The Legend of Dragoon | Dart - A Character Study

The Legend of Dragoon is an epic JRPG set in a high fantasy world called Endiness. It grapples with themes of war, love, settling old grudges, moving on from the past and accepting people as they are now. In this character study we examine the protagonist Dart and delve into his backstory, motivations and flaws.
This video contains spoilers for The Legend of Dragoon which was developed by Japan Studio and published by Sony Computer Entertainment.
The game's soundtrack was co-composed by Dennis Martin and Takeo Miratsu.

[@teranyafitch2328]

The first time I played LOD I literally couldn't put it down to save my life. The characters were incredible, engaging on so many levels, the story arc was equally astonishing as Dart, then later the team changed up and grew, even turning former enemies into closely relied upon friends. This game desperately deserves a reskin with modern graphics which can do it justice. For the time of its release the graphics were epically legendary, with subtleties layerd into an evolving world, which could catch you off guard, and have you studying them for hours to catch every subtle nuance. Thank you so much for delving into this game. As always I am highly impressed with the video.

[@JohnJSeyy]

Legacy of Kain AND Legend of Dragoon?? Dude, you're awesome.

[@Resolute89]

I love it. LoD was my favorite game for years.

[@d.sack2727]

Hell yeah, Legend Of Dragoon

[@FLStyle]

I wanna say "Double Slash!" but "Burning Rush!" still makes me chuckle.

[@papapapa16]

Volcano!

[@RayzeCruxis]

CRUSH DANCE!

[@RoseNZieg]

I was stuck on moonstrike for the longest time. moonstrike brings me back every time...

[@StarOutlaw9]

Dart's theme is exceptionally heroic.

[@Darkmage1293]

Six minutes and four comments at one in the morning, bless you comment section. You have fine taste.

[@jmcghane]

First Legacy of Kain and now Legend of Dragoon this guy truly is a man of quality. Even to this day those are my 2 favorite games.

[@lordmalkus3322]

Forgive me my lord, KZbin has not shown me your uploads and I missed this gem. I am so glad you are covering this series as this game holds a special place in my heart.

[@yvngtyrant2549]

I really do hope this game gets another chance to shine. Hope you cover Haschel

[@exterminatus_now]

This game is nostalgic for me, seeing the case in EB Games near the mall food court and a giant poster always hanging on the front counter. Never played it, couldnt even remember its name, but damn is the key art iconic for me since I was a kid.

[@Drew-im7is]

LOD was my FF7, as a teen, I was so hooked by it all, and the transformations DID make you feel like super saiyan. Plz more vids on this gem of a game!

[@brycemurphy3005]

Legend of dragoon fuck yes my favourite rpg on ps1

[@johnsummers2943]

God I miss this game so much. I played in on launch and got it on the ps5 and still i miss this game. I can't wait to see the other videos you make on this epic game.

[@OscarGreatness]

A great game that Sony was not interested in giving more sequels to, and stayed on the Ps1, good video 😎👍

[@larsg.2492]

Didn't Sony disband all their studios? No one left to work on new titles. At least they released it on the store a year ago.

[@OscarGreatness]

@@larsg.2492 I don't know exactly what Sony did with the original studio, but they weren't interested in releasing another sequel, because they couldn't compete with the Final Fantasy games, or at least that's what it seems like, but who knows, maybe one day they'll make a sequel or remake.

[@Dzzy123]

​@@larsg.2492 Japan Studios was closed down.

[@Haithem4]

Legend of dragoon and Legacy of Kain!!! man, you are legend💯

[@SomethingEls]

I'm giving this video a like before watching it because you posted it 1 hour before I was wondering if you posted anything recently. I don't know legend of dragoon, let's see Edit : This is very anime and a clear lesson in humility and self consciousness. Pretty good!

[@SolarinDay]

Legend of Dragoon deserves a high-end remake! It has a small, but very loyal Fandom on par with Legacy of Kain. I look forward to more videos on the games lore and characters like Lloyd the decoy antagonist, Rose herself, Meru and the rest!

[@kaokten]

Legend of Dragoon and Legacy of Kain? Hell yes!!!

[@Drifter2025]

Exactly what I was about to say

[@dewforpolitics]

I totally missed out on this video. LOD is such an underrated RPG. It’s my favorite next to FF7. I love that game so much. And thank you for doing this video. I hope to see more Legend of Dragoon content on this channel. Lavitz’s was always my favorite character. “Gust of wind dance!”

[@rasanjames2498]

🔥 My 🔥 memory 🔥 is 🔥 on 🔥 yo he hit a dead on the center when the reason why I fell in love with this is because the country as it was a dragon Ball z from the hair to the transformation I remember playing this thing on demo can we get a remake and also a remake of that kid with the pink hair and with a hammer 🔨 this is like my childhood brought back❤

[@Byrdstar6423-un3me]

Can't believe I missed this one...this game literally ate more of my time than all final fantasy game combined together in my teen years...such amazing writing and game play and music

[@m.g.trazor417]

I'm glad to see Legend of Dragoon get some coverage. Next all I want to see is Threads of Fate getting talked about more.

[@luminaire4946]

GOD I want to play this game again. Wish it was on steam.

[@samflood5631]

Great character study on Dart. Are there going to be more Legend of Dragoon characters studies such as Rose, Lavitz, Shana, Haschel, Albert, Meru, Kongol, Miranda and Lloyd?

[@strictlyfantasy]

There will be a few Lore videos on the series first but eventually yes.

[@samflood5631]

@@strictlyfantasyWhat other video games are you going to do character study and lore videos on?

[@cyberneticshadow5572]

I got this when it first came out on PS1, spent every waking moment playing until I beat it. FF7 gets all the love and praise, but this game has been my favorite since the opening cinematic!!!

[@user-ch5zx9wn7x]

Strictly Fantasy doing Legend of Dragoon!!, be still my heart, I can only hope this is the first of many videos on this amazing game

[@EmeraldDragoon]

Just started watching, but I wanted to say I hope you dont leave Rose out. By far one of the most compelling characters in this entire generation of rpgs

[@strictlyfantasy]

She's definitely on the cards for her own video!

[@divinedemonj]

Love also how the opening scene forshadows the Moon That Never Sets

[@DMcK-ro8qu]

good old days.. played it ages ago.. loved every second of it

[@allthatishere]

I didn't know they had a sequel in the works, but tbh, I would've loved to have seen a prequel. To have been in the middle of the Dragon Campaign War would have been so awesome!

[@matianlong7907]

I don’t know you, but LoD is my favorite JRPG ever , I love the story, the characters, the locations.. everything. Watching a character study I can’t but like and watch this and waiting for all the others.

[@mustardbiscuits9750]

Can’t tell you how much I love this series!

[@ahronsilv]

Oh my God, I didn't expect someone would make the lore video series on my favorite game of childhood in 2024!

[@Crimsonknight111]

I’ve wished for this game to be remastered for years.

[@dustinmcdonnell2421]

Dude. Legend of Dragoon and Legacy of Kain are my two favorite games (series). I hope you keep doing videos for LoD. I love all your videos.

[@larsg.2492]

Loved the game, even in it's more or less broken EU release. At least Sony put it in store for the ps4 and 5 a year ago, and even fixed a few gamebreaking bugs just weeks after. If you want to go for really Deep Lore, you should hazard a look at Volition's Summoner, one of the early titles for the PS2, and it's sequel. One of the more captivating game worlds and mythologies I have encountered in that era of gaming.

[@Toto-95]

One of my favorite serie ! Super mega slept on game !

[@OGRio-de4gn]

I was hoping for this one. Glad you made the time. Hope you go through all of it.

[@vulcans2658]

Dart is such a better character than cloud. Cloud gets pushed by the narrative while dart pushes the narrative.

[@RoseNZieg]

well said!!

[@Emmj91]

LETS GO!!! Needed this. Seriously, blessed my day.

[@dillroastington]

Yes!! So happy to see you cover this game, it's a favorite from childhood. I'm always happy to find you've put out a new video but this one was extra exciting to see.

[@themeadowsgroupchat9454]

I’m very much looking forward to your upcoming videos. This game was my Gateway into JRPG’s and the very first game my mother got for me. It will always be my favorite rpg of all time no matter what.

[@doctornasty0506]

Keep em coming we love legend of dragoon content

[@Dragnarok1]

My childhood...😊

[@blumiu2426]

For the asymmetrical armor part, you'll actually find the sword arm having no armor like the other or the non-sword arm with a shield while sword arm was protected. It really depended on if they were wearing a full suit of armor in Medieval times or had a shield. It's a fantasy trope one arm was less protected while other was. You had a shield to brace or both arms were protected the same and expected to have the strength to wield in the first place. Having just one arm armored as defense would mean it's going to get broken or chopped off if aimed for at the segments. It's a cool aesthetic, but not practical unless something that came at a later date for dueling, like fencing, if one is wielding a rapier and dagger. Otherwise, it was a rapier and buckler.

[@TheLastDose]

Strictly Fantasy is my long lost brother or is just seriously the coolest content creator ever , and by that I mean you pick the best content to cover my (long lost brother)

[@kainslegacy7]

LoK and LoD, damn, you got taste fellow man of culture. Seriously though, this game deserves a remake.

[@Grant918Tulsa]

A remake on 4 disks that would be Legendary!!

[@Trudotcee]

Legend of Dragoon is the best video game ever made. Straight-up! What I wouldn't do to get a sequel / prequel / remake 😭

[@Kaiju-Driver]

What a legend of a game.

[@robinsalas6789]

i never played this game, but hearing you speaking so highly about it the same way you talk about lok, i wanna play it now

[@RoseNZieg]

it has its flaws but honestly the story was too good for me so I can over look them.

[@Saiper1990]

🐉

[@pharaohyami5000]

Until Legend of Dragoon gets some updates, its rerelease on the PS5 is more than enough to replay this legendary game. I see the characters, 7 of them, represent the 7 virtues. I say Dart went from wrath to patience. Completely blinded by revenge, slowly changing to forgiveness.

[@AKASUKIJOE]

My all time favorite character, god I love Dart

[@tallyotoinc]

Madness Hero !

[@juan_arreche_music]

Both Legacy of Kain and this game deserve remakes ❤️

[@Unknown_User174]

Hey I remember The Legend of Dragoon.🙂 Although I never made it to the part where Dart where he got to his first transformation scene as a kid.

[@Unknown_User174]

Now I learned about one thing. Revenge solves nothing.

[@tureldragoon3667]

Thanks, great video!❤

[@Nigel222]

Legacy of Kain and Jak and Legend of Dragoon? You always discuss games I loved growing up.

[@asjeje]

This the remake i want so bad blue poont you got this lol

[@danteshollowedgrounds]

Interesting, well I was not expecting this.

[@white0thunderwhite0thunder71]

This game and all its potential should return...

[@melbu6311]

Remake this masterpiece Sony! Like, right now!

[@roserichards1460]

LOD is one of the GOATs of video games.

[@CooperAATE]

I LOVE THIS GAME

[@RyuuKageDesu]

Such an under rated game.

[@EmilXOM]

Oh we are SO BACK

[@brilicusgaming6922]

After watching this video, i bought the game can't wait to play it.

[@blumiu2426]

That's a good point with Lloyd and Levitz, however one might see them to different degrees. One had been a life pursuit that shaped his entire life while the other was a recent event. He knew what Levitz would have wanted of him and perspective, so it was easier to accept moving forward instead of getting revenge, the thing he cautioned against. Realistically, that sort of logical connection wouldn't connect with childhood trauma and emotion would override reason to an extreme degree. The writing of Dragoon wasn't that deep and wrapping up something like that arc with Dartz struggling to correlate Rose being the Black Monster would take too long, so thus we get where many players felt it rushed and unrealistic in one moment in time. The life pursuit is forgiven because it's Rose, a party member that needs to stay around for the plot. It has to be considered also that Rose was going to kill Shanna too and had killed many infants in the past. Instead, she gets pretty much a pass because we never see that gravity of her actions, her kill Dartz's mother, but connect with her as a friend as reasoning not to. She never made excuses for her actions, so it's not as if she wasn't guilty of her deeds and would make logical sense for her to be seen as an antagonist that seemed to have made an illogical shift after centuries of doing what she did only because Dartz resembled her former lover. The game doesn't attempt to go into her thinking or the dynamics that would play out because it would be an unfavorable outcome and conclusions made. She essentially gets a happy ending despite she and Seig's damage done in the world. The gameplay was fun though some complained of the timing system, the writing is what held it back from being on par with Squaresoft's Final Fantasy storytelling.

[@JJ-eb4tx]

I miss 90s/00s gaming. Hope you're doing Nier next.

[@lordmathias1094]

This game sadly came out around the end of the ps1 life so it didn't sell that good. I thought Dart & Rose also had a different relationship in their past. Like they were seeing each other or something. It's been so long I don't remember.

[@theHedgex1]

This game is a gem 💎 :3

[@1Tekkaman]

First off, THANK YOU for pointing out there are as many differences as there are similarities between this game and Final Fantasy VII. I am sick unto death of The Legend of Dragoon being dismissed as an FFVII clone. It's one of my all-time favorites despite the bad translation and painfully bad English voice acting. Regarding Dart specifically, I had always thought him a fairly generic JRPG protagonist. You make a very interesting point about how Shana has grown in the years since they last saw each other, while Dart has not. Learning to focus on the present (and future), letting go of the past, those are important themes. (Unfortunately, for all that I still find Dart's romance with Shana decidedly cringey and a bad case of Strangled By the Red String.) And like you I was wowed when I saw Dart's first transformation; I knew then that it was something special. I, too, hope to see more material for this game. Honestly, I'd like to see a remake; expand the world, and a more action-oriented battle system (IMO flight is wasted on turn-based). Since you're going to be doing a series of videos on this game, I'd like to see your take on Miranda. Many players dismiss her as a b**** with anger management issues and a poor replacement for Shana, but she's in all seriousness my favorite character in the game. I like her design, and she manages to be a deep character despite her relative lack of screen time. (And the first time we see her whack someone it's entirely justified; the guy was being an idiot to the point of putting people in danger.) Very well done indeed.

[@RoseNZieg]

the initial push from the game was cringy. I think the game redeemed itself by letting them grow more organic towards each other.

[@1Tekkaman]

@@RoseNZieg I still find it cringy as of the party at the end of disc two.

[@willlauzon3744]

Cant wait till you do one on my best girl Rose. Her video probably needs an hour though... To do her justice.

[@Immunity1080]

It's crazy how people are still talking about this game. Everybody but Sony. Why hasn't this been remade yet???

[@ivanward7949]

Dude. Duuuuude. Doing my other absolute favorite game?!

[@TheSoares500]

Any chance of us getting any Castlevania or Mega-man X videos?? Loved those on the PS1 era

[@RoseNZieg]

cloud and dart are as different as night and day.

[@ryanhorton9594]

BluePoint Studios, please be working on this remake. You guys have been silent since Demon Souls Re.

[@fuglegock1127]

Dart and Lavitz had the best bromance in video game history. Its sad you skipped over that part, especially when this is clearly a difference compared to the alleged character copy from Cloud. Since you started the argument by comparing Aeris death with Lavitz death without naming them or actually diving into that comparison a little deeper, I think you missed out on a good statement. Its an open secret Sony tried to leech off of FF7's success with this game back then. But aside the blonde, blue eyed hero trope, the creators of LoD truly made their own, unique thing. To bad they took so long and ended up falling behind even after FF8's release and the Playstation one's end of life cycle. Which I think is part of the cancellation of the sequel. Sales numbers of PS1 games dropped to sharp to make a profitable outview, not just the disappointing sales of this video game pearl. However, thanks for making this video. Your effort is much appreciated. Would you consider a study about Lavitz as pawn / sacrificial plot device or genuine fleshed out character? Maybe a closer comparison with Aeris would make a video about that raise more viewers from the Final Fantasy community and give some additional input into both fandoms. Just food for thoughts.

[@strictlyfantasy]

Yes, I'm saving the deep dive into bromance for the Lavitz video.

[@gjtrue]

As much as I'd LOVE for The Legend of Dragoon to either get *canonically* remade (not the retelling/alteration that is Final Fantasy VII Remake) or a prequel set during the Dragon Campaign with the former Dragoons, for now I'd much rather the series be left the hell alone. Wait another 10 or more years when hopefully this cesspit industry has course corrected...

[@haydenkashima]

Ayo Legend of Dragoon?!

[@87ad3]

Maybe its just me.. but i feel like some of the emotions that the developers wanted to impart through Darts character development didnt translate well to me in text.. Honestly I as i've played through LoD multiple times I never really noticed Dart's character developing from the whole being stuck in the past thing.. Loved your deep dive work with the LoK series.. maybe its because Legend of dragoon doesn't have much lore into it so this feels a bit light. none the less great work dude..

[@strictlyfantasy]

Yeah, it's pretty well established in the community that the game has localization issues. The dialogue is quite robotic at times, which is a shame because the writing and care put into the lore, setting and characters themselves are awesome.

[@Dinidan]

I own 4 copies of LoD. Just in case I encountered a scratch or defect in the disc.

[@Genji-Agito]

I wonder is Strictly Fantasy is familiar with Juju Kaisen............I'm sure he'll have a lot of material to work with.

[@kamageddynvideochannel3479]

Dart sounds closer to Clive or Cecil then Cloud

[@willlauzon3744]

Also also, ive watched every one of your legacy of kain videos. This one was a bit off for me becsuse it barely scratched ghe surface of dart and who he is. still a good vid though

[@Kazeshindo]

Not exactly the deepest of dives, but a good listen nonetheless.

[@papapapa16]

This game was injustly considered an FF7 wannabe, but the games are very different.

[@Storlans]

Sadly we dont live in a time where gaming story seems to be prio :(

[@civilwarfare101]

The game's story doesn't sound that appealing to me since revenge stories I have grown out of fondness with but you might be the closest thing to a Sony guy on the internet when not doing LoK content which is interesting.

[@willlauzon3744]

Also its pronounced Dre goon. Like Dragon. Not drug oon.

[@lordmathias1094]

Please never cover FF. It is one of the most overated franchises of all time. Only FF6 & 9 were relevant to me. LOD is one of my favorite RPG games of all time. The other 2 is chrono trigger & persona 5. Anyways this game deserved more recognition for its unique mechanics. I wish they would have made a second one. Thank you so much for covering the legacy of kain series. It's my favorite series of all time. If woke ever leaves games alone then they need to remaster or remake of LOK & give us the final game. I wish people would realize LOD is better then FF. Alot of RPG are better then FF. Well that turned into an attack real fast. Anyways love this game. Keep up the good work with covering good titles.

[@Jebbtube]

Not at all what I expected, but not unwelcome. Game has not aged well, I'm sad to say.

[@rune9055]

I love FF7 but not as much as Legend of Dragoon.

[@bruhmoment-jq2fv]

Yooo what you literally make videos on the classic games me and my sis grew up on on those ps1 days I cried when lavitz died smh