The Legend of Legacy HD Remastered (Nintendo Switch) Review

The Legend of Legacy HD Remastered might seem like a superfluous endeavour for those that have already experienced the original on Nintendo 3DS. It offers practically no new features or content, no voice acting, and only slightly improved visuals. This version of the game arguably has fewer features than the original, lacking the 3D slider, Street Pass system, and the tradeship feature, now integrated into the system clock.

For newcomers, The Legend of Legacy is a challenging yet enticing experience. Regardless of the chosen hero among the seven, all can be recruited simply by revisiting Initium, the game's only city. There are no significant differences between the seven heroes besides their starting equipment. No additional characters can be recruited, which might be disappointing to fans of the Octopath Traveler games.

Progression resembles the SaGa series. There's no experience levelling system. Instead, stats are earned individually and randomly after battles or even mid-battle. Using weapon skills offers a chance to increase attack, defence, or support stats, which can be confusing since weapon skills have their own stats separate from the hero. The more a skill is used, the stronger it might become, but that's not all. The formation system, which determines a hero's attack approach, also factors into levelling up a weapon skill's stat.

The combat system is fairly robust, offering many weapon types to master. However, exploration across the diverse regions of The Legend of Legacy might be the true treasure trove. Gold, rare equipment, and even more maps to other regions are fantastic boons to keep the gamer on the proverbial hamster wheel. Completing an area on an obtained map of a region will reward with extra gold, as well as notify the city adventurers to come visit it. Occasionally, explored zones yield secret items from these visiting adventurers, but such rewards are infrequent and not very substantial.

One particular yet interesting flourish is how magic is handled. Spells can only be cast if an accessory is used that allows a hero to contract a specified element. Foes are also able to do this, causing a sort of tug-of-war scenario of the two sides trying to keep a contract with an element. It is possible to contract each element at once, giving a full advantage over the opposition, and each element will give a turn-by-turn boon such as health and SP regeneration to help for the long-winded fights such as boss encounters or pesky health sponge enemies.

Each hero has their own story, but very little is revealed between major gameplay segments. In some cases, it can take several hours to learn more about their backstory. The Legend of Legacy's storytelling could benefit from additional development, as there's a lack of depth in character narratives.

A particularly frustrating situation players encounter during exploration is the Roaring Valley region. Early in the game, this area is filled with powerful flying enemies that constantly patrol. These encounters are lengthy and difficult to avoid at lower levels. While running away is an option, it forces backtracking all the way to the starting point, which is tedious. Adding to the frustration is The Legend of Legacy's fixed camera, which zooms in during these encounters, making it easy to accidentally walk into an enemy's shadow and trigger a fight. These enemies also boast a large health pool. However, for skilled players who can survive these encounters with magic and healing items, they can be a valuable opportunity to level up their characters and weapon skills.