The Legend of Dragoon

About The Legend of Dragoon

The Legend of Dragoon (1999) is Sony's own four-disc PlayStation role-playing game, a $16 million production whose timed "addition" attacks and dragon-armoured transformations set it apart from Final Fantasy.

The Legend of Dragoon in Depth

Play moves between a linear 3D area map with fixed routes, fully scaled field locations over pre-rendered backgrounds, and a battle screen. Up to three characters fight in turn-based battles, but attacking triggers an "addition": two blue squares converge on screen, and pressing a button as they overlap continues the combo for more damage. Longer additions are learned over the game, and enemies can counter them, forcing a different button press to keep going.

Each playable character eventually gains a Dragoon Spirit. Spirit points earned from normal attacks let a character transform into Dragoon form for a few turns, taking to the air with wings and swapping the usual commands for Dragoon Attack, a timed circle-and-line button prompt, and Dragoon Magic. Because the team wanted a realistic tone, magic is otherwise available only through items.

On the medieval world of Endiness, the warrior Dart is hunting the Black Monster that killed his parents when he finds his village destroyed and his childhood friend Shana taken prisoner. Rescuing her draws him into a war, the theft of ancient royal artifacts by the Wingly swordsman Lloyd, and a 10,000-year-old plot to revive the God of Destruction.

Making The Legend of Dragoon

Inspired by the success of Final Fantasy, Sony Computer Entertainment Japan began the game in 1996 with a small team while it was also making Ape Escape. Yasuyuki Hasebe, a battle designer on Super Mario RPG, directed and wrote the story outline, and Shuhei Yoshida produced; Kenichi Iwata was art director and designed the Dragoon armour. The addition system was meant to make players feel they were taking part in battles rather than waiting for commands. The team first planned no CGI movies, then added them for key events, and those films and pre-rendered backgrounds pushed the game onto four CDs. Dennis Martin and Takeo Miratsu composed the music, and Elsa Raven sang the theme, "If You Still Believe".

It was released in Japan on 2 December 1999, in North America in June 2000 in an easier version Yoshida called "complete", and in Europe in January 2001. Reviews were mixed (74 on Metacritic) and often compared it unfavourably with Final Fantasy, while praising its cinematics. It sold over 280,000 copies in Japan and 823,000 in North America by 2007, and Yoshida said US sales recouped its budget.