After a whole fall season of game delays, it seemed as if RPG lovers would have to wait forever for one of their games to be released on the PSP. Finally, October came, and Legend of Heroes was released! I picked up a copy, and couldn't wait to play it. At home I started the game, and I was immediately astounded by the simple, yet amazing graphics and music in the opening scene. As this excellent game progressed, I was only disappointed in 2 things... but we'll get to that later. The graphics for this game are cartoonish, mostly 2D sprites that might cause players to reminisce to Golden Sun, or some of the older FF games. But in comparison to those games, the graphics in LOH are extremely colorful and detailed... it seems to bring the world to life. All RPG storylines follow the "save the world" cliche, and LOH is no different. What is different about LOH is the complexity and development of all the characters in the captivating storyline. If you're the kind of person who likes a lot of details and who doesn't mind reading a lot of text, you'll be very pleased with what LOH has to offer. However, there is one VERY noticeable flaw in this game... the translation. There was a time when I wondered if the translators spoke English. For example, instead of "(Name) has learned Slow", you get "(Name) was slow mastered". And that's a mild error. I found myself shaking my head at a lot of things the characters said. But overall, the storyline was well done, and well worth the bad grammar. The gameplay of LOH had its ups and downs, as do most RPGs. The battle system is an extremely simple turn-based system, with not a whole lot of skill involved. Not till the end of the game did I have any real trouble with bosses, although I'm the kind of person who likes to level up and take my time through games. But the absolute best aspect of LOH has to be the music. Amazing. Astounding. Beautiful. Simply the best soundtrack I have EVER heard in a game. The music was so good that I stopped a few minutes to listen every time I stepped into a new area. The music adds an unbelieveable amount of passion and emotion to the already deep storyline. Overall, LOH is a great first RPG for the PSP. It does lack in the battle system, but more than makes up for it in the music, graphics, and storyline. If you're an RPG fan, this one is a buy.Read full review
========== Gameplay ========== Legend of Heroes features a rather interesting combat system to be honest. In this game you will enter combat when you come into contact with an enemy unit on the field, but this unit may chase after you or run away depending on how powerful you are. Once you've been joined though combat takes place in a grid less combat system where your character can move a certain distance to perform an action. Your spells also can all travel a certain distance which can make combat have a strategic feel to it since you don't want to get to far away from your target or allies if you wish to use healing spells. I do have a few problems with the combat system though. If you cast spells in this game your character isn't able to move from their position at the start of the combat turn. This can quickly become frustrating since many enemies will sit outside your reach at the start of combat forcing you to waste a turn by not attacking. I also get annoyed with the fact that your character will skip his/her assigned action if the target is killed and won't allow you to select a new target for the spell/skill/deathly attack that you had selected to use. I'd also be a bit remiss if I didn't mention that the deathly attacks feel highly over-powered in this game. In order to use your deathly attacks you need to fill a small gauge underneath your characters portrait on the combat screen, but the gauge doesn't deplete after combat so you can reserve your deathly attacks for boss fights and make them feel way too easy. I also have mixed feelings about the nature of single-target healing spells in this game since they can only be cast over a limited range as well. This prevents you from sitting a healer way out in the back away from the action, but also adds a strategic element to the game as well since character placement is highly important for spell casters. ========== Graphics ========== Graphically speaking Legend of Heroes uses an overhead view of sprite images. These sprites definitely have a lot of appeal to gamers that are looking for a game with an older look, but may push away people looking for a game more graphically advanced. Outside of the in-game graphics the game largely deploys manga-graphic cut-scenes to provide the player with information on where to go or what is going on. My only real compliant about the graphics in this game are that some of the environments feel out of place considering the style of the characters contained within. This issue only pops up in a few environments like the path from the lookout cottage to your home village. ========== Sound ========== While the game lacks any voice acting talent this may work to the games advantage since it allows the player to voice the characters and leaves room for a focus on the musical scores and those scores are highly enjoyable and compliment the emotional tones being set by the story. ========== Lasting Appeal ========== Legend of Heroes a Tear of Vermillion is a rather lengthy game, but there isn't any post game content to explore. While the game itself is rather strong in terms of story due to how emotional and involving the characters feel I couldn't imagine replaying the game anytime soon after beating it. On the other hand there are secret items you may miss the first time through so revisiting the game with a walk through may be helpful if you have to acquire every weapon in the game. ========== Scores ========== GmPl: 7 Gfx: 9 Sfx: 10 Lstapl: 7 OA: 8Read full review
The legend of Heroes: A Tear of Vermillion starts out well with a good intro before the title screen, but once you delve into the game it begins slowly. To top it off there are many translation issues such as when gaining a new skill ("Avin has Stone Blast Mastered"). The dialogue is a bit long and doesn't really get interesting and the gameplay is a bit repetitive with level grinding taking a long time as enemies do not give out much experience. The only saving features are the good graphics and the fact that once you're done you can move on to the next in the series having known how the first played out.
I bought this game because I had just gotten a PSP and needed a good RPG to break it in with. For the most part, I wasn't disappointed. The story, graphics, and music were all excellent. The battle system was something newer to me, requiring attention to spatial aspects in addition to the typical turn-based setup - the characters move around on the screen and where they are affects what they can do. I found this method to be much more engaging than a standard turn-based battle, and very enjoyable. The so-called "pet system" left a bit to be desired, and in the dialogue, I noticed several instances of bad translation, typos, and formatting errors which could be distracting if you care about that (or funny if you don't :-), but other than that, I thought this game was great. I highly recommend it, especially to RPG fans.Read full review
I played the old Falcom games on the Turbo Duo, back in the early 90's. One of my favorites was Dragon Slayer: The Legend of Heroes. Much to my surprise, I went into my local EB Games and I saw a familiar name on the shelf for the PSP, The Legend of Heroes. I knew at that point that it must be mine. I was blessed with the game for Christmas this year and I am enjoying it like no other game in years. This is not a state of the art RPG. This will never be Final Fantasy XII, nor does it try to be. The English translation is mediocre at best but the game play and story are top notch. If I have my PSP with me, this is the game that's in it. I would recommend this to any RPG fan, especially any old school RPG fans.
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