Hello and welcome to a new article series! This will be a monthly piece reviewing recent goings-on in the Legend of Dragoon community overall. It is meant as a summary, highlighting anything from a striking discussion amongst fans to modding updates to a new speedrunning record. The goal is to publish one of these articles in the first week of a new month, so for this first piece we’re covering April 2021. Note that these articles can and will contain spoilers. You have been warned!
Service Updates
Firstly I’d like to make a soft alert that our in-house forum is now under way. For those of you who relish that retro-community experience from the late 90s and 2000s, make an account and start posting! Originally it was created to help facilitate long-form discussions that couldn’t stay cohesive on the Discord server or the other main social networks, so it’s one more way we can be a self-sustaining community. Use the forum for general chat like sharing memories, strategies, or asking questions!
Something else we’ve been working towards for a little while is to get our Discord server eligible for Partner status. Discord has a few programs to help elevate quality communities, and we just became eligible at the turn of the month. Benefits, if we are accepted, will include things like a banner image, custom vanity URL, and a public listing in Discord’s server Discovery program so that more fans can find us! It’s super exciting to qualify, and we hope our application will be accepted within the next month or so. It suits us, as a community that continues to redefine what legacy fandoms can achieve.
Fan Spotlight
Every so often new fanart is made for the game. First, a quick shout-out to PillowPatriot for sharing this special canvas. It’s an acrylic painting with glass for the Dragoon Spirits, and if you read the comment section there’s a lot of intention that went into the positioning of each DS. Dart would definitely say “Wow!”
Next up, Adrian has been quite active with his scrolls; creating a fan manga for Legend of Dragoon. Each page does a lot to create a fresh look at the story we all know and love. Recently he began doing some livestreams to show his process! We are overjoyed to have such passion run through the community.
There was an easy-to-miss conversation on the LoD subreddit about the whole “remake, sequel, prequel, or remaster?” question early in April. TheGunnolf asked about what the community thought in terms of the viability or differences of each, and gave their own thoughts. Several others chimed in with some of the best discourse we’ve ever had on the issue, and to be sure there is no exact black-and-white answer due to the complicated nature of today’s gaming industry. For each of you who may be dead-set on any one concept, it’s worth reading about the nuances that play into it. If we get a new version of LoD some day, any of these four styles will have some risk involved. Fingers crossed!
Blackdeathdoom reported a new world record on Discord for speedrunning Legend of Dragoon in the turbo category (where turbo controllers are allowed for maximum damage via Item Magic). The record is now 10 hours, 23 minutes, and 27 seconds. Congrats and good job!
There was an intriguing question posed about the game’s conclusion in a post on the Facebook group page. Matthew suggests a theory that the destruction of the planet is conditional. That is to say, it isn’t necessarily just about wiping out all life with Virage. Instead, Matthew thinks that the individual challenges faced by Dart & company are the test that decides whether the world is spared. “By accepting truth, one is essentially freed from the past and born anew – and that’s what they all did. It was fated by the creator [Soa] that their creations may survive only if they were strong enough.” That’s a stellar take on the manifestations of the Moon, Matthew!
Community Projects
Several projects are making some good headway this past month. For starters, we have new volunteers on the translation front and we are going to start working on the Japanese script of the game. As we know, the English localization is generally poor; some meaning was literally lost in translation. Re-translating the original Japanese script will help us create a better English translation and make that into a new mod for the game. Beyond that, we can eventually use a revised English script to improve the script in the European releases, or even create new language translations never before released by Sony! This is one of many ways that we can support fans around the world.
How are things going with the community upscale project for the game’s background images? Arduous but well! In fact, there is an update coming on Monday focused on that project. I know, what a tease. Also, Monoxide has been plugging away at their efforts to reverse-engineer the game. Eventually, this could result in having less limitations in terms of modding Legend of Dragoon! Be on the lookout for an upcoming interview with Monoxide to learn more about their journey so far.
What’s coming in May?
Thanks for reading the first edition of our monthly review. Here are some of the things we hope (or expect) to produce in the month of May:
- Image Upscale project update (Monday, 10 May)
- Project Blurple (Tomorrow thru 14 May)
- Interview with Monoxide (mid or late May)
- LoD Podcast (Finally!)
- Website improvements (ongoing)
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