I wrote this at the end of last year Rediscovering a 33-year-old console RPG Blockbuster Video promised (optimistically) 300 hours of game time, so I rented it for a year from there. Admittedly, Sword of Vermilion, the 1992 Sega Mega Drive/Genesis roleplayer, shied away from me for years simply because I couldn't remember the name. Even though I poured dozens of hours into a game that felt like it was years ahead of its competitors, the passage of time had caused him to fade from my memory for over 30 years.
Today I'm back with a similar personal revelation. But rather than rediscovering a game whose title I had completely forgotten about, I'm here to praise a game I once loved but forgot existed: Legend of Dragoon.
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Those familiar with Japan Studio's classic role-playing games of yesteryear may be wondering. how Maybe I'll forget. Legend of Dragoon has gained a solid cult following since its release at the turn of the millennium, and as of last year it became available to play on PS4 and PS5 through the PlayStation Store. But when Legend of Dragoon first came out (in Japan in 1999, in the US in its mid-2000s, and in Europe in its early 2001), it was in the shadow of the looming Final Fantasy series. It was done. The latter made its first big foray into the Western market with Final Fantasy 7 in 1997, Final Fantasy 8 the following year, and Final Fantasy 9 the year after that. For many, including myself, these games were the gateway to full 3D JRPGs on his PlayStation debut, so whenever a newcomer rises to the top, creating a buzz is easier said than done. was.
But Legend of Dragoon attempts to do just that in its opening 30 seconds. A CGI intro depicts a burning city, set to a whimsical piano melody backed by strings and a snare drum. The rain-drenched fire destroyed the building, the glass on the clock tower's face shattered from the inside out, and thick smoke rose before the full moon. Armored cavalry storms the town's dusty boulevards, then dismounts, places a glowing marble on a sleeping woman's forehead, drains her memories (I think), and then throws her in prison. is. It all definitely looked beautiful – up there with the best visuals I'd ever seen at that point. And I was completely hooked.
“Perhaps it's a nostalgia thing, but what I believe is still worth shouting about today is Legend of Dragoon's combat system.”
Even in today's flashback iteration, polished and buffed for modern hardware, Legend of Dragoon has a late-'90s feel to it with its minute-by-minute compositions, including blocky polygonal sprites and expansive scale to scale. Looks like a 32-bit JRPG from the early 2000s. World Map – But every time we are presented with a CGI-enhanced cutscene, it is dazzlingly beautiful. I often look back at games from a long time ago that were visually overwhelming. how I've always been very impressed. But we have to admit that the cinematic short from Legend of Dragoon will still look beautiful in her 2024.
Perhaps it's a nostalgic thing, but one thing I'm sure is still worth shouting about today is Legend of Dragoon's combat system. Its tactical traps allow you to transform into a dragon-like dragoon and unleash extraordinary powers, fighting enemies with countless combinations of his three combatants with various coordination abilities will never get boring. there is no. Throw in a truly intuitive QTE system that allows you to attack with “additions” that allow you to line up blue squares on the screen and deal progressively more powerful blows, allowing you to attack all It makes the fight feel worth it. Story-wise, Legend of Dragoon's high-fantasy, world-saving conceit is not unusual in the grand pantheon of JRPGs old and new, but pre-rendered environments have long been lost in modern endeavors. It perpetuates the charm that once existed. The now-defunct Japan Studio has since worked on everything from Bloodborne to Rain to Wild Arms to Ghost of Tsushima, but the world of Dragoon is the developer's biggest hit. I would argue that it's just as fascinating.
So if you're a fan of old-school roleplayers or just curious about something you might have missed a quarter-century ago, I highly recommend picking up Legend of Dragoon . If you like it, you can buy it on the PS Store for £8/$10. If you're already paying for PS Plus Premium, you can download it for free. Plus, there are plenty of long plays on YouTube if you just want to watch along. “You are free to break the chains of fate that bind you,” reads the Legend of Dragoon title screen. This emphasizes the typically fiery saga of Millennium RPG turns. That might be a little too thick for my blood, but I'm still going to start playing Legend of Dragoon afresh on my PS5 in 2024.
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