Earning our JRPG black belt - Let's Play Legend of Legaia!

♪♪Mist♪♪

Yoink!



Nothing like a little light reading in the middle of a Mist-infested castle crawling with monsters.

Drake Kingdom lies in a remote part of South Legaia, on a peninsula of mountains and valleys. Under the rule of King Drake, there is safety and abundant resources. Visitors to Drake Castle should visit Mt. Rikuroa. Go through Drake Castle and head north to find Mt. Rikuroa. At its summit, stands the Genesis Tree, which is said to watch over humans since the age of the gods.

Finally, a lead on where one of the blasted things is!



At last, a weapon! This is a sizable improvement over... well, nothing, and we'll have a considerably easier time in this place. There's also a bookcase nearby, which turns out to contain someone's diary.

Harvest Month, Day 2. The harvest festival isn't far. I can't wait! But King Drake seems uneasy.
Harvest Month, Day 4. A messenger from the north said the Mist has covered Jeremi. King Drake is pale.
Harvest Month, Day 5. A strange building has been built in the valley to the northeast. Soldiers sent by King Drake to investigate failed to return.
Harvest Month, Day 7. A curfew has been declared. The royal scientists are investigating the Mist. I hope they find a solution, so my dear King Drake can be free of his anguish.
Harvest Month, Day 10. The Mist has appeared in Drake Kingdom. The eastern plain is covered. From the watchtower, the Mist seems to be coming from the building in the valley.
Harvest Month, Day 13. King Drake has forbidden the use of the Seru. The harvest festival is cancelled. That's understandable, considering how the Mist is affecting the Seru.
Harvest Month, Day 14. I can't believe the King's order! But we are compelled to obey... Obeying is my duty, as one who serves King Drake.
The rest is blurred and illegible.

Well that was quite an info dump. Time to move on!







One last key to find, and then we can start climbing Mt. Rikuroa.



Level 5, hot damn! (I forgot to screenshot hitting level 4; incidentally, it's probably a bad idea to show every single level-up. Unless you guys want me to, of course.)



Taking a back passageway leads to what used to be the throne room. Inside the door to the left...



King Drake, persumably.



But anyone who makes it through
the Mist must have powers
greater than the Mist.
No doubt you have seen the
Seru monsters in this castle's
dungeons.
Those monsters are in fact
my dear retainers and the people
of my kingdom.
When the Mist approached we tried
many ways to drive it back.
We even prayed at the Genesis Tree
of Mt. Rikuroa to the north. Legend
says the tree has the power to
save the human race. In the end
we decided to lock ourselves in
the dungeon and wear Seru,
surrendering to the Mist.
As Seru monsters, we should
survive on Drake Water until the
day the Mist goes away.
We locked ourselves in the
dungeon so the Seru madness
would not force us to harm anyone.
So, traveler, I ask you to
drive away the Mist, as we
were powerless to do so.
Your are our only hope for the
future -- the hope that
sustains us.

Wow, that's a pretty shitty situation to be in - either lock themselves in cages and willingly become monsters so they don't starve to death, or be brutally murdered by the creatures they've relied on their whole lives.



I'll just take this and be on my way.



Meta: If you shut the door tightly, you should be able to rest peacefully in here. Do you want to rest?
-> (Yes)
(No)

Sounds good to me - I don't want to waste any Healing Leaves if I can help it.

Meta: A wise decision. While you are sleeping, I will stand guard. {I hope that's metaphorically speaking...}



♪♪Noa's Dreams♪♪



It's at this point that Meta gives you the tutorial on magic - but I'll be taking over.

When you encounter a Seru in battle, there's a chance that you'll absorb its spirit when you defeat it. (You'll know it's a Seru by an elemental symbol next to its name, like the Gimards.) If you do, you can then summon that Seru in battle for a variety of effects - dealing damage, healing your allies, causing status effects to the enemy, and so forth. Use that Seru enough times, and its level will increase (up to a maximum of 9), gaining an additional effect every odd-numbered level (3, 5, 7, and 9).

The Seru you encounter are divided into seven different elements - Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, Thunder, Light, and Dark - and their effectiveness depends on when, with who, and on what you use them. Take Blue, for example. Since he's Fire-aligned, any Fire Seru he uses will have their effects magnified considerably. Conversely, Water Seru won't be as effective if he uses them, and he'll take more damage from Water-based attacks.

Now, for some reason, there isn't a chart anywhere in this game that I remember that tells you which element is effective against which - you'll have to do some testing to find out for yourself. However, based on previous playthroughs and some guesswork on my part, I think it works like this:

Water -> Fire -> Wind -> Earth -> Thunder -> Water

while Light and Dark cancel each other out. We'll have to get more magic before I can test this, but for now just assume that it works like this.

As for Gimard itself?

Seru Magic: Gimard

Gimard is the first spell we can acquire in the game, and serves as a basic Fire spell...

... though an impressive-looking one. It does more damage than it usually would, thanks to Blue being Fire-aligned, and it can be used to get out of desperate situations, since it can one-shot anything both here and in the next few areas. Not only that, but at higher levels it lowers the opponent's attack power, serving as a handy damage/debuff spell. All in all it's pretty kickass.



Oh hey, this thing! Time for another tutorial.

You see, aside from regular Arts, Blue can learn Hyper Arts by finding the Fire Books. A Hyper Art not only does more damage than a regular Art, it's also less likely to be blocked - but, conversely, it costs more AP to use. Here's the first Hyper Art, Tornado Flame, in action.







Blue demonstrates Tornado Flame

Oh, I forgot to mention that Blue shouts totally awesome Engrish when he uses it. "TORNAAADO FRAAAME!" Fucking beautiful.

Now that all that's out of the way, it's about time we left this damn place.



After more light reading, of course.

The reports were correct as I feared. Any human wearing a Seru ceases to be human in the Mist. But because of some power, a person possessed by a crazed Seru also ceases to age. That means a person wearing a Seru could live for a hundred, a thousand years... nay, forever! But is immortality worth giving up being human? That I do not know. I must report this to King Drake at once.

Interesting... now let's get out of here.







♪♪Barren Fields of Mist♪♪

We're out! Mt. Rikuroa is just a short journey west.



♪♪Mt. Rikuroa♪♪

Meta: Let's hurry to the top of the mountain! Our friends... our friends must be there!
*The camera begins panning up as it fades out. The camera fades back in on the world map, where it pans over Mt. Rikuroa to the north.*



*The camera goes into the hole as the music ends. Suddenly, a young girl with pinkish hair appears in the blackness. After the camera pans around her a bit, the naming screen appears.*



Looks like we have a new party member on our hands. Vote for a name (nine-character limit) and think of some combinations for her (and only her, for now) - you can use three to five inputs for combos, and I'll accept two or three combos from each of you. A note about Arts - each character has different Arts, but some of them share the same combination, so a combo that worked for Blue might work for Noa as well. See you next time!

Next time: The start of Noa's scenario!

Excellent LP!

Since the main character is Blue, like the colour of his hair, why not name the young lady Pink, after the colour of hers?

I dunno, that's not exactly a Pink-looking color.

I'd say it's more of a Ruby.

Also, don't feel like looking up those arrows, but Left Low Low Right.

In keeping with my tradition of using cheats from Sküljagger, I'm going to suggest Right, Left, Left, Left, Right and Left, Left, Down, Right.

Pink! Though if Ruby looks like it's winning I'm not against jumping ship.

Up Up Down Right!

For some reason, I thought the "leaving the village" bit in this game was more like Secret of Mana or everybody else in the village forgot Blue existed. (I don't know what game if any actually does the latter.) So Blue's relatively pleasant departure came as quite a surprise to me!

I vote Ruby

Down Down Right

Ruby all the way, I say.

No combos from me, though. I have... issues with guessing.

Does each character have a different set of arts? If we use a classic like UUDD, is there a chance that the art will work for Ruby as well as Blue?

Each character has different Arts, but some of them share the same combination. If, for example, ← ↓ → ↑ ← was a combo for Blue, it might be one for Ruby/Pink as well! I should have clarified earlier; going back to do that now. My apologies!

I'll also throw my vote for Ruby, I guess. I'll pass on a combo.

I played this briefly waaaaay back when it first came out, though I stopped shortly after this new girl was introduced. Reading this LP has reminded me of the game, just a bit (stuff like the victory animations and the attack on the town). The one, singular thing that has stayed with me about this game all this time is how... erratic one of the girl's victory animations was.

Not sure if that's just my memories being clouded by the years since I played it, or if she is one of those overly 'genki' lunatic characters. I guess I'll find out!

I know exactly what animation you're talking about - the one where she jumps excitedly up and down, right? Frankly, she can be as crazy as she wants and I won't care - but we'll see why later. (Random aside: what is this 'genki' you speak of?)

The game's really stingy with the money, eh?

As for our femme fatale's name, sticking with Pink, and the combo: Left Down Right & Down Down Up Left.


No, I remember that victory pose, too. Uuuuugh.

I suddenly remembered that I had some Noa fanart as my desktop for a while. She must have made quite an impression on me during my formative years.

I wasn't able to find it, but I did find this Minecraft skin, so someone out there must still remember her.

(Sorta off-topic, but I remember the heroine from Legaia 2 being really memorable too, because she was mute and spelled her name out in the dust on the floor when you first meet her. Really effective scene. Of course later she gets her voice back and becomes Generic JRPG Wizard Girl, but you can't win 'em all.)

Rose would also work.

Yup. That's the one. It's the one image from this game that has stuck with me for all these years, likely because it was around then I stopped playing.

"Hai Hai Genki Desu!!!" *headdesk*

It's possible that might not have explained anything. But that's alright. It's also entirely possible I'm incorrect in categorizing Noa as a genki girl, since I really can't remember anything else about her besides that victory pose.

I take it "genki" means "highly energetic" or something along those lines? Noa has her quirks (and reasons for them), but she's nowhere near as bad as Vanille.

Yes.

True, Vanille's brand of concentrated 'genki' is uniquely insufferable, but I was just wondering if they were cut from the same cloth.

Anyway, I guess that's enough time spent derailing the LP to talk about Noa's one particular victory pose.

Here's the TV Tropes page for Genki Girl. It's a very common character type in anime and games.

Judging by some of the examples, Noa's actually kind of a subdued case. I'll just leave it at that for now.

Also, I finished the next update sooner than I expected - I'm actually trying not to post it right now since I barely did the previous one yesterday. It'll be smaller than the previous two, but the one after it will be pretty big, for reasons. See you guys tomorrow!

Hoh!

My vote's for Ruby though.

Chapter 3: Snowdrift Cave

Well, I counted the votes...



And Ruby was pretty clearly the winner. I think it suits her pretty well.



I guess she does too! (She spins in a circle when jumping in the air like this.) On to the update proper.



♪♪Noa's Dreams♪♪



*Ruby runs to the light, but it disappers as she gets there. Another light appears on the other side of the screen.*
Ruby...



*Ruby runs to the light, but it disappears as she reaches the center of the screen.*



*Ruby runs into the distance as the screen flashes white.*



HOLY SHIT A TALKING WOLF



♪♪The Cave of Warmth♪♪

Wait a minute... that jewel in its forehead looks weird. Seems like a Ra-Seru. I wonder if Ruby knows about those...

*Ruby gets up and nods.*
Terra: Yes, well, you should always remember your dreams, no matter how painful. Dreams tell you about the future. Alright, then. Time for practice! Come with me.
*Terra walks to the entrance of the chamber.*

I guess we'll find out later.



Well it's not much, but a home's a home, I guess. I wonder what Ruby's stats look like...



Compared to Blue at the same level, Ruby may not look that impressive - her HP and MP are definitely lower, and those Defense and Intelligence values are painful to look at. She seems unusually fast, though - her Speed and Agility are much higher than Blue's at that level, and her Attack is about the same. Maybe if we can find some equipment she'll look better.



Terra: Now follow me! *Terra walks out of the chamber.*



The cave beyond Ruby's sleeping chamber is rather narrow, with the occasional wide hallway. Pretty dark, too.



Terra: So now it's time for a test. The first question is...



A quiz, huh? Okay, I can handle it. I hope that this isn't what you meant when you said "practice" earlier, though.

Ruby: -> Seru and human
Terra: Good.
*Ruby spin-jumps in the air.*
Terra: A Seru touched by the Mist begins to act on its own and possess the human that uses it. So you must be careful. Now I will leave you. I will be waiting up ahead.

Skipping the few-second walk...

Ruby: -> A Genesis Tree
Terra: That's right, Ruby.
*Ruby does another spin-jump.*
Terra: Soon you will be entrusted with the reviving of the Genesis Trees.
*Ruby pounds her fist to her chest and nods.*
Terra: How soon that day comes depends entirely on you.
*Ruby nods.*

A bit farther ahead, we find a Healing Shroom I forgot to screenshot. It has the same effect as a Healing Leaf, except that... well, it's a mushroom.





Ruby: -> Mt. Rikuroa
Terra: Correct! It's the Genesis Tree at Mt. Rikuroa!
*Ruby spin-jumps again.*
Terra: Mt. Rikuroa is located south of this cave. Although now we are trapped inside Snowdrift Cave, someday, someday... The day will come when you and I will go to Mt. Rikuroa together!
*Ruby nods enthusiastically.*
Terra: Ruby, I look forward to that day with eagerness.
*Ruby jumps enthusiastically and briefly strikes a pose.*
Terra: Now come with me. After using the mind, it's time to use the body. Time for training!



Here's a Healing Shroom I didn't forget to screenshot.



Terra: As I have always said, never get careless during practice, or you'll get hurt.
*Ruby nods.*
Terra: Touch the Red Piura or Black Piura sticking out of those holes to start fighting. If you're not confident, fight the Red Piura. If you're confident, fight the Black Piura. Ready, Ruby? Begin!

The Piuras that Terra spoke of?



Yeah. They jump up and down in those holes until you walk up to them and press X, at which point you fight them. This is the perfect opportunity to learn a few Arts!





♪♪Brand of the Holy Knuckles♪♪

Huh - it's kinda like a Porygon if it had arms and legs. The Red Piuras aren't too bad - they'll attack maybe twice at most.



Check that shit out - level 1 and Ruby can already input four commands without using Spirit. Unlike Blue, who's more of a balanced character, Ruby is all about hitting dudes as many times as possible, and her high Speed guarantees she'll almost always go first.



The problem is that her attacks don't do quite as much damage as Blue's, and Ruby's defense isn't the greatest on the best of days. She's one of those fragile speedster types you've heard about.



We may not have learned any Arts, but we did win. Notice that Piuras don't give you money when you defeat them, which kinda sucks but is understandable since Piuras only exist in this cave.



♪♪The Cave of Warmth♪♪

The good thing about fighting in this room is that Terra will offer to heal you whenever you want, like so:



Terra: Hold still while I lick your wounds.
HP and MP are completely restored.
Terra: Ruby, you still seeem to have some energy left. Now, then, on with the training.

Can do!

*One battle and healing later...*
Terra: Ruby, you must practice your techniques. Now watch carefully. I'm going to teach you the Lizard Tail.



Awesome! Occasionally you'll find NPCs who will teach you Arts for free. There's no requirement, besides not already knowing the move. Let's see that Lizard Tail in action.



Ruby demonstrates Lizard Tail

♪♪Brand of the Holy Knuckles♪♪

Oh, so it's like Somersault but more graceful. Sweet!

*One battle and healing later...*

Hell no, dude, we've got Arts to learn!

Terra: You still wish to train? I admire your enthusiasm. Then practice until your heart's content. I'll be waiting here.



♪♪Brand of the Holy Knuckles♪♪

Other than doing slightly more damage and having a smidgeon more health, there's no difference between Red and Black Piuras.



We do get a level-up out of the fight, though.

Now, since none of your suggestions got us any new Arts, I'll throw you guys a bone and learn some myself.





First, ↓ ↓ ↓ ↑ gets us Bird Step, a bycicle kick-ish move.



Next is Dolphin Attack, learned by inputting → → ← →. I, uh, forgot to record when this happened, though, so you'll have to wait a bit to see it in action.



Finally we have Blizzard Bash, learned by inputting → ← ↓. That's all I'll learn myself for now. I believe in you guys!

*After defeating the last Piura...*



Terra: Now it's time to return to camp and get something to eat. Let's go!

I wonder if Terra and Ruby are tired of plants and mushrooms...



Terra: *pause* Now it is time for me to tell you everything. Ruby, let's go over there. I must tell you something important.
*Suddenly, the cave begins shaking.*







I can't convey it very well with screenshots, but Ruby and Terra were running around the screen at a positively ludicrous speed.

Terra: *pause* I think it's over. We've lived in this cave for some time, but that's the biggest earthquake yet.
*Suddenly, the sound of blowing wind can be heard. The Mist slowly drifts into the cave.*



Terra: A hole must have opened in the cave. Be careful, Ruby! It's the Mist!
♪♪Mist♪♪
Terra: They're out there, in the Mist! Ruby! Quick! We must hurry. We'll follow the wind to the Genesis Tree! Hurry, to Mt. Rikuroa! Hurry, Ruby! We've no time to lose! Follow me!
*Terra takes off.*



Well this certainly isn't good. Better follow Terra.



♪♪Brand of the Holy Knuckles (Ver. 2)♪♪

We don't get very far before running into this dude. Blue Piuras are like Black ones, except that they also have an attack where they use their arms like a drill (I'm forgetting the name) that does around 40 damage. It never used the move on me in this playthrough, but that doesn't mean it can't happen, so defeat it quickly.

There are also Mushrooms. Their primary attack is Running Kick, a rapid-fire kick combo that does 30 damage or thereabouts. They can also paralyze you, preventing you from doing anything until you get attacked or a few turns pass. This kinda sucks when Ruby is our only character. Oh, and High attacks miss them; a single Dolphin Attack should kill them, provided every hit connects. (Speaking of which, here's Dolphin Attack in action.)



Hooray, another level! Oh, this is that victory animation some of you were talking about - Ruby here is jumping up and down, laughing and clapping enthusiastically. I don't really mind it (I actually find it kinda funny that Ruby is so happy that she killed a Mushroom), but I guess I can see why it might annoy some.



♪♪Mist♪♪



Terra: I can feel the wind blowing here. *turns to face Ruby* Do you know what that means, Ruby? It means we can go outside! Let's head for Mt. Rikuroa and the Genesis Tree.

It's here that Terra joins us as a guest character! How awesome is Terra?



♪♪Brand of the Holy Knuckles (Ver. 2)♪♪

Pretty awesome. Terra can't actually die, having no HP values, so he/she acts like a damage sponge whenever enemies attack them. In terms of attack power, Terra does about half as much damage as Ruby - in a single hit. If it bothers to attack two or three times, Terra can easily match Ruby for damage, making a reliable, if uncontrollable combat buddy.

But the best part?





Free healing. Thanks to Terra, you don't have to worry about using items - and since Terra doesn't actually have MP values, you don't have to worry about losing that free healing, either!



Moving on, we encounter a new enemy, the Theeder. Theeders are Thunder Seru, and probably the most dangerous enemy here. Aside from immunity to Low attacks, it can also use Volt Charge (I think that's what it's called, anyway), doing damage comparable to the Gimard's Fireball back in Rim Elm. It doesn't have much HP, thankfully - Dolphin Attack combined with Terra's assistance can take it out in one turn.



Ruby is certainly shaping up to be pretty awesome - level 3 and she can already input six commands after using Spirit. Blue, by comparison, can barely do five, and he's almost double her level.



♪♪Mist♪♪

The rest of Snowdrift Cave is much like the passage leading to the Piura room - narrow corridors, occasional wide hallways, and a few Healing Shrooms. You'll want to pick up as many of these as you can - you'll need them in the next dungeon.



♪♪Barren Fields of Mist♪♪

Shortly afterwards, we reach the outside world. A nice touch I couldn't screenshot properly is that Ruby looks around for a few seconds before we gain control.

And with that, this update is over. I know it's shorter than usual, but the next one should be much larger, for reasons we'll get to. I'll be taking combo suggestions for both Ruby and Blue - a maximum of six commands per combo for the former and five for the latter. See you guys next time!

Next time: Climbing Mt. Rikuroa.

For Blue: ULDUR.
For Ruby: LLURLU.

You've got my 360 suggestions for Blue but try LDRLDR and RDLRDL for Ruby.

LULU :3

Aaaaah this music! I forgot (or perhaps never appreciated fully) how great that world map music is. The music of this game in general is pretty fantastic.

Michiru Oshima is certainly a talented composer, and it really shows in this game. There are quite a few great themes we have yet to encounter - a few in particular in the very next update.

Speaking of, the next update is about halfway done. I should be able to post it by Monday or thereabouts. See you guys then!