Legrand Legacy: Tale of the Fatebounds from Semisoft Games and Another Indie is finally out on Nintendo Switch! Learn more about this fun JRPG homage in our Legrand Legacy: Tale of the Fatebounds review!

 

Legrand Legacy: Tale of the Fatebounds hit Kickstarter around two years ago, and with the help of PR Hound (a company now under the care of publisher Hound Picked Games), it managed to fund over its main goal, securing the funding needed for the development of the PC version of the game, which released back on January 2018 – a year after the Kickstarter campaign ended. I was a backer of the Kickstarter, so I was definitely up for reviewing the revamped and improved console release of the game on the Nintendo Switch published by Another Indie!

Legrand Legacy: Tale of the Fatebounds is a game that pays homage to the JRPG era of the PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Gamecube days, which is why it was a bit of a surprised to not see the PS4 or the Nintendo Switch as part of their platforms. But now, a year after the game’s launch on PC, we finally get to enjoy the game on consoles, with the Nintendo Switch version giving us a chance to play the game at home or on the go without any issues, so that we can dive right into its lush world and expansive adventure!

 

The story is about a young guy named Finn who doesn’t remember life outside of slavery. An old man saved him from a much worse fate – had he stayed where he was – so being alive, even if as a slave, is not as bad as you might think. Luckily he gets to meet some new people with whom he forms a group, as they’re all beings known as the Fatebounds – they are part of a prophecy that will bring about the end of the war that is ravaging Legrand. As you progress through the game Finn will develop into a character that you’re really going to like, as the story grabs you with its many twists and turns.

The battle system in Legrand Legacy: Tale of the Fatebounds is really easy to learn. The tutorial is very good at teaching you the basic mechanics, and you’ll need this since the game’s ACT system is not going to be everyone’s cup of tea –luckily the team has given players the option to turn off the system in the settings menu. Keeping it on will give you a better EXP yield, but you will need to complete its Quick Time Event (QTE) then you won’t like this as it is a similar experience.

With ACT you have a dial in the middle of the screen and you have to press the A button at a precise moment, and missing it even by a whisker will penalize you. This system is activated by default, and you can use ACT along with your attacks, healing characters as needed as well, to maximize your potential. And as you fight and win battles you will earn AP, which is for using your arcana spells. The easiest way to gain AP is by using certain defensive spells like Guard, which only Aria can perform. Arcana are the best attacks you will have in the game, as they can help you deal some considerable damage.

 

True to the traditional JRPG classics of the PlayStation 2 era, the game is turn-based battle endeavor, and you can customzse your party set up to have it just the way you like it, changing its formation and other things here and there. The party limit is three, which will make party management a little less complicated than other JRPG releases where you end up having quite big parties with five members or more, as is the case for some Final Fantasy games. Speaking of Square Enix’s beloved franchise, the overworld map is certainly going to give you some Final Fantasy vibes, as you travel between the busy cities to the fields to the dungeons. And once you have some fast travel spots, you’ll be in and out of danger in no time!

The monsters have been built using 3D models which look awesome in battle, and it is in the art style used for characters and enemies that the game truly shines, outdoing anything that even the best devs could do back in the PS2 and Gamecube era. Everything has been carefully crafted with a great attention to detail, with the team at Semisoft Games spending years developing the game for its 2018 release, and over the last year they have rebalanced everything, polished things here and there, and improving on the overall game to give us a more robust and refined experience on Nintendo Switch.

I had a lot of fun playing Legrand Legacy: Tale of the Fatebounds for this review, and I certainly recommend that you give this indie game a go. I’m happy to see that Another Indie helped the team at Semisoft Games to bring the game to Nintendo’s console, since the more JRPG on the little console that could, the better! The game offers a ton of content between its main story quest, the side-quests you can complete, its rich story and diverse cast. I loved every minute of my time with Legrand Legacy, and I hope that the team is working on a sequel because I want more!

Disclaimer
This Legrand Legacy: Tale of the Fatebounds review is based on a Nintendo Switch copy provided by Another Indie.