Bahamut Lagoon (1996) (VG)

Director:

Kazushige Nojima

Genre:

Animation

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Company:

Square Enix Company

Trivia:

Said by the creators to be a sequel to Final Fantasy VI. Was not released in America due to gay, lesbian and bisexual themes throughout the game.

Movie Connections:

Spin off from Final Fantasy VI (1994) (VG)

Excellent, but only one thing is wrong

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

My second import game I have ever played, and one of my top favorite SNES RPGs of all time. Bahamut Lagoon (aka Bahalag) is just nearly flawless and addicting. Why didn't this get released outside of Asia? Instead, we got crap like Secret of Evermore and Techmo's Secret of the Stars.

Here's the rundown.

Graphics (5/5): Bahalag is right up there with Treasure of the Rudras and Seiken Densetsu 3 for beautiful graphics. They look fit for the Playstation or PSP. Everything looks bright and detailed. The dragons look awesome, the characters sometimes move in battle and the spells are gorgeous. Definitely a feast for the eyes.

Sound (4/5): The soundtrack is not bad, but it's not as good as the soundtrack to Rudra nor the Seiken Densetsu games. They tend to repeat one too many times. But the thing I like about the sound is that your pet dragons roar and coo. Pretty good for a SNES game, I shall say.

Gameplay (5/5): Two words describe the gameplay: Very addicting! It's like a combination of a Nippon Ichi strategy game, a mix of Final Fantasy and a mix of Pokemon, only ten times better. This game could have been popular in America and Europe if Square wasn't so stingy and kept it to themselves.

Story and Characters (4/5): The plot starts out like Final Fantasy VI, with a fallen kingdom rebelling against an evil empire. However, what made this game more interesting and replayable than FFVI is that there are so many twists and turns in the game and the villain is a character you least expect. And another thing, it's up to you to manipulate the silent protagonist's personality.

Why only a 4/5 you might ask. Okay, most of the characters are likable. But there is one character that prevented me from giving this a flawless rating. The character: YOYO! She is the worst video game heroine alongside Tifa Lockhart and Princess Peach. In fact, she's like Tifa and Peach put together. She has a big bust, no brains and really weak and dependant on the hero. But the thing I hated about her the most, she CHEATED on the main hero with a man from the empire (who later joins your party). She definitely gets what she deserves in the end of the game.

Replay (5/5): I dunno why people say FFVI is the best SNES RPG ever. Bahamut Lagoon blows it out of the sky. There are so many choices and so many outcomes in the game, that you will definitely be playing it more than once.

Overall (4/5): If it wasn't for that dumb bimbo Yoyo being in it, this game would have been perfect. This has everything an RPG fan wants from a game: fun gameplay, mostly likable characters, intriguing plot and cool looking monsters. Just a shame Square never released this game. It could have been wildly popular and spawn many spin offs and sequels.