Bahamut Lagoon

"Great strategy game...with a twist!"

-Strategy has been implemented since the beginning of humankind, whether to conquer a rival city, or even to hunt a fearsome beast. Over the centuries it has evolved into a complex network of X's, O's, and arrows, now being used as commonly as in sports competitions and video games. However, throughout humankind....strategy did not have dragons.

-Enter Byuu, the blonde captain of the Kahna Dragon Squad, leading his crew into battle against the tyrannical, yet chivalrous Granbelos Empire. You must lead your numerous dragons and troops into multiple battles and cleverly utilize the landscape to deal out long range attacks, healing spells, summons, and magic. The troops are organized into effective units of four, and one dragon. After each unit moves, their dragon also performs an action, depending on which setting is selected. The only drawback to this, is that you have little control over the dragons, and they generally make bad decisions, although sometimes they can coincidentally perform the perfect operation that you yourself might not have thought of.

-Even from the beginning, there are 20 playable characters, each with unique personalities, that are brought out during the sequences between battles. A heavy array of side-quests are presented, and offer challenges against both monsters and soldiers. You take flight in your airship, and travel to floating continents, where many battles take place. These skirmishes can be tedious and extremely challenging at sometimes, however if all of your resources are sought out and analyzed, you can perform with much higher efficiency and power. This game does well to truly test the strategic mind of the player.

-The battle system is very expansive -- Not only can you perform long range attacks and magic, but you can also take your spot next to an enemy and have a turn-based (one turn per round though) battle, like in the classic game, Ogre Battle. During these battles, a party can use items, defend, magic, techniques, or just regular attack -- and occassionally you get some much-needed help from your dragon!

-The graphics are above-par, and display a set of lush, beautiful backgrounds, as well as smooth sprites and dragon animations. The movements of enemy characters are extremely smooth, and surprised me the first time I saw them. The music is nice, however like most RPGs, it gets repetetive after awhile, and the sound effects are on par with any normal game.

-The twist, mentioned in the Synopsis, is of course, the dragons. A lot of the game, and the battles, completely rely on the dragons, and out of battle, there is a Dragon Feeding system which is necessary for making dragons stronger, smarter, elemental, and loyal. They will eat ANY item in your inventory (even the porno magazine, which raises their strength in return for a lowered intelligence). This will also effect their decisions in combat, and whether or not they will do something stupid and strategy-ruining.

-The game has a good solid plot. Nowhere near the complexity of Xenogears or anything like that, but still stout and playworthy. The characters, as mentioned before, are all unique and fun to talk and interact with. There are still the classic elements of most RPGs, like weapon/item/armor shops, and text boxes (although, I was dissapointed that there were no avatars of the characters; I wanted to see the princess!).

-In conclusion, this game is extremely good, and definitely worth the play. I have given it a 9/10; subtracting one for it's soundtrack and plot (which are still quite good). I highly recommend it for strategy and RPG fans alike, and doubly recommend it for players that play both genres. Classic, simply classic!

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 03/09/03, Updated 03/09/03