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PSP | RPG | The Legend of Heroes III: Song of the Ocean

Boxart for The Legend of Heroes III: Song of the Ocean
The Legend of Heroes III: Song of the Ocean 5 screen shots
  • GRAPHICS: 3.75
  • SOUND: 4.25
  • CONTROL: 2.50
  • FUN FACTOR 2.75
  • AVG USER SCORE n/a
  • AVG CRITIC SCORE 2.8

Review: The Legend of Heroes III: Song of the Ocean

Review by DFS | 01/24/2007 | 16:35:59 PM PST

See if you can wrap your head around this one: The first Legend of Heroes game released in America was actually Japan's Legend of Heroes II. Then, America's Legend of Heroes II is the Japanese Legend of Heroes.

Now, just to give us a real Excedrin headache, our Legend of Heroes III is actually Japanese Legend of Heroes V and technically concludes the story the first two started.

What's funny isn't how much difference this makes, though; it's how little. Any of these Legends could be easily mistaken for any other. They're very much alike, and very simple, conventional role-playing games.

Back in the Day
PROTIP: Collect songs so you can trade a complete set for some good stuff late in the game.

PROTIP: Collect songs so you can trade a complete set for some good stuff late in the game.

All three Legends are fairly pretty to look at, downright lovely to listen to, and ultimately boring to play. They're holdovers from the era of RPGs like Lunar, when good graphics and charming characters could help a bland piece of game design get by.

That doesn't work anymore. An RPG can't get away with vanilla turn-based combat, or repetitive encounters with predictable enemies or rely on trudging from house to house to town to town in boring conversation chases to pad out its running time. It can't serve up dungeons made of nothing but twisty passages with little in the way of landmarks to guide your way or puzzles to break up the endless wandering through corridors.

Most of all, a modern game can't tell yet another story about friends leaving home on some random quest or whatever; there needs to be some sort of moratorium enforced on the abuse of bone-stock RPG plotlines. Whoever did the localization did a respectable job; it's just a shame that the uninspired story didn't warrant the effort.

Nowhere to Go
PROTIP: Status ailments don't last longer than a fight, so be sparing with your supply of items.

PROTIP: Status ailments don't last longer than a fight, so be sparing with your supply of items.

The sad part is that game engine itself is pretty decent. The load times that nearly crippled the first game are gone and the visuals, while stylistically bland and conventional, are still sharp and pleasing to the eye. Meanwhile, the series' original creators at Falcom contributed one of the beautiful soundtracks that they're justifiably famous for.

Not much else about the game systems or scenario has changed, other than to grow more familiar and dull. This new release even repeats some of the exact same sidequests from Legend of Heroes II. If someone had bothered to design an original game around this level of technology and artistry, we'd really have something. Too bad we got this mid-'90s relic instead.

PROTIP: Stuck on the first mini-quest of the game? Go south of Una's house. Once you're through talking to Forte's family, then you can split for the lighthouse and talk to McBain.

PROTIP: Stuck on the first mini-quest of the game? Go south of Una's house. Once you're through talking to Forte's family, then you can split for the lighthouse and talk to McBain.


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