The way they statted Rose is a work of genius. Its only natural that she'd be way stronger than everyone else at the start, but by the end of the game the other Dragoons have passed her as she's frozen in time and just ready to be done with her work.
Yeah well I mean she’s a walking legend THE BLACK MONSTER DUN DUN DUN! The first time I played this and she pulled up will quick after that VERY hard triple battle I was like finally…(when she says HARD BLADE that’s not the only thing that’s hard lmao)
Meru is only balanced by being weak for the first few hours you get her. Her first 2-3 additions are weak and she doesn't get her dragoon for a good while. Once you get the Dragon Helm (+50% HP) on her and some later additions she is the monster
Meru is easily one of the most OP characters in any RPG I've ever played. You can get her up to 110 speed with gear and then use Speed Up on her making her unstoppable.
Yes but unlike the Mario RPG game I couldn't do the timed hits at all even for the DEFAULT skills you get at the start of the game I failed 100% of the time while their IS a accessory that does the hits yourself it not only costs 10,000 gold in a game where most enemies in the ENTIRE game barely drop ANY but you can only buy it ONCE. So because of that most party members are pretty much USELESS without that accessory equipped and since you can't even USE the Dragoon forms IN the final battle your pretty much stuck with useless party members without that accessory equipped.
@@veghesther3204 Vegh, you just have to practice more. Practice until you can do them straight. I'm almost positive that you can get multiple copies of both of the War-God items that autocomplete your additions, but it's not a good choice of equipment anyway. Gold is so hard to grind in Legend of Dragoon that by the time you can afford one of those items, regardless of why you bothered, you should spend it on a Phantom Shield or a Legend Casque instead. I kind of wonder how you'd feel about the Shadow Hearts battle system (especially the Mind's Eye); would you stick a Coral Lariat on everybody for the whole game?
@@prettyvelvet6881 Funny thing is you can farm gold in the game and the plus side it also allows one to learn each character's timing, well save Lavitz and Shana/Mirada, as the capital of the wingly's in disc three is a great place to do it. I got three Legend Casques and the 3 Armor of Yore and maxed out all of the character's additions in the process. So it isn't that hard to grind for gold you just need to know when to. Also by that point You should pick a set of two characters to travel with Dart after the farming.
But if you play the game on challenging mode (which is the mode I like to play) she is easily the worst. She won't have access to the best protective gear, she won't get her final addition, she won't be able to use attack items and her dragoon won't be particulary good. Only positive then is her speed. But she deals low damage, and she dies way too easily, she is worse healer than Miranda, and worse overall dragoon than Miranda, Dart and Haschel. I don't talk about the dragoonform of Kongol, Albert and Rose because Kongol sucks at Dragoon, Albert is not allowed rose storm in challenge mode and Rose is a bad dragoon after the early-mid game.
@@taylorwhite6776 another thing that I think people forget about Meru is she can tank Magic attacks exceptionally well which is key towards to back half of the game
@@taylorwhite6776 it’s not a total waste because some magic attacks, especially fire attacks, still hit kinda hard but for the most part, it’s not necessary.
Great list! Enjoyed seeing some respect put on LOD. My go-to party was always Lavitz/Albert and Rose. Her backstory was so damn good that it forced me to keep her in the party despite her setbacks. And Albert’s additions are too much fun. Really need to replay with Meru in the lineup
Finaly someone giveing LOD some love. I don't disagree with your list however for people who wanna 100 - 110 the game useing every party member is a must Also doing the additions and mastering them is just fun but thanks for sheding so light on this forgoten gem ^_^ much respect. My got party was Dart, Meru, and Rose.
Easily one of my favorite rpgs of all time!!! Great story and gameplay. I have played this game through so many times. Appreciate the video and LOD love
Another bonus of Shiranda. Her physical attack. Its the weakest but it never misses. That combined with her high speed makes her more lethal than people give her credit for.
I usually run with Haschel and Albert. Old man is a damn monster with how I got him set up, and Albert can not only hit hard but also has that beautiful Rose Storm magic, which is universally considered one of the best spells in the game. Healing is rarely an issue with that set up, since they're all able to tank a bunch of hits before needing healing, and I always keep a lot of healing breezes with me.
It’s kind of hard to rank for but rose is sort of high tier with her final weapon which you only get before the final boss but it’s so absurdly strong it makes her on par with your other endgame characters.
for me all party members at level 60 and best gear haschel in red hp hit hardest by a HUGE margin and then i give meru an attack ring and she hits second hardest then rose with the dragon buster is third hardest then albert then kongol then weakest hitter was dart with souleater/therapy ring on
I would move Rose up to mid-tier because all of her stats are... well, mid-tier. Because she has very easy additions, she makes for a great partner with Meru in late game.
Rose’s problem is that her usefulness begins to wane around the middle of the game. Her speed becomes an issue, making Meru and Shana/Miranda more worthy of female equipment, while Haschel easily becomes the best physical combatant with speed equipment and the Destroyer Mace. The Dragon Buster is largely irrelevant since she only gets it for the final battle.
To actually think he was one of 2 final characters in all-star battle Royale. He was revealed by former devs and Abe from Oddworld would've been his rival.
I’ve played through this game twice in my life and each time I ended with Dart, Albert and Kongol. I think I liked Kongol simply bc he was just a giant dude and pretty cool but his dragoon form was kinda mehh in the long run. I’ve been debating playing again and creating a completely different team
Hey man Kongol is amazing...if you equip him with all three peices of Bandit's gear, He is stupid strong and with all the speed he gets from gear he is on another level. I highly recommend you do another play though!
My 1st ever playthrough when in my teens, my party was Dart, Albert, Haschel. Later playthroughs I switched Haschel with Meru and boy oh boy was it a winning combo. Rose Storm + Meru's heal makes you unkillable.
My party comp back then was dart, albert (for DMG cut), and meru. I choose meru just purely on a whim cuz the game felt really easy when i have her around. She can dish a lot of magic damage, can heal, and obviously fast. Edit : this is personal, but i do like albert's additions out of all, they were flashy as hell. so having him is a plus for me.
Normally Albert/Lavitz is my go to next to Dart because of his tank stats and Rose storm, Meru may be fast and hit hard on the magic side but her HP and Defense are abysmal... you need rose storm to keep them alive
NGL LoD is one of my favorite RPGs of all time. Sits up there with FF4 for me. Meru was always in my party but never liked Shiranda cause no combos but used her for lazy playthroughs, never thought of her as good, so always went with Albert or Rose as my 3rd lol
Rose Storm is so good. I was streaming this game and was at the Faust fight. People kept telling me to grind out the legendary armor and helmets to stand a chance but nah all you need is Albert and your good. Just need to keep it up.
I always finished the game and fighting the last boss with Rose (my fave char) & Miranda / Meru (for the healer spot). Initially I go with Miranda but I chose Meru for my later playthrough.
Im so happy that LoD finally got some love with a re-release for PS4/PS5. Im bummed about the softlocks, hardlocks and full on crashes, but I am happy that the game Is getting more attention. :)
Great analysis! And yes, Meru is really overpowered... probably to compensate how annoying her behaviour is during the story of the game. Loved Rose and Albert as well although his additions are so much harder to use than Lavitz's. AMazing videos, I love your channel! Subbed already!
I think you should factor in additions difficulty too. Kongol and Rose were, I think, intended as beginner-friendly characters. They have few additions which easy to pull off and easy to master to get the final ones. Intended though doesn't mean well-exectuted. On your first playthrough you're unlikely to know how to fix the speed issue properly. I realized you can tweak quite a lot of things with equipment and repeat items even without Legend Casque cheese to use any character effectively, but it actually took me several playthroughs to figure out. Also annoying is lack of proper utility magic, limited almost exclusively to Albert's Flower Storm. Some more utility gameplay affecting spells would be nice for those two (and Haschel, but he's pathetic spells are balanced by his stats and additions' strength)
Agreed on the whole judging Additions difficulty part. There is a HUGE difference in difficulty between Lavitz and Albert's, for example. While Lavitz's Additions are slow and easy to time, Albert's have a huge difficulty due to the way he moves (and where the possible enemy counter placements are for many of his Additions). I find that Albert NEEDS the Ultimate Wargod on his accessory spot or I fail doing his Flower Storm (final Addition) because of how hard it is to do (and that's without considering the terrible counter spots in that one). Meanwhile, most of Meru's Additions are hardly countered, though Cat's Cradle still has annoying timing inputs. Admittedly, I never trained Haschel enough to judge his worth; he doesn't get his Dragoon until the start of Disc 2, so I feel it's a waste of AP to train him too early.
I don't think this is neccessary because the game is easy as is, the tier list imo is how much easier it makes the game and how fast it helps you beat it.
I would agree with you about rose being a beginner friendly character with her easy additions and astral drain being one of the most useful early game spells, but its stupid that she only has 4 total with her master and she's the 4th party member you get. Haschel has 6 and you get him later than rose. Rose is also one of the speedier characters, so she is moving through her additions rather quickly. I don't know what they were thinking. I really don't think Kongol is beginner friendly though. The first boss you encounter with Kongol as a party member is Lenus, one of the hardest bosses in the game who uses magic and is super speedy. I can't believe people would have stuck with him after that fight. Its amazing to me that so many people find Kongol to be of any worth.
Wow, that's pretty surprising, I always thought Rose and Kongol were the strongest members, all you had to do was give Kongol a speed ring, and he was your strongest member by far, hitting like a truck and just as fast as everyone else with that speed ring equipped, meanwhile Rose is the first one to get her dragoon spirit, and she gets her ultimate weapon during the game's plot right before the final boss fight, just seemed like the logical conclusion that these two were the strongest. :P I always loved using Rose and Meru on my team, and I always assumed Shana/Miranda was the worst, I also recall trying out a Shana/Miranda and Kongol team because they had the easiest additions? but now I know better with the Ultimate Wargod and whatnot. I really need to play through this game again~ Haschel and Shana/Miranda are my least used characters, which is a shame because Haschel is such a great character, so I honestly had no idea he was that great! good to know~ :9
The problem is that Kongol's final addition is really weak(%-wise), and speed-enhancing equipment is better on either Meru or Haschel. (Because of how the speed stat works) Not that I'm saying Kongol is unusable or anything. Oh and Shana/Miranda don't even have additions. :P
for me at level 60 and best gear haschel in red hp hit hardest by a HUGE margin(his final weapon hits harder when his hp is yellow or red) and then i give meru an attack ring and she hits second hardest i leave her dancers shoes on her poor Kongol with bandits shoes and bandits ring only matches merus speed when she has no gear on and at that point she hits so much harder per addition hit than he does but he is fun to use from time to time and hits super hard early and mid game just keep him away from magic
Oh hey I was wondering if you were going to do this game. lets how would I rank them 7th Kongal- yeah I agree I did use Him at first since he was pretty strong, but he is very vulnerable to magic I learn more about this on the fight against lenus, she will take down Kongal in like two hits. 6th Haschel- this is more on me, but I was mostly playing with rose and Lavitz at the beginning so I didn't use him until chapter 2 and when I used Him he was pretty weak, I wasn't good at his additions, and he kept dying a lot so I only used him every now and then, but I didn't know he had High speed I might give him another chance on my next playthrough and see if he rise up. 5th Rose- She would be a lot higher up in early game but as the game goes on she just becomes more and more useless. 4th Lavitz/albert- 4th and 3rd are kinda neck and neck for me I put Albert at 4th because He's a little slow and vulnerable to magic, but Rose storm, Gaspless, and his final addition makes him a solid party member. 3rd Dart- Well I think the only problem is his speed but thats about it, I actaully did make him a tank like you said, He hits like a truck and barely dies I remember on the final two of my party members were dead, I ran out of healing Items, and dart was the only one left standing and It was Just Him vs Melbu Frahma for like ten minutes, and his powerful divin dragon canon saved me, oh yeah plus Final burst and his divin abilities are pretty dang good. 2nd- Shana- highest Magic damage, and fast speed. 1st Meru- don't have much to add Just use her right and she is the best.
Besides giving Haschel nowhere near enough credit, you’re spot on. Haschel is the 3rd best in the game, he’s easily the best physical attacker with the Destroyer Mace. Rose is the early template for Sazh (FF13) and Morgana (P5), insofar as being the best character early on, but falling off a cliff late. I’m not counting Joker in P5 of course, since he has an obvious unfair advantage over the rest of the cast.
haschel red hp and destroyer mace bandits ring bandits shoes or maybe yellow hp and he will eat melbu alive meru I might be the odd one but since her final addition has such a huge percentage her big weakness was her low weapon damage so i gave her an attack ring ..... she's the next hardest hitter nobody else comes close i ended up turning dart into my healer and meru and haschel with their 90 and 100 speeds just blowing him away
Why everyone gotta hate on Dart. Final Burst is one of the more powerful magic attacks in the game at only 30MP cost only really comparable to White silver dragon and Meru. He pretty much one shots Regoyle and the windigo boss. Amazing additions and master addition. He has passable speed.
My first run was Dart, Haschel, and Kongol. Looking back i was a stupid kid who just liked big number go up. Still managed to beat the game all the same and ive discovered im still a stupid adult who likes big number go up
I was surprised to see Shana so high in this list. I clearly did not have a very good grasp of how the mechanics of this game worked. I always thought she was crumby because she had no additions and it took forever for her to build up Dragoon Spirit because of it. Although I almost never used items in the game until the Psychedelic Bomb.
My trick was to save those spirit potions for her exclusively. And then just let her bow & arrow as much as possible. Also, her last Dragoon attack is absolutely OP. If you get that before the boss fight with the Ghosts, that fight becomes incredibly trivial.
List is good. Glad to see Kongol at the bottom. Disagree with Rose being below Dart, since her final addition is better, final weapon is better, speed is better, and her element typing means she's less hurt by magical attacks - Water and Dark attacks being as common as they are means Dart is in trouble, but Rose is laughing Also, Haschel and Meru switch. Haschel has higher attack, defense, HP, and only slightly less speed. There's no period of weakness like Meru has when you first get her, and even at Merus absolute best she can't compete with Haschels average damage over a battle
Well meru and Haschel were dub the royal wrecking crew. The only issue with Shana is early game but honestly it is literally early game so it does make much difference. I am playing with Sheranda and Kongol now. I know Kongol is bad but is the only play i havent messed with
When I first played the game (age 11/12), I didn't realize you could swap out for Rose when she first joins. It wasn't until Shana falls ill that I found myself using Rose, whom I ultimately stuck with alongside Lavitz/Albert because I preferred having the other additions as opposed to the bow attack of Shana. Upon replays though, I quickly realized just how incredible Shana, Haschel, and Meru are. I've played through the game with just about every style of party at this point (yes even Kongol) and you can have a lot of fun with the variety. In terms of characterization, Kongol and Miranda are easily my least fav. Not saying they're bad per se, but I always preferred Shana's design and dragoon form, and Kongol is just wasted potential. I like the idea here of giving him that counter option, or even some kind of scalable armor like he uses in the second boss form of his, possibly in lieu of his abysmal dragoon form.
My favorite party is: Dart, Albert and Meru. Meru simply because blue is my favorite color and water is my favorite element, it has nothing to do with how great she is at the game (which is a bonus for sure). Albert because I like his additions the best and I like the way he looks as a Dragoon. Dart because you must use him, though I guess... I'd swap him out for Haschel if possible. I always max-out all additions and get their Dragoons to level 5 anyway, regardless of whether I'm gonna use them or not.
My party is always Dart, Rose and Shiranda. I like Meru but i have no patience to level up her addition and her dragon level. Shiranda imo is the most broken unit in the game.
i stuck with dart and rose with the 3rd member always being changed out for whatever was needed. this is easily one of my top 3 rpgs i played back then.
Either out of masochism or a mild case of OCD I always master everyone's additions when I play. It is the absolute worst with Kongol. He is just that slow. The worst part of attempting to use him is that you have a choice. You can spend 1000 gold to buy his dragoon spirit in disc 2 or you can wait until pretty late in disc 4 and get it for free. Both of these options have their downsides. For buying it early, the downside is the game is incredibly stingy with money, especially if you aren't going out of your way to grind for it. For waiting, the downside is not having his dragoon spirit cripples him even more as a character. My party is usually Dart, Meru and whoever has gotten an addition that they haven't mastered yet. Once everyone has it'll usually be either Haschel or Shiranda.
I swap Lavitz/Albert for Haschel. Put Bandit Shoes on Albert and his massive physical attack and shield spell make him way better than Haschel, who I rarely use. Add a Legendary Casque and he's a monster.
Rank 5: Dart ... if you're just talking about "Red-Eye Dragoon" then yes he deserves this rank because he's really well balanced in this game. An exemplary captain with great stats is the "NORMAL" of the game... But that's why he's always the most reliable member of the team. When you need a "Tanker" with a high HP or a "Addition" of sufficient quality... or when facing water-type Bosses, does "Final Burst" really make you feel relieved? You have your own answer. But what about when he transforms into "Divine Dragoon"? His "Perfect" dragoon attack is the strongest in the game (Much stronger than Kongol Dragoon). And then a Magic "Divine Dragoon Cannon" becomes the strongest Magic in the game (Stronger than "Blue-Sea Dragon of Meru") and can be used up to 2~3 times in a row even 5 times if you use "Magical Hat and Amulet" for him. Too perfect for our main character, isn't it and for me "Dart Divine Dragoon" deserves a Rank 2 or Rank 1 position in this game.
final fantasy failed to sell their brand to me until the ninth one. by then, I had been playing this game for years. rose is my most favorite character from this game.
As a longtime fan and having played at least a dozen times, it's hard to argue with this list (Dart can be Top Tier if you use him correctly). Rose is especially true though. She is a must-have through disk 2. But then she becomes incredibly inconsequential. I think lack of additions (only 4) and her third Dragoon spell being useless in Boss Fights just really cripples her usefulness. I only use her in the last fight because she gets her best weapon then and I hate to not use it. It's only been in recent years where I have discovered the brilliance of Meru. When I was younger, I always gave up on her quickly for being a weak hitter with no HP. But she is one of those characters you have to work up into badass territory.
It's funny that the most op character is the weakest character if you put certain restrictions on the game to make it more challenging (no attack items, no OP accessories or armor, no extra levelling beyond bosses & the natural fights you do while progressing through the game, also no optional bosses). If you do this, Meru will be severly underpowered compared to the rest. She completely and utterly needs something like dragon helm/physical ring (broken gear) to function, or the use of attack items (broken too). Without it you have a character who dies super easily, who deals low dmg because she won't get her final addition & are forbidden from using attack items. And her Dragoon is actually kinda overrated because you get it so late that the only bosses she can properly use her Dragoon against is: Vector, Selebus & Kubila, Zackwell, Caterpillar, S. Virage, Zieg and Melbu Frahma. And even then she only really outperforms the other characters against Zieg in dragoon form. Miranda is better against Vector, Selebus & Kubila. Meru is a bit less strong in dragoon form than Dart & Haschel against Zackwell and Caterpillar. And she performs about as good as the other "useful" dragoons against S. Virage and Melbu Frahma. Meru actually is a worse healer than Miranda too because Miranda has more healing options. Both can heal the party 50 % where Meru cures status effects (largely irrelevant) and Miranda revives (largely irrelevant too). The only difference is mana cost, but mana is not an issue. Miranda can also fully heal a single target/or revive and she can deal massive dmg to enemies while healing the party. She is much more flexible healer.
I think if Legend of Dragoon gets any re-release love I'd love a remake of sorts where at LEAST you could get the best gear easier or at least grind exp and money easier. There are simply zero reliable ways to grind without it taking literal hours of time to do so IF you get at least some luck with rare encounters and even then you have to reach a fairly late part of the game where you can buy satchets. I had zero idea of knowing where i was on par with bosses and only if i found myself spending too much time healing did I know I was underleveled. Granted, i had no idea as a kid/teen about the need for healing and actually using rather than hoarding healing items. My self I for certain reasons used Dart Albert and Kongo ... I realize that was dumb now :P Alas, this does mean in any guide out there telling you your best 3 person party, you aren't getting away with an all male party, girl power man, girl power.
Haschel, meru and dart. Their dps/speed/healing/nuke aoe attacks is just unmatched. You can also just not use dragoon at all and mop the final boss no issue
The way they statted Rose is a work of genius. Its only natural that she'd be way stronger than everyone else at the start, but by the end of the game the other Dragoons have passed her as she's frozen in time and just ready to be done with her work.
Yeah well I mean she’s a walking legend THE BLACK MONSTER DUN DUN DUN! The first time I played this and she pulled up will quick after that VERY hard triple battle I was like finally…(when she says HARD BLADE that’s not the only thing that’s hard lmao)
The music in this game is so frekin good to. That menu theme will always be stuck in your head plus that castle theme is goated
Meru is only balanced by being weak for the first few hours you get her. Her first 2-3 additions are weak and she doesn't get her dragoon for a good while. Once you get the Dragon Helm (+50% HP) on her and some later additions she is the monster
Meru is easily one of the most OP characters in any RPG I've ever played. You can get her up to 110 speed with gear and then use Speed Up on her making her unstoppable.
Yes but unlike the Mario RPG game I couldn't do the timed hits at all even for the DEFAULT skills you get at the start of the game I failed 100% of the time while their IS a accessory that does the hits yourself it not only costs 10,000 gold in a game where most enemies in the ENTIRE game barely drop ANY but you can only buy it ONCE.
So because of that most party members are pretty much USELESS without that accessory equipped and since you can't even USE the Dragoon forms IN the final battle your pretty much stuck with useless party members without that accessory equipped.
@@veghesther3204 Vegh, you just have to practice more. Practice until you can do them straight. I'm almost positive that you can get multiple copies of both of the War-God items that autocomplete your additions, but it's not a good choice of equipment anyway. Gold is so hard to grind in Legend of Dragoon that by the time you can afford one of those items, regardless of why you bothered, you should spend it on a Phantom Shield or a Legend Casque instead.
I kind of wonder how you'd feel about the Shadow Hearts battle system (especially the Mind's Eye); would you stick a Coral Lariat on everybody for the whole game?
@@prettyvelvet6881 Funny thing is you can farm gold in the game and the plus side it also allows one to learn each character's timing, well save Lavitz and Shana/Mirada, as the capital of the wingly's in disc three is a great place to do it. I got three Legend Casques and the 3 Armor of Yore and maxed out all of the character's additions in the process. So it isn't that hard to grind for gold you just need to know when to. Also by that point You should pick a set of two characters to travel with Dart after the farming.
But if you play the game on challenging mode (which is the mode I like to play) she is easily the worst. She won't have access to the best protective gear, she won't get her final addition, she won't be able to use attack items and her dragoon won't be particulary good. Only positive then is her speed. But she deals low damage, and she dies way too easily, she is worse healer than Miranda, and worse overall dragoon than Miranda, Dart and Haschel. I don't talk about the dragoonform of Kongol, Albert and Rose because Kongol sucks at Dragoon, Albert is not allowed rose storm in challenge mode and Rose is a bad dragoon after the early-mid game.
I always enjoy seeing more love being given to Legend of Dragoon! It's one of my all time favorite RPGs for the PS1!
This list is spot on. Meru and Haschell is a nasty combo with Dart. Every time I play the game, these three are my go to.
Have to agree speed team for the win
@@taylorwhite6776 another thing that I think people forget about Meru is she can tank Magic attacks exceptionally well which is key towards to back half of the game
Oh for sure it’s a waste to put legend casque on her
@@taylorwhite6776 it’s not a total waste because some magic attacks, especially fire attacks, still hit kinda hard but for the most part, it’s not necessary.
Yeah I had dart/Meru/haschel and the game was a breeze. I want to replay it eventually with a harder team.
I know man but....Rose will stay in my party anyway !
Yesss!
Great list! Enjoyed seeing some respect put on LOD. My go-to party was always Lavitz/Albert and Rose. Her backstory was so damn good that it forced me to keep her in the party despite her setbacks. And Albert’s additions are too much fun. Really need to replay with Meru in the lineup
This was usually my team too.
Same! lol
Meru also happens to be the best character personality wise. Although I like Rose’s grim brutality too. Such a great game.
The Legend of Dragoon is Meru's world and we players are living in it.
I don't mind that at all though, Meru is a cutie.
Truth
My girl is top tier 😊
Meru speed stat was insanely awesome 👌
Cool boogie
Finaly someone giveing LOD some love. I don't disagree with your list however for people who wanna 100 - 110 the game useing every party member is a must Also doing the additions and mastering them is just fun but thanks for sheding so light on this forgoten gem ^_^ much respect. My got party was Dart, Meru, and Rose.
Before the vid: It's Meru.
Post Vid: Yah I figured lol.
Easily one of my favorite rpgs of all time!!! Great story and gameplay. I have played this game through so many times. Appreciate the video and LOD love
Thank you.
Another bonus of Shiranda. Her physical attack. Its the weakest but it never misses. That combined with her high speed makes her more lethal than people give her credit for.
I usually run with Haschel and Albert. Old man is a damn monster with how I got him set up, and Albert can not only hit hard but also has that beautiful Rose Storm magic, which is universally considered one of the best spells in the game. Healing is rarely an issue with that set up, since they're all able to tank a bunch of hits before needing healing, and I always keep a lot of healing breezes with me.
Man such a great rpg. Easily one of if not my fav. You made me want to play it again lol.
I'd give anything for a remake/remaster of this one 😩 Sony at least needs to add it to their classic collection!
It’s kind of hard to rank for but rose is sort of high tier with her final weapon which you only get before the final boss but it’s so absurdly strong it makes her on par with your other endgame characters.
she actually does INSANE dmg with mastered demon's dance
Yeah, but you can't really judge characters based only on their final boss performance.
for me all party members at level 60 and best gear haschel in red hp hit hardest by a HUGE margin and then i give meru an attack ring and she hits second hardest then rose with the dragon buster is third hardest then albert then kongol then weakest hitter was dart with souleater/therapy ring on
I would move Rose up to mid-tier because all of her stats are... well, mid-tier.
Because she has very easy additions, she makes for a great partner with Meru in late game.
Rose’s problem is that her usefulness begins to wane around the middle of the game. Her speed becomes an issue, making Meru and Shana/Miranda more worthy of female equipment, while Haschel easily becomes the best physical combatant with speed equipment and the Destroyer Mace.
The Dragon Buster is largely irrelevant since she only gets it for the final battle.
Gust of win d-dance
The best line of dialog ever spoken.
@@locloudanerpg It's up there with Roses "No, it can not bee...."
I thought I had a hearing problem when I was younger 😂
LoD tiers have been established a long time ago.
S: Meru
A: Shana/Miranda = Haschel
B: Dart > Albert
C: Rose
Dog Crap: Kongol
I literally blazed through the game with Meru's last addition, speed equipment, and using speed and power up. She's just a beast!
Over 2 decades and I am still waiting for more
There’s always hope!
Damn, no wonder my first playthrough with Kongol and Rose was so hard lmao
😂😂
To actually think he was one of 2 final characters in all-star battle Royale. He was revealed by former devs and Abe from Oddworld would've been his rival.
Good list. I found it hard to use both Haschel and Meru since they’re both rather fragile. I would go with Dart/Albert/Meru sometime use Miranda
Meru and I'll tell you how; two words; "Perky Step"
I’ve played through this game twice in my life and each time I ended with Dart, Albert and Kongol. I think I liked Kongol simply bc he was just a giant dude and pretty cool but his dragoon form was kinda mehh in the long run. I’ve been debating playing again and creating a completely different team
Hey man Kongol is amazing...if you equip him with all three peices of Bandit's gear, He is stupid strong and with all the speed he gets from gear he is on another level. I highly recommend you do another play though!
@@beilzabob4419 oh I love Kongol. I wasn’t bashing him lol
My 1st ever playthrough when in my teens, my party was Dart, Albert, Haschel. Later playthroughs I switched Haschel with Meru and boy oh boy was it a winning combo. Rose Storm + Meru's heal makes you unkillable.
That’s a solid team
T'was a Rose, Dart, Albert party player and I now understand why the party seemed as underwhelming as it did, albeit fun.
I love Shana so much. Female light mages 💖 I wish I'd have her the whole game....TA!
My party comp back then was dart, albert (for DMG cut), and meru.
I choose meru just purely on a whim cuz the game felt really easy when i have her around. She can dish a lot of magic damage, can heal, and obviously fast.
Edit : this is personal, but i do like albert's additions out of all, they were flashy as hell. so having him is a plus for me.
You are one of my favorite content creators right now. Such nostalgia!
Thanks!!
Awesome as always. Rod Typhoon!
even before the internet my grandpa, the 1 to introduce an later give me the game, would run a meru kongol line up
This game deserves a remake.
Yes I’m glad they ported this to the Ps4 and it works well
Much respect to you my friend, I clicked on this video ready to flame you! Yet you covered everything!! I love it!!
That’s awesome. Don’t watch the rest of my vids. My channel’s terrible. Trust me. 😘
I actually had Kongol in my party since I got him and did very well with him. I also had Shiranda and I enjoyed it well enough.
Tier list for a game from 1999? Yes please
Stick around my friend. I have shining the ark and the GBA fire Emblem coming soon!
Normally Albert/Lavitz is my go to next to Dart because of his tank stats and Rose storm, Meru may be fast and hit hard on the magic side but her HP and Defense are abysmal... you need rose storm to keep them alive
Albert does massive damage endgame if you get his best addition. Dart Albert and Meru
NGL LoD is one of my favorite RPGs of all time. Sits up there with FF4 for me. Meru was always in my party but never liked Shiranda cause no combos but used her for lazy playthroughs, never thought of her as good, so always went with Albert or Rose as my 3rd lol
Rose Storm is so good. I was streaming this game and was at the Faust fight. People kept telling me to grind out the legendary armor and helmets to stand a chance but nah all you need is Albert and your good. Just need to keep it up.
I always finished the game and fighting the last boss with Rose (my fave char) & Miranda / Meru (for the healer spot). Initially I go with Miranda but I chose Meru for my later playthrough.
As someone with kids i adored the intro. Rock on fellow dad.
Haha ever since my son did the trials of mana vid my daughters been begging to do one. Thanks for the awesome comment. I’ll let her know!
Im so happy that LoD finally got some love with a re-release for PS4/PS5.
Im bummed about the softlocks, hardlocks and full on crashes, but I am happy that the game Is getting more attention. :)
Yes! Finally! I’ve been waiting for this one!
Great analysis! And yes, Meru is really overpowered... probably to compensate how annoying her behaviour is during the story of the game. Loved Rose and Albert as well although his additions are so much harder to use than Lavitz's. AMazing videos, I love your channel! Subbed already!
My list is still Dart, Rose, and Albert. Complete all the their additions and get their final additions then sat back and enjoy the game
Dart meru (with 50%hp bracelet) Albert (with 50% reduction magic helm) Best Team
Dart, Meru, and the Has was the party I first beat the game with.
I think you should factor in additions difficulty too. Kongol and Rose were, I think, intended as beginner-friendly characters. They have few additions which easy to pull off and easy to master to get the final ones. Intended though doesn't mean well-exectuted. On your first playthrough you're unlikely to know how to fix the speed issue properly. I realized you can tweak quite a lot of things with equipment and repeat items even without Legend Casque cheese to use any character effectively, but it actually took me several playthroughs to figure out. Also annoying is lack of proper utility magic, limited almost exclusively to Albert's Flower Storm. Some more utility gameplay affecting spells would be nice for those two (and Haschel, but he's pathetic spells are balanced by his stats and additions' strength)
You should totally play it again. I play this game atleast 6 times a year and beat it in the most absured manner I can. It's just that fun to me.
Agreed on the whole judging Additions difficulty part. There is a HUGE difference in difficulty between Lavitz and Albert's, for example. While Lavitz's Additions are slow and easy to time, Albert's have a huge difficulty due to the way he moves (and where the possible enemy counter placements are for many of his Additions).
I find that Albert NEEDS the Ultimate Wargod on his accessory spot or I fail doing his Flower Storm (final Addition) because of how hard it is to do (and that's without considering the terrible counter spots in that one).
Meanwhile, most of Meru's Additions are hardly countered, though Cat's Cradle still has annoying timing inputs.
Admittedly, I never trained Haschel enough to judge his worth; he doesn't get his Dragoon until the start of Disc 2, so I feel it's a waste of AP to train him too early.
I don't think this is neccessary because the game is easy as is, the tier list imo is how much easier it makes the game and how fast it helps you beat it.
@@inkpaladin haschel is a beast additions are slightly difficult not more than Albert’s
I would agree with you about rose being a beginner friendly character with her easy additions and astral drain being one of the most useful early game spells, but its stupid that she only has 4 total with her master and she's the 4th party member you get. Haschel has 6 and you get him later than rose. Rose is also one of the speedier characters, so she is moving through her additions rather quickly. I don't know what they were thinking. I really don't think Kongol is beginner friendly though. The first boss you encounter with Kongol as a party member is Lenus, one of the hardest bosses in the game who uses magic and is super speedy. I can't believe people would have stuck with him after that fight. Its amazing to me that so many people find Kongol to be of any worth.
Wow, that's pretty surprising, I always thought Rose and Kongol were the strongest members, all you had to do was give Kongol a speed ring, and he was your strongest member by far, hitting like a truck and just as fast as everyone else with that speed ring equipped, meanwhile Rose is the first one to get her dragoon spirit, and she gets her ultimate weapon during the game's plot right before the final boss fight, just seemed like the logical conclusion that these two were the strongest. :P
I always loved using Rose and Meru on my team, and I always assumed Shana/Miranda was the worst, I also recall trying out a Shana/Miranda and Kongol team because they had the easiest additions? but now I know better with the Ultimate Wargod and whatnot. I really need to play through this game again~
Haschel and Shana/Miranda are my least used characters, which is a shame because Haschel is such a great character, so I honestly had no idea he was that great! good to know~ :9
The problem is that Kongol's final addition is really weak(%-wise), and speed-enhancing equipment is better on either Meru or Haschel. (Because of how the speed stat works)
Not that I'm saying Kongol is unusable or anything.
Oh and Shana/Miranda don't even have additions. :P
for me at level 60 and best gear haschel in red hp hit hardest by a HUGE margin(his final weapon hits harder when his hp is yellow or red) and then i give meru an attack ring and she hits second hardest i leave her dancers shoes on her poor Kongol with bandits shoes and bandits ring only matches merus speed when she has no gear on and at that point she hits so much harder per addition hit than he does but he is fun to use from time to time and hits super hard early and mid game just keep him away from magic
Funny i play it right now and am right before Lloyd and my team is Dart, Haschel and Meru 😂.
Good to see i picked the best possible Team there is.
I would love to play with with a Shiranda, Meru, and Haschel party.
This need a remake or Remaster
Oh hey I was wondering if you were going to do this game. lets how would I rank them
7th Kongal- yeah I agree I did use Him at first since he was pretty strong, but he is very vulnerable to magic I learn more about this on the fight against lenus, she will take down Kongal in like two hits.
6th Haschel- this is more on me, but I was mostly playing with rose and Lavitz at the beginning so I didn't use him until chapter 2 and when I used Him he was pretty weak, I wasn't good at his additions, and he kept dying a lot so I only used him every now and then, but I didn't know he had High speed I might give him another chance on my next playthrough and see if he rise up.
5th Rose- She would be a lot higher up in early game but as the game goes on she just becomes more and more useless.
4th Lavitz/albert- 4th and 3rd are kinda neck and neck for me I put Albert at 4th because He's a little slow and vulnerable to magic, but Rose storm, Gaspless, and his final addition makes him a solid party member.
3rd Dart- Well I think the only problem is his speed but thats about it, I actaully did make him a tank like you said, He hits like a truck and barely dies I remember on the final two of my party members were dead, I ran out of healing Items, and dart was the only one left standing and It was Just Him vs Melbu Frahma for like ten minutes, and his powerful divin dragon canon saved me, oh yeah plus Final burst and his divin abilities are pretty dang good.
2nd- Shana- highest Magic damage, and fast speed.
1st Meru- don't have much to add Just use her right and she is the best.
Pretty similar!
Besides giving Haschel nowhere near enough credit, you’re spot on. Haschel is the 3rd best in the game, he’s easily the best physical attacker with the Destroyer Mace.
Rose is the early template for Sazh (FF13) and Morgana (P5), insofar as being the best character early on, but falling off a cliff late. I’m not counting Joker in P5 of course, since he has an obvious unfair advantage over the rest of the cast.
haschel red hp and destroyer mace bandits ring bandits shoes or maybe yellow hp and he will eat melbu alive meru I might be the odd one but since her final addition has such a huge percentage her big weakness was her low weapon damage so i gave her an attack ring ..... she's the next hardest hitter nobody else comes close i ended up turning dart into my healer and meru and haschel with their 90 and 100 speeds just blowing him away
Why everyone gotta hate on Dart. Final Burst is one of the more powerful magic attacks in the game at only 30MP cost only really comparable to White silver dragon and Meru. He pretty much one shots Regoyle and the windigo boss. Amazing additions and master addition. He has passable speed.
Technically Miranda and Shana are the most op since with the right setup you can't die with them.
My first run was Dart, Haschel, and Kongol. Looking back i was a stupid kid who just liked big number go up. Still managed to beat the game all the same and ive discovered im still a stupid adult who likes big number go up
I was surprised to see Shana so high in this list. I clearly did not have a very good grasp of how the mechanics of this game worked. I always thought she was crumby because she had no additions and it took forever for her to build up Dragoon Spirit because of it. Although I almost never used items in the game until the Psychedelic Bomb.
My trick was to save those spirit potions for her exclusively. And then just let her bow & arrow as much as possible. Also, her last Dragoon attack is absolutely OP. If you get that before the boss fight with the Ghosts, that fight becomes incredibly trivial.
i tried over leveled play. Shana level 8 can defeat Fruegel with 1 magic item lol
List is good. Glad to see Kongol at the bottom. Disagree with Rose being below Dart, since her final addition is better, final weapon is better, speed is better, and her element typing means she's less hurt by magical attacks - Water and Dark attacks being as common as they are means Dart is in trouble, but Rose is laughing
Also, Haschel and Meru switch. Haschel has higher attack, defense, HP, and only slightly less speed. There's no period of weakness like Meru has when you first get her, and even at Merus absolute best she can't compete with Haschels average damage over a battle
it's her magic that gives her the edge there haschels magic is garbage since he hits harder then he casts
Well meru and Haschel were dub the royal wrecking crew. The only issue with Shana is early game but honestly it is literally early game so it does make much difference. I am playing with Sheranda and Kongol now. I know Kongol is bad but is the only play i havent messed with
I beat the game as a kid with rose and kongol. I feel proud knowing I played on hard mode
When I first played the game (age 11/12), I didn't realize you could swap out for Rose when she first joins. It wasn't until Shana falls ill that I found myself using Rose, whom I ultimately stuck with alongside Lavitz/Albert because I preferred having the other additions as opposed to the bow attack of Shana. Upon replays though, I quickly realized just how incredible Shana, Haschel, and Meru are. I've played through the game with just about every style of party at this point (yes even Kongol) and you can have a lot of fun with the variety. In terms of characterization, Kongol and Miranda are easily my least fav. Not saying they're bad per se, but I always preferred Shana's design and dragoon form, and Kongol is just wasted potential. I like the idea here of giving him that counter option, or even some kind of scalable armor like he uses in the second boss form of his, possibly in lieu of his abysmal dragoon form.
My favorite party is: Dart, Albert and Meru. Meru simply because blue is my favorite color and water is my favorite element, it has nothing to do with how great she is at the game (which is a bonus for sure). Albert because I like his additions the best and I like the way he looks as a Dragoon. Dart because you must use him, though I guess... I'd swap him out for Haschel if possible. I always max-out all additions and get their Dragoons to level 5 anyway, regardless of whether I'm gonna use them or not.
My party is always Dart, Rose and Shiranda. I like Meru but i have no patience to level up her addition and her dragon level. Shiranda imo is the most broken unit in the game.
Aside from Dart, I took Hashchel and Kongol all the way to the end! Hehehe good times!!!
Dang, I always level them evenly
i stuck with dart and rose with the 3rd member always being changed out for whatever was needed.
this is easily one of my top 3 rpgs i played back then.
Either out of masochism or a mild case of OCD I always master everyone's additions when I play. It is the absolute worst with Kongol. He is just that slow. The worst part of attempting to use him is that you have a choice. You can spend 1000 gold to buy his dragoon spirit in disc 2 or you can wait until pretty late in disc 4 and get it for free. Both of these options have their downsides. For buying it early, the downside is the game is incredibly stingy with money, especially if you aren't going out of your way to grind for it. For waiting, the downside is not having his dragoon spirit cripples him even more as a character.
My party is usually Dart, Meru and whoever has gotten an addition that they haven't mastered yet. Once everyone has it'll usually be either Haschel or Shiranda.
I swap Lavitz/Albert for Haschel. Put Bandit Shoes on Albert and his massive physical attack and shield spell make him way better than Haschel, who I rarely use. Add a Legendary Casque and he's a monster.
Dart - Haschel - Meru for crazy end game speed priority ( best sett-up in my opinion i destroyed the last boss with no healing items )
Also the official guidebook goes by the worst team possible, kongol and Albert
Rank 5: Dart ... if you're just talking about "Red-Eye Dragoon" then yes he deserves this rank because he's really well balanced in this game. An exemplary captain with great stats is the "NORMAL" of the game... But that's why he's always the most reliable member of the team. When you need a "Tanker" with a high HP or a "Addition" of sufficient quality... or when facing water-type Bosses, does "Final Burst" really make you feel relieved? You have your own answer.
But what about when he transforms into "Divine Dragoon"? His "Perfect" dragoon attack is the strongest in the game (Much stronger than Kongol Dragoon). And then a Magic "Divine Dragoon Cannon" becomes the strongest Magic in the game (Stronger than "Blue-Sea Dragon of Meru") and can be used up to 2~3 times in a row even 5 times if you use "Magical Hat and Amulet" for him. Too perfect for our main character, isn't it and for me "Dart Divine Dragoon" deserves a Rank 2 or Rank 1 position in this game.
Agree 100% and the best party for me is dart-haschel-meru
Meru and Haschel. Hardest additions keep the game interesting. Too bad it'll take a miracle for us to get a remake.
I said the same thing about Tokyo mirage sessions and suikoden 2. Don’t underestimate my voodoo magic!
I wish there was an easy way to play this nowadays
How did more and more not make it at the end I was just using it and she says it top notch
The game is available for purchase on the PS4 and PS5.
God this is an old game. I got up to the dragoon of Light joining me and then the game stopped working.😅
This and Beyond the Beyond were *awesome*.
The Saturn didn't get enough love though , and Team Camelot was/is well... still love!
I love Shining the holy Ark and Golden Sun. I plan on hitting those one day!
final fantasy failed to sell their brand to me until the ninth one. by then, I had been playing this game for years. rose is my most favorite character from this game.
i swore u make the best rpg videos man!
May you please do a who is best based on Ultimate alliance?
That'll certainly take a while
As a longtime fan and having played at least a dozen times, it's hard to argue with this list (Dart can be Top Tier if you use him correctly). Rose is especially true though. She is a must-have through disk 2. But then she becomes incredibly inconsequential. I think lack of additions (only 4) and her third Dragoon spell being useless in Boss Fights just really cripples her usefulness. I only use her in the last fight because she gets her best weapon then and I hate to not use it.
It's only been in recent years where I have discovered the brilliance of Meru. When I was younger, I always gave up on her quickly for being a weak hitter with no HP. But she is one of those characters you have to work up into badass territory.
Sounds like some solid knowledge!
throw an attack ring on meru and test it out when you get her final addition
My first playthrough was rose hachel and dart. After this playthrough, it was always hachel meru and dart because speed is the best.
I love this game
Man where is the Summon four gods/Destroy four gods...
Ah Meru. As soon as I got her she became my Main character lol. Gave her only the best.
It's funny that the most op character is the weakest character if you put certain restrictions on the game to make it more challenging (no attack items, no OP accessories or armor, no extra levelling beyond bosses & the natural fights you do while progressing through the game, also no optional bosses).
If you do this, Meru will be severly underpowered compared to the rest. She completely and utterly needs something like dragon helm/physical ring (broken gear) to function, or the use of attack items (broken too). Without it you have a character who dies super easily, who deals low dmg because she won't get her final addition & are forbidden from using attack items. And her Dragoon is actually kinda overrated because you get it so late that the only bosses she can properly use her Dragoon against is: Vector, Selebus & Kubila, Zackwell, Caterpillar, S. Virage, Zieg and Melbu Frahma. And even then she only really outperforms the other characters against Zieg in dragoon form.
Miranda is better against Vector, Selebus & Kubila.
Meru is a bit less strong in dragoon form than Dart & Haschel against Zackwell and Caterpillar.
And she performs about as good as the other "useful" dragoons against S. Virage and Melbu Frahma.
Meru actually is a worse healer than Miranda too because Miranda has more healing options. Both can heal the party 50 % where Meru cures status effects (largely irrelevant) and Miranda revives (largely irrelevant too). The only difference is mana cost, but mana is not an issue. Miranda can also fully heal a single target/or revive and she can deal massive dmg to enemies while healing the party. She is much more flexible healer.
I agree with your lists and where everyone is
Before watching this I am putting Meru as the best character in the game
Blazing DYNAMO!!
Love this game
2024 remake please, can it be played after u finished the game? thanks
I think if Legend of Dragoon gets any re-release love I'd love a remake of sorts where at LEAST you could get the best gear easier or at least grind exp and money easier. There are simply zero reliable ways to grind without it taking literal hours of time to do so IF you get at least some luck with rare encounters and even then you have to reach a fairly late part of the game where you can buy satchets. I had zero idea of knowing where i was on par with bosses and only if i found myself spending too much time healing did I know I was underleveled. Granted, i had no idea as a kid/teen about the need for healing and actually using rather than hoarding healing items. My self I for certain reasons used Dart Albert and Kongo ... I realize that was dumb now :P Alas, this does mean in any guide out there telling you your best 3 person party, you aren't getting away with an all male party, girl power man, girl power.
how did You get the footage for this?
Sharanda. 😂😂😂 I didn’t get it at first. Good one.
Haschel, meru and dart. Their dps/speed/healing/nuke aoe attacks is just unmatched. You can also just not use dragoon at all and mop the final boss no issue