Legend of Dragoon

This cinematic is viewed in game after the
Queen Fury and Phantom Ship incident [Chapter 2:
Platinum Shadow]. Game art compiled by:
Tatsuya Nakamura, Kenichi Iwata and
Hirohiko Iyoku.

The Story

Thousands of years in the past, a great battle took place between Winglies and Dragoons. Winglies wielded bi-pedal monstrosities called Virages while Dragoons honed the power of their respective elemental dragons. The battle raged for what seemed like ages till a closing blow was dealt.

Fast forwarded 11,000 plus years; give or take.

It was a peaceful night in the town Seles. This once peaceful town is suddenly turned into kindling wood as a massive army launches an attack on the town and its populace. Every home is raided till they finally locate what they came for.

A young female was brought to the lead knight for confirmation as per their orders. He's presented with an orb of which is held over her head. After a brief moment the orb resonates as if confirming who she is which is a mystery in itself.

From here, the story progresses and we're introduced to the character Dart. He sets out on a mission to rescue the girl of whom we've discovered to be his childhood friend. After the rescue mission Dart, Shana and their new friend Sir Lavitz manage to get to the safety of Bale Castle.

Once there, we are given a glimpse into the character Dart’s past. A key figure from his past known as the Black Monster is said to be responsible for devastating his hometown many miles to the north. As explained, not much is known about this enigma outside of legend.

With this information in hand, Dart takes a break from his personal journey to help Lavitz and the other knights with reinforcing a town named Hoax. It's late evening when Dart and Lavitz get settled in for a long shift. With the fall of night, all the normal creature noises cease.

A Gigantos names Kongol. He posseses
incredible strength and endurance.

The opposing army is attacking and everyone jumps into action. Fights and fires ensue for what seems like forever. Up to this point, the opponents were manageable.

Then a Gigantos (a large humanoid species) named Kongol enters the scene. Even though it was a two on one match, chances of winning seemed slim. Despite the odds, Lavitz and Dart were able to reach a silver lining where a finishing blow could be attempted.

Dart, our red armored hero, runs in to deliver the final blow. To everyone’s surprise the Gigantos still had a lot of fight left in him and countered. Towering over his stricken opponent, Kongol gets ready to strike but a strange star in the sky catches his attention.

Only it wasn’t a star. A lady warrior in dark purple armor and wings swoops in to block the attack. With sword in hand, she points to our hero Dart and shouts: “Wake up! Knight of the Red-Eyed Dragon!”

Our red armored hero transforms and lands a powerful blow to the Gigantos. The battle is won. However, the war was far from over.

The Gameplay

Very simple and easy to grasp most of the time. Most answers to questions/problems can be located within dialogues found throughout the game. The dialogue between the sword master and Dart will assist you in combat especially in regards to dealing with counterattacks.

When it comes to fight matches, characters will make use of an additions system. The additions system is similar to a chain of attacks (like combos in fighting games). All characters minus the archers (NPC Shirley, Shana and Miranda) make use of the system which starts off with single hits and goes up to multiples including counters.

Chatting with the merchant in the forest will assist with elemental advantages and disadvantages during specific battle situations along with how to use spells. Along the way, you will start to collect random items which are housed in your inventory. At a later time, majority of the useless looking items will be needed so exercise patience.

Speaking of patience, there are moments when you have to do things a specific way. The first instance takes place within the Shrine of Shirley. After the Bandit fight, you're tasked with fighting Shirley herself.

The key to winning in this fight, is to not fight at all. Just shield and answer all her questions as best you can. Doing this will ensure your teams' health recovers to full, thus leaving you less vulnerable during your trip back to town.

Then there's the Law City which requires you to request permission to do things. In this case, you need permission to travel freely so that you can complete the main objective for that specific location. Failure to do this first will result in you constantly being detained.

My Gameplay Experience

This is one of the first RPGs I ever played on any console. My first introduction was through a video game demo disc for the PlayStation console called JamPack CD Summer 2K. It was purchased during spring break and was one of two games I had to choose from.

The game, Legend of Dragoon, consisted of four discs. Each disc displayed one of the four starter characters introduced on disc one: Dart, Shana, Lavitz and Rose. The demo begins after the group escapes Hellena Prison, while the game starts off with the raid of Seles.

Countless Restarts

2008 Time Log for Legend of Dragoon

On average, I clocked up to 14 hours a day with 70+ hours a week; give or take a break day or two. My first gaming session took me all the way to disc four, yet I could not progress past a certain point. After numerous restarts, it was noted that I needed to build up my characters and fill the inventory with much needed items (I didn't know about guide books at this time).

My final restart attempt began in June 2008. A log was kept to track the amount of time I was spending in each part of the game. Though useful, it was noted that less time was being spent playing the game when compared to my gaming sessions of 2004.

Like the previous sessions, Mayfil is still a stomping ground for getting stuck. The wire trap was figured out but for what ever reason I can't ever get to the safety of the final platform. I can't tell you how many times I've fallen through to the 'basement' for missing a step on the wire trap.

To top it off, there's a chest you need to open but can't until you defeat the guardian. Who's the guardian of the chest you ask? The Essence of the Divine Dragon of whom you just fought back in the Fate & Soul chapter (Disc 3).

Annoying Occurrences

During my gameplay infancy on my PSone (a compact version of the PlayStation), the game would often freeze at the worst possible moments. This was possibly due to my console overheating or something but it was annoying when it occurred. When do these freeze ups occur?

Before reaching a vital checkpoint (slightly forgivable) and after big boss battles (-_-'). The freezing that took place after boss battles became the bane of my existence because the game screen would not progress no matter how many times you hit the designated button to do so. After a while you are forced to restart not only the game, but the previous boss battle.

When I started playing again some years later, I decided to play it on my PlayStation 2 console. Surprisingly enough, the freezing instances that occurred during my PSone days, were non-existent on the PS2. This didn't stop the flashbacks when I got to those vital points in the game, but was happy with the smooth sailing.

Wish List Item

It would be nice if I could get a hold of the LoD soundtrack. The music themes and opening cinematic song are very memorable.

Updated: November 24, 2022

*theme song for Flower City and Furni