Title: Lagoon
Release Date: 12/13/91
Developer: Zoom Inc.
Publisher: Kemco/Seika
NOTE: Taking a (genera;) break until the end of May. Will be back in June to finish up these "redux." I may add one or two, but for now I need a break to focus on some personal stuff.
So this game is another one where I have some personal history. This used to be one of the "Headliner" games at my local video store, the now defunct "Video Tonight." It was placed on the shelf right next to Super Mario World and Link to the Past. I rented this game several times, and to call this game a headliner would probably be the most generous praise it has ever received. I found the game frustrating, needlessly difficult, and slow paced. Let's see if the stigma I remember holds up to today.
Background
Lagoon is a fantasy action-RPG that plays in a very similar way to the Ys series. The story of the game is relatively simple; in fact some people might think that it is rather mundane. The game takes place in the realm of Lakeland, and the local lake around Lakeland has become...muddy! Yes muddy and dirty water is starting to plague the poor people, causing them to become sick when they drink it. It turns out to be the work of an evil sorcerer named Zerah, who wishes to use this as a way to revive an evil spirit named...Evil Spirit (yeup). With all this craziness afoot, the land's chosen one, Nassir, decides to embark on a quest to defeat Zerah before he can unleash Evil Spirit from underneath Lagoon Castle (hey that's the name of the game!).
The game itself was developed by Zoom Inc, a company that mainly developed for the Japanese computer system the Sharp X68000. Now this company didn't make too many well known games, but it did one day become the company that would make the insanely quirky and fun cult classic for the PS2, Mr. Mosquito. On the publishing front, Kemco is the publisher on record; Kemco has already popped up once before with another fantasy game, Drakkhen. I am sensing a theme.
Gameplay
Now the game plays in a very similar way to the Ys series in that you will start each section of the game in the town hub. You will have to run around talking to townspeople until you trigger the right combination of events in order to move onto the dungeon crawling portion of the game. Now this can be simple, but in some cases this is convoluted. For example, in the beginning of the game you are talking with your mentor, then you must go find the Mayor of Lakeland; you talk to his wife, who tells you to check the church. In the church, you find the mayor, who then gets called away to an emergency. You go to the emergency, and are notified to go talk to the priest, who tells you to go back to the mayors house, who tells you to go to the stores, and then you are allowed to talk to the guards on the outskirts of town to enter the mines, which are the first real dungeon. Overall this isn't too bad, as I do enjoy a game that takes time to set up the stakes, build up the setting, and give you a chance to explore your surroundings, but if you are looking to "book it" you might be a little frustrated.
Now the dungeon of the game is where this gets a little more egregious in its sins. It is played in a top down fashion, similar to Link to the Past, and it lifts the life and magic meters straight out of Ys. Original, this game is not. The goal of each dungeon is to explore, grind through some monsters to raise your level (the leveling system is very grindy but moves fairly quickly), and then complete an ancillary objective so that you can then challenge the boss. For example, in the first dungeon you have to escort a trapped villager back to safety before the boss door will present itself. Grinding is a necessary part of this game, not just for the life boosts that leveling up brings you, but also for money to buy armor and weapon upgrades. Usually you will have to make several trips in and out of a dungeon for every level, which can be very frustrating. The dungeons are usually mazes, and will take a fair bit of time, and or pencil and paper, to map so that you can navigate them quickly.
What sucks, though, is this means you have to use the terrible combat to get stronger, and therefore will most likely die a bunch. This game is the Dragon Quest style of saves, which means you have to stop by the church in town, so if you die in a dungeon then you are warped back to town and must start the maze over from the beginning. Granted, it doesn't erase your progress completely, which is a blessing.
Okay we are going to handle the most notorious and egregious sin first: the toothpick sword. This game is famous for the god-awful main weapon that your character uses. While it is supposed to be a sword, it has the range of a toothpick. As well, when your character swings his sword, one-handed, it makes a chopping motion. What this means is that your character has to get super close to enemies, and has to have his right side lined up with them in order to hit them. Mostly, this results in your character taking damage more often than not. It sometimes feels completely random if you will damage the enemy or, instead, damage yourself. This can sometimes make the game unplayable, especially with bosses and enemies who move around quickly. A lot of boss fights, in fact, devolve into trading hits and trying to burn off their health pools quicker than they can burn down yours through contact damage. Ranged magics and weapons, as well, don't appear until much later in the game, which makes the early hours very painful. OH and for some reason, magic doesn't work in boss fights, so you have to always rely on your toothpick sword. What a weird and awful design decision for a game.
The presentation of the game is pretty okay! The cutscenes at the beginning are decent animation for such early games. The spritework isn't the prettiest in the world, but some of the bosses are really impressive to look at and are quite imaginative. There are some villains that follow the traditional fantasy tropes, but other ones are really quite unique, like a strange rock monster/insect, and a Chimera but with multiple lion heads. The first boss, in particular, has a look that is very striking; almost like a punk rock knight with a hook for a weapon. The story, while simple, is actually pretty enjoyable. It definitely takes the forefront and is easy to follow and is well translated for an old game. It is no where close to Final Fantasy VI or Chrono Trigger, but it certainly is not bad (certainly better than Arcana).
Any time you have to escort someone in this game, it is an absolute nightmare. One of the first examples of this is in the first dungeon: you find a boy or man who was trapped in the mine, and must escort him to the entrance in order to unlock the boss fight. First, it is a long dungeon over several floors. Second, the boy/man moves ridiculously slow. It took me about 30 minutes, on my third try, to get the little bastard out of the mines. These parts make the game grueling in its pacing.
Music
The music is decent more than truly good.
Ads, Art, Commercials
Final Verdict
So much promise. The game obviously was trying to satisfy a much loved niche, but it does it in an incredibly ungraceful manner. Boo. I'm sure there are some gamers who would be happy to slog through this, but the poor design decisions make it almost unplayable for me personally. For collectors, the game is relatively cheap; only about $15-20 used.
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