Squaresoft was, without a doubt, the master of RPGs until at least the PlayStation 2. It became famous with its flagship series, Final Fantasy, but also with “unusual” offshoots like Final Fantasy Tactics and Front Mission. However not all of them lived up to the company’s reputation, and Final Fantasy Legend for the Game Boy is one of them.

Graphics: 7/10

This game is one of the few I played on the port (with Tetris, and maybe the first Mario Land), so my expectations for graphics were not very high. This is why I was actually pleasantly surprised. They are actually nice for a black-and-white console and are comparable to games like Final Fantasy I and II for the NES.

Inside cities, you can see grass and stone tiles on the road, city folks come in various shapes and forms (be it human, mutant or monster) and no two cities are alike. Where you can exit the city is pretty clear (a rough stone patch), even though it sometimes pops out of nowhere for some reason. Also, some cities do feature an armory and a “resurrection” shop, although you sometimes have to dig a little to find them.

In contrast, I found the overworld maps to be underwhelming. The first one did feature mountains and forests, and even flowing water, but the solid ground is otherwise perfectly white. THAT would have been a great place to put grass; nevertheless some places do have grass, and even dark places. Other overworld maps were done better, ranging from an archipelago of islands to a cloud kingdom to a Mad Max-like environment with post-modern, apocalyptic scenery with abandoned railways and ruined cities. However the cloud kingdom could have used a few more clouds; you feel like you are not moving until you reach the edge of the map. The water world had a few more islands to guide you, in contrast.

Dungeons were also quite diverse in their forms and shapes. The walls, especially in the main tower whose top you must reach, can be made of stone, wood or other materials. Some floors will even have spikes, to walk carefully around them. Others will have invisible (you really can’t see them) “conveyor belts” moving one way, but all of them will have monsters you can see, which is convenient for level grinding.

Speaking of monsters, the battles were a little disappointing. Probably because of the system’s limited capabilities, there is no diversity in the monsters’ shapes and it looks quite silly. “Sharks” look just like regular fish, zombies always wear their beret and all reptiles (even dinosaurs, but fortunately not dragons) look like lizards. And everything happens against a white background. The only thing worth talking about are the spells, which look realistic enough (especially flare and the nuke bomb), and the weapons, which were realistic-ish too.

Music: 7/10

Once again, I didn’t have many expectations for the music, so once again I was pleasantly surprised to listen to it.

I don’t know if it’s because I emulated the game on a computer, but the sound was very clear, at par with NES music from the time. The main overworld theme, despite some annoying high-pitch sounds, does have the required epicness of such theme. Dungeon themes range from low-tone, slow tunes imbued with mystery to upbeat, highly synthesized tracks that match the (usually) high-tech environment. The main tower has a good epic feeling to it, showing that its ascension will take you a while and that you will encounter many dangers. However there were inconsistencies; you can sometimes hear the overworld theme inside castles or cities. They should have had either a dungeon music or their own track.

Sound effects, on the other hand, are nothing to talk about. Except for the (very) rare fanfares you hear from getting key objects, you don’t hear many sounds around. Those you do hear inside battles are generic bleeps and boops. You don’t even hear the damage you receive on spiked floors; hell Dragon Warrior, the first console RPG, was able to do it 4 years before. Come on!

Addictiveness: 2/10

I have to be honest; I was not looking forward to play that game once I got to understand its basics.

Because unless you know that humans need potions to increase their statistics, you will waste so much time trying to (unsuccessfully) raise their stats. But even once you understand that principle, trying to get money to buy all these potions is a hassle (more on that in the difficulty section).

In addition, the story (more on that below) has, to quote a French saying, no head nor tails – i.e. there is no logical thread uniting it. You go from a grassland world, to an archipelago, to a kingdom in the sky to a post-apocalyptic world where you must get plutonium to defeat a monster’s magical barrier. Even Final Fantasy I had a more solid plot.

Furthermore, the lack of diversity in the monster graphics decreased my interest too. I know it’s a Game Boy and that it’s in black and white. Nevertheless, the designers could have at least changed a detail or two on the monsters to show that they are different.

Story: 2/10

Even if they had one-dimensional characters whose quest is just granted upon them, FF 1 and DW had at least some kind of story. FF L just seems to be a collage of many stories done clumsily.

You start the game by choosing a character without a story or personality. After naming it (or not), you start your journey in a village where you should definitely recruit three more characters without a story or a personality. You then try to ascend the tower to Heaven but it’s blocked off by magic. So you must gather three key objects, dress up a statue and then obtain a sphere that will unseal the door. Wash, rinse and repeat (get a sphere to continue your ascension) every 5 floors of the tower or so.

This weak story kind of reminds me of Final Fantasy III; you sometimes encounter important characters like Elia, but you know nothing about them other than that they are just there to help you on your quest. World are also completely sealed off from each other; you would swear that it’s a theme park where actors can’t break off character.

Depth: 6/10

Despite the randomness of the story, it’s at least not straightforward. Your goal is to reach the top of the tower, but you won’t be able to do it in one shot.

As I said you first have to go through a few trials in order to get the sphere that will unlock the next couple of floors from the tower in order to keep ascending it. It might just be me but its gets more complicated and you go up; already in the “water world” there are many dead-ends in the main cave before you can reach your floating island to move around. In the Sky World getting the glider isn’t everything; finding what you need will take a while. Ditto for the Mad Max world; even your motorcycle will not guarantee you 1) safety from monsters and 2) omnipotent sight to find a hidden base.

Also, even after you ascend the tower for the first time, you will fall back to the grass world once more and then ascend it again, this time to truly go to heaven. That feature saved the game from complete boredom.

Difficulty: 6/10

Like so many early RPGs, FF L has an insane difficulty level.

First, as I said above, humans can’t level up through battles; you need to get them strength, agility and hit point potions. And the latter ones are truly a pain; they come in hp 200, 400 and 600 formats, all costing more and more. In other words, the first set of potions can only increase your hit point up to 200, after which you only gain one point after you drink it.

Mutants are slightly easier to level up; in a FF II fashion whatever way they fight will increase that stats (mana, strength, speed), but at least others will not decrease – so using only magic will not decrease strength. However these stats increase seem to be rather random and you don’t have any control over them. In addition mutants always have four (out of eight) slots reserved for their mutant skills, which also (seemingly) change at random. So in one battle you could be able to cast fire and heal, whereas in the other one you would have three mirror skills.

I haven’t tried moving around with monsters, but I heard that the only way they can grow up is with the “meat” of monsters you randomly get at the end of a battle.

Second, your inventory for objects is limited to eight measly objects, and most of them come in single units like revive (and they only revive to ONE hp). Your planning has to be impeccable if you are to survive in this difficult world. All characters also only have eight slots, be it for weapons, armors or spells. And shields don’t defend you directly; rather you “use” them in battles in order to parry a hit, which decreases its durability.

Speaking of which, most weapons and spells have a limited number of use. This wasn’t much of a problem to me since I was able to earn enough money to have at least 2 or 3 weapons per fighter. And after your first ascension, you can buy Arcane, which restores any object (book of spell or weapon) to its original number, which makes your life much easier. But it comes in so late in the game; your favored weapons might still not be around from lack of inventory space.

Another point that made the game easy (which is why I have it a 6): you can save anywhere. Literally: just like Final Fantasy Origins you can save anywhere, anytime without restriction.

In short, Final Fantasy Legend is not a game I can recommend. Its plot is almost non-existing, characters have zero personality, the elements from the gameplay were glued together at random and grinding your stats is both tedious and random. Square has made better games; go for those instead (including Final Fantasy I and II).