Gaming Target - PlayStation 2: Legaia 2: Duel Saga

Written by Matt Partington on November 14, 2002

Full Review: Where's Meg?

УWe are Mystics Ц the Chosen Ones!
We are the hosts to the Origins,
Those material manifestations
Of the force of Nature.
Branded with a mark from birth,
We are detested and feared by humans
Because of our great power.Ф
ЦAvalon

In the minor settlement of Nohl, a magical crystal that renders them infinite water, the Aqualith, is stolen by a man with golden eyes who calls himself a Mystic. Incapacitated from this mighty being that thieved the Aqualith, the village sends out Lang, a novice soldier of the Vigilance Corps to venture and find their stolen gem. Far and wide, a massive eclipse changes the land into something evil, where monsters roam free and are more powerful than ever. Lang is scarred with somewhat of a tattoo on his chest, of which he only believes is a birthmark. He's consistently being reminded of this mark, and how it means that he too is a Mystic. This is where the journey begins.

When we first heard about Legend of Legaia on the PlayStation, tons of gamers got pumped. That is until they played it. The game just bubbled with potential, but somehow all of that leaked out. Unfortunately, it only turned out to be a mediocre-at-best RPG. As much as Legaia 2 seems like a typical, generic, standard RPG, it improves on the original in practically every way. But for those reasons listed above, Legaia 2 just like its predecessor doesn't reach its maximum potential.

Despite the battle system feeling basic, it features something called the Tactical Arts System which is possibly the best part of the entire game. Instead of regular attacks each time, your blows are created by pressing Up, Left, Down, Right. You start out in the game with a max of 3 hits, such as Left Up Right. The further you progress in the game, the more commands the game will allow. Aside from that there's many different special Arts: Normal Arts, Hyper Arts, Mystic Arts and so on. Normal Arts increase your MP by (usually) 16. Arts beside Normal will decrease your MP, but aren't as common. Arts are learned by just picking random commands and getting lucky, or being taught new ones. Just think fighting games and you'll get the gist of things.

Without the Tactical Arts System, battling would be amazingly dull. Most the obvious commands are here such as Item and Guard, as well as Tactical which let's you do various strategic orders. Other than that...uh...there's really nothing. Of course you also have your Origin attacks which basically replace magic spells.

Legaia 2 gives you the ability to do certain little unique tricks like combining items, cooking, and camping. Often an enemy you defeat will leave a resource item behind (leather, tooth, jewel, and so forth). In the Combine Screen, you can combine these items to make new items such as potions, weapons, or food. It's quite a cool concept, and even though the idea only goes so far there's plenty of fun to be had with the process. Cooking is similar to Combining. First you must learned the recipe to the meal by talking to people or teaching it to yourself. Every dish will have an individual effect on any given character, whether it's temporarily changing a status, decreasing or increasing health. But to use these abilities, you'll first have to get far enough in the game to Camp, the only time when those commands are available to use. Camping let's you cook, combine, rest, chat (listen to party members jabber), and of course save. Tent icons will be randomly placed in caverns, fields, trails, and other places that you might have hardships.

In game, Legaia 2 feels great and is an extremely interactive RPG. Lang and other characters move around very smoothly and fluentlyЦthere's no framerate problems or hangup here either. In fact, if the game feels best anywhere, it's on field where just walking around and talking to people is the priority.

It's disappointing, but Duel Saga has no CGs. Cutscenes tell the entire story, and it seems as if there's almost equally as many cutscenes as there is playing (good or bad, you decide). The cutscenes are well-made and work for the game, but don't push any technical or creative limit.

I can see many gamers having problem with the visuals of Duel Saga. Graphically, the cutscenes are on the borderline of terrible. Blocky (really blocky), jaggy, stiff, ugly, you name it and the cutscenes have it. Very occasionally will the background lightning make it look as if they aren't as bad, but once again that takes some pretty impressive lighting. This comes to a bit of a surprise, because while playing Legaia 2 (battles and field), the game looks very adequate for an RPG. It's created in full 3D, no prerendered are used (at least to my knowledge). Regardless, the visuals aren't pushing any boundaries, just merely keeping up with the ground. But like most of you would say, УI don't care about graphics in an RPG,Ф...well, whatever. Just don't play this game for its graphics, because you're going to be hitting yourself in the head with a bat if you do.

Simply, Legaia 2 has no voice acting. After killing off an enemy you might here Lang or some other character might give off a random one-liner like УI must go on,Ф but other than that nothing. Yet let's be fair here, only one RPG has had voice acting and actually pulled it off and that's Final Fantasy X. The absence of voicing really doesn't hurt Legaia 2 in any way.

The soundtrack is done by none other than Yasunori Mitsuda. Never heard? Two words: Chrono Cross. (CC as well as plenty other titles, but CC is just his most recognizable and accomplished.) Despite it being done by one of the best composers in the industry, and my personal favorite to boot, Mitsuda doesn't live up to his own personal standard in my opinion. Not that the music is bad, but it's just not as enchanting or unique as his past work. Instead of creating something with ingenuity like Chrono Cross and the Celtic themes, Duel Saga's music seems to be created with basic orchestral instruments. No matter, the music fits the moods and environments and is more than completely sufficient for the game, or any game at that.