Legend of Heroes is a very old-school, story-driven and underrated PSP game. It's definitely worth the play.
Legend of Heroes is very old-school. It's good ol' FFVI-ish single-player RPG. The battles are turn-based, yet offer some kind of depth due to the importance of where your character is positioned (which reminds me of some SRPG, at a smaller scale). You can do the melee attacks and just play through the game pressing the X button all the time, but if you the time to use different spells and skills to exploit the enemy's weakness, combat will be a much more enjoyable experience. The battles aren't randomly generated, you can actually see the monsters and decide if you want to fight them or not. The monsters actually are aggressive and charge at you if they think they have a chance. If you're too powerful for them, they'll just avoid you and run away. That's pretty cool to walk around and see you're feared by the entire animal kingdom, who wanted to kill you an hour ago. There are also forgettable mini-games (one roulette game can give you loads of money really easily though). It's basically something you've already seen, not bad, not new either.
Controlling your character in a town can be tough though, because the game doesn't let you get stuck into an object, it'll push you aside and allow you to move on, which is nice when you try to get from one town to another quickly, but struggling to face a treasure chest just to open it? C'mon, I have ass to kick, give me that potion already! Oh, you also get a pet that follows you through the whole game, he finds items on the ground for you, but you'll just end up having difficulty facing him to be able to take the damn item. And on some rare occasions, he'll even get in your way and block you while you're running for your life from a baddie with no potions, no magic and 5HP left.
But all that doesn't really matter, because the game forgives you. It is indeed an easy game; I didn't die once through the whole game. Those "Deadly" attacks really kick butt…ouch. The game is made even easier by the fact you can save everywhere, unless you're into some dialogue or some combat sequence.
Story :
*Risk of SPOILERS ahead*
Now the game shines most with its storyline. LoH is one of the best story-driven RPG I've seen on the PSP. It made me want to play it from start to finish and coming back for more. It really grows on you. Even after fighting the final boss, the ending is pretty awesome, definitely something I'll remember, unlike most RPGs out there. Epic. There's just something awesome about going on a journey to save your dear sister to end up kicking a God's butt, saving your best friend from the kingdom of death and marrying a hot girl who used to be an assassin.
I found the characters to be really attaching, they each had a strong personality and all got related at one point in the game's countless hours of gameplay. There is around 14 playable characters and they all play an important role.
Graphics:
This game surely isn't hard on the system; the graphics are really simple, but effective. The character sprites are super cute and the cell-shaded art during dialogue parts is stunning. I encountered slowdowns during some of the dialogue later in the game, but it's barely noticeable and doesn't affect gameplay. The magic attacks look good, especially the summoning spells, none of them are too long, unlike in some other RPGs. *coughFFcough*
Sound:
Great soundtrack, I actually wanted to listen to the game's music, I wish there was a place in the menu you could listen to the tunes by themselves. But I guess that's ok, the music fits the gameplay and yada-yada-yada, it's just plain ol' classic RPG-style music.
Value:
Ok, I got this game new for 20 bucks a few weeks ago, it's an old game (2005), but it'll keep you occupied for a few dozen hours (it does say "50 hours of gameplay" on the back of the game case, but it probably takes less, but who knows! No in-game clock!). You can play it in short bursts due to the save-friendly gameplay and it will give you incredible story telling. I'm proud to say I do not regret any penny spent on this one.