Legrand Legacy: Tale of the Fatebounds Reviews
Legrand Legacy: Tale of the Fatebounds spends a little too much time reminiscing over the past than looking forwards and carving out its own journey, and as a result, it doesn't really bring anything new to the table at which its inspirations sit. Still, while its random QTEs do make battles more of a game of chance than they need to be, there's enough heft to the story, the characters, and the beauty of its setting to help save it from disappearing into obscurity. With a build that runs well on Nintendo Switch, this is still a worthy adventure for '90s JRPG fans.
More importantly, each character has left a lasting impression on me and the growth that they experienced during the story makes the game feel even closer to the timeless stories of early RPGs. Legrand Legacy: Tale of the Fatebounds expertly brings the PlayStation era RPGs to 2018 with an attention to detail that brings the genre to modern consoles and satisfies that nostalgic itch.
Legrand Legacy: Tale of the Fatebound is what it claims to be: a role-playing game that feels old, for better or for worse. It won't wow you with storytelling or world-building, but the combat is serviceable, if not remarkably challenging. If you're a fan of old-school Japanese role-playing games, you'll find something to enjoy here. Just know that you're in for a game that, much like it claims to, feels dated.
Overall, Legrand Legacy is a decent game. It’s never overly difficult and the look and feel of it really does come off like a classic JRPG from yesteryear, for better or for worse. It works, and even if it does get tiresome in spots, the story and lore are engaging enough to keep RPG fans afloat, but keep in mind, you’re going to have to change your mind set a bit before taking this one on.
Legrand Legacy: Tale of the Fatebounds is an enjoyable JRPG which brings back features that are difficult to find in modern games, such as a turn-based combat system enriched by action and tactical elements, mini-games and more. Sadly, SEMISOFT didn't bring anything truly new to the table and, as such, fails in being more than just a well-crafted tribute to the golden era of JRPGs.
If the final product doesn't hold together, then the key components are irrelevant.
LEGRAND LEGACY: Tale of the Fatebounds does a good job at paying tribute to the JRPG of the 1990s and fans of the genre are most definitely likely to enjoy this experience, which is topped off by a very good visual environment and a quality content. The game will be less appealing to those outside the scope of the genre, who will mostly be put off by its lack of any new and innovative mechanics, as well as by its inconsistent plot and chance-based combat.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Legrand Legacy is a pretty but otherwise generic RPG. It's beautifully hand-drawn world gets lost beneath mountains of dialogue and a plot so weighed down by tropes that it barely stays afloat. It's a passable to good title, but none of its elements come together to create anything new, exciting, inspiring, or terribly memorable.
Legrand Legacy offers enough fun to be worth your time, but the writing is mediocre.
We had some great expectations for this title, but sadly Legrand Legacy wasn't quite able to live up to them. We strongly suggest to download the free demo on Steam before buying this title, to see for yourself what you're going into.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Nothing Legrand Legacy: Tale of the Fatebounds does is particularly revolutionary, and I'm not sure quite what merited it "Most promising game"- perhaps simply because it's a Kickstarter title that isn't complete garbage. However, the thing that kept me playing was not the combat, soundtrack or the exploration elements; it was the story. I wanted to know what will happen next, to Finn, Aria and every other character you meet; through the dialogue alone you get a certain impression of each unique personality; Finn the newly-released, albeit blindingly subservient and confused, slave, partnering with a rather snobbish noblewoman and a studious and reserved Norn; each significant personality is quite memorable, and that alone is what has kept this game on my "things to play" list. Eventually- the list is already rather long.
Legrand Legacy: Tale of the Fatebounds presents a compelling and mature story to sit through, served by classic, though effective, game systems, all easily comparable to the classics of the 32-bit era that it tries to pay homage to.
Legrand Legacy is, in the end, a very playable JRPG. Sadly it's also one of marginal appeal, even to those who grew up playing old JRPGs back in the 32-bit era.
It's a shame, because the bones of a great game are there. They're just too bogged down in a shaky delivery to be enjoyed in the manner that they deserve.
If Legrand Legacy was on the original PlayStation, it would have a small cult following but in this day and age, you'd expect much more originality from a retro-style RPG.
Legrand Legacy is a JRPG developed outside of Japan but with full respect for the genre, with many elements that will be familiar to those of us who live the 32-bit generation, and that despite having a plot riddled with cliches, will know how to maintain interest with several script twists and a pretty solid character build. That and a classic playable system but with certain characteristics that refresh it, and several extras to take into account. Too bad it only came to us in English, Japanese, and Simplified Chinese, but if language isn't an issue and we like the genre, the game deserves a good shot.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Fans of the JRPG genre are the target audience here, especially those who have an appreciation for titles from a couple of generations back. The good news is, this is a genre that generally ages rather well, and Legrand Legacy: Tale of the Fatebounds is a welcome throwback to that era. Still, a bit more effort put into developing the characters and steering away from some of the overly familiar tropes of the genre would have gone a long ways toward making Legrand Legacy a more memorable overall experience. It is fun while you play it, but falls short of the unforgettable games of the past it tries to emulate.
There is so much about this game that left me feeling that it was close to being the love letter to old school RPGs that it aspired to be. However, it manages to come up just short with its best features while going way overboard with its worst. LeGrand Legacy will provide you with about 30 or so hours of gameplay, but you can stretch it out to 40 if you care to comb through limitless walls of text to find the deepest details of the history of LeGrand. There is a respectable amount of content here that will only cost you about $20 USD, but unfortunately, I simply can’t recommend the Switch version at this time.
Legrand Legacy: Tale of the Fatebounds is a perfectly good, functional flashback to an earlier time in JRPGs. Aesthetically it is really pleasing, the combat is a nice mix of turn-based while requiring you to stay engaged with it instead of just mashing through menu items and while early on the narrative looked like it was going to travel some well-worn, overly familiar tropes, the characters and world are more interesting than they might initially appear.
An engaging JRPG with many new concepts, albeit a bit rough around the edges