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A worthy ending to a great story

Once again we start a new adventure with a new sword wielding hero, the blonde Kima. But expect the return of some other characters of the serie, and finally the end of the great story left unfinished in Legion Saga III. Will this game be better or worse than its prequels? Let's find out...

The Good
I liked a lot the story of Legion Saga III, while not being particularly original (ok, it's a rip of Suikoden, but at the time, being a PC gamer, I did NOT know what Suikoden was!), it's still entertaining and immersive and has a good lenght as you'll find a lot of different situations, nice scenes and dialogues. You will meet a lot of characters, new faces but also some old friends like Nastra, Ridman and our favourite ninja! Lots of characters means also a lot of different charsets and character portrtaits, resources comes from Roco, and Suikoden, as usual, of course and they fit well.
While many complaints that the wide quantity of resource used means that not everything is in armony as it's noticeable a sort of clashing of different graphic styles, I think that the experimentation and variety of places and scenarios has to be rewarded (the city on the river was really nice, something you never see in thes games). I like also how the silver water was represented (you can see it in one of the screenshot I took), and I like how the maps and the enviroments have a darker and less colorful appearance.



Mapping is still good, if not better than in chapter II, same goes for music.
I also appreciate that now the monsters, coming from Final Fantasy in most cases, look also more menacingly and are surely better than the old boring and generic ones coming from the usual Rpgmaker resource pack (same goes for the battle backgrounds). No battlers, just the animations of characters attacking, like in LSII. So, that's stylish, and not bad at all!
Difficulty is well balanced, like in the previous chapter, I encountered no issues in completing the game.



The So-so
Unfortunately, despite the great improvement in the graphic department, some changes are for the worse: combat is ok, but the orb system from LSII was better.
Everything else is ok, I think, but there are a couple of bad news...

The Bad
We have the problem with the army combat. Yes. It has been changed from the usual rock-paper-scissor system to a slow and boring shallow system in which you have to move your armies on the battle ground taking turns with the opponent. The problem is that there is little strategy as it's like starting first in a game of Tic-tac-toe: if you know what you've to do you cannot lose. Never. There are no surprises and the "strategy" is really minimal, and unlike normal combat it becomes soon a boring diversion as is takes a lot of time.
Another problem is the slow movement on the map, that makes travel boring, at least there are no random encounters during these travels!
Aside from the little problems indicated before, I also had a problem with the V3 version of this game that doesn't work after the first battle (if I am right it looked even a bit different from the one in the version I was able to complete).



The Verdict
Legion Saga III isn't the best or the worst of the serie, in my opinion there are many improvements (graphics especially) and some flaws (the army combat system mainly), but in the end it's not so bad and it is really better than the first one, but of course people expected more than this. I also had no problem with the story being very similar to Suikoden, but that game was the main inspiration for this saga, so it's not a surprise (many others makers instead copied Final Fantasy, so what's the problem?) and I can accept the use of common tropes (like "monstertown).
I appreciate the effort to improve and change the battle system even if it did not work, anyway it's a solid game and deserve at least 3.5 (I'd have given at least 4 if some good things were maintained from the past episode).
So this is the end of a memorable serie, from the humble beginning to an adequate end, after a great middle episode. But ultimately I think that this is an entertaining and pleasant adventure that was well worth my time.

Posts

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Tau
RMN sex symbol
3293
I've always thought the third is the best in the series. Yeah the story isn't as strong as the second but it makes up for that with much better pacing, balance & definitely presentation. In terms of graphical consistency this game is by far the best of the three, but it makes sense given it's the third part.

I'll agree with the army battles, I saw what he was going for but they were basically just boring in the end.

The orb system is honestly much more streamlined in this game compared to others, I found that a lot better & less costly, allows you to experiment more & without the hassle of losing it all just to switch things up.

I think overall this game is just a lot more fun & polished, enjoyable to playthrough because of how it was made. To me, this & Devil Hunter are the perfect examples of how to make an Rpg Maker 2000/3 game.

author=Tau
I've always thought the third is the best in the series. Yeah the story isn't as strong as the second but it makes up for that with much better pacing, balance & definitely presentation. In terms of graphical consistency this game is by far the best of the three, but it makes sense given it's the third part.


I absolutely agree. I don't know why many people thinks that the second is superior... i like both the last two, only the first one was... barely decent, due to the use of stock sprites, slow walking speed and boring characters (male black mage, female white mage, etc etc...)

author=Tau
I'll agree with the army battles, I saw what he was going for but they were basically just boring in the end.


Well they are just some sort of side activity, but yes, as a minigame they pale to the rest of the situation, story and gameplay.

author=Tau
I think overall this game is just a lot more fun & polished, enjoyable to playthrough because of how it was made. To me, this & Devil Hunter are the perfect examples of how to make an Rpg Maker 2000/3 game.


I hope to find some time to play and review Devil Hunter too! I agree, and as you can see I was less harsh than most of the others who reviewed this game :)

Tau
RMN sex symbol
3293
author=TheRpgmakerAddict
I absolutely agree. I don't know why many people thinks that the second is superior...

Well you do, given you rated this lower than the second haha.
author=Tau
author=TheRpgmakerAddict
I absolutely agree. I don't know why many people thinks that the second is superior...
Well you do, given you rated this lower than the second haha.


Yep. Because unfortunately some things were a lot better in the second game: better army battles (and duels), better map exploration (and no bugged version). If only these were kept...
Tau
RMN sex symbol
3293
The duels are exactly the same though? I'd say it just looks better, more animated in this game. But again, that's from progress & skill of the creator as time passed haha.

Army battles for sure though. Did you equip the walking speed orb? That's the funniest thing, this game never initially had bugs, it was the updates to it after that added bugs haha
author=Tau
I'd say it just looks better, more animated in this game. But again, that's from progress & skill of the creator as time passed haha.


Yep! Surely looked better even if I did not like so much the use of some Suikoden chipsets, as they were made for bigger charsets. But I liked the darker enviroments, the monster sprites and battlers animations that's sure.

author=Tau
Did you equip the walking speed orb? That's the funniest thing, this game never initially had bugs, it was the updates to it after that added bugs haha


Well... I can't remember for sure, maybe I tried! I finished the game so much time ago! I did not know the bugs problem, anyway it was a nice entry, especially compare to the first one!
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