kjell1979's Full Review: Final Fantasy Legend for Game Boy Color
A Final Fantasy For Gameboy!
Yes, I admit it. This was the reason why I initially wanted the game. Having such a great experience with the Nintendo version of Final Fantasy, I wanted more. This game just had the right name. However, this really isn't Final Fantasy in the traditional sense. It carries the name, but the themes are based off a series called SaGa Frontier, also owned by Square. Square just called it Final Fantasy Legend to drive North American sales through name recognition. Worked for me. The SaGa Frontier games have a common theme of linearly advancing through the game by climbing a giant tower, which leads to new lands and worlds to explore. It also is more flexible with it's inventory system, battle system, and character advancement.
What is Final Fantasy Legend?
This game falls within the scope of your typical role-playing game (RPG). You fight monsters, find gold, weapons, armor, and items to help you in your quest. The more you fight the more your character advances (in general). The story behind the game isn't all that clear. Your mission is to climb this tower that sits on the spot where you start the game. For what reason you climb this tower remains unknown. As you advance through the game, you must complete certain tasks on certain levels of the tower in order to further advance upwards. This usually means you have to find items by fighting monsters. Doing this isn't too hard and the puzzles behind the monsters are difficult for a Final Fantasy game, but not that hard in general.
You start out with only one character you've selected as your main character. You have the options of a male or female human or mutant. You also can select between an array of monsters. Once you've selected you're main character, you may visit the guild in the center of town to add 3 more characters to your party. Here you can choose the same type of characters, the only difference is the monster list is different.
Equipping your character is a little different than many RPGs. This game has a lifespan for its weapons. You may use your weapon for only the amount of times it says next to it. After than it's gone and you must find a new weapon to use. Human characters have 8 open slots in which to put armor, and weapons. Mutants only have 4, the other 4 slots are taken up by abilities like spells, strengths or weaknesses. Monsters have no open slots in which to equip weapons, armor, items or spells.
Advancing your character is also a little different as well. Humans must buy items like strength and agility potions to raise those abilities. There are also potions called HP200, HP400 and HP600 that raise their HP as well. Mutants on the other hand must fight battles in order to raise their attributes. Using certain weapons in battle might raise their strength, agility or even mana. Using spells also raises their mana as well. Surviving many rounds in battle is the best way to raise their HP. The only issue I have with the way mutants advance is that when they gain stats or add/lose abilities, it is not mentioned after battle. This is kind of annoying and can really mess things up if not prepared. Finally, the only way for monsters to advance is by eating meat that is sometimes left behind by monsters. Although, this doesn't guarantee that your monster will be better (some will not and other will get worse), it does generally advance your monster as you eat meat throughout the game. The trick is to eat meat only when you're faced with a more powerful enemy.
The battle system is relatively straightforward. When you enter the battle you are faced with the graphic of your enemy or enemies that you must face. Below, you can see your own life. The battle is turn based and starts after you've selected each character's action for the round. The battle is dictated through a text window that appears below the monster's graphic. The text is reasonably clear and can be scrolled quickly by holding down the A button. As you attack your enemies, your method (whether it's a spell or weapon attack) will be illustrated in front of the monster graphic. This is a nice touch in what could potentially be a very tedious text battle. If you think you're not strong enough to face your enemies, you have the option of running. Your party will attempt to run and if they're successful, you'll escape out of the battle. If not, the enemy gets a free round to attack you.
Opinions About This Game
Don't get me wrong. This isn't that bad of a game, but they could have done so much more with it. The game is fun, which is the reason why I still have the game today. There are, however, many minor (and some major) flaws that keep this game from being "Legendary". For instance, there isn't much story to speak of when you start the game. There seems to be no purpose or goal other than to help other people out. You climb the tower and face new problems. The translations aren't too bad, but could use a little bit of work.
The lack of balance is the real killer in this game. There are times where you must stop and fight monsters just to advance your characters. This can be really tedious and can kill the momentum in the game. Another balance related problem is that some parties are destined to fail. If you pick more than one monster in your party you will not be able to win the game. I found this out because my first party was a human, a mutant and 2 monsters. For some reason I just got stuck on one enemy and couldn't advance. Eventually, I just gave up because I just couldn't win the game. Years later, after looking at some message boards and FAQs related to the game, I found out that it simply is impossible to beat the game with more than one monster in your party. What's even more annoying about this is that you'll never know this unless you invest a ton of time into the game only to find out that you're destined to failure. One thing I didn't try back then, but could have now, was to kill off one or both of my monsters and replace them with a human or mutant character. It would take a long time to increase their abilities, but at least I'd be able to win the game. Still, for a gaming platform designed for kids, this is something that should have been corrected.
How Does The Game Stack Up?
The graphics are a little dated. The over world graphics are limited due to the age of the game and the age of the platform. There are surprisingly very few sprites on the over world map. The enemy sprites in battle are well done, however they are not varied. Many graphics are repeated several times throughout the game. I can understand why since there is no color, and there's only a limited amount of space. Still, it's relatively disappointing.
The sound is ok. The sound effects are a little muffled and not very crisp. Rather, they are generic and really don't add much to the realism of the game. The music is good, though some song are really annoying and can give you a headache after a while. Some songs are really whiny. I end up turning off the sound on the Gameboy and turning on the stereo when I'm going to play the game.
The controls are good and there are some nice features in the game like fast scrolling. However, there is nothing out of the ordinary in this area.
The game play is done really well. The game is fun from an RPG standpoint. It really is good to have a good RPG for Gameboy. However now, it's not the only one out.
The replay value is ok, but not as great as is should be. Since there are so many combinations of parties to have in the game, this can add new challenges. However, if you can't beat the game with most of the parties, then what fun is it? The game also can be completed very quickly when you know what you're doing. Final Fantasy for the original NES can take at least a day or two to finish if you're trying to speed through it and even then, that's a whole day (24 hours). Yet, you aren't faced with the tedium of leveling up. With this game, the slowest parts are when you do have to raise your abilities. Occasionally you might get lost, but it isn't likely if you've played the game enough.
Final Words of Advice
This game is good. It's definitely worth it if you can get it for just a few bucks. Keep in mind its limitations though. It's good to have a portable RPG, however don't expect greatness from it. This game is not mentioned too much along side other great Final Fantasy and RPG titles. If you want to play a really good RPG game for Gameboy, get its sequel, Final Fantasy Legend II. It's the same type of game only with most if not all the problems cleaned up and/or solved. You could probably pick that game up for the same price.
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