History YMMV / LegendOfLegaia

* FirstInstallmentWins: The first game is something of a CultClassic and popular amongst JRPG fans while the second is not talked about nearly as much. Just look at the entries on this very site and see which one has more.

* DiscOneNuke: Noa's "Tough Love" Art. It charms an enemy, causing it to either only attack other enemies or just sit there and do nothing. It works on ''every'' enemy except bosses and mini-bosses, and it only wears off when that enemy is attacked. Random encounters become ''much'' easier to deal with when you've got 1 or 2 monsters sitting out most of the battle, patiently waiting for you to slaughter their buddies before you turn your attention back to them. Noa's able to use it without needing to spirit as soon as she has at least 5 command blocks available, which will probably be well before you've finished the first region. Using spirit, you are able to use it right away.
** Noa's Tempest Break is usable from a VERY low level when you use spirit. With it, she is able to out damage anything Vahn can do. It's even capable of hitting harder than his magic! Tempest Break will commonly hit for 150-200 damage when Vahn is hitting only low to mid hundreds with his strongest attacks. The only draw back is she can only use it every other turn, and only if she has enough Art Points, or AP. Though, using spirit also increases AP so that is only a problem on fairly rare occasions. Honestly, Noa's high Speed and Agility almost qualify her as a DiscOneNuke herself.

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: Due to the nature of Seru all of the villains can have this applied to them. There really is no way to tell if any of them are in complete control of their actions.

** The brutal [[AGodAmI Songi]] was once a Biran monk who betrayed his people and slaughtered most of them. Returning to hound the heroes, especially his rival Gala, Songi eventually joins the Henchmen of the Mist and even executes one of his comrades, Zora, after her defeat before she can talk with the heroes, mocking her about thinking Cort ever cared for her. Betraying Cort, Songi attempts to obtain the power of the mighty Sim-Seru Juggernaut, trying to feed the entire human populace to it, subjecting them to an agonizing fate of eternal entrapment, all so he can rise to godhood, abandoning any hint of humanity in his quest for power.

* ViewerGenderConfusion: Nowhere in the game (just the manuals) is it actually stated that Meta, Vahn's Ra-Seru partner, is female.

* DiscOneNuke: Noa's "Tough Love" Art. It charms an enemy, causing it to either only attack other enemies or just sit there and do nothing. It works on ''every'' enemy except bosses and mini-bosses, and it only wears off when that enemy is attacked. Random encounters become ''much'' easier to deal with when you've got 1 or 2 monsters sitting out most of the battle, patiently waiting for you to slaughter their buddies before you turn your attention back to them. Noa's able to use it as soon as she has at least 5 command blocks available, which will probably be well before you've finished the first region.

* AwesomeButImpractical: Most Seru magic aside from the healing spells becomes this fairly quickly, due to the high MP costs and expense of MP restoring items, plus the amount of damage can usually matched by physical attacks once your characters level up enough to unlock most of their arts and start doing chain-combos. The special summons are especially bad about this, with a cost of 200-240 MP for a single casting.

* DiscOneNuke: Noa's "Tough Love" Art. It charms an enemy, causing it to either only attack other enemies or just sit there and do nothing. It works on ''every'' enemy except bosses, and it only wears off when that enemy is attacked. Random encounters become ''much'' easier to deal with when you've got 1 or 2 monsters sitting out most of the battle, patiently waiting for you to slaughter their buddies before turning your attention back to them. Noa's able to use it as soon as she has at least 5 command blocks available, which will probably be well before you've finished the first region.

* HolyShitQuotient: If you're at all invested in the story and characters, the ENTIRE last fourth of the game is physically painful to get through.

** Pueras, thanks to their "Death Game" ability, which has the ability to instantly kill itself. Or you. Hope you were paying attention to the cards. The level 3 variants have this the worst. Three cards kill you, one kills it. While the game itself isn't hard to win; it's a massive pain in the ass if someone still needs to absorb that Seru. Death game? Try again next time.
** The Vera Seru. They hurt-a-plenty (they do MORE damage with their special attack if you Spirit, unlike most other enemies), are somewhat fast, and have the ability to heal themselves. Not particularly hard, but they can be ''annoying'', especially if they nail Noa with Bloodsucker while she's Spiriting. Oh, and they look somewhat like bats, too.

* HilariousInHindsight: The first game takes place in a CrapsackWorld full of monsters, and the main protagonist lives in a place surrounded by walls. He wants to be a member of the hunters to find food and supplies. However, when the hunters arrive, they bring a dead man with them, to everyone's sorrow. Much later, the monsters invade the place destroying the wall because of a [[NightmareFuel monstrous giant monster.]] It can give you a chuckle over how similar this is to ''Anime/AttackOnTitan'''s introduction. The comparisons end here, however.

* ThatOneBoss: Oh so many.
** The DualBoss Viguro. Strong Melee attacks, strong thunder magic, and very fast. But if you manage to catch at least one of them (they are Seru), you'd have a potentially powerful magic early in the game.
** Despite being the second boss in the game, Berserker has extremely high attack and can cast very hard hitting spell without requiring a turn-up to charge for the spell. To make things worse, he can inflict the Rot status effect, which makes it very difficult to attack and use Arts. The only thing that may help you is that there's an amulet near the boss that prevents rotting.
*** While this may be subverted if you use "Nighto - Hell's Music" (which has a chance of instantly killing the boss), it's still a LuckBasedMission.
** Gaza [[spoiler: the second time]] is right up there with Berserker. He has three attacks. A melee sword attack and fire attack, both of which take 70-90 percent of your life. But his strongest attack is Astral Sword Slash, a no charge up mega strong all hit attack that he doesn't mind spamming. His block rate is also higher than normal.
** Songi, especially the second and third times.
*** The first fight is one on one with Gala and is fairly challenging even when you're well-prepared for him [[note]]Overleveling for this fight takes so much time at that point in the game, it's hard to do it by accident[[/note]]. For the ill-prepared, however, only a quick, one-sided slaughter awaits them.
*** The second time his defenses go up and he has high HP. He has a strong melee attack and a Hyper Lighting move that can potentially kill Vahn and Noa in one Hit. And, of course, he has an all hit Hyper Crush. The fight is a very long one so you have to come prepared or he'll outlast you.
*** In third fight he has extremely long combos and Genocidal Cannon does 2000+ damage to all un-Spirited party members. His combos get lower the more damage he takes so at least there's that.
** Zora isn't all that tough but her Glare attack can turn you to stone. And yes, she can do it to all party members and win that way.
** [[spoiler:Cort]] has two phases. The first begins when he activates his shield. Aside from decreasing damage from magic attacks, it also renders all normal attacks useless. Only arts do damage. He has two attacks: Guilty Cross, which does around 1000 damage, and Mystic Circle, which just as much damage to all party members. How difficult this phase is depends on how often he uses Mystic Circle. It can range from challenging to a nightmare. When his shield breaks three major changes occur. His defense is lowered, [[note]]Magic attacks are up to normal damage and regular attacks do damage like normal[[/note]] he WILL use Mystic Circle more freely, and he can pull out Evil Seru Magic, which is the strongest attack in the game excluding the final boss. It's pretty much an instant kill technique. It's also darn near impossible to beat him without a Life Grail, but fortunately, there is one in the same dungeon. And just when you didn't think he was tough enough, his HP is almost double the amount the last boss Jette had and it's even more than the third fight with Songi, the second to last fight in the game. Have... fun...
** Jette, along side [[spoiler:Cort]], is responsible for everything that has happened in the game. As such, he's no pushover. He has insanely long combos and using Spirit does not decrease his damage like other enemies. He also has two special attacks: a strong all-hit attack with no charge up that is the uncommon Darkness element -- Ebony Jewels help but they're expensive -- and his Signature Move "Clone". While the clone does little damage, it can end up taking one of your attacks and mess up your strategy. He can also make more than one. To finish everything off, he also has a much higher block rate than anyone else in the game. And a unique animation for dodges.
** Van Saryu is tough but you should be okay as long as you're careful, just heal after he attacks, and be wary of his Earthquake. But when he TurnsRed, his ''everything'' goes WAY up. He WILL easily destroy your party if you don't watch out.
** The DualBoss Kemaro before Saryu are powerful [[GlassCannon Glass Cannons]]. But if you can absorb one the fight with Saryu will be a lot easier.
** Xain has insane melee attacks and requires that you've learned the Orb spell (a heal spell for all allies) and that you guard when he charges up his Terio Punch.
** The Delilas siblings. [[note]]You fight them one on one and they have a specific pattern: 1.Attack 2.Attack 3.Special attack.[[/note]] Specifically Che and Gi, Lu is the BreatherBoss [[note]]Somewhat[[/note]] between them. Even with the unique patterns that they follow Che is a very heavy hitter and will usually require the most healing items. Gi has more health and defence than even Che and the battle goes on a while. He is also Fire attributed so he is resistant to his hyper arts. His attack and agility are high as well.
*** Afterwards, there's Koru, the Ice Seru. It wouldn't be that bad if it hadn't a freaking time limit to finish it off. After several turns, he uses a nuke to wipe out the party in a single hit. It's easy if you're well prepared (a well loaded Point Card helps a lot) and don't waste turns using spirit, but fight it like a regular boss and you're screwed.
* TheWoobie: All three main characters have depressing events in their backstories, but Noa, who, among other things, [[spoiler: finds her real parents only to help cause their deaths ''very'' shortly after (they knew what they were telling her to do, she didn't), finds her brother only to discover he's the BigBad, and loses the closest thing she's got to a parent at the very end of the game]], takes the cake.
** You ''will'' run into numerous ones in every single town. Jeremi and Sol have bars full of people who lost their entire families to the Mist, Ratayu sports a long list of families whose young female relatives [[FateWorseThanDeath were taken as Seru brides]], Vidna and Sol have several children who resolutely believe their parents are still wandering in the Mist, Octam lost much of its population to Xain's earthquakes, and the list just goes on and on.

* NintendoHard: The game is harder than its contemporary RPG's. There's a whole new battling system; it's not that simple to acquire magic spells; the player has to manage 2 different resource pools; in-game money comes in a slow pace while the equipment stores have way too expensive prices; the bosses are completely merciless and, if you want to get 100% of completion, get ready to grind a lot of XP, tokens and fishing points.

** The Berserker has extremely high attack at this point in the game and uses the Rot status effect, which makes it very difficult to attack and use Arts. Berserker also is the second boss in the game with a very hard hitting spell without requiring a turn-up to charge for the spell. The only thing that may help you is that there's an amulet near the boss that prevents rotting.

** You ''will'' run into numerous ones in every single town. Jeremi and Sol have bars full of people who lost their entire families to the Mist, Ratayu sports a long list of families whose young female relatives [[FateWorseThanDeath were taken as Seru brides]], Vidna and Sol have several children who resolutely believe their parents are still wandering in the Mist, Octam lost much of its population to Xain's earthquakes, and the list just goes on and on.

* CounterpartComparison: It's somewhat common to hear [[spoiler:Cort]] compared to Sephiroth. But it's mainly due to hair color. [[spoiler:Cort's]] hair color is blue grey and is a realistic length while Sephiroth's hair is white and much less realistic. Outside of being the main antagonist in a JRPG, the two characters have nothing in common.

** Zeto. He is responsible for destroying the wall of Rim Elm, attacking Noa at Snowdrift Cave and Mt Rikuroa, and is implied to have something to do with Songi and the attack on Biron Monastery all of which resulted in many deaths. On top of that he is guarding the Mist Generator, the thing responsible for every single problem that Drake kingdom has had for the last 10 years including countless deaths. Despite this he is probably the easiest boss in the game. Considering the two bosses that came before him and the one that comes after, ESPECIALLY that one, as well as over half the bosses in the game being ThatOneBoss in a NintendoHard game its very strange that such a plot important boss go down so easy.

* CounterpartComparison: Its somewhat common to hear [[spoiler:Cort]] compared to Sephiroth. But its mainly due to hair color. [[spoiler:Cort's]] hair color is blue grey and is a realistic length while Sephiroth's hair is white and much less realistic. Outside of being the main antagonist in a JRPG the two characters have nothing in common.

** Then there’s [[BonusBoss Lapis]], which can be confronted at the summit of Mt. Dhini after gaining access to Soren Camp. When you encounter it, it’ll always ambush you, meaning it’ll go first, casting Lapis Wave, [[ManaBurn which will lower the total MP of ALL OF YOUR PARTY MEMBERS TO ZERO]], meaning you won’t be able to use any summons whatsoever while fighting it, meaning you’ll have to rely on items to heal. Then, after that, its only attack is pecking and clawing at you... Except that they both deal MASSIVE damage EACH HIT, and most of its combos deal 3500+ damage to characters WHEN SPIRITING, and 7500+ damage when not spiriting, meaning that whoever gets attacked by it will most likely be knocked out. Oh right, and it’s also very fast, meaning that by this point in the game, it’ll usually attack after Noa’s turn. While yes, it is an optional boss, it is still by far the hardest boss in the game. Oh, and before we forget, it has 64800 HP. Might we add that the final boss has 65353 HP? [[SarcasmMode Have a great time!]]

** Rogue. [[spoiler:Despite being played up as the BiggerBad of the game]], it goes down quickly. He uses a multi-hit attack that deals 1800-2000 damage to each party member... but has to charge up every other turn. As long as you Spirit when he attacks to reduce the damage to a paltry 800 or so and use the off turns to heal, you can pummel him with minimal effort.

** Songi. The second and third times. The first fight is one on one with Gala and is fairly challenging. The second time his defenses go up and he has high HP. He has a strong melee attack and a Hyper Lighting move that can potentially kill Vahn and Noa in one Hit. And, of course, he has an all hit Hyper Crush. The fight is a very long one so you have to come prepared or he'll outlast you.
** In third fight he has extremely long combos and Genocidal Cannon does 2000+ damage to all un-Spirited party members. His combos get lower the more damage he takes so at least there's that.

** The DualBoss Viguro. Strong Melee attacks, strong thunder magic, and very fast.

** Zeto. He is responsible for destroying the wall of Rim Elm, attacking Noa at Snowdrift Cave and Mt Rikuroa, and is implied to have something to do with Songi and the attack on Biron Monastery all of witch resulted in many deaths. On top of that he is guarding the Mist Generator, the thing responsible for every single problem that Drake kingdom has had for the last 10 years including countless deaths. Despite this he is probably the easiest boss in the game. Considering the two bosses that came before him and the one that comes after, ESPECIALLY that one, as well as over half the bosses in the game being ThatOneBoss in a NintendoHard game its very strange that such a plot important boss go down so easy.

!!The first game:

** You ''will'' run into numerous ones in every single town. Jeremi and Sol have bars full of people who lost their entire families to the Mist, Ratayu sports a long list of families whose young female relatives [[FateWorseThanDeath were taken as Seru brides]], Vidna and Sol have several children who resolutely believe their parents are still wandering in the Mist, Octam lost much of its population to Xain's earthquakes, and the list just goes on and on.

!!''Legaia II: Duel Saga'':
* GameBreaker: Full Power. This skill activates when you guard and gives you one fewer Art Block. In return, your character's STR triples for the following attack. Since damage is based on (STR + ATK -- enemy DEF), this generally means a 5-6x increase in damage. Combined with Mystic or Variable arts and a reasonable level, it is very possible to defeat the final boss in one attack sequence.
%%* {{Moe}}: Maya.
* ThatOneBoss: Bubba. To be more specific; Bubba in the Arena. Bubba is armed with arts that can Charm (Violet 7), Stun (Final Bullet), hit really hard multiple times (Dancing Revolver), or worse, regain all of his HP (Golden Memory, though he only does this if you put the ring on Elfin's Grave), he can prematurely end a streak if the player isn't prepared to deal with him.

* AntiClimaxBoss: Rogue. [[spoiler:Despite being played up as the BiggerBad of the game]], it goes down quickly. He uses a multi-hit attack that deals 1800-2000 damage to each party member... but has to charge up every other turn. As long as you Spirit when he attacks to reduce the damage to a paltry 800 or so and use the off turns to heal, you can pummel him with minimal effort.
** Zeto as well. He is responsible for destroying the wall of Rim Elm, attacking Noa at Snowdrift Cave and Mt Rikuroa, and is implied to have something to do with Songi and the attack on Biron Monastery all of witch resulted in many deaths. On top of that he is guarding the Mist Generator, the thing responsible for every single problem that Drake kingdom has had for the last 10 years including countless deaths. Despite this he is probably the easiest boss in the game. Considering the two bosses that came before him and the one that comes after, ESPECIALLY that one, as well as over half the bosses in the game being ThatOneBoss in a NintendoHard game its very strange that such a plot important boss go down so easy.
* CrowningMusicOfAwesome: The entire soundtrack. Universally considered to be a masterpiece of game soundtracks.

* DuelingGames: In a way, this game is quite similar to FinalFantasyIX, being a JRPG from the Playstation with a plot involving mist. Legaia lost the fight, however, becoming a CultClassic, while FinalFantasyIX is considered one of the best games in the FinalFantasy franchise.

''Legaia II: Duel Saga'':

* {{Moe}}: Maya.

''Legend of Legaia'':

* HilariousInHindsight: The first game takes place in a CrapsackWorld full of monsters, and the main protagonist lives in a place surrounded by walls. He wants to be a member of the hunters to find food and supplies. However, when the hunters arrive, they bring a dead man with them, to everyone's sorrow. Much later, the monsters invade the place destroying the wall because of a [[NightmareFuel monstrous giant monster.]] It can give you a chuckle over how similar this is to ''AttackOnTitan's'' introduction. The comparisons end here, however.