The Legend of Dragoon - Research, Analysis & Opinions

[Shademp]

- What rare item drops do you want to keep track of on Disc 4? Though there are a few neat drops here and there, the greatest one is the "Dancer's Shoes" that you can get from the Cute Cat enemy in/at/on the Divine Tree. The enemy is only available in this brief, temporary spot of the game so make sure that you've gotten all the pairs of fancy shoes that you desire before moving ahead to the Everlasting Moon. The shoes can only be equipped by ladies and they add a +20 boost to their speed.

The 2% drop rate of this accessory can, like all the 2% drop rate examples, be a pain. The place I found the most useful to grind for Dancer's Shoes AND gain lots of EXP was this map:

Spoiler

Here you are very likely to trigger the battle formation with Cute Cat and two Mountain Apes. This battle will provide a ton of EXP. Way more than the "Cute Cat + Manticore" which is the only Cute Cat formation available in the first map/field of the Divine Tree that you roam. Even when you'll curse at the game for not giving you the shoes, you'll still enjoy seeing the EXP numbers count upwards rapidly.

Naturally I may just have been lucky in some maps and unlucky in others. This is another reason why I wish there were advanced viewers/editors for TLoD. With those we might check which battle formations are available in which maps and what the probability for triggering each battle formation is. One could learn a lot about how to optimize the TLoD experience this way.

How many Dancer's Shoes do you want in your inventory by the end of the game? Keep in mind that your only ways of acquiring these shoes are through one treasure chest in the Forbidden Land (aka Kadessa) and by battling the Cute Cat in the Divine Tree. Only females can equip these shoes and you will never enter into a battle with more than two females in your party. Technically then you only *need* two Dancer's Shoes. But I aimed to have at least three Dancer's Shoes because if I so wish then all three females can have it equipped without me having to swap shoes while swapping female party members.

Spoiler: I feel pretty and I must dance!

The same rule of convenience apply when I collect any equipment really. You only *need* three Legend Casque, three Armour of Legend, three Ultimate Wargod and so on because you only ever use three characters and you can always pre-emptively change equipment if you know when the game suddenly forces you to use other playable characters. But swapping equipment becomes a hazzle, which is why by the middle of Disc 4 I had seven Legend Casque, seven Armour of Legend and six Ultimate Wargod (Shana/Miranda can't equip it because they don't use Additions) so that I no longer had to unequip and equip stuff whenever I changed my party setup.


Disc 4 does have a few more monsters with neat item drops. Like I mentioned earlier, Lavitz's Spirit has a chance of dropping the Halberd. It's neat to acquire this weapon early instead of buying it in the shop after TPoNR. The enemy "Loner Knight" of Mayfil has a 2% chance of dropping Soul Eater, Dart's most powerful weapon! I never knew before this playthrough the Soul Eater can thusly be acquired in two ways: By defeating the optional boss Polter Armour and/or by getting a rare drop from the Lone Soldier foe of Mayfil.

The Professor enemy of Zenebatos has a 2% chance of dropping the Sage's Cloak accessory but you can easily buy this accessory for a good price in Ulara.



- The Magical Hat increases your total MP by 50%. At Dragoon LV5 you will have 100MP, so the Magical Hat turns your total into 150MP.

Increasing your total MP may actually be used to help you restore MP quicker. The accessory Sapphire Pin restores MP when magical damage is received and the accessory Platinum Collar restores MP when physical damage is received. The restored MP will be 1/10th of your total MP. Thusly, by having the Magical Hat equipped in the D'LV5 example, you will get 15MP per hit instead of just 10MP with either accessory when not wearing the Magical Hat.

The curious, surprising discovery here is that the Magical Ring that restores MP per turn (not the 'Magical Ring' that boosts the MAG stat) will keep on restoring 10MP per turn even when you've boosted your MP with 50% using the Magical Hat. The Magical Ring will only restore 10MP per turn!

Keep in mind I haven't tested to see how the Magical Ring acts when a player has 20, 40, 60 or 80MP as their maximum. But it's still neat to see that under these conditions the ring will not follow the straightforward "1/10th" formula! Quite unlike the Therapy Ring, which restores 1/10th of the wearer's HP per turn.

 

[Shademp]

I manually collected the data for Dart's stats and Total EXP per LV. Finally I got around to plotting the data in Excel and this is what I found.

Spoiler: The Legend of Math: EXP Curve of Dart

I will only present Dart's EXP data now. The only character levels available to you without cheating devices are levels 1-60.

Click the link below to see the curve for Dart's Total EXP per LV.

- Total EXP from LV1 - LV60 : Dart Feld

For those who don't entirely remember their school math (just like I didn't until yesterday) here is a graph that shows us why one might hope at first that Dart's EXP/LV can be described via cubic growth.

- Dart's Total EXP growth versus Exponential Growth versus Cubic Growth

Exponential growth is clearly out of the question. But can we have a curve for cubic growth that perfectly lines up with Dart's EXP/LV curve?

- The Short Answer is NO

No matter the coefficient we use for our cubic growth formula, they can't line up perfectly with Dart's curve. We may only get approximate EXP values over certain level intervals, depending on our coefficient. This reveals that while originally the EXP/LV curve may be derived from a predictable cubic growth, the designers have manually tweaked the values afterwards.

Anyone who has used RPG Maker is familiar with this process. Here is an example from RPG Maker, with Maximum HP being the stat in question.

You may start out with a simple, constant growth line. In this case, linear growth (y=kx).

But beyond whatever growth type you have, be it linear, cubic, exponential or what-have-you, the designer can then tweak the numbers per level as they so wish, without any rhyme or reason.

^Extreme example to visualize the point


This is what the TLoD designers did for Dart's EXP/LV curve, albeit not nearly as extreme. His EXP/LV progression from LV51-60 is still predictable however and we can calculate the "required EXP to move from LV(N) to (LV(N+1)" easily. Keep in mind, the formula below only shows the required EXP to progress from one level to the next, not Dart's TOTAL EXP at that time.

The formula is...

EXP to Move To Current Level = 2 * (LV^3 - (LV-1)^3)

when the Current Level is 52 or higher.​

How much EXP does Dart need to move from LV58 to LV59? Let's insert the values in our formula.

EXP to Move To Current Level[/I] = 2 * (LV^3 - (LV-1)^3)
EXP (LV59) = 2 * (59^3 - (59 - 1)^3) = 20534 EXP

Dart needs 20534 EXP to move from the very start of LV58 to the very start of LV59!


The only way to know Dart's "Total EXP" here is to already know that at LV51 his Total EXP equals 215302. By adding together the required EXP per level, step by step, we may know Dart's Total EXP at any given level. But won't it be bothersome to do all that counting? At first glance it might. What is the calculation for Dart's Total EXP once he has just reached LV60?


Dart's TotalEXP(LV60) = TotalEXP(LV51) +
'EXP to Move from LV51 to LV52' +
'EXP to Move from LV52 to LV53' +
'EXP to Move from LV53 to LV54' +
'EXP to Move from LV54 to LV55' +
'EXP to Move from LV55 to LV56' +
'EXP to Move from LV56 to LV57' +
'EXP to Move from LV57 to LV58' +
'EXP to Move from LV58 to LV59' +
'EXP to Move from LV59 to LV60' = 215302 + 166698 = 382000

However if we investigate the apparance of the calculation when we actually write out the formula, we can see that it gets simplified greatly. Let us change how we express the EXP required to move from one level to the next.

'EXP to Move from LV51 to LV52' +
'EXP to Move from LV52 to LV53' +
'EXP to Move from LV53 to LV54' +
'EXP to Move from LV54 to LV55' +
'EXP to Move from LV55 to LV56' +
'EXP to Move from LV56 to LV57' +
'EXP to Move from LV57 to LV58' +
'EXP to Move from LV58 to LV59' +
'EXP to Move from LV59 to LV60' =

2*(52^3 - (52 - 1)^3) +
2*(53^3 - (53 - 1)^3) +
2*(54^3 - (54 - 1)^3) +
2*(55^3 - (55 - 1)^3) +
2*(56^3 - (56 - 1)^3) +
2*(57^3 - (57 - 1)^3) +
2*(58^3 - (58 - 1)^3) +
2*(59^3 - (59 - 1)^3) +
2*(60^3 - (60 - 1)^3) =

2*
((52^3 - (51)^3) +
(53^3 - (52)^3) +
(54^3 - (53)^3) +
(55^3 - (54)^3) +
(56^3 - (55)^3) +
(57^3 - (56)^3) +
(58^3 - (57)^3) +
(59^3 - (58)^3) +
(60^3 - (59)^3) ) =

2*(60^3 - 51^3) = 166698

I used color-coding to easier visualize that most of the calculation cancels itself out! When wanting to know the required EXP to get to any LV, all you really need to insert into your formula is the Level you are curious about, in the above case LV60, and LV51 because that's the base we start from.

So the Total EXP at LV60 is the Total EXP at LV51 (215302) plus the required EXP to get from LV51 to LV60 (166698).

215302 + 2*(60^3 - 51^3) = 382000


TLoD's character levelling caps at LV60, but what if it capped at LV99 instead? What would Dart's Total EXP at that point be, if it followed the same predictable growth that we see from LV51-60?

215302 + 2*(99^3 - 51^3) = 215302 + 1675296 = 1890598

So almost 1.9 million EXP! But TLoD's EXP counter caps at 999999, so how far would Dart keep levelling until he reached the EXP cap? Trial and error is a fast enough process here and so I learned that the level cap would be 80.

Dart's Total EXP at LV80 = 974000
Dart's Total EXP at LV81 = 1012882 <---Exceeds EXP cap!

 

[Shademp]

- At Dragoon Lv5, with the Red-Eye Dragon Spirit, the character menu will claim that the following strength boosts apply when in Dragoon form:

AT: 170%
DF: 250%
MAT: 170%
MDF: 250%​

Then when you get the Red-Eye Dragon Spirit replaced with the Divine Dragon Spirit, the character menu will claim the same strength boosts for D'LV5.

DON'T BELIEVE TLOD'S LIES THOUGH! In fact the physical attack of the Divine Dragoon form is TWICE as powerful as that of the Fire Dragoon form.

Makes you wonder how much else the game is lying about. I also wonder what would happen if Dart was Dragoon Level 1, 2, 3 or 4 when he gains the Divine Dragon Spirit. Will he have learned all two Divine spell even from D'LV1? Will the Dragoon Boosting percentages end up different from what I showed above if you level-up your D'LV while you own the Divine Dragon spirit? I hope to research this someday.

Here are the Fire Dragoon power boosts according to the character menu, from D'LV1 - D'LV5:

Spoiler

D'LV1
AT: 150%
DF: 200%
MAT: 150%
MDF: 200%

D'LV2
AT: 155%
DF: 210%
MAT: 155%
MDF: 210%

D'LV3
AT: 160%
DF: 220%
MAT: 160%
MDF: 220%

D'LV4
AT: 165%
DF: 230%
MAT: 165%
MDF: 230%

D'LV5
AT: 170%
DF: 250%
MAT: 170%
MDF: 250%

- One part of the game actually uses a copy of the Earth's map!

Spoiler: Ripped Texture: Size Increase

Far as I can tell, this texture is used for when the Super Virage does its attack where it sucks in the planets of the solar system, then shoots them out as a galaxy which leads to the party being struck by an asteroid field and then landing down on a planet. You know, because J-RPG galaxy attack tropes!

When the Super Virage sucks in planets (you can also identify Uranus, Mars and Jupiter when you watch the attack unfold) it sucks in two Earth-like planets, oddly enough.

Spoiler

The planet that apparently uses the real-life world map is only seen very briefly to the left here and you may not even be able to tell that it is a model of our Earth. As it rotates you mostly get to see its oceans and only brief hints of green, so the battle animators did quite a good job at covering up that the Earth's world map was used.

The planet to the right uses a more non-distinct world map. It doesn't clearly resemble either Earth or the Continent of Endiness, so the idea is probably that it represents the landmasses of TLoD that you don't get to explore in the game.

Spoiler: Texture Rip and snapshot

The team falls down on this planet at the end of the Super Virage's space attack:

 

[Shademp]

The Legend of Dragoon has many "What the fuck?!" moments and aspects.

There is the questionable translation and often incorrect grammar. There is the animal abuse minigame. The over-the-top voice acting. There is the fact that Rose sucks enemies into her vagina. Then there is the PENIS CANNON you can use when you transform into a Divine Dragoon. IT IS A PENIS AND YOU SHOOT OUT WHITE STUFF WITH IT!

But that is nothing...NOTHING compared to the big WTF discovered by TLoD modding titan Zychronix.

The final game only ever uses five equipment icons and thirteen (usable) item icons. Yes, those five equipment icons you see at the start of the video are all you ever see in the final game. Sword icon for a character whether they use rapier, hammer, mace, axe, gloves, spear or bow. Iron helmet icon even if you are wearing a Jeweled Crown. Plate armor even if you are wearing a Rainbow Dress.

The game actually has THIRTY unused menu icons!!! The video also shows character icons with false palettes, a few empty icon spots indicated by hex code, then a STOP/ERROR icon and a triangle with an exclamation mark (I am unsure as to whether those final two were ever intended for use, if we count them then we have THIRTY-TWO unused menu icons).

These icons fit countless of equipment items and many usable items! IT IS MIND-SHATTERINGLY INCOMPETENT THAT THESE ARE NEVER USED IN THE FINAL GAME!!! I remember when I got Haschel's "Beast Fang" on Disc 1 and I didn't know which character this weapon belonged to because they all use the Sword icon. Sure would have made things easier if a fitting glove- or claw icon would have been used for Haschel's Beast Fang!

The equipment item list in particular would have benefitted so much from these icons, making it far easier to sort through the long list of very different equipment types. The usable items list suffer less from items being indistinguishable but that's not an excuse for the menu programmer and menu graphics staff to have such poor communication with each other that this biggest WTF of TLoD could manifest. That's just me assuming btw that the icons became unused to lack of communication between two different members of staff. If it all boils down to just ONE GUY not bothering to do the proper programming then...well, I don't even want to think about that level of incompetence!




...It's cool as F*CK though that Zychronix unlocked these icons and are now using them for his mods!

 

[Shademp]

I have not been idle. Finally learned the basic Command Prompt commands so that I could copy the file names, file size and time-of-last-edit for all the folders and files of the JP, US and PALE (Pal English) discs for The Legend of Dragoon and then paste them into Excel.

Using both manual comparisons and Excel's "IF" function for automized comparing of files and folders, I have made a few noteworthy observations.


- The Black Label- and Greatest Hits release of The Legend of Dragoon appear identical in this surface comparison. Not only are the file names and sizes identical but the "Time of Last Edit" is also identical down to the minute for every directory.

I still call this a "surface comparison" though, since the CMD does not unpack the TLoD files. All it can show are the directories and their files. But if you wish to compare for example every piece of the game's texture, you have to unpack some BIN files in jPSXdec (or other software) and then do a comparison from there. If not for the fact that the BL and GH editions of US TLoD had the exact same data for their "Time of Last Edit", I would say that their identical file sizes could disguise potential changes done to the in-game content.

The 4th Disc of the Black Label copy I received had a big scratch on it which is presumably why my computer can't read the disc. Ergo I have not actually compared the 4th BL disc with the 4th GH disc. While I am confident that these discs will be identical, for the sake of SCIENCE I shall one day order a second Black Label copy and thus hopefully get one where the fourth disc is not scratched.

Online searches have not revealed any Ultimate Hits (JP) or Platinum (PAL) releases of The Legend of Dragoon.

To repeat, there are most likely no differences between BL and GH releases. Some seem to believe that the GH version has a game-freezing glitch with the Lenus-&-Regole battle on Disc 2 (read the description to this video). IF there is indeed truly a difference, it has to be boiled down to some technicality such as how the data is written onto the game disc, since we have already proven that the actual in-game directories and files are identical.


- The DABAS.BIN file, which is very likely related to the JP-exclusive PocketStation feature of TLoD, exists in both the US and PALE discs. In all these discs, the file info for this one is the same.

DABAS.BIN in US & PALE
- File size: 71424 bytes
- Date Last Modified: 1999-11-16 10:57

How does this compare to the JP discs?

DABAS.BIN in JP Discs
- File Size: 71424 bytes
- Date Last Modified: 1999-10-18 13:09

Same file size but the US & PALE equivalent were edited a little less than one month after the final edit to the JP DABAS.BIN. Gives the impression that the decision to leave the PocketStation feature behind was made pretty early, which makes sense since there was no sign of the PocketStation peripheral getting overseas. Points to the English versions of TLoD not referencing the PocketStation, neither in-game nor in the game manual, unlike Final Fantasy 8 which teased this feature to overseas players. Anybody else remember the frustration of being teased with the existence of the Chocobo PocketStation minigame and what it adds to playing FFVIII? I sure do.


- There are many files in the discs that I have no idea what they do. Discs 1-3, NOT Disc 4, of the Japanese game has a folder called "DA" which contains the file "MIX.DA".
File Size: 31 893 164 bytes
Date Last Modified: 1999-02-16 16:11


In the SIM folder of every disc of every version, there is the MES.MVB file.
File Size: 32 856 bytes
Date Last Modified: 1998-05-25 13:43

MES.MVB is by far the file with the oldest "Last Modified" date. The second oldest is the aforementioned JP-exclusive MIX.DA. Then we see a jump to August 1999, which is the Last Date Modified for many of the Japanese FMVs.


The SUBMAP folder has another mysterious file which is identical between all discs and all versions. NEWROOT.RDT:
File Size: 14 576 bytes
Date Last Modified: 1999-09-27 07:55


There is almost surely some documentation out there on typical PS1/PSX data formats that could shed some light on what the aforementioned files are but for now I just want to keep the mystery (and share the mystery with the readers).


- There is an oddity in Discs 1-3 of the US version. This requires some explanation first.

Across all versions, there is the "XA" folder which holds the sound clips for Dragoon magic attacks. Typically you will find the following files:
LODXA00.XA
LODXA01.XA
LODXA02.XA

The fourth disc of every version holds the file "LODXA03.XA", which is actually the End Credits song If You Still Believe.

What's the weird thing then? Discs 1-3 of the US version has the file LODXA03.XA, but it contains textures from the SECT folder's files and no music at all. I highly doubt that the game ever references this file. It makes more sense as an accidental creation, since it does not exist in the JP and PALE discs.

This reminds me of a PAL-exclusive file in FFVII. The PAL version holds a copy of a Chocobo Farm field which has no reason to be there at all, other than as an accidental copy-paste goof.

 

[Shademp]

Thanks to having created hundreds of TLoD save files, I have saves with every available character level progression. In another "Shademp Moment", I decided to manually write down all the stats for every level of every playable character. The process was simple but, naturally, took many hours.

My research so far suggests that the LV in which a character first joins your team is predetermined. No matter if I am overlevelled or underlevelled, Lavitz has always joined at LV3 and Shana always joins at LV4. Before I complete a low-level playthrough up to the middle of disc 2, I can't be sure if the join-LV of Rose, Haschel, Meru and Kongol are fixed as well.

For the sake of SCIENCE I kept the "switch characters" Lavitz-Albert and Shana-Miranda separate when I wrote down the data for their stat (and Total EXP per level) progression. There is good reason to think that their stat progressions are identical but I won't be perfectly satisfied until I test out the levels for every character. In the case of Lavitz and Shana, since they leave your party before it's easy to grind for Max LV, I will probably end up using cheat codes to increase EXP gain and then note their stat progression from there. For Albert and Miranda, the option is either to keep their respective starter-character (Lavitz for Albert and Shana for Miranda) at their lowest possible level, which would mean keeping Lavitz and/or Shana "dead" in your party until they are replaced. This is easier said than done since a dead/fainted/defeated character is automatically revived after battle. The game does not make it easy for you to keep a character fainted/dead.

The join level for all characters so far appear to be these:

Dart: LV1
Lavitz: LV3
Shana: LV4
Rose: LV8
Haschel: LV13
Meru: LV17
Kongol: LV19
Albert: LV when Lavitz leaves
Miranda: LV when Shana leaves​

With all those TLoD Data Formalities out of the way, here are some charts I made to show the progression of Max HP, Attack, Defense, Magic Attack and Magic Defense stats. In the charts I assume that Lavitz=Albert and Shana=Miranda.

Spoiler: Growth of Max HP

LV60 Max HP Values:
9750 - Kongol
8250 - Lavitz/Albert
7500 - Dart
6750 - Haschel
6000 - Shana/Miranda
5250 - Rose
4500 - Meru

Just to make it easier to show that their progressions don't overlap, let us zoom in on the Max HP progression from LV1-25.

A key fact to keep in mind, which I did not bother to make a marking for in the charts, is that because Dart never leaves your party he will always be progressing to higher levels sooner than his piers. So while Dart technically has a lower HP growth than Lavitz, Dart's advantage of being anything from 1-5 levels ahead (depending on how you play the game and where you are at) means that his HP will often be on par with that of Lavitz.

Keep this truth of Dart's advantage in mind for ALL the stat charts below!

Spoiler: Growth of AT Stat

LV60 AT Values:
254 - Kongol
225 - Lavitz/Albert
225 - Meru
188 - Haschel
150 - Dart
142 - Rose
104 - Shana/Miranda

When moving on to AT, DF, MAT and MDF we see stat progressions overlap between characters. Observe how Rose at first can match AT wills with Lavitz, then she gets downgraded to Haschel's level, then Dart's, manages to get herself up again and become stronger than Dart but ultimately loses. That brief moment at LV50 when Rose is supposed to be stronger than Dart may never be observed though because it's more likely at this point that Dart is already at LV55-60.

Meru, TLoD's go-to loli character, is a surprising powerhouse. Her AT stats match that of Albert. While initially she may not measure up to Albert due to low-powered Additions and weak weapons, her final Addition "Perky Step" which has +600% damage to it, makes her almost on-par with Albert. HOWEVER, since Meru is almost twice as fast as Albert, she will easily deal more damage and much quicker than Albert ever could.

Meru reminds me of Meracle Chamlotte from Star Ocean 4, who may look tiny but packs a brutal punch especially by the endgame, much like Meru.

Spoiler: Growth of DF Stat

LV60 DF Values:
254 - Kongol
199 - Lavitz/Albert
150 - Haschel
150 - Dart
142 - Rose
149 - Shana/Miranda
120 - Meru

Pretty similar to the AT stat chart but with some obvious differences. Meru measures up to Albert's AT, but not to his DF. Rose does the same journey where she starts out with being on par with Lavitz, but then quickly descends and has a repeated battle of wills against Dart and Haschel which she ultimately loses. LADY IS TOO OLD FOR THIS!

A person who does not grind heavily in TLoD may find themselves in the level range of 35-40 by the end of Disc 4. For this reason they may never spot that Miranda does an eye-of-the-tiger montage and has her DF stat move up considerably after LV40! She beats Meru and then near the end she beats Rose as well, to get to the DF levels of Dart and Haschel.

Kongol has dominated the HP, AT and DF categories. But in the MAT and MDF categories it is time for his glorious light to be replaced with a shameful one!

Spoiler: Growth of MAT Stat

LV60 MAT Values:
255 - Shana/Miranda
225 - Meru
150 - Dart
150 - Rose
148 - Haschel
108 - Lavitz/Albert
75 - Kongol

Shana, on behalf of being the Moon Child, starts out not realizing her true strength. Her MAT is only slightly stronger than that of Dart and Lavitz. When Rose joins your team, it's not enough that Rose is a more attractive addition due to having a Dragoon Spirit, but she also has a higher MAT as well. Then Shana hits full gear and absolutely smashes everyone, even Meru who is of the magical Wingly species! If you're deciding on who to have using the Psyche Bomb X attack item, use Miranda for the greatest possible magic damage!

It's funny to see how the zig-zag pattern this time around is more pronounced with Haschel than it is with Rose! Haschel almost gets to Rose's MAT stat level, but not quite! I think Rose appreciates this victory after having been bested repeatedly by Dart and Haschel in the HP, AT and DF categories.

Spoiler: Growth of MDF Stat

LV60 MDF Values:
254 - Shana/Miranda
198 - Meru
150 - Dart
150 - Rose
148 - Haschel
97 - Lavitz/Albert
80 - Kongol

The final stats here have great similarity to the results on the MAT category, but holy shit is the path to LV60 a messy one! We get three zigzag patterns instead of just the two or the one. Albert even has a weaker MDF than Kongol at the very start but then he keeps a steady zigzag growth and remains distinctly above Kongol.

Haschel is really struggling here and only very briefly manages to get a higher MDF than Rose, but Rose goes "NU-UH" and won't be defeated after tasting victory in the MAT category. They both emerge with the same number stats in MDF as they did in MAT. Dart's position in the middle of them kind of makings this piece of the chart look like primitively drawn scissors.

Shana/Miranda remains the magical powerhouse, even clearly beyond the levels of Meru the Wingly.

Wow, what an interesting journey that was! All those hours writing down the stats per level was totally worth it and I have now learned a lot more about how to use Excel. Before this bit of fun I had never tried to make charts in Excel!

Some of you may wonder why I manually wrote down all the character stats instead of looking up the resources online. The emotional reason is that I just feel good collecting data myself, but the planning reason is that I am noting down this stat data of the PALE version so I may later compare with the stats/level progression of the US and JP versions. That way I may confirm if the stat growth is identical between versions.

 

[Shademp]

Currently doing a low-level playthrough of the US version and I'm having so much fun! After having combed through every corner of the PALE version, it is SUCH a welcome increase in pace to breeze through the US version and intentionally skip a lot of stuff. I am curious to see how the game will react when I skip stuff. For example never getting Lavitz's Portrait, never talking to the Sandora family who ends up living with Lavitz's mother, never talking to Martel and never collecting any Stardust (except for that first Stardust I accidentally grabbed from Seles ) etc.

Pretty much every location and every scene has textual differences between the US and PALE versions. So far, the US version has way better grammar and general text formatting. It looks like the Europeans really got the worst deal, although there are still a few examples where I prefer the grammar, formatting and translation choices for PALE. For example the yellow text color is, so far, only used for Speaker Names and never for locations in the US version. The text looks friendlier in the PALE game, where location names are usually colored yellow.

Spoiler: Prairie Sign

US

PALE

Trivia: In pre-release material the first screenshot of Hellena Prison has it named "Hellena Jail", which just so happens to match the name "Jail of Hellena" which matches the sign seen above in the final game.

Spoiler: Marshland Signs

US: Sign #1

PALE: Sign #1

Kingdom of Basil vs Duchy of Basil
Here both versions write "Volcano Viludo" instead of what it should be, which is "Volcano Villude".


US: Sign #2

PALE: Sign #2

Volcano Villude vs Volcano Viludo
Kingdom of Basil vs Duchy of Basil

So far, the PALE version has more errors in its translations, grammar and text formatting than the US version. I speculate that when the PALE version was being made, the European team was handed old text files from TLoD's first localization process. This would explain why the PALE version seems so very lacking in quality control, compared to the US version which was released SEVEN MONTHS before the European edition.

Other examples of textual differences, US to the left and PALE to the right:

Discard - Throw​

The menu you access to discard items is named differently.

So. of Serdio - Sth of Serdio
No. of Serdio - Nth of Serdio​

The menu name for these regions were changed. This is one example where I actually prefer the PALE version. I just think that "Sth/Nth" looks better than "So./No.".

That said, I dislike both these names. "South of Serdio" and "North of Serdio" are misleading names and should in actuality be "Southern Serdio" and "Northern Serdio". Due to the Serdian War, the country of Serdio has been divided into the southern Sandora Kingdom and the northern Kingdom/Duchy of Basil. You never actually roam an area south- or north of Serdio in these examples, you just travel between Serdio's northern and southern halves. In the current game's naming convention, "Serdio" becomes the infinitesimal line that divides Basil and Sandora.

Fire Bird - Piton​

The creature that is repeatedly called "Fire Bird" on the field gets a really weird name in the PALE version's boss battle. Keep in mind that outside battle in the PALE game, the creature is called "Fire Bird".

Spoiler: Fire Bird vs Piton

Once I reach this point in the Japanese version I will check if there is an explanation for how Fire Bird could be turned into Piton.

Spoiler: Greham Defeated in Battle

US: Ug.... I got a deep gash.

PALE: Ug... I got a deep cut...

The above is yet another example of where I prefer the PALE version. The English versions of TLoD just love to use four-dot punctuation marks. I HATE THIS! It defies convention and looks ugly. It is rare enough that the game actually uses proper ellipsis. So far, it looks like the Japanese game is way better at keeping the proper formatting of three-dot punctuation marks. Really, the worst part of the localization may not be the translation, but the poor text formatting and the bad grammar. It may very well be that the translation is accurate, just poorly written.


Random: I discovered that Greham has a chance of dropping a Plate Mail after battle. The Dragoon wiki only lists that Greham may drop this Plate Mail but it does not mention that there's a chance of NOT receiving this armor! That puts Greham up there with other boss battles you may have to redo in order to get certain items, like the Dragon Shield from the Divine Dragon or the Halberd from Lavitz's Ghost/Spirit.

 

[Shademp]

To anyone replaying a game they know well, I recommend that you try out losing in places where you otherwise never lose. There is a chance you might unlock some scene or dialogue that you never even knew about! Final Fantasy VII provided me with multiple such moments, in particular with the minigames of the Fort Condor, the Huge Materia mission in North Corel and the Submarine minigame. These challenges can be so hard to fail at that you might never even consider that the game actually GOES ON even if you lose, be it in battle or on the field events.

The Legend of Dragoon is no different. When I did my most recent playthrough of the PALE version, I got curious and decided to lose in one of the Hero Matches that takes place in Lohan mid-way through Disc 1. Instead of a Game Over, a scene took place where some convenient circumstance turned Dart's loss into a victory! The game then went on as though I had properly won the battle.

The humorous part here is that losing in any of the first four Hero Matches is WAAAY more interesting and entertaining than winning! If you win a battle, all that happens is that Dart waves at the cheering crowd, completely alone, then he leaves the arena and the control is returned to the player. If you lose, whole scenes take place between Dart and the fighter and then at the end Dart's friends (Shana, Lavitz and Rose) will comment on what just happened.

Before I move on to my transcriptions of these scenes, here is a list of the fighters in order from first to last.

- Gorgaga, The Berserk Warrior. (You know Gorgaga? Gorgaga!) He starts the battle by throwing poison darts at Dart. ...Damn you Dart and your silly name. Make sure to equip Poison Guard before the battle begins.
- Warrior Serfius. Dressed head to toe in armor like that of a knight. There is not much strategy here other than having a good level of defense and attack power.
- Danton the Heavyweight. Wears a silly huge, heavy armor. The strategy with this guy is to not attack him when he puts his hammer down or else he will counterattack Dart. Also be ready to heal if Danton uses an All-Out Attack that lowers Dart's HP to 1.
- Atlow the Hunter. Have equipped Bravery Amulet from the start to prevent being struck by Fear when Atlow uses his ultimate arrow attack.
- Lloyd. This battle is impossible to win. You can lose in two ways: Either by Dart losing all his HP or by a predetermined battle cutscene after a certain number of turns. It is impossible to even injure Lloyd. No matter how you lose the fight, no different variations of scenes take place afterwards. Ergo why I only have stuff to report about Gorgaga, Serfius, Danton and Atlow.

Losing to any of these first four foes requires that the player is highly incompetent, even if doing a low-level playthrough.

Spoiler: Losing to Gorgaga

Dart:
Ah....

Gorgaga, the berserk warrior:
Hee hee hee. Does it hurt?

*Gorgaga walks up to Dart*

Gorgaga, the berserk warrior:
I'll end your pain!

*He prepares to swing the axe for a killing blow*

Gorgaga, the berserk warrior:
Like this!!

Ug!!

*Dart jumps back at the last moment and evades the swing*

Dart:
The game was ... already over!

Gorgaga, the berserk warrior:
Shut up!
As long as you are alive,
I don't feel like I won!!

*Two soldiers enter the arena and start dragging away Gorgaga*

Gorgaga, the berserk warrior:
Hey!! Bastard!!
Let me go!!

Gorgaga, the berserk warrior:
Let me kill the guy!!

*Ginger, the judge and presumably the competition organizer, enters the arena*

Ginger:
Amm, Gorgaga committed a foul,
breaking the rule, "Don't put
life at risk" and loses! Dart
goes to the second round!

*The screen darkens and we get commentary from Dart's friends*

Shana:
I'm relieved.
I almost used my bow.

Lavitz:
Hey hey Shana!
It's too much.

Rose:
I now have a better opinion of
you, Shana.

Spoiler: Losing to Serfius

Dart:
S, strong.

Warrior Serfius:
Ou!!

*Serfius falls face down. Ginger enters the arena.*

Ginger:
What's wrong!?
Serfius!!

*Serfius gets up on his feet*

Warrior Serfius:
I'm having a fit.

Ginger:
Serfius defaults from the match!
It seems his chronic illness has
gotten worsen! Now, Dart goes on
to the third round!!

Warrior Serfius:
I didn't have any luck,
but I'll cure my illness and
come back.
That will be the real match!

Dart:
It will be different.
I'll top you the next time we
cross swords.

Ginger:
Did you see that!!
Another example of the beautiful
promises made between men!!
Personally, it seems like they
think they're already
in the finals!

*The screen darkens for some commentary*

Lavitz:
Beautiful....
This is the friendship of
warriors.

Shana:
I envy guys....

Rose:
Whatever.

Spoiler: Losing to Danton

Danton the Heavyweight:
Ha ha ha!
You won't be able to move
anymore!

*Dart gets up on his feet.*

Danton the Heavyweight:
Hmm! Still coming at me!
You have admirable intentions!
You cannot defeat me like that.

*Danton walks closer to Dart, ever slowly due to this heavy armor.*

Danton the Heavyweight:
Hold on.
I'm ending this now!

*As Danton gets close to Dart, something happens.*

Danton the Heavyweight:
Whoa!
Damn!

*Danton falls down, unable to get back up. It is unclear if he has also suffered an injury to his heavy armor.*

Danton the Heavyweight:
GRRRAAAHH!

*To no avail Danton tries to get up*

Danton the Heavyweight:
GRRRAAAHH!

Danton the Heavyweight:
You can claim victory!!
Just help me get up!!

Ginger:
Ammm. Ahem ahem!
The victory goes to Dart!
It was a boring match. *Sigh*

*Screen darkens for commentary.*

Lavitz:
What was that!?

Rose:
He focuses on defense too much.
He is just a fool.
***^In the PALE version, the final punctuation is missing!***



Shana:
Somehow....
I don't feel happy....

Spoiler: Losing to Atlow

Ginger:
Ahem. The victor Atlow!
He advances to the finals!

Dart:
Ah.... I cannot move.

Atlow the Hunter:
Don't take it badly,
but I won.

*Ginger investigates something suspicious on the ground*

Ginger:
Hmm!?
Wait a minute! Atlow!
Call security!!

*Two soldiers enter the stage to take away Atlow*

Ginger:
Ahh, Atlow is disqualified!!
Dart is advancing to the finals!!

Atlow the hunter:
Why is that!?
*^Yes, both the US and PALE version uses a lower case h for "hunter" here, contrary to the previously used "Hunter".*

Ginger:
Don't play innocent.
You used a prohibited poison on
your arrow, didn't you.
It's a foul!!

*Screen darkens for commentary.*

Lavitz:
Anyway it's time for the finals.
^*In the PALE version, the apostrophe in "it's" is missing.*

Shana:
Everybody was strong.

Rose:
I don't think so.
Those were mere small fries.
The next guy ... he is something.

The script transcribed above is from the US version. Most of the text is the exact same in the PALE scenes, with mostly a few tiny differences here and there. Let's go over a neat observation (see spoiler tag below) and then finally a more trivial one.

Spoiler: Bastard vs Scum

US

PALE

So far I have spotted almost a dozen examples where the word "Bastard" is used in the US version but replaced with something else in the PALE version. Remember also that in the US game Dart can equip the "Bastard Sword" but in the PALE release it is called "Long Sword". It appears that every use of the word "Bastard" was removed for the European game.

While there is some cursing in the European release, another notable example where the swearing was toned down is in the first battle against Lenus.
- Snapshot I found online
- PALE snapshot taken by me

Dart said "what the heck". WON'T SOMEBODY PLEASE THINK OF THE CHILDREN?!

In the US game, Ginger said...
Serfius defaults from the match! It seems his chronic illness has gotten worsen!
Do they improve this for the PALE version? Well, almost.


***EDIT:
- Although the aforementioned "Losing Hero Matches" scenes speak for themselves, I just have to mention how utterly hilarious they are. They either boil down to "Your contestant suffered a fatal heart attack! You win by default!" or "Your contestant did foul play! Away with him!"

It is also a shame that in the normal series of events, which will have you winning all the matches, we never get that wonderful line from Shana and Rose's reaction to it.

Shana:
I'm relieved.
I almost used my bow.

Lavitz:
Hey hey Shana!
It's too much.

Rose:
I now have a better opinion of
you, Shana.​

Shana doesn't have many cool moments and there are even fewer times where there is any sort of positive bond between Shana and Rose. Mostly we see Rose sighing at Shana's attitude and helplessness, which isn't really balanced out by a moment in Disc 3 (after Shana leaves your party) where Rose's ill-communicated concern for Shana is implied by Shana herself.

I wish the aforementioned lines by Shana and Rose were part of the obligatory game script.

 

[Shademp]

- I highly recommend that anyone, whether they be deeply familiar with The Legend of Dragoon or not, check out the video Games as Lit. 101 - Literary Analysis: The Legend of Dragoon. The show host does a great job at explaining the story, the characters and the themes.

He also alerted a humorous detail I never noticed before... Namely, the laziness/obviousness/humor in that the god who sowed the seed that led to the creation of all life in the world of TLoD is called "Soa". Get it? Soa. Sowah. Sower. Soa sowed a seed. Sowa.

...Thank you TLoD for all your cringeworthiness.

I haven't checked out any of his other works yet but I can tell already that I enjoy his style and premise: To analyse video games from a literary point of view. Neatly enough, his TLoD video is actually pretty recent, having been uploaded in February 2016.

 

[Shademp]

Remember the Pandemonium item which had no description in the menu in the PALE version? It has a menu description in the US game!

Spoiler: Pandemonium Description + Menu difference

US

PALE

The description for the Pandemonium item in-battle is the same between these two versions.
"Allow minor enemy attack 3x."

See above also how the "How-To-Sort" description differs. I personally prefer the US style.

US: Pressto sort
PALE: Sort with &#9651; button​

You may also observe the previously mentioned version difference that the Bastard Sword (US) was changed to Long Sword (PALE), along with the word "Bastard" being generally removed from the European English release.


Quite by accident just now I made another discrepancy observation regarding equipment names. Shana's starting Torso equipment is called "Clothes" and "Cloth" in the US and PALE versions respectively.

Spoiler: Clothes VS Cloth

US

PALE

US

PALE

There is yet another menu difference although this one I've known for a long time, I just haven't bothered to mention it.

Spoiler: Number of Items Kept

US

PALE

The word "Number" is missing from the PALE game. Honestly there's no need for the word "Number" there. Just having the game say "X Kept" is good enough.

 

[Shademp]

The Hero Match Arena map is actually way bigger than what you are ever allowed to see in-game.

Spoiler: All that we see in-game

Spoiler: The Actual Complete Arena Map

Makes me wonder if you would see Lavitz, Shana and Rose looking down at Dart if you were to hack the game and adjust where the camera is focused.

 

[Shademp]

- Two more boss battles where you have to keep in mind item drops that there's a chance of NOT getting.

"Bandit's Ring" from Drake the Bandit
&
"Wargod Calling" from (Armored) Kongol in Black Castle, Kazas.

The Bandit's Ring provides +20 Speed to Males. You can only get a Bandit's Ring from Drake and from a treasure chest in the Home of Gigantos. I was unaware and unlucky in my PALE playthrough so I only got the Bandit's Ring from the Home of Gigantos, which is an area you first visit on Disc 2. In my US playthrough I got the Bandit's Ring without even consulting the Dragoon wiki and this accessory can be of great help when trying to defeat Unique Monsters and it is especially useful when you want to make Lavitz/Albert compensate for his otherwise low speed. A very welcome accessory to have on Disc 1, which is the disc when you fight Drake the Bandit.


- Here are some US vs PALE text comparisons for Kazas and the Black Castle. US to the left and PALE to the right.

Spoiler

<->

Businessman VS drug peddler. Usually the word "dragon" won't be written with a capital D in the PALE game. The upper case writing is much more present in the US game.

<->

Not only are there differences here regarding which parts of the text are yellow and which parts are white but the PALE game sports an embarrassing mistake where "Do you want to try?" means "Walk away" and the "Walk away" option means "Get treated". This mistake happens again inside the Moon on Disc 4, in the PALE game.

<->

<->

US:

UGGHH . . . !
If you want to play tough,
I can play that way too!!!​

PALE:

UGGHH...
If you want to defeat me as
Dragoons...
I can play that way too! ! !​

This is not an example where Doel's script will change depending on whether the characters have entered- or are in Dragoon forms. Doel will say the same thing in each respective version regardless of how you do the battle. The PALE line "If you want to defeat me as Dragoons" will thusly be erroneous if you haven't transformed at all. I am very curious to see if the PALE text here is a more direct translation of the Japanese text or if it was a wild liberty taken by the translator.

 

[Shademp]

- CORRECTION! The Bandit's Ring can also be dropped by the Gangster enemy who can be encountered in the Home of Gigantos. So before leaving for the Moon on Disc 4, you can acquire an indefinite number of Bandit's Rings.

If you are doing a low-level playthrough and only getting spoils from obligatory battles, you will only have one chance to get a Bandit's Ring from a Gangster. The problem of course is that not only is the 2% drop chance a pain in the ass, but before getting to that battle you need to endure some cutscenes. Getting a Bandit's Ring here may only be considered reasonable if you are emulating TLoD and doing Turn Manipulation. If you are playing on a console and still trying to get the Bandit's Ring...I recommend that you don't. XP


- The boss battle against Gehrich + Mappi (the big boss battle of the Home of Gigantos) turns out to be one of the more annoying examples of semi-rare item drops. Gehrich can drop the Soul Headband. It is only slightly better than the Armet which players will have at this point, but it makes the wearer accumulate 20SP when they are damaged by magic. Mappi can drop the Diamond Claw, which is slightly stronger than Haschel's Beast Fang. You may want to keep using Beast Fang though since that weapon will occasionally Stun enemies.

Ergo the reward isn't super important for the player. You are way better off trying to grind in the Home of Gigantos for Sachet(s) from the Piggy(s), Energy Girdle from Berserker and/or Bandit's Ring from Gangster.

What are the probabilities for the aforementioned boss rewards though? The Dragoon wiki does not say, but I approximate that each item has a probability of 15-25% of being dropped. Whether the boss drops the item is decided on the turn in which they are defeated, so keep that in mind if you are using Turn Manipulation. Manipulating this drop is easier if you try to defeat Gehrich and Mappi roughly at the same time. But without turn manipulation, what are the approximate probabilities for getting both Soul Headband and Diamond Claw?

If each item has a 25% chance of being dropped, then you have a 6.25% chance of getting both. If each item has a 15% chance of being dropped, your odds of getting both at the same time are down to 2.25%.

Like with most boss battles, here too you will suffer GREATLY when attempting to get the desired battle spoils. The battle is preceded by cutscene AND you have to endure an in-battle cutscene once you defeat both Gehrich and Mappi, before you even get to the Battle Spoils screen! It is trying on one's patience even when you are emulating the game and thus have the benefit of Save States and Frame Skipping.

These rare/moderately-rare item drops from bosses are just silly. >__>

 

[Shademp]

More US versus PALE differences!

Revisiting a certain Magician on the Phantom Ship who has a 2% chance of dropping the useful Magical Hat...

Spoiler: Ghost Name Difference

US "Magician Bogy"

PALE "Magician Bogey"

On at least three occasions, the US version writes "Vally" instead of "Valley" for the "Valley of Corrupted Gravity". The instance in the PALE version where the location is called "Valley of Collapsing Gravity" (not included in the snapshots below) is not present in the US version.

Spoiler: Valley/Vally of Corrupted Gravity

US

PALE

US

PALE

US

PALE

The key item "Pass for Valley", granted to you by King Zior of Tiberoa, has two wildly different descriptions in these two versions.

[SPOILER='Pass for Valley' in the Goods Menu]

US

PALE

[/SPOILER]

The US description is wildly inconsistent with the name "Valley of Corrupted Gravity" used everywhere else in the game. Notice also that we have the key item "Magic Oil" and "Magical Oil" in the US and PALE games respectively. This is an oil received in the Black Castle at the end of Disc 1, as a means for powering the castle's elevators. Apart from the name difference, there are almost certainly more key item description differences here that I am yet to spot.

Isn't it just absolutely confounding how the quality of the text differs so randomly between the US and PALE games? The localization and trans-Atlantic porting of this game must have been quite the chaotic mess.


Let us revisit the battle text for your first battle against Lenus. Apart from the aforementioned textual discrepancy in how Dart reacts to Lenus's wings, his line is also written differently for when he reacts to when Lenus uses magic.

Spoiler: Lenus Battle Text

US

PALE

The hilarious part here is that while they bothered to use lighter swearing for Dart's first line here in the PALE version, he actually utters stronger profanity in the PALE game after Lenus casts a magic spell.


US

PALE

 

[Shademp]

- Correction for the Bandit's Ring yet again! You actually also find one in Death Frontier! I really should start adding stuff to the Dragoon Wiki myself...


- The Chapter/Disc names in the PALE game lacks the dot after "Ch" which is short for "Chapter". It is obvious either way that one is reading a shortening of said word, but I think the dot is an appreciated aesthetical addition that makes the chapter names look better. Some language/writing nuts may disagree with me.

Disc/Chapter names below. Replace the dot with an empty space and you have the equivalent chapter name for the corresponding PALE disc.

Disc 1 - Ch.1 Serdian War (see US chapter name and PALE chapter name)
Disc 2 - Ch.2 Platinum Shadow
Disc 3 - Ch.3 Fate & Soul
Disc 4 - Ch.4 Moon & Fate

I haven't played to disc 4 in the US version yet, but I confirmed via a walkthrough video that the dot is indeed present in the fourth disc.


- There were more location name differences in the menu between US and PALE than even I expected.

US Menu - PALE Menu


Illisa Bay - Elisa Bay
The PALE game sports many spots where Elisa is used instead of Illisa, but Illisa still always dominates. No part of the obligatory game script in the US version includes the use of "Elisa". Keep in mind that I'm barely talking to any NPC in my current playthrough of the US game.


Feuno - Fueno
Fueno is used consistently in the US game...apart from in the actual menu. Plus points to the PALE game. Haven't confirmed how often Feuno is used by NPCs in the US game because, again, rushing through this playthrough.

We can spot a humorous discrepancy here in how the sign reads. My bet is that the Japanese game is closer to what the PALE game says.

Spoiler: Fueno Sign

US

PALE

Yes, the game allows you to freely enter both the hot springs for women and the one for men. How very naughty.



Undersea Cavern - Undersea Cave
The cave that leads to the Prison Island, where you battle Regole the Sea Dragon and Lenus in her Dragoon form. Lenus has a probability of roughly 1/5 or 1/4 to drop the "Jeweled Crown". Same old annoyance here that there are cutscenes both before and after the battle before you actually get to the battle spoils to see if you got the Jeweled Crown. =/


Prison Island - Jailed Dr Is.
You can easily miss out on these location names. Only two maps actually use this location name. The PALE location name is a mess and without abbreviations/contractions it would read "Jailed Dragon Island".

The name for this place on the world map is also an outlier, as it is not ever displayed in the Zoom 1 (moving your character/vehicle) or Zoom 2 setting of the world map. Instead, it will only show up on Zoom 3 when your current goal in the plot is to get to said island to defeat the Sea Dragon.

Spoiler: Zoom 3: Prison Island

US

PALE

Furni - Fanny
I will let you know if I see the use of the name "Fanny" anywhere in the US game. I hope there is no such example to find.

 

[Shademp]

- After much frustration and research, I discovered that SP gain does not count towards your Dragoon Levelling unless you get to the Battle Spoils screen. So if you gain a lot of SP but then run away from the battle, and is thusly not led to the Battle Spoils menu, none of that SP will count.

I discovered this when my character refused to increase their D'LV when I was battling the Red Bird: A unique monster that may only receive damage from magic attacks. If you use physical attacks, the damage done is 0 and no SP will be gained.

When doing a Low-Level playthrough, you will only get to the Battle Spoils menu in obligatory battles, when enemies run away and when you defeat the Unique Monsters that don't grant any EXP. The enemies Yellow Bird, 00Parts, Red Bird and Treasure Jar belong to this category of Unique Monsters that don't grant EXP.

However, only Yellow Bird and 00Parts are viable enemies for ALSO getting SP gain in battle, since Red Bird and Treasure Jar are immune to physical attacks. If you're emulating TLoD and have the benefit of save states, you may best grind SP (and thusly your Dragoon Levels) against the 00Parts foe.

If you are playing on a console, you are probably much better off just trying to extend the length of the obligatory battles as much as you can. Like I mentioned in passing, if all the enemies in your battle escape, you will get to the Battle Spoils menu. Dealing just enough damage and/or inflicting Confusion so that they run away, while also not defeating any enemy so to not ruin your Low-Level playthrough, will be ridiculously difficulting. Take into account also that not all enemies will run away and not all are susceptible to Confusion.


- Speaking of Confusion, this status effect has a cousin called "Bewitched" in TLoD.

With Confusion, yellow question marks will circle your playable character's head and the character may either attack one of the party members OR they will run away from battle (I have not checked if the enemy is ever attacked).

With Bewitched, pink hearts will circle your character's head and they will attack any of the three party members. Unlike Confusion however, there is no chance of your Bewitched character running away from battle. This renders Bewitched a slightly more dangerous status effect.

I have not checked how much damage a character under Confusion will cause, but I finally discovered the formula for how much damage is inflicted by a character who suffers from Bewitched.

Formula: ( Bewitched Character's Max HP * 2 ) / 10

As with all known TLoD formulas, round down to the closest integer if you get a decimal value. Never round up! The attack inflicted by a Bewitched character is not affected by any stats other than the Maximum HP of the Bewitched fighter. In other words it doesn't matter how high your defense- or attack stats are.

 

[Shademp]

I have seriously gained a lot of blind spots in my brain. Very simple, basic facts slip past me and I have to go back and correct them!

- Correction#1: Way back in this post I talked about unused preview images. I claimed that two Endiness preview maps are unused, completely forgetting that I have seen this map so many times in the actual game!

It is used for when moving between Tiberoa, Southern Serdio and Northern Serdio.


- Correction #2: Relevant to my most recent post, the one about SP gain and unique monsters. I forgot to mention the Cursed Jar, which is an enemy that although it grants EXP, it has a high chance of running away. The Cursed Jar can actually be a decent foe for farming SP in a low-level playthrough where you don't want to gain any EXP. Just battle and attack the Cursed Jar as long as you can without defeating it, then wait for it to run away (if it hasn't already).

 

[Shademp]

What would I want from a sequel to The Legend of Dragoon?

Post #1

While I'm more eager to see a remaster/remake, I have thought up scenarios I'd like to see for a sequel.


Instead of pulling a Final Fantasy and having the story take place in a completely different world, I want to revisit the continent of Endiness but in a later time period, to see the consequences of what happened during the first game. I would place TLoD 2 anywhere in and between 90-150 years after The Legend of Dragoon. You know what, I will refer to the original game as "The Moon Campaign", to contrast with "The Dragon Campaign" that took place over 11000 years before that game.

With roughly 100 years having passed, some areas will be familiar but it will still be like exploring a new world. This also means that Meru, the Wingly Dragoon of the Moon Campaign, will definitely still be alive. It is also my headcanon that Gigantos live longer than humans, so Kongol will still be around but having only a few years or decades left of his natural lifespan as a Giganto. All the other Dragoons from the Moon Campaign will be dead by the timeline of TLoD 2.


Barrens - ...will no longer be the Barrens. Roughly before the end of the Moon Campaign, it is shown that Nello figures out how to grow plants in the Barrens. The ending FMV shows his work being noticed by the royal family of Tiberoa, so it makes sense that after this Nello gains the funding to make his dream come true of turning the Barrens into a green landscape. If you pay attention and visit Princess Lisa's room in the Twin Castle, you will know that Lisa is in love with Nello and she becomes extremely happy at Nello's successful botanist ventures. There is no way for Nello to NOT receive funding after the Moon Campaign.

Nello meeting Princess Lisa and King Zior during the ending fmv


Kazas - When Disc 1 ends, the Great Commander of the Sandorian Army becomes appointed as the Mayor of Kazas. That's this guy from the New Game FMV, who is revealed during the game to be quite a decent fellow. The research into magic, seen inside the Black Castle, continues for the rest of the game and the Mayor has a magical clinic built in the underground fortress. The scientists hope at the end to get cooperation from Winglies, the race who naturally wields magic, to learn more about magic and find ways for it to help make life better for everyone.

Ergo, it is obvious that Kazas will after a hundred years have developed into one of the most magic-filled human cities in the world. It will also be a place where Humans and Winglies live together. While Kazas will be a good example of the two races co-existing despite ancient tensions there will still be plenty of racism going on from both sides.

I imagine that the first offspring from Humans and Winglies interbreeding will have reached an adult age by the timeline of TLoD 2. That is, if the two can interbreed at all. I like to think that they can and that the resulting offspring are "magical humans" who don't have wings. The racial theme would then be amplified by these cross-breeds being given the derogatory term "Wingless" by haters.

 

[Shademp]

My sequel to The Legend of Dragoon: Post #2

The Decline of Magic

The Legend of Dragoon, as far as the English script goes, keeps it ambiguous as to why magic is decreasing in the world. The Winglies are well aware of this occurring, and it is in fact in an attempt to rejuvinate the world (and thusly magic) that Lloyd goes on his mission to retrieve the Divine Moon Objects, under the order of Emperor Diaz (who is in fact Zieg in disguise who is in fact being controlled by the spirit of Melbu Frahma ).

The decline of magic means that Winglies are having a hard time using their wings for flight and their magic spells are weakening. Not only the Winglies themselves, but their teleportation technology is also weakening. The robots of the Law City of Zenebatos will not even recognize Meru as a wingly, due to her magical affinity being registered as too low!

In the timeline of TLoD 2 (let's give it the placeholder subtitle "The Magic Campaign") the decline of magic is creating tension and panic everywhere. The "Wingless" offspring of Humans and Winglies are considered an even greater crime because of the direct dilution of magic that this exemplifies. During the Moon Campaign, Kazas began its experiments in magic by drawing magic from the corpse of a dragon. I imagine thusly that magic is a finite resource, and that there are only so many dead dragons and magical objects you can draw magic from before it runs out. The resource of Magic running out can easily be written as a reason for wars starting between nations, during and/or before the start of TLoD: The Magic Campaign.

The people of the world face many scary questions. Will magic completely run out? Can Winglies survive in a world without magic or will they fall down dead? Is there a way to restore magic to the world? Is this the punishment of Soa, after the Dragoons of the Moon Campaign denied his plan to have the world destroyed? This boiling pot is excellent for writing the emergence of religious fanatics, racial "puritans" and warring factions.

The Wingly city of Ulara in the original game is a place where the magic is strong and Winglies are essentially immortal, many (if not all) having lived there since the Dragon Campaign 11000 years prior. This is in great contrast to the Forest of Winglies, where the oldest Wingly is roughly 600 years old. Whether before The Magic Campaign or during it, the secret of Ulara's existence will have spread to both Humans and Winglies who desire the fruit of immortality, even if they have to kill to get to it. The end result of course will be the city of Ulara losing its magic even faster, leading to the death of many of the oldest Winglies such as Charle Frahma (the sister of Melbu Frahma).

 

[Shademp]

Unused battle move freshly unlocked by Zychronix! The "Explosion" spell by Zieg Feld.

What an exciting time for TLoD fans!

EDIT: You may also want to check out his recent video showing unused/beta items and some other stuff!

 

[Shademp]

The Japanese Official TLoD Guidebook has now been added to my collection, as well as a PocketStation! I am taking a break now from TLoD but I am convinced that I will return to it eventually.

The guidebook is neat. A few of the artwork pieces in there can't be found even on the Dragoon wiki, which is a nice reward. The field maps looks way more vibrant and colorful in the guide book and I reckon that's what they looked like before their quality was downgraded for the PlayStation file formats. I'm wondering what secrets lay buried in the Keywords section of the guidebook... What esoteric lore is hidden from English players, akin to how content is hidden from non-Japanese FFVII fans?


I haven't decided if I'm going to get a PS1 console, either a Japanese or a region-free one, to get the legitimate experience of what it is like to play the PocketStation along with TLoD. Sooner or later I will try to figure out how to rip a Kernel from the PocketStation and see if there is a way for me to emulate the PocketStation minigame, in conjunction with my eventual playthrough of the Japanese game on an emulator. Looking forward to that research when I get to it. I'd much prefer to play the Japanese version WITH the PocketStation rather than without.

Spoiler: Giggle-worthy US vs PAL script difference in Ulara

US

PALE

 

[Shademp]

I hope I can acquire this disc someday. Legend of Dragoon material from 10:39 - 21:29.

10:50 - Playable Demo
13:50 - Image Clip Video
15:47 - Battle Scene Video
17:42 - Developer Interview
20:27 - Gallery

The developer interview ends abruptly. I don't know if there is more to the interview and the user just ended it abruptly or if that's where it actually ends.

 

[Shademp]

A commercial for TLoD was included in this new upload by Orion_.

Go to 20:32 for the commercial. It's short but amusing.

 

[Shademp]

theflyingzamboni has uploaded an almost complete text-mod for disc 1 of TLoD. Not a retranslation so much as fixing grammatical errors and awkward syntax.

Looking at the hacking/modding scene for TLoD I became curious about the game's various tables. While I could have asked theflyingzamboni for his documentation...I went ahead and discovered the values for the English symbol table myself. XD Just wanted to prove that I've learned something from past experiences with game text encoding and indeed I have.


TLoD North American symbol table

Each symbol is a 2-byte value. Written here in little endian. Note that I have only confirmed these values for field text and not for menus or battles.

  = 00 00 (Empty space)
, = 01 00
. = 02 00
· = 03 00
: = 04 00
? = 05 00
! = 06 00
_ = 07 00
/ = 08 00
' = 09 00
" = 0A 00
( = 0B 00
) = 0C 00
- = 0D 00
× = 0E 00 {Cross button}
% = 0F 00
& = 10 00
* = 11 00
ο = 12 00 {Circle button}
□ = 13 00 {Square button}
∆ = 14 00 {Triangle button}
0 = 15 00
1 = 16 00
2 = 17 00
3 = 18 00
4 = 19 00
5 = 1A 00
6 = 1B 00
7 = 1C 00
8 = 1D 00
9 = 1E 00
A = 1F 00
B = 20 00
C = 21 00
D = 22 00
E = 23 00
F = 24 00
G = 25 00
H = 26 00
I = 27 00
J = 28 00
K = 29 00
L = 2A 00
M = 2B 00
N = 2C 00
O = 2D 00
P = 2E 00
Q = 2F 00
R = 30 00
S = 31 00
T = 32 00
U = 33 00
V = 34 00
W = 35 00
X = 36 00
Y = 37 00
Z = 38 00
a = 39 00
b = 3A 00
c = 3B 00
d = 3C 00
e = 3D 00
f = 3E 00
g = 3F 00
h = 40 00
i = 41 00
j = 42 00
k = 43 00
l = 44 00
m = 45 00
n = 46 00
o = 47 00
p = 48 00
q = 49 00
r = 4A 00
s = 4B 00
t = 4C 00
u = 4D 00
v = 4E 00
w = 4F 00
x = 50 00
y = 51 00
z = 52 00
[ = 53 00
] = 54 00

The following 2-byte values are used to denote changes in color text, newline etc.

Text colors:
00 A7 - White (default)
01 A7 - Dark green
02 A7 - Light green
03 A7 - Light blue
04 A7 - Dark brown
05 A7 - Red
06 A7 - Light brown
07 A7 - Lighter brown
08 A7 - Yellow
09 A7 - Black
0A A7 - Grey
0B A7 - Purple

Text print:
FF A0 - End of text entry
FF A1 - Newline
FF A2 - Text printing pause, button press to resume text printing on the same text page
FF A3 - Text printing pause, button press to resume text printing on the NEXT text page


00 A5 - Marks beginning of new text entry, though its exact usage is a bit unclear to me still


EDIT: Writing an extremely primitive program for extracting the game text I was able to find one piece of unused text.

In the "hero battle" round against Lloyd, we find this string:

0Spectrum Sword!

Clearly the name for one of Lloyd's flashy superhuman attacks, though no attack name is ever displayed in-game.

 

[Shademp]

I have acquired the "Plus Playstation Club Demo CD - Vol. 2" discs!

Disc PCPX 96186 is the one with The Legend of Dragoon content and disc PCPX 96187 (the "What's Next?" disc) loops promotional videos primarily about the PlayStation 2. The discs are intended for use on the PS1 so simply go ahead and boot these up on your PS1 emulator of choice.

Download links:
- PCPX 96186 (384MB zip file)
- PCPX 96187 (264 MB zip file)

Thanks to finally owning the discs I was able to confirm that the interview video for The Legend of Dragoon goes on for almost five minutes beyond what Orion_ showed in their video!