Legend of Legaia



Legend of Legaia is a two game RPG series commissioned by Sony Computer Entertainment. The first was developed by Contrail, with its follow-up, Legaia II: Duel Saga, moving to the PlayStation 2 and developed by Prokion. Despite similarities in gameplay and some character designs, they have next to nothing to do with each other.

The first Legend of Legaia takes place in a world where a mysterious substance called "the mist" has changed a good percentage of the population into monsters, caused by the symbiotic creatures (known as Seru) they were reliant upon fusing with them and hijacking their bodies, and caused civilization to completely collapse. The game centers around Vahn, a blue haired Kid Hero from a small village, one of the few areas of the world not shrouded in Mist thanks to a giant wall, and also with no Seru there. After a servant of the mist attacks his village, he ends up merging with a Ra-Seru (A sapient Seru that can also absorb the essence of other Seru, and is also immune to the effects of Mist) named Meta that was hidden/resting within a dying tree that lay in the center of his village, known as a Genesis Tree. Upon being prayed to and infused with power, the tree grows again, banishing the Mist from the immediate area, and Vahn leaves his home to attempt to find others, in order to remove the Mist from the land. Eventually, he meets up with two other heroes - Noa, a feral girl raised by the Ra-Seru Terra, and Gala, a monk who eventually gains the service of the Ra-Seru Ozma.

The second game is based in a completely different world, with nothing carrying over from the first game. It centers around Lang, one of the exceedingly rare "Mystics" that have the power to summon elemental spirits that they contain within themselves. In most places, Mystics are shunned due to their strange powers, and strange tattoos that mark their bodies. Lang's friends and family don't have this prejudice; on his first day of work, the Aqualith is stolen from the village, and he is warned to be careful in the outside world, searching for it in order to restore the village's water supply. Along the way, he winds up gathering a group of fellow Mystics to himself, and begins finding the way to save the world from Avalon, the man that stole Aqualith.

Both games are fairly standard turn based RPGs, but with some twists. Both games have the "Tactical Arts System", which revolves around selecting not just to make an attack, but forming combinations of attacks for efficiency and maximum damage, using specific limbs and heights for attacks - turning it into a similar feel as to a fighting game. By chaining together specific attacks, a character can use Arts - by chaining Arts together, a player can find his characters doing impressive amounts of damage without resorting to magic. This is made more complex in the sequel by the multiple types of Arts one has - Basic Arts build Art Points, allowing the character to use more powerful Super Arts, Hyper Arts, Variable Arts, and Mystic Arts. (In the original, Art Points were always consumed by any form of Art, and replenished by a small amount at the end of each turn, by taking damage, and by using the Spirit command, which also granted a significant extension to the combo bar, plus a temporary guard status - Spirit plus Miracle Art spam was ultimately the endgame tactic, with one party member relegated to healing.)

Both games sold moderately well, and are examples of Your Mileage May Vary, accused of being dull Cliche Storms, or enjoyed for their combat system.

Legend of Legaia shows examples of:

 * After the End - The concept of the first game; the bad guys have already won when the game begins.
 * Alternate Character Reading - In Japanese, "Seru" is spelled with the kanji for "beast"; "Ra-Seru" is "holy beast". They have the same pronunciation as the English version.
 * Amazing Technicolor Battlefield - The final dungeon. Why so?
 * And I Must Scream -
 * And Now for Someone Completely Different - After a couple hours of gameplay as Vahn... hey, where did he go, and who's this Noa person? Fortunately, it's only a short while before the two meet, and then you're controlling the party of both of them.
 * Awesome Yet Practical - Miracle Arts. Their damage output is extremely high, and unlike magic, does not drain MP. Miracle Art spam is one of the best ways to defeat late-game bosses
 * BFS - The Astral Sword. It is a massive weapon and has attack power second only to Vahn's ultimate weapon. Sadly, it's also a case of Awesome but Impractical, as using it locks Vahn out of his Miracle Art, which is far more powerful than normal attacks while using the Astral Sword. Using a Miracle Art makes you useless for a few turns, but the damage is still superior to Boring but Practical setups with the Astral Sword.
 * Boring but Practical - After you unlock Noa's final Ra-Seru evolution, her Ra-Seru punch strikes twice with each punch. Spamming her Ra-Seru punch outclasses every other attack combination, including her Miracle Art.
 * Boss Rush - The Delilas siblings, and then Koru- three one-on-one fights, and then a final timed fight, which if you don't win in five turns, you die, and the save point's at the beginning of the dungeon. Time to level up. Thankfully, you can save before the timed fight as the timer doesn't start until you approach it.
 * A lesser example in Rogue's Tower, where you must fight two upgraded forms each of Caruban and Berserker before then fighting the head Rogue.
 * Bragging Rights Reward - The talisman you get from defeating Lapis, not to mention the Juggernaut spell.
 * But Thou Must! - Early on in the first game, Meta asks Vahn to join with him. If you say no, he apologizes for forcing you but explains that you have no choice but to agree, and presents you with the choice again.
 * Calling Your Attacks - Several arts, most notably Vahn's Tornado Flame Hyper Art
 * Cannot Stand Them Cannot Live Without Them - Cara and Grantes, when you meet them, . Later on, becomes Aw, Look -- They Really Do Love Each Other.
 * Classy Cat Burglar - Cara
 * Convection, Schmonvection - The Fire Path. You travel over lava by riding on a small rock.
 * In the sequel, you have to travel inside the volcanic isle of Drokonia.
 * Crutch Character- When you take control of Noa, you are accompanied by a wolf who is indestructible and heals your wounds indefinitely during battle.
 * Degraded Boss - Viguro and Kemaro.
 * Demonic Possession - Everything went downhill from there.
 * Disc One Final Dungeon - At least three times:
 * Does This Remind You of Anything? - The background conflict between Rogue and the other Ra-Seru should ping players for similarities to the fall of Lucifer for anyone versed in the Christian version of that story.
 * Doomed Hometown - Vahn's hometown, Rim Elm, is hit by the Mist at the start of the game.
 * Dungeon Town - Every town except Underground Octam goes through this at some point.
 * Elaborate Underground Base - At least one Mist Generator is housed in one of these.
 * Encounter Repellant/Encounter Bait - The Good Luck Bell and Evil Talisman serve as repellent, while the Bad Luck Bell and Nemesis Gem are bait.
 * Enemy Summoner - A few different monsters.
 * Evil Prince - Cort, although his intentions seem to have been good enough to start with.
 * Evolving Attack - Specifically, as you use your 'spells' (read: summon Seru to your aid), they (frustratingly slowly) level up, learning debuffs, damage boosts, buffs, or status-healing additional effects.
 * Also, as your Ra-Seru level up, they grow and change (foreshadowed in the opening cutscene, but Never Trust a Trailer is in full force), dealing more damage with added effects (such as hitting multiple times) when you use the Ra-Seru command in an attack string.
 * Fight in The Nude - Averted- each weapon and piece of armor is shown on the characters during battle, although not during cutscenes or on the map. Many of the different variations were Palette Swaps of each other, but given when the game was produced, it's still quite impressive. Of course, the characters aren't actually shown fighting in the nude- if you take off all of their armor, they'll just be wearing their default outfits.
 * First-Person Snapshooter - A "camera stone" can be purchased at the hot springs resort in the first game. You can take pictures in several different locations, and if you won Noa a swimsuit, she's wearing it in the photographs.
 * Fishing Minigame - and a pretty good one, too!
 * Fog of Doom - The Mist, duh. Slightly subverted in that the Mist itself has no effect on humans. Instead, it turns the Serus that people use into insane, evil monsters that will either take control of your body and turn you into a mindless zombie, or simply kill you.
 * Forced Level Grinding - This game pulls no punches, and EXP is sparse. See Nintendo Hard
 * Freudian Trio - Vahn as the Ego, Noa as the Id, and Gala as the Superego
 * Fusion Dance -.
 * Gameplay Ally Immortality - While Terra is part of your party, she has infinite HP and MP (displayed as ???/??? HP, ??/?? MP)
 * Genki Girl - Noa.
 * A God Am I -
 * Going Through the Motions - although fortunately, the gestures reflect the characters' individual personalities.
 * Gosh Hornet - The hive of killer bees at the start of the game; it's not until much later that you can actually kill them. A lot of players died to these things before the story even started.
 * And then your little sister steals your loot (the unique "Honey" item that increases the growth of a character's stats) if you talk to her after winning it! Fortunately, if this happens, you can fight the bees again to replace it.
 * Guest Star Party Member - starts off as this, but has a change of plans when  gets a Ra-Seru.
 * Terra plays it straight, though.
 * Guide Dang It - Several examples:
 * Berserker, one of the hardest bosses of the game, will die in a single usage of a leveled-up instant-death spell. He is the only boss susceptible to this attack.
 * The Miracle Arts as well. In order to use one, you must put in nine commands of "up", "down", "left", and "right" in an order specific to each character. The game does not give any hints as to what the proper order is, or even that they exist. By extension, the final Ra-Seru evolutions as well, which require each character to have learned his/her Miracle Art.
 * Several items can only be found in the most random locations.
 * Super Arts in Legaia I. They are 7-9 commands long, and they're quite powerful, but the game only gives vague hints to their existence (and not their sequence). If you discover one, it is not saved in your Arts list. Better get out the pen and paper if you want to use it again. Oh, and each character has five.
 * Hello, Insert Name Here - Each of the three player characters.
 * Heroic Mime - Vahn is this full-time. When you first get control of her, Noa is this way, too, but once Vahn is the party leader again, she starts talking and showing personality. A lot.
 * Hot-Blooded - Vahn, according to his battle dialogue.
 * Incredibly Durable Enemies - Many enemies require borderline all-out tactics to defeat well after they have surpassed their capacity to give you significant EXP.
 * Karma Houdini - Given the kind of game it is, one character's Raise Him Right This Time is somewhat reasonable (see below), but in a cast of equally or more sympathetic deaths, he's the only one who gets one.
 * Kid Hero - Vahn (who is 14) and Noa (who is 12).
 * Lampshaded hilariously in Sol Tower, where you're turned away by children running an item shop if you don't have enough money. They remark on how someone so young couldn't possibly pay; one of Vahn's possible responses is "I'm not a kid! I'm 14 years old!"
 * Jerk with a Heart of Gold - Gala starts out this way, constantly insulting Vahn and Noa at first, demeaning their violent ways and their use of Seru, and quite openly displaying his disdain at being forced to help them. Eventually, he lightens up and becomes friendlier with the rest of your team, though he still occasionally argues with Noa.
 * The Juggernaut - Very, very, very literally.
 * Lethal Lava Land - The Fire Path.
 * It's also That One Level.
 * Let Them Die Happy - Averted, hard.  Ouch.
 * Level Grinding - In multiple flavors, should you choose - use of spells would eventually level them up into better versions.
 * Mad Love - Zora is in love with Cort, and part of her motivation for becoming his follower in the first place was that Love Makes You Evil. She believes that he loves her, too-
 * Mad Scientist - Jette and Cort, although Jette more so.
 * Manipulative Bastard - Songi
 * Meaningful Name - Possibly Noa, who, according to the game's review at RPGamer.com, was supposed to be named "Noah", and has a Miracle Art known as "Noa's Arc". If this is true, it's likely that this was to avoid a Gender Blender Name.
 * Mismatched Eyes - Cort has one green eye and one purple one.
 * Moses in the Bulrushes - Noa.
 * Multiple Endings - Sort of. The main plot is linear, but at the very end, the player can choose what Vahn does after the story's over.
 * Nintendo Hard - The first game is not someplace to forget level grinding and battle tactics.
 * No Escape but Down - During the escape from the final Mist Generator's self-destruction, if you don't just teleport out.
 * Outside the Box Tactic - It's very easy to defeat the Berserker by using the Nighto spell. The Berserker is the only boss vulnerable to the spell, which causes confusion and has a chance of inflicting instant death.
 * Overly-Long Fighting Animation - The Juggernaut animation qualifies.
 * Parental Substitute - Terra to Noa.
 * The Psycho Rangers - Gi, Lu, and Che Delilas are the respective counterparts of Vahn, Noa, and Gala.
 * Raised by Wolves - Noa, although there was only one wolf involved, which turned out to be a Ra-Seru. But she's still a pretty literal example of the trope.
 * Raise Him Right This Time:
 * Rare Candy - The various stat waters:
 * Power Water, Guardian Water, Swift Water, and Wisdom Water permanently raise that character's ATK, DEF, SPD, or INT by +4.
 * Life Water and Magic Water raise that characters HP or MP by +16 and +8, respectively.
 * Miracle Water (and the Honey mentioned above) raises all of that character's stats by +4.
 * There are similar items in Duel Saga
 * Rival Turned Evil - Songi.
 * Second-Hour Superpower - None of your characters starts with their Ra-Seru when they first join your party. Once that character does join with their Ra-Seru, their ATK shoots up, and they get access to magic.
 * In Duel Saga, Lang doesn't get the ability to use his Origin, Galea, until nearly a quarter of the way through the game.
 * Sole Entertainment Option - The only place with real entertainment is Sol, the town which was built on a tower that was partially above the Mist. There were several different activities people could do... but there isn't much in the way of recreation anywhere else.
 * Standard Status Effects - Several:
 * Venom/Toxic - A poison effect that also reduces your attack. Toxic is a double-strength Venom.
 * Curse - Affected player cannot use magic.
 * Rot - Limits your ability to attack by blocking one or more of your up, down, left, or right attacks
 * Stone (Petrifaction)
 * Numb - Similar to paralysis, but naturally wears off over time or if said enemy/ally is attacked
 * Status Buff - The various elixirs, which raise a character's stats for a single battle.
 * Stock Monsters: Slimes, orcs, attack insects, etc.
 * Summon Magic: Spells involve summoning the various Seru you have fought throughout your adventure.
 * Third Person Person - Noa always talks like this in the Japanese version of the game. She doesn't in the English script, though.
 * Timed Mission - The fight against Koru. You have four turns to defeat him, and then... BOOM! Koru explodes, vaporizing half the region, dealing 9999 damage to each of your characters, and instantly giving you a Game Over.
 * Subverted in Duel Saga with the fight against the Mighty Balken. The fight is played up to be a timed fight against the drawbridge closing. When you defeat Balken, he collapses and the shock of his fall re-opens the drawbridge and allows for your escape.
 * True Companions - Comes up a lot in the story, especially in the bonds between a Ra-Seru (or other sentient Seru) and their partnered human.
 * Unholy Holy Sword - As far as the backstory goes, the Seru themselves. They're not evil so much as easily brainwashed, but...
 * Victorious Childhood Friend / First Girl Wins - Mei, in the ending where Vahn chooses her.
 * Video Game Characters:
 * Fantasy Character Classes: Semi-averted. All of the characters have access to the same types of skills, but their stat builds naturally lend better to certain styles of play.
 * Cute Bruiser, Glass Cannon - Noa. She starts with a way larger combo gauge than most of your characters, starting off with the amazing Rushing Gale basic art (three hits after a four-hit string) that you can alternate indefinitely with Spirit and remain at maximum AP. She then upgrades to the even more powerful Tempest Break art (four hits after a five-hit string) by level three. Because of this, she's your powerhouse until about the midpoint of the game, when Vahn and Gala have caught up. Even then, she remains useful because of the utterly-silly amount of hits her Miracle Art causes, and her high speed means that she (almost) always go first, letting her heal when you otherwise wouldn't be able to. If you grind enough, she makes god use of the Infinite AP Gem because she delivers more hits and more damage than either Vahn or Gala. However, she lacks the defensive capabilities (both physical and magical) of a Lightning Bruiser, so many bosses can one-shot a normally leveled Noa easily.
 * Jack of All Stats - Vahn.
 * Mighty Glacier - Gala.
 * Squishy Wizard - Notably averted, as the best magic-user in the game is Gala. The story makes it obvious that he has the best knowledge and discipline of the three.
 * The Load: Gala, before he acquires Ozma. Granted, he's level 1 when your party is around level 8, but training him up to par is tedious when the man can't even piece together basic Arts without Spirit due to his low agility giving him few art blocks.
 * Womb Level: The whole of The Very Definitely Final Dungeon and Rogue's Tower.
 * Womb Level: The whole of The Very Definitely Final Dungeon and Rogue's Tower.

Legaia II: Duel Saga shows examples of:
"I used to think that there was no such thing as a truly evil person. but... I guess I was wrong. Kazan: I've never met anyone as rotten to the core... This is not a man, he's garbage."
 * Absurdly Spacious Sewer
 * An Axe to Grind - Ayne uses an ax.
 * In the first game, Gala uses axes, as well as clubs and maces.
 * Bacon Addiction: As you can find out for yourself, the colossal cakes that Marienne, the resident Fat Bastard of a woman eats on a regular basis (and which you can learn the recipe to and cook for yourself, much to the party's dismay) contain unhealthy amounts of bacon.
 * Bare-Fisted Monk - Kazan
 * Betty and Veronica - Maya and Sharon. Coupled with how, depending on the choices you make in the game, you can make one or the other (or both) fall for you. Unfortunately,.
 * Big Guy - Ayne
 * Bishonen - Elliot
 * Bottle Fairy - Sharon
 * Combination Attack - Variable Arts.
 * Cool Big Sis - Sharon
 * Crutch Character - Both Kazan and Sharon when they join, for different reasons. Kazan joins at level 25 at a point when Lang and Maya are barely over 10, and can systematically destroy every encounter you get into for about two dungeons, at which point the rest of the party, and the enemies, have caught up. Kazan never becomes useless, but he's never such a Game Breaker again, mostly because some of his arts are awkward to chain. Sharon joins at a high level herself, but not as comparatively high as Kazan. Her initial use comes from the speed at which she earns Art Blocks. If you play the game long enough for other characters to match her Art Blocks, she loses most of her niche, but she at least still have easily chain able arts.
 * Cute Mute - Maya for quite a bit of the game.
 * Defeat Means Friendship - Dein finally gives up his grudge against Lang after being beat in sidejumping.
 * Desperation Attack - To use a Mystic Art, that character must have, among other things, less than 50% HP.
 * Dirty Old Man - Kazan, who is 60 years old, yet still tries to peep at the girls in the party when they're in hot springs.
 * Elemental Powers - Each Origin associates with one:
 * Kill It with Fire - Lang's fiery Origin, Galea.
 * Healing Hands/Making a Splash - Maya's life Origin, Rivas. While her powers are explicitly life-based, Rivas herself seems to be made of water, and the backgrounds of her attacks shows flowing water.
 * Dishing Out Dirt - Kazan's earth Origin, Deva.
 * Shock and Awe - Sharon's electric Origin, Arrode.
 * Dark Is Edgy/Dark Is Evil - Elliott's black Origin, Raskia.
 * Holy Hand Grenade/Light Is Not Good - Marienne's white Origin, Alvadis.
 * There's also Velna's Origin Vestra, who commands powers over time and space, and Avalon's Origin Igohl, which is simply the Ultimate Origin with no limits to its power.
 * Evil Counterpart - Velna, who can use the same magic as Maya, and indeed, casts it in a very similar way.
 * Eyes of Gold - The Big Bad is known at first as "the man with the golden eyes."
 * Gentle Giant - Ayne
 * Good Morning, Crono - How Lang is introduced at the start of the game.
 * Graceful Loser - After being defeat by the party, Bubba admits his defeat, and goes into an impressive speech about how That Man Is Dead and that he'll wander the earth to find his own path. Then he hangs a lampshade on it when he inner monologues that his speech was probably sufficient to save some face and that he should skedaddle now.
 * Guide Dang It - You could keep randomly pressing combinations of three to six buttons until you stumble on a new Art by process of elimination. Or you could just look it up in a guide like everyone else does.
 * Harmless Villain - The bumbling hunter duo Phanta and Balzac. (Made funnier by how Lang can actually make Phanta fall for him if he treats her nice, despite Balzac liking her.)
 * Hot Springs Episode - Complete with peeping.
 * Inevitable Tournament - Both games have a fighting arena, but only Duel Saga requires that you compete.
 * Item Crafting - A -lot- of this, especially the Infinity+1 Sword.
 * I Will Wait for You - At the end of the game,.
 * Karma Meter - Lang's personality changes depending on the dialog options you choose, into being brash, cowardly, gentlemanly..
 * Kamehame Hadoken - Maya's Variable Art finisher.
 * And Lang's Hyper Art with a sword.
 * The Ladette - Sharon
 * Level Grinding - Titles and crafting involve massive amounts of grinding.
 * Love Triangle - Lang can get into one between Maya and Sharon. Most noticeably when they ask him if he likes older or younger women, and his answer affecting their mood and relationship with him.
 * Male Gaze - Played with. One of a certain character's victory scenes shows a zoomed-in camera shot from her feet which quickly pans up to her face, while she poses. The character in question is Maya, who wears a baggy robe. It's to show her cute side more than anything.
 * Minigame Zone - Phorchoon Casino. Lots of mini games, with all sorts of desirable prizes.
 * The name also doubles as Stealth Pun, considering it's just a weird way of spelling "fortune".
 * Noodle Incident: Lang's Power Tattoo is easily viewable, and Sharon explains where hers is, but Maya shyly refuses to reveal where hers is located. Nobody bothers to ask Kazan where his is, much to his lamentation.
 * The Obi-Wan - Kazan. Although he adventures with the party throughout the game, his role in the story is to provide advice and wisdom to the younger party members, especially Lang.
 * Panty Shot - Marienne's skirt is way too short, and you get a panty shot whenever the camera looks at her face-on. As she's apparently a little girl, seriously overweight and insane, this is concentrated Fan Disservice.
 * Pirate - Sharon
 * Porn Stash - Interestingly, an optional cutscene Lang can have is with Sharon finding his stash at his house. Kind of averted in that Sharon seems to find it cute and funny instead of getting angry.
 * Power Tattoo
 * Really Seven Hundred Years Old -
 * Relationship Values - Lang can make four different girls in the game fall for him (two of which are in the party): Maya, Sharon, Nancy, and Phanta (yes, the bumbling female partner of the game's Harmless Villain duo). How Lang finds out his progress in his relationships is by talking with the Fortune Teller about his love life. Unfortunately,, though it does affect the in-game cutscenes and convos.
 * Rock of Limitless Water - The Aqualith, one of the three Cosmic Keystones needed to manipulate the Source Forge and bring balance (or ruin) to the world.
 * Shrinking Violet - Maya appears this way for quite a while, though part of the reason is due to her being a Cute Mute. Later, she arguably becomes less shy.
 * Summon Magic - Origins.
 * Then Let Me Be Evil - Torture Avalon long enough, and he'll decide to Kill All Humans.
 * Traumatic Superpower Awakening: Lang only awakens his origin, Galea, after being beaten to the point of near-death by a monster living at the top of Mt. Gabel.
 * Tsundere - Nancy towards Lang. She can be more on the dere dere side if you choose to be nicer, or she can be more on the tsun tsun side if you choose to be an asshole.
 * Unlucky Childhood Friend - Nancy, if you choose not to be nice to her. Though.
 * Wake Up Call Boss/Beef Gate: Elfin is cake if you're on Level 9, have four Art Blocks and know the move to kill her with, but she's designed to be essentially invincible before then. Getting killed by her is the game's way of saying "grind more."
 * White Magician Girl - Maya is the primary source of healing in the game through Rivas.
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair - Lang
 * You Monster! - Bishop Doplin. . After he learns , he remarks that he never cared about them, and was just using them for their power. The party goes ballistic on hearing this, and call him out for it.