The Legend of Dragoon

DISCLAIMER: The following is a copy-pasted review from my Backloggd account, transferred as-is so that this blog has some entries available

Played using the Encounter Rate Fix (Normal variant) and Script Revision mods, alongside swosho’s Undub. Information regarding patching will be under the Addendum section at the end.

It’s easy to besmirch Legend Of Dragoon’s schema by diluting it under the common mantras of “revenge will blind you from actual importance within life”, perhaps “love is the most powerful feeling one can have”, or even “straight people are the true saviors from the tyrannical onslaught of demigod dictatorship”, but generalizations tend to overlook the finer machinations. Namely, innate growth that beings subjugate unto, as well as what those we worship are built from the ashes and deceitful nature of unknown qualities and quantities. Dragoon’s septet, though varying in age, share a commonality, partaking as a foible within their specific time that craters their understanding of themselves and, by extension, the world. In fact, this extends to a lot of the denizens inhabiting Endiness, be they commonfolk or villainous, and these small quibbles are pincushioned under the sprawling study of dualism, the gumption of ego and power, and finally ontological dependency. That latter point explored exponentially within the 4-disc journey, since it’s under a different set of execution - the traditions of yore dictate the story of the Moon and the Black Monster, and that’s the way things are to be expected. The view and hostility of the world is committed each way that the dice rolls under, and that’s just the belief instilled within the local area. The intent wasn’t to critique it wholesale, but more so the takeaway of the circumstances. It’s easier to fall into darkness should jealousy and rage swallow you whole, but there’s a better path if the world and unionship of others and environments yearn for it together, even if you have to mask it. This can be seen with a citizen of Fletz working to produce greenery in the desert, or even the team’s efforts to fix the conundrums that plague each citizen’s neighboring area. Of course, this too is directly contributed to the party as well.

Albert’s ill-understanding of royal politics yet willingness to extend the olive branch masked by flowery prose and artistic whimsies of affection directly mirroring Emperor Doel - his uncle’s - downfall of his psyche due to jealousy and loss of his wife wracking him beyond comprehension, as well as his best compatriot Lavitz for placing others far above himself; Meru’s curiosity of the world outside the stretch of her life contrasting Lenus’ miscreance and toying with others for personal amusement; Haschel’s regret and inability to grieve under the facade of eccentricities juxtaposing his old student Gehrich and his tendency to vie for power and control; Shana and Miranda’s insecurity and internal conflict measured by inferiority complexes and negative disapproval respectively. That’s just a few I could even begin to mention without going into full spoiler zone. This catalyst of ‘hurt’ manifesting in various despots is what gives the plot a driving force to push onward, and it’s why the game largely fixates on Dart and Rose. Both have been impacted the most out of everyone in the past, along with largest baggage preventing them from understanding, and thus are more ‘connected’ to one another as a result. It’s from this, however, both are able to move on: Dart supersedes his emotional outburst and fixation of revenge through the camaraderie of his fellow Dragoons and recognition that this bellied action sought for self-gain would damage him irreversibly than it would uplift, and Rose’s journey of self-isolated guilt and misery is uprooted by constant reassurance and “grass is greener” approach as to what she’s done now has actually been thanks to what she did then. Personally, this is when TLoD’s strides are at their leanest and meanest - focality about “predetermined goals” being spent debunked by the togetherness of the people, as well as the understanding of what we know from before can be angled differently to better ourselves in today. Tangentially, Dennis Martin, who’s one half of the composing duo for this game, has a number of motifs and notes shared throughout his overworld and setpiece/antepiece moods, and they’re wonderfully placed. Some of the best songs you’ll hear from the genre, even! Its utilization of more percussion and groove-ridden sound certainly makes it stand out, and once you hear which songs Martin made, you’ll immediately begin to understand how they were able to pick him for the job.

When sifting through old American reviews around the time of TLoD’s release, there was a prevailing bias intoxicating the press. Be it positive, negative, or somewhere in between, you’d find a lot of mentions about this being a supposed “Final Fantasy Killer”. Barring the usual eyeroll these hyperboles carry, this is astounding to me since most of the promos I could find for the Japanese side were more focused on pinning it as “a super graphics RPG” and focusing on the dour mysticism, while US got typical Joy With Annoy sizzle reels and this shit. I digress. While TLoD started development in February 1996, it isn’t a stretch to say Final Fantasy VII had a significant impact upon the game’s direction - I mean, Dragon Spirits are analogous to Materia, the dynamic between Lloyd and Dart is reflective of Sephiroth and Cloud, and main driver for this game’s creation, Yasuyuki Hasebe, had worked with Squaresoft prior to working with Japan Studio and admitted to transferring some ideas over (more on this in a bit). That said, these comparisons are just that, comparisons. Materia is more so a function to FF7’s ecosystemic theming and application, with the DS being an amplification to TLoD’s color psychology: passionate yet headstrong, chivalrous yet envious, pure yet insecure, poignant yet mournful, spiritualist yet compulsive, free-mannered yet mischevious, reliable yet isolated, and finally deceitful yet moralistic. Regarding the study of life and the identity of self, it trades in ecologism vs. industrialism for astrological and allegorical understanding. I mean, the crux of the narrative centering on the Moon is one thing, but there’s pulls of Gnosticism and Sumerian culture regarding the Tree Of Life, as well as several important deities from these beliefs onto the narrative’s climax and power play. Finally, the centerpiece for Lloyd and Dart is more about their diametrically opposed actions than as the whole basis of revenge and psychosis as was the case for Seph and Cloud - likely best summarized by the chase of Lloyd bringing about the overall picture of the villain’s plan as he and Dart clash, whereas Sephiroth’s descent unto villainy is conjoined with Cloud’s mangled and tormented psyche, all under the influence of Jenova. Due to this, the connecting point between it and FF7 - and by extension, the attributed “genericness” - is immensely offset by the coalescence of the influences on display. I mean, if anyone is able to point me to another work that’s a coming of age tokusatsu, where you deal with philosophical to interpersonal quandaries, amongst the many fantasy and sci-fi influences from One Thousand And One Nights to Doctor Who contraptions, backed by Bayeux Tapestry-ass cutscenes, and the utilization of fencing pose and weight seemingly taken from European Renaissance’s fencing manuscripts such as the Fior di Battaglia, I’d love to hear it!

Actually, on the note of fencing - while I grew to appreciate the writing, it wasn’t necessarily my main draw to TLoD. Nah, that’d be Endiness’ art of war.

To go back over Hasebe’s pedigree, there were two games he worked on at Squaresoft that shaped the combat’s foundation: Final Fantasy VI as a battle planner, and more importantly, Super Mario RPG as a battle designer. As you can imagine, this serves as another branch of Square’s ATB lineage, and it’s where you can feel their influences at their most potent in the form of the Addition system. Layman’s terms, it’s applying the inverse of Mana’s approach to combat, transplanting the thinking stratagem aspect of turn-based action, and kinetically moving that flow through button presses to simulate physical motion. He wasn’t the only one with a moderately sized credit to his name - Masaru Ounuma, Kazuki Hayashitani, and Kimihiko Nakamura also contributed into making this whole system and design work. Once you initiate the draw, you’re able to combo multiple button inputs into an attack string of varying length. It’s a simple function, and each new Add has less or more button inputs necessary to count as a successful attempt, but the appeal lies within its incorporation of damage and Spirit Point modification. See, every Add boosts either your raw damage, SP accumulation to help with Dragoon transformation, or both. All Adds have 5 levels, each totally up to 80 connected hits. Not defeated enemies, hits. What this means is that, should an enemy impose a Physical Barrier, that’s a free opportunity to max out your trio party’s Adds… well, provided one slot isn’t taken by Shana/Miranda, but that’s fine as well since they’re able to accrue SP necessary to increase Dragoon Levels. See, once you’re able to get the DS mentioned earlier, these SPs built up over the course of battle can be used to transform into the Dragoon. From this new form comes merely two attacks - a unique D-Addition, where you press the button at the right time the circulating dot hovers over the arrow for higher damage, or Magic that can provide offensive or supportive capabilities. A Special command, once available when all three PMs have their DLV maxed, can be activated, and the background of the battlefield becomes reflective of the element of whoever activated it, which in turn boosts their offense and defense amongst an opposing element. Of course, you have your Guard that halves damage and blocks various ailments, while also giving back 10% of their max HP, as well as items to use in order to turn the tide of battle, capping off with your party of soldiers (Lavitz/Albert and Kongol), rounders (Dart, Rose, and Haschel), and magicians (Shana/Miranda and Meru). That all sounds like simple work, but it’s from this simplicity that the intricacies start to sprout beautifully.

Here’s the thing, that was just within the actual heat of battle. You still have a whole lot of prep within what armament to equip before entering an attack stance. A Magic Ring to restore MP by a fair bit as it starts their next turn, thereby letting their magic capabilities carry over even should their phase (prematurely) end; various equipment available to transfer magic/physical attacks into SP, thereby accelerating the growth for the transformation; various Cloaks to help someone evade phys, mag, or both in order to effectively make an Evade Tank; multiple Ailment blockers to prevent the enemy from inflicting any nasty effects, and counterattack with another plan; an entire set of great gear to nab following an optional scavenger hunt; Ankhs and Robes that can be able to revive someone with ease, increasing in chances the more you strengthen this approach, amongst others both standard and off-the-cuff. Much like Mario RPGs, a lot of the damage output is done through percentage and proportions, with a bauble status arrow hovering over enemies to dictate health under high (blue), medium (yellow), or low (red). Even outside Raw Numbers, this can be effective and turning the tide over to your favor - I had mentioned that an enemy with a Physical Barrier active can be used as free Add practice, but I should also mention that, be it within a lonesome fighter or during a stall against a boss, you can take advantage of their states and your party through several guards, with them barely making a dent in your action. Compounding this, some bosses can be baited to take certain actions, such as equipping a Talisman on someone, letting them do the damage, and nullifying their countering Insta-Death attack as a result. The second composer, Takeo Miratsu, largely contributes a connecting beat to the rhythm of combat: the syncopation regarding the backbeats and bass synth in the background, as well as camera angle changes with R2, can be utilized as a “metronome” for timing the input properly, and though some tracks work better than others under this train of thought, it’s nonetheless the main thing that allowed me to map even the most complicated strings that I unlocked near flawlessly. Much like Martin, once you hear Miratsu’s compositions, you can make a direct line from one of his prior works.

Then we get to the bread and butter of tactical acumen, items. I’ve seen critiques about the 32 Item limit, and I cannot disagree with this more - if anything, this serves as a bevy of cunning plays available should you so choose. Since transforming into a Dragoon negates all status ailments, one route would be to forgo the Mind/Body Purifiers and simply hedge bets on attaining enough SP to get rid of them - not like you’d get shot with that same effect anyway as long as you’re in the transformation state. On the other, you could dump out your healing items, revives included, and draw out guards/magic to do the healing, since Lavitz/Albert can access a DMAG that allows a 50% Damage reduction, and they can partner up with Shana/Miranda or Meru who have access to healing spells to boot. No need to worry about MP running out, since we can stock up on restoration items anyhow to top it back off. Regular magic? Easy - have whoever’s MATK is the highest pop off the item, most of what you get being a button masher that’s able to amplify the output by 200%+ if you’re good enough. Stock up enough for the magic gals to do the work, and watch the carnage unfold before your very eyes. Then you have the 10 repeat items that, when used properly, really tip the scale to your favor. The way you get them as you move along are exquisitely placed too, nothing too broken immediately and there’s enough draw available from these to help out in battle. A Speed Up on innately fast characters like Haschel and Meru will deal enough DPS for a kill, or at least followup; the opposite item to make sure the enemy’s offensive capabilities are halted for just enough to prepare for an onslaught of your own; A Power Up for your phys/mag attackers to deal even heavier hits, as well as get a bit of a buff in defense (perhaps furthered with the Power Down); Magic/Material Shields to protect you or your allies from any imminent danger, which can compound by another person’s guard still taking effect until it reaches their next turn; a Psychedelic Bomb X, a Non-Elemental Magic use, being so potent it can crush enemies with all the combinations from above. I haven’t even mentioned how weapons and actual armor have their own special quirks and utility to make holding onto them more worthwhile than it would be to sell them off! As a result, a lot of my enjoyment in battle quickly became “how fast can I be able to finish this, and with what build?”, and there were numerous times I went “Hmm, I wonder what would happen if I limited myself like this”. Want some examples? Lenus 1, the spoilers here - Valley Virage, and the Wendigo. Also, shoutout to the game for letting me be able to defeat a trio in about two minutes, as well as having one hell of a superboss fight.

While I do have some minor quibbles, I can easily point to four problems that did affect my overall enthusiasm. Firstly, and to get it out of the way, the translation sucks. It’s the main reason I pointed out the script revision - emphasis on revision, by the way, cause it isn’t a retranslation - before even starting since everyone, from fan to bystander, has critiqued this point. It’s overly direct and dry, there’s syntax, grammar, and tonal issues, plotholes crop up due to improper translation… it’s not the worst from this console generation, let alone ever, but considering it released in 2000 for overseas audiences (most notably within the same year as FF9 and Vagrant Story), it stings a fair bit. Now, it isn’t as if that revision mod doesn’t have its own fair of issues, but from what I’ve seen and compared, it’s a lot more like how you’d think a translation of this era’s RPG would fair, and as a result I was able to appreciate the writing so much more than one typically would have. I’ll likely make a photo comparison set to show what I mean, should one ask and when I have the time. The second is dungeon design. Not in terms of layout, mind, cause top to bottom the hits are way more prevalent than misses and there’s a fair blend of gimmicks available, but it’s more about the linear nature. See, this plays with the structure of point-by-point basis, with the story taking you from one place to the next when instructed. As far as the verisimilitude goes, it works greatly! Every region is marked by the start of the discs, and as a result both the backdrop and overall tone is set. As far as backtracking goes, well… every disc has at least once instance of this. To set the mood, the encounter rate ticks, as it functioned as it released in, does so slower in up/right movements than left/down ones, which was more normal. Walking be either lightly tilting the analog stick or just using the DPad also affects this to a slight degree, and you can tell if you’re about to trigger a fight by the bauble arrow after pressing L1/R1 to swathe through its activation state. Since I used the Normal variant of the Encounter Fix, I imagine I had faced one, maybe two extra battles than I would from the initial disc release. What does all of that have to do with the backtracking? Well, despite the instances usually just being one time, most of it is done under dungeons with very long stretches of linear hallways, and the absolute worst case is the Disc 2 Barrens - a place where simply reaching the next zone is after that long period of running/walking, guaranteeing a random fight at least once each time, and you’re expected to revisit this place no more than five times. Like, Jesus, talk about overkill here! You can nab Charm Potions, but these don’t work like a Pokemon Repel of halting the tickrate, and more so just “resets” it back to 0 - so effectively, you wait until the meter turns red, then use it.

Third flaw is the pacing. I’m taking a page out of Majuular’s book and comparing this to an anime, specifically that of a 6-episode OVA run; there’s a lot of steady buildup and falling action available, and the actual runtime fits snugly with the content that’s surrounding it but the connecting line between the specifics on the backstory gets somewhat hampered by the more ‘episodic’ feel. The backtracking in dungeons is certainly one instance, but I’m specifically referring to the Bayeux Tapestry FMVs where it just infodumps a number of things onto the player at once, without any real warning. It gets pretty bad in Deningrad where there’s like, three of them in a row, and you’re just expected to have it all absorbed by the time you exit the place and get the Dramatic Revelation at the end of Disc 3. Without any way to look back through a log, I had to do a few save reloads just to make sure all of it stuck to my membrane. My last flaw, as was pointed out by FallenGrace, is that the way the game treats Shana within the first half is… perplexing, to say the least. Even as a cismale, it was bewildering to see her get treated to two separate “women be cookin in the kitchen” sequences, as well as a conversation from a midwife about making babies(????), within the span of an hour. Usually though, the game leans hard on the whole “she has a crush on Dart and they’re childhood friends” angles, which like hey, I’m a dry cracker sort of eater, that’s my kinda thing, but it sometimes reaches the point of… patronizing, I guess to put it? I mentioned earlier that a large part of Shana’s foible is her inferiority complex - this is exemplified by how she was left behind by Dart years prior to the game’s start, and how this affected her well being and strength. There’s a couple of moments that touch on that in a compelling way, such as their conversation in the Marshlands, but with her crush being teased and alluded to so often, it ends up cheapening the emotional draw of her character. Need I remind you that I am a big advocate for “childhood friends to lovers” tropes. The worst of it for me was during the entrance to the Twin Castle in Fletz, where the guard suddenly makes a physical, moving advancement to Shana, goes “oh lol I dunno what came over me during that”, and then the whole conversation goes on like nothing had happened. I still have no idea what the hell that was about. Not a lot of the moments with Shana is That Awful, mind, but it bums me out such an integral character to the story is treated so haphazardly - doubly so because Rose (especially), Meru, and even latecomer Miranda have their touching moments be treated with a lot more dignity and respect.

In terms of what happens after the release, well, it seems like Yasuyuki Hasebe had disappeared from the gaming industry in its entirety. For several years, I wasn’t exactly sure what happened to the man, and it seems like others had the same thought. It wasn’t until seeing a post on the community’s subreddit page, that had done their sleuthing work, and found a likely idea for where he could be. If this is indeed the same man, then it seems like he’s doing just fine - I recall reading about him having studied engineering, as well as some inferences about using the medium more for exploration of what he’s able to do, so it was kinda refreshing (if a bit sad) to learn it was a typical “just moving on from the industry” compared to other developer disappearances. I was then gonna transition onto a whole spiel about Sony’s incessant and grueling need to abandon their legacy for prospects that have been met with vocal disapproval, but in the time it took to finally finish this, Astro Bot’s release had already caused several commotions regarding that topic. There’s no reason to get on a soapbox about it now, especially since some of y’all are likely over the whole debacle as well, so I’ll instead conclude by talking about the burning appeal of the game.

If you ask me, the tightly knit weave between all the pillars supporting this game upward. Even if there’s a stumble somewhere within the package, it doesn’t really take long for it to recover and sprint along like nothing had ever happened. Even if there’s “deeper” characters or “more complex” battle systems, the cast are so well rounded and interconnected, with expressions and wherewithal connected greatly to the expansive Adds and build management that it’s hard to develop any strong grievances. Given that a good number of people have likely played this within teendom, one of the most formative periods within a human’s life, I also imagine the strong armed nature and design structure influenced the way one can experience a bombast RPG. I mean, it certainly reminded me of one experience I had during that period, so I understand the connecting craw. It goes without saying, but a bulk of research was largely done thanks to that devoted community, even to the point of manifesting their own hotspot site. Not only do they have a resource archive for all the info I perused, but some members are tinkering away for a PC port and, as mentioned within the opening note, have made mods available for patching the PS1 discs. Hell, even now, you can at least try it out on Sony’s official platforms, from the PS3 to the PS5. Goes to show that, if there are those who believe, anyone can sever fate’s binding chains.

Addendums:

• To go over the installation process from the beginning: download the mods of your desire - though I really just recommend sticking with the two I namedropped - then use theflyingzamboni’s LODModS patcher to have them onto your LEGALLY OBTAINED US copies (not to mention having the legally obtained JP disc files for any added help during the process). If using swosho’s undub, use their bundled patcher to have all of this tied together. Not a whole lot of work, but somewhat tedious all the same. I have my own prepatch files if necessary, and of course Spike Spiegel from CDRomance has it under- wait… wait I’m getting word the Backloggdian Police Force has their sights on me for going over this, I’ll just move on! • Shuhei Yoshida, back when TLoD first got rereleased under PS3’s PSN, briefly mentioned that the game’s difficulty was actually altered a fair bit to become easier, with the US version “the complete version of the game that {they} were all proud of”. Though I’m not sure the extent of AI behavior, the community has documented the changes between enemy stat total within NA, JP, and their demos if you’re curious, though obviously with spoilers • Even though I played with the undub, I’ve skimmed some pieces here and there relating to the English actors. Of note are Rose’s EVA Awele Makeba’s TED Talk, David Babich’s reflection on voicing Albert and Melbu, and Dart’s EVA John Butterfield giving an interview for a podcast not that long ago. I suggest giving all of this a glance if you have the time, they’re all interesting! • Similarly, Dennis Martin shared storyboards before on his Twitter page. You can look at them here and here. Also of a note is an interview he’s done with VGKami where he details how it was like to work with Takeo (for some reason, Wikipedia still sources an old interview that erroneously stated he never had the chance to meet him) • There’s a lot of little moments within the game that never really gets explicitly mentioned onto you, and I find that to be rather refreshing. A lot of it has to do with development and/or revelation regarding specific quirks and details someone is facing, and it’s somewhat up to you to figure it out through the (sub)text. Considering that half a year’s span was poured onto this, it meant juggling it after titles that seem to insult the player’s intelligence by overexplaining everything, so it was a nice change of pace. • On that note, I’m not really sure I can recall a time when an RPG took me this long just to complete. I mean, I’ve halted and started the same game multiple times for sure, but not to this degree. It was pretty relaxing chipping away at this while I had other ideas and experiences to go over though, and if it wasn’t evident already, TLoD never really left my mind even when I was taking an extended leave. Goes to show what having a beating heart can do for an art.