Legend of Dragoon Review! [PSX] The Game Collection
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- Опубликовано: 7 сен 2024
- In this Legend of Dragoon Review, SuperDerek examines a game that was once heralded as a Final Fantasy VII killer!
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#legendofdragoon
I think i speak for everyone here that we would love Legend of Dragoon 2!
Touch
We all would like a sequel, but after so many years I don't think they will ever return to this franchise. The composer passed away in 2006 and the programmers still talk about the game with Yoshida. They still work at Japan Studio so I hope Allan Becker has built a big team for a spiritual successor with a new IP and Yoshida will surprise us all at this TGS.
Indeed. t'would like to see that, indeed. Yoshida said in an interview I read a couple years ago that if the 1st LoD did well on PSN, then they might go back to doing a sequel. Hopefully that holds true. He (they) know a sequel is wanted.
Personally, I think they should base it on the sales of an HD remaster of the first game.
I own the PS1 original, but I'd purchase it again cleaned up & tweaked.
+FreeRPGer Beware of wall of text: Actually, The Legend of Dragoon was a concept that started way before PS1 was out. They own the trademark of Skyblazer that was released on SNES in 1993, which Kazunori Yamauchi (father of GT) directed. Allan Becker helped to produce the game. Dragon fly and Dart's prototype design started here. So mix that with an imitation of FF you get The Legend of Dragoon. Too bad they cancelled the sequel for PS2. It was one of Sony Japan's killer app that had potential to become a multi-million franchise from Japan. However, producer Teruyuki Toriyama said last year to 4Gamer he will try his best to deliver an ambitious title in 2016. Teruhiro Shimokawa from Comcept, director of Soul Sacrifice, wants to announce a title in 2016 he has been involved with. So that makes two JRPGs Verendus has been mentioned in 2013. He said in 2015 that you will know both soon enough, with JRPG#3 being announced in early stages in 2016 (Wild Arms) and JRPG#4 and JRPG#5 won't be announced until #1 and #2 are unveiled. We talked about killer app before and that's exactly what Japan Studio is looking for. Allan Becker made a gamble on God of War for Santa Monica Studio, he wants do it again. JS has been successful with niche titles but they need a worldwide success its western studios are having. This project (JRPG#2) is basically one shot, and they'll want it to succeed against all costs. Someone mentioned Dark Cloud for example, but that's simply not good enough. Neither is crap like Star Ocean/Tales. These are mediocre and you need something that stands far above them in terms of quality. They're not going to waste this kind of money to produce something on that level. For that, they need the right people, so they were in the team building phase in 2013 whilst the concept was sorted out. An imitation of Final Fantasy is a pretty good start to build a concept from. And let's be honest, it's not like the first time they tried to copy it. That's what they need to aim for though, a fusion of West/East, and maybe get some Japanese author to pen a story for them. They have many seniors at Japan Studio who worked on TLOD to scout young talents. I was surprised to see so many designers in the 20's on Gravity Rush 2. Team Gravity used to be a small team. So, here's my take: JRPG#1 is produced by Comcept's Teruhiro Shimokawa and AQ Interactive (within Marvelous AQL who are behind The Last Story and Soul Sacrifice), they will definitely melt the hardcore and be successful on the level of Infamous and Killzone, JRPG#2 is big budget in-house project, and JRPG#3 is Wild Arms produced by Media Vision.
+FreeRPGer What Verendus elaborated on unannounced projects from SIE WWS he was excited for in 2015: Sucker Punch, Bend Studio, and Japan Studio. Verendus likes big budget production titles so this is good news. From Japan Studio the project was third person, uncommon art style and kinda cinematic. All three were kinda cinematic so it seems like they are going for a narrative open world for all three. Bend Studio's project has already been unveiled as Days Gone. And Allan Becker wants JS to make art house type games and uncommon art style can mean photorealism in a different way. Look at Shadow Hearts, I would call that uncommon art style.
I always loved how the menu screen had it's own song, when you brought it up. Can't think of any other rpgs that did that. LoD is such an underrated gem. More people need to understand how engrossing this game was.
+Avalanche Reviews Indeed.
In my top 5 favorite rpgs of all time.
Kingdom Hearts does different music on the menus.
PS1 wise, I found FF Viii to be the best 3d RPG. But for sure LoD comes a close second in my book. I feel LoD did more story wise than what 7 did. It did have some similar concept, and character design, but the execution came out better. Def makes Square Enix green with envy.
That's what Grandia, LoD and all PS1 RPG's were always compared to back then. FFVII was the measuring stick and it actually hurt some franchises.
Legend of Dragoon would be an amazing remake I think.
fuck yeah it would, i would buy the fuck out of that, they need another game of it period, prequel, sequel, or remake, anything, it was one of the greatest games in the ps1 library
Can't wait for it. Its super awesome game
Now that the FF7 remake has come out (in part), maybe they’ll decide it’s a good time to bring remake the “FF7 killer”? 🤔 One can hope.
how about a new turn based rpg that is modern, complex, good and not a fucking sony dogshit remake? please give up your fucking childhood
It really would
I think this game's strongest point was the fighting system. I've had a lot of fights in there, I've beaten a few bosses, and I've never felt bored, not once. That might be due to me smirking at the dubbing or the translation, but the additions system and the amazing cutscenes do really make it very entertaining. Hell, that's the only RPG I've ever played that made me WANT to have fights, to get all additions right and to practice on those that were harder.
It was one of the games positives and also one of It's negatives. A lot were put off because of the battle system.
Don't forget that sweet battle music that I still listen to from time to time to this day. My childhood brain was blown,when I heard those tracks.
And there was nothing- not before or since- that was so satisfying to finally get right.
Is a hit or miss, having a quick time event system for every battle can get boring after a few hours of game
I'd much prefer a prequel than a sequel
I'd love a sequel but i agree that the dragon campaign story of rose and zieg is definitely worthy of a prequel!
I rather see remake.
THIS!
Or a separate story in the same universe. Loyd origin story where you play as loyd maybe
Solo SP me too like more ability to play as the partys origins before they meet dart
This was my childhood game. I will always love it and I will show it to my children.
Touch
Awesome game! An underrated masterpiece that deserves without questions a remake and/or a prequel!
By the way great review. Yes voice acting was the only poor aspect, though you could have mentioned that the cutscenes for the time were the best visually speaking.
I wouldn't say underrated it was one of the best selling highest rated jrpgs on the system
Man I can't believe it's been like 20 years. I remember I borrowed this game from a friend when I was 9 and it was 2001. This game and FF8, I played them both like 15 times each. And After I played LoD a few times, I used to replay it with all kinds of cheats from gameshark. It was so fun. I would already have all the dragoons from the beginning LOL. The story was amazing...I loved Rose, her character was the best. All the cutscenes made the story even more amazing. This and FF8 are still my best console games of all time...I literally cry when I think about them. Also, the soundtracks in both of them were amazing, but the soundtracks in FF8 were the best. I really can't believe it's been 20 years, feels like a few years ago that I was playing this game...
I really like Legend of Dragoon too. I must say I was damn impressed; this was Sony's first true in-house RPG after some previous collaborations like Legaia and Wild Arms... and on their own, they went for a game that matched FF in scope and production values. In the end I would still rate it a bit lower than the 3 PS1 FFs, but seeing that this was their first attempt to compete it is phenomenal. To this day barely ever has another JRPG tried to meet FF eye to eye in production values... but Yoshida's team did.
My biggest gripe with the game: Disc swapping. The disc swapping works different in LoD than in FF. Each discs holds a part of the world, so if you are on disc 3 and want to travel back to a town from the beginning you have to insert disc 1 again. FF handled that better, with all areas on all discs.
I thought LoD was better than both FF7 and FF8. Way better than 8. I did like 9 slightly better.
Download it from the ps store if disc swapping is such a big issue to you, only $5.99. I tried playing FF8 on PS1 and I almost feel asleep.
@@luciolynx5443
Damn lol , FF8 was my first ff, really enjoyed it 😂, played 7 and 9 afterwards.Best ps1 rpg imo Chrono Cross, never played LoD, till last week, amazing job for Sony's first self forray into large scale rpg territory.
@@rriggs6547 I certainly found it superior to FF8, I enjoyed 7 and 9 a lot more though.
Same here, I found FF7, FF8, and FF9 way better than Legend of Dragoon (and I don't like FF9 that much). But I got bored may times throughout Legend of Dragoon.
VOLCANOOOOO~
SPINNING CANE~
DOUBLEEEEEEE SLASH~
Mate. MATE.
This video gave me a Burning Rush... In a good way. DRAGOON IS MY SHIT, SON!
+Casposaurus - The Channel That Hugs Back
WORD!
+Casposaurus - The Channel That Hugs Back When I was young and i didnt understand english, Rose used to say "More & More" which in my language was like "Morre, Morre", which means "Die, Die!" Hahaha... Rose is, still, my fav character. :3
Touch
dudeeee you are the MVP for mentioning Roinin Warriors, i thought i was the only one that liked both LoD and Ronin warriors, you just got yourself a sub mate
The english Ronnin Warriors version is sooo corny, its great LOL.
***** thats what i love about it xD and i grew up with it in the early 2000s
Nice review. I have to agree with you on the backgrounds and music. Excellent touches to a great game.
Man i am an instant subscriber, there is not enough youtube reviewers on here that actually take time and effort to go into such depth on all these amazing retro classics. What i consider to be the golden years of rpgs.
i have so much respect for you for not only knowing of this game but having a copy and giving it such a legitimate review, you were fair in all your points and i admire that, some people can't back up what they are saying so its refreshing to see an unbiased outside opinion about my all time favourite game, to me a timeless classic, and yes one of the fanboys crying out for a sequel/prequel or even an hd remake hell ff7 is getting it, why not LOD?
+Spencer Reidy After the FFVII remake is released, Sony should remake Legend of Dragoon and market it as the "FFVII Remake killer!" :D
I TOTALLY AGREE WITH THIS
+Spencer Reidy "and yes one of the fanboys crying out for a sequel/prequel or even an hd remake hell ff7 is getting it, why not LOD?"
Because while I like this game over FFVII, LoD did not have nearly the same impact on gaming as FF VII. So its' a pretty silly question actually, the answer is obvious.
@Kent Semenuk I preferred both 9 and 12 to 10. The end just soured me so much on the game.
@@ilovegames9708 I never understood the overwhelming love for FF7. It was good, yes. But I thought there were several rpg's on the Playstation that were better including LoD, Lunar SSSC, Star Ocean 2, Grandia, and a few others.
Derek, I just discovered your channel and it's fantastic. The fact that you don't have WAY more subscribers is downright criminal. Your reviews are thoughtful, and not filled with terrible jokes like so many seem to be. Also, you have a very pleasant voice which makes it easy to listen to your shows (I won't name names, but some of the others old-school reviewers I've watched have voices that drive me bananas). Keep up the great work!
5:55 speaks volumes for the music and story of the game. Heck the graphics too. I love this game with all my heart, praying for a remake
45 minutes to a hour for the final boss? i guess that is a fair time if you didn't sit at the starting area as dart and not leave until dart was level 35 like I did..... personally I love the game and I think you did an excellent job on you review of this great game!
jesse owens same!
I’m going through old school JRPGs released after FFVII like Panzer Dragoon Saga, Skies of Arcadia, Suikoden II, Wild Arms II, Star Ocean The Second Story, Koudelka, and now I just downloaded LoD on my Vita TV and plan to see what all the fuss is about. Thanks for this review. I know I can always count on Derek to provide a great review since you actually know what you’re talking about and can compare or contrast to other JRPG titles.
I love how you brought up the voice acting, because some of the cinematics are epic. Particularly Rose's Past. Showing the fight from the former Dragoons... That was wonderfully done in my opinion.
Also, great work, great editing, and great recording as I remember that Leviathan fight before Lenus, that was one insane battle.
I'll always remember this title more fondly than most things, I still have it I think
I have finished this game 5 times.This game for me is an absolute favorite.I usually don't like turn based rpg but this game changed my mind.Lavitz death for me is the saddest death in history of gaming.
Lavitz's death > Aerith's death
What about when you meet him again in the fourth cd?
The part when Lavitz sells his soul to a demon just to have the chance to speak with Dart and Albert one last time and you have to kill the demon and free Lavitz and they have that sad conversation and Dart says "you are not dead you will forever live in our hearts" and the three of them join their hands together as Lavitz starts to fade away.
That scene made me cry so much.
Just think about what that scene could be with modern graphics.. we really need a remake of this game..
Really cried during that scene. It was amazing.
that Lavtiz death though, its as heart wrenching at Yseras death from WoW Legion
Yeah made me teary eyed back then.
This and Chrono Cross probably had the best graphics on the ps1.
Touch
Touch
Final Fantasy VIII and especially IX were a lot stronger than Legend of Dragoon in terms of graphics.
you are all forgetting vagrant story.
Xenogears
Thanks Derek for not spoiling it. Seriously, this game has been on my backlog for years and I am only on disc 2. Nice review BTW
I remember, I remember the loredump at the end of disc 3 only to find out moments later my disc 4 was broken and I would have to mail in then wait for that broken disc to get fixed/replaced and mailed back to me.
Your reviews are great! So nostalgic and well done... Congratulations! I'm looking forward to the next ones
Thanks! My next review (Dragon Warrior III) will be out tomorrow morning! :)
This game needs a remake!!!! LEGEND OF DRAGOON PS4
I really like the tone of your reviews. I'm starting to hate the irony pastiche that is so common for video game review channels. But yours are positive, straight forward and even respectful, even if it's not a feature you particularly liked. It's refreshing!
Thanks Dave! I'm glad to hear it, I'm trying to maintain that as my style evolves. :)
By far one of the best titles of PSX
Dropped everything to watch this review. I hope you really enjoyed playing the game again after all those years. I'm definitely going to have to revisit this game myself, in the not too distant future, as I have never completed it.
Awesome to hear from you again *****! Yeah, I had a lot of fun going back to it! The additions were challenging but a lot of fun to eventually learn. I mentioned in the review how there are skills to level up, but one of the things I didn't really touch on is how you as a player can improve in performing the additions, and how good that can feel. :)
Keep making jrpg reviews pls. You're the only one I can trust with reviews for jrpgs.
Thanks man, that just made my day. Have a good night. :)
One of my favorite games of all time. An absolute classic. Best RPG on the PS1.
It's a great game for sure, but there's many RPG's such as Suikoden 2, Grandia, and Star Ocean 2 which I'd rate higher.
Different courses I guess.
Thank you for reviewing this. It has been so long since I last finished it. I almost forgot.
I remember watching my brother play this game when we were kids! We never got to the end, but seeing this is really nostalgic! Derek, I was wondering if you would review Brave Fencer Musashi at some point! It's a game that doesn't get the attention it deserves! I'm sure you'd enjoy if you haven't played it already. Love your videos, by the way! I've been watching them nonstop since I've first seen your Grandia review last week! Keep em coming!
EssentiallyKenpachi You bet! I'm currently working on a trade with The Dali Popka that should have that game in my hands before terribly long. :)
So there was actually a sequel planned? Yeesh. Either I never knew that or it's been long enough that I forgot. What I wouldn't do for such a thing to exist...
Anyway, I'm actually replaying the game again on my Vita. Sequel or no, being able to carry my old favorite game wherever I go... Heheheh.
My childhood summarized in 4 CD's.
This was the first video of yours I've come across. Your delivery was a little over rehearsed and stiff. But everything else was great. It's very well edited and I liked the points you made about the game. It's obvious you put a lot of effort into this.
Thanks for the feedback man! Hopefully my delivery has improved over the last few years. Man, I can't believe this came out in 2015!
such and underrated game! i swear! this game is my childhood and now that i 23 i am still playing and trying to memorize the story. I hope and pray they make a sequel. the story has so much juice in it. i cannot find words. its an amazing game and ill definitely show this game to my children! i swear in me!!! such an amazing game.
You were darts age when u commented this lol
Good job SuperDerek! :) I still have this in my own collection. I remember thinking the backgrounds were really beautiful too, but was always distracted by how much the 3d models of the characters "popped" when standing still.
This game is been stuck in my backlog for a long time and this review made me want to play it sooner rather than later despite the flaws. I guess that means you did a pretty good job with the review! Keep 'em coming.
Bringing back my past. I had to get wild arms renewed because of you lol. These are the games I grew up on. Keep it up Derek.
Since you mentioned Ronin warriors I always wanted a game of the series, was my favorite anime growing up.
Hoo, ha, DOUBLE SLASH! Hoo, ha, ha, VOLCANO! This game was pretty fun. I forget if I ever actually beat it because I had borrowed it from someone, but I still have fond memories of it. As always, great review Derek!
Thanks Kinaldio! :D My personal favorite was "Madnesss Heero~!"
My one gripe is the limited inventory space- although this in itself is part of the strategy of the game, requiring planning...but I get tired of having to discard items left and right.
I remember pre ordering this game and buying it on its release day.Only to take it home play it for maybe a total of 12 hours.I got frustrated with the battle system and traded it in for credit within a week. I find it ironic you brought up Grandia. I imported the japanese version on the Sega Saturn I got about 40 something hours into it before I got stuck because I didn't know japanese. Legend of Dragoon at the time was one of the best looking RPGs on the PSX. But that battle system was an pain in the butt. Out of all the PSX RPGs I owned I played Star Ocean 2 the most. I was primarily a Sega Saturn RPG player.
I'll probably give LOD another shot.Now that I'm older and got more RPG playing experience lol.
New HD remake petition guy only 30 seconds to sign up
i just want a prequel during the war with rose and her companions they set it up for it perfectly when you meet them in game.
this sounds great! I'm adding it to my list
update: 3 years later and I finally bought it physically, hope to get around to playing it soon
This channel it's like one giant nostalgia trip. I wish I still had my gaming systems like the snes and play station. Playing emulators just isn't the same as holding the controllers in your hand.
I haven't played this game for 17 years! Definitely need to play it again. Like you, I don't remember much. Will play it next :D
Hi Derek.
How are you doing?
I just want to tell you i love your reviews. You are so passionate about these games.
When i want to see a review on a game i always look to see if you reviewed it first before i check anywhere else.
Anyways take care always and thank you for everything you do.
Thanks Ron, I've been doing pretty well but this message made me even better. Thanks for the kind words and I hope you also have a great weekend! My 100th review will be out next Friday, btw. :)
@@SuperDerek fantastic. I cant wait to watch the 100th review. Thank you for responding to me. Wow
Play this game every year one of my all time favorites from the PS1 hopefully someday we will get a remake
I definitely need to pick this game up. I've been meaning to play it since it came out but I never got around to it. Thanks for the overview!
Still one of my favorite JRPGs of all time. One of my favorite lores as well. I still crave more from this universe.
I'm one of those kids that somehow got this in the PS1 era instead of FF7. Loved it. Looking back at both games 20 years later, Legend of Dragoon is so much better looking.
"Look it up if you need a good laugh. Or better yet, beat the game!" YESSSS. It makes me feel like an old man (I'm in my early 30's) but we used to earn our game endings by actually playing & beatings the games. It's one thing if you can't get your hands on the game, but if you can, go ahead and experience & beat it yourself to get the satisfaction of watching the ending.
You're so well and soft spoken my friend. Just like i am. I remember playing this game back in high school, about 9 years ago. I just picked it up again. Its at the main menuand i cant wait to start. Great review. Have an amazing day.
This is by far my favorite RPG!
Woo more Game Collection and Legend of Dragoon! This was a great game, but I don't think I'd call it a "FF7 Killer". Like you said, the term didn't really do any of FF7's competition any favors. :P This game was your introduction to RPG's on the PS1? That's pretty cool, I don't hear many people say that. :) Bonus points for the Ronin Warriors mention. ;) This game definitely deserves to sit among the rest of the classic PS1 RPG library. It is a shame about that cancelled sequel. I would love to see them pick it back up and finish it - like you said, stranger things have happened. My weekend was pretty good. Took the kids hiking and mini-golfing. Fun times. ;) Hope that you are doing well after all your traveling!
+RPG Tour Guide It actually is far better than FF VII. FFVII is not even the pest PSX FF game.
with RPGs I like to duel-screen em, either have a second TV or an iPad to watch movies or shows while you're playing, it make the grinding a lot less boring
I love this game... it’s kinda hard to replay these days but it was such a great experience when it released
I purchased this game as an ex rental at a video store in 2004, I eventually got round to playing it in 2006 after much anticipation (was playing ffx a lot then haha) I was so blown away and amazed by the game, In love with rose and deeply invested, then the end of the 2nd disk was scratched after a boss fight, i tried, bt was unable to get it fixed. Its been over 10 years now, but I still vow to finish that game some day :D
I am getting the original ps1 game and gonne play it for the first time ever on my CRT! Might arrive next week, I am excited.
I'm still surprised that The Legend of Dragoon never got a released sequel. Grandia, Jade Cocoon: Story of the Tamamayu, Legend of Legaia, Suikoden, and Wild Arms all got sequels, but not The Legend of Dragoon, even though it did rather well considering how it was released in the wake of Final Fantasy's explosive success in America.
I bought this again 4 years ago on sale for 99 cents. Well, I finally got around to playing it a few weeks ago on my vita. I learned and mastered every addition after killing Lenus the second time. I like doing self challenges like that. Grandia on my second playthrough, played 180 hours on disc 1, learned Heaven & Earth Cut and maxed it out as soon as Justin could. 300 hours at the end. Only dungeon I didn't do was the last optional one because our copy froze too much to be able to finish it.
Another Ronin Warriors AND Legend of Dragoon fan! That was quite a nice surprise! Great review, I always noticed similarity in LoD and RW, too. As for New Game+, there is that glitch to play through the game w/ the Divine Dragoon armor...
This was the very first JRPG that I ever had the pleasure of playing. I think I have beaten the game 4 times. Its the only game I couldn't let go of when I sold all my ps1 and ps2 titles. An now that I'm collecting again I have the black label edition as well as my original very scratched greatest hits version. Fortunately and unfortunately the secret is out and by looking at the prices this game is no longer a hidden gem. Heck even a few years ago you could still get this game for about 20 bucks. But now it's pushing 60 dollars or more. But if you have the means definitely pick this beauty up, it's worth it.
Okay, your review convinced me. I've been dodging this game for years, but as soon as I finish Trails in the Sky SC, I'll start LoD. The visuals are stunning for a game of that era.
Ok my name is Derek also and I just found this awesome channel I had to subscribe, cheers mate!
Cheers Derek! Welcome aboard! There are dozens of us! Dozens!! :)
I am an oddball but when i think of the original playstation i think of legend of the dragoon, spyro, and twisted metal
Yes, very odd, especially with far superior games out there.
I just finished this game. I rarely used dragoon form. I found I had higher DPS if I just used additions with my strongest characters. The only dragoon I used was Albert for his rose guard spell to improve my teams defense.
Saw this yesterday and picked it up. I never played it back in the day but I've always heard good things and the one friend who did play it seemed to really enjoy it.
How come your voice is so smooth, brother? Seriously, no homo! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Great content! Cheers from Brazil!
the legend of dragoon is easily in my top 10 ps1 rpg games of all time
If I remember correctly, as its been 10+ years since I've played this, one thing that drove me up a freakin wall with this game was having to switch discs when going back to the towns and areas visited early in the game
That struggle with PS1. In this day and age an open world is requiring. It hasn't been a better time for mature JRPGs to make a comeback.
Great video as always from you.I always liked this game, I picked it up about a year after launch, but for some odd reason I never finished it. Some other game always came up and distracted me from finishing it.After watching this I thing I have to move it to the top of my Playstation games to play pile :)
And for some reason this game has become insanely expensive here in Sweden. I've seen copies sell for over 200$!!!
I hope they remaster this game
Great review!
Top 5 Playstation RPGs I'd like to see you review -
1) Guardians Crusade
2) Shadow Madness
3) Technomage
4) Rhapsody
5) Suikoden 2
i was 25 back then and I loved this game i hope it's on the true-blue sticks
EPIC MUSIC ALL THROUGH THE GAME! and although the voice acting during cut scenes was a bit poor I'll never forget the "Dragoon campaign battle" cut scene this game will always have a place in my heart
We're not getting a remastered version, and honestly, I'm fine with that😁
Dart was also going to be a rep. in PSASBR but was sadly cancelled
This in no way was a FFVII killer, but its a solid game that I've played many times listening to Iron Maiden...
Damn you nostalgia for making me yearn for those days of old school gaming yore!!!
HAHAHAAA! Kidding! But seriously though, Derek, you ain't kidding around when you said that this game was massive(it certainly is)! The voice acting is beyond terrible, and the frame rate of those early PSX battles can be dearly excruciating! But this game other than those problems is still super cool, maybe not quite FF7 quality(and I haven't played Grandia), but LOD had it's own charms! Thanks SD for another incredible Games Collection episode(I really need to start watching these on time)!
Great review. I didn't finish this game since I had to give it back to my brother. But the game is great.
3 rpgs that prepared me for all rps.... Chrono Cross, Grandia 1, and the beautiful legend of dragoon! Honorable mention to ff9 and ff7 lol
Love the water in this game! And I'd love a full remake even more than a sequel.
I had an awesome time with Legend of Dragoon as a gamer and i would love to see any decent continuation of the game
While I do have a lot of love for this game I still have one major issue with it's game play--the battle system's addition system. Now It's a great concept and it's fun to pull off but sadly it also leaves the battle system being very simple and lacking variety as you just spam the same attacks to gain SP needed to transform.
If a sequel is ever made and they return to this system, perhaps some basic form character abilities outside of additions would help spice things up. A variety of skills is honestly what made "the game that shall not be mentioned in this review" so beloved by so many people and I feel is the greatest short coming for Legend of Dragoon out side it's voice overs.
Don't get me wrong I still have a lot of nostalgia for this title but I certainly felt like I had very limited choice in battle when replaying it a few months ago and it made it hard to do a full play through of the game again--while games like Wild Arms 3 or Suikoden II have so much variety that I have no issues playing them through at any time.
+Rue Celess THE battle system is far better than that overrated piece of shit FFVII.
It had some of the best FMV for a ps1 game
My favorite 3 songs in this game:
Dart's Theme
Doel's Death
Lavitz's Theme
Yes, I know Doel's Death is just a remix of Lavitz's Theme. But it stands out well enough to be a different song for me.
Doels death is touching. Beautiful
lmfao that tidal wave attack was amazing
LOD, BOF3, FF7, Xenogears...good old ps1 RPG days
I was curious about Legend of Dragoon since one of my childhood friends loved it. Since it's been years since this post, I came to find out that this game went up in the re-sell price. I mean way up. I have been seeing this average in the 80 dollar to triple digits. That's sad, because since you said this game is not rare (if it sold enough to make it to the Green label meaning more units were created). Glad it's on PS Network, but I hope the lag isn't too game-breaking.
Coming to PS Plus Premium on 2/21/23
man i always thought kongol was a really deep and interesting villain
This game was so cool. I remember playing it and loving it when it first came out. Listening to the music of it in this review really got my blood pumping.
I really like the idea of button taps to give you extra damage in fights but I think it was poorly done in this game that you HAVE to do it for EVERY attack. Random battles should be quick and easy and kinda mindless for the most part. I wish that you could just use the button taps "addition system" for when you want to do massive damage to bosses or hard enemies.
I remember when I was a kid some random magazine said this game was just okay and gave it a score of 6 out of 10. That moment a few of my friends discarded it on the spot but I decided to give it a go and such a good experience it was.
I have beat this more than 50 times. That's at least 2000 hours but I'm a fan since childhood
This is literally the greatest RPG of all time...
Except the voice actors......SUCK......minus meru.
@@anafu-sankanashi8933 Nah. Japanese VA's are amazing. The last second switch of certain voice actors (due to illness) between the recording of lines between discs 2 and 3 make things strange. Some were even recordings of staff members IMPERSONATING VA's to finis the game. Despite all that, they came through with a phenomenal RPG experience and unique story.
@@YTUSER69887 I'll admit the sound design is excellent but still, since I'm playing the american version I'm sick to death of hearing: 'MADNESS HERO!' In a cheesy voice. Meru is the only good non Japanese voice.
@@anafu-sankanashi8933 Dart has a great voice actor imo. Lance's was also good. Kongol's is entertaining. And Rose's fits the character perfectly. That is until act 3 (disc 3) when things get wonky due to scheduling issues. But then again, Sony had absolutely no faith in this project and it still knocked it out of the park imo.
@@YTUSER69887 I like darts voice on certain additions but on ones like madness hero he sounds a bit embarrassed. As for rose, she sounds excellent but then says stuff like hard blade and more & more sounds a bit too silly. In fact, all the female voices are great but get shafted some way or the other. Shana has no additions and meru is excellent. Albert and kongol? Just no, specially kongol who sounds badass and tough but then pursuit comes out of his mouth in a attempt to sound like lavitz. Still, legend of dragoon has held up excellently and no matter how silly the addition names are its still really fun to play.
The best jrpg ever created! It’s what made me love JRPGs and also replaying now along with FF7 and 9 but this is the best for me and my favorite of all time to this day still!
Personally, I'm glad there wasn't a sequel. There isn't much more story to tell, what with the "god of destruction" vanquished, the winglies cautiously approaching humans, and two long-cursed lovers finally united in death. I guess you could contrive some other conflict, but it'd be a step down for sure.
I'd rather have a remake. And not just a simple updated-graphics remake; I'd rather have almost a reworking of the whole thing. I was afraid to come back to the game after almost a decade, but I was pleasantly surprised at how deeply fleshed-out the characters and story was, not to mention the admittedly unique battle mechanics. There are still lots of stereotypical RPG things that plagued it, though, such as frequently haphazard kinks in the story and random misadventures that seem to do nothing more than pad for time (which is kind of necessary, given that the game's only real side-quest is the Stardust one, which you can only complete by progressing through the story anyway). Some simple foreshadowing would do wonders for a lot of these small, random points, as well as some more focused characterization during those times. There were some *beautiful* character themes explored in the fourth disk, particularly in the Moon, and I wish those ideas received more attention throughout the game. I think that problem, and others, are mostly products of the game's time--that's just "how things were" back then, and they were just spots where the game *didn't* break from the norm. I'd love to see the game's story restructured and retold with more "contemporary" sensibilities for video game storytelling, especially in regards to pacing of story arcs and properly linking story threads (i.e., stitch in some more non-prophecy foreshadowing)
A remake could improve on all the aspects that *aren't* just dated, too. The battle system, for one, was surprisingly unique in the subtlest of ways, but there wasn't enough variation in enemies to require paying much mind to those deep mechanics. Only some tough bosses really needed much thought, and most of those involved some special gimmick or trick anyway. For example, the fight against the Grand Jewel, which wielded the Dragon Block Staff that cut dragoon offenses/defenses to 10%. That fight required you to either rely completely on non-dragoon abilities, OR to work up just enough SP to go dragoon for only one turn so the Dragon Block Staff wouldn't trigger. The same applied in the first fight against the Divine Dragon, Lloyd (who would insta-kill instead of crippling), and some stages of the final boss. This was a really cool twist that forced the player to deeply consider their options and plan things carefully. Now, maybe requiring that much thought for every small enemy would be excessive, but I say if the combat depth potential always exists but is ignored outside of specific fights, it's a waste. Most of the reasons I even know about these strategies is from tackling the secret Dragoon bosses, which *definitely* required careful party management. It's awesome that the simple combination of attack/guard/item/dragoon is able to be as deep as it is, so it's kind of a shame that depth can be nearly missed entirely. A remake could fix this by adding more variation to enemy abilities than the occasional enemy that can inflict status effects.
A similar deepening could be applied player-side, as well. Dragoons, for one, could use more variation in magic. Dart's four spells were essentially: desperate/useless/missile/nuke. The nuke was rarely even strategically pertinent since its actual usefulness was disproportionately low compared to its cost. Pretty much the only remotely useful spells were Lavitz/Albert's Rose Storm for that wonderful defense boost, Shana/Miranda's healing spells, and Meru's healing spells. I get that some characters are built to be more physically-focused than magic-focused, but some more variation other than "mild attack / heal / defense" would go a long way to making dragoon magic generally relevant, especially when "defense" only has a single option anyway.
Speaking of dragoon magic being mostly irrelevant, there's the issue with disproportionately powerful addition attacks. Most characters' final additions completely outclass any damage they can do in dragoon form, even with their most powerful damage spells. Since dragoons only get one addition, no benefits from their weapon stats (I think), and neither their additions nor spells ever crease in power (benefiting instead from minuscule power increase each dragoon level), dragoon power stays pretty much constant while mundane weapons start to outperform them. Eventually, the only reason for anyone to go dragoon is for one of the two healers to cast a healing spell, Albert to throw up a shield, or just a free status cure and temporary defense boost. I love that the final additions outclass all previous additions--it feels good for all that work and tedium to pay off. But they wound up being the ultimate source of damage in the game instead of the legendary magical warrior forms that the characters were chosen to wield by fate itself. Ironically, when your strategic options should be at their greatest due to the number of available tools, they're actually at almost their narrowest because each character gets a set of options that obviously superior to all other sets. Payoff is great, but narrowing valid strategy is boring. This could be amended by improving dragoon magic and attacks, adding another factor to combos other than "damage" and "SP" ("complexity" doesn't count), or even adding another basic action choice in addition to "attack" and "guard" ("items" don't count as "basic" due to their unique conditions compared to attack/guard).
Or, for that matter, deepening the addition system would also be
awesome, and probably definitely something a remake would focus on. The
addition system added an element of skill through timed hits, and
really made it feel like YOU were a fighting badass since YOU were
pulling off the combos. It was exciting to get a new addition because
not only did it open new options for a damage/SP tradeoff (the only real
strategic choice in choosing additions), but you also got to try the
new combo timing, see the character's cool moves and get the
satisfaction for pulling off a new thing for the first time. (Rose's
Demon's Blade will always be fun to do) However, past all the shininess
and excitement, the mechanic is pretty shallow. It's a simple rhythm
game, maxing at only 7 hits, and even those become mostly muscle memory
after a while (which is why I said "complexity doesn't count" earlier).
When young, I thought Dart's Blazing Dynamo was the hardest thing ever
to pull off, but as of my recent play-throughs, I realize it's actually
the slowest, easiest, and most rhythmic of all of the final additions
(hit, hit, hit.... hit, hit, hit, hit; all hits are spaced evenly apart
except the one gap). You hit a skill ceiling *really* quickly once you
get the basic timing down, and even video lag is easy to overcome: I
once emulated the game on my Android phone, and had around half a second
of touch-to-action lag (not to mention no physical feedback from the
button) and was still able to reliably perform every single addition
after a maximum of 10 or so reps each. The only variation to ANY
addition is the occasional enemy counter, which only requires you to
press O instead of X. That CAN be difficult, but it's generally so rare
it just catches you off-guard and feels like a sucker-punch rather than
a nimble opponent. The attack animation doesn't even change after
successfully evading a counter-strike, so it feels like kind of a hasty
tack-on to make additions less monotonous.
Though the addition system was WAY ahead of its time and a huge break from the standard RPG formula, I think it's still too shallow as a primary battle mechanic. I think, at the very least, there could be some sort of timing momentum adjustments involved to encourage keen attention to precision. For example, perhaps the timing is more forgiving (the window for getting things "right" is larger), but the farther you are from precisely correct, the less damage you do. Or worse, perhaps off-timing gets your character "off-balance," and the next hit's timing is thrown off and is thus more awkward to perform. In that case, tapping each hit with laser precision both increases damage and makes each next hit flow easier, all while keeping the player from absentmindedly letting muscle memory play.
Or, maybe each addition could have different branching combo paths, depending on hit timing or which button was pressed. For example, maybe after the first standard hit, another hit comes quickly--but if you miss, there's a second one that comes a little slower. Those two hits lead down completely different combos, and one is harder while the other is easier but does less damage or nets less SP. Maybe instead of two different possible hit windows, you could choose between tapping X or tapping square, and either of those lead down different routes. Maybe enemies counter with specific buttons other than O, and the challenge isn't simply to be on the lookout for snap-reaction O-counters, but instead to react to which alternate button needs to be pressed. Or maybe there's a point that always receives a "counter," but it always picks from one of two buttons--maybe representing whether this particular enemy leaned to the left or to the right during your attack. At least, if you're already focusing on pressing different buttons and getting precise timing for the additions, you won't feel cheated by a random wake-up wrist-slap during your muscle memory daze.
For its time, the addition system was amazing--but I think that's partially because "its time" was a time of click-and-choose attack systems, long before the days when "action RPGs" would even be recognized as their own gameplay genre. It was a new and shiny mechanic in an area that was generally dull and boring by formula. It just wasn't an area that games--especially turn-based RPGs--put any focus into, so it felt fresh and exciting when Legend of Dragoon did. But now that its novelty flare has worn off, I think it's clear that the system hasn't seen its full potential. Really, I think that about the entire game: there's so much thought it gave to a lot of areas that just weren't standard places to put thought into for its genre, and it made a lot of choices throughout its gameplay, art, and story that stood out because of their novelty. Times change, however, and as more games broke free of the formulaic expectations of the '90s, Legend of Dragoon's lack of mechanical depth becomes pretty apparent. Fortunately, though it's somewhat shallow and marred by the shadows of its birth environment, it's still definitely unique. It's just dated execution, really--the material being executed is still awesome, which is why I think it's a ripe choice for a remake. Same material, polished execution: update the graphics, tighten up the story, and expand on baseline mechanics. Maybe toss in a few *real* side-quests, too--lemme tell ya, this game does NOT need a New Game+, because there's almost NO room for doing anything differently, especially story-wise. Heck, if I wasn't working on other projects for sustenance, I'd get a team together and do a fan-remake in Unreal 4. Alas, I lack the freedoms to do so. (Or, more accurately, I lack the licenses for it to be a financially sustainable decision). I shall wait with the myriad other fans, but not for a sequel--I wait instead for a remake that will elevate this great work into a classic one.
HalcyonSerenade I agree with you on pretty much everything but I still want a dragon campaign legend of dragoon..... we need that. it seemed so much more fast paced in everything that was happening, plus it would be cool to play as the original dragoon warriors. but omfg the boss that used the dragon staff was such a fucking bitch to fight as a child.... it could de-scale you in level as well as heal back up to blue when you finally got it down to red...... I absolutely hated fighting that thing.... the only other boss that ever compared was the first wingly chick you fought in the castle... her spells were so powerful... now it's nothing but back then I had such a hard time fighting them