some of the enemies (does an enemy really need to dance while fighting them?)

So, where are the good points then? I'll tell you:

The visuals are excellent, even better than the last 2 previous FF games

The story is maybe not quite Squaresoft quality, but it's still pretty good, everything from the Black monster to the appearance of Lloyd got me interested. The finely detailed FMV add only more interest in the story.

Dragoons: everytime you have a successful combo SP-points are given, when your SP-bar get full, you can transform into a dragoon and unleash incredible magic-spells, sometimes you are wondering if this is really done on the Playstation, Sony pushed the box this time to the limit.

Some of the later Bosses are very impressive, the Divine Dragon for example is one hell of a beast!

A good thing too is the inclusion of pointers like FF7,because the layout of the villages is often confusing!

The music is probably the weakest point in the game, the theme's sound really uninspired, the boss battle music could be easily be used for regular battle-theme, when you compare this to the FF7 boss battle theme you know what I am talking about, there are a few good theme's too, like the Deningrad music or the important boss battle themes, but overall the music is a disappointment!

Like most RPGs once you played it through, there's not much new to be discovered, it takes about 30-45 hours to beat the game.

If you love RPGs you must buy this game, don't listen to the critics, try it yourself!! If you're not into RPGs then I still recommend it, the only problem you may have will be with the boss fights, especially when some of them will be attacking 3,4 or even 6 times in a row.

Highs:	Visually stunning, exciting boss battles, decent story
Lows:	Lackluster translation, too much random encounters, music could be better
Bottom Line:	A great attempt of Sony, but just falls short in comparison with the big guns from Square or Gamearts, nonetheless a good warm-up until the arrival of Chrono Cross or FF9.