Originally posted July 10, 2011 on Tumblr
Ok…. this game has one hell of a history lesson attached…. i’ll try
to get all the facts straight but honestly… i make no promises.
Released in 2005 by Bandai this was the first “Legend of Heroes” game
to hit North American Soil…. but it’s full Japanese title (which is
shown at the end of the game) states that not only is it part 4 of the
series…. but it’s also part of a trilogy, i think it’s the second game
of that trilogy but i’m getting mixed info… so not sure on that one.
Originally the game was made in 1996 for a system i know nothing about
called the NEC PC-9801… anyways things were made more confusing over
here when they released the 3rd game in the series (which they called
legend of heroes II even though it’s the first game in that trilogy…but
this one takes place as a prequel…. ouch my head…) the next year in
North America.
Anyways i knew none of that when i found the game in a place that
seems to collect oddities. To be honest i had never heard of the
series…. all i knew was that i was nearly done a game made by the same
producers “Falcom” and i knew there were more games in the ys series… i
thought it could have been one of them but it wasn’t. Still i am glad i
picked it up.
First i’ll start with the positive.
The music is really really pretty, epic when needed, sad at the drop
of a hat and just overall perfect for the mood. This is a game i look
forward to getting the soundtrack to.
The characters are lovable and for the most part feel very real, you
feel bad when certain events happen, you laugh with others. Nothing
feels too forced and their overall design is very nice even if some of
the stills look awkward… no… stay on the positive.
No random encounters. It’s a game where you can see the enemy and if
you choose to walk up and touch them only then will the fight start.
monsters that wont give good exp or that can be defeated easily tend to
run from you while stronger ones come charging. It’s really nice when
your just not in the mood to fight to be able to avoid it completely.
For a game with pixel sprites…. it’s violent. I mean some bad guys
get knocked off cliffs, a character gets hit against as wall falls… he
has left blood on the wall then a pool of blood falls around him… it was
just a nice welcome surprise
Finally the ending is good, a bit long but it made me feel like all that work really paid off.
However this game has a lot of very obvious flaws…
The translation and placing of text is atrocious.
ex. When you get a new spell it says. “Avin was Double-Attack Mastered!”
That particular example is the worst one in the entire game HOWEVER you see it every time someone gets any new spell.
also you get a lot of words being cut in odd places or just
completely going out of text boxes (happens a lot for inns) nothing too
bad but it does take you out of the game.
No auto targeting closest enemies in battles and if a monster your
trying to cast a spell on dies your character loses out on the turn. I
hate both of these…. if the character can’t attack something cause it’s
too far then please just auto go for the nearest monster. same this with
spells… just send them to someone else.
Some dungeons make you warp out or they will warp you back when you
don’t want it…. i complained about this the other day…. i just feel have
a teleporty thingy where the boss used to be and everyone is happy. and
don’t make me walk back to the place you just teleported me away from…
that’s just mean
You never get to choose your party.
Not even at the end of the game when every possible party character
is gathered…. i don’t mind the party i’m given but in the final fight i
want a little choice.
no New game plus : ( not really a bad point but it does make me sad.
Set up for sequel but flakes out… unless whats mentioned is what
happens in the next game but then we already know how that ends too…
hmmmmmmm
Lastly…. it’s predictable…. there were one or two things that caught
me off guard (more that it happened sooner then i expected then that i
didn’t expect it at all) but overall i knew exactly what was going to
happen next beat for beat, line for line…. hell i could even tell what
characters were going to say next. The story is good but it climbed to
the top of the tropes tree, fell down and hit every branch on the way
down.
Granted it did avoid one trope. The main character is a normal person
on a mission… not a chosen one… nothing special…. his sister is but he
is not… and that was extremely refreshing. so i guess that’s one more
positive to add to the list. also i love how the main pair are called
out on their young age the entire series.
Anyways i know a new game in this series was released here within the
past few months…. and i hope one day to get game LoH3 and 5… which is
really game 2 and 3 out here…. damn you chronologically confusing
things. so yeah…. possibly more Falcom games to come. (granted from what
i’m reading…. LoH1 was released a long time ago so i will probably
never find it… and two was never released in north America…. bummer)
wow longer then usual…. guess i had lots to say. overall really did
enjoy the game, it’s not terribly long but i feel satisfied and i love being exposed to new rpgs…
ok onto the next thing!
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