Case Cover
The Legend of Heroes: A Tear of Vermillion
Case Cover
Game File
Publisher: Bandai
North America Release: November 15, 2005
Number of Players: 1
Wi-Fi Mode: N/A
I had a hard time finding this game ever since it was released. I only managed to find a used copy of it from eb games as the game is discontinued so finding a new copy was almost impossible. It took me more than 2 months to get it. But, was the game worth it?
About the game
The Legend of Heroes: A Tear of Vermillion is actually The Legend of Heroes 5 in Japan & is part of the Gagharv trilogy. Of the 3 games, this takes place in the beginning of the trilogy. The trilogy games are ports from the PC version. The firmware version required to play is 2.00.
Graphics
The still portraits of the characters in the character selection screen are quite good as it has that anime feel to it. However, there are a small number of them & I felt some of them didn't match with the conversations that the characters were saying. As for the game sprites, they are basically your chubby SD characters that like to walk when standing. Although they are in 2D form, it feels like 3D due to their chubbiness. As for their movements during game play, it's pretty smooth. However, a lot of the actions are limited & it's pretty boring to watch them cast spells or pull off some of their Deadly moves. Sprites for the spirits aren't bad, but they are basically stills floating on the screen.
The background is beautifully done. It's really like living art. I'm pretty amazed on how an old school RPG game can make use of the PSP's colour capability so nicely. The colours of the background is very nice & the movement is nice, I liked how the water flows. It's almost real. Also, the colours blend very nicely with the characters & background. No clashing anywhere.
Music & Sounds
Nice, crisp, & clean. Although the sound effects weren't great in my opinion when it got into the fight & battle scenes. The hitting, cutting, & weapon swinging didn't sound real. It's fake. However, but it was fair. There are no voices in the game.
The music is pretty nice. But I wasn't able to get into it. It's probably because it's old school & I've gotten use to the new music in newer RPG games. Sometimes, it created the mood well. But, the music wasn't very memorable to me.
Gameplay
The controls are a bit on the awkward side. Using the analog nub, it was hard to control Avin & make him face to the people & objects to talk to or examine. It was very frustrating at the start. Even the D-pad was hard to use. This is mainly because Avin runs, so it's hard to control him properly. To make him walk, you need to move the nub or press the D-pad lightly. It was a problem for me at the start until I got the hang of it. But the coordination are still hard to target a bit.
The battles aren't too bad. You get to see what enemies are on the map & they aren't random encounters. You can avoid the monsters depending on the situation. If the monster has a high level than your party, it will chase after you. If its level is lower, it will run away. So, you can pretty much control the situation. As for the battle system itself, it's turn based as you decide what all of your party members should do during each round. The battles can be boring at times & you may be avoiding most of them. The experience points earned isn't good when you fight some weaker monsters. So levelling can be a pain.
The pet system isn't of much use. Although you can get some free items on the ground, it doesn't happen much or does happen too much. The best part about it though is that I save money from buying healing or support items. Also, pets don't seem to help much in battles. It's all random really. Also, I don't think the type of pet you get will make a difference as all the functions are the same. For the pet food, I'm not too sure what they do. They are many different types of pet food & I don't see much of a result. Feeding your pet will make it happy. However, there were many times where my pet became happy on its own when it was angry. So, I'm not sure what the pet food does. The pet doesn't run away as well.
The story is pretty good. But the translation & use of grammar & spelling is really terrible. At start of the game, you don't really see these mistakes. It's only when you get deeper into the game that you see these. Wrong words used, missing words, bad sentence structures, etc. Although you can pretty much make out what the game is saying, the mistakes are an eye-sore. People that played the Japanese version of the game have stated that the North American/English version is missing a lot of parts of the story that makes this game interesting. Since I never played the Japanese version, I can't make a comparison of the 2. However, I liked the story & the ending even though it was a somewhat open one.
Saving is very important if you are playing a RPG game on a portable system & this game doesn't disappoint much. You can save anywhere in the game with the exception of battles & cut scenes. These are not quick saves. However, sometimes the cut scenes can be very long & waiting for the chance to save your game can take time. Other than these, it's very nice. What's also nice is the loading times.
There is very little loading involved in the game. The longest load I've seen is around 5 seconds. But most of the time, there isn't any almost. You can hear the UMD loading while playing, but it doesn't stop or lag the game play. It's most like a gift from the gaming heavens. There are the rare occasions where you will see the "New Loading" screen at certain points of the game. But the loads are still pretty fast.
Extras, Bonuses, & Secrets
The extras are pretty much hunting for books for Avin to collect. They are mainly fiction novels & don't add much to the game.
Another extra is almost at the end of the game. Before you enter the final boss, there are some bonus mini missions to play with. However, there are only a couple of them.
Replay Value
The game has little or hardly any replay value. Once you past the game, it's finished. Luckily, this is a long game & does have around 50 hours of game time in it.
Overall Conclusion
Although there are very little RPG games at the time of writing this review, this game isn't a bad choice to pick up. That is, if you can find it. I give this game a 7.5/10. The game play isn't too bad, but the battles can get old as leveling starts to become painful. Although it's got a beautiful storyline that got me feeling for some of the characters, the translation & scripting job is terrible. It really affects the mood & this is 1 of the biggest downfalls that prevented me from giving this game a higher score.
Last updated on June 28, 2007
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