Bahamut Lagoon
Bahamut Lagoon combines RPG mechanics with squad-based combat. Characters have HP, MP (SP for fighter characters), EXP, equipment, stats and class-specific, SP-draining special elemental abilities very much like traditional console RPGs. The player can explore his surroundings, talk to people and visit shops when not in battle, though to a limited degree as there is no world map and no way to leave the current area. The game's core is its turn-based battles fought on a 2d grid. Characters are assembled into parties of four and the player allowed a maximum of six parties, which are usually well outnumbered. The two opposing sides act in alternating turns so that each party can move once and/or attack once a turn. Attacks are divided into distant and close-up combat. In the former, a party uses a special ability (e.g. casting fireballs, throwing lightning, healing allies) of one of its members at a distance. The range and possible area of effect damage vary per ability. If the attacking party has two or more characters with the same ability, they join in the action to multiply its effectiveness. Distant combat results in less money and generally less damage, but the target cannot retaliate. Distant attacks can also affect the field; fire and ice ignite or extinguish forests and melt or freeze ice, etc. Close-up, each unit in two adjacent opposing parties can act once. Very much like Final Fantasy SNES combat, they can attack an enemy, use an item or a special ability (though these can't be combined and most only affect one target instead of all) or defend. Dragons are the player's ace in the hole. They have their own stats and gain experience like normal characters do. In battle, each party has a dragon attached to it and draws a large portion of its strength from that of its dragon: if a party's dragon is slain, the party will lose the ability to use special attacks and class-specific abilities for the remainder of the map. The beast acts as a very powerful autonomous unit that moves after its party does and it cannot be controlled beyond very simple commands, e.g. "Come!" Out of battle, dragons will eat anything and raising them by feeding them items is an important part of the game. Feeding can improve their stats as well as affect their behavior on the field, and the dragons develop into new forms as they grow. The player can change the characters in each of the parties, their formation as well as what dragon represents them at will.
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You know, if I actually liked strategy RPGs, I think I would really like Bahamut Lagoon. This is one of those rare occasions where the Square whores are right, and this really is an “underrated gem,” etc etc., unlike all the other Square RPGs that were never released here. Now don’t get me wrong, Square is all right, I don’t loathe them deep down inside or anything… I just hate all the Square fans that automatically proclaim anything Squaresoft as a gaming masterpiece, and any other RPGs can suck it. I mean, have these people even played Parasite Eve II? And don’t get me started on Kingdom Hearts. Seriously.
Anyways, the first thing you will likely say once you start up the game will be “God damn, those are some pretty graphics.” And they are. While most games are content to take Final Fantasy VI’s graphics and run with them… well, Bahamut Lagoon does this too, but the graphics are updated and refined, and look really good. A lot of people nowadays will throw about the phrase “almost Playstation quality”, but I don’t know if I’d go that far. Definitely though, this is one of the best-looking games on the SNES. SFC, whatever. The soundtrack, by Noriko Matsueda, is pretty unimpressive. With the exception of a few nice songs, everything just kind of sounds the same. Throwing a few new instrument samples into the mix would’ve helped.
Naturally, for most fanboys the graphics would be more than enough to hail Bahamut Lagoon as an instant classic. Fortunately for the rest of us, the actual gameplay holds up well. Like I said, it’s a strategy RPG. I only played up to the second battle and stopped cause, well, I’m not too big on the genre. You have your groups of fighters, represented by the lead character on the map, and when you attack, the game shifts into your typical RPG mode, where you can give Attack, Magic, Defend commands and such. Each group also has its own dragon, which it can control with three basic commands. The dragons will pretty much do their own thing, until you tell them to fall back, or stay close, or whatever. Sometimes when your group’s in battle, the dragon will attack first, giving you a nice little advantage over the enemy. Did that make sense?
Also, the game uses terrain in a very unique way in combat. Terrain isn’t just for attack modifiers or obstacles anymore: worried about the enemy crossing the bridge and taking your castle? Just use your magic and destroy the bridge. Then you just have to watch out for any ice magic they may use to freeze the river and make it crossable. Of course, you can always use your fire magic and melt the ice. See a cluster of enemies in the forest? Burn the forest down with your magic! Sure, it’s not environmentally sound, but this isn’t fucking Rudra, you can do whatever you want.
In between battles is your typical RPG-style walking around. Talk to your gigantic cast of characters, check out the shops, sit through the story, stuff like that. The story doesn’t seem that amazing at first (join the rebellion, save the princess, and take down the evil empire… Monomyth at its finest!), but maybe later on it’ll get more interesting. Like I said, I didn’t play too much of it. It’s not that I dislike strategy RPGs, it’s that they dislike me. I suck at those things. I’m shocked if I can get to the fifth battle in any strategy RPG. So maybe I’m not really qualified to do this here review, but there really isn’t any other choice. It’s not like anyone comes to The Whirlpool for reviews anyways. Right?
(editor's note: lol at that last line considering the premise behind this Backloggd account, anyway, I want to tell you the greatest emulator dev who ever lived named themself after a character from this game and was inspired to get into the profession because of it, as written about by Vice: https://www.vice.com/en/article/bvxezw/a-23-year-perfectionist-journey-to-localize-the-obscure-bahamut-lagoon)
It almost feels like fate - I've been slowly but steadily inching my way through a replay of this game, whose central theme is how messy life can get and how you can't turn back time and how growing up sometimes unfortunately means shedding things that bring you joy. Could this game be trying to tell me something?
...NO!
This game is a joy to play. It has some of the best graphics of its generation. The soundtrack isn't 100% bangers, but tracks such as the opening, the Farnheit theme, the battle theme (which gives me Breath of Fire 3 vibes),and the Liberation Army theme are strong enough IMO to stand with the best music Square was turning out during this period. Mechanically, this game has so much to offer - each party is made up of four characters and a dragon, so feeding dragons to raise their stats and evolve them into more powerful forms unlocks new abilities for the party tied to them, which in turn can be used to get better item drops from enemies which can then be fed to the dragons to make them stronger again. It's a really great gameplay loop with so much potential for synergy and exploration, whose weakness is perhaps the upside-down difficulty curve where the game becomes extremely easy after unlocking certain dragon forms (including one that is completely invincible!)
But Bahamut Lagoon's biggest strength - like a certain other game about a summoner princess who falls in love with one of her captors and opens the door to another world - lies in its narrative and characters. While few of the 31 characters you recruit over the course of the game are particularly deep, I always loved walking around the airship talking to them in between battles - from the gossip who updates you on the latest goings-on to the three knights who are nothing like each other but stay fast friends to the unlikely tank/wizard pairing who go from frenemies to a couple, the crewmembers interact not only with you but with each other in a very believable way, making them really feel like a close-knit group made of real people. The fact that you also realize that these people who are all fighting for a worthy cause have their foibles (and occasionally do some Really Shitty Things) does add a sense of depth to the narrative - which I'll refrain from spoiling for anyone who hasn't played it yet, but subverts some very foundational expectations about the genre and takes you to places which very few games of the era would think of going.
Pretty ironic then that this game about leaving the past behind is the one that cements my determination to keep this medium as a core part of my life. I might not be able to play as often as I did before, but I'll keep coming back. On to the next one!