Introduction

Chaos Legion is a third-person character action game from Capcom released in August of 2003. The game, upon release, was pretty much critically panned due to the game's extremely high difficulty and superficial similarities to Devil May Cry. Chaos Legion came out the same year as Devil May Cry 2, and was generally viewed as a DMC ripoff. This is not true at all! This game offers a unique strategy element that I feel sets it apart from other third-person action games. The story is based off of a series of seven novels by Tow Ubukata called, unsurprisingly, Chaos Legion. I'd be interested if anyone can find a plot summary, because the story in the game isn't exactly riveting (the translation doesn't help). As an aside, Ubukata also did Le Chevalier D'eon, which is a pretty good anime that can be viewed on Netflix Instant.

The main gimmick for Chaos Legion is the ability to summon and control a small handful of creatures called Legions that can attack for you and also offer various stat bonuses and special moves. That you can only take two such legions into any level is where the strategy comes in. By slaying monsters, you gain experience and can use that experience to grow the Legions' abilities - some are passive, some legion specific. For example, you might get an attack power bonus or you might be able to increase the number of Legionnaires you can spawn.

Also, the music in this game is fantastic and it is very hard! This was a time when Capcom thought that the Japanese versions of games were too easy for us Westerners so they decided to give all of the enemies and bosses extra life bars, increase their damage output, decrease the player's defense, remove some of the stat bonus items, and increase the experience values to level up your Legions anywhere from 2 to 5 times! For this reason, this LP will be played on Normal mode. There is a Hard mode, but the main difference is dying in one hit versus two or three (plus in hard mode you can't grind experience at all until you beat Stage 9).

Characters

Let's meet our colorful cast of characters:


Sieg Wahrheit is our fire-haired anime protagonist and is stereotypically stoic in nature. He wields a big sword and as a Knight of the Dark Glyphs, he has the ability to "sacrifice stray souls to summon unearthly force", which in this case translates to summoning monsters to fight for him. He has a history with Delacroix and is motivated to stop his murderous plans. Consider for a moment the theological implications of his ability to turn wandering souls into monsters. Honestly, he is really no better than Delacroix.


Victor Delacroix is our big sword wielding, white-haired-bishonen-but-totally-not-Sephiroth antagonist. He blames Sieg for the death of his girlfriend Siela and stole the Apocrypha of Yzarc in order to reunite the three worlds. Basically, just kill everyone so everyone is free together in the sweet embrace of death. He uses the Apocrpyha to summon hordes of monsters to fight Sieg, much like Sieg himself does.


Man with Southern Accent is awesome and has a southern accent which may or may not be intentional.


Arcia is a member of the Silver Maidens, which, as far as I can figure, is a cabal of fighting nuns in the Order of St. Overia. She has a pair of silver guns that don't ever seem to run out of ammo (as video game guns tend not to do). She fills the role of attractive female that isn't dead in the game's story. Naturally, this can only mean an awkward shoehorned romance.


Siela is very close to Delacroix. Girlfriend, I suppose, because deeper relationships don't seem to be tackled too often in anime. Or videogames in general, actually. Has there ever been husband and wife characters that weren't superfluous to the storyline? Were Fran and Balthier married in FFXII? Why does the only example I can think of have to do with a pirate and a bunny? So, in conclusion, Sieg killed Siela (or did he?) and Delacroix is mad, so...monsters. She is most often seen in flashbacks, falling to the ground bleeding to death.

Now then, let us cut fools in the face!

Videos

Part 1 - Stage 1, Prologue

New Enemies - Balors, Badhs, Zeodagdas, Jenons

Balors (Organic) are the small spider creatures that like to swarm Sieg. Their counter window is when they are leaping in the air to attack. A jumping spin attack is the best way to one shot these guys. In Irish mythology, Balor was a king of the Fomorian giants.


Badhs (Organic) are the two-headed tall fish guys. They have a few attacks - a swipe, a ground pound and a charge. Their weak point is their top head. To counter kill them, the best way is to use Guilt's Midnight Punisher (or any other assist) while they are charging at Sieg. Otherwise, jumping slash attacks will do the most damage. I think that their name is actually pronounced Bov (rhymes with mauve). In Irish mythology, Badh was one of the group of three war goddesses called the Morrigna, along with Macha and Morrigan.


Zeodagdas (Organic) are the bladed green bipeds. They have a two-hit combo they use when rushing Sieg and also rear back to do a jump attack occassionally. Their counter window is while they are swinging with their two-hit combo. In Irish mythology, Dagda was a deity along with his brother Ogma.


Jenons (Organic) will be around for the rest of the game. They are the game's monster generators and as such are completely immobile and have no attacks. They can take a crapton of damage, though. Their weak point is the rod that sticks up out of their heads. When they have depleted their respawns for the enemies around them, they will slump over. At this point they take a lot more damage than usual. If they are killed before their respawns are depleted, all the enemies they spawned will instantly vanish into phantom life which Sieg can absorb. This is the only way to regain health (well, almost the only way) outside of spending items (which reduces the end of stage rankings).

Boss - Lots of Badhs (7)

New Legion - Guilt

The Guilt Legion is the organic slaying powerhouse of the early game. They have the ability to tear through Ogmas and Balors like butter. Their assist attack, Midnight Punisher, gives Sieg an invincible dash attack which is very useful for avoiding enemy attacks. Their enchant (passive bonuses) provides very useful bonuses to attack power, Sieg's standard sword combo and also a few new moves like the powerful Ground Zero.

Part 2 - Stage 2, The Streets of Dyfan, the Twilight City

New Enemies - Ogmas

Ogmas are the dogs that have Samus' morph ball ability. They have three main attacks; a close swipe, the aforementioned rolling ball of death, and also will sometimes leap into Sieg like the Balors do. The window to counter kill them is while they are rolling. The best way to kill them is to do a jumping slash after they unleash the ball attack in order to catch them in mid-air. With Guilt's attack bonus, this results in a one-hit kill. In Irish mythology, Ogma was a deity along with his brother Dagda.

Boss - Lognagaiser

Lognagaiser is a huge, armored, quadruped with a long sword (more of a lance really). The lance is his weak point. The best strategy is to let your Guilt legions poke at him until he slumps over and then get one solid six-hit combo in. His lance sweeps wide, so stay away when he's not stunned. He will also summon floating mines (which can be outrun) and some Zeodagdas to back him up when his health is low.

New Legion - Malice

The Malice Legion is one of the best in the game and will be with us for a very long time. Their utility is their range, they have the ability to snipe enemies from afar. They are also super effective at destroying metallic enemies (which will appear in Stage 3). By holding down triangle, Sieg can enter sniping mode, where you can control the firing direction on all of the Legions - very useful. Their assist I've never found much use for, but it launches enemies into the air. Their enchant abilities improve Sieg's Lock-on move (by increasing distance and adding extra electrical damage to it).

Part 3 - Stage 3, The Central Block of Dyfan

New Enemies - Barmo

Metal Cannons (Metallic), or Barmos as they are apparently named in the strategy guide, are immobile towers that shoot lasers straight forward from their fronts. They take little to no damage from Sieg's sword attack and can only be damage effectively with Malice and other legions that specialize in metallic damage.

Boss - Verge Zagan

Verge Zagan is the boss for the first part of the city of Dyfan. He is a blind quadruped that likes to charge at Sieg. His other attacks just involve a close-range tail lash and two different stomps that send out shockwaves. The worst part of the fight are the Ogmas everywhere. After taking off one and a half life bars, though, the Ogmas disappear. Demon King Zagan is one of the infernal host that can be invoked through the Ars Goetia in the Lesser Key of Solomon. He is described as a bull-headed man with griffin wings that can, among other novelties, turn metals into coins made out of said metals.

New Legion - Blasphemy

The Blasphemy Legion is the best in the game by far. I'd rank it higher than Thanatos, just because you get Blasphemy early enough that its abilities will actually help you get through the game proper, not just the end levels. The Blasphemy assist attack, Crimson Carnage, is an area-of-effect long distance bomb that has an almost 100% guaranteed knock back effect. Also, Sieg is invincible during the startup animation (when the screen is dark) and the attack is effective against Organic, Metallic and Untyped enemies - so...everything!

Part 4 - Stage 4, The Ruins of Murdoa

New Enemies - Grannue, Archanus

Spiked Balls, called Grannues (Untyped), aren't metallic like they appear, but are actually untyped enemies that are only vulnerable to a few attacks. Blasphemy is the only thing that is effective initially, but Sieg's Ground Zero and Breakdown attacks can also do damage, though not safely as even touching these things causes damage. They do give off a lot of experience, so they are a great tool for building up Blasphemy's level.


The Archanus (Metallic) are very quick, metal...uh...spikey things. They tend to swarm around but are unfocused most of the time. Being metal, they are absolutely torn apart by Malice.

Boss - 3 waves of Zagans (1 in the first, 2 in the second, 3 and Ogmas in the third)
So many Zagans...

New Legion - Arrogance

The Arrogance Legion is a very, very situational legion that I personally don't like to use. It is a shield and its abilities all revolve around taking damage - something that is to be avoided most of the time. By putting the Arrogance legion in defensive mode, they will distract and block enemies, though, and this is their greatest use. By commanding them to attack, they will shoot out all of the damage they've taken as a laser beam from their front, which is pretty cool.

Part 5 - Stage 5, The Murdoa Core

New Enemies - Rudo Garias, Galarges, Rogue Ogma (Ogma Reskin)


Rudo Garias are fat, mole-like enemies that wield a large spiked shield. They pretty much stay put where they spawn and only have a few highly damaging attacks. With their shields, they do a wide double swing when Sieg gets close. In between the two swings is actually the Rudo Garia's counter window, but when you first encounter them it is easier to use Blasphemy to destroy their shields in one hit. After their shield is gone, they will perform a Zangief style spinning lariat or dash forward. Both attacks have a long wind up, so make sure to get out of the way!


The Galarges (Organic) are the bird enemies found in the game. They can be one-shotted with a spinning jump attack and release phantom life upon death rather than phantom soul. That's about it, they aren't very threatening, although Sieg can be juggled by their pecking attack.

The Rogue Ogma (Organic) is a reddish reskin of the Ogma and has picked up the ability to breathe fire. As the levels get harder, these tougher versions will eventually replace the regular ones.

Boss - Gil Maponos

Gil Maponos is a pain to fight and another point where a lot of players throw in the towel. Luckily, I was able to kill this guy on the first (but lengthy) attempt. Equipping Guilt and Malice is the ideal combo at this point, but I greedily want Blasphemy experience so the fight is somewhat lengthened. The basic tips for surviving are stay to the sides to avoid the shockwave attack, and stay close to avoid the laser cannons. Once Gil Maponos is down to one life bar, the laser cannons will change their attack pattern. It is now important to use Malice to blow up all the cannons before attacking Gil Maponos directly.

New Legion - Flawed

Yay, we have the Flawed legion! It has the most essential Enchant abilities in the game. The main theme of the Flawed legion is mobility. It gives Sieg lots of acrobatic moves including the invaluable Double Raid (double jump). The Assist throws a mine in the ground which enemies can step on, and the summoned legions' attack is a downward drill. These guys are pretty weak and squishy at first, though, which makes using them in Stage 6 (like I do) quite a hassle.

Part 6 - Stage 6, Lakeside
Part 6 BONUS - Stage 6 done quick with Blasphemy and Malice

New Enemies - Egan (Metal Cannon Bombers), Danus

The Metal Cannon Bombers, called Egans (Metallic), are quite annoying versions of the regular Metal Cannons. As their name implies, they lob grenades which cause a lot of damage and knock Sieg off his feet. If you miss te quick recovery after falling, there is the potential to get bombed again while on the ground - this is not ideal!


The invisible Danu (Untyped) is not only a new enemy type, but the boss for this level. In actuality, the Danu is a type of monster in itself and there will be invisible versions of the Balors that show up later as well. In any case, they are immune to sword slashes and can only be damaged with legion attacks. Attacking with Sieg's sword does restore Soul, though, so in a pinch you can get a few combos in to refill some mana before summoning Malice or Blasphemy to finish them off.

Boss - Danu x3

New Legion - Hatred


The Hatred legion's focus is health and knock back attacks. This makes them surprisingly useful, and as I experimented with them for the next level, I realized they are definitely one of the more awesome legions in the game. The reason for this high praise is both their Enchant and Assist abilities. Their Enchant ability is called Breakdown and has Sieg violently tackle everything in front of him, knocking everything to the ground (this is very useful for counter kills and crowd control that doesn't use up any soul). Hatred's assist is a counter attack called Bad Karma. If an enemy attacks during the counter window, the Hatred legion comes out and Suplexes the enemy. There are actually a lot of different unique animations that the Hatred's Bad Karma has and we'll see some more of them in stage 7 and 8.

Part 7 - Stage 7, Misty Ravine

New Enemies - Guidodagdas, Zomdagdas, Zamu Grannues


Guidodagdas (Organic) are the burlier versions of the Zeodagdas and despite having more health are quite harmless. I don't even remember a time I've ever been hit by them. I don't even know how they attack or when their counter windows are. For all I know, they are all pacifists by heart are want nothing more than to go home. And yes, they are actually called that.


Zomdagdas (Organic) are the Zeodagdas that are equipped with harpoon guns...that shoot lasers. Well, ok. They are annoying because of their tendency to hit Sieg from off-screen, but other than this they have little defenses when engaged up close.


Zamu Grannues (Untyped) are the walking versions of the Spiked Balls. These guys are the adorable spiky roombas of Delacroix's army. Because they are Untyped, they can only be hit by Flawed, Blasphemy and special moves like Breakdown and Ground Zero.

Boss - Volvor

Volvor is a huge version of the floating Jenons that is out for revenge. It doesn't have too many attacks though and is quite a lot easier than the horrible plant monster from stage 5. All it can do is send out a shock wave and, after its armor is sufficiently destroyed, shoot a series of eight lasers out its central yellow eye. Malice works best here with Blasphemy a close second.

New Item - Spiritual Gem

Our reward for fighting off Volvor is not a new legion, but the shiny trinket pictured above. Although it resembles a Thanatos piece, it is actually a Spiritual Gem which will unlock the hidden potential for one of the Legions Sieg has. It allows the Legion to learn level 4 force, assist, and enchants as well as levels 9 and 10 attack and defense. These higher levels take a crap ton of experience to get, though that won't stop us!

Part 8 - Stage 8, Kuzca, The Grand Cave
Part 8 BONUS - David plays Stage 8 with Malice and Blasphemy

New Enemies - ZUOM CLOARTH!

IT'S ZUOM CLOARTH! THESE GUYS TAKE ONE HIT FROM ANYTHING TO DIE AND DO LITTLE DAMAGE TO SIEG! ZUOM CLOARTH!

Boss - Gil Balor

Gil Balor is a pain with anything other than Malice and a hilarious joke with Malice. So, of course, I'm showing a non-Malice strategy the first time through Stage 8. Gil Balor only has two real attacks, the first is a series of four green lasers which can be evaded by moving in a single direction (right or left). The second is a stab with one its claws - very damaging! Hatred's Bad Karma assist can take out one of the claws this way. Gil Balor will also occasionally start somersaulting down his hallway, but it is very easy to see coming and avoid.

Reward - Spiritual Gem

Part 9 - Stage 9, The Forest

New Enemies - N/A

Boss - Maponos

Maponos is back! This time he's even easier as all you really have to do is hammer on the circle button to use all of Arcia's Special Bullets, but if that's not your style his attacks can be dodged easily. Firstly, the horizontal lasers can be safely dodged by laying down - same with the waves of Zeodagdas. The only dangers to a lazy protagonist here are the vine whips and the floating mines. The whips can be avoided by side-dodging or rolling, and the mines can be shot down with bullets. Other than that, just shoot the stupid thing in its face and you're done!

New Item - Map Selector

Now that we have a Map Selector, we can visit previous levels and, if need be, grind for experience and stat boosting items. This will be invaluable in the following two levels where the difficulty takes another sharp turn towards frustration land.

Part 10 - Stage 10, The Aerial Cloister of Yzarc

New Enemies - Pones, Pone Leaders, Lukes, Sadariars and Goliaths

Pones (Organic) are the basic zombie soldiers that populate the city of Yzarc. They attack with either a sword slash or a shoulder charge that resembles Hatred's Breakdown move. They have improved coordination and attack power when a Leader is around.


Pone Leaders (Organic) lead the Pone troops into battle by issuing attack orders. As long as these guys are alive the Pones will be much more effective in battle.


Lukes (Organic) are the zombie axmen. They are a much bigger threat than the Pones due to their immense attack power and wide arcs of attack. Consequently, the Lukes are one of the very few enemies that can attack Arcia when she's on the ground.


Sadariars (Organic) are the highly annoying zombie gunners. Their counter window is while they are trying to fire, and two or three sword strikes will kill them outright but they have a tendency to shoot Sieg when he's not looking.


The Goliaths (Metal) are large metal golems that can take a lot of punishment. They have a basic punch move as well as an AoE arm swipe that is always followed up by a dashing attack.

Boss - Gil Volvor

Gil Volvor is the same as regular Volvor. The only difference in this fight is that there are a constant supply of 4 Pones rather than Zeodagdas in the arena.

Part 11 - Stage 11, The Core of Yzarc

New Enemies - Verge Sadariars, Zagans

The Verge Sadariars are just slightly greener Sadariars with a large energy bullet that stuns Sieg. Their counter window is quite large due to the wind up on their mega buster.

The Zagan used to be a boss and is now just a regular target. He is fought the same way as before.

Boss - Victor Delacroix

Victor Delacroix is a huge pushover. He has a few ridiculously overpowered attacks that are nonetheless easy to dodge with a little practice. His attack pattern is as follows:

1)Hover to middle and use shock wave
2)Do a four slash sword combo
3)Repeat 1 and 2 at the spot the last combo ended
4)Summon zombie hands and phantom swords in the middle of the arena

Then, when he is on his last two health bars he will randomly add in two additional attacks:

1) He will create four lasers that start in the corners of the arena
2) He will summon a small regiment of Pone zombies to fight you

That's pretty much it. Just headbutt and atomic soccer punt your way to victory, LEGIONATOR!

Part 12 - Stage 12, The Fall of the Sacred Capital

Boss - Rudo Lognagaiser

Unlike the other refights, Rudo Lognagaiser actually picks up a few significant upgrades, namely his shield. It can be blown up with two Crimson Carnage blasts, but that's largely useless for two reasons. Firstly, he'll reform it almost immediately and secondly, his shield toss attack is when he's most vulnerable. Aside from Lognagaiser's regular attack patterns which include jumping around, summoning enemies and swinging his sword either horizontally or vertically, Rudo can throw his shield and summon a ton of little floating bombs (much like Gil Maponos). Enough downward swipes will knock him over at which point even more downward slashes will finish him off quickly.

Part 13 - Another World - Stages 2B, 3B, 4B and 5B

Part 14 - Another World - Stages 6B, 7B and 8B

Part 15 - Another World - Stages 9B, 10B and 12B

Part 16 - Another World - Stage 11B and Thanatos Pieces

New Item - Experience Gem XL

The XL experience gems are one of the two one-time rewards for completing the stages again (some of the stages will get you the remaining Spiritual Gems). Each one of these rare gems can give a legion 5,000,000 experience! That's a lot!

Part 17 - Stage 13, St. Claire's Cathedral with Thanatos

New Legion (!) - Thanatos' Baby, Juvenile and Adult Forms

Baby Thanatos is adorable, squishy and mostly useless - which is why we use him some in Stage 13. The little floating egg tends to die quick even though he still has Thanatos' trademark teleportation ability. If you are playing the game yourself, I'd recommend using your XL experience gems to move past this evolution entirely.


Juvenile Thanatos is a deadly 'S'. Just look at him! He'd be perfect in an episode of Sesame Street. Gameplay wise he is much better than the egg, but much less impressive than the adult form so I'd again recommend using those juicy XL gems to skip this evolution.


Adult Thanatos is the form that Sieg had during the Prologue, and finally has once more. This fashionable (look at the gaudy gold bracelets!) floating shark messiah is a lot of fun to play with and an almost unstoppable killing machine. He is, by far, the strongest and most versatile Legion in the game (except Blasphemy, my personal favorite). The only drawbacks are, of course, the fact that you can only get him at the end of the game and it takes a lot of experience to level up properly.

Boss - Three Goliaths and a small collection of Danus (Fiery Ogmas and Bombers)

Part 18 - Experience Grinding in Stage 7
This is a quick guide on how to quickly accrue experience.

Part 19 - Bizarre Secrets and Stat Items
This is a guide on getting the hidden stat increasing items.

Part 20 - The Final Stage, Ending, and Bonus Features

New Legion - Perfect Thanatos

Perfect Thanatos is the final angelic form of the Ultimate Legion. He now attacks by covering himself in his wings and drilling through enemies from four directions. It takes a ton of time to get him to this point, what with all of the experience needed to mature him and improve his attack and defense. All things considered, it's not worth it. The final bosses are not very difficult and as the final video demonstrates, a fully maxed out Perfect Thanatos can still die almost instantly if caught in Azrail's laser attack. Ho hum. Personally, I would've liked to see this form of Thanatos actually become invincible.

Boss - Victor Delacroix

The Delacroix fight is the same as before, just made more trivial by Sieg's maxed stats. The picture above is a pretty good metaphor for this fight.

Final Boss - Azrail

It wouldn't be a videogame without an awesome, huge and mostly immobile final boss monster, now would it? Azrail fills this gap nicely. It only has a few attacks, though. It will summon 8 homing missiles that will fly towards Sieg, make a wide turn and then fly towards him a second time. Jumping is a pretty good defense here. Azrail's only other real attack are the four lasers he shoots out. They always follow the same paths, one of the left, one of the right, one on the left but a different angle and a final one from the right at a different angle. Jumping's pretty good here, too.

True Final Boss - Siela

Who would have thought she'd show up again? Oh, everyone. Ok. Siela is the true final boss of the game and has a vast number of truly devastating attacks, but she still has a pattern. First, she's not actually vulnerable as long as her black wings are up so don't bother hitting her. The first attack has her summoning a wave of Goliaths and Sadariars into the arena. It would behoove you to kill them quickly. I'd suggest Ignorant Masses to clean up the Sadariars and then Crimson Carnage for the Goliaths, but to each his own. Her second attack has her hanging out in the middle of the arena and summoning three Danus (either bombers or fiery Ogmas). This is one of her very large counter windows and a few good Breakdowns here will destroy at least one of her many life bars. Be quick, though, the very next thing she does is a highly damaging laser attack that can be avoided by running around her counter-clockwise.

After the laser attack, she will appear across the arena and dash at you. Don't get hit by this, it hurts a lot. When she runs into the edge she will sit there for a few seconds. This is the main window to do damage. You can easily take two or more life bars with some well timed Breakdowns. After that, her pattern will repeat and she'll summon more waves of enemies. Eventually, she will only summon 4 Goliaths everytime. She has another attack at low health that didn't end up in the video wherein she tries to ensnare you in a black energy whip. This can be avoided by moving away in a single direction as the whip will track you for a second but has a limited range.

And with that, Chaos Legion is complete, enjoy the ending and the bonus features, Legionators!