In this Legend of Dragoon Review, SuperDerek examines a game that was once heralded as a Final Fantasy VII killer! Visit www.SuperDerekRPGs.com for more RPG Reviews #legendofdragoon
I always loved how the menu screen had it's own song, when you brought it up. Can't think of any other rpgs that did that. LoD is such an underrated gem. More people need to understand how engrossing this game was.
PS1 wise, I found FF Viii to be the best 3d RPG. But for sure LoD comes a close second in my book. I feel LoD did more story wise than what 7 did. It did have some similar concept, and character design, but the execution came out better. Def makes Square Enix green with envy.
We all would like a sequel, but after so many years I don't think they will ever return to this franchise. The composer passed away in 2006 and the programmers still talk about the game with Yoshida. They still work at Japan Studio so I hope Allan Becker has built a big team for a spiritual successor with a new IP and Yoshida will surprise us all at this TGS.
Indeed. t'would like to see that, indeed. Yoshida said in an interview I read a couple years ago that if the 1st LoD did well on PSN, then they might go back to doing a sequel. Hopefully that holds true. He (they) know a sequel is wanted. Personally, I think they should base it on the sales of an HD remaster of the first game. I own the PS1 original, but I'd purchase it again cleaned up & tweaked.
+FreeRPGer Beware of wall of text: Actually, The Legend of Dragoon was a concept that started way before PS1 was out. They own the trademark of Skyblazer that was released on SNES in 1993, which Kazunori Yamauchi (father of GT) directed. Allan Becker helped to produce the game. Dragon fly and Dart's prototype design started here. So mix that with an imitation of FF you get The Legend of Dragoon. Too bad they cancelled the sequel for PS2. It was one of Sony Japan's killer app that had potential to become a multi-million franchise from Japan. However, producer Teruyuki Toriyama said last year to 4Gamer he will try his best to deliver an ambitious title in 2016. Teruhiro Shimokawa from Comcept, director of Soul Sacrifice, wants to announce a title in 2016 he has been involved with. So that makes two JRPGs Verendus has been mentioned in 2013. He said in 2015 that you will know both soon enough, with JRPG#3 being announced in early stages in 2016 (Wild Arms) and JRPG#4 and JRPG#5 won't be announced until #1 and #2 are unveiled. We talked about killer app before and that's exactly what Japan Studio is looking for. Allan Becker made a gamble on God of War for Santa Monica Studio, he wants do it again. JS has been successful with niche titles but they need a worldwide success its western studios are having. This project (JRPG#2) is basically one shot, and they'll want it to succeed against all costs. Someone mentioned Dark Cloud for example, but that's simply not good enough. Neither is crap like Star Ocean/Tales. These are mediocre and you need something that stands far above them in terms of quality. They're not going to waste this kind of money to produce something on that level. For that, they need the right people, so they were in the team building phase in 2013 whilst the concept was sorted out. An imitation of Final Fantasy is a pretty good start to build a concept from. And let's be honest, it's not like the first time they tried to copy it. That's what they need to aim for though, a fusion of West/East, and maybe get some Japanese author to pen a story for them. They have many seniors at Japan Studio who worked on TLOD to scout young talents. I was surprised to see so many designers in the 20's on Gravity Rush 2. Team Gravity used to be a small team. So, here's my take: JRPG#1 is produced by Comcept's Teruhiro Shimokawa and AQ Interactive (within Marvelous AQL who are behind The Last Story and Soul Sacrifice), they will definitely melt the hardcore and be successful on the level of Infamous and Killzone, JRPG#2 is big budget in-house project, and JRPG#3 is Wild Arms produced by Media Vision.
+FreeRPGer What Verendus elaborated on unannounced projects from SIE WWS he was excited for in 2015: Sucker Punch, Bend Studio, and Japan Studio. Verendus likes big budget production titles so this is good news. From Japan Studio the project was third person, uncommon art style and kinda cinematic. All three were kinda cinematic so it seems like they are going for a narrative open world for all three. Bend Studio's project has already been unveiled as Days Gone. And Allan Becker wants JS to make art house type games and uncommon art style can mean photorealism in a different way. Look at Shadow Hearts, I would call that uncommon art style.
fuck yeah it would, i would buy the fuck out of that, they need another game of it period, prequel, sequel, or remake, anything, it was one of the greatest games in the ps1 library
I think this game's strongest point was the fighting system. I've had a lot of fights in there, I've beaten a few bosses, and I've never felt bored, not once. That might be due to me smirking at the dubbing or the translation, but the additions system and the amazing cutscenes do really make it very entertaining. Hell, that's the only RPG I've ever played that made me WANT to have fights, to get all additions right and to practice on those that were harder.
Man I can't believe it's been like 20 years. I remember I borrowed this game from a friend when I was 9 and it was 2001. This game and FF8, I played them both like 15 times each. And After I played LoD a few times, I used to replay it with all kinds of cheats from gameshark. It was so fun. I would already have all the dragoons from the beginning LOL. The story was amazing...I loved Rose, her character was the best. All the cutscenes made the story even more amazing. This and FF8 are still my best console games of all time...I literally cry when I think about them. Also, the soundtracks in both of them were amazing, but the soundtracks in FF8 were the best. I really can't believe it's been 20 years, feels like a few years ago that I was playing this game...
Awesome game! An underrated masterpiece that deserves without questions a remake and/or a prequel! By the way great review. Yes voice acting was the only poor aspect, though you could have mentioned that the cutscenes for the time were the best visually speaking.
I really like Legend of Dragoon too. I must say I was damn impressed; this was Sony's first true in-house RPG after some previous collaborations like Legaia and Wild Arms... and on their own, they went for a game that matched FF in scope and production values. In the end I would still rate it a bit lower than the 3 PS1 FFs, but seeing that this was their first attempt to compete it is phenomenal. To this day barely ever has another JRPG tried to meet FF eye to eye in production values... but Yoshida's team did. My biggest gripe with the game: Disc swapping. The disc swapping works different in LoD than in FF. Each discs holds a part of the world, so if you are on disc 3 and want to travel back to a town from the beginning you have to insert disc 1 again. FF handled that better, with all areas on all discs.
@@luciolynx5443 Damn lol , FF8 was my first ff, really enjoyed it 😂, played 7 and 9 afterwards.Best ps1 rpg imo Chrono Cross, never played LoD, till last week, amazing job for Sony's first self forray into large scale rpg territory.
Same here, I found FF7, FF8, and FF9 way better than Legend of Dragoon (and I don't like FF9 that much). But I got bored may times throughout Legend of Dragoon.
+Casposaurus - The Channel That Hugs Back When I was young and i didnt understand english, Rose used to say "More & More" which in my language was like "Morre, Morre", which means "Die, Die!" Hahaha... Rose is, still, my fav character. :3
Man i am an instant subscriber, there is not enough youtube reviewers on here that actually take time and effort to go into such depth on all these amazing retro classics. What i consider to be the golden years of rpgs.
Derek, I just discovered your channel and it's fantastic. The fact that you don't have WAY more subscribers is downright criminal. Your reviews are thoughtful, and not filled with terrible jokes like so many seem to be. Also, you have a very pleasant voice which makes it easy to listen to your shows (I won't name names, but some of the others old-school reviewers I've watched have voices that drive me bananas). Keep up the great work!
I love how you brought up the voice acting, because some of the cinematics are epic. Particularly Rose's Past. Showing the fight from the former Dragoons... That was wonderfully done in my opinion. Also, great work, great editing, and great recording as I remember that Leviathan fight before Lenus, that was one insane battle. I'll always remember this title more fondly than most things, I still have it I think
45 minutes to a hour for the final boss? i guess that is a fair time if you didn't sit at the starting area as dart and not leave until dart was level 35 like I did..... personally I love the game and I think you did an excellent job on you review of this great game!
dudeeee you are the MVP for mentioning Roinin Warriors, i thought i was the only one that liked both LoD and Ronin warriors, you just got yourself a sub mate
i have so much respect for you for not only knowing of this game but having a copy and giving it such a legitimate review, you were fair in all your points and i admire that, some people can't back up what they are saying so its refreshing to see an unbiased outside opinion about my all time favourite game, to me a timeless classic, and yes one of the fanboys crying out for a sequel/prequel or even an hd remake hell ff7 is getting it, why not LOD?
+Spencer Reidy "and yes one of the fanboys crying out for a sequel/prequel or even an hd remake hell ff7 is getting it, why not LOD?" Because while I like this game over FFVII, LoD did not have nearly the same impact on gaming as FF VII. So its' a pretty silly question actually, the answer is obvious.
@@ilovegames9708 I never understood the overwhelming love for FF7. It was good, yes. But I thought there were several rpg's on the Playstation that were better including LoD, Lunar SSSC, Star Ocean 2, Grandia, and a few others.
Good job SuperDerek! :) I still have this in my own collection. I remember thinking the backgrounds were really beautiful too, but was always distracted by how much the 3d models of the characters "popped" when standing still.
This game is been stuck in my backlog for a long time and this review made me want to play it sooner rather than later despite the flaws. I guess that means you did a pretty good job with the review! Keep 'em coming.
Dropped everything to watch this review. I hope you really enjoyed playing the game again after all those years. I'm definitely going to have to revisit this game myself, in the not too distant future, as I have never completed it.
Awesome to hear from you again *****! Yeah, I had a lot of fun going back to it! The additions were challenging but a lot of fun to eventually learn. I mentioned in the review how there are skills to level up, but one of the things I didn't really touch on is how you as a player can improve in performing the additions, and how good that can feel. :)
I remember, I remember the loredump at the end of disc 3 only to find out moments later my disc 4 was broken and I would have to mail in then wait for that broken disc to get fixed/replaced and mailed back to me.
I’m going through old school JRPGs released after FFVII like Panzer Dragoon Saga, Skies of Arcadia, Suikoden II, Wild Arms II, Star Ocean The Second Story, Koudelka, and now I just downloaded LoD on my Vita TV and plan to see what all the fuss is about. Thanks for this review. I know I can always count on Derek to provide a great review since you actually know what you’re talking about and can compare or contrast to other JRPG titles.
I have finished this game 5 times.This game for me is an absolute favorite.I usually don't like turn based rpg but this game changed my mind.Lavitz death for me is the saddest death in history of gaming.
What about when you meet him again in the fourth cd? The part when Lavitz sells his soul to a demon just to have the chance to speak with Dart and Albert one last time and you have to kill the demon and free Lavitz and they have that sad conversation and Dart says "you are not dead you will forever live in our hearts" and the three of them join their hands together as Lavitz starts to fade away. That scene made me cry so much. Just think about what that scene could be with modern graphics.. we really need a remake of this game..
Saw this yesterday and picked it up. I never played it back in the day but I've always heard good things and the one friend who did play it seemed to really enjoy it.
You're so well and soft spoken my friend. Just like i am. I remember playing this game back in high school, about 9 years ago. I just picked it up again. Its at the main menuand i cant wait to start. Great review. Have an amazing day.
So there was actually a sequel planned? Yeesh. Either I never knew that or it's been long enough that I forgot. What I wouldn't do for such a thing to exist... Anyway, I'm actually replaying the game again on my Vita. Sequel or no, being able to carry my old favorite game wherever I go... Heheheh.
This channel it's like one giant nostalgia trip. I wish I still had my gaming systems like the snes and play station. Playing emulators just isn't the same as holding the controllers in your hand.
I really like the tone of your reviews. I'm starting to hate the irony pastiche that is so common for video game review channels. But yours are positive, straight forward and even respectful, even if it's not a feature you particularly liked. It's refreshing!
Another Ronin Warriors AND Legend of Dragoon fan! That was quite a nice surprise! Great review, I always noticed similarity in LoD and RW, too. As for New Game+, there is that glitch to play through the game w/ the Divine Dragoon armor...
Great video as always from you.I always liked this game, I picked it up about a year after launch, but for some odd reason I never finished it. Some other game always came up and distracted me from finishing it.After watching this I thing I have to move it to the top of my Playstation games to play pile :) And for some reason this game has become insanely expensive here in Sweden. I've seen copies sell for over 200$!!!
I remember watching my brother play this game when we were kids! We never got to the end, but seeing this is really nostalgic! Derek, I was wondering if you would review Brave Fencer Musashi at some point! It's a game that doesn't get the attention it deserves! I'm sure you'd enjoy if you haven't played it already. Love your videos, by the way! I've been watching them nonstop since I've first seen your Grandia review last week! Keep em coming!
My one gripe is the limited inventory space- although this in itself is part of the strategy of the game, requiring planning...but I get tired of having to discard items left and right.
I bought this again 4 years ago on sale for 99 cents. Well, I finally got around to playing it a few weeks ago on my vita. I learned and mastered every addition after killing Lenus the second time. I like doing self challenges like that. Grandia on my second playthrough, played 180 hours on disc 1, learned Heaven & Earth Cut and maxed it out as soon as Justin could. 300 hours at the end. Only dungeon I didn't do was the last optional one because our copy froze too much to be able to finish it.
I purchased this game as an ex rental at a video store in 2004, I eventually got round to playing it in 2006 after much anticipation (was playing ffx a lot then haha) I was so blown away and amazed by the game, In love with rose and deeply invested, then the end of the 2nd disk was scratched after a boss fight, i tried, bt was unable to get it fixed. Its been over 10 years now, but I still vow to finish that game some day :D
Hoo, ha, DOUBLE SLASH! Hoo, ha, ha, VOLCANO! This game was pretty fun. I forget if I ever actually beat it because I had borrowed it from someone, but I still have fond memories of it. As always, great review Derek!
Hi Derek. How are you doing? I just want to tell you i love your reviews. You are so passionate about these games. When i want to see a review on a game i always look to see if you reviewed it first before i check anywhere else. Anyways take care always and thank you for everything you do.
Thanks Ron, I've been doing pretty well but this message made me even better. Thanks for the kind words and I hope you also have a great weekend! My 100th review will be out next Friday, btw. :)
This was the first video of yours I've come across. Your delivery was a little over rehearsed and stiff. But everything else was great. It's very well edited and I liked the points you made about the game. It's obvious you put a lot of effort into this.
such and underrated game! i swear! this game is my childhood and now that i 23 i am still playing and trying to memorize the story. I hope and pray they make a sequel. the story has so much juice in it. i cannot find words. its an amazing game and ill definitely show this game to my children! i swear in me!!! such an amazing game.
Okay, your review convinced me. I've been dodging this game for years, but as soon as I finish Trails in the Sky SC, I'll start LoD. The visuals are stunning for a game of that era.
Great videos man. Subbed after watching this and Sword of Mana. Two of my favorite childhood games. Also have you've ever played Xenogears. Would love to see you review it because it is my all time favorite game.
with RPGs I like to duel-screen em, either have a second TV or an iPad to watch movies or shows while you're playing, it make the grinding a lot less boring
Damn you nostalgia for making me yearn for those days of old school gaming yore!!! HAHAHAAA! Kidding! But seriously though, Derek, you ain't kidding around when you said that this game was massive(it certainly is)! The voice acting is beyond terrible, and the frame rate of those early PSX battles can be dearly excruciating! But this game other than those problems is still super cool, maybe not quite FF7 quality(and I haven't played Grandia), but LOD had it's own charms! Thanks SD for another incredible Games Collection episode(I really need to start watching these on time)!
I remember pre ordering this game and buying it on its release day.Only to take it home play it for maybe a total of 12 hours.I got frustrated with the battle system and traded it in for credit within a week. I find it ironic you brought up Grandia. I imported the japanese version on the Sega Saturn I got about 40 something hours into it before I got stuck because I didn't know japanese. Legend of Dragoon at the time was one of the best looking RPGs on the PSX. But that battle system was an pain in the butt. Out of all the PSX RPGs I owned I played Star Ocean 2 the most. I was primarily a Sega Saturn RPG player. I'll probably give LOD another shot.Now that I'm older and got more RPG playing experience lol.
EPIC MUSIC ALL THROUGH THE GAME! and although the voice acting during cut scenes was a bit poor I'll never forget the "Dragoon campaign battle" cut scene this game will always have a place in my heart
If I remember correctly, as its been 10+ years since I've played this, one thing that drove me up a freakin wall with this game was having to switch discs when going back to the towns and areas visited early in the game
![Legend of Dragoon Review! [PSX] The Game Collection](/img/logo.svg){kind=logo}
