The Legend of Legaia
|
| Published for the Sony Playstation in North America on March 16, 1999 by Sony Computer Entertainment, and developed by Prokion and Contrail, The Legend of Legaia is a JRPG set in a mysterious, mist-covered world. |
My cousin, Joe, graduated high school in my favorite year, 1999. I was supposed to graduate with him, but I got held back long before, and had to wait an extra year. A few years before he graduated, Joe sold me his Nintendo 64, so that he could use the money to buy a Playstation. Since Joe had graduated, his summer started a few weeks before mine, and maybe as a graduation present, someone had bought him the PS1 JRPG, The Legend of Legaia. The only problem, though: Joe had never played a game like this before. At this point, I should mention that Joe and I were next-door neighbors from birth till he left that fall for college, and then we were essentially neighbors again when I moved to the LSU campus when I graduated the next year. Plenty of days growing up, if Joe or I got bored, we'd just wander over to the other's house. I wandered over to his house after I'd gotten out of school during his first week of being a high school graduate, and he was playing Legaia for the first time.
"How do you kill something in this game?" he asked. "Why can't I see them until they're attacking me?"
"Joe," I said. "This is an RPG."
|
| This...is a menu screen |
I'd loved RPG's on my SNES, but my beloved Nintendo 64 didn't exactly have a vast field of RPG's to choose from...it had barely a suburban backyard, if that. Because of this, I'd nearly forgotten RPG's existed. I immediately gushed to Joe about how great the genre was, explaining how fights worked, how great the music in a JRPG was, and generally geeking out, as he played through the first couple of hours of the game. When I came back a few days later, he was playing Tekken 3 instead, so I guess RPG's weren't for Joe. However, my love for RPG's had been reawakened, and I dove back into the genre, having to use SNES emulators because I'd sold mine to get the N64, but playing games I missed the first time through. Because of this, later that year, I eventually experienced my favorite game of all time, Chrono Trigger. I eventually bought another SNES, and a bunch of the games I'd emulated, including Chrono Trigger...but what happened to The Legend of Legaia? Well, eventually, one day, when it was far back in Sony's rearview, I bought a Playstation. And at some point, I remembered The Legend of Legaia. Now, 22 years after first experiencing it in Joe's den, I've finally played through The Legend of Legaia. Time to give the game that reignited my love for RPG's all those years ago its due.
|
| Neither will I again abandon my precious RPG's! |
You can tell a lot about a PS1 RPG from its opening minutes. After The Legend of Legaia's opening FMV cinematic, the scrolling text of the story, and the opening gameplay sequence, you can tell that this is a mid-budget game, made with care. That opening cinema FMV looks good; not Final Fantasy good, but it gets the job done. Overall, in addition to the opening cinema, this game features maybe two to three minutes of FMV, generally involving something grand-scale happening in the game's overworld map. Yes, this is considerably less Full Motion Video than the amount generally featured in PS1's high-budget RPG's, but at the end of the day, it's gameplay, characters, story, and setting that makes a game.
|
| It's not like there's any gameplay featured inside PS1 FMV's anyway! |
The Legend of Legaia takes place in a world covered by dangerous mist. However, a Genesis Tree can hold the mist at bay, and several towns still thrive, thanks to the Tree's power. Other towns aren't so lucky, and the mist has turned their residents into mindless monsters. You take on the role of teenager, Vahn, who lives in the sleepy, peaceful town of Rim Elm. The game immediately shows depth in the way it establishes Vahn's relationships with his family and the other town members, who all live with the dark and mysterious mist threatening at their doorstep. It turns out the mist appeared without warning several decades before, and friends and family members have been cutoff from one another, with no knowledge of each other's well-being.
|
| Pictured: The most Legend of Legaia image possible. |
Mystical beings called Seru are also involved, and yes, like in many RPG's, the plot here becomes quite complicated, but to Legend of Legaia's credit, never quite too complicated. I always felt like I had at least some idea of what was going on, but most importantly, I fully understood what was going on with the specific characters, what they wanted, and what they feared. This makes keeping a connection with the plot easy, even when it gets a little crazy. Thankfully, the game's main goals are very clear: travel through the mist fighting monsters, reach a new destination, and free that destination from the mist. Along the journey, Vahn meets two new characters who join his party, Noah and Gala. These two might not vary too much in ability from Vahn, but they do both have very distinct personalities and unique storylines that I quite enjoyed.
|
| I love this little trio |
At this service of this gameplay are solid graphics, featuring the kind of pixelated, rudimentary 3D the original Playstation was famous for. The main character models are actually pretty pleasant on the eyes, and enemies, though not composed of a vast amount of polygons, actually feature some pretty cool, imaginative designs. The environments are varied, a tribute to the natural world, and some of the latter towns in the game even feature a pretty cool film noir atmosphere--really, heavy atmosphere is the name of the game here (EDITOR'S NOTE: The name of this game is actually The Legend of Legaia). Again, the game doesn't quite approach the graphical detail of a high-budget PS1 RPG, but the visuals here are certainly not bad, whether coming from an isometric perspective during the lower-detailed overworld exploration or higher-detailed town interaction segments, or from an over-the-shoulder view during the game's battles.
|
| They may be jagged and pixelated, but it's tough to say these fights don't look cool...hey, just like me! |
As far as sound goes, everything is spot-on. I have a particular soft-spot for the mysterious atmosphere of the world music influenced, percussion-heavy soundtrack. For a game featuring a land shrouded in mist, Michiru Ōshima's composing work here almost always hits the mark. Characters speak in text-only during the story portions of the game, but during fights, they're fully voice-acted, shouting out the names of their moves, and yelling at their foes in full Japanese. It's nutso, and I love it. The voice-acting works perfectly, and considering the amount of fighting you have to do in this game, it's a miracle that it never ever gets old. But as for the fighting itself...
|
| Really, how could you be utilizing a set of fighting moves that are referred to as "HYPER ARTS" without yelling hysterically? |
If you've played more than a handful of RPG's you know what often crops up as a flaw--grinding. As you traverse an RPG's world, you generally face more and more powerful enemies. In order to be able to stand a chance against those enemies, you've got to level up your characters. Some games nail the balance perfectly, to where, if you're at least fighting a decent, reasonable amount, you can progress through a game without having to continuously backtrack and partake in extra fights in order to level up more. Unfortunately, The Legend of Legaia doesn't get that balance right. This could have easily been a very good 25-35 hour game. Instead, it is a solid, but at times tedious 50 hour one.
|
| Great, time to fight!...again... |
The Legend of Legaia incorporates a gameplay technique called "random battles," which features into most RPG's that don't start with "Chrono" in the title. This means that, while you're walking around a screen where all you can see is yourself and the environment, the screen will suddenly dissolve/shatter as the game takes you to a battle screen, where you fight enemies in a turn-based battle. Maybe Chrono Trigger spoiled me all those years ago (in Chrono Trigger, you can see your enemies and generally choose whether or not you want to fight them), but I dislike random battles on principle. I just want to get from one place to another while listening to some great overworld music, and I don't want to be interrupted every 3-5 seconds. Unfortunately, that's about how often your traveling will be interrupted in Legend of Legaia.
|
| I just want to walk the misty void alone for a second, okay!!! |
With the large size of the overworld, and the slow speed in which Vahn traverses it (thankfully, he can around in a town or dungeon environment),you're just fighting, fighting, fighting over and over again. Unfortunately, despite this constant fighting, you've still got to purposely wander back-and-forth on the map to fight EVEN MORE in order to be strong enough to face some of this game's ridiculously over-powered bosses. This gets old very fast. In fact, this element of the game would be unbearable, if not for the fun of the fighting system itself.
|
| Pictured: A rare moment of not fighting. |
The Legend of Legaia's three protagonists generally attack with either physical or magical moves. Magic moves are stolen (and permanently kept) from enemies, and aren't unique to any particular character. You randomly steal it and then it's yours to use, though few magical moves are overtly powerful, and the magic meter runs out quickly and can only be replenished with an item, or by sleeping at an Inn. I mostly just used magic to heal my party. Magic attacks are animated in an amusingly over-the-top manner, though, so they're almost worth performing just for that.
The lion's share of my fighting was done through the game's extremely cool
physical attack system. Here, you line up a combo of different kicks and
punches. Eventually, you start to learn some awesome, character-unique special
combos. These are fueled by a meter that can be filled either by just landing
normal blows on enemies, or by using a turn to charge. When you charge, you
also temporarily raise your defense/blocking abilities. Charging and then
unleashing hellish combos on your enemies is the way to go, and as the amount
of moves you can unleash in a turn goes up throughout the game, a lot of fun
strategy can be incorporated here. I just wish I didn't have to incorporate
those strategies roughly five million times throughout the game. Again, you've
just go to fight too much.
|
| But at least there's fishing |
As far as other details go, The Legend of Legaia gets a lot right. You've got your basic treasure chests hidden around containing items, armor, and weapons. There are also item, armor, and weapon stores around town, and thankfully, the developers ensured that the money you receive from killing enemies is doled out so that you can usually afford some, but not all of the goodies at the store of a first visited town. You can also run up to shelves in peoples' houses and tap the action button to maybe swipe some hidden goodies. A detail I very much appreciate here is the way each new piece of armor or clothing you equip changes your characters' appearance during a fight--something that wasn't done in every game this era. There are also games within the game. For instance, eventually you can find a pole and lure to fish some of the game's scattered waterways. The fishing mini-game isn't the most fun you can have with a controller (it doesn't even come close to the fun of the fishing from Ocarina of Time, released the year before), but you can pick up some special items by catching enough fish. There's also a slot machine mini-game, and a rudimentary 2D fighting game among others. While the quality of the mini-games vary, it's extremely cool that the developers attempted to add so much value to their game.
|
| "This game isn't addictive enough? Let's add gambling!" |
Not all of the details are great. You can only save at select spots around the game, and while thankfully those spots are liberally scattered throughout, there are a few long deserts without one. I also wish the game introduced its fast-travel mechanic a little earlier in. It takes several hours to get, and once you do, it comes in the form of an item you must buy. I was probably over halfway in til I had a comfortable amount of funds to purchase the fast travel item whenever I wanted. Considering the vastness of the game's world, as well as how long it takes to get anywhere because of all the random battles, I wish fast travel was a little easier. I should also call out the difficulty spikes in this game. For certain stretches, you'll be winning battles handily. Then you'll suddenly come across a boss who seems capable of wiping out your entire party in one turn. This means you'll not only spend more time grinding, but trying to figure out which accessories your characters should wear to be better defended against that bosses attacks...which again stretches the game's length out.
|
| "We put our best scientists on it, but we just can't figure out any way to make this game shorter." |
While it will always hold sentimental appeal, I am frustrated that The Legend of Legaia chose to utilize certain gameplay elements to stretch its gameplay length. A concise, perfectly paced version of this game could have been great. Instead, this 1999 JRPG is merely good. I enjoyed playing it, but I also started finding myself making sure I had something else to do while traversing the overworld, as fights just started to turn into me zoning out, while my muscle memory tapped out the same button combinations again and again. The game does a great job of worldbuilding, does justice to its characters (there are even multiple endings based on dialogue choices!), features great music and an enjoyable battle system, but also just can't get out of its own way at times. I love The Legend of Legaia more as a symbol, for pointing me toward better games, than I do as an actual gameplay experience...but I do love it.
 |
| And what a view |
Comments
Post a Comment