Legend of Legaia

"Legend of Legaia is a nice snack for RPG lover's waiting for Final Fantasy VIII to ease their hunger."

Legend of Legaia is a tastefully done RPG, and its a great game that only falls short in a few categories. I will assume you have heard a lot about the game and are somewhat familiar with the story and basics. I would like to focus on the game itself without regurgitating the first five pages of the instruction manua. That being said, let us continue.

The battle system is very similar to that of Xenogears, and the game does lose some points for originality. I have been a huge fan of RPG's ever since Final Fantasy was released for the NES, and I think one of the biggest factors in whether this type of game is fun or not is the battle system. Let's face it, when playing you will spend 90 percent of your time fighting. Whether it's because you need higher levels or because you need to defeat the level boss, the point is that, if you want to keep gamers interested, give them a great battle system. Perhaps one of the reasons Final Fantasy VII was so hugely successful was because of the summon spells. It is nice to be able to sit back and watch some ridiculously large creature tear the bejeesus out of unsuspecting evil monsters.

Legend of Legaia has a new take on the summon spell, and I think it works out very well. Being able to summon various creatures in order to cast different spells is a great idea and it adds a new element to the concept of just gaining spells when you level. Also, some of the creatures you can absorb and summon look very, very nice. Let's face it, although a story is one of most essential elements of a game, it's still great to play a game where the graphics and scenery make you just sit back and say, "Wow"!

I have read other reveiwers complain about the enemy encounters, and how they seem to happen way too frequently. I suppose they're right, but then, there have been great games where you battle every ten seconds and I hear no complaints. Well, this may not be the greatest RPG of the year, if you've got fifty bucks burning a hole in your pocket and you've already beaten Xenogears, then give this game a try. It really fills that little empty whole left by Xenogears in the RPG center of my brain and helps me get through until I get my hands on a copy of FFVIII. Until then, I'll try not to salivate on my controller too much.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 11/01/99, Updated 11/01/99