Charts Genres Community
Charts Genres Community Settings
Login

The Final Fantasy Legend

魔界塔士 Sa・Ga

Developer / Publisher: Square
15 December 1989
The Final Fantasy Legend [魔界塔士 Sa・Ga] - cover art
Glitchwave rating
2.80 / 5.0
0.5
5.0
 
 
57 Ratings / 2 Reviews
#4,705 All-time
#40 for 1989
Rate / catalog Rate / catalog another release
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
Releases 4
1989 Square  
Cartridge
JP
1990 Square  
Cartridge
XNA 0 94689 20101 8 DMG-SA-USA
1998 Square Sunsoft  
Cartridge
XNA 0 20763 12005 0 DMG-SA-USA-1
Show all 4 releases
2002 Square  
Cartridge
JP
Write review
Title
A whirlwind of confusing nonsense tied together by a genuinely pretty cool setting. The core idea of Final Fantasy Legend (or SaGa, if you prefer) is that entirely different eras of mankind co-exist, separated by floors in this giant spire in the center of the world. The higher you go, the farther along the timeline you travel, and at the absolute zenith lies paradise. That kind of imagery ties helps paint a picture of your mission more than just about any actual dialogue in the game will.

Most NPCs have two lines of dialogue for you at the max, and text boxes open as a glitchy mess with the start menu bleeding through. The presentation is not only simple but usually ugly, and the game doesn't bother to render multiple troops of the same monster. If you're fighting five skeletons, you will see one skeleton on screen with a number "5" in the corner. So it looks bad, sounds fairly average, and it's severely limited by the hardware. Does it at least play well? Honestly, that's up to interpretation. The balancing of the economic system is awful, as inns charge 1 GP per HP they replenish, but a 3-pack of potions that heal ~40 health costs 50 GP. Almost nothing in this game is nice to you, especially the encounter rate, which lead dev Akitoshi Kawazu cranked UP compared to the mainline FF series.

The combat and leveling system is all sorts of fucked too, but I guarantee that insane spreadsheet minmaxers could break this game in half. There are three major types of party member - humans, mutants, and monsters - and they all level differently. Humans need to be upgraded with expensive items and do not evolve in combat. The cheapest item costs three fights worth of coin and that's not taking into account the health you'll have to pay to regain. Mutants gain a random (yes, you read that right) amount of experience after each battle, and have four ability slots that randomly populate and repopulate with either useful stuff or total bullshit. Essentially they are a wildcard with massive health pools. Finally, we have the monsters, who level by eating the flesh of the monsters you defeat. Monsters also have an element of randomness to them, as what you eat and what you are have correlate to some ridiculous branching paths of animal development. If you play it blind, there's a good chance most things you eat will make you weaker.

So, to re-cap - your character's path to getting stronger is either expensive as hell or completely random. Nice.

The game was developed to be beaten in the duration of a single red-eye flight, and the runtime is probably 8-10 hours if you poke around everywhere like me. But honestly, nobody will blame you if you tap out early. It is impossible to tell what is coming next, and it often feels like you have to manipulate the game into being kind to you. It did kick off an entire series of SaGa RPGs that I'll eventually get to, but this did not leave a particularly good taste of what's to come.
Body
tips
Formatting
[b]text[/b] - bold
[i]text[/i] - italic
[s]strikethrough[/s] - strikethrough
[tt]text[/tt] - fixed-width type
[color red]text[/color] - colored text (full list)
[spoiler]text[/spoiler] - Text hidden with spoiler cover
[https://www.example.com/page/,Link to another site] - Link to another site

Linking
When you mention an album, artist, film, game, label, etc - it's recommended to link to the item the first time you mention it. Doing so will make it easier to search for your post and give it more visibility. To link an item, use the search box above, or find the shortcut that appears on the page that you want to link. You can customize the link name of shortcuts by using the format [Artist12345,Custom Name].
Paste the address (or embed code) below and click "embed".
Supported: YouTube, Soundcloud, Bandcamp, Vimeo, Dailymotion
Embed
the_lockpick 2018-08-04T16:45:50Z
2018-08-04T16:45:50Z
2.0
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
Supplement
tips
Formatting
[b]text[/b] - bold
[i]text[/i] - italic
[s]strikethrough[/s] - strikethrough
[tt]text[/tt] - fixed-width type
[color red]text[/color] - colored text (full list)
[spoiler]text[/spoiler] - Text hidden with spoiler cover
[https://www.example.com/page/,Link to another site] - Link to another site

Linking
When you mention an album, artist, film, game, label, etc - it's recommended to link to the item the first time you mention it. Doing so will make it easier to search for your post and give it more visibility. To link an item, use the search box above, or find the shortcut that appears on the page that you want to link. You can customize the link name of shortcuts by using the format [Artist12345,Custom Name].
Paste the address (or embed code) below and click "embed".
Supported: YouTube, Soundcloud, Bandcamp, Vimeo, Dailymotion
Embed
Attribution
Requested publishing level
Draft
Commentary
Review
review
en
Expand review Hide
Title
A whirlwind of confusing nonsense tied together by a genuinely pretty cool setting. The core idea of Final Fantasy Legend (or SaGa, if you prefer) is that entirely different eras of mankind co-exist, separated by floors in this giant spire in the center of the world. The higher you go, the farther along the timeline you travel, and at the absolute zenith lies paradise. That kind of imagery ties helps paint a picture of your mission more than just about any actual dialogue in the game will.

Most NPCs have two lines of dialogue for you at the max, and text boxes open as a glitchy mess with the start menu bleeding through. The presentation is not only simple but usually ugly, and the game doesn't bother to render multiple troops of the same monster. If you're fighting five skeletons, you will see one skeleton on screen with a number "5" in the corner. So it looks bad, sounds fairly average, and it's severely limited by the hardware. Does it at least play well? Honestly, that's up to interpretation. The balancing of the economic system is awful, as inns charge 1 GP per HP they replenish, but a 3-pack of potions that heal ~40 health costs 50 GP. Almost nothing in this game is nice to you, especially the encounter rate, which lead dev Akitoshi Kawazu cranked UP compared to the mainline FF series.

The combat and leveling system is all sorts of fucked too, but I guarantee that insane spreadsheet minmaxers could break this game in half. There are three major types of party member - humans, mutants, and monsters - and they all level differently. Humans need to be upgraded with expensive items and do not evolve in combat. The cheapest item costs three fights worth of coin and that's not taking into account the . Mutants gain a random (yes, you read that right) amount of experience after each battle, and have four ability slots that randomly populate and repopulate with either useful stuff or total bullshit. Essentially they are a wildcard with massive health pools. Finally, we have the monsters, who level by eating the flesh of the monsters you defeat. Monsters also have an element of randomness to them, as what you eat and what you are have correlate to some ridiculous branching paths of animal development. If you play it blind, there's a good chance most things you eat will make you weaker.

So, to re-cap - your character's path to getting stronger is either expensive as hell or completely random. Nice.

The game was developed to be beaten in the duration of a single red-eye flight, and the runtime is probably 8-10 hours if you poke around everywhere like me. But honestly, nobody will blame you if you tap out early. It is impossible to tell what is coming next, and it often feels like you have to manipulate the game into being kind to you. It did kick off an entire series of SaGa RPGs that I'll eventually get to, but this did not leave a particularly good taste of what's to come.
Body
tips
Formatting
[b]text[/b] - bold
[i]text[/i] - italic
[s]strikethrough[/s] - strikethrough
[tt]text[/tt] - fixed-width type
[color red]text[/color] - colored text (full list)
[spoiler]text[/spoiler] - Text hidden with spoiler cover
[https://www.example.com/page/,Link to another site] - Link to another site

Linking
When you mention an album, artist, film, game, label, etc - it's recommended to link to the item the first time you mention it. Doing so will make it easier to search for your post and give it more visibility. To link an item, use the search box above, or find the shortcut that appears on the page that you want to link. You can customize the link name of shortcuts by using the format [Artist12345,Custom Name].
Paste the address (or embed code) below and click "embed".
Supported: YouTube, Soundcloud, Bandcamp, Vimeo, Dailymotion
Embed
Supplement
tips
Formatting
[b]text[/b] - bold
[i]text[/i] - italic
[s]strikethrough[/s] - strikethrough
[tt]text[/tt] - fixed-width type
[color red]text[/color] - colored text (full list)
[spoiler]text[/spoiler] - Text hidden with spoiler cover
[https://www.example.com/page/,Link to another site] - Link to another site

Linking
When you mention an album, artist, film, game, label, etc - it's recommended to link to the item the first time you mention it. Doing so will make it easier to search for your post and give it more visibility. To link an item, use the search box above, or find the shortcut that appears on the page that you want to link. You can customize the link name of shortcuts by using the format [Artist12345,Custom Name].
Paste the address (or embed code) below and click "embed".
Supported: YouTube, Soundcloud, Bandcamp, Vimeo, Dailymotion
Embed
Attribution
Requested publishing level
Draft
Commentary
Review
review
en
Expand review Hide

Catalog

foiebump 魔界塔士 Sa・Ga 2024-03-07T02:04:28Z
2024-03-07T02:04:28Z
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
hyperhaxorus 魔界塔士 Sa・Ga 2024-02-24T21:51:52Z
2024-02-24T21:51:52Z
49
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
tackyproduct 魔界塔士 Sa・Ga 2024-02-13T09:40:37Z
2024-02-13T09:40:37Z
2.0
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
tackyy 魔界塔士 Sa・Ga 2024-01-24T13:15:29Z
2024-01-24T13:15:29Z
2.0
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
hevykofe 魔界塔士 Sa・Ga 2024-01-02T16:03:29Z
GB • JP
2024-01-02T16:03:29Z
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
GTea 魔界塔士 Sa・Ga 2023-12-31T00:38:39Z
2023-12-31T00:38:39Z
3.5
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
Pashmee 魔界塔士 Sa・Ga 2023-12-23T21:43:13Z
2023-12-23T21:43:13Z
3.0
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
Zippybing The Final Fantasy Legend 2023-12-20T17:50:47Z
GB • XNA
2023-12-20T17:50:47Z
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
Everdrive_GB+GBC
xNobility The Final Fantasy Legend 2023-11-30T15:00:58Z
GB • XNA
2023-11-30T15:00:58Z
2.5
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
Kobayoshi 魔界塔士 Sa・Ga 2023-10-31T03:52:05Z
GB • JP
2023-10-31T03:52:05Z
4.0
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
Rattvik 魔界塔士 Sa・Ga 2023-10-26T14:32:48Z
2023-10-26T14:32:48Z
3.5
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
kukelennedy 魔界塔士 Sa・Ga 2023-09-05T18:26:44Z
2023-09-05T18:26:44Z
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
Player modes
Single-player
Media
1x Cartridge
Franchises
In collections
Also known as
  • Makai Toushi Sa·Ga
  • The Final Fantasy Legend
  • View all [2] Hide

Comments

Rules for comments
  • Be respectful! All the community rules apply here.
  • Keep your comments focused on the game. Don't post randomness/off-topic comments. Jokes are fine, but don't post tactless/inappropriate ones.
  • Don't get in arguments with people here, or start long discussions. Use the boards for extended discussion.
  • Don't use this space to complain about the average rating, chart position, genre voting, others' reviews or ratings, or errors on the page.
  • Don't comment just to troll/provoke. Likewise, don't respond to trollish comments; just report them and ignore them.
  • Any spoilers should be placed in spoiler tags as such: [spoiler](spoiler goes here)[/spoiler]
Note: Unlike reviews, comments are considered temporary and may be deleted/purged without notice.
  • Revolution666 2023-04-24 21:54:16.255818+00
    Everything about the design of this game is terrible and baffling. One of the most unpleasant RPG experiences I've ever had.
    reply
    • More replies New replies ) Loading...
  • chood 2024-03-21 17:06:35.4586+00
    Some really cool ideas here, but god the inventory management is so frustrating. Constantly juggling quest items, weapon backups, and healing items in 8 main slots and a few character slots is obnoxious.
    reply
    • More replies New replies ) Loading...
  • chood 2024-03-21 17:09:13.227275+00
    The setting of a giant tower where time doesn't flow normally, but instead different eras are on different floors is cool AF though
    reply
    • More replies New replies ) Loading...
  • More comments New comments (0) Loading...
Please login or sign up to comment.

Suggestions

ADVERTISEMENT

Contribute to this page

Examples
1980s-1996
23 mar 2015
8 apr - 12 may 2015
1998-05
Report
Download
Image 1 of 2