And so, a year and a half after our historically successful (yes, we went viral) April Fool’s Joke about The Legend of Dragoon’s remake; the hate mail keeps pouring in. Despite the fact that we hinted plenty of times during the article/interview spoof that it was an April Fool’s joke, and it was published on such an illustrious date (April 1st), The Legend of Dragoon Cult took it personal.
A year and half after its debut, we continue to receive threats and insults, proving once and for all, that the brilliance of that mock up interview is up there with Shakespeare’s greatest literary works.
Enjoy our most recent batch of replies to the article (many which couldn’t be posted on the comments section)!
You Think Being an A-Hole is Funny
Wow this was such a boring and annoying article written by someone who thinks being an a#$hole is funny- By Anonymous (f****************@gmail.com)
Sam Replies: Annoying? Perhaps! But, boring? Never! Despite your misgivings about the article, it is by far one of our most successful publications. The Fact that nearly two years later you felt compelled to let us know that it was boring, and that I was an a-hole, only serves to demonstrate the timeless power of my article. Powerful fiction, indeed!
You Disrespected Masayuki Kasebe! You Nerd!
Who ever wrote this/did the interview is an a-hole.
Some one takes their time to answer your questions with full respect and curtesy and you have to let them know how bad you think their work is throughout?
seriously go outside more you f^%king nerd. – Max
Sam Replies: Max, we couldn’t post your fake email address (that you wrote in the comments section) because it was too pornographic for our younger audience.
Now, to your comments! You did not only fall for the joke; but you didn’t even notice that Masayuki Kasebe does not exist. Someone needs to read more.
I Have Been Had! You Sucker!
oh great its all a big f^%ken fool huh? well you got me. What a &^%$sucker you are – Max (Again)
Sam Replies: Ah! Max! You are back! And you have seen the light! Who is the sucker now?
You Trolled The Legend of Dragoon Fans! How Could You! You Need to be Cancelled!
You guys are literal a-holes in my book, the way you wrote this, the take on the game, and how you just wanted to troll the fans of this game.
This website should just be shut down-Â AnonymousÂ
Sam Replies: Some people have trouble taking my dark humor when it comes to The Legend of Dragoon. Apparently, you are one of them. Despite what you may think of our joke interview; it continues to trend on Google, meaning that your precious The Legend of Dragoon game also continues to trend on Google. So you should thank us, and our site, for talking about the game, and keeping it relevant despite Sony’s attempts at burying the IP. Remember there is no such thing as bad press! Though in these days of ‘cancel’ culture, maybe there is such a thing.
Personally, I played, finished, and reviewed the game when it came out, and I did not like it. In fact, it is shocking to me that it has garnered a cult following over the last two decades. But, I am not alone in my take. Check the press from its time (2000), most of us thought the game was a high production valued, but largely average JRPG.
Even Sony itself, closed the lid on the IP. Again, we have, in a way, helped to resurrect some of the game’s hype. If there is a ever a remaster, or a remake, I would like to think that we (along with you) helped to contribute to the franchise’s revival.Â
This is an Improper News Outlet! Pansy!
Oh sorry. We thought this was written by a journalist. Not a pansy. We’ll see ourselves back to a proper news outlet.- Vivian
Sam Replies: It is hard to say, whether you thought the interview was real and got angry at me, or you realized that it wasn’t, and still got angry at me. Vivi, my friend, you do realize that “proper” media outlets also perform April Fools jokes, right?
The Legend of Dragoon “Remake” was just too good of an AF topic. Personally, I do not regret writing it. It gets funnier the more that I read it, and it continues to deliver golden replies, such as yours. Thank You!
“I HATE YOU!” Â (*Editor’s note: He/she actually wrote that as his/her name!)
This was not an okay April Fools joke, I was really, really happy after having a really bad day when I found this.
This sucks, way to raise hopes and make me feel terrible. Your site is bad and you should feel bad. – Deinafire (through Yahoo)
Sam Replies: I was going to follow my snarky vibe here, but then I thought it through. You didn’t write in any details about your “really bad day”. So, I won’t be harsh here. I hope your “really bad day” is something that you can now look back upon, and not feel too bad about it.  I hope you have found happiness since, and I apologize for making you feel terrible.Â
Actually, I do feel kind of bad, that someone could feel that bad because of my joke. I apologize, but only to YOU, not to the rest of the LoD cult.Â
You Are Douche Bag
Samuel Rivera was going for humor and just came off like a complete and utter douchebag.-Â KamuaiÂ
Sam Replies: Yes, I was going for humor. But given that you are a bit angry, and took your time to call me a douchebag; it seems that I triumphed. I find it humorous that you fell (even if just for one tiny moment) for the joke. Good times
You Are an FF Fan Boy!
Oh look a FF fanboi letting his bias get in the way. screaming FF7 clone FF7 clone!- Gilbert
Sam Replies: Well, what do you know? I do love Final Fantasy VII. But there is no bias here. In fact, even in my top ten greatest FF games of all time list, I rated Final Fantasy IX as the greatest game in the series despite my personal preference of Final Fantasy VII as my favorite FF game of all time.
However, I did not like The Legend of Dragoon, not now, and not when I first played it more than 2 decades ago. It was not a bad game, but it didn’t live up to its massive budget, and marketing campaign, in my opinion. Adding to the game’s woes, Final Fantasy IX, and Chrono Cross were released within the same year. Comparisons were made, and most of the critical world felt the game was quite inferior to the two Squaresoft masterpieces.
Story, and presentation wise, it was clear that LoD tried to emulate Final Fantasy VII more than another game around. True, LoD had ‘additions’ in its combat mode, and it was set in a much different fantasy world, but other things such as its hero, love interest’s and even a certain death, all were derived from FFVII’s RPG storytelling formula. The game’s visual style was exactly the same as Square’s PS1 RPGs (Pre-Rendered backdrops with polygonal characters). Given Sony’s quick abandonment of the IP, it was clear that they really wanted to cash in on Final Fantasy VII’s (and JRPGs) success at the time. Once that didn’t pan out, they moved away from it.Â
Our previous two Mailbags:
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It’s funny because I played LoD without knowing what it was at all. It was my first JRPG. I played 8 next. Then 7. I was horribly disappointed with 7. Still don’t like it, to this day. It’s average to me and can’t really hold my attention even after playing it several times and diving into some of the additional media and spin offs. I do think most of the hype came from whatever groundbreaking elements it introduced at the time and nostalgia glasses.
And then of course, some stories just resonate with people that won’t with others, and vice versa. LoD is still one of my favorites even after seeing that yeah they copied some elements (really mainly just tropes and game play elements), I still like the way they did it better.
Sony being a piece of crap and abandoning it because they were cash grabbing doesn’t mean anything about the quality of the game, since it’s the execs that make that decision. The game has a strong fandom after all this time for a reason.
I don’t really care about the April Fool’s jokes – it’s why you need to be skeptical and do research. Use critical thinking skills. But, yeah it does suck that people were hurt by it. Because the game is very meaningful to some of us. (Final Fantasy VIII is my favorite game, and Kingdom Hearts, so I’m no SE hater, with LoD being up there somewhere too)