This was my first SRPG, way back at the beginning of high school. The story begins quite mundane – the evil Empire has conquered your country and kidnapped the princess, who is your love interest from childhood. You then lead a Resistance to the empire, beginning with rescuing the princess. Before you read on, HERE BE SPOILERS.
Helping you are dragons, which you can raise by feeding them. They’ll eat anything, and their stats will increase as they do so. At certain points in growth they’ll evolve to more powerful forms until they reach Master form. At that point, one of your dragons becomes literally invincible, so after that point it is almost impossible to lose the game.
Battles take place in turn-based SRPG format. Your characters will gain experience from leveling up, and while there are many, many characters, they all have backstories and personalities. The character development for some of the main characters is superb.
Incidentally, your character (Byuu) is the silent protagonist, motivated by a desire to save the Princess Yoyo. The game really goes out of its way to show you how much he cares about Yoyo, too. There is a flashback scene in which you take Yoyo out on your dragon. At one point she asks you whether she can hold onto you harder. The first time I played the game, during freshman year of high school, I answered “no” due to my role-playing instinct (and back then, me being really shy, this would’ve been my answer in real life regardless).
Eventually, when you rescue Yoyo, it is slowly revealed that she’s fallen in love with the Emperor’s right-hand general, Palpaleos. Whether this is Stockholm syndrome or not is kind of ambiguous, but back then I always thought that because I had answered “no,” I had caused this. I would later find that this happens regardless of what you answer in that scene, leading to Bahamut Lagoon having an uncharacteristically tragic love story for SNES-era Square games.
Regardless, it definitely deserves a mention as a masterfully composed game with great music, a tragic storyline, a complex plot, and wonderfully-done character development. I finally got around to making a shrine for it, so here are a few notes about the shrine:
And without further ado, here is my shrine to Bahamut Lagoon.
Team Troll (default name: Munimuni)
This is my only "mishmash" party. My options were a mixture, an all-lancer squad, or an all-mini-devil squad. Both those latter options suck [expletives]. Lancers have terrible movement range and terrible field attack range, even though level 40 Dust techniques are pretty good. Mini-devils are worse, since they're completely random and their actions include "Heal Enemy Party."
Despite it being a mixed party, Team Troll wasn't that effective. Light armors are best used for mobility, which means this party could get around easily, but a single lancer and 2 assassins really didn't put out as much damage as did the other classes. Still, they did pretty well, and spent most of the last battle damaging Alexander's healing head enough such that it only ever healed itself while my other parties nuked the other heads.
Helping you are dragons, which you can raise by feeding them. They’ll eat anything, and their stats will increase as they do so. At certain points in growth they’ll evolve to more powerful forms until they reach Master form. At that point, one of your dragons becomes literally invincible, so after that point it is almost impossible to lose the game.
Battles take place in turn-based SRPG format. Your characters will gain experience from leveling up, and while there are many, many characters, they all have backstories and personalities. The character development for some of the main characters is superb.
Incidentally, your character (Byuu) is the silent protagonist, motivated by a desire to save the Princess Yoyo. The game really goes out of its way to show you how much he cares about Yoyo, too. There is a flashback scene in which you take Yoyo out on your dragon. At one point she asks you whether she can hold onto you harder. The first time I played the game, during freshman year of high school, I answered “no” due to my role-playing instinct (and back then, me being really shy, this would’ve been my answer in real life regardless).
Eventually, when you rescue Yoyo, it is slowly revealed that she’s fallen in love with the Emperor’s right-hand general, Palpaleos. Whether this is Stockholm syndrome or not is kind of ambiguous, but back then I always thought that because I had answered “no,” I had caused this. I would later find that this happens regardless of what you answer in that scene, leading to Bahamut Lagoon having an uncharacteristically tragic love story for SNES-era Square games.
Regardless, it definitely deserves a mention as a masterfully composed game with great music, a tragic storyline, a complex plot, and wonderfully-done character development. I finally got around to making a shrine for it, so here are a few notes about the shrine:
- Unlike what I do with most RPGs, I renamed most of the characters. The dragons are mostly named after Pokémon since that's what was on my mind at the time, and I named the main character after myself. I named the ship Rankine as a joke on the default name Fahrenheit (the name Fahrenheit doesn't actually fit the character limit, so I wanted to change it anyway).
- Since this game is really easy after the main dragon becomes invincible (potentially – you can simply retreat all your characters, set the dragon to Go, and watch him destroy the enemy with impunity and no, I didn't do this), I decided to challenge myself by making n00b-style parties – all the heavy armors together, all the wizards together, etc. You're supposed to mix and match to create optimal teams, but I did it this way and still managed to kick everything's ass, so…
- This entire shrine will take the form of "epilogues" for all the characters that I used in battle. The epilogue for the main character will be a bit more detailed, and it'll lead to a future shrine for a different, completely unrelated game.
- All the screenshots of the parties were taken right before the final chapter…which is kind of a shame, since during the final chapter everyone leveled up a bunch of times.
- I didn't include statistics screens for my dragons, since they're all Master Dragons with the same stats (100 in all elements, 250 in all statistics).
And without further ado, here is my shrine to Bahamut Lagoon.
Team Troll (default name: Munimuni)
This is my only "mishmash" party. My options were a mixture, an all-lancer squad, or an all-mini-devil squad. Both those latter options suck [expletives]. Lancers have terrible movement range and terrible field attack range, even though level 40 Dust techniques are pretty good. Mini-devils are worse, since they're completely random and their actions include "Heal Enemy Party."
Despite it being a mixed party, Team Troll wasn't that effective. Light armors are best used for mobility, which means this party could get around easily, but a single lancer and 2 assassins really didn't put out as much damage as did the other classes. Still, they did pretty well, and spent most of the last battle damaging Alexander's healing head enough such that it only ever healed itself while my other parties nuked the other heads.
Lukia returned to Mahal, where she assumed command of Mahal's all-female light armor squad. Their fencing abilities earned them widespread fame, much more so than Mahal's all-male heavy armor squad, which instead attracted infamy for being more or less useless unless the enemy stayed completely still and waited for them to close the distance.
Zora's son Orelus returned to Campbell along with Troll. Orelus's time with Benamin taught him self-confidence in areas unrelated to floor sweeping, and he soon assembled a dragon squad in Campbell with himself as the respected captain and Reeve and Frenze as his lieutenants. He also overthrew the weak-ass queen and annexed Campbell to the kingdom of Kahna.
Sajin and Zeroshin disappeared following Alexander's defeat. Their whereabouts are unknown, but two mysteriously knowledgeable physicians specializing in regulation of human chakra flows have simultaneously appeared to treat the sick all over the world.
Team Articuno (default name: Icedrake)
My wizard party spent most of the game trying to reach the enemy. Wizards have pretty bad movement range, and my more mobile parties generally had mopped the floor with enemy groups by the time Team Articuno got there. Nevertheless, level 40 black magic spells pack quite a punch. Team Articuno fought Alexander's healing head alongside Team Troll, and after killing it moved on to drop numerous comets on Alexander's main head.
Zora's son Orelus returned to Campbell along with Troll. Orelus's time with Benamin taught him self-confidence in areas unrelated to floor sweeping, and he soon assembled a dragon squad in Campbell with himself as the respected captain and Reeve and Frenze as his lieutenants. He also overthrew the weak-ass queen and annexed Campbell to the kingdom of Kahna.
Sajin and Zeroshin disappeared following Alexander's defeat. Their whereabouts are unknown, but two mysteriously knowledgeable physicians specializing in regulation of human chakra flows have simultaneously appeared to treat the sick all over the world.
Team Articuno (default name: Icedrake)
My wizard party spent most of the game trying to reach the enemy. Wizards have pretty bad movement range, and my more mobile parties generally had mopped the floor with enemy groups by the time Team Articuno got there. Nevertheless, level 40 black magic spells pack quite a punch. Team Articuno fought Alexander's healing head alongside Team Troll, and after killing it moved on to drop numerous comets on Alexander's main head.
Anastasia married Barclay of Mahal. They enjoy each other's company, though an outsider wouldn't know it since they spend most of their time insulting each other. At least they don't resort to "your face," "your mom," and in extreme cases, "your mom's face" insults like a certain other couple I know.
Melodia continued traveling the world with her mini-devil retinue, seeing many sights and having fun the entire time. Her cheerful and enthusiastic demeanor brought joy to many in post-war Orelus.
Ectarina, after feeding Hornet a large quantity of wine during dinner, mysteriously became the owner of Rankine. Nobody knows why Hornet suddenly handed his ship over to Ectarina, or why he's suddenly obediently following her every command, or why during the dinner between the two Ectarina had a really, really creepy look in her eyes, but nobody's really pursued the answers to those questions, either.
Nelbo returned to Campbell with her best friend Joy. Together, they train Campbell's new mages in the name of their Queen, Yoyo. Before she left, she informed Donfan, the enemy of all women, that if he continued his womanizing ways, she would set him on fire.
Team Madame Hydra (default name: Twinhead)
I wanted to name this dragon HEIL HYDRA, but…not enough space.
Anyway, after Yoyo joined the party, she and Sendak proceeded to wreak absolute havoc with the Holy Dragon summons. Paired with 2 light armors, Team Madame Hydra was able to do gratuitous amounts of damage to just about any enemy on any map whenever they wished. It was glorious and honestly, not even really fair to the enemies.
…Not that I really cared. About the fairness part, that is.
At any rate, Team Madame Hydra spent the final battle pretty much just staying in one place and spamming Bahamut summons on Alexander's face(s). As a side note, I guess Alexander can't summon Bahamut? I've seen him use all the other summons (mostly Jormungand on my dragons, hilariously wasting his turn), but never Bahamut.
Melodia continued traveling the world with her mini-devil retinue, seeing many sights and having fun the entire time. Her cheerful and enthusiastic demeanor brought joy to many in post-war Orelus.
Ectarina, after feeding Hornet a large quantity of wine during dinner, mysteriously became the owner of Rankine. Nobody knows why Hornet suddenly handed his ship over to Ectarina, or why he's suddenly obediently following her every command, or why during the dinner between the two Ectarina had a really, really creepy look in her eyes, but nobody's really pursued the answers to those questions, either.
Nelbo returned to Campbell with her best friend Joy. Together, they train Campbell's new mages in the name of their Queen, Yoyo. Before she left, she informed Donfan, the enemy of all women, that if he continued his womanizing ways, she would set him on fire.
Team Madame Hydra (default name: Twinhead)
I wanted to name this dragon HEIL HYDRA, but…not enough space.
Anyway, after Yoyo joined the party, she and Sendak proceeded to wreak absolute havoc with the Holy Dragon summons. Paired with 2 light armors, Team Madame Hydra was able to do gratuitous amounts of damage to just about any enemy on any map whenever they wished. It was glorious and honestly, not even really fair to the enemies.
…Not that I really cared. About the fairness part, that is.
At any rate, Team Madame Hydra spent the final battle pretty much just staying in one place and spamming Bahamut summons on Alexander's face(s). As a side note, I guess Alexander can't summon Bahamut? I've seen him use all the other summons (mostly Jormungand on my dragons, hilariously wasting his turn), but never Bahamut.
The Queen of Kahna, Yoyo, ruled fairly but firmly and wisely. Her inner strength kept Alexander under strict control and the united kingdoms of Orelus prospered under her care. In her final days, she traveled to Altair and released Alexander, who by then harbored no more thoughts of evil. As she had no descendants, her final act was to abolish Kahna's monarchy and instate a republic. The Republic of Orelus enjoyed peace and prosperity for a thousand years before Zombie Sauzer appeared to try to revive the Empire, only to take a Mega Flare from Bahamut to his undead face.
Sendak died of old age shortly after the battle with Alexander. His death was peaceful, though he often wondered where Benamin was.
Mist continued serving her Queen, all the while wondering why all the guys around her weren't falling completely in love with her. Focusing on her fencing, she eventually developed a style known as the "falling cascade of water" which became known as the deadliest fencing style in all of Orelus.
Jeanne became Lukia's second-in-command in Mahal. Her tomboyish personality attracted, like, ALL the guys. In her spare time, she runs a milkshake stand. Like…real milkshakes, not slang milkshakes. Get your mind out of the gutter.
Team Kingdra (default name: Molten)
Due to how great I am at this game (read: how many sidequests I did, meaning how early I got Master Dragons, meaning how overpowered I was through the early game), I rarely needed healing. As such, I had a lot of trouble leveling this team up. I tried using them as an attack force with Big Burst and Infinity, but then they have kind of the same problem as Team Articuno up there – low movement range.
I guess that's what I get for making n00b-style parties, anyway.
Speaking of healing, I fed my dragons a lot of armors near the end, so they were always close to my parties and more inclined to heal them. This made the game more fun for me as the onus of attacking the enemy was on my human parties and not on my dragons. Team Kingdra spent the last battle healing, as it was one of the few battles I actually needed to heal, somewhat.
Sendak died of old age shortly after the battle with Alexander. His death was peaceful, though he often wondered where Benamin was.
Mist continued serving her Queen, all the while wondering why all the guys around her weren't falling completely in love with her. Focusing on her fencing, she eventually developed a style known as the "falling cascade of water" which became known as the deadliest fencing style in all of Orelus.
Jeanne became Lukia's second-in-command in Mahal. Her tomboyish personality attracted, like, ALL the guys. In her spare time, she runs a milkshake stand. Like…real milkshakes, not slang milkshakes. Get your mind out of the gutter.
Team Kingdra (default name: Molten)
Due to how great I am at this game (read: how many sidequests I did, meaning how early I got Master Dragons, meaning how overpowered I was through the early game), I rarely needed healing. As such, I had a lot of trouble leveling this team up. I tried using them as an attack force with Big Burst and Infinity, but then they have kind of the same problem as Team Articuno up there – low movement range.
I guess that's what I get for making n00b-style parties, anyway.
Speaking of healing, I fed my dragons a lot of armors near the end, so they were always close to my parties and more inclined to heal them. This made the game more fun for me as the onus of attacking the enemy was on my human parties and not on my dragons. Team Kingdra spent the last battle healing, as it was one of the few battles I actually needed to heal, somewhat.
Diana became the head of Kahna's intelligence agency, training its agents to travel far and wide and gather information on what everyone is doing. Her actions prevented many insurgent groups from gaining any sort of foothold during the unstable period following Alexander's defeat.
Zora continued caring for the Queen into her old age. She is proud of her son's accomplishments, and they communicate regularly. Her temper is still feared amongst all who live in Kahna's castle.
Frederica finally recovered from her fainting spells thanks to treatment from the two mysterious physicians specializing in regulation of human chakra flows that I mentioned earlier.
Joy returned to Campbell with her best friend Nelbo. Together, they trained Campbell's new mages in the name of their Queen, Yoyo. Before she left, she informed Donfan, the enemy of all women, that if he continued his womanizing ways, she would continually heal the burn wounds caused by Nelbo's spells just so he can burn some more.
Team Zapdos (default name: Thunderhead)
This team was easily my least useful team. Heavy armors don't move very well and Team Zapdos had one field attack, which was Matelite's Inspire. Inspire has a 1-2 square range, meaning Team Zapdos pretty much only functioned as a melee-range party. You can see this in the screenshot below, where Team Zapdos has the lowest levels for all my characters. By the time they got into range, the enemy was usually already dead.
The main exception was the final battle where all the enemies had tons of HP. Team Zapdos walked up to Alexander's status-effect head and engaged it in melee, where the heavy armor Smashes were actually quite useful.
Zora continued caring for the Queen into her old age. She is proud of her son's accomplishments, and they communicate regularly. Her temper is still feared amongst all who live in Kahna's castle.
Frederica finally recovered from her fainting spells thanks to treatment from the two mysterious physicians specializing in regulation of human chakra flows that I mentioned earlier.
Joy returned to Campbell with her best friend Nelbo. Together, they trained Campbell's new mages in the name of their Queen, Yoyo. Before she left, she informed Donfan, the enemy of all women, that if he continued his womanizing ways, she would continually heal the burn wounds caused by Nelbo's spells just so he can burn some more.
Team Zapdos (default name: Thunderhead)
This team was easily my least useful team. Heavy armors don't move very well and Team Zapdos had one field attack, which was Matelite's Inspire. Inspire has a 1-2 square range, meaning Team Zapdos pretty much only functioned as a melee-range party. You can see this in the screenshot below, where Team Zapdos has the lowest levels for all my characters. By the time they got into range, the enemy was usually already dead.
The main exception was the final battle where all the enemies had tons of HP. Team Zapdos walked up to Alexander's status-effect head and engaged it in melee, where the heavy armor Smashes were actually quite useful.
Matelite continued serving Queen Yoyo with his thick-headed loyalty. The events of the war have given him some more perspective, and he tries not to bulldoze through everyone as much; however, in the event he slips into his old persona, Zora is there to give him an earful.
Barclay married Anastasia and sometimes offered counsel to Taicho of Mahal…
…who became the new king. Taicho relies on the support of his old friends and strives hard to govern Mahal well in honor of his wife Celine.
Gunso retired from knighthood after Alexander's defeat and has vowed never to wear armor again. He visited those two mysterious physicians who specialize in regulation of human chakra flows; the physicians diagnosed him with a skin condition and promptly cured him of his chronic itchiness.
Team Moltres (default name: Salamando)
My own team was very useful. Cross Knight Hits have good range and do good damage, while in melee the Pulses do exorbitant amounts of damage to any single enemy. Any enemy down to 6000-7000 HP in range of Team Moltres stood a high chance of getting wiped out in one turn.
The only downside is that Cross Knights and the regular knights have very few SP, but that became less of a problem in the endgame where I could afford to have 99 Magic Gins at the beginning of every battle and all of Team Moltres was equipped with Dreadnaughts, which meant even our regular attacks were doing good damage.
Side note on Magic Gins: they restore 50 MP, which most characters will never achieve. High Magic Gins restore 500 MP, which no character will ever achieve. My dragons all had 999 MP, but I don't think you can use items on dragons in battle…and that's not mentioning the fact that at 999 MP, my dragons never ran out of MP before the battle was over.
Anyway, Team Moltres destroyed Alexander's status-effect head, moved up to decapitate Alexander's dragon spell head, and then moved back down to engage Alexander's main head.
Barclay married Anastasia and sometimes offered counsel to Taicho of Mahal…
…who became the new king. Taicho relies on the support of his old friends and strives hard to govern Mahal well in honor of his wife Celine.
Gunso retired from knighthood after Alexander's defeat and has vowed never to wear armor again. He visited those two mysterious physicians who specialize in regulation of human chakra flows; the physicians diagnosed him with a skin condition and promptly cured him of his chronic itchiness.
Team Moltres (default name: Salamando)
My own team was very useful. Cross Knight Hits have good range and do good damage, while in melee the Pulses do exorbitant amounts of damage to any single enemy. Any enemy down to 6000-7000 HP in range of Team Moltres stood a high chance of getting wiped out in one turn.
The only downside is that Cross Knights and the regular knights have very few SP, but that became less of a problem in the endgame where I could afford to have 99 Magic Gins at the beginning of every battle and all of Team Moltres was equipped with Dreadnaughts, which meant even our regular attacks were doing good damage.
Side note on Magic Gins: they restore 50 MP, which most characters will never achieve. High Magic Gins restore 500 MP, which no character will ever achieve. My dragons all had 999 MP, but I don't think you can use items on dragons in battle…and that's not mentioning the fact that at 999 MP, my dragons never ran out of MP before the battle was over.
Anyway, Team Moltres destroyed Alexander's status-effect head, moved up to decapitate Alexander's dragon spell head, and then moved back down to engage Alexander's main head.
Rush, Bikkebakke, and Truce lived together and retired as knights after the war. Rush and Bikkebakke opened a shop selling items, weapons, armor, and mushrooms (better, edible mushrooms) while Truce ran the business with his analytical acumen. The war soon became a distant memory for the three as peace reigned over the united kingdoms of Bahamut Lagoon.
As for Benamin…
Queen Yoyo asked Benamin to patrol the skies of Orelus with Bahamut. For a time, Benamin tried to forget the war and his own broken heart as he soared across the skies with the legendary guardian dragon, but found that as much as he tried, the pain would not subside.
He watched the lagoons of Orelus recover and begin to rebuild under Yoyo's rule. He watched Granbelos discard its warring past (beginning with the murder of Palpaleos) and work toward a new era of peace. And as he watched, as he wandered, he asked himself where he belonged…and found he had no answer as Bahamut flew from lagoon to lagoon.
As they traveled, Bahamut told him many stories of times long past. He told him of other worlds, in particular one that used to encompass Orelus, filled with humans. He spoke of the humans turning on the dragons and exiling them to Orelus, where the dragons separated Orelus from the rest of the world and sealed it away via a magic gateway.
There were some humans who decided to stay with the dragons, leading to the human kingdoms of Orelus. Before long, feeling that there was nothing in Orelus left for him, Benamin decided to find the gate to the other world. He didn't have long to wait, as one day the gate mysteriously opened of its own accord. Bahamut sensed it and flew with Benamin to investigate, but by the time they arrived the gate was already closing.
Benamin paused for only a moment before he commanded Bahamut to send him through the closing gate. Bahamut asked if he were sure, and Benamin took a single look back at the sky before the pain shooting through his heart made him nod.
Bahamut nodded solemnly, and with a mighty fling, sent Benamin flying through the gateway just as it closed. Benamin soared through the air and, when he finally hit the ground, found himself in a strange land…an endless plain of rolling grass.
Benamin rose gingerly, wondering how he'd even survived the journey. Paying it no mind, he began to walk in a random direction. He had carried nothing and only had his regular clothes, and soon thirst, hunger, and fatigue began to take their toll. The final thing that crossed Benamin's mind before he finally collapsed to the grassy ground below was the final battle against Alexander, after his support heads had been destroyed…and then he knew no more.
As for Benamin…
Queen Yoyo asked Benamin to patrol the skies of Orelus with Bahamut. For a time, Benamin tried to forget the war and his own broken heart as he soared across the skies with the legendary guardian dragon, but found that as much as he tried, the pain would not subside.
He watched the lagoons of Orelus recover and begin to rebuild under Yoyo's rule. He watched Granbelos discard its warring past (beginning with the murder of Palpaleos) and work toward a new era of peace. And as he watched, as he wandered, he asked himself where he belonged…and found he had no answer as Bahamut flew from lagoon to lagoon.
As they traveled, Bahamut told him many stories of times long past. He told him of other worlds, in particular one that used to encompass Orelus, filled with humans. He spoke of the humans turning on the dragons and exiling them to Orelus, where the dragons separated Orelus from the rest of the world and sealed it away via a magic gateway.
There were some humans who decided to stay with the dragons, leading to the human kingdoms of Orelus. Before long, feeling that there was nothing in Orelus left for him, Benamin decided to find the gate to the other world. He didn't have long to wait, as one day the gate mysteriously opened of its own accord. Bahamut sensed it and flew with Benamin to investigate, but by the time they arrived the gate was already closing.
Benamin paused for only a moment before he commanded Bahamut to send him through the closing gate. Bahamut asked if he were sure, and Benamin took a single look back at the sky before the pain shooting through his heart made him nod.
Bahamut nodded solemnly, and with a mighty fling, sent Benamin flying through the gateway just as it closed. Benamin soared through the air and, when he finally hit the ground, found himself in a strange land…an endless plain of rolling grass.
Benamin rose gingerly, wondering how he'd even survived the journey. Paying it no mind, he began to walk in a random direction. He had carried nothing and only had his regular clothes, and soon thirst, hunger, and fatigue began to take their toll. The final thing that crossed Benamin's mind before he finally collapsed to the grassy ground below was the final battle against Alexander, after his support heads had been destroyed…and then he knew no more.