The Final Fantasy Legend

Nintendo Game Boy

Square

September 30, 1990

Don't let the name fool you, the Final Fantasy Legend game is a far stretch to be called a Final Fantasy game, and in Japan this title is part of the SaGa Frontier series lead by lead designer Akitoshi Kawazu and in more akin to the original Final Fantasy II that never saw a US release until the Final Fantasy Origins and Dawn of Souls collections on PlayStation and Game Boy Advance.

Gone is the traditional way of leveling up from most Final Fantasy games.  The way stats work in this varies upon character class that you choose. Your main character having an added stat boost from the get go.

I  used to own this game as a child and never had the insight or patience to give it a solid play through.  The one thing that stuck out the most for me was that amazing intro theme.  Especially if you had headphones plugged in, it would reverberate from one eye to the other.

My first Final Fantasy game was Final Fantasy II for the Super Nintendo, which technically was Final Fantasy IV in Japan.  I feel in love with everything about this game.  From it's gripping storyline of love, loss, and betrayal, to it's epic of soundtracks lead by Nobuo Uematsu.

So naturally when I has a chance to pick out a Game Boy game to play on my younger sister's Game Boy, this was one of the first ones I chose.

I found out the hard way, this was further away from a traditional Final Fantasy, and only as a more patient adult, I finally got to this game to the fullest.

The story is pretty simple and generic.  Explore a large centralized Tower created by none other than the "Creator."  You embark with your generic main hero and then recruit up to three more generic, name as you please, side kicks to embark on this journey with you.  Their classes range from Male and Female variants of Human and Mutant along with Monster.  The human is your average token class which can only level up it's stats by purchasing upgrades in certain shops up to certain levels.  The mutant is a class i still haven't yet fully grasped.  In my play through I picked two female Mutants and by the end of my game had vastly different stats.  Now the Monster class is interesting.  A lot of people say this class may have influenced the original Pokemon games.  Whether or not I can verify this has yet to be seen.  Enemies have a chance of dropping their meat after you defeat them, and by feeding this meat to your Monster class character you can either change to something great, or downgrade to something lousy.  I used a web gidget that helped me determine what monster I was changing too, since I didn't want to downgrade to a weaker monster.

The battle engine in this game is unique.  It's a perfect blend of the original Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest games back on the Nintendo Entertainment System.  The difficulty isn't noticeable until the final leg of the Tower on your way to face the Creator.  It took me several attempts and a whole lot of Elixirs to make my way up that final stretch.  Occasionally getting wiped out completely in the dungeon by a completely unfair encounter.

Music wise, the entirety of this sound track is composed by legendary composer Nobuo Uematsu.  It has a total of sixteen tracks that add a unique, yet familiar and enjoy soundtrack to the game.  If anything alone makes this game memorable, it is it's soundtrack.  Bravo Mr. Uematsu.


Overall if you have any way or medium to play this game, I recommend going back and giving it a solid play through.  The game is roughly about eight hours in length, meant to be enjoy on a plane or train ride during a business trip.  The 36 year old in myself enjoys this game a whole lot more than the Nine or Ten year old self ever did.

It's been a long time since I've blogged.  A lot has changed in my life.  I now currently have two children, one dog, and another cat.  After 17 years of service to Starbucks I took a chance working as an outside sales representative for a cleaning chemical and janitorial supply distributor.  And I've added a bunch of more games to my glorious collection.

I'm currently in the process of starting my own webcast/YouTube/Twitch show soon.  Kind of want to brand my own little piece of the Internet as my own.

But there's already a ton of others out there doing the same, and yes, we too shall probably fall in line with those others as well.  But for me, I love the community and culture that is nurtured by video games.

I'm based right out of small suburb of Los Angeles called Whittier in sunny southern California.  We have Anime Expos, Electronic Entertainment Expos, and Comic Cons.  There are countless video game related events in our city ranging from video game art shows to video game cover bands.  I'm going to make it my job to feature as much of this stuff to you and let you see the world of video game culture.

My passion is gaming.  The history of it. The culture of it.  My end goal would be to visit Japan, the motherland of the modern video game.  Not just visit, but creature a featured episode there.  We have a lot of ground to cover before I came make that dream come to fruition.  If anyone is out there reading this, I hope I will not let you down.

Until the next update, leave luck to heaven.

Stationery Card

Scalloped Memories Wedding Anniversary Invitation

Go with Shutterfly Christmas cards this holiday. Satisfaction guaranteed.

View the entire collection of cards.

Stationery Card

Scalloped Memories Wedding Anniversary Invitation

Team up: Design your photo Christmas cards with Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

Stationery Card

Scalloped Memories Wedding Anniversary Invitation

Send custom cards from Shutterfly for St. Patrick's Day.

View the entire collection of cards.

Stationery Card

Scalloped Memories Wedding Anniversary Invitation

Create cute birthday cards, valentines and more at Shutterfly.com.

View the entire collection of cards.

Well, it's been a long time coming since I've posted in this blog.  I have a couple minutes to steal while my sons are both preoccupied in their high chairs eating their breakfast. 

It's been a long time since I've posted.  A lot has happened, and a lot is still the same.  I leveled up my family party from a party of three to a party of four.  We have a Lv. 30 Knight, Lv. 31 White Mage, a Lv. 3 (almost 4) Ninja, and a Lv. 1 (almost 2) Berseker.  Well, maybe not the exact classes, but I think it suits the family well.  My Lv. 3 Ninja is gradually progressing in his own videogame prowess.  So much I'm worried.  Soon the pupil will surpass the master.  In short I suppose, the family is well.  I'm getting old.

Videogame-wise, I've been playing the crap out of my 3DS.  I think it's because I'm mostly at work or on the go, portable gaming is the only thing I can squeeze in on my spare minutes.  Heaven forbid I kick the Wife or boys off the Xbox 360.  So, everywhere I go, I take my 3DS or PSPgo with me.  Of the games I've completed or damn well nearly completed are Kid Icarus Uprising, Super Mario 3D Land, Starfox 64, Mario Tennis Open, and (GBA VC) Fire Emblem.  The ones I'm still playing are Kid Icarus and Mario Tennis.

I've just about owned my 3DS for a year, and I have to admit, I'm more happy with it than I thought I would be.  I love the social aspect of it.  The online play, the streetpass, and more.  I've just hit over 1,000 Mii and Streetpass tags, thanks to E3 and both Streetpass LA and Streetpass OC.  I'm somewhat satisfied with the eShop and it's releases.  The Nintendo Ambassador games are enough to keep me happy too.  I just recently upgraded to a 32 gb memory card too, so when digital releases hit, I can snag a few (I'm looking at you Animal Crossing).  It's funny too, we had a worker cover at our store and he was playing a 3DS.  I went back to my bag and pulled out my 3DS, and to my dismay, no little green light was lit.  So I began to talk to said worker, and he said he doesn't care for the social aspect of the system and just got it because he knew he'd need it eventually.  I was shocked.  That's like getting a combo meal with burgers and fries and just tossing the fries into the trash.  Oh well I guess, to each their own.

As for E3?  It was a little mixed for me.  The Nintendo 3DS was near non-existent.  The Wii U was fun and amazing.  The new Gears of War game has gotten me hyped.  I did a lot of Streetpassing as well.  Note to self, never volunteer yourself to take anyone else's 3DS with you.  I think I spent 80 percent of the show going between two 3DSs and Streetpass.

One thing I did notice at E3, there was beer everywhere.  I think on day 2 I was buzzed by noon.  Also, a lot of free food too.  More than any year I can remember.  Good times.

Also, just last month, one of my favorite video game cover bands, The Megas, released their Mega Man 3 album.  History Repeating is 10 tracks of amazing beats and jams.  It's great to see how far these guys have come along, and personally, each one of them are amazing people in their own right.  I remember hear their song You've Sparked a War back in 2008, it's amazing to see how that song has grown and mature over the years into the end product we have.  Good job guys.  Everyone who loves Mega Man and video game music should give this a listen.  I'll write a full review when I get a chance.