I'm sure all of us know it well: when your favorite gaming computer or console crashes, and your long laundry list of games to play suddenly dries up. However, there's that phrase about when a door closes, a window opens, and I went diving through it. I'm certainly not going to be doing any great gaming on the glorified tablet I'm currently working with, so I took the opportunity to dig out some old favorites and remember what made them so great.
The Legend of Dragoon is a JRPG developed and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was released in 1999, five years after Final Fantasy VII amazed the Western world and the genre’s popularity exploded. Though it never achieved the fame or renown of the Final Fantasy series, The Legend of Dragoon has fans that are every bit as devoted, and for good reason. This game really has it all: Heroes, monsters, dragons, giants, a fair maiden, a wicked king – and that’s just the first disc!
If the above list read like a stereotypical fairy tale, it’s because the first disc sort of is. You set out to avenge your family, rescue your closest friend / potential love interest, and overthrow the evil Emperor Diaz. Pretty standard stuff, but playing through it again reminded me why these stories are so common; because they work.
It had been long enough since my last playthrough that I remembered the key plot points, but most of the details were hazy. So, when I started a new game and was thrown into the middle of a village under attack, The Legend of Dragoon recaptured my attention and didn’t let it go. Using that fairy-tale story as a launching point, it goes into a story involving an ancient war whose effects are still being felt, legendary heroes and monsters, and the myth of a god who will return to lead the world into paradise.
Dart channels the power of the Red-Eyed Dragon to become a mighty Dragoon warrior.
The characters are varied and sometimes mix like oil and water, and yet they work. Each character is well-developed, each has his or her own motivations for going on the journey and, more often than not, a secret buried underneath that ties into the overall plot. The main protagonist is Dart, a young swordsman returning from a failed quest to find and kill the Black Monster, who destroyed his village when he was a child. He sets out again to rescue Shana, his childhood friend. Far from a typical damsel in distress, Shana is a strong fighter in her own right, and she occasionally exhibits a strange and frightening power. Along the way Dart meets a variety of allies and enemies including a noble knight named Lavitz, his king, Albert, a mysterious woman named Rose who knows far more than she should, an evil emperor, and this magnificent bastard:
Sephiroth, you got a haircut!
In many ways, Legend of Dragoon could be seen as building on what Final Fantasy VII introduced: It takes advantage of the Playstation’s graphics to create an epic world with memorable enemies. Combat animations are impressive, if occasionally a bit lengthy (though not on the level of Knights of the Round or, gods help us, Supernova). Legend of Dragoon also plays with the Playstation’s 3D capabilities outside of combat, as in the Valley of Corrupted Gravity where you often find yourself running around upside-down or sideways and moving between various levels. The magic system is admittedly much more limited than Final Fantasy ’s, apparently kept to a minimum in favor of physical combat, which is itself pretty cool.
Anyone who’s played Legend of the Seven Stars , or any of the other Mario RPGs, will remember that you can make your attacks stronger with properly timed button presses. Legend of Dragoon uses a similar mechanic, but takes it a step farther. Your basic attacks are quite weak, but you can chain them together into special combos that are unique to each character, to devastating effect. As you progress, the combos you can use become longer and more difficult to pull off, but also much stronger. I find that the interactive combat makes it a more immersive experience.
Press X just as the boxes meet to continue the combo. An early version of quick-time events?
Overall, while this game may not offer much that fans of JRPGs haven’t seen before, it's an excellent example of the genre. There’s a reason that, when I found myself unable to play all of my shiny new games on the PC, The Legend of Dragoon immediately jumped to the front of my mind. The characters are compelling, the story is epic in scope and quite frankly fascinating, and I was pleased to find that unlike some other games of that era, it has withstood the years well.
I said before that The Legend of Dragoon has fans that are as loyal and devoted as any Final Fantasy fan. In fact, even to this day there are people petitioning for a sequel, though sadly hopes are not high at this point. The loss of my computer gave me a chance to remember why a game like this is still so highly regarded, and looked back at so fondly. If you haven't tried this game, or even if it’s just one that you haven’t played in a few years, I highly suggest picking it up and reliving the glory days of the Dragoons.
