Demon Legacy

PROS:
• Angst

CONS:
• Delivery

Throughout my entire history with this game (including the few times I've seen it through to the end) it's always been enigmatic to me. It's retained its reputation as one of the classics, one of the greats, yet I can't entirely remember anything about it aside from its titular Shadar which makes a return in the sequel Phantom Legacy. Why is that exactly? Is it me? I'm having a hard time declaring that seeing as I've remembered quite a bit of any other game I've had this much exposure to. I know there's something worthy of fanfare here, but maybe it's time for a reminder course. Well, let's take this trip together.

Oh, and Sad But True by Metallica would make for an excellent soundtrack to this game, no lie.

Story:

The curtain opens to a scene of death and fire with a man named Galahanzer wandering this land of ruin. "KAHN!" he shouts, bringing a name to the perpetrator.



After traversing the cavern of the ruined land, he comes to a summit where Kahn is attempting to release the power of a creature only known as "the avatar". Kahn is stopped by Galahanzer who is left the last man standing before a sword rises from the fallen Kahn. It says some shit and Galanhanzer falls over and time flashes forward a millenia to the current day.

Enter Slade, one of the many foils for the story to progress. You're the one who goes out on a mission to get a statue for your step mother and also pick up a book that Shadar (the villain of the story) really, REALLY wants. You then run away from Shadar and find yourself encountering people who also know who Shadar is (some working for him). Nothing really picks up until you meet Deimos, the head honcho of the land, but we're getting ahead of ourselves.

Outside of Deimos' tower is a large city where you meet with a museum owner with a poor sense of interior decorating.



This guy sends you off into the pass for reasons I've already forgotten (see, that's my problem with this game) and you get separated from your only other party member, the grouch that is Rhea, and encounter your rival Sharn again for the first time since your original meeting in the lighthouse. It's here that you realize he's under instruction by Shadar to retrieve the book you got from the merchant in your home town of Rahan, because, once again, it's SUPER IMPORTANT.



You're rescued by Deimos who takes you in and immediately throws you down a dark hole where you encounter a monk who was believed to be dead but isn't actually dead because why should he be he's only been down there for years without food or water? You're then taken to another pocket dimension where you recruit Iris, a golem created by Deimos to be a counter to Shadar's power of blowing people to shrapnel with his mind who's only as strong as the rest of your party when you get her because why not.

You then reach Shadar's true equal in a cave who won't let you pass if you're a cheating rat bastard.



Fortunately for this review, I've played the entire game at least once before. Unfortunately for this review (and as mentioned before), I've got a shit memory about this game. I'll try to recall all the important stuff from here on out.

Ahem...

So you see, you're actually a vessel carrying the soul of Apollo, one of the lesser gods who long ago sealed the one true god Proteus away in a sword called the Firebrand so that they could take over and rule humanity as they see fit. Why wasn't Proteus doing a good enough job? Because he thought humanity should be allowed to suffer in life and that didn't jive with them. As Proteus spent time sealed away in the Firebrand, this drove him insane and now he's doing everything he can to convince those who don't swear allegiance to the overlords of the world (including Deimos) to free him so he can enact his revenge.

Where the lesser gods have risen and fallen, Deimos has stood tall throughout the millenia. The reason for this is because he's not just a physical creature, he's also the Wheel of Reincarnation. What exactly this means is lost on me and it might be completely false that he's the only remaining ruler, but I know the other lesser gods have either died or are stuck in pocket dimensions that the player experiences in cutscenes.

Which is one of the big problems I think I have with this game.

To explain: most games have a large set of areas that exist on an overworld. Most of the major actions that take place do so in these areas and when the player goes to and from these areas, the weight of their actions comes and goes with their surroundings. With this game, however, since everything takes place in pocket dimensions, the world itself is left to suffer an all but empty state, so it's hard to really get a grip on the where and why.

So when you do get a grip on something, it's important to go through and reread what you've got in order to see how this carried weight in what you've already played, but seeing as the game and its world is almost pushing you away with its poor sense of delivery, why bother?



Characters:

Seeing as we've got our base cast established, let me write up a short description of who they are and how it applies to the story.

Slade: Foil for the action. He's got a step mom who got drunk one time and so relies on him. He's not too friendly with-

Rhea: The neighborhood grouch. She's got demons which make her an incredibly unlikeable character, but is otherwise a pretty reasonable person, unlike-

Sharn: A bounty hunter with a rude dude attitude. He'll do whatever he has to for money (including kill a man). He's got a bad association with-

Shadar:



Iris: A newborn golem who needs to be taught everything by-

Faust: A monk who was sealed away in a dungeon under the tower of-

Deimos: What can't you say about this person? He's (?) got a lot of money (has to to afford all the experimenting he does in his lab and his tower) and a lot of brains. He's got a wide-spreading influence and a history with just about every great power in the world, from which he is the greatest. He's also the Wheel of Reincarnation which I assume keeps certain characters from dying (probably himself, too).

That only leaves-

Orion: Essentially Shadar's doppelganger in terms of graphics and fighting style. He's a monster but he's also an extremely helpful party member once you recruit him. He sacrifices himself later in the story which is pretty sad.

Other:

It really can't be understated just the sheer number of spelling and punctuation errors in this game. If Nightblade ever came back and rereleased this game, correcting these should be his #1 priority. It starts early, too. Like really early. Like credits early.



It's also always bugged how you travel south through the Soulphase Woods (first dungeon of the game) in order to get to the northern part of the continent.

But aside from all this, the combat is solid and all the battle animations are consistent and look/feel nice. It's the game feel in battle that is Demon Legacy's longest standing accomplishment and I wish I could give it a full score based on that alone, but it's the other stuff that weighs heavy on me and prevents me from giving it much higher than a...