Backstory: My relationship with The Legend of Dragoon is a strange one. I was eight years old when it came out, but I didn't actually play it until a few years later. I remember going to Wal-Mart with my mom frequently when I was that age, and I'd always wander over to the electronics section at some point and stare at the video games locked away in the glass cases. This was a time before I knew much about video games, and I definitely had no way of researching or reading about them prior to holding the actual game case in my hands, so I would just stare at the cover art of the various titles and judge their value based on how cool they looked. I remember The Legend of Dragoon always standing out; something about the main protagonists spread out on the front cover wearing badass armor with wings resonated with me, and I knew it would be a game that I'd have to play some day. Finally, the day arrived when my mom and I went to Wal-Mart and she informed me that I could pick out one video game to buy, and I knew before we ever walked into the store which one it would be. It's strange to think about now because I had probably stared at the cover of The Legend of Dragoon for a combined total of a dozen hours or so up to this point without actually playing it, and the day that I finally got to bring it home I discovered that it was absolutely time well spent.
Review: The Legend of Dragoon stands out as a unique entry in the SCE Japan library, as it marks the studio's first foray into the realm of turn-based style Japanese RPGs. While the game could be seen as rough around the edges in some aspects, it does so many things right as an initial entry into a potential blockbuster series that many consider it to be one of the only worthy competitors to RPG series juggernaut Final Fantasy during the PS1 era. Strangely enough, Sony seems to have all but abandoned the Legend of Dragoon IP and fifteen years later, there are still no hints of a possible revitalization of the brand. Regardless, The Legend of Dragoon stands out as an excellent PlayStation exclusive guaranteed to hit the sweet spot for all turn-based role playing game fans.
The game starts out with a strong sense of urgency: the player is introduced to the main protagonist Dart as he is returning home from an adventure and then suddenly finds himself being chased through a forest by a giant green dragon, luckily encountering a mysterious woman along the way who saves him. Once he makes his way back to his village of Seles, he discovers that it has been burned to the ground and he immediately goes on the offensive against the remaining raiders. The first time combat triggers, players are greeted with the game's unique Addition battle system which involves timed button presses in order to execute powerful combos, something that forgoes the mainstay menu system used by most turn-based RPGs. The system is solid, if a bit repetitive, and keeps the player engaged during combat as it requires more and more precision as the game goes on and the Additions become longer and more complicated. Additions are used in every single battle from the start of the game through the end, which can exceed sixty hours of playtime, and despite my personal enjoyment of the combat system I can definitely see people becoming frustrated with it, especially if they prefer the more traditional "attack," "guard," and "skill" menu choices found in most traditional turn-based games.
As the game progresses, a wide variety of playable characters are introduced, nine in total. However, the player's main party is limited to three at a time and the total number of characters to choose from never exceeds seven. I found the characters to all be likable in their own way, and the way in which they grow and interact with one another throughout the course of the game shows that a lot of love and attention to detail went into crafting each one of them. The storyline within the game is also remarkable and well-polished, as the player begins the game on a rescue mission that evolves into putting an end to a war between nations followed by a manhunt across several countries in order to save the entire world. Themes such as love, hate, revenge, racism, religion, and loss are all touched upon in a meaningful way, and the writing staff who brought the world of Endiness to life deserve nothing but praise for it. However, at times the dialogue can be cheesy, a bit odd, or not make sense at all, which is something that is most likely attributed to poor translation from the default Japanese dialogue to western languages. These moments are rare, but when they occur it is slightly jarring and downright laughable at times, which can take away some of the impact from an emotional or mature scene.
As far as graphics go, The Legend of Dragoon is a bit of a mixed bag. It suffers from what plagues many early 3D games, and that is that character models on the original PlayStation just don't look very good. While the pre-rendered 3D backgrounds of towns and cities within the field map can be absolutely gorgeous and the very few cinematic cutscenes are great, the character models and backgrounds on display during battles simply don't pack the same punch. Some of the battle animations and effects are epic and outstanding for sure, but there are most certainly games from the PS1 era that hold up much better graphically than The Legend of Dragoon does.
Another detriment to the game is the Dragoon transformation mechanic. Early on on the first of the four disks of the game players are given the ability to utilize spirits of dead dragons in order to turn their characters into half-human, half-dragon hybrids called Dragoons that are considered to be legendary warriors capable of defeating powerful magical foes. As a part of the story, the Dragoon transformations are the power our heroes utilize in order to give them the edge in battle and overcome evil to ultimately save the world, which is well fleshed-out story arc with rich history and depth that provides a fresh take on the traditional "ordinary men and women with extraordinary powers" cliche. However, as a gameplay mechanic, the Dragoon transformations are underwhelming at best. Each character can only transform for one turn at a time to start, and while transformed they receive a boost to their attack, defense, as well as the ability to use a small number of magical spells. The Dragoon levels can be raised to a maximum of five, meaning that each character can stay in their hybrid form for that many turns, but most enemies can be defeated without transforming at all. So while the transformations look awesome, as a whole they aren't used for much more than looking cool temporarily in battle, which is a shame because the story describes them as legendary warriors capable of defeating the strongest foes in the world.
As I mentioned before, most enemies in the game can be defeated without transforming into the characters' more powerful forms, which is largely in part due to the fact that the game isn't all that challenging. There are a few side quests toward the very end of the game that require the right mix of strategy and high levels, but aside from those few the player won't generally struggle with the game as long as they move through it at a normal pace, buy all the available armor and weapons in each new town or city, and repeat. It's my understanding that the difficulty of the game was scaled down when it was released in North America a year after it had come out in Japan, and this may be the cause of why the game feels so easy. Perhaps if the difficulty level had not been tampered with, the Dragoon transformations and certain combat items within the game that feel somewhat useless would have more of a purpose. Unfortunately I don't have access to a Japanese copy of the game to test that theory, but it seems as if some critical mechanics within the game were severely handicapped by reducing the overall difficulty of it.
It may seem like I'm describing The Legend of Dragoon negatively overall, but in fact I love the game. I've played through its entirety a handful of times, and I don't think I could truthfully ever get tired of it. I'm critical of it because I know that there are a lot of aspects to it that could have been improved upon in sequels or other iterations of the game, but the fact that Sony has let it fade away into obscurity seems almost like a waste. All in all, the game is amazing and I would highly recommend it to anyone who has any interest in experiencing one of the best stories ever told in a video game. It's just familiar enough to RPG fans with its turn-based style, text based dialogue, dungeons, random encounters, and loot, but different enough to stand out on its own as one of the best RPGs to date without a Square Enix logo on the front cover.
Why you should play: The story. Hands down the story is the best part of The Legend of Dragoon. Characters are well fleshed out, the world feels alive, and it makes you love the good guys and hate the bad guys. Additionally, the combat is fun, the enemies are diverse, and there is a wide variety of locations to explore and adventure to find.
Why you shouldn't play: If you don't like turn-based RPGs you won't like The Legend of Dragoon. Even if you do like turn-based RPGs, the Addition combat system may turn you off due to its demand on you to pay attention and learn its various patterns. The game isn't the prettiest on the PS1, and it may be hard to take the story seriously due to some bad dialogue translations at times.