Part 1: Introduction and Fan Art
It has been said that the tower in the center of the World is connected to Paradise. Dreaming of a life in Paradise, many have challenged the secret of the tower, but no one knows what became of them. Now, there is another who will brave the adventure...
Let's Play The Final Fantasy Legend! 
What is it?
In 1989, there was this little grey brick of a portable system called the Gameboy. Perhaps you've heard of it? Well, no matter. Tetris had been released with it, and kids literally could not stop playing it. I think one or two of them actually died over in South Korea. This is a true fact that I just made up.
At any rate, an up-and-coming company called SquareCo had just dug themselves out of a financial hole by way of a surprise hit named "Final Fantasy." Perhaps you've heard of it as well? No? Well, anyway, it was a pretty big deal. Square had managed to get the fledgling RPG formula right in a way that only Dragon Quest had come close to. (And the original Dragon Quest sucked. There, I said it.
)Naturally, all of this was to hide the fact that Square was run by a shadowy cabal of sadists who loved nothing more than tormenting children who played their games.
Pictured: Masashi Miyamoto promoting FF7
When news came out that people were not only making it to Chaos, but actually beating him... Well, it was time to whip up something truly awful, something that would really put gamers back in their place. However, Square was also lazy, so they slapped a new name on the very first SaGa game and called it a day. Honestly, it had about the same effect.
Basic Gameplay
There's not a whole lot in the basic mechanics that will surprise anyone, but like any SaGa game, there are some quirky gotchas and surprisingly deep skillsets to learn. And, like any SaGa game, the game will give you approximately zero clue how to operate any of them. Skills will appear and disappear for no absolutely reason! Monsters in your party will suddenly turn into other monsters! WarMech will ambush you and cave in your face! As far as adventures go, this is certainly one of them.
One of the fun things about Final Fantasy Legend, though, is the setting. The world starts out medieval and slowly changes as you progess. As the backgrounds change, so do weapons and treasure. Like laser swords? Like ninjas? Like ninjas with laser swords? You've come to the right place.
Unfortunately, the designers didn't want you having too much of that "fun" thing they've heard about, so they took the liberty of limiting the amount of times you can use weapons. This is about as old school as you can get—and twice as nasty, to boot. Swing a rapier exactly 40 times, and it will shatter into a million pieces and leave you defenseless. On top of that, you better save any special, one-of-a-kind weapons for when your ass is really up a creek, because you ain't gettin' another one.
Worst of all is that robots, my all-time party favorites in the SaGa series, weren't introduced until the sequel. Oh, to have unlimited SMGs.
So why play it?
Let's get this out the way: FFL is a flawed game. When it's bad, it's real bad. The translations suck, the storyline is wobbly at times, the characters' motivations are non-existent, and if you don't manage resources properly, you can screw yourself so hard that the game cannot be completed.
With all that being said, it's also magical when it's firing on all cylinders. During the course of this LP, I could very well type the following sentence: "Our mutant delivers a jumpkick to WarMech, distracting him long enough to set off our atom bomb." And I would not be embellishing. The game is just that awesome sometimes.
Who are you?
Who are any of us, really? Do you know? How can you be sure where the world ends and "you" begin?
Oh, you mean me. Well, I'm just some jerk with a screenshot tool and a love of old school RPGs. What I'm not is the world's foremost authority on SaGa/FFL. I'm sure someone in this thread will be able to post four different tables telling me exactly why my slime just turned into a fairy, and if they can, more power to them. The only thing I request is no spoilers, not for equipment, not for characters, not for anything. If we haven't seen it yet, don't mention it! Not even in tags! I mean it!
Sadly, I won't be sending obscure '80s comic book characters out on this one. (Sorry, Arzach.) However! You, the discerning LP viewers, benefit! The chargen process is wide enough to allow you guys to pick the party!
God help me.
Character Types
Humans
A fairly hardy race that can use any weapon you find. They do not gain skills and stats as the game goes on, which is problematic. However, SaGa's humans have possibly the most hilarious way to level up in all of video games: steroids. Seriously. To boost their stats, you have to buy potions of strength and speed. It is damned expensive keeping your guys on the gas, but once the whole thing reaches the tipping point—i.e. your incoming funds exceed ongoing expenditures—the results are hilarious.
Humans are the single most expensive character to work with, but they make up for it by having the biggest upside and extra control over their stat boosts. They also have to keep a weapon or skill equipped at all times or they can't attack.
Females start with higher agility, males start with higher strength.
Mutants
Mutants should be a little more familiar to RPG players, as they actually gain abilities over time. As the game progresses, their stats will rise to meet the competition. Or maybe they won't. Honestly, the whole thing is a crapshoot.
Speaking of which, mutants will also randomly pick up abilities. These come in three flavors: skills, weaknesses, and
Yeah.
Another problem with mutants is that their abilities will take up one of the character's eight item slots, meaning they can only carry four items when fully powered up (or down, case depending). It's enough for three pieces of armor and a main weapon unless you want to put these guys on spellcasting duty. You will probably want to do that, as mutants are generally better with magic and skills.
Again, females are slightly more agile to start with, males slightly more strong, but mutants in general don't have very high strength. Must be all the toxic waste?
Monsters
Oh, monsters. You're so awesome on paper but so terrible in the game.
Monsters are definitely a unique class. To start with, they don't level up (although I swear I've had one change after a fight for no reason). Instead, after winning a fight, you will sometimes be informed that the enemy left behind meat. This is hilarious after fights with robot enemies, but that's neither here nor there.
If you so choose, you can feed that meat to a party member. Nothing will happen for humans or mutants, but monsters will change form after eating. It may be for the better or worse. There's actually rationale behind it involving type of monster eaten versus type of monster eating, but there's so many damn combinations that it may as well be a roll of the dice. In general, though, meat from stronger monsters results in stronger party members.
Monsters do not equip gear; they rely on their natural abilities for combat. Number of uses is still limited, but all their skills recharge after a stay at the inn. In a game full of breakable weapons, this seems pretty spiffy, but it's debilitating in two ways. Firstly, there's no guarantee your guy will have any attacks. He could be stuck with a cure spell that has 15 uses, two immunities, and a weakness. Secondly, they can't equip armor. Whatever their stats are, that's what they get.
With that being said, there are also two distinct advantages. First, if you don't like your guy's loadout, just keep eating until it fixes itself.
Secondly, when they DO get attacks, they're generally pretty good. Horn is frequently one of the best physical attacks, and really ridiculous skills like Dissolve are always welcome.
Decision Time!! Okay, enough
! It's time to get down to business,which means it's time for you guys to vote on the party!Here's what I need:
- Race
- Gender (where applicable)
- Name
- Personality suggestions, maybe
I will only take personality suggestions if they particularly strike my fancy. I have like 12 jokes and they all require a female party member to be the exasperated voice of reason okay
In addition, I will accept challenges/gimmicks if I think I can do them. However, I reserve the right to reject suggestions or votes if they get too ridiculous. For example, there is no way in hell I'm doing an all-monster party.
No, not that one.
Latest Updates
Party selected. Final candidates were Rezen (suggested by Senerio), Elly (Reiska), Trog (Rigged Death Trap), and an amalgamation of suggestions from Arcade Rabbit, Lord_Ventnor, and Choco1980. We'll be using Dente as the name.
Fellow FFL vet ddegenha will be providing a bonus feature! This thread was apparently inspiration for a solo human run, so that'll be posted alongside the main story.
MShadowy contributes just about the most goddamn awesome thing I've ever seen:
By way of Drakenel, we have art from the game box and manual! First we have human.jpg:
And here we have a mutant male in desperate need of some pants:
Some party ideas from inside the manual! They are all horrible in terms of gameplay so I really hope this was more a "Here's some racial examples" thing. (Don't ever play an all monster party)
Final Fantasy Legend is leaking!! Picayune reports it to me for action.
When Rezen decided to grow up and put on her Suit (armor), she left her treasure-loving ways behind. Or did she? MShadowy's not so sure.
For those of you too lazy to read the entire LP, Chokes McGee (me) is nice enough to summarize:
meteor9 finds Rezen's HP lacking and addresses her growth issues.
Rezen really pushes MShadowy's buttons! No, seriously. She pushed all of them.
PARTY AT DjinnAndTonic's HOUSE
Chensterrain wants you to kiss the cook. Except not, because he's married, and he'd probably just fall apart into a bunch of bones anyway.
Say, who's that dapper fellow? That's what ArashiKurobara wants to know.
In the beginning, there was the light. Then, there was megane. It's been downhill ever since.
Camel Pimp is done taking your shit, you hear?! DONE WITH IT!!
