Song selection:
All Together Now from the Falcom Legend doujin album
When people ask what my first Falcom game is, I sometimes have to ask “the first game I played *knowingly* as a Falcom game?” –that would kind of be Ys III, since I sought that one out to actually play.
But first game I had ever played from Falcom? That would be Legacy of the Wizard, released on the NES in 1989.
And the game itself wasn’t my first encounter- it was the Nintendo Power article I found on the game, actually. I was curious about it, but I hadn’t quite “got” the idea of most RPGs.
As an aside, Final Fantasy, for example was WILDLY bewildering to me. “How do you get to the enemy on the other side??” -I didn’t quite get how turn based games really worked at the time. I promise.
I got to rent this game for a bit, but I never really pushed to actually purchase it beyond several rentals. Why? Because it was so hard.
This game has a unique mechanic of picking different members of the family and using their abilities to explore a massive labyrinth of platforming hell. Some jump higher, some hit harder, and some have projectile attacks- all of these in multiple combinations.
Even to this day I still find this game AMAZINGLY hard. But I have a better appreciation for it. I love playing it, despite the fact that I get lost throughout its endless maps and monsters and forget where I need to go next. I seriously need a map for this game, and is amazing.
I’ve never had the chance to play the original version, though. I’m planning to preorder the upcoming DragonSlayer box- one of the reasons is because I *want* the original version so I can, once again, play it over and over and NEVER BEAT IT.
I guess that’s the story of my life with this game.
The first person I ever met that had beat it though? My best friend’s mom. I feel so sad!
DragonSlayer IV: Drasle Family on MSX: