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Publisher: Sony
Category: Role-Playing
Platform: PS1
ESRB Rating: Everyone Release Date: March 1999
Overall Rating:
2 Stars out of 4
Review by Tom Allen
2 Stars out of 4
With Legend of Legaia, from the producers of Wild Arms, Sony scores another success
in the role playing department, following such hits as Final Fantasy 7. Legaia may be
selling well, but unfortunately, we role playing fanatics are unimpressed. The game falls
right into that slightly above average Tales of Destiny-level of quality. It's a decent
game, not a bad buy, but certainly not a must-play.
The big story in Legend of Legaia is the battle system. The menu-based controls are
modeled more after fighting games. Combos can be entered for devastating physical
attacks. This feature has been celebrated in the gaming media, but we've seen this
before. It's not revolutionary. Sabin's character in the classic Final Fantasy III had the
same abilities. The only real difference is that all characters can use combos in Legend
of Legaia.
Legaia's plot is not exciting but passable. A mysterious evil mist has spread over the
earth. Humans turn into strange creatures called Serus whenever the mist touches
them. Only the magical Genesis trees throughout the land can break the pervasive
mist.
The story is dragged down by inconsistent dramatic interest, unattractive cinema
scenes, shoddy graphics, and laughable animation.
The 2D graphics of Wild Arms are much more appealing. One minute you're told to
gather people around a Genesis tree, then you end up telling them to stay in their
houses without any explanation. Then, once you pass a story beat, the original goal is
restored.
The first hour of the game involves two scenes at the beach. The first is merely a battle
training session; the second is a remarkably evocative funeral scene with outstanding
shots of the soft-colored sky.
The game has a few musical scores which are absolutely beautiful; the rest are
mediocre.
We have a few hints to get you started. Once the battles become tiring, you can
perform combos without actually entering each command. All you have to do is select
Auto Fight, then press X several times in sync with your character's blows to the enemy.
A random combo -- one you've already learned -- should be activated.
Lastly, you can get a list of all the combos by going to our website at
flightsoffantasy.com. Otherwise you would have to experiment for quite a bit of time
before discovering the correct combinations. Again, you will find a list of combos at
www.flightsoffantasy.com.
If Legend of Legaia had a better story and a more cinematic, graphically rich feel to it,
we'd recommend it. If you have nothing else to do, feel free to pick up a copy, but if
you're still working on other games, the last thing you want to do is add an incredibly
long RPG to your slate. Legend of Legaia gets C's in control, difficulty, and Overall.
Not all combos will be available at once to learn.
3-Tap Combos:
Up, Down, Left
Up, Down, Up
Down, Right, Up
Left, Right, Left
Left, Left, Down
Right, Right, Left
4-Tap Combos:
Up, Up, Down, Down
Up, Down, Right, Left
Down, Down, Down, Up
Down, Up, Up, Up
Down, Up, Up, Left
Left, Right, Up, Left
Right, Right, Down, Left
5-Tap/7-Tap Combos:
Right, Down, Left, Down, Left
Up, Down, Up, Up, Up, Down, Up
Left, Right, Left, Left, Down, Right, Up
Down, Right, Up, Down, Up, Down, Left
Down, Right, Up, Down, Left, Left, Down
9-Tappers:
Up, Down, Right, Left, Left, Down, Up, Up, Left
Right, Down, Left, Up, Left, Up, Right, Down, Left
To purchase Legend of Legaia from Amazon.com use the button below, or use the
search box at the top of the left column
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