Gaming - Final Fantasy Legend Series

The Final Fantasy Legend

Japanese Name: Makai Toushi SaGa

Japanese release: 1989, 2002, 2007

American release: 1990,1998

While the story of this game is rather ... forgettable, due to its sheer simplicity, the gameplay largely makes up for it. This game may only have 3 classes, but the differences between each completely change the style of the game. With 4 characters to battle with and complete freedom over what class each character will be, replaying this game with a different lineup of classes will make you feel as if you're playing another game. Actually, the fact that there are only 3 classes is beneficial as the game is very loose in the aspect that it doesn't always tell you where to go, and raising stats of certain classes can be quite difficult depending on your class choice, so having only a few choices means you can focus more on the game. Think of it as a tough introduction to the series.

Final Fantasy Legend II

Japanese Name: SaGa 2 Hihou Densetsu

Japanese release: 1990

American release: 1991, 1998

I think nearly everyone who's played the Legend series will agree that number 2 was by far the best. The story was actually grasping, the classes have been slightly redefined to make raising stats slightly easier and a fourth one was even added and is reminiscent of the first game's Human class. I suppose it was so that the few people who liked having to spend a lot of money to buy stat upgrades instead of raising them via combat could find at least one class to suit them.

Final Fantasy Legend III

Japanese Name: Saga 3 Jikuu no Hasha

Japanese release: 1991

American release: 1993, 1998

This is the only game to have specific characters with names and a specific purpose. However the class system was changed to make it even more confusing and annoying than anything else. Changing classes in this game is so unpredictable that most players will eventually just stick to raising the characters using the default classes only. However this is still a very good game.