A growing
storyline + leveling up + enemy encounters + customizable equipment +
massive exploration + minigames = the key ingredients to creating a Role
Playing Game (RPG). It has been a tried-and-true recipe, and many
developers have been victorious in creating a successful RPG. And while
Fresh Games gets the recipe right with Legaia 2: Duel Saga, the quality
of the game leaves little more than a bit of a stale taste.
The Legaia
series began on the Playstation One as The Legend of Legaia. The game
had a fantastic unique battle system which allowed players to attack
specific areas on the enemy. But one of the main factors that held back
the success of Legaia was its somewhat predictable and banal storyline.
The story was too slow-paced, and it wasnt intense enough to hold the
interest of players. Unfortunately, this factor is the same one that
plagues the second game of the series, Legaia 2: Duel Saga.
Duel Saga
begins as the typical, "Hero tries to save the world from impending
doom" story, and barely goes beyond that. The main character, Lang, sets
off on a journey to recover a stolen Water Crystal, the very item that
his town survives on. The thief of the Crystal is heard to have
tremendous powers, and he intends to do very bad things with the
Crystal. Hmm, maybe lets say, wipe out the entire human race? Along his
adventure, Lang discovers that he is a Mystic, a rare breed of human
that possesses God-given powers called Origins. With these new-found
powers, along with a cast of other Mystics, they plan to find the
culprit and prevent the abolition of the human race.
Thats
about it. The story tries to throw in some twists and turns but it never
strays from its predictable inevitability. The sense of adventure is
dulled down by the fact that it becomes a cat-and-mouse chase; the
characters travel from town to town and dungeon to dungeon in search of
the main enemy. The characters development themselves is a bit lacking,
leaving the gaming experience a little to remember it by.
While
there are interesting elements in the games such as gardening and
cooking, if anything, the battle system is Duel Sagas element that
should be savored. Just like its predecessor, the game uses a unique
approach to battle system in RPGs. While the Origins (similar to
summoning) are an integral part of the system, its the Tactical Arts
System that deserves the attention. The Tactic Arts System is a
command-based operation. Each character has an amount of command blocks
in which a directional command can be assigned to it. Each of these
commands attack the enemy a certain way. The compelling aspect of the
system lies within the Arts abilities. With a specific sets of
directional commands comprised together, it unleashes a more powerful
combo than an ordinary sets of attacks. There are different levels of
Art attacks, and with more blocks made available from leveling up,
massive damage can be dealt with each blow. The Art techniques are
hidden, and one way to unlock them is to find scrolls in the game to
reveal them. But the more compelling method is by the player discovering
them by using different commands during battle, giving the player
motivation to experiment with different attacks.
With
a great battle system, it would be reasonable to use it frequently. But
compared to the continuous flock of battles in the first Legaia, Duel
Saga is like a walk in the park. Literally. Enemy encounters happen at a
slow rate, giving more opportunity to travel farther without being
bombarded each step of the way. Whats also unfortunate is there is
little to no variation in enemies in a particular area. Typically, there
are only three different types of enemies, and each enemy attacks in a
pack of the same breed. For example, lets say in a dungeon, you run
into a pack of dogs, a pack of cats, and a pack of mice along the way.
You can expect to run into same dogs, cats, and mice again, in the same
attack formation no less. And once you discover the enemys patterns,
battle becomes a repetition of the same attacks on both sides.
And
believe me when I say itll be a repetition of battles. The difficulty
level starts off from the get-go, and it remains constant throughout the
game. The first battle area of the game is a forest, mainly a primer for
battles and such. By the completion of the forest, an average player can
expect to be around Level 5. By the end of the second battle area, there
is a boss that youll be hard pressed to defeat without being at Level
10. So the only way to pass this section is to level up, but add in the
fact that battles are distant from each other, and each battle contains
the same enemies, and it equals to a boring experience. I spent more
time running around in circles looking for battles, than the time it
took to win the battles.
Being
that a lot of the play time is looking for battles, it would have been
generous of the developers to add some dynamics to the areas. Similar to
the storyline, the towns and dungeons are very linear. On the path from
A to B, there is usually nothing in the environment to catch the eye, no
levels of depths to stare at in awe. The exploration camera is static in
Duel Saga, but it felt more like a hindrance in this game compared to
any other RPG. Unlike a typical Squaresoft game that includes detailed,
colorful atmospheres, in Duel Saga I always had this urge to move the
camera around as if I could find some hidden state of utopia right
around the corner.
One
factor that does positively separate Duel Saga from other RPGs is its
translation. Unlike other Japanese-born games which have horrible
English translations, such as bombing bases and other sorts, Duel Saga
manages to produce a legible story. The text rarely felt awkward, and
thats always a good thing. One of the components that I loved most
about Duel Saga was how the player can frequently choose his or her
response in a conversation. Its never anything that derails the story
off its linear path, but its something I believe is worth appreciating.
It is a shame that even with its strong translation and its speech
interactivity, it gets belittled by the constant fact that the story is
unimpressive.
Thats
what it boils down to. If only Fresh Games could have given Duel Saga a
kick of energy in its storyline, a shot of impressive graphics, and an
overall dose of excitement, it could have stood a chance with the big
boys of RPGs. Fresh Games need to spend as much concentration and
ingenuity with the overall game package, as they do with the unique
battle systems. Because in the end, it the lack of that innovation that
holds the Legaia series from flying off the shelves. So if youre not
looking for a stellar, memorable storyline, and are more interested in
the gameplay that will last you many hours, I would first suggest giving
it a chance from the rental shelf.