by Jay "THE FLEA" Wade
Many RPGs wish they could be the next Final Fantasy 7 and none have ever come close.
But Sony has done it, A RPG that is in the same league as FF7.
Beautiful backgrounds, great characters, and FMV that leaves you in awe.
You play as Dart, a man who's life was destroyed my a mysterious black dragon and he begins his quest for in search of this dragon and gets more then he bargains for.
The world is at war, his home town is destroyed and His best friend Shana (who has a crush on Dart) is kidnapped and when Dart goes out to save her, his journey into the Legend of Dragoon Begins. For he and his friends have the power to unleash the Dragon Spirits and become Dragoon Warriors.
The graphics are some of the best seen since Final Fantasy 7-8. Some video has voice acting which is some of the best seen in a video game. Top notch sound and effect really pulls it all together.
The battle system takes a little getting used to. For basic attacks you have a targeting square that you line up with a another square and press X then you can pull off a combo attack.
While on Dragoon attacks, you have to press X when a spinner hits just right.
The targeting system can be tough to pull off sometimes but with a little practice it's no trouble.
For Dragoon attacks you have to wait for a bar to full up then make your one hit as a dragoon. (you can do more hits but you'd have your bar fill up several times.)
This can be a drag due to you can only perform spells as a Dragoon. You can use Spell Items, but the problem here is you can't carry vary many. You'll find your self dumping items to collect new ones all the time.
The Spell Items can make more damage when you rapidly tap the X button. (kind of like the Metal Gear Solid torture chair) This can be a real thumb sprainer.
The world map is nothing like Final Fantasy, Instead of free exploration your stuck on a track.
Not a major drag but it limits your movements and makes you go though old places to get to new ones.
This game is a bigger challenge then Final Fantasy 7, with the limits it gives you just barely defeat a boss before you run out of items and HP.
PUBLISHER: SONY
GRAPHICS: 10 SOUND & MUSIC: 9.5 CONTROL: 8
SECRETS: 8.5 ORIGINALITY: 9 FUN & REPLAY: 9
While Legend of Dragoon is a good contender to Final Fantasy, it still has ways to go to be the best. If you beat Final Fantasy 7 & 8 and are looking for the next best thing, I'd make Legend of Dragoon your next epic RPG Adventure.OVERALL: 9