Your quest for some apples turns into a tale of war, assassination and political intrigue!
Legionwood: Tale of the Two Swords is a turn-based RPG in the vein of the classic Final Fantasy games. You play as a brother and sister looking to pick up some apples at the market, which have all been sold due to the festival at the capital. Festivals are fun, so the two of you go check it out... and plunge headlong into an epic adventure!
By the end of the stream, I think I got to the end of the first chapter, which means I probably didn't see much at all. Legionwood is designed to play a lot like oldschool RPGs, and as such contains lots of dialogue, random encounters and turn-based combat. I suppose that's a nice way of saying the game is a bit slow, but that is the nature of the CRPG beast. Compared to games of old, this one (at least what I played of it) doesn't require you grind several levels before progressing the main story.
Something I could've gone the rest of my life without (and unfortunately found here) are wandering NPCs that block paths and exits until they randomly stagger out of the way. Considering some later games included a way to shove NPCs, I have to wonder if this was done on purpose for that nostalgic feel (and to perhaps give the young'uns some firsthand experience of what would be a "back in my day" tale).
I am fairly impressed with how weapons and armor are treated, though. Many of them have both positive and negative attributes, such as heavy armor having great defense but lowering your agility. This helps make gear feel relevant longer instead of progressing through tiers of objectively better pieces. Likewise, characters are given 10 points per level to spend on skills, which are all combat-related and range from HP to Crit to even Threat. This allows you a lot of room to create your party as you see fit, and supposedly there's even a way to reset skills should the need arise.
The story starts off with a lot of tropes, but the overall plot sounds fairly interesting. Dialogue hints that the assassin is quite reluctant about what he's doing. I expect there's some big reveal about either his identity, past or motivations at some point... but until then he remains a bit of a mystery, which is good.
The overall aesthetic rings true to the days of classic RPGs with colorful pixel art, anime-inspired character portraits and melodies that remind you of past classics. If you're a fan of CRPGs, definitely give Legionwood a try!
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