Legend of Dragoon: Difference between revisions

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This sets the stage for ''The Legend of Dragoon'''s plot, which begins as a simple [[Damsel in Distress]] story while Dart tries to rescue Shana, but quickly becomes a larger story concerning the fate of nations, peoples, and eventually the entire world. Dart must unravel the mysteries surrounding the dragoons, the mythical Dragon Campaign that took place 11,000 years ago, and the events happening in the world around him.

Despite an unenthusiastic critical response, the game sold fairly well. An engaging battle system that allowed characters to perform "[[Combos|Additions]]" via well-timed [[Action Commands]] was a big success, as was a [[Troperiffic]] plotline that manages to shift smoothly between genuinely moving, [[Narm Charm]], and [[So Bad ~~Its~~ Good]]. The latter was helped by an [[Blind Idiot Translation|inconsistent localization]], but the game does manage an impressive amount of [[Playing With a Trope|Playing With Tropes]] given its otherwise [[~~Cliche~~ Storm]] story of [[The Hero|a young man]] with a [[Secret Art|mysterious power]] embarking on an [[The ~~Heros~~ Journey|epic quest]] in a [[Standard Fantasy Setting]]. Oh, and there are [[Our Dragons Are Different|dragons]], too, so that's pretty awesome.

Despite an unenthusiastic critical response, the game sold fairly well. An engaging battle system that allowed characters to perform "[[Combos|Additions]]" via well-timed [[Action Commands]] was a big success, as was a [[Troperiffic]] plotline that manages to shift smoothly between genuinely moving, [[Narm Charm]], and [[So Bad It's Good]]. The latter was helped by an [[Blind Idiot Translation|inconsistent localization]], but the game does manage an impressive amount of [[Playing With a Trope|Playing With Tropes]] given its otherwise [[Cliché Storm]] story of [[The Hero|a young man]] with a [[Secret Art|mysterious power]] embarking on an [[The Hero's Journey|epic quest]] in a [[Standard Fantasy Setting]]. Oh, and there are [[Our Dragons Are Different|dragons]], too, so that's pretty awesome.

Fondly remembered as one of the last big games of the PlayStation era, ''The Legend of Dragoon'' is something of a [[Cult Classic]], with a small but loyal fanbase even years after its release.

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Absolutely ''no'' relation to ''[[Panzer Dragoon]]''.

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=== This video game provides examples of: ===

* [[Action Commands]]: Used for physical attacks. Normally you just have to hit X with the proper timing to move to the next hit in the combo, but occasionally an enemy would [[Counter Attack]] (indicated by the combo timer changing colors) and you would have to hit Circle instead, or else take damage (and lose the combo).

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* [[Awesome but Impractical]]: At Dragoon Level 5, each character gets a spell that summons a dragon to attack the enemy. It sounds like an incredible attack... until you realize that you could do the same amount of damage with only a couple weaker spells for a much lower cost. The only one really worth using is the White Silver Dragon, since it does a lot of damage and heals the party, and Sea Wave Dragon for boss killing, with proper set up, thanks to Meru's complete spell specialication and absurd speed.

* [[Awesome but Practical]]: Because of your limited inventory, you probably won't have very many status-healing items. So if you're in an area with a lot of enemies who use status effects, it's generally more economical to burn a Dragoon level to undo the status instead.

* [[Back to Back Badasses]]: Dart and Lavitz, upon meeting for the first time.

* [[Back-to-Back Badasses]]: Dart and Lavitz, upon meeting for the first time.

* [[Because Destiny Says So]]

* [[Bad Moon Rising]]: The Moon That Never Sets.

* [[Big ~~Boos~~ Haunt]]: The Ghost Ship on the second disc, and the Death City of Mayfil on the last disc.

* [[Big Boo's Haunt]]: The Ghost Ship on the second disc, and the Death City of Mayfil on the last disc.

* [[Big No]]: Of the [[Say My Name]] variety.

* [[Blind Idiot Translation]]: The English translation of the game's script varies wildly in its accuracy and ability to convey information.

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* [[Calling Your Attacks]]: Inverted when you pull off an addition; they only call out the name of the attack ''after'' they do it. Played straight with Dragoon magic.

* [[Chaos Architecture]]: The interior of the Moon changes to reflects the heroes' respective pasts. The best is saved for last, with a [[Ominous Multiple Screens|giant multi-screen display]] of burning Neet.

* [[Color Coded Elements]]: The main cast, most bosses and some minor enemies all wear clothing that matches the color of their corresponding element.

* [[Color-Coded Elements]]: The main cast, most bosses and some minor enemies all wear clothing that matches the color of their corresponding element.

* [[Combos]]: Every character except Shana and Miranda (whose [[The Archer|weapons]] don't lend themselves to it) use "Additions" as their basic physical attack, requiring the use of [[Action Commands]] to complete successfully. Dragoon form has its own version, separate from the standard ones.

* [[The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard]]: CPU character losing? Guess who gets initiative.

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** [[Casting a Shadow]]: The Dragoon of the Darkness Dragon.

** [[Dishing Out Dirt]]: The Dragoon of the Golden Dragon.

** [[Light Em Up]]: The Dragoon of the White Silver Dragon.

** [[Light'Em Up]]: The Dragoon of the White Silver Dragon.

** [[Playing With Fire]]: The Dragoon of the Red Eye Dragon.

** [[Shock and Awe]]: The Dragoon of the Violet Dragon.

* [[Elemental Rock Paper Scissors]]: Of the "mutually strong against/weak to" type. Light opposes Dark, Fire opposes Water, and Earth opposes Wind. Thunder and Divine/Null are neutral, neither advantaged nor disadvantaged against other elements.

* [[Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors]]: Of the "mutually strong against/weak to" type. Light opposes Dark, Fire opposes Water, and Earth opposes Wind. Thunder and Divine/Null are neutral, neither advantaged nor disadvantaged against other elements.

* [[Eleventh Hour Superpower]]: Right before the final battle, {{spoiler|Dart gets the Divine Dragoon Spirit and Rose the Dragon Buster sword from a dying Lloyd.}}

* [[Evil Counterpart]]: Virages were used by Winglies to combat the Dragons in the Dragon Campaign. In game, Greham, Doel, Gehrich, Lenus and {{spoiler|Zieg}} become this to the respective members of your party, not necessarily matching up on elemental lines.

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* [[Fantastic Racism]]: First Winglies against everybody else, then humans against everybody else -- ''especially'' Winglies.

* [[Fight Woosh]]: One of the PS1 era's longest and hardest-to-emulate (that is, for playing on a computer, not mimicked by another game).

* [[Fire Forged Friends]]: Dart and Lavitz

* [[Fire-Forged Friends]]: Dart and Lavitz

* [[Flashback Effects]]: The first time we glimpse the Dragon War, it's in Technicolor. When Rose flashes back to {{spoiler|Zieg}}'s death a second time, however (after he reveals himself to be {{spoiler|[[Not Quite Dead]]}}, the same scene is [[Deliberately Monochrome]].

* [[Flower Motifs]]: Roses are played with for three characters. First is obviously Rose herself, with the standard beautiful exterior and thorny personality. Second is Miranda, who has a hatred for roses because they were the favorite flower of her abusive mother. Third is with Albert, whose Rose Storm spell uses roses to symbolize royalty and revolution, in contrast to the [[Cherry Blossoms|Blossom Storm]] spell used by Lavitz.

* [[Foil]]: The original Dragoons are this for the current ones, highlighting the dominant trait for most of them to imply [[Generation Xerox]]. {{spoiler|Rose, Zieg}} and Kanzas are the biggest examples as they highlight what Rose used to be and what Dart and Haschel could be had they taken a single wrong turn in life.

* [[Four Girl Ensemble]]: The four Sacred Sisters of Mille Seseau.

** First Sacred Sister Miranda: The mannish one, she appears to be in command of the Mille Seseau military and hands out [[Armor Piercing Slap|Armor Piercing Slaps]] on a regular basis.

** First Sacred Sister Miranda: The mannish one, she appears to be in command of the Mille Seseau military and hands out [[Armor-Piercing Slap|Armor Piercing Slaps]] on a regular basis.

** Second Sacred Sister Luanna: The wise one, she's spiritually empathic and able to detect a person's true feelings.

** Third Sacred Sister Wink: The naive one, who winds up very close to being kidnapped by the Gehrich Gang, with the implication of worse.

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* [[Hulk Speak]]: Both Kongol and his brother Indora, which implies all Giganto talk like this.

* [[Idiot Ball]]: Almost all the characters at one point or another, but mostly Lavitz.

* [[Infinity ~~Minus One~~ Sword|Infinity–1 Armor]]: The Blue Sea Dragoon Spirit Armor for Meru is outmatched in stats by the Sparkle Dress, which also blocks two common status conditions, as well as arm blocking, with the downside being the lack of total protection against water attacks that the Blue Sea DS Armor has. The Sparkle Dress also beats Rose's Dark DS Armor in Magic Defense at the cost of slightly lower Physical Defense, making it more useful in the endgame and against bosses.

* [[Infinity-1 Sword|Infinity–1 Armor]]: The Blue Sea Dragoon Spirit Armor for Meru is outmatched in stats by the Sparkle Dress, which also blocks two common status conditions, as well as arm blocking, with the downside being the lack of total protection against water attacks that the Blue Sea DS Armor has. The Sparkle Dress also beats Rose's Dark DS Armor in Magic Defense at the cost of slightly lower Physical Defense, making it more useful in the endgame and against bosses.

* [[Infinity ~~Plus One~~ Sword]]: The Dragon Buster, which is grabbed right before the final boss.

* [[Infinity+1 Sword]]: The Dragon Buster, which is grabbed right before the final boss.

* [[Juggle Fu]]: Dart's initial Dragoon Magic attack, Flame Shot, has him throwing his sword into the air, charging a ball of fire in front of him and shoulder-tackling it to the target. He catches his sword after the impact.

* [[Killed Mid Sentence]]: {{spoiler|Lavitz Slambert, as he is fatally wounded: "Dart, survive... and..." [[Died in Your Arms Tonight|He dies in Dart's arms before he can finish.]]}}

* [[Killed Mid-Sentence]]: {{spoiler|Lavitz Slambert, as he is fatally wounded: "Dart, survive... and..." [[Died in Your Arms Tonight|He dies in Dart's arms before he can finish.]]}}

* [[Large Ham]]: {{smallcaps|Commodore Puler, man of the sea!}}

* [[Leitmotif]]: Several main characters get their own themes, which play during a character-specific moment.

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* [[Lost Tribe]]: The dragons, obviously.

* [[Luck Based Mission]]: [[That One Boss|Lenus]] can turn into this. She can spam four or more attacks at once in the later stages of the battle, and one of her attacks ''will'' hit your whole party for 1/3 to 1/2 of their HP. If you get to this point, you're pretty much reduced to praying she doesn't use that more than once in a turn. Not going into Dragoon form can help lower the number of attacks she does but she will always hit hard regardless of what you do.

* [[Luke I Am Your Father]]: The end of disc three.

* [[Luke, I Am Your Father]]: The end of disc three.

* [[Macross Missile Massacre]]: The Divine Dragon can do this, apparently utilizing some kind of [[Organic Technology|organic howitzer]] growing from its body. {{spoiler|Dart gets this ability once he acquires the Divine Dragoon Spirit, and it's appropriately fired from his shoulders.}}

* [[Magic Knight]]: The Dragoons.

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* [[Medieval Stasis]]: The world as Dart and pals see it is apparently mostly unchanged from how it was 11,000 years ago, except there aren't Wingly cities floating all over the place oppressing people. {{spoiler|Well, they aren't floating, anyway}}. This is a major plot point in the game, as it's revealed that Soa intended for the world to grow stagnant and then be purged by the God of Destruction. It's at that point that the plot of the game turns into [[Screw Destiny]].

* [[Metal Slime]]: The overworld is filled with [[Palette Swap|Palette Swapped]] birds who each have extremely high defense, in some cases up to outright immunity to physical or magical attacks. Their own attacks do a fixed 1/10 of your total HP, and they tend to run away. Defeating them tends to net bonus EXP or money, but the real advantage is their physical immunity lets you spam Additions and build them up, provided you can slow or stop the birds from running off.

** Same goes for OOPARTS, a small robotic enemy also encountered infrequently in overworld areas. Just be sure to double-emphasize the "slowing or stopping" part, because these guys will [[One Hit Kill]] one of your party members before fleeing.

** Same goes for OOPARTS, a small robotic enemy also encountered infrequently in overworld areas. Just be sure to double-emphasize the "slowing or stopping" part, because these guys will [[One-Hit Kill]] one of your party members before fleeing.

* [[Mirror Match]]: The Indora battle is very much like fighting Kongol with Kongol.

* [[Mook Bouncer]]

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* [[Noob Cave]]: The forest just outside of Seles.

* [[Ominous Floating Castle]]: The Wingly cities ''used'' to be this, before they all plummeted to the ground. Now they're [[Ruins for Ruins Sake]]. Zenebatos and possibly Kadessa are at least somewhat airborne.

* [[~~One Hundred and Eight~~]]: The number of species at the beginning of the world, the number of years between the appearances of the Moon Child, and the number of times the Black Monster has destroyed the Moon Child. The 108th species, by the way? {{spoiler|[[Cosmic Horror|The God of Destruction who is meant to cleanse the world of all life.]]}}

* [[108]]: The number of species at the beginning of the world, the number of years between the appearances of the Moon Child, and the number of times the Black Monster has destroyed the Moon Child. The 108th species, by the way? {{spoiler|[[Cosmic Horror|The God of Destruction who is meant to cleanse the world of all life.]]}}

* [[One Man Army]] / [[Person of Mass Destruction]]: According to the fluff, Dragoons were capable of ''wiping out entire cities'' during the war with the Winglies.

* [[One-Man Army]] / [[Person of Mass Destruction]]: According to the fluff, Dragoons were capable of ''wiping out entire cities'' during the war with the Winglies.

* [[Our Dragons Are Different]]: They generally don't follow the standard Eastern ''or'' Western dragon design, with several of them looking quite bizarre. Exactly eight dragons exist, one for each element. They're apparently non-sapient (but seem intelligent enough to follow instructions), and inherently magical (they power the Dragoon Spirits). Apparently {{spoiler|they go insane and become evil if they live too long, but eventually reincarnate after they die}}.

* [[Overly Long Fighting Animation]]: Along with ''[[Final Fantasy]]'', this game is probably one of the earliest offenders (though you can turn off some of them). {{spoiler|Dart's Divine Dragon transformation takes so long, the game actually ''shortens it'' after you use it a couple of times!}}

* [[Overly-Long Fighting Animation]]: Along with ''[[Final Fantasy]]'', this game is probably one of the earliest offenders (though you can turn off some of them). {{spoiler|Dart's Divine Dragon transformation takes so long, the game actually ''shortens it'' after you use it a couple of times!}}

* [[Padded Sumo Gameplay]]: Toward the end. The final boss fight can take ''hours'', even if you're well prepared.

* [[Pimped Out Dress]]: Shana and the princesses at the party in disc two. Queen Theresa and Charle also qualify if you really look at what they're wearing.

* [[Pimped-Out Dress]]: Shana and the princesses at the party in disc two. Queen Theresa and Charle also qualify if you really look at what they're wearing.

* [[Point of No Return]]: Once you enter the final dungeon, you can't leave. If you have anything you want to do elsewhere, it must be done before you get to the end of Mayfil.

* [[Police State]]: The Law City of Zenebatos. It's just ruins now, but it used to be a mammoth bureaucracy where robots hauled you to prison for the most minor of infractions. You actually have to mess with the law system in order to get to certain parts of the city!

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* [[Wave Motion Gun]]: The Divine Dragon has one ''built into its spine''. It later shows up {{spoiler|as an [[Arm Cannon]] for Dart's Divine Dragoon form}}.

* [[Wendigo]]: One of the bosses.

* [[White Haired Pretty Girl]] / [[You Gotta Have Blue Hair]]: Winglies have platinum hair, though Meru’s is closer to a pale blue. Damia, the first Blue Sea Dragoon, has blue hair to show her half-mermaid heritage. Haschel’s daughter Claire has purple hair for no reason.

* [[White-Haired Pretty Girl]] / [[You Gotta Have Blue Hair]]: Winglies have platinum hair, though Meru’s is closer to a pale blue. Damia, the first Blue Sea Dragoon, has blue hair to show her half-mermaid heritage. Haschel’s daughter Claire has purple hair for no reason.

* [[Who Wants to Live Forever]]: Both Wingly cities seem to be suffering from this. Played very straight with {{spoiler|Rose, where it's explicitly stated that the immortality spell may leave your spirit strained and your heart hollow}}.

* [[Who Wants to Live Forever?]]: Both Wingly cities seem to be suffering from this. Played very straight with {{spoiler|Rose, where it's explicitly stated that the immortality spell may leave your spirit strained and your heart hollow}}.

* [[Wind Is Green]]

* [[Winged Humanoid]]: Winglies and anybody in Dragoon form.

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[[Category:Eastern RPG]]

[[Category:Legend Of Dragoon]]

[[Category:Trope]]