Lakria Legends

Hellooooooo!
welcome to the review of another BIG game! Yes, because some weeks ago I reviewed Blackmoon Prophecy II, a game that is a love letter to Final Fantasy. Now this Lakria Legends is something similar but at the same time it's totally different, bacause it reminds to me another popular serie, Tales of Phantasia.
Why?
Well for example because many sprites and battlers are taken from that popular series, and also because this is not a story about chocobos, airships and rebels against tyrant, but an adventure about young adventurers and powerful entities of spiritual energy.


Even if the maps are really detailed, the question marks will let you focus on the important Npcs!

The protagonist, like every Tales game, is a young good natured swordsman looking for adventure, in this case named Ren (even if you can rename him if you really wish!). Then there's the kind hearted girl Serene, the protagonist's younger sister Leena, the older and wiser friend Peace and so on.
It's not a large group but it's a decent sized cast considering that each one is associated to a particular element has his or her own abilities.
From this point of view the game is simple and classic: characters learn abilities and special attacks after each level up (they also are fully healed after earning a level! Cool!), nothing new, anyway their sprites, battlers and facesets are all well made and detailed. Combat is in fact side view with a party of maximum four characters against many monsters or single bosses. Oh and let me tell you that monsters are many, colorful and characters have many cool attacks (I like that moves that sees Ren's spawning clones that attacks every opponent!)
Difficulty is in my opinion very well balanced and despite the semplicity of the sistem, it's not too easy or frustrating, it works well and I had fun even if it is suggested to grind a bit, but this is typical of many jrpgs of the past!


30 Damage? Pfft a glancing blow. That beast is already wounded and soon it will be dead!

So far I described a good but not exceptional game... but there is a part in which the game really shines and this is mapping! The locations are different and really beautiful, full of colors and details. The cities and woods seem alive, not tu mention the depth of the sea, because yes, Ren and his friends will travel everywhere so expect a great variety of beautiful scenarios that also feels natural and very detailed.
But...
yes, I have a minor complaint: the game uses both Rtp character's edits (mainly for the protagonists), FF6 characters (for some guards/soldiers) and First Seed charsets (form most npcs). The problem is that they look quite different for style and proportions and mixing them seems a bit odd. Usually there are lots of them, excluding edits so it would not have been difficult sticking to one single style for what regards the charsets... but uhmmm ok!

This was the graphic, what about the music? Well let me tell you this: full original soundtrack! And a pretty good one too! That was unexpected but the music really fits the style and setting of this game. This is pretty good and prefessionally done!


Well, seeing the size of that beast Leena is totally right but... this is the path of the hero!

So far I talked about fighting and exploration, but this game offers a lot more: crafting, fishing, side quests and cinematic cutscenes, the quality of this game is better than your average RPG Maker Game and it shows also on the interface, the bestiary, the skill trees, the achi. Awesome!
The story is a bit... simple? I do not know how can I tell that, but it's quite simple and not very original, but it works if you consider this as an homage to the old SNES jrpg of the golden era.

Verdict!
Lakria Legends is a game that clearly homages old classic Snes jrpgs and clearly follows the old style offering little innovation, but retraces the classics with a lot of style and details. The resources are used in a great way, music is perfect, cutscenes are really well done and refinement. It's a big game extremely polished and professionally done, exactly what I did expect from the premise.

This game gets a 4.5/5 for being a great experience and a good classic jrpg.