The sequel to Legend of Legaia developed by Prokion note for the PlayStation 2. Despite similarities in gameplay and some character designs, Legaia 2 is based in a completely different world, with nothing carrying over from the first game. This game also features the "Tactical Arts System" from the first game.
The plot resolves around the "Mystics", a group of outcasts with Power Tattoos who can summon Elemental Embodiment spirits, called "Origin" that they contain within themselves. In most places, Mystics are shunned due to their appearence and strange powers, however Lang's friends and family don't have this prejudice; on his first day of work, the Aqualith is stolen from the village, and he is warned to be careful in the outside world, searching for it in order to restore the village's water supply. Along the way, he winds up gathering a group of fellow Mystics to himself, and begins finding the way to save the world from Avalon, the man that stole Aqualith.
Legaia II: Duel Saga shows examples of:
- Absurdly Spacious Sewer: The Sewers under Darakin, which you must traverse at least twice during the game.
- Alas, Poor Villain: Elliott and Marianne are loathsome people, but after we learn that they were abandoned by their parents and looked up to Doplin as a father, and each dies lamenting that they can't be with their sibling anymore, it's pretty sad. Especially since you learn Doplin never gave a crap about them, and only pretended to care in order to manipulate them.
- Arbitrary Headcount Limit: While you will eventually have a party of five, only three can participate in battle at any one time.
- Aristocrats Are Evil: The Doplin aristocracy are several varied shades of Jerkass, such as the self-absorbed-but-chivalrous Mighty Balken, the status-obsessed Chez Snobbe patrons, and the downright vile Bishop Doplin. Even the helpful noble who gives you a VIP Card is doing it out of arrogance.
- Asleep for Days: After a near-fatal encounter with Avalon, Lang wakes up, only to be told by Nancy that he had been sleeping for 5 days and probably would have died had he gone without medical care much longer.
- Back from the Dead: In the Dream Match, you can face any number of characters who have died in the main story, including Balken, Raynof, Marienne, Elliott, Velna, and Vestra. This is implied to take place in a "space between dimensions", giving a Hand Wave for why the party can fight them.
- Beef Gate: Elfin is notable for the exact level at which you're supposed to beat her: 9, when you get your fourth Art Block. At that point, she's not all that threatening, but she will destroy you if you haven't ground yourself high enough yet.
- Betty and Veronica: Maya and Sharon. Coupled with how, depending on the choices you make in the game, you can make one or the other (or both) fall for you. Unfortunately, this doesn't affect the ending.
- Bonus Dungeon: The Centurion Trials. Not so much a dungeon, but a series of 100 consecutive fightsnote against progressively stronger monsters.
- Cardboard Prison: The jail under Doplin Castle is a joke, with multiple doors that can be busted open by brute strength. And who was the genius who left Lang's gear in an unlocked room?
- Cast from Hit Points: The HP Siphon skill, which increases your attack power, but drains the character's HP to do so.
- Cast from Money: Gold Siphon, which does the same thing, but drains your money.
- Combination Attack: Variable Arts.
- Cosmic Keystone: The three sacred stones — the Pyrolith, Aerolith, and Aqualith — that are needed to operate the Source Forge and the power of creation itself.
- Critical Encumbrance Failure: Regarding the weight system for equipment. It is possible for a character to equip weapons and armor right up to their capacity limit with no detriment, but going one pound over is impossible. Justified in the sense that the weight system is designed to enforce Level-Locked Loot; there is no restriction on how much stuff the party can carry
- Crutch Character: Both Kazan and Sharon when they join, for different reasons. Kazan joins at level 25 at a point when Lang and Maya are barely over 10, and can systematically destroy every encounter you get into for about two dungeons, at which point the rest of the party, and the enemies, have caught up. Kazan never becomes useless, but he's never such a
Game-Breaker again, mostly because some of his arts are awkward to chain. Sharon joins at a high level herself, but not as comparatively high as Kazan. Her initial use comes from the speed at which she earns Art Blocks. If you play the game long enough for other characters to match her Art Blocks, she loses most of her niche, but she at least still have easily chain able arts. - Cursed with Awesome: Mystics. They contain elemental spirits inside of them and have access to corresponding Elemental Powers. However, they are generally met with a combination of fear and revulsion; Avalon's backstory shows that he turned unto evil because fellow villagers cast him out and attempted to kill him because of his being a Mystic.
- Cute Mute: Maya for quite a bit of the game. She eventually does get her voice back
- Defeat Means Friendship: Dein finally gives up his grudge against Lang after being beat in sidejumping.
- Desperation Attack: To use a Mystic Art, that character must have, among other things, less than 50% HP, 100 AP, and 100 MP.
- Disk One Nuke: Grab the Point Card from the drawer at the start of the game. Then go to the item shop and buy ten Poison Cures though the player must do this one at a time then sell them one at a time as well. Then exit the shop, talk to the shop keeper and keep on entering and exiting and she will give out some items. Then repeat buying as many of the Heal Powders as you can, individually, then resell those individually till you get the Handwoven Carpet and the Big Child's bed which players can sell for an immense amount of money. Go splurge on your money while building up as much points on the Point Card as possible and it's easy to beat even the Beef Gate boss that players are supposed to be beating at level 9.
- The Dragon: Velna, to Avalon. Doplin fancies himself as this, but it is clear that he is merely an Unwitting Pawn to be sacrificed when he has finished playing his role in their plan.
- Dual Boss:
- Elliott and Marienne. The first fight against the duo is a Hopeless Boss Fight; the second time, you can defeat them.
- The penultimate boss is against Velna and Vestra; this battle is unique in that the character's Origin is a separate combatant who can be attacked directly.
- Duel Bosses:
- Lang has the option to fight the second boss, the Mighty Balken, solo, but can subvert this by fighting with Maya. If you choose the former option, Balken will commend you on your honor.
- At the end of the Inevitable Tournament, Lang will have to fight The Black Knight Rauss in a one-on-one showdown in the arena.
- Elemental Powers: Each Origin associates with one:
- Kill It with Fire: Lang's fiery Origin, Galea.
- Healing Hands/Making a Splash: Maya's life Origin, Rivas. While her powers are explicitly life-based, Rivas herself seems to be made of water, and the backgrounds of her attacks shows flowing water.
- Dishing Out Dirt: Kazan's earth Origin, Deva.
- Shock and Awe: Sharon's electric Origin, Arrode.
- Casting a Shadow/Dark Is Evil: Elliott's black Origin, Raskia.
- Holy Hand Grenade/Light Is Not Good: Subverted, with Marianne's Origin, as Alvadis is dark elemental despite being the White Origin.
- There's also Velna's Origin Vestra, who commands powers over time and space, and Avalon's Origin Igohl, which is simply the Ultimate Origin with virtually infinite power.
- Encounter Bait: The Hell's Path consumable item increases the rate of random encounters.
- Encounter Repellant: The Heaven's Path item lowers the random encounter rate. Later in the game, it is possible to get an accessory with No Encounters to reduce the encounter rate to 0.
- Evolving Attack: Unlike in the first game, certain Hyper Arts can gain experience by using them in battle. For example, when Lang's Raging Fang art has gained 100 EXP, Lang can then use the evolved form, Roaring Fang. Master that technique and it will evolve further into the Sky Fang.
- Final Boss Preview: A strange man with gold eyes attacks the village of Nohl shortly after the first boss is defeated. It's the Final Boss, Avalon, and true to form, it is a Curb-Stomp Battle; Lang's attacks are ineffective and Avalon easily dispatches him. Avalon intends to spare him, but his Origin Igohl attempts to kill him; Lang manages to survive to get revenge.
- Giant Enemy Crab: The first boss is the Gather Crab. Later, Palette Swaps of the same show up as normal enemies.
- Global Airship: At the conclusion of the Inevitable Tournament, you enlist the services of an air dragon, which is necessary to reach the penultimate dungeon, a tower floating high overhead.
- Good Morning, Crono: How Lang is introduced at the start of the game.
- Guide Dang It!: You could keep randomly pressing combinations of three to six buttons until you stumble on a new Art by process of elimination. Or you could just look it up in a guide like everyone else does.
- Harmless Villain: The bumbling hunter duo Phanta and Balzac. (Made funnier by how Lang can actually make Phanta fall for him if he treats her nice, despite Balzac liking her.)
- Health/Damage Asymmetry: Played straight here, as opposed to in the first game. Even normal enemies have many times the player party's HP, but with the correct setups, the party can deal hundreds of thousands of damage per turn while only having a max HP of a few thousand.
- Hermit Guru: Kazan lives in a secluded locale near the summit of Mt. Gabel. He is also an Old Master to boot, being a seasoned expert in the teachings of the Sky Fang masters.
- Hopeless Boss Fight:
- The Final Boss Preview against Avalon.
- The fight against Slogar (and Zoan Stoara) begins as one, but is averted when Maya unleashes her hidden power, weakening its protective barrier and rendering it vulnerable.
- The first fight against Elliott and Marienne is one - with sufficient Level Grinding, you can defeat one of them, but they will summon their Origins at that point, and you lose anyway.
- Hot Springs Episode: Complete with peeping.
- HP to One: The Infinite One's Destruction Fist attack induces this on target party member.
- Hulk Speak: Balzac talks like this, to emphasize his being a musclebound oaf.
- Inevitable Tournament: Both games have a fighting arena, but only Duel Saga requires that you compete.
- In Name Only: Apart from the battle system, Duel Saga has effectively nothing to do with the first game. Each game is entirely self-contained, and
Word of God confirms
that despite both games taking place on a continent called "Legaia", the two take place on entirely different worlds. - Interspecies Romance: Bubba (a human) is severely angry after Lang fights and kills Elfin (a somewhat anthropomorphized ape). It is eventually stated that the two were romantically attached, and loved each other.
- Intimate Marks: Characters known as "Mystics" have a Power Tattoo due to the presence of an elemental spirit (an "Origin") within them. At least one character refuses to identify the location of her mark; apparently it is somewhere embarrassing.
- Item Crafting: A lot of this, especially the Infinity +1 Sword.
- I Will Wait for You: At the end of the game, both Maya and Sharon are shown waiting for Lang as he goes off on more adventures.
- Karma Meter: Lang's personality changes depending on the dialog options you choose, into being brash, cowardly, gentlemanly..
- Kamehame Hadoken:
- Maya's Variable Art finisher.
- Lang's Sleeping Dragon Hyper Art is this with a sword.
- Large Ham: Both The Mighty Balken, and later, his brother, Raynof the Brave. THEIR brother, Vixen the Mighty revels in it too; but doesn't hold it against your character for defeating them in battle. In addition, Bubba also is this.
- Large Ham Title: Both The Mighty Balken and Raynof the Brave, the former in particular.The Mighty Balken: I, Balken... The MIGHTY Balken!
- And later:
Raynof the Brave: What! 'Balken?' You shall address him properly! It's 'The MIGHTY Balken' to you!! - Last Stand: Why, according to Chief West Wind, humans defeated the Kabel in the ancient war. The Kabel had the power of magic, but their reliance on it weakened their human spirit and determination to survive. As such, humanity's tenacity and will gave them the strength to defeat the Kabel in the millennia-old war.
- Lazy Backup: Your backup party members will not bail you out if your main party dies in battle; you will get a Game Over. See Arbitrary Headcount Limit.
- Level Grinding: Titles and crafting involve massive amounts of grinding.
- Love Triangle: Lang can get into one between Maya and Sharon. Most noticeably when they ask him if he likes older or younger women, and his answer affecting their mood and relationship with him.
- Male Gaze: Played with. One of a certain character's victory scenes shows a zoomed-in camera shot from her feet which quickly pans up to her face, while she poses. The character in question is Maya, who wears a baggy robe. It's to show her cute side more than anything.
- Mark of the Supernatural: People who house Origins inside their bodies have a distinctive tattoo or other marking on their skin.
- Minigame Zone: Phorchoon Casino. Lots of mini games, with all sorts of desirable prizes.
- The name also doubles as Stealth Pun, as it is pronounced the same as "fortune".
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: The Infinite One, the name of the being created when Avalon merges with his Origin, Igohl.
- Non-Malicious Monster: The Mountain Morg is a harmless mountain spirit who lives up in a cave eating moss. It's not hostile unless provoked, and there's no reason to attack it except that Lang needs a difficult fight to awaken his Origin.
- Noodle Incident: Lang's Power Tattoo is easily viewable, and Sharon explains where hers is, but Maya shyly refuses to reveal where hers is located. Nobody bothers to ask Kazan where his is, much to his lamentation.
- No One Should Survive That!: Igohl remarks as much when questioning how Lang survived being impaled by him near the beginning of the game. Avalon explains that it is because he is a Star Shaper
- Our Dragons Are Different: In this case, you enlist an air dragon to serve as your Global Airship so you can reach the penultimate dungeon.
- Point-and-Click Map: Unlike the first game, you do not traverse the overworld, instead choosing a particular destination, and then being transported straight there.
- Porn Stash: Interestingly, an optional cutscene Lang can have is with Sharon finding his stash at his house. Kind of averted in that Sharon seems to find it cute and funny instead of getting angry.
- Post-Final Boss: Subtle, but a variation is present. After defeating the Infinite One, you must fight Avalon one final time to finish him for good. However, his max HP is only about 27,000note and he cannot attack or do anything except stand there and take your attacks to the face.
- Power Born of Madness: The Ultimate Fang is said to draw its power from insanity. See Dangerous Forbidden Technique.
- Power Tattoo: Each Mystic has a tattoo or other discernible marking on their body that indicates the presence of the Origin inside them.
- Relationship Values: Lang can make four different girls in the game fall for him (two of which are in the party): Maya, Sharon, Nancy, and Phanta (yes, the bumbling female partner of the game's Harmless Villain duo). How Lang finds out his progress in his relationships is by talking with the Fortune Teller about his love life. Unfortunately, this has no real effect on the ending of the game, though it does affect the in-game cutscenes and convos.
- Rock of Limitless Water: The Aqualith, one of the three Cosmic Keystones needed to manipulate the Source Forge and bring balance (or ruin) to the world.
- Sdrawkcab Alias: In a scene in Tanza, Lang learns from Gyne, a former accomplice of Kazan, that Kazan's real name is Nazak, and that Kazan abandoned it years ago for unknown reasons.
- Summon Magic: The Origins.
- Super Supremacist: Played with. This is the villains' official ideology. Yet, while plenty of them hate humans, most of them don't actually buy into the Mystic supremacy that they preach. Avalon and Velna want to destroy the world, Doplin wants personal power through control of the Kabel and is not a Mystic, and Bubba's a mercenary. Elliott and Marianne certainly look down on humans, but they also want to enslave Mystics personally, so the jury's out there.
- Sword Beam: The Sleeping Dragon Hyper Art is one of these, and is crucial to the fight against Rauss. Unlike most examples of the trope, this beam is created by thrusting the sword in a piercing fashion, instead of a slashing one.
- Three Plus Two: The protagonist party begins with Lang's adventuring, and Kazan and Maya join soon after to form Two Guys and a Girl. Only about halfway through the game do Sharon and later Ayne join the party to form the full group of five.
- Time-Limit Boss: Subverted with the fight against the Mighty Balken. The fight is played up to be a timed fight against the drawbridge closing. When you defeat Balken, he collapses and the shock of his fall re-opens the drawbridge and allows for your escape.
- Total Eclipse of the Plot: Though not an eclipse per se, bringing an end to the Black Sun* and the calamities it both causes and foretells is the primary driving force of the second half of the game.
- Ultimate Blacksmith: Subverted. Near the end of the game, the party can access The Supreme Weapon Shop and The Ultimate Armor Shop, home of world-class forgers that will sell you powerful weapons. It is subverted in that said smiths only produces Infinity -1 class weapons and armors; to get the true best equipment, the party must take these weapons and forge them one step further using an extremely rare Heaven's Secret.
- Urban Segregation: Occurs with Darakin. As one walks into the city, the first part of town is the "common" part of town, featuring the tavern, the weapon and item shops, and the houses of a few common folk. Isolated to one side of this district is a shantytown of shoddily-built one-room shacks. The back area, near the castle, is an elaborately decorated district with mansions and shops catering to the nobility. This emphasizes the degree to which the nobles believe themselves above the common folk.
- Video Game Cruelty Potential: In the town of Yuno, there is a kid who is building a snowman. When he's not there, Lang can smash the snowman, causing the kid to get upset and have to rebuild it. Do so enough, and the kid will catch you doing so, giving Lang the "Bully" title.
- Villainous Glutton:
- Doplin. Doubles as Adipose Rex
- Marienne as well, who is as wide as she is tall, and a sadist to boot.
- Wake-Up Call Boss/Beef Gate: Elfin is cake if you're on Level 9, have four Art Blocks and know the move to kill her with, but she's designed to be essentially invincible before then. Getting killed by her is the game's way of saying "grind more."
- Early-Bird Boss: A lot of the reason that she's so hard is that she's the last enforced boss that Lang has to fight solo. The Healer Signs On Early, but not early enough.
- Weapon Specialization: As in the original, each party member uses a specific weapon type.
- Lang: As in the first game, Heroes Prefer Swords.
- Kazan: The Bare-Fisted Monk. He is shown to be proficient in the use of swords, but prefers to fight bare-handed to feel combat better.
- Sharon: Also uses swords. While Lang wields traditional-style broadswords, Sharon's weapons are a combination of rapiers and cutlasses, befitting her piratical nature.
- Ayne: Wields a huge axe.
- Maya is both the White Magician Girl via her Origin, Rivas, and the Black Magician Girl, fighting via an ancient and long-forgotten type of spellcasting.
- Who Wants to Live Forever?: Stiel, who, in a Hunter's Guild quest, reveals that he is a being from another world, and whose physical body cannot be destroyed in this one. Since he is in despair at the prospect of being trapped in this world forever, he qualifies.
