Legacy of the Wizard / Dragon Slayer IV

[Discoalucard]

hg101.classicgaming.gamespy.com/draslefamily/draslefamily.htm

Rasa comes through with an amusing look at Legacy of the Wizard. I want to proclaim this some kind of Falcom season (Falcom Fall? hoho) but the last time I did that, I ended up getting distracted with non-SNK stuff, so that never happened. My eventual goal is to cover most of the Dragon Slayer series, including Romancia (not too hard to cover), Sorcerian (kinda big) and Legend of Heroes (jesus there's a lot there.)

[Deleted]

Nice article, Neo Rasa.

One thing, though. Check out the differences between the maps of NES and MSX2 versions:
www.geocities.co.jp/Playtown-Knight/3606/w/ds4mid.gif

As you can see, some of the areas have changed dramatically. I think this should be mentioned somewhere in the article as well.

[kyouki]

www.lkd.topaz.ne.jp/lukardow/towf01.htm

Awesome remixes of the Legacy of the Wizard soundtrack!!!!!

[Discoalucard]

Thanks for the pic MP83, I added in comparison pics of the maps and linked to the site.

[MRSKELETON]

We need to find a way to do a live broadcast of someone playing this on an emulator,
And do a group get together

[Scylla]

Legacy of the Wizard is a frickin' ANNOYING game. I've owned it for several years, but I only really started to play it about a year ago. After a few very painful weeks, I finally had it beat.

You see, what I find so annoying about it is that I genuinely was enjoying myself once I got past the initial "What the fuck am I doing?" stage. With a little bit of outside assistance, I was having a fun time doing Pochi's and the girl's quests. However, once I had to do the other half of the game with the parents, it got absolutely infuriating. And no, it's not because the game is just hard. It's that every little flaw in the play control and game design that wasn't really important while playing as Pochi and Lyll was brought to the forefront and exacerbated by what you're required to do with the parents. I spent the whole second half of the game screaming at the screen "What kind of incompetent programmers would do this?!" and then go on and on about what simple fixes I would apply to the game which would make the game so much more enjoyable yet still retain the challenge.

So what's most annoying of all is that I WOULD like the game if the second half didn't ruin it for me. In the end, it's just wasted potential with some nice music. :/

On the subject of Sorcerian, yes, please do an article. o_o I just recently got the PC Engine CD version, and I couldn't even get to any actual gameplay because the neverending kanji menus were a nightmare. :(

[YourAverageJoe]

I don't know if I'd have the heart to play this game, not that the graphics would repel me, I just keep hearing that those games could be badly programmed when compared to other, a little more recent games (NES and SNES).

[Neo Rasa]

Succubus, what I do is use the dad and get his crown FIRST, after that you can use Llyl, the daughter on more than one crown if you explore and get the right movement enhancing items. The idea is that by the time you have to use the mother comes, you'll have so many restorative items and so much gear that it's almost a cinch.

[bioniccommando83]

Excellent article! I used to play the game waaaaay back in the day, but I could never beat it without using codes. I had a friend who'd gotten all the crowns, but wasn't able to figure out what to do with them to get the sword. Falcom does make some great games and I'm glad this finally got its own article.

Will it get merged with the Xanadu/Faxanadu/Dragon Slayer ones?

[Neo Rasa]

If Kurt finds it acceptable that would be rad. I'm glad people like it.

I'm considering making a site that would cover the series once I get a few more of them shipped as I have taken a liking to them despite Dragon Slayer I and a few others being unrealistically sadistic.

Sort of like the template Kurt inspired for the "game worship" sites on Classic Gaming, focused on the various Falcom games that carry the name Dragon Slayer.

www.uranus.dti.ne.jp/~sho-dsl/SDSLBunrui.html This site in English I guess.

[Deleted]

I honestly don't understand how a kid could get through this game. It's immense and crazy. Did anyone anywhere actually beat Legacy of the Wizard when it was new? I know I sure as hell didn't.

No wonder I ever got very far in the frickin' game! Rasa has hit on a plethora of points as to why I never even found the first boss as Pochi. A great article for... a game that is great in size. It truly is a rich game, and I've had it ever since I was a young'un. But I just did not know where the fuck I was going, what the fuck I was doing, and the significance of the fucking items were beyond my comprehension. However, I did really love the music.

Now that I'm all the wiser, I may consider returning to LotW and earnestly attempt to snag the first crown. Great article, Rasa man. But the reason I exalt you is for including the maps!

[Scylla]

Just out of curiosity, what issue of Nintendo Power had the maps? I have every issue starting from 9 (well, not any past the mid-N64 era, but that's got nothing to do with anything), and I never saw anything but a little map in Counselor's Corner, which is what inspired me to try beating the game in the first place. Unfortunately, I learned later that the map was virtually useless. It's a shame I didn't have the issue where they gave it serious coverage.

[Neo Rasa]

That was my point, that they posted a map that was of an epic game and gave gamers an idea of its size but didn't really cover anything of value.

If you have the actual map that's awesome. A shot of it next to the real map would probably give us all a laugh.

[Discoalucard]

I don't own the issue, but a bit of research points to it getting coverage around issue 3.

[Deleted]

Here's a nice video:

Legacy of the Wizard (NES) in 21:03 TAS