Legend of Legaia

Legend of Legaia (レガイア伝説, Regaia Densetsu) is a 1998 Sony PlayStation role-playing game created by Contrail. The game features RPG gameplay, including Japanese character voices and a unique storyline.

Plot
The game follows Vahn, the quiet main hero, Noa, an excitable feral child and Gala, a curt warrior monk, on their quest to revive all ten Genesis Trees throughout Legaia in an attempt to vanquish the evil Mist which covers the world. Vahn initially thwarts the coming of the Mist into his hometown Rim Elm by reviving the local Genesis Tree and merging with the Ra-Seru entity "Meta" following an attack by Zeto (who used the Juggernaut to bring down Rim Elm's walls). Together they depart on a quest through Drake Kingdom that ends with them meeting Noa and her Ra-Seru companion "Terra" atop Mt. Rikuroa. They in turn chance upon Maya, the mother of Vahn's love interest (and who had been presumed dead), in the Biron Monastery, home of various warrior monks. There they also meet friends Gala and Songi, master teachers in the monastery. Gala joins Vahn and Noa once Songi turns on them and decides to use the powers of his Ra-Seru for evil. Songi defeats Gala, who in turn assimilates with the Ra-Seru "Ozma".

The trio henceforth journey across the Sebucus Islands, reviving Genesis Trees, destroying Mist Generators, and performing tasks and occasional side quests for secondary characters. They come face-to-face at multiple times with Songi (who progressively mutates into a massive monster), as well as the principal enforcers of the Mist.

After cleansing both Drake Kingdom and the Sebucus Islands, the trio travels overseas to Karisto Kingdom. There they aid the towns of Sol and Buma by battling old crazed Gaza and defeating the Delilas Siblings and the creature Koru, who had held Buma under ice. With the aid of the Soren people (a race of winged humanoids), they attack Zora's flying castle and manage to bring it down. They then go on to travel back in time to locate the origins of the Mist to put an end to it once and for all. In the process, they travel to the devastated city of Conkram. Noa finds out she is actually daughter to the king and queen of Conkram, and sister to Prince Cort-- who, along with court members Dr. Jette, Zeto, Dohati and Zora (as well as Zora's bodyguards, the Delilas) created a passport into the Ra-Seru netherworld, and with it brought the Mist and its monsters into Legaia. Despite narrowly saving Conkram in the past and, once back to present, defeating surviving evildoers Cort and Jette, the denizens of Conkram perish under a giant Seru monster, and Noa's parents meet their demise.

A faux ending is cut short with the coming of Songi to Rim Elm. Songi subdues Rim Elm under the power of the Sim-Seru "Juggernaut", who devours all of its denizens. Although the trio manage to defeat Songi, finally bringing his death, they must still travel within Juggernaut and destroy it from the inside. The final battle is against Cort, who had survived the last encounter and fused with Juggernaut. The game ends with the destruction of Juggernaut, the rebirth of Cort into a baby (who Noa takes care of), the reunion of Mei and her mother Maya, and the ultimate restoration of Rim Elm and all its citizens.

Characters

 * Vahn (バァン, Bān) (Wataru Takagi): The main protagonist of the series. He lives in the town of Rim Elm, in the far south of Drake Kingdom, along with his young sister Nene and crippled father Val. He has a love interest in the form of Mei, the local seamstress. His weapon of choice is a sword or knife, and his Ra-Seru is Meta (メータ, Mēta), which is affiliated with fire. Having grown up sparring with the resident ex-Biron monk, Tetsu, Vahn is an adept martial artist. He's also the only character who can wield Gaza's gigantic Astral Sword.
 * Noa (ノア) (Sachiko Sugawara]): She is an orphan who has been raised by the Ra-Seru, Terra (テルマ, Teruma)-- who, while raising Noa, attached itself to a female wolf. Due to living most of her life alone in Snowdrift Cave with Terra the wolf, Noa is childish and ignorant; the outside world is new to her. She wants to see the world and meet her parents, who call to her in her dreams. She uses claws or tonfa batons to fight, and her Ra-Seru, Terra, is a wind elemental. Later in the game, she discovers that she is the daughter of the King and Queen of Conkram.
 * Gala (ガラ, Gara) (Jin Yamanoi): He is a warrior monk from the Biron Monastery, where he is the second-in-command and called "Master Teacher." He is sent with Vahn and Noa to revive the Genesis Tree in West Voz Forest, but fails because the Genesis Tree has already been killed by the Mist. He finds the egg of the Ra-Seru, Ozma (オズマ, Ozuma), who is affiliated with lightning, and Gala is subsequently excommunicated after it hatches. Gala's weapons of choice are clubs or small axes. In contrast with Vahn and Noa, Gala distrusts and greatly dislikes every kind of Seru (even the holy Ra-Seru) because of their violent behaviours when affected by the Mist and their corrupting any living creature that wears them. Through the course of the game, he starts treating Ozma better, like a close friend, instead of just a tool for fighting the Seru.

Villains

 * Cort (コート, Kōto) (Jūrōta Kosugi): The main villain of the game. He is the son of King Nebular and Queen Minea, and is the older brother of Ra-Seru hero Noa. Cort was contacted by the evil Ra-Seru, Rogue, who taught him how to create a Mist Generator.
 * Songi (ソンギ) (Takashi Nagasako): Like Gala, he is a warrior monk from the Biron Monastery; Songi has been Gala's rival for years, but is also his best friend, despite being egoistical and even mean to Gala and using any method to win, even cheating. He is the main recurring villain throughout the game. While Vahn, Noa, and Gala are sent to the West Voz Forest, Songi goes to East Voz Forest and finds his own dark Ra-Seru, Jedo. Unlike the rest of the disciples of Biron (and especially Gala), Songi sees the Ra-Seru as another source of power. Like Gala, Songi is also excommunicated from the monastery, but he turns to the side of evil and tries to help the spread of Mist and gain more power for himself, killing anyone who gets in his way.

Battle System
Combat in Legend of Legaia is conditional turn-based. At the beginning of each turn, the character inputs a command for each available character, selects appropriate targets, and confirms the selection. This initiates the action phase of the turn, during which each character and opponent perform their actions. The order of action is prescribed by each character's speed, status, and equipment.

Damage is instituted through the game's unique 'Tactical Arts' battle system. Instead of simply selecting a generic 'Fight' command in order to initiate a physical attack, the player specifies the location of each attack; 'Right' and 'Left' will strike with the right and left arms, respectively, and 'High' and 'Low' strike at their respective heights. Each direction has its own pros and cons, depending upon the opponent, weapons equipped, and level of the character's Ra-Seru. For example, equipping boots will increase the power of kicks, but 'Low' will not strike a Killer Bee, since it flies above the ground. To attack, the player creates a string of these directional strikes for each character; as the game progresses the length of this string or "action bar" increases, allowing the player to deal more damage each turn. The number of strikes the character can execute is affected by several factors, including level and weapon. Certain weapons can be used by more than one character, such as small axes that can be wielded by both Vahn and Gala. However, Gala's affiliation with axes are better than Vahn, so if Vahn equips the axes, his 'Left' attack will occupy twice of normal.

Certain strings of attacks initiate combos known as "Arts," which deal significantly more damage than would a non-combo string of comparable length. It is up to the player to uncover each character's Arts by experimentation; fortunately, once the player has determined the correct string, it is saved in a list which can be viewed during the character's turn. A quantity called "AP" is necessary to initiate Arts, which drain "AP" in quantities which are proportionate to the length of the combo. Inputting an Arts sequence without the requisite AP will cause the character to simply perform the string of attacks, without the Arts animation or damage bonus. AP can be earned in three ways; dealing physical damage without performing Arts, taking damage from opponents, or by using the Spirit command. Arts can also be linked by the last and first inputs. For example, an Art that ends with 'Down' can linked with another Art that starts with 'Down', allowing the player to use two Arts in a row costing less inputs.

The Spirit command causes a character to take a defensive instance for a turn, in lieu of attacking. This allows the character to take half-damage for the turn, increases his/her chance to block an attack, while regaining AP and boosting the length of his/her action bar for the next physical attack. Upon defeating certain Seru (which have a elemental icon next to its name), a character may learn to use magic for use in combat. Once the magic has been learned, it can be used opponents (offensively) or allies (defensively) as an action during that character's turn, at the expense of Magic Points (MP).

Seru, Ra-Seru, and Sim-Seru
The interactions between the Seru, Ra-Seru, and Sim-Seru comprise an integral part of the plot of Legend of Legaia.

Seru were initially benevolent creatures designed by God to exist symbiotically with humans, and help them to survive. When worn by a human, they grant the wearer great powers. Depending on the type of Seru equipped, these powers can include greatly enhanced strength, control over the elements, and even the ability to fly. With the strength of Seru, humans were able to build civilization and thrive on the bounty of their combined efforts.

When a Seru comes into contact with the Mist, it acts aggressively and will attack any humans in its vicinity. Furthermore, any Seru which comes into contact while already bound to a human will be able to take control of their host, effectively turning the human into a mindless monster. As long as the Mist pervades the air around them, the Seru and human cannot be separated without killing them both. Once the Mist has been removed, however, the Seru will return to its benign form, and the human will awaken unharmed. Humans freed from the influence of a controlling Seru often report that they feel as though they have awoken from a nightmare, and note that they have not aged in the time between enslavement and emancipation, an interval which can last anywhere from days to years.

All Seru possess an elemental affinity which determines what type of attacks it will use in battle (noted by the icon displayed next to its name). This is useful in determining what abilities can be assimilated by a Ra-Seru (see below).

Ra-Seru are Seru which have chosen to align themselves with the humans against the Mist and its agents. They possess the ability to absorb power from the Genesis Trees to grow stronger, as well absorbing Elemental Serus.

Each main character eventually partners himself or herself with a Ra-Seru, who lends its strength and wisdom to the human. As the storyline progresses, both the main characters and the Ra-Seru come to trust each other, and the deepening relationship between them is reflected by the visible growth of the Ra-Seru following the successful activation of a Genesis tree. Once bound, a Ra-Seru strengthens its partner's primary arm for use in combat. When a human wearing a Ra-Seru defeats a Seru in battle, the Ra-Seru can absorb the Seru's power and later use it when necessary. Consistently calling upon that Seru's power will level it up, making it more powerful and causing additional effects.

Like most Seru encountered in the game, the Ra-Seru possess their own elemental affinities. Meta, Terra, and Ozma are associated with fire, wind, and thunder, respectively; these affinities can be seen by the nature of hyper arts executed with their power. For example, Vahn is capable of learning Tornado Flame with Meta, Noa and Terra can perform Frost Breath, as well as Gala being able to learn and use Thunder Punch (however, these moves require attaining special books found in chests hidden in dungeons or places covered by the mist).