Monday, April 16, 2007
Forgotten Favorites - Dragon Slayer
Any fan of RPG maker Falcom should do themselves a favor and check out this early title from the company as they were beginning to break into the RPG market. While Dragon Slayer: Legend of Heroes wasn't the company's first RPG title, it was one of the first to gain notice among RPG enthusiasts. The game uses a standard turn-based combat system and also features some absolutely terrific CD-quality musical tracks. The voice acting is present, but after a few hours of it, you'll begin to wish it wasn't as it's not terribly convincing. Graphically, the game is pretty standard fare and you'll often wonder why this game requires the Super System Card in the first place. In the end, the game is a terrific RPG and a good glimpse into the direction Falcom was heading. A true and enjoyable classic.
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Here's a review I wrote a number of years ago.
The Turbo Duo was such a great system. It may have perished a fiery death on a mainstream level, but its fans are as dedicated now as they were then, hence this Dragonslayer review. This game was developed by FALCOM who are, by far, one of the top videogame companies as far as I'm concerned. ALL of their games are such timeless gems. Some of them are trend-setting cult classics, others are simple copycats. This game has got a bit of both...
Story I'll make this quick. Overall this is a VERY cliche RPG story. An exiled prince returns to his homeland only to find it falling under the hand of corruption. Logan's the name, one man revolution the game. Yeah OK you get 3 other people to help you out but you get the point. This cookie-cutter storyline works in theory but in practice you'll quickly forget about it and skip the cutscenes before you know it.
Graphics One of the main attractions of this game! Awesome OLD SCHOOL graphics which will remind you of the first 4 Final Fantasy games, as well as early Dragon Quests and others. 16-bit tile-based exploitation at its finest. Everything is FAST, from the quick battles to your actual movement on the map.
Sound When this game was released, it blew away every other RPG soundtrack, simply because it could pull its tracks off a CD, compared to Genesis and SNES PCM audio systems. What's funny is that you can actually switch between PCM and CD music in this game... freedom of choice I guess. Also, each dialogue actually has voiceovers, which you can TURN OFF thank God! The Americanized voice acting is pretty awful, but at least they tried.
Gameplay This game is like a drug. Once you've started you can't get off... until you beat it! Which means I suppose the real life equivalent is death. I must have beaten that game a half dozen times since I bought it in the early 90s. Like I said, this game is a lot like Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest, especially the battles! They're really simple, attack, spell, defend, etc, but I'm sold to the genre and will defend it until my dying breath. In the end, this is a pretty short game, 10 hours at most. The bulk of your time will be spent leveling up and exploring new towns which all end up looking the same.
Yup, this is a sweet game. Far from perfect, but its honesty wins me over more than its lack of originality disappoints me. I would have given this a 7 back then and I'm still giving it a 7 today because it stood the test of time VERY well. Falcom forever!
The Turbo Duo was such a great system. It may have perished a fiery death on a mainstream level, but its fans are as dedicated now as they were then, hence this Dragonslayer review. This game was developed by FALCOM who are, by far, one of the top videogame companies as far as I'm concerned. ALL of their games are such timeless gems. Some of them are trend-setting cult classics, others are simple copycats. This game has got a bit of both...
Story I'll make this quick. Overall this is a VERY cliche RPG story. An exiled prince returns to his homeland only to find it falling under the hand of corruption. Logan's the name, one man revolution the game. Yeah OK you get 3 other people to help you out but you get the point. This cookie-cutter storyline works in theory but in practice you'll quickly forget about it and skip the cutscenes before you know it.
Graphics One of the main attractions of this game! Awesome OLD SCHOOL graphics which will remind you of the first 4 Final Fantasy games, as well as early Dragon Quests and others. 16-bit tile-based exploitation at its finest. Everything is FAST, from the quick battles to your actual movement on the map.
Sound When this game was released, it blew away every other RPG soundtrack, simply because it could pull its tracks off a CD, compared to Genesis and SNES PCM audio systems. What's funny is that you can actually switch between PCM and CD music in this game... freedom of choice I guess. Also, each dialogue actually has voiceovers, which you can TURN OFF thank God! The Americanized voice acting is pretty awful, but at least they tried.
Gameplay This game is like a drug. Once you've started you can't get off... until you beat it! Which means I suppose the real life equivalent is death. I must have beaten that game a half dozen times since I bought it in the early 90s. Like I said, this game is a lot like Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest, especially the battles! They're really simple, attack, spell, defend, etc, but I'm sold to the genre and will defend it until my dying breath. In the end, this is a pretty short game, 10 hours at most. The bulk of your time will be spent leveling up and exploring new towns which all end up looking the same.
Yup, this is a sweet game. Far from perfect, but its honesty wins me over more than its lack of originality disappoints me. I would have given this a 7 back then and I'm still giving it a 7 today because it stood the test of time VERY well. Falcom forever!
I agree. This game, despite looking a little dated, has stood the test of time quite well. I'll never forget getting this game years ago after beating Ys Book I & II and I loved it. As you stated, it's fairly standard in a lot of ways, but it just has that trademark Falcom touch that makes it so endearing, even all these years later. I still drag it out from time to time and play through it just for fun. Thanks for commenting Jeff, always fun to read.
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