Sony’s The Legend of Dragoon is this year's attempt at a Final Fantasy killer.  After 3 years and a development team of over 100 members, Sony’s epic has finally made it to store shelves.  Built upon the strengths of Square’s franchise,

10,000 years ago, the first races of the world came into being from the power of the Divine Tree.  The 105th race was the mighty Dragons who were followed by the peaceful humans.  Then emerged the war-like Winglies, who conquered the world and enslaved the humans in their floating cities.  The humans revolted by using the power of the Dragon race to forge the supernatural Dragoon warriors, defeating the Winglies.  Now many years after this war, the emergence of the mysterious Black Monster heralds the birth of a new race and the return of the Winglie threat.  From these epic beginnings the game’s main hero, Dart, is introduced.  Dart is in pursuit of the Black Monster.  Waylaid by the kidnapping of his childhood friend, Shana, Dart is drawn into a fabulous journey to unravel the looming threat and solve the mysteries of his world.  He is joined by up to 7 other characters, each having their own purposes and distinct personalities.  As in the best types of console RPGs, many of the characters start out undeveloped and go through a variety of personal experiences that flesh out their background, goals, and personalities.  Shana is a troubled girl from Dart’s past with her own unknown powers.  Rose is the confident Dragoon warrior who unlocks Dart’s heritage and has a mysterious agenda of her own. Lavitz is the typical honorable warrior while Meru is the comic relief.  The varying styles of the characters do a lot to bring this game world to life and make The Legend of Dragoon an enjoyable experience from start to finish. 

Another notable goal for any aspiring Final Fantasy killer is to have great graphics.  The Legend of Dragoon excels in this department with loads of beautiful background scenery, large and detailed polygon characters, and a variety of different styled towns and dungeons.  Areas to explore include caves, forests, mountain cliffs, castles, and even a gravity warped zone with killer twisting paths to navigate.  Variety is something this game has in abundance.  The character and enemy animations are also well done, especially the Dragoon transformations and magic sequences.  The rare CG sequences are pretty to look at but, unfortunately, don’t meld well with the story.  What made Final Fantasy VIII so original was the that the CG sequences felt like a natural extension of the world.  In The Legend of Dragoon these sequences never shift directly from the game graphics and usually feel like glamorous distractions more than anything else. 

The sound and music are just as spectacular as the graphics.  Tunes vary between the towns and dungeons and excel, especially during battles.  I rarely hear music this good in boss fights.  Sound effects like the chirping birds in the forests and the dripping of water in the caves help bring the environments to life.  Unlike Final Fantasy, The Legend of Dragoon actually has voice during combat and CG movie sequences.  While they're not the greatest, they're much better than the atrocious voice-acting in Grandia. 

The gameplay is very linear, walking the player across the world map from one location to another with the story.  One drawback is you are forced to go into a dungeon area you already completed to get back to certain areas.  While annoying, it did not detract too much from the game.  The Legend of Dragoon is very plot-driven and as such there is a purpose to every action.  Prison breaks, army rampages, imposter royalty, and bandit attacks are just some of the early examples of the troubles Dart and company have to go through.  Once the player arrives at a location, the area is clearly marked with colored arrows indicating all exits and entrances.  Battle encounters are usually random but luckily do not occur too often.  

During battle, commands are turn-based and include attack, item, defend, or retreat.  Once the attack order is given, the player must time a second tap of the X button to pull of a special combat attack that is learned through experience.  Different special attacks deliver different damage and earn SP points.  SP points are needed to pull of the Dragoon transformations that occur only when the SP gauge is full.  While in the Dragoon form, the character can either attack with twice the power or use magic.  There are up to 4 levels of Dragoon power that will allow 4 turns of attacks while in Dragoon form.  Once all attacks are used up, the character returns to human form and the player needs to once again build-up the SP gauge.  Healing magic is scarce, forcing players to rely on heal items.  The defend command also heals 10% of HP damage.  Finally, only 32 items can be carried at any one time forcing the player to use some strategy during those tough boss fights.   While the combat seems simple, the choices of attacking, Dragoon magic, healing, and item management make fights and interesting task that, for me, never got old. 

The Legend of Dragoon has all the right elements of an RPG classic: a vast story spanning 4-CDs, memorable characters, killer graphics, addictive tunes, and a nice combat system.  They all come together to create one of the best treats to come out of Sony’s offices.  

If you buy one non-Square RPG this year, you would do very well with The Legend of Dragoon. 

Many different characters to develop and secret items to find.  It's a great tale that can be replayed like one re-reads a good book.