Game 18: The Final Fantasy Legend (GB) - Final Rating

Combatant
Combat is difficult to analyze in this game. Due to the nature of party building, you could have a very interesting, fun, grindy, or challenging time. My party choice (2 mutants, 1 human, and a monster) allowed me to get by without grinding while the game remained challenging. If I had to suggest a better party than this, I'd say skip the monster and include a mutant for an easier time (or human with a little extra grinding required).

Monsters are hard to manage and remain one of the weakest characters. Mutants offer a lot of variety: stats that increase from combat and the ability to use spells. Humans are bland, but with enough cash are overpowered. I never found a good balance.


The bosses, normally a highlight for challenge, are some of the weakest battles when compared to random encounters. The final battle bucks the trend, but ultimately comes down to luck. There's enough here to enjoy, but it's not as rewarding as it could have been.
Rating: 4

Critical hits automatically kill enemies, not that the high damage from my human wouldn't already

Admirer
It's interesting that as the second Final Fantasy game (I know it's not really one) released in the US, we still don't have a static party that is now a series staple. At the start, the player chooses one character: a human, mutant, or one of four starter monsters. Additional party members are recruited from the guild to fill empty slots or replace dead members. The guild for each world has characters with appropriate stats for that world. The ability to create any combination of characters is the game's greatest merit.

The appearance of each character doesn't change with equipment, and is set based on race (and gender). Only the first character in the party is displayed while exploring. Mutant and monsters are the only ones with modifiable abilities, but it's unfortunate that they are modified randomly. Reading through one FAQ, it suggests to save after each fight to reduce randomness and keep beneficial abilities and monster types. I don't think it's necessary, as I went through most of the game without any good abilities. With more control over progress though, I would have rated this category higher.
Rating: 3

Initial character options

Puzzler
Puzzles... puzzles. Nope. None here. The main quest, while not supported with logical reasoning (let's head into monster infested tower instead of sealing it), keeps things focused. The worlds do offer some excursions on the side with a couple optional treasures, and the ability fix at least one problem that has nothing to do with the main quest. I wish there was more examples of such interaction, but we'll have to wait for other games to fill that void.
Rating: 2

Hmmm, how can I solve this problem? Oh! Take the garbage out maybe

Instigator
The main story, the driving force for the party, is to discover the purpose, the design behind, this looming tower spewing forth monsters. Some vague rumor that there was a paradise on the other side is mentioned, but our party doesn't seem interested in all that. The world is filled with characters that have their own purpose, which do seem to have their own goals to fulfill. The atmosphere created around events in and out of the tower support the otherwise shallow experience of a dungeon crawl.

Unfortunately, with the limited space of Game Boy games, we're left with only a surface experience of each location, item, enemies, and characters. The player is often left in the dark as to why the party needs to get the Red Orb from Sei-Ryu, or why Sayaka couldn't give me the sphere when I first arrived. There also aren't any choices; the game goes as far as to ask a question, but also takes control of a character to answer it.
Rating: 2

That's where I was going already

Collector
There are a lot of items. Too many to purchase without some heavy grinding, and the manual only describes half of them. I also learned that some armor bestows additional protection beyond the defense stat. I'm not sure how the developers expected these effects, and item uses, to be discovered other than through trial and error. When's the last time you walked up to a shop keeper, and he wouldn't tell you anything about what he was selling?

One interesting thing to note is there is always something better to buy. I only had a single human, and purchasing stats for him only capped out near the end. Also counting one less set of armor and weapons for my monster, I can easily see a necessity to fight additional battles to afford equipment for a well equipped party.

The biggest limitation to collecting is finding a place to put it all. A party of four humans has a chance of storing everything of interest, but you'll also face the fact that weapons and items, even the rare ones, degrade with use. In the last shop is an item to restore uses (Arcane), but it doesn't work on the glass sword (best sword), nor the one time use N. Bomb.
Rating: 2

Only 8 items in my backpack, but who's carrying it and why do I have only one?

Explorer
I've always been able to look past graphics, music, and sound effects when the game is enjoyable. I found them acceptable, although some of the music is a little ear piercing if turned up too loudly. Maybe it sounded different on the actual console instead of through the Game Cube. The colored graphics are good, but I also enjoyed them in monochrome.

The worlds, and the tower climbs in between, offer a sense of discovery with tidbits of atmosphere that hint at sinister forces while adding a sense of life, inviting such exploration. There are many hidden items, missed without deviation from the main quest. I missed out on some powerful weapons from the hidden town before it disappeared, and a few others by giving up on more thorough searches through difficult battles. When areas are cleared, change to the world and inhabitants is apparent.
Rating: 5

Just an interesting scene. I think the spikes are supposed to cause damage, but they never did

Final Rating: 18 [30%]

I'm a bit surprised at the final score (I thought it might get a bit higher), but the game really is light in a lot of areas. With the random aspects of character development in its infancy here, and the inability to lock at least a few good abilities down, there is more potential than is delivered. I'm looking forward to seeing the series grow into the SaGa games I know, which is really only SaGa Frontier. For those interested, here's a speedrun of the game done in about 1 hour.

Thanks all for joining me for this one. Chet (CRPGAddict, I'm sure I don't have to introduce him to anyone, but his focus is on in-depth reviews of computer RPGs) made mention of this blog on his, which spiked page views for a couple of days. With the dust settling over the next month we'll see how many turn into regulars, but I hope some will check back down the road once I get to some more modern favorites. I welcome all feedback, and hope you enjoy your time here.

Next up is Swords and Serpents, notorious for it's password system; I believe I rented this once and couldn't figure out what the passwords were. Luckily with my recorded playthroughs to take screenshots, I shouldn't lose or misread those passwords. It's another game with a customized party. A party of four (with a choice of fighter, thief, or magician) are assembled to explore a dungeon. I've already been warned to have at least one magician. My planned party is one of each, plus an extra magician. I figure one can never have too much healing potential.

Game 18: The Final Fantasy Legend (GB) - Finished!

Yes, you will, but not in this game

The final tower ascent went as well as expected. I ran into some bad luck, had three dead members at one point, but in the end I was able to limp away to fight another day.

All four spheres; it's hard to tell, but the design on each represents their color in Kanji

The tower climb this time around was filled with wizards who could deal massive damage and warriors with their instant kill Saw ability. I had Tara relegated to Death duty. With her high mana stat, she was always successful in taking out a group with the Death spell (as long as they weren't immune). Unfortunately her low agility meant she usually went last.

Who's Creator?

As I neared the end, the plot was trying to come together. The entire game so far felt a little disjointed. I wasn't sure why the fiends sought the Spheres (except for Gen-Bu, who already had the black one). The spheres only seemed to allow passage to upper levels of the tower anyway. Why would Ashura, who was already on the uppermost floor, send the fiends to collect them?

Even Ashura was being used

I found a Flare spell in a library that was about to tell me who was in ultimate control, but I couldn't quite make out the name. I didn't let that bother me, as Flare proved highly useful. It hit all enemies for 400 damage. Its power was only rivaled by an N. Bomb (Neutron?) I found tucked into a shelter.

Nope, just sleeping...

Inside the shelter was one of the saddest moments. Children lay lifeless on the floor, huddled together. A diary in another room detailed their tragic end. They holed up here, away from the terrors outside, but they ran out of food and water. The diary author went on to apologize for leaving Ken and Yuki behind, implored Akira to care of his brothers, and begged the Creator to look after the children.

I'm unsure what those names are supposed to mean. I never ran into any characters with them. I can only guess they belong to the children in the other room.

Who left these chopped onions here?

I pressed on. The next floor up, I ran into an old man alone in a shack surrounded by a field of flowers. Once he learned I'd come from the tower, he imparted the sword XCLBR, and disappeared.

Just think of me as a talking treasure chest and this will make more sense

Excalibur and a later sword, Masamune, seem to be staples for Final Fantasy. In this one, they damage an entire group of enemies, but do slightly less damage than a normal sword.

I was close to Ashura, but ran out of revives when Veri died to some targeted attacks. I pressed on to Ashura thinking I could get by with only one member down.

Some how I did not get wiped out

In one fight Jaso and Jare fell, and still I pressed on. Tara could take Ashura out herself. Right?

Ashura! I'm not scared of you!

I'm going to get you Ashu... why am I back at the beginning of the floor?

Well, I tried; however, there's a trap in front of Ashura. When walking straight up, the party will hit a teleportation square that transports them back to the previous floor. I took this as a sign I wasn't ready, and at the suggestion of a viewer on my stream, I used the Door item I picked up early to get back to a town. Door brings the party to any floor.

It's all a dream~eam~mm

I had quite a hoard of gold, so stocking up back in town went well. I increased Jare's HP, bought a Hyper to try it out, and made sure to get more revives. I didn't have to worry though since the Door took me right back to floor 23, right before Ashura. I then fell for the same teleport trap another two or three times.

Flare was helpful for bosses as well

Ashura offered my party a place in the worlds below, ruling over them. Such an offer was immediately refused without consulting me. Ashura fell like most bosses, quickly and without much trouble. I tried using Hyper, but it failed. After the battle I used it on a random encounter. I found it immediately kills all enemies; no wonder it didn't work on a boss.

Glass sword, probably the best sword in the game, isn't actually destroyed

With Ashura defeated, there was only the Creator to tangle with. The next floor was preceded by a pitfall that sent me down to the first floor. I awoke in the starting town, at the base of the tower, to find all my old friends from the various worlds gathered around.

How long have I been out?

The weapon shop was filled with new goodies, many of which I couldn't afford. A Sun Sword sounded glorious and Power Armor intrigued me, but grinding for them seemed unnecessary. I had everyone put on Dragon Helmets, and assaulted the tower a final time. It was now locked with the power of all four spheres.

I could buy... no, armor is probably better

Fully stocked, I set on my final journey. As I remembered, all four fiends appeared once again for a final confrontation. Once again, they were all pushovers. Random encounters still proved potentially fatal though, so I couldn't let me guard down as I scaled the five repeating floors between each boss.

This was the best mutation, but I got greedy and ate Su-Zaku2

The only reason a monster might come in handy is to be a Ki-rin

The last floor was one long corridor to a door that led to a very bleak area. An orb sat where I just emerged, and only the odd tree dotted the landscape. To the north was the man in a top hat waiting to greet me. I saved, checked my inventory one last time, and prepare for the battle I expected.

These are the final screens of my characters as I checked them

Mutants have the highest defense because they're the only ones that get increases to it beyond armor

Strength and Agility of my human were more in the 100s as I took the advice of a commenter to continue to raise them

And, the most pathetic party member in the whole game; replaced 6 times and now completely useless

Thank you

So, here the story is finally revealed. The Creator made Ashura, made everything really, and the tower in order to test his other creations. He called this a game, and we were the first to finish. The purpose was to instill courage and determination that would overcome all challenges.

I wish you would end the game, or I wish you didn't exist, maybe? No, let's just kill him

We refused to accept him as a benevolent being, and charged him with crimes against all creation. Funny how that works if he really did create everything.

You shall be remembered

I could say the ensuing fight was once again easy. In fact, I did have an easy enough time at it. Yet, I believe I just got really lucky. His actions were 1) to do nothing, 2) cast Light, which had no effect, 3) cast Repent, which had no effect, and 4) cast Flare, which if he only did that would fry my party to a crisp.

My last use of Flare finished him off

I had Jaso using the Aezis Shield, which said it bestowed a protective force field over the party, but I'm not sure how useful it was. Tara used the N. Bomb and Flare. Jare used the Glass Sword solely. Veri was floundering since all his attacks were useless.

Well, mostly useless

My son was curious about my progress, so I let him replay the final battle. He lost, and then asked me to try again. This time, I lost because the Creator used Flare twice, took out Jare, and I ran out of ways to damage him. I tried again, this time Jaso used Masamune. I didn't notice any downside to forgoing the Aezis Shield (a misspelling of Aegis I think), so I'm curious about its purpose. With the extra damage of Masamune, and the heal ability of Jaso to ensure Jare survived, I easily won a second time.

We're going to Disneyland!

With the creator defeated, the party pondered on their purpose. What was this all really for? What was next? Wait, there is a door behind the Creator.

Find out next game!

Instead of entering, the party members were content on returning to their own world. I was then greeted to flashbacks of all the fiends, and my journey to the final tower before Jaso turned around and said goodbye.

But... but... there's a door I haven't gone through!

Another game done. I still hope to finish by the end of the year, but with games increasing to 30 - 40 releases per year I can only really hope to match the release rate instead of catching up. Final rating and review to come, and then on to the next game: Swords and Serpents.

Session Time: 2h09m (Total Time: 10h01m)

Game 18: The Final Fantasy Legend (GB) - Into the Void of Oblivion; We Ascend to Die

I'm enjoying all the vehicles; this one's a hover bike

I know I ended my last post with a bit of doom and gloom. I was fully expecting to face insurmountable odds that would drive me to grinding; however, I managed to eke by with a meager collection of Elixirs and X-Potions until I found my way to the next town. With the direction of So-Cho, I took his bike and followed the sewers to the library first.

Sounds like fun!

I started my search on the bottom row, and discovered nothing. I wasn't sure if I was looking in the right place since there wasn't a message when I pressed the button, so I checked how many rows there were before continuing my search at the back. At the end of that row there was a square that started a sequence of searching where I lost control of my party; they went on their own searching the bookshelves. Upstairs revealed the location of Akiba.

City blocks? I think those have all been destroyed

I could only guess the directions where from the library. Akiba was truly a hidden city. I picked up some treasure and a ROM from Akiba, which was completely deserted and filled with monsters.

Why don't we full over and ask that nice fire bird for directions?

Ameyoko was to the furthest northeast portion of the map. When I arrived, I wasn't even sure it was the town I was looking for since none of the inhabitants would speak to me.

Yoohoo~! Over here; I'm a girl~! Talk to me

The weapon shop was as expensive as ever, but there were two item shops. One had a the Rod, which seems to work the same way as the Cure spell (I learned this from the manual). When used by one of my mutants it heals for about 300 HP and has 30 uses. Also here was the HP200 I complained had disappeared. I spent 10 minutes buying and using them 1-by-1. While I could have easily gotten to max HP, I didn't feel to it was a good use of time.

Anyone ever actually have enough money to purchase this item?

I still wasn't sure this was Ameyoko, where I was supposed to find the Board. I decided it was, only after searching the remainder of the map. It still took me a few minutes to locate the shop which sold the Board. It was on the other side of a gap in the north wall.

Story of my life here

With Board and ROM in hand I returned to So-Cho. He told me the next item was plutonium from the atomic plant. The plan was to attack it the next day, but my party thought it was best to go it alone.

Not anymore!

They were outnumbered on the way out, so they allowed So-Cho to the lead the way until we arrived at the base of the plant. The place was locked out anyway until he taught us to jump over a gap with the bike. The battles inside weren't much of an issue except for one; Jaso was turned to stone.

Uh... you first

Even with one party member down I easily blew through the rest of the tower. At the top So-Cho ran through a force field to disarm it. He died in the process, and passed on a piece of armor before passing out. Beyond the door I found plutonium, added it to the parts I already had, and assembled the Erase99 program.

Did someone order a boss fight?

A machine responded to the automated alarm. The machine, which looked strangely like a WarMech from Final Fantasy, went down without too much trouble. We ignored the radioactive water we must be drenched in and moved on.

Blind and stone we still took down the machine

With the device completed, I found myself instantly outside the first town. Inside, nearly all the people were dead. Luckily the inn keeper survived to give me a night's rest, but the shops were inaccessible. Looks like I'm going to lug around this stone statue of Jaso for a bit longer, as I was directed towards the skyscraper.

Oh! You're Zoku...

The enemies inside the skyscraper were the deadliest I had faced. It's at about this time I considered grinding, but I pressed on. After a very close call, I realized that an elixir, which I already knew to bring HP and abilities to max, may be able to cure stone and blindness. Fortune smiled upon Jaso as his stone body reverted to flesh (or whatever mutant skin is called).

This is the seconds close call.. I fought this one out and made it through with only the loss of Tara

I arrived with two revives and needed to use one on Tara already. Seriously considered again stocking up on... something. Without normal levels there wasn't really anything to grind. I could purchase more HP and strength for Jare, but Jaso and Tara were randomly improving.

...and there goes Jaso

Nearing the top I used my last revive. The only thing that saved my attempt at the tower was the book of death spells Tara had acquired. I 'd marked the sorcerer, and a couple more deadly enemies as instant targets. The skyscraper was a maze of passages, some hidden and some completely dark. Many doors just lead to wide open rooms, which are little more than dead ends.

Yeah... this is something

At the top was a commuter train where I found Su-Zaku holding Sayaka hostage for unknown reasons. I used the Erase99 program and dispelled Su-Zaku's shield. What can I really say about the battle; like all others, he was push-over.

You did less damage than the sorcerers, a random enemy

My monster has finally started to come into his own. At some point I managed to turn him into a Minotaur, which did a large amount of damage. Prior to fighting Su-Zaku, I ended up eating some Evil Eye meat, which turned my monster into an Electric Eel. Su-Zaku's meat then turned him into a Fireman, which so far seems really powerful.

What's the deal with these spheres?

Sayaka praised my success and rewarded me with the sphere after thoughtfully burying her brother. With the last sphere in hand, I prepared for the final ascent. I bought another revive, a couple elixirs, rods, and weapons that should put me through to the end game. I even picked up some shoes called Geta for everyone.

The final assent of the tower?

I actually don't remember much beyond this point. I believe there's a boss rush where I fight the four fiends again, and then I only recall the very final battle. I had a save there at one point that I would play through once in a while to watch the ending. The game only has one save slot, so that's long gone by now. Wish me luck and we'll see if I can't finish this up next time.

Session Time: 1h46m (Total Time: 7h52m)