RPG Retrospective #1: Legend of Legaia (PS1)
This is a weekly series I will start doing where I reminisce on older RPGs that you may have missed out on, or to discuss it if you have had the pleasure of playing them.
This week, I offer up a great game that may have gone overlooked at the time. Published by Sony in early 1999 for the American citizens, Legend of Legaia offered a ton of unique features that made it different from most RPGs that had been released at the time. Hell, it still has some that have yet to be duplicated (except by its still fun, yet inferior, sequel.)
In this game, you star as three characters with unique identities who are trying to rid the world of an evil mist that is turning people into monsters. You go around clearing out mist generating dungeons controlled by evil bosses, in addition to the usual menial tasks that all RPGs tend to have you do. The storyline is nothing remarkable, but has a certain charm to it that has to be respected and appreciated.
The best part about this game, no doubt, was the innovative battle system. In this, you get four commands to choose from if you wish to attack. By chaining directional buttons (up, left, right, down) in a certain order, you could perform "art moves", flashy moves that will do more damage than your standard attacks. Later on in the game, you will get powerful moves like super arts and the insanely awesome miracle arts, which chain all your art moves together and finishes it off with a powerful finishing move.
Very unique to the genre as well was the way you earned magic. Sometimes you will encounter an enemy known as a seru, and you have to "absorb" the enemy by killing it in a specific way. It's not definite, but it's a good idea to kill it without overkilling it. The closer you can come to killing it without dealing it a death blow, the better chances you have of absorbing it. I liked this aspect because it made an otherwise tedious process at least seem interesting. Better than drawing 100 fire spells from a bug, anyways.
The battle system was definitely like a fighting game, and accompanying it was a rocking battle theme that never got annoying. Hell, most of the game's music was totally awesome.
Title Screen
Rim Elm
Battle
Boss Battle
Light of the Town
Wanna Wanna
My favorite song in the game:
Songi Boss Battle
Here's a video of an early boss battle in the game, to give you an idea of how battles work:
Cerebran Boss Battle
If you have not played this game, I strongly suggest doing so, as it's one of my favorite games ever made.
Next week: I wonder why it's got Star in the name if you barely go to space..
This week, I offer up a great game that may have gone overlooked at the time. Published by Sony in early 1999 for the American citizens, Legend of Legaia offered a ton of unique features that made it different from most RPGs that had been released at the time. Hell, it still has some that have yet to be duplicated (except by its still fun, yet inferior, sequel.)
In this game, you star as three characters with unique identities who are trying to rid the world of an evil mist that is turning people into monsters. You go around clearing out mist generating dungeons controlled by evil bosses, in addition to the usual menial tasks that all RPGs tend to have you do. The storyline is nothing remarkable, but has a certain charm to it that has to be respected and appreciated.
The best part about this game, no doubt, was the innovative battle system. In this, you get four commands to choose from if you wish to attack. By chaining directional buttons (up, left, right, down) in a certain order, you could perform "art moves", flashy moves that will do more damage than your standard attacks. Later on in the game, you will get powerful moves like super arts and the insanely awesome miracle arts, which chain all your art moves together and finishes it off with a powerful finishing move.
Very unique to the genre as well was the way you earned magic. Sometimes you will encounter an enemy known as a seru, and you have to "absorb" the enemy by killing it in a specific way. It's not definite, but it's a good idea to kill it without overkilling it. The closer you can come to killing it without dealing it a death blow, the better chances you have of absorbing it. I liked this aspect because it made an otherwise tedious process at least seem interesting. Better than drawing 100 fire spells from a bug, anyways.
The battle system was definitely like a fighting game, and accompanying it was a rocking battle theme that never got annoying. Hell, most of the game's music was totally awesome.
Title Screen
Rim Elm
Battle
Boss Battle
Light of the Town
Wanna Wanna
My favorite song in the game:
Songi Boss Battle
Here's a video of an early boss battle in the game, to give you an idea of how battles work:
Cerebran Boss Battle
If you have not played this game, I strongly suggest doing so, as it's one of my favorite games ever made.
Next week: I wonder why it's got Star in the name if you barely go to space..