Graphics & Animation: ***
Music & Sound FX: ***
Playability: ***
Entertainment Value: ***
Challenge: Intermediate
Legend of Legaia is one of the first games I've played that shows a game doesn't have to be easy and still be fun. While the story may be played out, it more than makes up for it in its intrinsic battle system and fun mini-games.
The graphics are perfect. There's no sign of pixelation when you zoom in on a character and the sprites themselves are well animated, especially when you perform a combo. The special effects for the magic spells and the Hyper and Super Arts are definite eye-catchers. For such a good looking game, you might expect some slowdown, but there were very little signs of it in the game, actually; not enough to distract you from the action.
The music is goes well with the different situations in the game. For battles, it's upbeat and invigorating and for dramatic scenes, it's light and slow. The music for the battles with Songi is my personal favorite. The sound FX should be also applauded as you'll hear every smack, hit, grunt, groan, and thud of every character when it comes to battles. The voices are excellent, though some might be reaching for the mute button when they hear Noa's overly cute voice, but in any event, the voices are top-notch.
The controls are a snap to learn. You have your usual confirm and cancel buttons during normal play, though the ones really worth mentioning are the combo controls. You simply press a directional button to use a punch or kick and the fun part about it is you can make up your own combos, unlike some other RPGs where you just repeatedly press the confirm button to attack..and the game is nice enough to compile a list of all the moves you learned and the commands for them on a list for future references...all in all, this battle system is a lot of fun and there are thousands of possibilities for some good combos.
Legend of Legaia is also one of the few RPGs I have played that is somewhat challenging. Even the normal battles can give you headaches if you're not careful, and speaking of battles, it pays to be prepared, whether level-wise, or having the right equipment, otherwise the bosses and other enemies in this game will eat your party alive.
As for the entertainment value, it'll keep you entertained, alright...especially with all the mini-games and sub quests you can undertake. Also, at the end of the game, it'll compile a list of all the secrets you found, how many times that character died, and so forth, so you can go at it again and see if you done better.
The only gripe I have about this game is the price of the items and the amount of money you get from defeating enemies. I mean, getting enough money to buy the valuable stuff is a task in itself; they're so expensive that you'll wind up spending three or more hours trying to get enough money to buy all the stuff you need, plus the monsters don't give away a lot of cash when you beat 'em. This may be too tedious for those who just want to get on with the game.
All in all, Legend of Legaia is what Final Fantasy VII should've been, but that's another story. It has everything FF VII has to offer, with less FMV, of course and this one should tide you over until Final Fantasy VIII makes it over here in a few months. This is one you should definitely not miss out on!!
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