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"You are free to sever the chains of fate that bind you..."

The Legend of Dragoon is an RPG that was developed by Sony Computer Entertainment Interactive (now known as SCE Japan Studio). It was released for the PlayStation in Japan in December 1999, North America in June 2000, and Europe in January 2001. As Sony Computer Entertainment's first independent RPG, it was heavily advertised with emphasis being put on the development time (three years) and the size of the development team (over 100 members).

The protagonist is Dart, a world traveler on a fruitless search for "The Black Monster", the mysterious being that killed his parents and burned down his hometown when he was young. Upon returning to his adopted hometown of Seles, he finds it under attack by Sandora. The imperial soldiers also have a dragon called Feyrbrand at their disposal, and it nearly makes hamburger of Dart before he's rescued by an enigmatic swordswoman named Rose. Thus begins a story that eventually takes Dart and his companions across the world. Modern politics mixes freely with the fallout of the ancient Dragon Campaign (when humanity used the power of the dragoons to win control of the world) and purely personal issues (such as Dart's quest to find the Black Monster), all coming together in surprising ways that ultimately results in Dart and company fighting to Save the World.

It was later rereleased on PlayStation Network for the PlayStation 3 in 2010 in Japan and 2012 in North America, followed by a version for the PlayStation 4 in 2023.

Not to be confused with the Panzer Dragoon series, Legendary Air Ride Machines, or an Eggman-made robot.


This video game provides examples of:

  • 11th-Hour Superpower: Right before the final battle, Dart gets the Divine Dragoon Spirit and Rose the Dragon Buster from a dying Lloyd. If you don't get it in Lohan, Kongol gets the Golden Dragoon spirit at the end of the game.
  • Absurdly High Level Cap: The maximum level is only 60, but almost all experience comes from bosses.note  Beating every Optional Boss in the game will make you about level 43 when facing the Final Boss. Skipping them will leave you in the upper 30s.
  • Accidental Murder: In the backstory, Haschel's daughter Claire accidentally killed her friend during a spar.
  • Action Commands: Used for physical attacks. Normally, you just have to hit X with the proper timing to move to the next hit in the combo, but occasionally an enemy will attempt a Counter-Attack (indicated by the combo timer changing colors) and you will have to hit Circle instead, or else take damage (and lose the combo).
  • Action Girl: Rose is a wandering fighter, Miranda is a general, and Meru is an agile mage. All three more than qualify. Shana has her moments too, as Freugel can attest to. And Shirley and Damia were among the original Dragoons, the legendary heroes of old. This is a good game for gender equality indeed.
  • Adipose Rex: King Zior definitely measures up. Not only does he have the build for it, but he's most commonly encountered sitting on his throne (which is in the most luxurious throne room in the entire game by the way) or in the banquet hall.
  • Aerith and Bob: The dragons. You have Feyrbrand, Regole, and Michael. Possibly subverted in that Michael was Rose's dragon, and she named him when she was very young.
  • The Alcatraz: Hellena Prison. And you've got to break into it twice.
  • All the Worlds Are a Stage: The final level consists of elements of previous areas put together.
  • Almost Dead Guy:
    • An unnamed villager in Seles lives just long enough to tell Dart that Shana's been taken away.
    • A knight makes it to Lohan to inform the party that King Albert's been imprisoned in Hellena then dies of his injuries.
    • At the end of Disc 1, Doel informs the party that Lloyd is heading west to Tiberoa.
    • Gehrich tells Haschel that Princess Emille is a fake and the real one is hidden inside the castle. Unlike others, it's implied he might have lived if he didn't strain himself.
    • Lloyd lives long enough to gift the Dragon Buster and Divine Dragon Spirit to the party before dying.
  • Almost Kiss: Happens twice in a row to Dart and Shana. They get a real kiss shortly afterward.
  • Always Check Behind the Chair:
    • The Stardust sidequest.
    • The once per battle item Speed Down is in a chest that's almost invisible due to nearby rocks.
    • Similarly, the Material Shield item is hidden behind a pillar. Unlike the Speed Down, it's in a dungeon players can't return to after completing.
  • Amazing Technicolor Battlefield: The multiform Final Boss. Can also be created by the player if they summon their respective Dragons or use a Dragoon Special.
  • Ancient Conspiracy: Several, each trying to manipulate events to their own ends since the Dragon Campaign.
  • And I Must Scream: As the Dragon Campaign ended, Zieg had an "eternal" curse laid on him, which left him petrified for over 11,000 years.
  • And Then What?: During the voyage on the Queen Fury, Rose asks Dart what he plans to do once he finds the Black Monster. Dart, now a bit wiser than he was at the start of the game, admits that he's not really sure anymore.
  • Anti-Grinding: Non-boss enemies hand out pitiful amounts of XP, while Additions and Dragoon levels are easy enough to level up that you don't even need to grind.
  • Anti-Villain:
    • Lloyd is an example; his various crimes are all committed in the name of the utopia he hopes to create.
    • Rose, as the Black Monster. She's spent the last eleven thousand years periodically slaughtering the Moon Children and anyone unlucky enough to be in the same vicinity — all for the sake of preventing the apocalypse.
    • Emperor Doel qualifies, as it's revealed that his ambition was to create a world where all species were equal; he justifies his fratricide against Carlo by pointing out what a weak ruler the latter was, being endlessly manipulated by his corrupt ministers. The unnamed general also claims that Doel used to be less tyrannical before he jumped off the slippery slope, possibly due to Lloyd's manipulations and the death of his wife.
  • Anyone Can Die: A downplayed example, but there are a lot more permanent deaths of plotline important characters than in most RPGs of the era. Even the party isn't safe. Lavitz dies near the end of disc 1, and it's heavily implied Rose dies at the end of the game.
  • Apocalypse Maiden: At the end of Disc 3, it's revealed that the supposedly benevolent Moon Children are actually this.
  • Arm Cannon: Super Virages, as well as the Divine Dragoon.
  • Armor of Invincibility: The Armor of Legend and the Legend Casque, respectively, massively lower physical damage and magical damage and have a 50% evasion rate. The only thing that stops their usability is their massive cost.
  • Art Shift: Most of the areas in disc 1 has a notably grime-y aesthetic. Although not full on Dark Fantasy, it definitely leans into the idea that the medieval aesthetic wasn't always the cleanest or pretty to look at. Come disc 2 and the party leaving their home region, and most of the neighboring kingdoms have a much, much more bright and clean aesthetic, with a lot more fantasy architecture and less noticeable cobble stone/wood/hay in the buildings themselves. Potentially justified by the fact that Serdio was caught up in a large scale war between two kingdoms before the adventure starts prior, so most places are likely feeling the effects of that war.
  • Astral Finale: The characters go up to the Moon That Never Sets to find the Very Definitely Final Dungeon.
  • Autobots, Rock Out!: Two of the boss themes.
  • Awesome, but Impractical:
    • At Dragoon Level 5, each character gets a spell that summons a dragon to attack the enemy. It sounds like an incredible attack until you realize that you could do the same amount of damage with only a couple weaker spells for a much lower cost. The only ones really worth using is the White Silver Dragon, since it does a lot of damage and heals the party, or the Sea Wave Dragon. This is also due to the high magical attack of Shana/Miranda and Meru.
    • Dragoon form itself becomes this in the Grand Gem, the Divine Dragon, and Lloyd boss battles; in the case of the first two, it's because the Dragon Block Staff is in play and weakening the power of the Dragoons, and Lloyd is armed with the Dragon Buster Sword - which can kill Dragoons instantly. Given that the Staff is destroyed in the battle with the Divine Dragon, you might think this would be the end of it... only for it to reappear in the last stage of the final boss battle in disc 4.
    • The Ultimate Wargod accessory causes a character's Addition to always succeed. But it costs 10,000 gold in a game where only Metal Slimes drop more than one or two hundred. In the time it'd take to farm the gold necessary to buy two or three Ultimate Wargods, most players will likely have perfected their Addition timing anyway. Lastly, equipping an Ultimate Wargod prevents usage of other accessories such as Rainbow Earringnote  or Mage Ring.note  On the upside, you can get one for free in the Phantom Ship if you're willing to wade through the chest code minigame, but its only real use is to give your thumbs a rest.
      • With the PS4 rerelease of the game, the Ultimate Wargod has become even more superfluous, as this rerelease comes with a special rewind function - meaning that if you screw up an Addition, you can simply skip back and start over, sometimes in the middle of said Addition.
    • Haschel's ultimate weapon, the Destroyer Mace, deals up to twice as much damage depending on how much health he has, but it's almost impossible to take full advantage of.note  Haschel's defenses are fairly weak and anything he can't kill in one or two attacks normally is strong enough to knock off at least a quarter of his health at once.
    • Once all party members have filled out their SP bars, you have the option of using the Special function to make all three of them transform in unison. In this mode, the initiating character's Dragoon additions will be automatically perfect, their elemental attacks will be given a bonus, and any attacks made by opposing elements will be weakened. Sounds good in principle, but unfortunately, the opposing elements weakness also applies to your team members - so if Meru initiates the Special, for example, Dart will be weakened. As we've mentioned, Dragoon additions often do less damage than the ordinary final additions once they're fully mastered, so magic is the main reason to use the Special... but nobody can use items while transformed, so you won't be able to replenish your MP once it's spent. As such, it's generally easier to just have two characters transform, leaving the third free to supply the occasional Sun Rhapsody as needed.
  • Bad Moon Rising: The Moon That Never Sets turns red every 108 years, signalling the birth of the Moon Child.
  • Back-to-Back Badasses: Dart and Lavitz, upon meeting for the first time.
  • Because Destiny Says So: In the beginning of the game, Rose mentions to Dart, and later Lavitz, that it is the destiny of Dragoons to use their spirits and change the world. Later, when the truth about Shana and the Moon That Never Sets is learned, the entire party plans on doing their own thing.
  • Behind the Black: During a party at the end of Disc 2, no one knows where Shana is. After Dart talks to everyone else at the party, he's called out to the balcony by Rose who asks how long Dart is going to make Shana (also on the balcony) wait. As the balcony being completely open to the party room, the giant Kongol at least should have been able to spot Shana out there. Worse, Dart doesn't spot Shana standing mere feet to the left of Rose until the latter points it out.
  • Big Boo's Haunt: The Phantom Ship in Disc 2, and the Death City of Mayfil in Disc 4.
  • Big Word Shout: Of the Say My Name variety.
  • "Blind Idiot" Translation:
    • The English translation of the game's script varies wildly in its accuracy and ability to convey information.
    • The French version seems to have been poorly translated from the English one. Apparently, Haschel has an Addition named "Staff Thievery", and according to Albert the Moon Gem, is a "hollow" treasure.
  • Boring, but Practical:
    • By the time you max out characters' final Additions, you'll probably be doing more damage with them than you would in Dragoon form, meaning you're better off not transforming into a glowing winged Magic Knight unless you're planning on using magic.
    • Defending not only halves all damage a character takes until their next turn, it also heals them for 10% of their maximum health and prevents application of status effects.
    • Lavitz/Albert has what is generally agreed to be the best spell in the game: Rose Storm, which halves all damage the party takes for three turns and costs only twenty mana. While Physical Shield and Material Shield negate damage, they only do so for a single party member and only once per battle.
    • The easiest party members to beat the game with are Lavitz/Albert and Shana/Miranda as not only do they have the best support spells in the game, but there are more bosses of their opposing elements than any other in the game, barring non-elemental.
  • Breaking the Fourth Wall:
    • One NPC in Lohan, and it's semi-justified. It's just the fact that he specifically calls them "minigames."
    • In the small port city of Fueno, there is a spot where pressing the action button causes Dart to wave to the fourth wall, ie, the player.
  • Broken Aesop: Lavitz claims that his revenge on Greham didn't solve anything. However, to quote HC Bailly:
    H.C. Bailly: Uh, I'd have to disagree with you there, Lavitz. I think getting revenge solved all our problems. We killed the dragon, we killed the one responsible for controlling the dragon, and now the war is at a standstill pretty much.
  • Broken Bridge: Varies from being justifiable to just plain silly.
  • Caged Inside a Monster:
    • The Wendigo can trap a party member inside its body, causing damage to it to be dealt to the party member instead. Destroying the Mooks he summons upon doing so leaves its heart exposed and attacking it three times kills the Wendigo.
    • The Final Boss's second form can suck up a party member and keep them prisoner for a while inside it, before firing them back out to damage both them and whoever they were launched at.
  • Call-Back: Dart and Lavitz have a conversation in Lohan which ends with Lavitz joking about accepting a drink in return for his advice. In the epilogue movie at the end of the game, Dart puts a drink next to the painting of the now-deceased Lavitz.
  • The Call Knows Where You Live: Twice. The Black Monster destroys Dart's original hometown years before the game begins, which is what motivates him to become a warrior in the first place, and the Sandoran army attacks Seles and kidnaps Shana in the game's opening scene, necessitating a rescue from Dart.
  • Calling Your Attacks: Inverted when you pull off an Addition; they only call out the name of the attack after they do it. Played straight with Dragoon magic.
  • Can't Drop the Hero: Dart cannot be swapped out for the majority of the game, and the times he isn't there are no random encounters. Unless you pick an A-team, expect him to be a few levels higher than everyone else.
  • Cargo Concealment Caper: In order to sneak into Hellena Prison, Dart uses a horse-drawn wagon full of supplies and other items to sneak in. Notably, he needed to first hide from the guard inspecting the supplies, then he could jump in whilst the guard gave the command to lower the drawbridge.
  • Chaos Architecture: The interior of the Moon changes to reflects the heroes' respective pasts. The best is saved for last, with a giant multi-screen display of burning Neet.
  • Checkpoint Starvation: The game is usually good at averting this, though there is one rather backhanded instance of it. At the Moon during the Party Scattering, one group lets Kongol fight a Duel Boss and then treks through a long path with no save point in it back to the hub area where you know there is one, and then cue cutscene. Yep, instead of letting you access the save point that's right in front of you, the game then switches to the other group that got separated, which also has a long path to follow with no save point in it and a boss to fight at the end. The path to the hub is before that boss, but Rose pretty much just says "No" until the boss is dead. And both of the bosses are rather difficult.
  • Color-Coded Elements: The main cast, most bosses and some minor enemies all wear clothing that matches the color of their corresponding element.
  • Combos: Every character except Shana and Miranda (whose weapons don't lend themselves to it) use Additions as their basic physical attack, requiring the use of action commands to complete successfully. Dragoon form has its own version, separate from the standard ones.
  • The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard: CPU character losing? Guess who gets initiative.
  • Conservation of Ninjutsu: Only eight dragons exist, but there are hundreds of Virages. Guess which was more powerful during the Dragon Campaign?
  • Convection, Schmonvection: Early on the party jumps over a series of rocks in a pool of lava. No one so much as expresses discomfort over the heat.
  • Coup de Grâce Cutscene: Dart's finishing move, which is subverted a couple of times. Lavitz and Haschel get their own as well.
  • Crippling Overspecialization:
    • Shana and Miranda suffer from this, being specialized as the White Mage. While they do get some good payoff late-game, they still lag behind all the other party members due to their offensive options being limited to inventory items and scratch damage. If the game did not cap the party at only three characters, they probably would have seen more use.
    • Several bosses such as Kongol and Faust are extremely specialized towards either physical or magical combat, making them incredibly vulnerable to the other. In particular, if the player uses Dragoon Armor and Legend Casque, they can functionally ignore the latter's attacks.
  • Crystal Spires and Togas: The old Wingly civilization. Melbu Frahma's former castle is shown to have a distinct Ancient Grome aesthetic in a flashback.
  • Cutscene: Both the FMV and the occasional in-engine scene, typically using the battle engine, which allowed for more detailed graphics.
  • Damsel in Distress: Shana is kidnapped in the opening scene in the game. Even after being rescued, she's put in helpless situations several times throughout the game until finally her Dragoon Spirit rejects her and she has to leave the party, after which she's kidnapped one more time and remains in captivity until the end of the game.
  • Decapitated Army: Averted. The heroes manage to take out the dragon Sandora was using to devastate Basil's army so naturally the stalemate will be restored right? Nope. Because of how devastated Basil's army is, five different knighthoods are confirmed to have been completely wiped out, Sandora's conventional army marches on their capital and captures it with relatively little fuss.
  • Defeating the Cheating Opponent: In Disc 1, Dart decides to celebrate a major victory over Sandora by participating in the Hero Competition, only for his first match to pit him against Gorgaga, a known scumbag. Gorgaga proves as much when he hits Dart with a poison attack, in a blatant violation of the competition's rules. It's ultimately a Zero-Effort Boss as a result of this blatant cheating. If you lose to Gorgaga in the fight, Gorgaga will be disqualified. If you win, in spite of Dart not having his Dragoon powers - Sandora still passes out, but with the satisfaction that he still beat Gorgaga fair and square.
  • Defend Command: Halves the damage you take, nullifies any status effects that aren't a One-Hit KO, and restores 10% of your HP when picked. Not bad!
  • Developer's Foresight:
    • Shana has voice clips and animations for all dragoon magic. Similarly, Lavitz also has animations and voice clips for additions and dragoon magic he would never learn at the point of the game he is in.
    • Kongol's dragoon spirit is found in a sidequest, which requires you to backtrack to an area you've already been to for no obvious reason. Because of this, it's possible to go the entire game without obtaining it. If this happens, he will get it in the Final Dungeon.
    • There actually is an accessory that will change Meru's dodge animation to her dancing.
  • Difficult, but Awesome: Some of the character's additions are particularly tricky to pull off, but extremely powerful when you do, Meru and Albert in particular.
  • Disc-One Final Dungeon: Doel’s Castle.
  • Disc-One Nuke: Though it takes considerable grinding, Lavitz can unlock his master addition before even returning to Hellena in disc one. Similarly, Rose can unlock hers near the end of disc two. Everyone else has to wait until the end of disc three at the earliest.
  • Disqualification-Induced Victory: Dart is required by the story to make it to the final round of The Hero Competition. Should the player lose any of the matches, his opponent gets taken out of the competition (Gorgaga is disqualified due to attempting to kill Dart, Serfius falls ill to a chronic condition and has to bow out, Danton falls over and is unable to get up due to his girth, and Atlow gets disqualified due to tipping his arrows with a powerful, illegal poison).
  • The Dragon: Kongol to Emperor Doel before his Heel–Face Turn and Lloyd to Emperor Diaz until the end of Disc 3.
  • Eldritch Abomination:
    • Virages, who the Winglies used as living weapons used during the Dragon Campaign. They're actually protectors of the Virage Embryo, the God of Destruction. Essentially, those giant bosses you fight every disc are actually Cthulhu's white blood cells.
    • The Divine Dragon comes close to Eldritch status due to its reawakening after it was sealed away by the Winglies.
  • Elemental Personalities:
    • Dart is associated with fire, and quickly establishes himself as being brave, passionate, determined, and heroic.
    • Lavitz is an air elementalist; however, in a subversion of standard faire, he's not flighty or excitable, but high-minded, dutiful, and idealistic. However, he's even more eager than Dart to spring into action.
    • Albert is another air elementalist, an exuberant intellectual with a passion for reading, a tendency to get distracted by matters of the mind, and the fastest fighting style in the entire game.
    • Shana's element is Light, and she's near-universally regarded as innocent, kind-hearted, gentle, and pure.
    • Miranda, another light elementalist, is also a highly moral character. Unlike Shana, however, she's known for being arrogant, aggressive, and judgmental — most of it a cover for her anxieties and trauma.
    • Rose is a Dragoon of darkness; accordingly, she's grim, isolated, humorless, secretive, mysterious, and ruthless. Also, it eventually becomes clear that she's been left traumatized by the loss of her old friends, and can't remember the last time she laughed or even smiled.
    • Haschel is a lightning elementalist, and is accordingly vivacious and active despite his advanced age. He also has a mischievous streak, and gets on well with the water-aligned Meru.
    • Meru, a water elementalist, is feisty, exuberant and very free with her emotions, though she takes great care to hide her moments of sadness. She also adapts quite readily to working alongside Dragoons, then becoming one of them; as it turns out, she's a Wingly, and has adapted well to posing as a human.
    • Kongol is associated with the element of earth; loyal, hard-working, stubborn, and resilient - to the point that he won't join the party until being defeated in combat twice. Plus, his ideals don't change much even once he leaves Emperor Doel's service and allies with Dart: he wants to create a world where all species are equal, and trusts his leader to help him find a way.
  • Elemental Powers: Each Character/Monster/Dragoon fought/encountered in the game adheres to one of Light, Dark, Earth, Fire, Wind, Water, Lightning, or Divine/Null. All attacks, including basic attacks, are affected by this affinity. Also, the dragoons themselves:
    • The Dragoon of the Blue Sea Dragon has water (and ice) based powers.
    • The Dragoon of the Jade Dragon has wind based powers.
    • The Dragoon of the Darkness Dragon has darkness based powers.
    • The Dragoon of the Golden Dragon has earth based powers.
    • The Dragoon of the White Silver Dragon has light based powers.
    • The Dragoon of the Red Eye Dragon has fire based powers.
    • The Dragoon of the Violet Dragon has electricity based powers.
  • Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors: Of the "mutually strong against/weak to" type. Light opposes Dark, Fire opposes Water, and Earth opposes Wind. Thunder and Divine/Null are neutral, neither advantaged nor disadvantaged against other elements.
  • Equipment-Based Progression: While the game does have an EXP and level up progression systems, bosses are often the only ones who give worth wild EXP. As such, most of the stat progression in the game will often come from the player getting better equipment and accessories for the characters from major towns and dungeons.
  • Evil Counterpart: Virages were used by Winglies to combat the Dragons in the Dragon Campaign. In-game, Greham, Doel, Gehrich, Lenus and Zieg become this to the respective members of your party, not necessarily matching up on elemental lines.
  • Evilutionary Biologist: The Winglies in their heyday dabbled in this, resulting in entire cities devoted to the regulated birth and abortion of Winglies based on their magical potential and the siphoning of all the world's dead souls into Hell.
  • Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!: While explaining more about the Divine Moon Objects, Miranda mentions that the rulers of Mille Seseau are the key to unlocking the Moon Mirror. She gives a start when she realizes this means Queen Theresa is in danger.
  • Face Your Fears: Twice during the game. First to power the Psych Bomb, and again while battling the Moon's manifestations. Rose does not face one the first time, and Dart does not face one the second time.
  • Fat Bastard: Fruegal. He's first introduced killing a subordinate in a fit of rage and gave the order to raze Seles because he thought just kidnapping Shana was boring.
  • Fate Worse than Death: The souls of the original Dragoons are trapped in Vellweb, living out a mirage of their former existence.
  • Father, I Want to Marry My Brother: Mentioned by a bar patron in Furni:
    "Oh, my dear daughter, I miss those days when you used to say, 'I'll marry you, papa'."
  • Fantastic Racism: First Winglies against everybody else, then humans against everybody else, especially Winglies.
  • Fight Woosh: One of the PS1 era's longest and hardest-to-emulate (that is, for playing on a computer, not mimicked by another game).
  • Fire-Forged Friends: Dart and Lavitz.
  • Flashback Effects: The first time we glimpse the Dragon War, it's in technicolor. When Rose flashes back to Zieg's death a second time, however (after he reveals himself to be Not Quite Dead), the same scene is Deliberately Monochrome.
  • Flower Motifs: Roses are played with for three characters. First is obviously Rose herself, with the standard beautiful exterior and thorny personality. Second is Miranda, who has a hatred for roses because they were the favorite flower of her abusive mother. Third is with Albert, whose Rose Storm spell uses roses to symbolize royalty and revolution, in contrast to the Blossom Storm spell used by Lavitz.
  • Foil: The original Dragoons are this for the current ones, highlighting the dominant trait for most of them to imply Generation Xerox. Rose, Zieg and Kanzas are the biggest examples as they highlight what Rose used to be and what Dart and Haschel could be had they taken a single wrong turn in life.
  • Foregone Victory: While the first fight against Lloyd may be a Hopeless Boss Fight, every match before him is impossible to lose. Two enemies are disqualified for cheating, one is too ill to continue, and another falls over and can't get up due to his heavy armor.
  • Foreshadowing: The game is full of foreshadowing for virtually all of the major plot twists, so much so that they almost offer a replay bonus:
    • When Shirley is giving Dart and Lavitz a Secret Test of Character, she at one point transforms into Albert. Note that he is wearing green, and has a lance.
    • When Lenus is cornered, Dart tells her that there's no escape. Lenus looks to Meru, points to her and says, "What do you think?" before flying away. When she is finally killed, the ending cutscene puts a lot of focus on Meru for some bizarre reason. It's later revealed that both are Winglies.
    • Note the appearance of Dart's mother... then compare her to an endgame boss and flashbacks showing Haschel's daughter.
    • The music that plays when Shana gets her dragoon spirit is the same that plays whenever she exhibits unusual powers. Then a later cutscene shows that Shana's dragoon armor is considerably different than Shirley's. Both indicate that Shana isn't the true Dragoon of the White Silver Dragon and her powers as the Moon Child are what let her wield it.
    • When the Divine Dragon first approaches Deningrad, Dart is the only one who has a reaction to its presence. Later when hunting Lloyd, Dart's Dragoon Spirit reacts to the presence of the Divine Dragon's Dragoon Spirit. Both are hints that Dart is Dragoon of the Divine Dragon.
    • Lavitz has a Flower Motif of Cherry Blossoms. Among other things, they represent the brevity of a warrior's life, foreshadowing Lavitz's death at the end of Disc 1.
    • There's so much foreshadowing of Rose's identity as the Black Monster that most players will see it coming well before it's officially revealed:
      • Every time Dart brings up the Black Monster, she tries to talk him out of pursuing revenge for his parents' deaths.
      • If you look closely at the Monster during the scene of it burning a guard to death in Neet, you can see Dragoon wings attached to its back.
      • The Phantom Ship is where most people figure it out; virtually all of the ghosts seem to single Rose out immediately. Why? They remember their killer.
    • Even the reveal of Emperor Diaz AKA Zieg being possessed by Emperor Melbu Frahma is given a few very subtle hints:
      • While explaining the history of the Dragon Campaign, Diaz initially claims that he felt certain of human victory - before backing up and saying "my" victory - the first indication that there's a Wingly pulling Zieg's strings.
      • Rose notes that it's unusual that he's somehow learned how to use magic without the aid of artefacts like the Dragoon Spirits, something only possible for Winglies.
  • Four-Girl Ensemble: The four Sacred Sisters of Mille Seseau:
    • First Sacred Sister Miranda: The mannish one, she appears to be in command of the Mille Seseau military and hands out slaps on a regular basis.
    • Second Sacred Sister Luanna: The wise one, she's spiritually empathic and able to detect a person's true feelings.
    • Third Sacred Sister Wink: The naive one, who winds up almost being kidnapped by the Gehrich Gang, with the implication of worse.
    • Four Sacred Sister Setie: The innocent one, the youngest and she appears to treat Luanna as an older sister.
    • The female dragoons. Miranda is the mannish one for the reasons above. Rose is the wise one who regularly functions as Mr. Exposition. Meru is the sexy one who flirts with others and wears the skimpiest clothes. And Shana is the innocent one who has to be rescued and is afraid of fighting.
  • Game-Breaking Bug:
    • The game has become known for inexplicably hanging at certain points when played on anything but an actual PS1. Some of this is semi-explainable; for example, if you destroy multiple parts of a boss at once when said boss has a special move that activates when a part is damaged, the game can hang because the emulator can't resolve the conflict. This even extends to the PS4/5 release, which launched with softlocking bugs related to changing into Dragoon form.
    • Another bug that can appear on an emulator is trying to get the Stardust in Neet will teleport players all the way back to the starting town Seles. Trying a second time will trigger the scene where Rose meets Luanna, followed by a cutscene, then strand the player on a section of the Mountain of Mortal Dragon that can't be accessed normallynote .
  • Gameplay and Story Segregation:
    • In the game, you can buy magical attack items from any store, but in the narrative itself, the notion of human beings wielding magic by any method is considered weird and impossible. Among other things, the Magitek used by Emperor Doel's researchers is new and unprecedented technology, regarded with fear by the inhabitants of Kanzas following the end of Disc 1. Some of these civilians can be heard saying that humans must never wield magic... less than twenty feet from a store selling magic items.
    • Despite being alive for over 11,000 years and taking part in the original Dragon Campaign and spending those years constantly fighting to protect the world, Rose is no stronger than the rest of the party when she joins the team. There is no narrative explanation for this, so the only justification is if she was as strong as the game would imply, she would completely break the game's balance in two.
  • Generation Xerox: The modern Dragoons are similar in appearance to their counterparts from the war and wield the same weapons.
  • Genius Loci: The Moon that Never Sets is actually an unborn death god that is alive and subconsciously struggling against you as you walk through it.
  • Ghost Ship: Or Phantom Ship, rather.
  • Glass Cannon: The Berserker enemy deals high damage (especially at low health) but takes a ridiculous amount of damage from physical attacks.
  • God Is Evil: Soa, the creator god, ultimately created an Eldritch Abomination to destroy and rebuild his supposedly flawed creation.
  • Gold Makes Everything Shiny: A number of the main characters' outfits, regular or dragoon, have gold trimmings.
  • Gosh Dang It to Heck!:
    • The game often uses "rowdy person/people" in contexts which would suggest "bitch" or an equivalent would be more appropriate.
    • When Doel claims to be acting under orders of Emperor Diaz (who died 11,000 years ago), Rose says "Silly" in much the same way one would say "Bullshit."
  • Gotta Catch Them All:
    • The Stardust, which the adventurer Martell is trying to collect in order to wish her sick daughter back to health. Over the course of her sidequest, she'll give you rare items in exchange for every few Stardusts you find for her.
    • In the main game, Lloyd is in pursuit of the Divine Moon Objects and will not stop until he has all three. The first three discs are focused on his efforts to obtain them - and the heroes' efforts to stop him - while disc four is all about what to do with them.
  • Great Offscreen War: The Dragon Campaign and most of the Serdian Civil War; in total, you see only about two real battles of the latter and the final battle of the former.
  • Guide Dang It!:
    • The Stardust quest. Good luck finding all 50 of them without a guide, since most of them are hidden extremely well.
    • The official player's guide itself has instances of this, such as leaving out information about stardust locations in some of the chapter headings, giving poor advice on party arrangement and strategy for many battles, and leaving out other small details, such as how it is possible to modify multiple laws in Zenebatos, not just the ones required for the story.
  • Have a Gay Old Time: Dart's hometown sounded normal back in those days, before the term NEET pops up as an acronym of jobless people.
  • He Who Fights Monsters: Based on some of the flashbacks regarding Neet, Rose has a healthy dose of this.
  • The Hecate Sisters: Rose is the crone, Shana is the woman, Miranda after she leaves and Meru is the maiden.
  • Here There Were Dragons: Punning aside, the story discusses a lot how much more magical the world once was, and what remains is barely a fraction of that and continually weakening. It turns out that is because the world itself is actually weakening and growing more stagnant, the prelude to it being cleansed by the Virage Embryo.
  • Heroes Prefer Swords: Being The Hero, Dart uses a standard longsword. Rose, who fills The Lancer role for most of the game, uses a more rapier-ish sword.
  • Heterosexual Life-Partners: Dart and Lavitz, much to Shana's chagrin.
  • Hidden Elf Village:
    • The Forest of the Winglies has been a refuge for one large group of Winglies ever since the end of the Dragon Campaign, most of them terrified of humans and fearing discovery. Given the human attitude to the supernatural, it's not entirely unjustified, but it's resulted in the inhabitants becoming regressive and weak. Meru used to be a resident of this place and is allowed to return with humans in tow as part of a diplomatic mission.
    • Ulara, the Spring Breeze town, is a much more welcoming example of this. It's basically a retirement home for the Winglies who helped humans during the Dragon Campaign, and though they would prefer to be left to their own devices, they'll offer shelter and assistance to those who need it.
  • Hitchhiker Heroes: Played with. The sheer number of coincidences involving how the characters meet up and acquire their Dragoon spirits leads to Rose voicing the opinion that there may be higher powers at work.
  • Hopeless Boss Fight: In the first fight against Lloyd, it's impossible to even damage him even if the player uses magic items or cheats to use Dragoon form.
  • Hour of Power: Whenever a character transforms into Dragoon form, they have a limited number of turns, indicated by an "SP" bar and number, after which they transform back to normal, and must attack again to build up SP.
  • Hufflepuff House: Interesting, among the games many humanoid races, Elves do exist in this setting, but go completely unmentioned by the narrative, and only serve to be random encounter fodder.
  • Hulk Speak: Both Kongol and his brother Indora, which implies all Gigantos talk like this.
  • Humans Are Flawed: Humans might have liberated the world from Wingly domination, but they're definitely not angels by any means. The "good" human kingdoms are usually complacent, short-sighted, and sometimes even arrogant, the one human ruler who strove to make an equal world for all races was a fratricidal dictator, and the game isn't above showing humans as racist: human bandits slaughtered the Gigantos race until Kongol was all that left, and anti-Wingly prejudice apparently resulted in the murder of a Wingly child. However, in spite of all these flaws, humans like Dart and co strive so determinedly for noble goals in the face of astronomical odds that even Winglies can't help but admire them.
  • I Just Want to Be Normal: Part of the reason Claire ran away from her father, Haschel. She never wanted to learn martial arts or take over the Rouge School, she just wanted to be a normal girl who had normal friends and eventually find someone to marry, but Haschel forced her to learn since she was his own heir.
  • Ice Magic Is Water: The Water Dragoon spirit seems to act this way. When Lenus uses it, her attacks all relate ocean's destructive fury (tidal waves, whirlpools, etc). When Meru gains the same spirit from her, all her skills (including a healing spell) pertain to ice in some way.
  • Idiot Ball: Almost all the characters at one point or another, but mostly Lavitz. Haschel has a pretty bad moment, too, not realizing that the Gehrich Gang is headed by his former disciple, Gehrich, until it's spelled out at their hideout.
  • Improbable Weapon User: Meru's hammer resembles a croquet mallet.
  • Infinity -1 Sword: The game has several Infinity-1 Armors.
    • The Blue Sea Dragoon Spirit Armor for Meru is outmatched in stats by the Sparkle Dress, which also blocks two common status conditions, as well as arm blocking, with the downside being the lack of total protection against water attacks that the Blue Sea DS Armor has. The Sparkle Dress also beats Rose's Dark DS Armor in Magic Defense at the cost of slightly lower Physical Defense, making it more useful in the endgame and against bosses.
    • Without the Legend Casque, the Armor of Legend becomes this, as it lacks magical defense of any kind in exchange for its near-aversion of all physical damage.
    • The Dragoon Armors in general qualify. They have less defense than a combination of the Legend Casque and Armor of Legend but they only cost a few hundred gold each rather than twenty thousand per character. That they also provide immunity to the wearer's element is also useful for some boss fights.
  • Infinity +1 Element: Thunder. Unlike every other element in the game which has a corresponding element it's weak to, thunder is completely exempt from this, even going neutral against itself. This is why Haschel is considered one of the better party members, as he is inherently of the thunder element. The Divine element is also this, with very few enemies having access to it, and Dart himself only gaining access to it in the Final Boss fight.
  • Infinity +1 Sword: The Dragon Buster, which is acquired right before the final boss fight.
  • Innocently Insensitive: While cursing the Black Monster's bloodthirstiness, Dart has no idea that Rose, who's standing next to him, is actually the Black Monster.
  • Insurmountable Waist-Height Fence: In Bale, there's a bucket blocking a set of stairs, requiring a long boat ride to get around it.
  • Interface Spoiler: Several:
    • Note the clothing that everyone wears, as well as the color of their menu screen. Guess who will be getting what dragoon spirit, eventually! Somewhat subverted in that this is a Foregone Conclusion, and that it's possible to not get Kongol's dragoon spirit until the final dungeon.
    • When Shirley gives Dart and Lavitz a Secret Test of Character, she "transforms" into Shana and Albert. Shana uses her battle model, yet this is the first time that the player has seen a close-up look at Albert. Take note that he is wearing green and wields a spear...
    • When a Dragoon Spirit is obtained it gets added to the main menu and the save file. Suspiciously, there is an extra space at the end next to the other spirits once everyone has acquired theirs...
  • Intrepid Merchant:
    • The Peddler Brothers (Primero, Segundo, Tercero, and Quatro note ) sell their wares at Keshua Glacier and Vellweb, both of which are ridiculously out off the beaten path, especially the latter. Tercero and Quatro both question the wisdom of trying to make a living so far out of the way.
    • Dabas visits in dangerous Volcano Villude to find rare goods and offers the only chance to restock on healing items between Bale and Lohan, a welcome break given that there are five boss fights between those two locations.
  • Invisible Bowstring: Shana and Miranda's bow follows this. This is understandable considering that is a PS1 game.
  • Juggle Fu: Dart's initial Dragoon Magic attack, Flame Shot, has him throwing his sword into the air, charging a ball of fire in front of him and shoulder-tackling it to the target. He catches his sword after the impact.
  • Killed Mid-Sentence: Lavitz, as he is fatally wounded: "Dart, survive... and..." He dies in Dart's arms before he can finish.
  • Large Ham:
    • Commodore Puler, man of the sea!
    • "The seed soon grew... to be... A GREAT! TREEEE!"
  • Last Breath Bullet: Lenus launches an attack on Dart just before dying of her wounds.
  • Last of His Kind: Kongol, last of the Gigantos. And for over 11,000 years, Rose was the last of the Dragoons.
  • Lava Magic Is Fire: Dart's skills as the Red Dragoon of fire often have lava themes, like his Volcano combo and Magma Stream attack.
  • Lawful Stupid: The Zenebatos level is all about exploiting this. The robots manning the city only care about enforcing the law but players can change the laws, even ones about sending them to prison if caught or filling the city with monsters (functionally turning off random encounters)
  • Leaked Experience: First, experience from any encounter is split evenly between the number of active party members. Second, half of that number is distributed to anyone on bench duty.note  This can utterly wreck game balance if you decide to leave just one person alive in battle; the dead ones don't get anything, but the survivor and the bench-warmers will all get a lot more as a consequence.
  • The Legend of X
  • Leitmotif: Several main characters get their own themes, which play during a character-specific moment.
  • Lethal Lava Land: Villude Volcano.
  • Level Grinding: Character levels, of course, but also their Addition levels and Dragoon levels. Kongol gets it the worst, since he spends the bulk of the game with only two additions, one that maxes out at 50 SP, the other at 20, while others get ones that generate up to 200.
  • Light Is Not Good:
    • The Moon Children.
    • All Virages have light elemental lasers as their most notable attack. There is a connection.
  • Like Brother and Sister: Dart's attitude towards Shana. He snaps out of it by the end of Disc 2.
  • Lost Tribe: The dragons, obviously. There's also the Winglies, Gigantos, Minitos, and until half way through the Disc 1, the Dragoon. Pretty much all non-humans count for this in the game.
  • Luck-Based Mission: Lenus can turn into this. She can spam four or more attacks at once in the later stages of the battle, and one of her attacks will hit your whole party for 1/3 to 1/2 of their HP. If you get to this point, you're pretty much reduced to praying she doesn't use that more than once in a turn. Not going into Dragoon form can help lower the number of attacks she does, but she will always hit hard regardless of what you do. Saving up to buy a Legend Casque helps immensely though.
  • Luke, I Am Your Father:
    • The end of Disc 3 reveals that Emperor Diaz is actually Zieg, Dart's father.
    • The very end of Disc 4 before the True Final Boss reveals that Haschel is Dart's maternal grandfather, though it's not treated as much of a revelation given all the hints both had noticed during their journey.
  • Macross Missile Massacre: The Divine Dragon can do this, apparently utilizing some kind of organic howitzer growing from its body. Dart gets this ability once he acquires the Divine Dragoon Spirit, and it's appropriately fired from his shoulders.
  • Mage Species: Deconstructed by the Winglies. They innately possess magical power, unlike humans, but when they ruled the world, they aborted any offspring who did not have sufficient magical strength to be considered "true Winglies."
  • The Magic Goes Away: Both Dragoon and Wingly magic are flat out said to have been a lot more powerful in the ancient past, though in the case of the Winglies, it's implied that isolating themselves from the world has left at least one group of them stagnant and weak. Several sites imply that some of this ancient magic is still working.
  • Magic Is Evil: One subplot occurring in Sedio post Disc 1 features the people of Kanzas reacting to the magical research that Albert and Bale are now permitting, all of it being regarded as evil by the citizenry. Those of them who don't believe that the researchers are repeating the sins of the ancient Winglies insist that magic is derived from devils or the wild beasts. In Disc 4, the White Flame Researcher is able to save the life of a child with magic, resulting in a general softening of outlook throughout Kanzas.
  • Magic Knight: The Dragoons.
  • Magikarp Power: Meru. Lowest health in the game, and her defense is terrible. Her attack power is also terrible, but her additions have high damage multipliers. Combined with her high speed, she can actually end up doing decent physical damage. She also has the second highest magical attack behind Miranda, so she can do damage with her decent Dragoon spells and attack items, and even heal, if the need so arises.
  • The Magocracy: Wingly civilization before the Dragon Campaign was basically this.
  • Marathon Boss: The final boss deserves special mention. Even if your characters are all wearing Magical Rings and blasting it with Dragoon spells whenever they've built up enough SP, the final boss can be expected to last forty-five minutes to an hour easily - and not just because of its enormous quantity of hit points either: in its final form, it uses the Dragon Block Staff effect against you, so you can't use Dragoon spells. Hope you didn't use the Psyche Bomb too early.
  • Mechanically Unusual Fighter: Taken to a logical conclusion with the archers, Shana and Miranda: they can't do combos like the other heroes can, and so they can't do any Additions to build up their SP, and their attack power isn't great either since they're literally just firing a single arrow per attack. However, when trained up, they can easily get a flat and guaranteed amount of SP from a single attack as opposed to chaining combos - and considering they're the White Mage girls who want to be casting spells as much as possible, this is actually not a bad deal.
  • Medieval Stasis: The world as Dart and pals see it is apparently mostly unchanged from how it was 11,000 years ago, except there aren't Wingly cities floating all over the place oppressing people. Well, they aren't floating, anyway. This is a major plot point in the game, as it's revealed that Soa intended for the world to grow stagnant and then be purged by the God of Destruction. It's at that point that the plot of the game turns into screw destiny.
  • Metal Slime:
    • The overworld is filled with palette swapped birds who each have extremely high defense, in some cases up to outright immunity to physical or magical attacks. Their own attacks do a fixed 1/10 of your total HP, and they tend to run away. Defeating them tends to net bonus EXP or money, but the real advantage is their physical immunity lets you spam Additions and build them up, provided you can slow or stop the birds from running off.
    • OOPARTS, a small robotic enemy encountered infrequently in overworld area.
  • Mind-Control Device: The Dragoon Spirits not only allow the user to transform into a Dragoon, but it also gives them complete control over the dragon associated with this spirit. This is how Sandora is able to control Feyrbrand, as Greham is the initial wielder of the Jade Dragoon Spirit.
  • Mirror Match:
    • The Indora battle is very much like fighting Kongol with Kongol.
    • You can invoke this in the battles with the previous Dragoons, except Zieg, who steals Dart's dragoon spirit causing you to battle the Dragoon without that Dragoon's power, and Rose, for obvious reasons.
  • Mook Bouncer: The patrolling robots/golems in Zenebatos will teleport the entire party to prison if they catch them.
  • Mook Chivalry: In Kazas, the party comes across a trio of soldiers. Instead of a single battle with all three, you face three battles against a single soldier.
  • Mouth Flaps: A couple of the later FMVs wind up with spoken dialogue that falls short of the mark by about half a second.
  • Mundane Solution: The Mayor of Lidiera closes off the path to the Island of the Jailed Dragon by simply closing the cave's gate to the sea during high tide, keeping the water from flowing out. Albert is rather surprised that the solution was so simple.
  • Mundane Utility:
    • Subverted in the case of Dragoons; according to Rose, it's very hard to transform outside of battle, so nobody can just bypass crevasses by flying over them or easily catch up with Lenus, Lloyd or Zieg when they take flight.
    • Played straight with a lot of Wingly magic and technology. For example, most of the Wingly settlements you visit are littered with teleporters, despite the fact that Winglies can already fly and, on occasion, teleport under their own power.
  • Mushroom Man: Humanoid fungi appear as monsters.
  • Mystical 108: The number of species at the beginning of the world, the number of years between the appearances of the Moon Child, and the number of times the Black Monster has destroyed the Moon Child. The 108th species, by the way? The God of Destruction who is meant to cleanse the world of all life.
  • Never Mess with Granny: Subverted with Rose who is over 11,000 years old, but still looks like she is in her 20s because of an enchanted necklace.
  • No-Sell: Each character's dragoon armor negates damage from their own element. These plus the Legend Casque will make Faust into a breather boss.
  • Noob Cave: The forest just outside of Seles.
  • Not Completely Useless: Outside of the fight against Jiango, a Sachet only does a pitiful ten damage regardless of what it's used against. However, that same pitiful damage is amazing against rare monsters like Rainbow Bird which have only four hit points and grants a massive 3,000 experience upon death (about the same as the Disc-One Final Boss) but only takes a single point of damage at most from other attacks and has a tendency to flee. They can also be used to instantly destroy the heart of the Windigo boss after it takes and releases a party member.
  • Obliviously Superpowered: It's revealed that the legendary Moon Child has the unconscious power to indoctrinate everyone around it into its worshippers - hence why the Black Monster kills not only the Moon Child but everyone around it at the time of its birth. In the present, the current Moon Child is unaware of this power and her true nature, even as complete strangers fawn over her with increasing frequency. She's none other than Shana, Dart's friend and fellow team member, and everyone on the team likes her - including Rose, the Black Monster herself.
  • Ominous Floating Castle: The Wingly cities used to be this, before they all plummeted to the ground. Now they're Ruins for Ruins' Sake. Zenebatos and possibly Kadessa are at least somewhat airborne.
  • One Cast Member per Cover: This is another multi-disc game that has an image of a different character on the front of each disc; Dart for Disc 1, Rose for Disc 2, Shana for Disc 3, and Lavitz for Disc 4. Ironically, Shana leaves the party for good in Disc 3, while Lavitz's only appearance in Disc 4 is as a boss fight.
  • One-Man Army:
    • Dragoons were capable of wiping out entire cities during the war with the Winglies.
    • The Black Monster has put a swath through cities and armies for 11,000 years. It turns out to be a Dragoon.
    • During a cutscene, a dragon is shown easily taking out dozens of Virage at once.
  • Once More, with Clarity: Neet's destruction is replayed about three times from different perspectives, each one giving more info on what happened and why.
  • Only One Name: The only characters with known surname are Dart Feld (and his father Zieg Feld) and Lavitz Slambert. The rest just have their given names.
  • Optional Boss: The first Super Virage and the Polter Armor in Disc 3, as well as the spirits of the original Dragoons, the spirits of the dragons in Mayfil, and the 100% Completion boss in Disc 4.
  • Our Dragons Are Different: They generally don't follow the standard Eastern or Western dragon design, with several of them looking quite bizarre. Exactly eight dragons exist, one for each element. They're apparently non-sapient (but seem intelligent enough to follow instructions), and inherently magical (they power the Dragoon Spirits). Apparently they go insane and become evil if they live too long, but eventually reincarnate after they die. In short, replace "dragon" with "death machine" and you've got an accurate description.
  • Overly Long Fighting Animation: Along with Final Fantasy, this game is probably one of the earliest offenders, though you can turn off some of them. Dart's Divine Dragon transformation takes so long, the game actually shortens it after you use it a couple of times.
  • Overrated and Underleveled: One of the original dragoons, a survivor of the Dragon Campaign, joins your party. Despite having thousands of years to train, they're no stronger than the rest of your party.
  • Padded Sumo Gameplay: Toward the end. The final boss fight can take hours, if you're not well prepared.
  • Parrot Exposition: And how. Dart is clearly the worst offender but pretty much everyone gets in on the action at some point or another. Taken to almost comical extremes when characters are talking about the Black Monster.
  • Peninsula of Power Leveling: Weirdly enough, it's when the game has sequences where you only have a single character (usually Dart) or two characters (Dart and someone else) in your party. Because of the way Leaked Experience works in this game, during those segments Dart (and the second character) will gain much more EXP than the developers intended. So if the player really wants, they can take advantage of those parts in the game to gain levels for them before progressing with the plot.
  • Pimped-Out Dress: Shana and the princesses at the party in Disc 2. Queen Theresa and Charle also qualify if you really look at what they're wearing.
  • Phlebotinum Overload: Using the Dragon Block Staff to weaken the Divine Dragon shatters the staff.
  • Pinned to the Wall: Kongol in his second boss battle had a special attack where he'd create a wall behind one of your party members and throw his metallic gauntlet (two sharp claws on each side) to stick them to said wall by their neck, where he'd then proceed to wail on them for a few seconds before punching them through the wall he just created. You can see it in action here.
  • Point of No Return: Once you enter the final dungeon, you can't leave. If you have anything you want to do elsewhere, it must be done before you get to the end of Mayfil.
  • Police State: The Law City of Zenebatos. It's just ruins now, but it used to be a mammoth bureaucracy where robots hauled you to prison for the most minor of infractions. You actually have to mess with the law system in order to get to certain parts of the city.
  • Port Town: Donau is where you'll find the Queen Fury, a hulking iron steamship.
  • Power Crystal: Doubles as each Dragoon's Transformation Trinket; is handheld when not in use.
  • Power Floats: Characters do this when they are in Dragoon form.
  • Power Gives You Wings:
    • Characters are winged when in Dragoon form.
    • Similarly, Winglies have wings when using their magic.
  • Pre-existing Encounters: The Phantom Ship, Death Frontier and one room in the Forbidden Land has these. With all of them, either the enemy is actively pursuing you or you can position yourself to wind up in an enemy's path indefinitely, making all of them very good spots for "auto-fire X button" grinding.
  • Princesses Prefer Pink: Princess Louvia.
  • Prison Level:
    • Early in the game Dart's sweetheart Shana is kidnapped by Sandoran forces and locked up in Helena Prison, forcing him to break in to rescue her. Along the way, he also meets up with Lavitz, a POW who is in the process of staging a breakout, and the two become swift allies. Naturally, this level ends with a boss battle with the monstrous Warden Fruegel.
    • Later in Disc 1, Sandora conquers Bale and puts King Albert in Helena Prison to await execution... requiring Dart and his allies to break in again to rescue him - this time featuring a boss fight with the pet monster that Fruegel likes to feed his inmates to.
  • Prodigal Hero: Dart has been off working as a mercenary for several years, before he returns to his village to find it's been ransacked and his childhood friend Shana captured by the Disc-One Final Boss' forces.
  • Prolonged Prologue: The real plot of chasing Lloyd as he collects the Divine Moon Objects doesn't start until the very end of Disc 1, about eight to ten hours into the game. Up to that point, the story follows the Serdio civil war, something Dart initially only got involved with due to Shana being kidnapped and Seles getting razed by one of the two factions.
  • Pupating Peril: While exploring the Divine Tree on their way to The Very Definitely Final Dungeon, the team ends up getting on the bad side of a giant caterpillar. Halfway through the ensuing boss battle, the caterpillar becomes a chrysalis; in this form, it can't harm your party but it's effectively immune to all forms of damage, meaning that this is a good opportunity to heal up and brace for the worst. Eventually, the chrysalis cracks open to reveal an imago, a significantly tougher opponent.
  • Puzzle Boss:
    • A handful of bosses (Grand Jewel, Divine Dragon, and Lloyd) will wreck you if you try to use the Dragoon forms, which most will typically only use in boss fights.
    • A few bosses can be tricked or have their offensive line shut down with the proper set up.
    • The Ghost Knights on the Phantom Ship all have to be killed within a few turns of each other, otherwise any still alive will revive the dead ones.
  • Rage Against the Heavens: Subverted. Turns out part of the world's creation included a plan to destroy the world and start anew. Time to Screw Destiny, then. However, "screwing destiny" here means destroy the tool to destroy the world, rather than go up to heaven and then kick the creator's ass. The mission is still accomplished as everyone is still free from the plans of the dickish creator.
  • Random Encounters: Subverted. While the encounters may seem random, they are usually based of a static number of steps. Also, an indicator over Dart's head will always hint that a battle will happen; for good measure, charm potions can be used to avert incoming battles. This takes most, if not all, of the "random" out of it.
  • Recurring Location: Neet in flames.
  • The Red Mage: Meru is a straight example, being useful for offensive magic, but also gains a healing spell.
  • Remixed Level: The interior of the Moon consists of creepy facsimiles of towns you've previously visited.
  • Rerouted from Heaven: The Wingly civilization built a machine that reroutes all human souls to hell (because they could, apparently), and housed it in the aptly named Death City Mayfil. By the time of the game, the device has largely broken down so that now it only snags those souls who are in great emotional turmoil, including a main character and several bosses. For obvious reasons, the original Dragoons took special care to burn Mayfil to the ground.
  • The Reveal: All over the place once you beat the final boss of disc three.
  • A Rotten Time to Revert: The main characters have to build up at least one full bar of SP before they can transform into Dragoons. Once transformed, they have the advantage of powerful magic, total immunity to status effects, and a very useful defensive buff. The bad news is that while they're in use, their SP bars deplete with every turn, and if they happen to run out of SP and revert to normal in the middle of a boss battle, it's quite possible to end up being overwhelmed. This is especially true of the Super Virage in the Forbidden Land, which has a powerful kamikaze attack scheduled after a ten-round timer; it's possible to tank the attack as Dragoons, but if you don't time things carefully, your party will revert back and have to suffer through it as mere mortals.
  • Sacred Bow and Arrows: Shana and Miranda, who both and represent the light/holy Dragoon spirit and fight with bows and arrows. They’re also quite useful at healing.
  • Screw Destiny: This is ultimately the main premise of the game.
  • Scenery Gorn: The freshly destroyed Deningrad, especially the crystal palace. What had previously been one of the most beautiful locations in the game is reduced to a ruin that's barely standing with players having to walk on debris just to get around.
  • Scenery Porn: Some of the (animated) CG backdrops are drop-dead gorgeous to look at.
  • Schmuck Bait: During the tournament, one of the enemies takes up a defensive stance and dares you to attack. He kicks your ass if you do. After defending for enough turns or using a magic item, the enemy reverts to its default stance.
  • Scienceville: The ancient Wingly city of Aglis was devoted almost entirely to the study of magic, and even after being shot out of the sky and sunk to the bottom of the ocean during the Dragon Campaign over eleven millennia ago, the place is still humming. Savan, the last of the Wingly researchers left in the city, is still studying magic here in the company of his creations by the start of the game.
  • Sealed Evil in a Can: The God of Destruction.
  • Stat Grinding: The real point to random encounters is to level up your additions and dragoon levels, as those are the main ways to increase the damage output of the game's characters and aren't affected by the minuscule EXP the encounters give out.
  • Second Hour Superpower: The Dragoon Spirits for Dart and Rose and their abilities are revealed about a quarter of the way through the first disc.
  • Senseless Sacrifice: Shana's attempt to tackle Dart out of the way of Lenus's Last Breath Bullet amounts to nothing as not only does he barely move, but the part she was trying to save him from doesn't even touch either of them and the second part of the attack is easily deflected.
  • Sentai: The Dragoons, color-coded and aligned with different elements, all elaborately transform into their heroic alter-egos.
  • Shaping Your Attacks: Some magics.
  • Shapeshifter Showoff Session: A visit to a Wingly village results in a standoff with the elder Bardel brother, who is out for revenge against humanity for the murder of his sister - clearly not knowing that the heroes are Dragoons. The confrontation ends with Bardel throwing a fireball at Dart, who immediately blocks it with his powers and transforms into his Dragoon form; however, Dart isn't merely showboating - and indeed isn't the kind to show off - but trying to avoid violence through shock and awe. It works, leaving Bardel a quivering heap on the floor.
  • Shapeshifting Sound:
    • Dragoon transformations feature lots of loud sound effects to match the showy Transformation Sequences, including roaring flame, gusts of wind, cracking ice, and crumbling rock sounds depending on the element involved. However, if the Dragoon's reverting to normal, or if you set the sequences to "quick", or if the moment happens to take place in a cutscene, the transformation occurs with a simple flash of coloured light and a high-pitched magical buzzing sound.
    • During a visit to the laboratories of the Black Palace, the eccentric researcher Mr Magi gets violent and attempts to use one of his experimental spells to transform himself into a monster that can kill you. There's a loud "whoosh" sound as he begins to grow taller... and then he shrinks down into a dog.
  • Sheathe Your Sword: The encounter with Shirley. Even if you could damage her enough to drop her health to nothing, she auto-casts a healing spell at zero health and has infinite mana. The only way to win is to correctly answer her questions.
  • Shipper on Deck: Almost the entire party ships Dart with Shana, sometimes immediately after meeting the two. Albert comments on Shana's feelings for Dart before she even says a word.
  • Situational Sword: Haschel's strongest weapon deals more damage the lower his health is.
  • Sins of Our Fathers: In the past, Winglies basically had every other race under their thumb due to being the only race that can inherently do magic, until the humans managed to overthrow them once they gained the power of dragons. However, based on the testimony of the inhabitants of the hidden Wingly village, humans ultimately weren't all that better either, attempting to hunt them all to extinction in retribution to the point they had to go into hiding. Any Wingly that attempts to go to the outside world is basically exiled to keep the safety of their race intact, and unfortunately, this law isn't entirely without merit: anti-Wingly sentiment isn't unknown in the present, even at a time when most humans believe Winglies to be either extinct or mythical, with at least one Wingly having been murdered by humans... prompting the family of the deceased to plan revenge against humans. As such, once she returns to the village, Meru's ultimate goal is to end the secrecy of the Wingly village, deradicalize anyone still clinging to Melbu Frahma's old doctrine, and firmly bury the hatchet so that Winglies and humans can live in peace.
  • Skyward Scream: "Laaaaaaaaaaaviiiiiiiiiiiitz!!!"
  • Slippy-Slidey Ice World: Kashua Glacier.
  • Some Dexterity Required: While the early game additions aren't too bad, some of the late game additions can really push the player on how good their reaction time is, as the key window for the game registering it as a successful input can be rather tight. There is an accessory that makes additions automatic, but it's largely Awesome, but Impractical due to it being the most expensive item in the entire game.
  • Spoiled by the Manual: Lloyd's status as a Wingly. Also, a full two-page spread of CG-rendered artwork is devoted to the endgame party. A sharp-eyed player will notice a telling lack of Lavitz and Shana, with King Albert and an unknown blond woman in their places.
  • Standard Power-Up Pose: Shana and Dart do this during their Transformation Sequence.
  • Storming the Castle: Doel's Black Castle in Kazas at the endgame of disc one.
  • Strictly Formula: A different than usual and far from negative example. In the first three discs, all of them have you entering a new country, dealing with some sort of political intrigue, fighting a Virage (though one of them can be skipped), fighting a major boss about a third of the way in, fighting a Climax Boss two-thirds of the way in (two of which qualify as That One Boss), taking out the disc's final boss in the Disc-One Final Dungeon and, in the second and third, traveling to another destination afterwards where significant plot events happen. This breaks down in the fourth disc as everything is brought together, but it still retains large amounts of the formula. Given that each disc could pass for its own game, this can be forgiven and is probably intentional. The game is best played by treating each disc as separate episodes instead of trying to get through it all at once.
  • Stripperific: Meru's outfit, which consists of a Showgirl Skirt, a bikini-style top, sandals, and not much else, leaving her midriff bared and her legs on prominent display. The fact that it's rendered in the PlayStation's rather blocky graphics mean that it isn't very salacious, though.
  • Summon Magic: The last magic spell gained by each character summons the dragon that powers their Dragoon spirit to attack one or all enemies.
  • Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: In the past, Winglies ruled over all due to their inherent ability to use magic and basically treated every other race's existence as being to serve them. This went on for decades until the humans gained the power of dragons, and successfully managed to cut off the head by slaying those at the top of the Wingly race. Of course, even though they won, that sure didn't mean they were going to stop just because they were free now. As it turns out, a sudden shift in power towards the humans after decades of suffering under their rule has left the humans extremely bitter towards Winglies, to the point where, if what the Wingly elder says is to be believed, the humans attempted to completely eradicate them altogether, which forced them to go into hiding.
  • Taking Up the Mantle: Albert for Lavitz in Disc 1, and Miranda for Shana in Disc 3.
  • Taunting the Transformed: During the exploration of the Black Castle, our heroes happen to bump into Mr Magi, a researcher who has gone slightly mad and fallen out with the rest of Emperor Doel's scientists. Convinced that he's being insulted by the intruders, Magi attempts to retaliate with a number of magic attacks that do absolutely nothing, before successfully harnessing the power of shapeshifting... to turn himself into a completely harmless domesticated dog. Most of the team are merely surprised, all except for Rose, who sarcastically remarks that "at least in the end, he amused us."
  • Tech Points: Leveling up Additions is accomplished by successfully using them in battle, with mastering all of a character's Additions granting them access to their most powerful one. Their Dragoon forms level up by accumulating Spirit Points, with each Addition giving a different amount of SP in balance with their general power level. Since Shana and Miranda have no Additions, their basic attack automatically pays out a greater amount of SP with each Dragoon level they gain.
  • Technicolor Toxin: Mostly green. Feyrbrand can also use blue and grey poisonous slime.
  • Tempting Fate: Early in the game, while hopping across an underground waterfall, Dart warns Shana to watch her footing on the slippery rocks. Shana makes it across fine; it's Lavitz who slips and nearly falls.
  • There Are No Coincidences:
    • Haschel's joining the party to find his daughter, Claire. Dart's mother is named Claire. Haschel recognizes a song Shana sings as something Claire sings. A flashback shows Dart's mother, and when Claire is seen in a younger form in the finale, she has purple hair - just like Dart's mother in the flashback. Do the math.
    • Subverted in Disc 2 - Haschel and Dart muse that there is a bridge called the Claire Bridge. It's a Red Herring - this bridge's origin is never truly specified, so it really is a coincidence.
    • When Haschel gains his dragoon spirit, Rose first notes what an unusual coincidence it is before suggesting it's fate. She later reveals a legend that states dragoons are naturally drawn to each other.
  • This Cannot Be!: Rose does this twice:
    • First at the end of Disc 3 when "Emperor Diaz" turns out to be her fiance Zieg who died during the Dragon Campaign.
    • Again upon learning the Death City Mayfil is still sending souls to hell. Justified since even though most of the other Wingly Cities were still operating, she says they took extra care to completely destroy Mayfil.
  • The Time of Myths: The Dragon Campaign, which is generally acknowledged as a real event, but was so long ago (11,000 years) that most information about it is sketchy at best. Of course, there are reliable sources to be had, but they're not available to most people.
  • Transformation Exhilaration: The various Dragoon transformations often feature the characters roaring in excitement as their wings and magical armor take shape around them. However, this is especially true of Rose, Shana, and Miranda, as their excited screams sound just a tiny bit on the suggestive side. For good measure, both Shana and Miranda suffer an Out-of-Clothes Experience in the middle of their transformations.
  • Transformation Sequence:
    • Whenever the characters activate their Dragoon Power, they assume a dragon-winged, knight-like visage, each with unique animation. Dart has two sequences, one gotten very late in the game, and his second sequence has a long and short variation. These can be turned off (replaced by a brief flash) if you find them too long.
    • Emperor Doel has his own sequence when you fight him, transforming in the middle of battle.
  • Too Dumb to Live: A Snake Oil Salesman brags about killing Sandora's dragon Feyrbrand in Kazas, the Sandora capital. Unsurprisingly, he's arrested almost immediately after his boasting.
  • Transformation Trinket: The main casts' respective Dragoon Spirits.
  • Uniqueness Decay: Early on, dragons, dragoons, and Winglies are treated as myths who haven't existed for over 11,000 years. Over time, all three become increasingly common until they're treated as almost irrelevant. By the time a dragon separates the party at the end of disc four, everyone dismisses the idea that Dart and Rose could possibly die facing "a mere dragon".
  • Unreliable Narrator: When you first see the Winglies via Minister Noish's tapestry-based historical overview, they appear to have the classic feathery wings in the illustrations. This does add for a bit of a shock when you see Lenus, who is an actual Wingly and her wings look more like a jetpack.
  • Unusual Halo: The Archangel of the Winglies - on top of sporting multiple wings and arms - also has a jet of orange flames for a halo.
  • Useless Useful Spell:
    • Status effects have no effect on bosses and anything else is too weak to bother using them on.
    • Rose's level three Dragoon spell, Demon's Gate, instantly kills all enemies. Except bosses or unique monsters, which are naturally the only enemies worth using it on.
    • To a lesser extent, Dart's fifth Addition, Madness Hero. It deals pitiful damage and while it does grant truckloads of spirit points, allowing him to transform more often, he gets it in disc three, where all the non-optional bosses will destroy anyone foolish enough to turn into a dragoon.
  • Vancian Magic: For most people, magic is available only in the form of pre-bought items.
  • War Was Beginning: The first disc deals exclusively with the Serdian Civil War.
  • Wave-Motion Gun:
    • The White Silver Dragon's attack is to charge and fire a large laser beam at the enemy.
    • The Divine Dragon has one built into its spine. It later shows up as an Arm Cannon for Dart's Divine Dragoon form.
  • We Have Become Complacent:
    • Halfway through Disc 1, after the heroes manage to kill Feyrbrand and destroy Sandora's strategic advantage, the people of Basil feel quite assured that they'll soon win the war, and even Albert seems convinced that things are turning in their favor. Unfortunately, they've overlooked the fact that Sandora still has a very substantial army that's already done a lot of damage to Basil's defences already. Bale is occupied by Sandoran troops almost immediately after the end of the Hero Competition.
    • In Disc 2, King Zior of Tiberoa is convinced that nothing could possibly be wrong with his family or his kingdom, even though there's a burgeoning crime wave throughout the country and a Sea Dragon messing up trade, while his eldest daughter is acting very strangely. Consequently, Lenus is able to rob Tiberoa of a national treasure before anyone realizes that anything's wrong.
    • Mille Seseau is at the height of its power at the start of Disc 3, having the most glorious and prosperous of all the capital cities, Deningrad, and its people are notably disinclined to believe that anything could challenge its supremacy. Not only are they completely oblivious to the hostility of the wild animals and the colony of Winglies hidden virtually on their doorstep, but the Commander of the Holy Knights refuses to believe that the Divine Dragon exists even after it does a flyover of Deningrad, and even Miranda delays telling anyone about the Moon Mirror for the sake of the kingdom's secrets. It results in Deningrad being levelled by the Divine Dragon, the knights getting their asses handed to them by the younger Bardel brother, and Queen Theresa being abducted by Lloyd.
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist: Lloyd (as evil as he appears to be, he's only doing it to achieve a utopia), Rose (she became the Black Monster in order to kill the Moon Child in order to prevent the destruction of the world), and Charle (assuming she convinced Rose to become the Black Monster).
  • Wendigo: One of the bosses.
  • Weird Moon: The Moon That Never Sets. Remaining motionless in the sky day and night is the least unusual thing about it: every 108 years, it glows red to signal the birth of the Moon Child, and is eventually revealed to be the body of the Virage Embryo, separated from its soul by the ancient Winglies.
  • Weapon of X-Slaying: The Winglings created two such weapons to combat the dragons and dragoons in the Dragon Campaign. The Dragon Buster Sword, which can pierce dragon hide and dragoon armor with ease, and the Dragon Block Staff, which can sap a dragon and dragoon of their strength. Both of these weapons get used against the party at various points in the game, one of which results in the permanent death of one of the party members.
  • Wham Episode: The ending of Disc 3 is where The Reveal happens for all of the game's major mysteries. They all turn out to be of the Awful Truth variety: "Emperor Diaz" is actually Zieg, Dart's father and Rose's former lover. Rose herself is the Black Monster that has been systematically slaughtering the Moon Children (and everything around them) and that Dart has been hunting for years. The Moon Children themselves are not actually The Messiah that will lead humanity to The Promised Land, but the complete opposite, which is why Rose was killing them. And worst of all, Rose only thought she killed this generation's Moon Child, but in fact killed her completely innocent twin sister: the actual Moon Child and missing twin is Shana, which is why Zieg and his Unwitting Pawns have been after her the whole game to cause the apocalypse. Never has All Myths Are True been so crushingly subverted.
  • Wham Line: At the end of Disc 4 after the boss fight against Zieg.
    Zieg/Melbu Frahma: The time has come. I no longer need this flesh.
  • Who Wants to Live Forever?: Both inhabited Wingly settlements seem to be suffering from this. Played very straight with Rose, where it's explicitly stated that the immortality spell may leave your spirit strained and your heart hollow.
  • Wind Is Green: Lavitz and Albert's Dragoon power and form.
  • Winged Humanoid: Winglies and anybody in Dragoon form.
  • The World Is Always Doomed: Played with in two ways: first is that the world has always been in danger of being annihilated every 108 years, with the best anyone's been able to do so far is merely delay the inevitable. This of course means that the world is always doomed regardless of what relatively trivial things happen in the plot, at least until the protagonists decide to Screw Destiny in Disc 4.
  • World of Technicolor Hair: Winglies have platinum hair, though Meru’s is closer to a pale blue. Damia, the first Blue Sea Dragoon, has blue hair to show her half-mermaid heritage. Haschel’s daughter Claire has purple hair for no reason.
  • World Tree: The Divine Tree.
  • You Can't Thwart Stage One:
    • The party are always too late to stop Lloyd from stealing the Divine Moon Objects. The one time they actually stop him, Shana's been kidnapped and the Divine Moon Objects are the demanded ransom.
    • Similarly, the party always fails to keep Zieg from destroying the Signet Spheres, forcing them to actually go to the Moon That Never Sets and kill the God of Destruction.
  • You Kill It, You Bought It: Three of the Dragoon Spirits pick their new masters after the good guys kill off the old ones. All seven of the original Dragoons received their spirits when they killed the corresponding dragon.
  • Your Princess Is in Another Castle!: At the end of Discs 2 and 3.
  • Zero-Effort Boss: The Super Virage in Kadessa/Forbidden Land self-destructs after ten turns, allowing the player to simply defend until it dies.

 
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Alternative Title(s): Legend Of Dragoon

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Dart

Armed with the Red-Eyed Dragoon Spirit, Dart can transform and wield the elemental power of fire in battle.

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