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I'm going to start this
review off by making something clear. As of right now, I have not
finished the Legend of Legacy. And too be honest, with a good 5-10
hours played, I have no desire to continue. For those unaware, I'm a
huge fan of Jrpgs. As in classical Jrpgs. You know like Final
Fantasy, Chrono Trigger, even more Radiant Historia or Bravely
Default. I'm the type of guy who will put up with turn based combat,
random encounters, and even grind if I feel like there's enough to
keep reinvested. This game was made for people like be, so the fact
that Legend of Legacy is one of the most boring games I've played
this year, speaks volumes for how much this game falls flat, because
this is the type of game that people cite as why they say they don't
like Jrpgs.
PRESENTATION
As I
sit here, I find myself very unsure of how to approach explaining the
plot. Not because it's terribly complicated or deep, but because it
basically doesn't exits. Even with all the hours I have put into this
game, I still am unable to explain what exactly happened or why. Only
the most basic back story is given at the beginning with the church
hiring mercenaries to investigate some strange goings on the island
of Avalon, there, under the direction of the local king, however that
works, and are sent to uncover the reasons behind the islands recent
awaking.
And
that is the extent of the story. There are interesting developments
or clever twists, and the whole thing in the end feels
inconsequential. This isn't like in other Jrpgs where the story is
too cliché to care about or too convoluted to get invested in, the
problem here is that there might as well be no plot with how little
actual happens. And this type of thing is incredibly frustrating for
those like me, since the story is essentially the reason to play
these game. As fun as the combat may be, with how long these games
tend to go one, if there is no compelling story or characters to
latch onto, then the whole journey ends up feeling tedious and a
waste of time.
Speaking
of the characters, there don't fair much better. Right up front the
game allows you to select for several different characters to begin
your story as. However, this is also serves no purpose as you'll just
end up recruiting the remaining characters anyway and each of them is
as bland and forgettable as the rest. There are no arcs, or character
development, betrayals, romances or even the slightest thing to give
any of them, meaning or purpose. There characters are their stats.
Nothing more. And that is a major problem. Because if I do not care
about what I'm doing or why I’m doing it, then I really have no
reason to continue doing said things.
GAMEPLAY
I will
give Legend of Legacy this. The spin it puts on it's battle system is
rather interesting. Instead of the traditional
“Attack/Defend/Skills/” menu, each character is granted a
specific set of skills based on what weapons and magics they
currently have equipped. Additionally, instead of learning a set
selection of skills or allowing the player select every skill they
want to learn, this game goes for something a little in between. The
longer a specific character uses a specific weapon, the more
abilities they will unlock for that specific weapon. In addition,
each character is able to equip up to two weapons at a time. This
system is great, allowing for a lot of experimentation to find a
suitable setup for each character, while not having to fear being
completely demolished because they were unsuited for a specific
weapon they wanted to try out.
The
downside to this is that the game becomes very grindy. And be very
grindy, I mean, OH HEAVEN'S MAKE IT STOP grindy. This is the other
major problem with Legend of Legacy. As if a lack of investment in
the plot wasn't enough, the spikes in quality make this game require
so much tedious and repetitive battling that it can drive a man
insane. A non-existent story, and excessive tedious grinding are
enough to kill the interest of even some of the most hardcore Jrpg
fans.
VISUALS & AUDIO
Honestly
the only other merit to legend of legacy is the art direction. While
not any too unique when placed along side similar 3DS rpgs like
Bravely Default, the character designs do have a sort of charm to
them, and the map and environment paintings are absolutely gorgeous,
at least for the most part.
The
same unfortunately, cannot be said about the music. While I am glad
that they did not decide to opt for a cliché generic rock or metal
theme used in so many of these types of games, I cannot think of a
single track for the battles, fields, or scenes that stood out. And
the lack of extensive voice acting in was also not something that I
was happy about, but again with a story this bare bones, I really
don;t even think it was worth bothering.
FINAL
THOUGHTS
And
that’s the problem with Legend of Legacy. It's not an awful game or
even particularly that bad. But as I thing about it now there isn't a
single thing about that comes to mind that would make me recommend it
to anyone, really. The story and characters might as well not exist,
the combat, while fun, isn't enough on its own to hold your
attention, and the amount of grinding necessary to progress from area
to area will make it hard for anyone stick around for very long.
It's
actually rather disappointing considering this game was released by
Atlus. They have a track record of putting out some really great
unappreciated games. If you haven't already I strongly STRONGLY
recommend you check out Radiant Historia, if you want an example of
how great a JRPG from Atlus can be, because this is sadly not it.
