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Will this title be a legend among RPGs?
December 9, 2005 | 10:28 PM PSTby: Matt Furtado
The PSP has had a wide array of games hit the handheld since its launch earlier this year. However, there hasn't been much in the way of RPGs so far. Bandai comes to RPG fans' rescue by giving the PSP a new and original title: The Legend of Heroes.
The Legend of Heroes: A Tear of Vermillion tells the tale of a boy named Avin and his sister named Eimelle. The children are raised in a cathedral by Sages. The two children are parted after their cathedral is raided by zealots who pledged their lives to an opposing god. Now this sets up a good story but unfortunately the game's story doesn’t ultimately deliver. After setting up an interesting story line, the game seems to abandon it and leaves you with little to quest for. This was very disappointing because the story seemed interesting and very compelling initially, but the pacing is slow initally which takes away from the story. The good news is that the story picks back up at the end.
Gameplay
Legend of Heroes is a traditional RPG through and through. A focus on story, characters that you grow attached to, and a vast world to explore are all part of the game. The game suffers from one major problem though: The game has a very slow pace. Before beginning the journey for your sister, you will be bogged down with quests such as: collecting money for the church or picking cabbage. This hurts the compelling story because you never feel as though you are determined on the quest to find your sister. The good news is that if you continue through the entire game you will be rewarded close to the end with two excellent levels to play through. Had the entire game been like the end of the game the pacing would have been for more exciting and made players compelled see what would happen next.
Time for a battle.
The chance encounters spread throughout The Legend of Heroes aren't as spontaneous as some other RPGs and can often be avoided due to visible enemy parties. Some of the creatures will even run away from you when they know you are a stronger fighter than themselves. That adds a special twist to the everyday RPG. When in battle, the game zooms to a simple combat field representative of the player's immediate surroundings. You will choose your attacks, magic, and other moves on the typical RPG menu. These are the basic abilities you have. With attack you will attack with a swipe of the sword or whatever weapon you may have equipped. Magic you have several choices of arcane attacks. You will be able to acquire magic such as fire, ice, lighting, healing, curing of poison, and a variety of others as your progress. After taking and dealing a certain amount of damage you will gain access to a special attack much like a limit breaker or similar ability. As the game goes on you will learn new and more powerful special attacks. Each character in your party will have different special abilities depending on their specialties such as magic use or if they are mostly hand to hand combat.
Graphics
The graphics are a mix of 2D and 3D. All of the game's characters are beautiful 2D anime-inspired sprites and are highly detailed with great animations. Every piece of clothing is full of little details that really make the clothing look unique. The environments are in full 3D and are very nicely done. The outdoor environments are well done with detail in trees, mountains, and the surroundings. The game also uses a great lighting effect when casting magic. Whenever a special attack or a magic attack is used in the game it’s very bright and colorful. The lighting effects in this game are some of the best I’ve seen on the PSP to date.
This won't be good.
Sound
Overall, there is nothing spectacular with the sound of the game. From town to town you will hear different musical scores but they are anything special. You will hear the same basic battle tune over and over again in each battle. However, in the battle you will also hear voice acting, which is left out of the other parts of the game. The voices in the battle will range from a special attack to the usage of a magic attack. Whenever you call forth a magic attack your character will do a special phrase calling forth the power of fire, ice, healing, and etc.
Control
If you have ever played a RPG then you got the basics down for control. When playing the game you can use either the D-pad or the analog stick. However, this is where the game has a major flaw. The controls are very shoddy. Your best bet would be using the D-pad through out the game. The analog stick is very sensitive and makes even the simplest movements a hassle to do. The D-pad may not have as wide an area of movement as the analog stick in a 3D world but the game seems to be better played with the traditional 2D movements of earlier RPGs.
Legend of Heroes does offer a nice feature when it comes to button interface controls. Instead of forcing you to use the X button for the main button you can customize it to your own feel. I myself set the X button for the main action button in the game because I feel more comfortable that way. Overall, you will be using the main action button the majority of the time during the game. You will need to access your menu at time which you can either hit start or one of the corresponding face buttons to your personal settings.
Closing Comments
My time with Legend of Heroes wasn’t all bad and the game did provide me with a good run with around 80 hours of gameplay. The game is a solid RPG with a good story line if you can get by the very slow pacing of the game. If you do you will find yourself a solid RPG with some flaws. The game is a solid RPG title for the PSP and is definitely worth a try if you are a portable RPG fan.
The Legend of Heroes: A Tear of Vermillion tells the tale of a boy named Avin and his sister named Eimelle. The children are raised in a cathedral by Sages. The two children are parted after their cathedral is raided by zealots who pledged their lives to an opposing god. Now this sets up a good story but unfortunately the game's story doesn’t ultimately deliver. After setting up an interesting story line, the game seems to abandon it and leaves you with little to quest for. This was very disappointing because the story seemed interesting and very compelling initially, but the pacing is slow initally which takes away from the story. The good news is that the story picks back up at the end.
Gameplay
Legend of Heroes is a traditional RPG through and through. A focus on story, characters that you grow attached to, and a vast world to explore are all part of the game. The game suffers from one major problem though: The game has a very slow pace. Before beginning the journey for your sister, you will be bogged down with quests such as: collecting money for the church or picking cabbage. This hurts the compelling story because you never feel as though you are determined on the quest to find your sister. The good news is that if you continue through the entire game you will be rewarded close to the end with two excellent levels to play through. Had the entire game been like the end of the game the pacing would have been for more exciting and made players compelled see what would happen next.
Time for a battle.
The chance encounters spread throughout The Legend of Heroes aren't as spontaneous as some other RPGs and can often be avoided due to visible enemy parties. Some of the creatures will even run away from you when they know you are a stronger fighter than themselves. That adds a special twist to the everyday RPG. When in battle, the game zooms to a simple combat field representative of the player's immediate surroundings. You will choose your attacks, magic, and other moves on the typical RPG menu. These are the basic abilities you have. With attack you will attack with a swipe of the sword or whatever weapon you may have equipped. Magic you have several choices of arcane attacks. You will be able to acquire magic such as fire, ice, lighting, healing, curing of poison, and a variety of others as your progress. After taking and dealing a certain amount of damage you will gain access to a special attack much like a limit breaker or similar ability. As the game goes on you will learn new and more powerful special attacks. Each character in your party will have different special abilities depending on their specialties such as magic use or if they are mostly hand to hand combat.
Graphics
The graphics are a mix of 2D and 3D. All of the game's characters are beautiful 2D anime-inspired sprites and are highly detailed with great animations. Every piece of clothing is full of little details that really make the clothing look unique. The environments are in full 3D and are very nicely done. The outdoor environments are well done with detail in trees, mountains, and the surroundings. The game also uses a great lighting effect when casting magic. Whenever a special attack or a magic attack is used in the game it’s very bright and colorful. The lighting effects in this game are some of the best I’ve seen on the PSP to date.
This won't be good.
Sound
Overall, there is nothing spectacular with the sound of the game. From town to town you will hear different musical scores but they are anything special. You will hear the same basic battle tune over and over again in each battle. However, in the battle you will also hear voice acting, which is left out of the other parts of the game. The voices in the battle will range from a special attack to the usage of a magic attack. Whenever you call forth a magic attack your character will do a special phrase calling forth the power of fire, ice, healing, and etc.
Control
If you have ever played a RPG then you got the basics down for control. When playing the game you can use either the D-pad or the analog stick. However, this is where the game has a major flaw. The controls are very shoddy. Your best bet would be using the D-pad through out the game. The analog stick is very sensitive and makes even the simplest movements a hassle to do. The D-pad may not have as wide an area of movement as the analog stick in a 3D world but the game seems to be better played with the traditional 2D movements of earlier RPGs.
Legend of Heroes does offer a nice feature when it comes to button interface controls. Instead of forcing you to use the X button for the main button you can customize it to your own feel. I myself set the X button for the main action button in the game because I feel more comfortable that way. Overall, you will be using the main action button the majority of the time during the game. You will need to access your menu at time which you can either hit start or one of the corresponding face buttons to your personal settings.
Closing Comments
My time with Legend of Heroes wasn’t all bad and the game did provide me with a good run with around 80 hours of gameplay. The game is a solid RPG with a good story line if you can get by the very slow pacing of the game. If you do you will find yourself a solid RPG with some flaws. The game is a solid RPG title for the PSP and is definitely worth a try if you are a portable RPG fan.
November 20, 2009
