Legend of Dragoon is Sony's first attempt at making a grandiose RPG in the vein of Final Fantasy. That, in itself, is the biggest crutch for this game. The story involves Dart, a young man who, at first, must rescue a dear friend of his, but then becomes entangled in an eventual war with a supposedly dead race of beings that had previously enslaved the human race.

The Good:
Legend of Dragoon looks great. The CG-rendered cinemas are superbly done and the voice-overs are a nice additional touch. Even though the voices don't really synch up, it's nice to have cinemas with conversation. The Additionals battle system is a nice idea in that it provides something a little different from previous RPGs for the Playstation. The better you get at this battle system, the more fun the game can be for you. Also, the limitation of 32 items that can be carried adds a different aspect to dealing with the using overflow of items.

The Bad:
First of all, the spell animations take forever, so much that you might try to tough it out without them. This is made all the worse by the lack of spells available. But, then again, if there were more spells, would they be shorter? Also, the translation is bad, glaringly so. Words are mispelled (sometimes consistently through the game).

In the end, Legend comes across as a genuinely fun game that really doesn't offer much more. If you've played Final Fantasy VII or VIII, you've basically played this game. If you liked either of these games and you're looking for something to bide your time, give this one a run.

- - kinderfeld