Legend Of Dragoon - PlayStation

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Legend Of Dragoon (PlayStation)
Viewed: 2.5D Combination Genre:
Adventure: Role Playing
Arcade origin:No
Developer: SCEI Soft. Co.: SCEI
Publishers: Sony (GB/US/JP)
Released: 19 Jan 2001 (GB)
Unknown (US/JP)
Ratings: 11+

Summary

If we were to discuss the role-playing genre as it stands today, most of the conversation would comprise of either Final Fantasy or Zelda. However, there is competition from developers other than Square and Nintendo, and they want their own say on the topic. In short, Sony is gunning for a piece of the cake and has just brought The Legend of Dragoon out of their R&D studios. The result? That’s up to you.

On first impressions, a stylish cover boasting four discs and eighty hours of epic gameplay is quite enticing. Dragoon opens with a lovely CG sequence that begins the story that you will uncover over the next three months or so. As an RPG it comes as no surprise that this is a dialogue-heavy game, and as such, is related more to Final Fantasy than to Zelda. Also, supporting this statement are those very much-despised random battles that stem off into real-time 3D encounters with some wonderfully animated special effects. A complex menu system has been put in place that will take some time to master. You would be forgiven for thinking that Sony is trying to replicate the same formula that made Final Fantasy VII such a success. While to some extent this could be the case, The Legend of Dragoon is an individual game, and should be judged on its own merits.

Dragoon doesn’t have quite the same levels of expertise put into it that the Final Fantasy series had, and as a consequence, doesn’t feel as polished as it could be. Nevertheless, it’s a reasonable PlayStation RPG that sits among a huge pile of not-so-good RPG’s. The choice is yours.