Legend of Legaia

Name: Legend of Legaia
Developers: Contrail and Prokion
Platform: PSX
Players: 1
Genre: Fighting/RPG


Above: The main logo, charcters from left to right; Gala (ally), Noa (ally) -(below Noa is
her Ra-Seru Terra, although you only see her in that form if you unlock it), then Ceruban the first boss, followed by Xain a boss later in the game and lastly the main character Vaan. Already you can see that this game offers a memorable cast list.

If I had a dollar for every time I've completed this game; I would have about 5.65 in my pocket right now. I've literally played this game 5 times to it's fullest over the years. This game holds a really special place in my heart and I'll tell you all why. It was many years ago...probably roughly 1998-99...I had received $200 for my birthday and wanted t buy a video game console...I remember I was originally going to side with the Nintendo 64, but for whatever reason I got a playstation instead, only with the demo disc included. That same year, my Pere had bought me this playstation game, and it was totally unexpected. It looked like some weird unheard of game...little did I know, it was.

This game is the BEST-...well maybe not thebest...RPG out there. For its time it's truly a hidden classic, to be quite honest, I just ordered it off of amazon for $60, that's the price of a new game!!! I made the mistake of pawning off my original copy thinking it was worthless....PFFFFT, I ordered the game with a new copy f the guide and I spent well over $100 once shipping was factored in. But honestly, it was worth it, for a
game this rare, and this special to me, it was worth every cent and more.

For it's time, this game offered some EXTREMELY impressive features, outweighing even Final Fantasy VII in some elements.

So I'll start with the thing I look for the most in anything, the soundtrack. Legend of Legaia offers a soundtrack that's kind of like a double edged sword...There's the track you fall in love with and hum in you head and then there's other tracks that make you want to kill yourself from hearing the repetition. All in all the soundtrack suits the game quite nicely and most of the really good tracks from this game made it to the PS2 sequel which I will discuss in another article. All in all I rate the soundtrack of LoL a decent 6.5/10 just because of those few tracks you just had to hate...

The graphics of this game are impressive 10/10 just compare this next picture with anything from Final Fantasy 7 and you'll see that graphically LoL is dominant.


My favorite graphics feature in this game was the way your character's appearance changed based on what armors you had equipped, another very unique feature for it's time.

In terms of gameplay the game is a classic RPG, similar to Final Fantasy 7...until you enter the battle, which is where LoL shows it's true colors. The battle system is like no other, it relies heavily on the use of the direction pad, to navigate the battle menu one must press; up, down, left, or right, depending on which option is affiliated with the chosen selection, you are first given the option to fight or run, this game makes running a pain! Next you're given 4 options, Spirit, Ra-Seru, Item, and Fight... as to not ruin any of the game I'm only going to discuss the Fight command...Honestly it's what makes Legaia shine...

Unlike final fantasy where one simple tap execute a standard attack, Legaia allows players to essentially "map" out there attacks...you are given a certain ammount of slots which you can fill with direction...certain slot combos yeild special attack. (It's been a while since I played so this example is made up, but entering U,L,U,L would yield combo: Wind Storm) This offered alot of diversity and flexibility in the combat system beyond just standard magic, this made the "attack" function that much more beautiful. Legaia excels in terms of gameplay, praised by most for it's unique battle system, I rate it an 11/10