Developer: Japan Studio
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Platform: PS1

It was the turn of the millennium & the golden age of Japanese RPGs was still in full swing. Final Fantasy was still enjoying its place at the top but many Playstation fans of the time remember The Legend of Dragoon to be one of the biggest contenders to the throne. Having never played the game myself I felt it was time to go back and see if this game by Sony’s own Japan Studio could hold a candle to the much loved Squaresoft.

The Legend of Dragoon is a 4 disk epic adventure taking place across multiple islands on the Endiness archipelago which is home to an array of different cultures. The game begins as many other JRPGs of its time do, with an epic CGI cutsene which initially paints a much darker tone similar to the later Shadow Hearts series developed by Sacnoth. A civil war is in full swing on the island of Serdio just as Dart, the main protagonist, returns to his village after a mysterious 5 year journey. Dart is caught up in the unfolding events of the game due to his childhood friend Shana who has been kidnapped due to a strange power she seems to hold.

If this all seems immediately familiar to you it’s because The Legend of Dragoon has no shame when it comes to using every JRPG story trope in the book. It's harsh to judge the story and characters right off the bat because of the atrocious translation of the Western version but they really are laughably poorly written. Characters who have just met describe themselves as “best friends”. The male characters are constantly telling the female characters to “stay back” so they can be protected despite them being just as good at fighting. Perhaps worst of all is the relationship between Dart and Shana which everyone in the party will awkwardly not shut up about. Dart sees Shana as his little sister but she is openly infatuated with him. The writers found this generic element of the story so important that they will break in the middle of an otherwise tense scene for everyone to remark about how cute Shana is as if that was the most pressing issue when we’re in the middle of a civil war.

When the game is not bogging itself down with Japanese tropes though there's actually a fairly well realised world to be discovered with many different & interesting cultures. Walking around, talking to NPCs is a great way to learn more about The Legend of Dragoon’s surprisingly deep lore which according to the characters of the game has a ridiculous 11000 years of recorded history. Each area of the game has a unique feel to it due in large part to its intricate world design delivered through pre-rendered backgrounds. The environments are not only vibrant in their colour pallete but many little details are rendered on top like birds flying past in the distance or small creatures that scuttle away as you approach.

The Legend of Dragoon has a turn based combat system which at first seems nothing special. At the beginning of the game it seems your only option is to perform a basic physical attack requiring a timed button press which allows for multiple hit combos. Different combo attacks are unlocked as the character levels up with varying difficulty in terms of timing. There are also enemy counter-attacks to contend with, occasionally the UI will turn red which means that the player must press circle instead of cross to continue the attack, failing this, the character will be damaged and unable to continue the combo. Again, similar to the Shadow Hearts series action mechanic in an otherwise turn based system. This keeps the battles tense & adds a bit of skill to an otherwise tried & true formula.

Characters soon gain special abilities allowing them to transform in to the titular Dragoons. This powered up form is capable of dealing massive damage as long as you can bypass another timing based mechanic. Each successful press powers up these attacks beyond any other move in the game but Dragoons also have magic attacks which if used in the right moment can turn the tide of battle with status effects or healing.

The best thing about The Legend of Dragoon’s combat system though is actually how it looks. Japan Studio went all out on explosive magic effects & bombastic attack animations. When characters transform in to their dragoon forms they do so in style & even watching some of the crazy enemy attacks that often last far longer than they should is just too fun to complain about. There's also the fantastic enemy design which could be a third comparison to Shadow Hearts. Most of the designs have some sort of creepy, other-worldliness to them & it does wonders for the atmosphere of the game.   

Unfortunately it's hard to praise the combat and levelling system as having much, if any tactical depth. The majority of the game is an endless loop of attacking, building up enough points to change to Dragoon form and repeat, only breaking to heal when low on HP. Because basic healing items heal 50% of your max HP, continuing this loop will never pose much trouble unless you actually run out of them. There are some options to use items which pretty much replace the standard magic attacks you’d find in other JRPGs, these items can be downright overpowered if used against the opposing magical element & utilising something similar to Final Fantasy VIII’s ‘boost’ mechanic (rapidly pressing a button to increase the power of the attack.) The incredibly harsh 32 item inventory limit however, mostly makes these a burden that you'd be better off without to make room for more healing items. This also has the unfortunate side effect of making searching for treasure chests around the otherwise intriguing environments a bit of a waste of time. The game seems to have a habit of giving out exactly 20 gold (a trivial amount) in a huge amount of its chests. The only thing that is exciting to stumble upon are the 50 unique pieces of stardust which unlock one of a kind items & once you collect them all, give access to The Legend of Dragoon’s secret boss battle. A huge problem these types of collectibles have in other RPGs are being ‘missable’ in some capacity, but thankfully all important areas of the game are accessible at a certain point so you can hunt down every last one.

Boss battles are an important and regularly occurring part of The Legend of Dragoon. Most bosses have some sort of catch or tactic you need to be aware of. If you fail to complete a combo on a certain boss for instance he will immediately use a powerful counter attack, but other than these small gimmicks it's hard to find any reason or option to break away from the repetitious attacking. The difficulty of the game reportedly had to be toned down from the Japanese version & I can certainly see why. Without many tactical options open to the player, the only option to progress past a tricky boss is to grind but regular fights seem to only give a small amount of experience points.

There’s also a huge imbalance between the player characters themselves for the majority of the game. Shana is not only the weakest character in general but has time out of the party early on making her under-levelled to boot. She is the only character that cannot perform combos, meaning other characters do several times more damage. Perhaps the biggest misstep is that her Dragoon form does not have a special attack either, she transforms, does a regular attack that does the exact same damage and...that's it, a complete waste of time.

In my opinion there is only really one lineup worth joining with Dart throughout the entire game, not least of all because you can get them to a higher level earlier than anyone else. Rose has a magic attack that drains a huge amount of health from enemies to heal the entire party (though this does become weak towards the end of the game for no real reason) and Albert has the highest potential damage output of any character just with his standard physical attack “gust of wind dance”. In fact, on disk 2 I was able to beat an otherwise prominent boss without even needing Dragoon form using this lineup. With just a few tweaks, this unique battle system could have rivalled the best of the best but in the end it holds so many flaws that the more you learn how it works, the more you wonder why it couldn’t have been more balanced.

The Legend of Dragoon wears its influences on its sleeve when it comes to minigames & has an area entirely dedicated to them similar to Final Fantasy VII’s Gold Saucer (only much less extravagant & far more seedy) Just like in FFVII there’s a scene where the party decides they need some downtime, only here it comes when they’ve just promised to end a civil war as soon as they possibly can. The funniest minigame comes later in another bit of downtime when a ship’s chef challenges you to a vegetable chopping match but all the minigames are a welcome feature & manage to steer clear of outright copying despite clear inspirations.

Last but not least, there’s the music which in terms of composition is as you would expect from an RPG of this type. It’s catchy melodies immediately ingrain themselves in your head & fill you with nostalgia for the PS1 era. The battle themes are intense but don’t intrude on the concentration sometimes needed to time the various attacks. The game takes an interesting choice to use musical themes for shops or the menu, rather than using 1 track for each area of the game which can sometimes cause irritating re-starts but then in other areas it excels, such as the victory themes which were written to match up with the specific battle theme that was playing.  

The Legend of Dragoon is a tough game to critique. It has hilariously bad moments, then sometimes just bad moments. It also has some really intriguing or sometimes impactful moments. You might be utterly baffled at it one minute then the next you just can’t seem to put it down. It clearly innovates the turn based battle system with its more action focus but then games such as Koudelka came out not long after & did a lot of things better. Perhaps The Legend of Dragoon being a bit on the rare side has kept the nostalgia more alive than it otherwise would have been but in any case, if you’re a fan of JRPGs this is still well worth a play. Again, the story especially does have its high points, though they come nearer to the end of the game than you might hope.

Pros:

• Gorgeous pre-rendered backgrounds.

• Intriguing setting with deep lore.

• Innovated the turn based RPG system.

Cons:

• Unbalanced combat that isn't very rewarding.

• The worst translation job on the PS1.

• Character relationships are forced & awkward.