Legacy of Goku Series

[Mr. Popo Fan]

So we all love to discuss this shit right?

Give your thoughts (good or bad) below!

As you may have heard, I've recently played and completed (for the first time) Legacy of Goku 1. I've played and completed LOG2 and Buu's Fury many times over and actually started a new LOG2 save today, but LOG1 was an interesting experience since the game is akin to the prequel trilogy of Star Wars. There's a debate to be had as to which is the best in the series, but almost everyone is in agreement that the original 2002 Legacy of Goku is the worst of the three. In fact, I've yet to have met someone so brave as to say "LOG1 was the best."

I didn't like the game originally, and after my recent playthrough I still don't, but I hate it a lot less and I'd suggest a new playthrough for anyone really. It was the first of its kind by a small inexperienced dev, and looking at it like that, I can understand its quality.

The biggest mistakes I'd made originally was:

- Played 2 and 3 first.

Doing this makes LOG1 feel really shitty in comparison (because it is)

- played the game like it was 2 and 3.

The combat is different. You can't fight at close range and expect to win. You have to use chi blasts, or spam solar flare to momentarily freeze your enemy while you land a cheap shot. Chi regenerates at a ridiculous speed and enemies do a great amount of damage at lower levels, so keep your distance with the opponent.

The pacing is bad (game is ~2 hours) the story is too hastily explained and contains glaring contradictions to the source material:

- King Kai teaches Kamehameha to Goku.
- Goku informs Chi-Chi of Gohan's kidnapping.
- Goku fights all forms of Freeza.
- Ginyu Force is referred to numerous times as "Ginyu Squad."

The list goes on.

A.I is dumb as shit. If you move too far from the enemy they just freeze in place. Piccolo does literally nothing at all during the Raditz fight, and every other boss battle is just Goku being followed by the enemy.

Solar Flare, Cheap Punch, Walk Away, Repeat. That's the magic formula to every fight in this game. It's actually an incredibly easy game.

The "Ginyu Squad" is a prime example, since I beat all members with two or three hits each. At least Freeza got progressively stronger as he powered up, but the Ginyu Squad was ass.

All negatives aside, the soundtrack is good, and Goku's "pain" noise is hilarious. Ultimately, the game isn't good, but it's good for some mindless time wasting and can be mistaken for fun, even if only during the Freeza fight.

All that said, Attack of the Saiyans (DS) is better in literally every way. It doesn't feature any of Namek/Freeza, but it does the Saiyan arc and does it well. The gameplay is turn-based and akin to Pokemon (kinda) so it's compelling and just so much better. Play that if you haven't. Unrelated to LOG, but fuck you and just play the damn game.

For the other Legacy of Goku games, I like them a lot. Legacy of Goku 2 is possibly the greatest sequel in all of gaming. Not because it's the best game ever, but because it improves upon the first game so much in literally every single way. The music is better. The flow is better. The A.I is much better (I actually died in the Gohan v Freeza dream fight since Freeza actually fucking tries to kill you) the side-quests are better, the character selection is better, and most importantly, it's faithful to the source material and doesn't take insane liberties like LOG1 did.

Buu's Fury is the natrual evolution of LOG2 and some might say the technically superior game. The character sprite portraits are so cool, and they change to convey the character's emotions, which is a nice touch. I do partially agree that it's easier than LOG2, but I still find challenge in it. It also features more RPG elements, such as stat customisation and equippable items. It's a nice touch but it also makes it easier to grind. I do take satisfaction in gaining the max levels, tho. If you want a good challenge, enter each door and boss fight as the bare MINIMUM. If you grind 10 - 15 levels it will obviously be less challenging. The soundtrack in this game is great too.

So as I've said in the GD:

LOG1: 5/10.
LOG2: 8/10.
Buu's Fury: 7.5/10.
AOTS: 8/10. (Play that instead of LOG1 unless you want to play that)

 

[Papasmurf]

You forgot Transformation you cunt

 

[Papasmurf]

Anyway, I'd much rather play Attack of the Saiyans than the LOG series (mostly because I've completed at least 6 files on LOG2 and 3 files on BF), but my issue with the game is that it somewhat fashions itself a successor to games it's not even related to, such as Advanced Adventure for the GBA which is a must play if you like the pre-Saiyan/Freeza portions of the story, and ends before the MaJunior saga where AoS begins. At the same time, it doesn't even have the decency to go to the Freeza saga and onward despite that arc being a common ending for the first Z game alongside Saiyan, and at times Cell (Budokai 1, Burst Limit). Even if the rest of the dozens of DB games released over the decades have done those following arcs to death, it's still uncouth that the game ends so abruptly while teasing a sequel, yet never actually does

But on the subject of LOG1, it's really not enjoyable at all, and most of its appeal is aesthetic - the backgrounds are very good given the GBA's color palette, with the statue of the grand elder or whatever being well drawn and many other sounds and references from the show being ok fanservice in an otherwise mediocre to the ultimate game. But most of the features that helped its sequel, could just as well apply here to make a ridiculously better game when the combined storylines of saiyan and freeza allow for far more sidequests, especially with Freeza having an entire army and two whole planets and the afterlife to explore. It's still a clunky first game that oversold despite its low budget, but for a game that Toei bothered to draw the boxart for it is very disappointing.

Transformation too shares these faults, but at least it's technically a better game even if woefully inept still.

 

[Mr. Popo Fan]

But if your main gripe is the starting point and the end point, it doesn't sound terrible. I do want to see a Namek Arc sequel, but the game itself is fantastic. I still prefer LOG2, but I do like AOTS a lot.

Transformations is shit. I sincerely hope for a LOG-style continuation of GT, but Webfoot will likely go with Super.

 

[Papasmurf]

Super is more likely to sell considering the hype from the BoG and FnF movies is still somewhat alive in the US with their showings in theaters, and as the currently dubbed series there's no way Webfoot will omit it in favor of GT which is done and wasn't well-received in the US.

But judging from those beta screenshots, it seems they're moreso entertaining the thought of a fixed LOG1 right now - although there's little doubt they'll eventually branch out to Super now that Goku Black, Hit, Cabba and Frost are dubbed and added to Xenoverse 2 alongside SSJBKK Goku.

But hey, since you prefer the dub anyway you might just watch the later episodes of Super when theyre dubbed (although they go to shit in episode 66-67) so you can point out what they adapted wrong in WF's game

 

[Mr. Popo Fan]

If they did continue the AOTS series (obviously renamed based on arc) it would raise the interesting question of that series vs. LOG series, since they would both be RPGs by two different devs about the same content.

An AOTS-style Cell arc game would probably crush LOG2 for me.

 

[Mr. Popo Fan]

I'd be fine too with a fixed LOG1 by Webfoot. It looks good!

I'd also play a Super game even tho I hate that series bigly.

 

[Mr. Popo Fan]

#ThirdPost

I think your amount of playthroughs might answer this but... LOG2 or Buu's Fury?

 

[Papasmurf]

I'm not sure how they'd go about with follow-ups to AoS (even though it's unlikely they would). Considering the last game covered more than just the Saiyan arc, the Freeza arc alone might not be enough coverage, yet Freeza is objectively a much more significant and popular portion of the series with Freeza's significance as a villain being similar to Goku and Vegeta's as heroes (that Jump Ultimate game for the PS3 even features those 3 as the playable DB characters) - making a game that contains both likely to end up in conflict as to which arc would be the titular one, although they could just compromise and make them halves of the storyline.

But yeah, the hype for the Z arcs has already died so this is unlikely to ever pass to begin with so ultimately it's useless speculation.

If they do branch out to Super (whether it be LOG of AoS), though, the Golden Freeza arc is a total failure anyway so they might as well follow the manga and make Golden Freeza a side boss like Broly/Janenba in Buu's Fury and skip to the more interesting bits

"Oh hey! Champa wants to hold a universe tournament! Let's go to that generic volcano Goten beat Broly in Buu's Fury and kill that space emperor guy so we don't have to waste large portions of the game on that useless detour!"

 

[Papasmurf]

#ThirdPost

I think your amount of playthroughs might answer this but... LOG2 or Buu's Fury?

BF is too dumbed down for me to consider it the better game, but it has more side content since there really ain't much to speak of besides unlocking Satan in LOG2. Although the main reason I didn't do a 4th file in BF was because I got stuck behind a level door thanks to one of those many glitches and didn't figure out for a longass time that I can just wait for Gotenks/Gogeta to defuse and somehow end up in front of the door instead lol

but that isn't good for BF anyway, jah.

 

[Let's Go Fearless!]

Buu's Fury soundtracks are great too compared to the LOG2.

 

[Papasmurf]

Both had tracks taken from the dub (the music playing in Piccolo's fight with 17 and Gohan's with Cell are of Piccolo's "Super namek" song from Faulconer), Boo arc soundtrack was just less shitty in the dub in the first place.

 

[Mr. Popo Fan]

Sure a continuation of AOTS is useless speculation, but back in April I expressed my interest in a potential LOG4 and like four days later Webfoot made the announcement. That's right. I beat Webfoot to the punch.

I think a game starting post-Saiyans and ending at Mecha Freeza with some decent side quests and difficulty would make a good 15 - 20 hour game.

 

[Papasmurf]

If it ends at Mecha Freeza, one of the side quests deserves to be the one where kid Future Trunks gets his ass kicked in and future Gohan dies. That's technically serialized as a side chapter of the Cell arc, but it'd fit in much better here as it explains trunks' origins without cutting into the continuous storyline of the next game.

I'm torn as to whether the Cell and Boo arcs need to be merged, since the Boo arc generally isn't well received and was even cut from Toei's original broadcast of Kai and thrown straight to volume form for Viz's tankoban releases of the manga in 2005. At the same time, Gohan would have to grow up suddenly and Goku's death is admittedly a big turning point even if not as much as his transformation to SSJ.

 

[Mr. Popo Fan]

I would separate them simply because both arcs have enough material to make a full game and have them be decent. It also wouldn't make sense to merge the two after doing Saiyans and Freeza separate. It'd also devalue both arcs, imo.

I'd like lots of end-game stuff too. It'd be good padding.

 

[Papasmurf]

Well, AoS covered the Ma Junior arc as well as Saiyan. Granted, that arc is fairly short being under 3 volumes long, but it's still a separate storyline from Saiyan.

If anything, it makes LESS sense to separate Saiyan and Freeza as Nappa and Vegeta's actions on Earth directly lead to the 3-way DB struggle on Namek, and Freeza being the oppressor of the Saiyans feels like an organic progression over antagonists who came from said race. This's also the reason why LOG1 combines both arcs, yet separates Cell and Boo.

 

[Mr. Popo Fan]

It's clear that they wanted the Saiyans to be the focal point, not Freeza. The pre-DBZ stuff was merely filler to make the game longer. Not complaining tho, I love that decision.

If they can separate the arcs into separate games and make more money, I say go for it! :elmo

 

[SSJ2]

So I've actually never played Legacy of Goku 2, but I'm thinking of buying it. Emulators piss me off in general, I prefer the real thing. I had Buu's Fury as a kid and enjoyed it immensely. Legacy of Goku 1 pissed me the fuck off and made me ragequit early on in the game.

 

[Papasmurf]

I definitely recommend it. LOG 1 was asstrash of Movie 8-like proportions and BF was decent, but LOG2 is semi-objectively the best DB game of the GBA alongside Advanced Adventure imo.

 

[SSJ2]

Hm, haven't even heard of Advanced Adventure. I wish games were free dammit.