Developer: Zoom Publisher: Kemco Release: 12/91 Genre: Action RPG
When I first read about Lagoon I thought it was an aquatic themed RPG. I mean it is in the name. But I would soon discover that the title is merely window dressing. But I did not let that deter me. As a young RPG fan I was willing to give anything a shot. This has led me to many a hidden gem such as the Magic of Scheherazade and Brain Lord. It also led to me to absolute crap like Traysia. Lagoon is neither of the two; a strictly average game with heavy flaws that even if fixed would still be a mediocre game.
Lagoon holds the distinction of being the first Super NES action RPG in the US. Between this and Drakkhen RPGs did not have a good start on the system. Then again that can be said for every system. How many of us suffered through Beyond the Beyond out of desperation? Lagoon was originally released for the Sharp X68000 in Japan and saw many changes in the port to the SNES. The story, in which Champion of Light Nasir must seek the force behind the poisoning of Lakeland’s water supply, flows differently. The gameplay changes made however actually make the game worse. Few remember Lagoon for a reason.
Lagoon is a Ys game in everything but name. It uses the same interface as Ys III for equipping weapons, armor, and items. It even uses the same ring system as that game, with the same effects. Hit points and magic regenerate automatically everywhere except boss battles. One crucial difference is a decent amount of platforming which is odd for an RPG. Do not worry; you won’t need Mario levels of skill to get through the game. Nasir has incredible range with his leaps and they mainly serve to break up the game’s flow. If you can believe it combat in Lagoon is actually worse than Ys!
How is that possible? By giving Nasir the shortest reach possible. Regardless of the sword your weapon has the reach of a butter knife and is almost worthless. Enemies have to be within kissing range to take damage and it hardly ever works. Like Ys you cannot damage enemies head on, you have to be slightly off center for attacks to register even though you are technically swinging a sword. At least in Falcom’s game you ran into them and knew immediately if you did it correctly. In fact that is how it works in the X68000 original. No such luck here. Right up until the end of the game I would always question my positioning when attacking. As you can imagine cheap hits abound; chances are you will take damage with every exchange. Why it was changed I will never know but it ruins the game.
With combat in this state Lagoon is more frustrating than it realistically should be. Any boss battle can end in seconds due to your short range. The game lets you save pretty much anywhere but that is small consolation. There are odd difficulty spikes at every turn. The Dwarf Cave spawns random fire dragons that can sap your life bar in seconds. If you do not stop and grind between each major section your attacks are so pathetic you might as well not even bother. And do not get me started on the NPC AI. The game loves to saddle you with NPCs that need escort and they exhibit the kind of brain dead pathfinding that makes gamers fling controllers.
There are few positives in the game as a whole. The magic system is actually pretty cool. During the course of the game you will receive four elemental staves and crystals which can combine to form different spells. Magic can circumvent the stupid sword issues but it slows the game down significantly. And you would still have to deal with the bosses as magic does not work there. The soundtrack is actually pretty good and memorable but at this point listen to it on youtube.
Lagoon isn’t outright terrible but it isn’t good either. Even if you were to overlook its flaws this would still be an average game. The SNES RPG library is too packed to bother with a title like this.
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