As a kid, this was a very fun introduction to the fantasy genre. As an adult i can really appreciate how well thought out the fantasy writing for the game is. Clearly some real love was put into it when i still hear new theories being put out about the story 20 years later
It deserves a remake, prequel , live action movie and even an anime it deserves more than any cinematic universe in the world because of all the wonderful lore
@@BucolicInsights I’ve always heard of Gandia 1&2, I was given the choice between Grandia 2 or skies of Arcadia via Dreamcast. (Skies also being personal favorite of mine). Having said that I had no idea Grandia had voice acting. Would you think still holds up I am thinking about giving it a go?
@@nerdgoria3811 it's my favourite jrpg. The battle system is something beyond all others (the next games are a bit faster with some elements being simplified but still great), the story is for the most a light hearted adventure (it starts with a very juvenile premise and then become an epic journey beyond the edges of the known world, full of funny and bizarre people of all kinds). The writing is also superlative with long and articulated dialogues and great focus on the characters' relationships and growth. For the most is nothing that serious but the writers put a great effort in making the characters feel alive and believable in the way they speak and interact. The majority of jrpg I've played had for the most simplistic dialogues, but Grandia is much different. For example there are a miriad of sections where they rest and eat, and there are multiple dialogue options with many branches that enrich everything. The graphics vaunt immense full 3d environments with a bit of interactions in both settlements and dungeons, as well fantastic sprite animations. To finish: the soundtrack is a fucking masterpiece (beautifully orchestrated with good sound quality) and the voice acting is ok and not unlisteanable like, well, valkyrie profile. Personally I found VP terrible to listen and had to download a romhack with the japanese dub. Seriously, if you pass over the jeuvenile and light hearted part, it's an immense jrpg that feels a gen beyond its year of release for the immense production values.
Been listening to your review as I drive to and from work the last few days. Very fairly reviewed, and it made my trips to and from work enjoyable. I agree the 50 stardust is a bit much, I think on something like that there's no shame using a guide.
Thanks for your comment! I didn't imagine that my henglisch would, actually, be enjoyable to hear, lol. Things like the 50 hidden stardusst, or similars in other games, were an excuse to buy strategy guides or magazines with tips and guides.
Umm.. making fun of Italian translation, ok. Back in 2000 in Russian translation "Double Slash" was rendered as "Доивге Бгабм" (it's on youtube, btw). And that's not Russian, that's Double Slash written in half-cyrillics, because that's what you get when your 50h+ game in translated by random dudes in a basement in a rush to the print out 1000 bootleg copies of it because local kids won't buy anything in a foreign language... That said surprisingly they translated well enough to the point the plot (mostly) made sense. In retrospect I'm quite impressed, I've seen waaay worse.
The fact is that I'M italian and in the boards I frequented the first thing that came to mind to everyone was "it sounds funny!", especially Haschel that was terrible as hell.
A remake with modern graphics would not recreate the charming visuals of those hand painted backgrounds which are beautiful to look at. A remaster with some enhancements (avoiding ugly new poligonal models like they did with Squall in ff8's remaster...) would be enough but then I would suggest to play it with an emulator and apply filters and high resolution. An user, in this comment section, talked about an unofficial remaster that looks very promising. Edit: legendofdragoon.org/projects/severed-chains/
I played this game on my PS5. The additions were a bit difficult, but the more I played the game, the more I've gotten the hang of it. I enjoyed the soundtrack, art style and story of Legend of Dragoon as it's sort of a mature JRPG story involving racism, slavery, mythology, war, politics and death. My favorite characters are Dart, Rose, Meru, Albert, Lavitz, Kongol and Haschel.
@@samflood5631 Basically all the main cast! I didn't like much Albert (just didn't click with me) and, infact, due to "that scene" which I only teased and not spoilered (I played a bit ambigous when I showed the concept arts) I even never mentioned him in the whole video, lol. Regarding the story themes, I think the same as you. The themes of death, sacrifice, slavery and the mythology of its game world are very well treated.
i remember playing this game at one of my friends home because he had the pirated version, i played here and there parts of it but never finished, can't really say i remember any of the story exxcept some of the important events
It's really cool that the additions are in spoken in Italian. There is only European Spanish, no Latin American, and the additions are spoken in Japanese.
The italian additions are hilarious to hear and some are badly translated. It's much better to hear them in original japanese or english, believe me bro.
During my teens I used to find many classics for a low price in the italian forums. 10-15 years ago it was very easy and accessible (then suddenly the prices for some games skyrocketed) tho, recently on ebay, I bought some interesting games for cheap such as Breath of Fire 3 (ntsc) from a german seller. The last week I finally could buy Lunar 2 for a decent price from another german guy... Damn I wanted that game for over a decade! Xenogears was the first game I bought online from an italian website specialized on import games. I was very hyped by the fandom. I mean, playing xenogears was very elitarian back then, lol; also because it never arrived in Europe and was known just by few people which talked about it like the ultimate game LMAO. I'm talking about the 2004-2005 but, after some years, almost every jrpg player I knew also played it.
@BucolicInsights Luner 2 another amazing jrpg I remember it came with a cloth map. I lost everything I owned from my past in Hurricane Irean years ago but I did snag a ps1 and a memory card or 2 but with games like suikoden 2 over 400$ just to rich for my blood
Lunar 2 came with lot of things. It was like a collector (just like the first)! Tho the cloth map was included with the first. Lunar 2 has a simple paper map... And a fucking pendant that everyone lose for strange reasons. Luckily my copy is perfect without and signs of wearing. I'm sorry for the hurricane, bro.
Sì, sennò perchè pigliavo in giro lo storico doppiaggio italiano? lol. Nei miei video ci sono ogni tanto riferimenti italiani come la storica rivista Giochi per il mio Computer (che sfoglio in riferimento a come conobbi il gioco recensito in questione), o la "speciale" intro che ho fatto per il video di Spore molti mesi fa.
@@BucolicInsights Si sentiva tanto dalla pronuncia. Comunque per quanto riguarda The Legend of Dragoon, per quanto mi riguarda è un capolavoro assoluto molto di più di altri giochi sopravvalutati d'allora.
ottimo lavoro, ti consiglio se puoi, di far controllare gli script in lingua da qualcuno per correggere qualche errore di sintassi qua e la, continua così!
I started it without knowing anything of the story except "in this old game there are dudes who transform into stilish armored "dragoons" and perhaps they will save the world" (seriously, didn't even know the protagonist name, lol) and, from the bad opinions I always read about, I was expecting some horrible and banal stuff. Instead I found it a nice blend of classic tropes that overally feels like an old adventure anime from the 80's/90's. I didn't have any particular expectations and I liked how the important revelations were gradually built (the 90% is obvious but still liked the execution) and how all the characters' arcs were concluded in the final part that is indeed long. The final CD is not just the final dungeon like some others. Regarding the battles... well, yes, the BS is kinda clunky and a bit slow. Let's say I appreciated the effort in proposing something "different" with the simple QTEs. It pleases me to read differing opinions in the comments, so thx!
@@soul71000 I would never hope in such things. The game has a kind of massive number of locations to recreate with modern graphics and the costs would be enormous. FF7 remake is just a unique case and it was teased (starting with the historical ps3 tech demo) for over a decade with a HUGE fanbase demanding it. TLOD never made such numbers.
As a kid, this was a very fun introduction to the fantasy genre. As an adult i can really appreciate how well thought out the fantasy writing for the game is. Clearly some real love was put into it when i still hear new theories being put out about the story 20 years later
Yeah the story has some great highlights.
It deserves a remake, prequel , live action movie and even an anime it deserves more than any cinematic universe in the world because of all the wonderful lore
Well there's a manga, did you check it?
@@BucolicInsights i knew about that these days everything with a manga gets an anime why not lod
I would be so down with all of that.
@@RemoWilliams1227 me too
My favourite PS1 game of all time. You just earned yourself a subscriber.
Hi, thanks!
this game was waaaay ahead of its time with voice acting and cinematic specials! this game needs a remaster asap!
voice acting was already commonplace on the PSone and PC by the time LoD came out.
Yeah, just saying: Grandia in 1997 (first on SEGA Saturn) had hundreds of voiced lines in battles and narrative segments.
@@BucolicInsights I’ve always heard of Gandia 1&2, I was given the choice between Grandia 2 or skies of Arcadia via Dreamcast. (Skies also being personal favorite of mine). Having said that I had no idea Grandia had voice acting. Would you think still holds up I am thinking about giving it a go?
@@nerdgoria3811 it's my favourite jrpg. The battle system is something beyond all others (the next games are a bit faster with some elements being simplified but still great), the story is for the most a light hearted adventure (it starts with a very juvenile premise and then become an epic journey beyond the edges of the known world, full of funny and bizarre people of all kinds). The writing is also superlative with long and articulated dialogues and great focus on the characters' relationships and growth. For the most is nothing that serious but the writers put a great effort in making the characters feel alive and believable in the way they speak and interact. The majority of jrpg I've played had for the most simplistic dialogues, but Grandia is much different. For example there are a miriad of sections where they rest and eat, and there are multiple dialogue options with many branches that enrich everything. The graphics vaunt immense full 3d environments with a bit of interactions in both settlements and dungeons, as well fantastic sprite animations.
To finish: the soundtrack is a fucking masterpiece (beautifully orchestrated with good sound quality) and the voice acting is ok and not unlisteanable like, well, valkyrie profile. Personally I found VP terrible to listen and had to download a romhack with the japanese dub.
Seriously, if you pass over the jeuvenile and light hearted part, it's an immense jrpg that feels a gen beyond its year of release for the immense production values.
Severed Chains Project has me reinvigorated to play this game again. As soon as they release the upscaled assets, i will be doing a full playthtough
Been listening to your review as I drive to and from work the last few days. Very fairly reviewed, and it made my trips to and from work enjoyable. I agree the 50 stardust is a bit much, I think on something like that there's no shame using a guide.
Thanks for your comment! I didn't imagine that my henglisch would, actually, be enjoyable to hear, lol.
Things like the 50 hidden stardusst, or similars in other games, were an excuse to buy strategy guides or magazines with tips and guides.
I may add this game to my backlog. I love the art, and it sounds like it is fairly good, although a bit standard
If you like the 32-bit era games this is a must.
It's well worth it. The dragoon system is incredible
Umm.. making fun of Italian translation, ok. Back in 2000 in Russian translation "Double Slash" was rendered as "Доивге Бгабм" (it's on youtube, btw). And that's not Russian, that's Double Slash written in half-cyrillics, because that's what you get when your 50h+ game in translated by random dudes in a basement in a rush to the print out 1000 bootleg copies of it because local kids won't buy anything in a foreign language... That said surprisingly they translated well enough to the point the plot (mostly) made sense. In retrospect I'm quite impressed, I've seen waaay worse.
The fact is that I'M italian and in the boards I frequented the first thing that came to mind to everyone was "it sounds funny!", especially Haschel that was terrible as hell.
Loved this game when I was a kid. I wish Sony would remake it.
A remake with modern graphics would not recreate the charming visuals of those hand painted backgrounds which are beautiful to look at. A remaster with some enhancements (avoiding ugly new poligonal models like they did with Squall in ff8's remaster...) would be enough but then I would suggest to play it with an emulator and apply filters and high resolution.
An user, in this comment section, talked about an unofficial remaster that looks very promising.
Edit: legendofdragoon.org/projects/severed-chains/
The story was as good as ff7 tbh i had both but the combat LOD was ahead of its time
This game looked incredible on a CRT TV back in the day
Yeah, the beauty of those backgrounds is undeniable!
I played this game on my PS5. The additions were a bit difficult, but the more I played the game, the more I've gotten the hang of it. I enjoyed the soundtrack, art style and story of Legend of Dragoon as it's sort of a mature JRPG story involving racism, slavery, mythology, war, politics and death. My favorite characters are Dart, Rose, Meru, Albert, Lavitz, Kongol and Haschel.
@@samflood5631 Basically all the main cast! I didn't like much Albert (just didn't click with me) and, infact, due to "that scene" which I only teased and not spoilered (I played a bit ambigous when I showed the concept arts) I even never mentioned him in the whole video, lol.
Regarding the story themes, I think the same as you. The themes of death, sacrifice, slavery and the mythology of its game world are very well treated.
i remember playing this game at one of my friends home because he had the pirated version, i played here and there parts of it but never finished, can't really say i remember any of the story exxcept some of the important events
Remember FIAMMÀTA.
It's really cool that the additions are in spoken in Italian. There is only European Spanish, no Latin American, and the additions are spoken in Japanese.
The italian additions are hilarious to hear and some are badly translated. It's much better to hear them in original japanese or english, believe me bro.
One of my favorite RPG of all time
I can fully understand now why its fanbase is so devoted.
You have an amazing collection! Id do anything to play xenogears suikoden 1 and 2 breath of fire 3 ark the lad ahh the list goes on! So jealous
During my teens I used to find many classics for a low price in the italian forums. 10-15 years ago it was very easy and accessible (then suddenly the prices for some games skyrocketed) tho, recently on ebay, I bought some interesting games for cheap such as Breath of Fire 3 (ntsc) from a german seller. The last week I finally could buy Lunar 2 for a decent price from another german guy... Damn I wanted that game for over a decade!
Xenogears was the first game I bought online from an italian website specialized on import games. I was very hyped by the fandom. I mean, playing xenogears was very elitarian back then, lol; also because it never arrived in Europe and was known just by few people which talked about it like the ultimate game LMAO. I'm talking about the 2004-2005 but, after some years, almost every jrpg player I knew also played it.
@BucolicInsights Luner 2 another amazing jrpg I remember it came with a cloth map. I lost everything I owned from my past in Hurricane Irean years ago but I did snag a ps1 and a memory card or 2 but with games like suikoden 2 over 400$ just to rich for my blood
Lunar 2 came with lot of things. It was like a collector (just like the first)! Tho the cloth map was included with the first. Lunar 2 has a simple paper map... And a fucking pendant that everyone lose for strange reasons. Luckily my copy is perfect without and signs of wearing.
I'm sorry for the hurricane, bro.
My favorite ps1 game, they should really do a remastered for the ps5.
Great video also, really enjoyed it.
Thank you. I, too, really enjoyed playing it.
Sei italiano? :D
Sì, sennò perchè pigliavo in giro lo storico doppiaggio italiano? lol.
Nei miei video ci sono ogni tanto riferimenti italiani come la storica rivista Giochi per il mio Computer (che sfoglio in riferimento a come conobbi il gioco recensito in questione), o la "speciale" intro che ho fatto per il video di Spore molti mesi fa.
@@BucolicInsights Si sentiva tanto dalla pronuncia.
Comunque per quanto riguarda The Legend of Dragoon, per quanto mi riguarda è un capolavoro assoluto molto di più di altri giochi sopravvalutati d'allora.
ottimo lavoro, ti consiglio se puoi, di far controllare gli script in lingua da qualcuno per correggere qualche errore di sintassi qua e la, continua così!
I finished the game recently without nostalgia glasses, the story is forgettable, the battle is not interesting
I started it without knowing anything of the story except "in this old game there are dudes who transform into stilish armored "dragoons" and perhaps they will save the world" (seriously, didn't even know the protagonist name, lol) and, from the bad opinions I always read about, I was expecting some horrible and banal stuff.
Instead I found it a nice blend of classic tropes that overally feels like an old adventure anime from the 80's/90's. I didn't have any particular expectations and I liked how the important revelations were gradually built (the 90% is obvious but still liked the execution) and how all the characters' arcs were concluded in the final part that is indeed long. The final CD is not just the final dungeon like some others.
Regarding the battles... well, yes, the BS is kinda clunky and a bit slow. Let's say I appreciated the effort in proposing something "different" with the simple QTEs.
It pleases me to read differing opinions in the comments, so thx!
This game sucked.
Nah, t'was fairly good. Not a masterpiece, not bad.
@@BucolicInsightsA remake could make it even better.
@@soul71000 I would never hope in such things. The game has a kind of massive number of locations to recreate with modern graphics and the costs would be enormous. FF7 remake is just a unique case and it was teased (starting with the historical ps3 tech demo) for over a decade with a HUGE fanbase demanding it. TLOD never made such numbers.
@@BucolicInsights 7 remake project was done dirty.