The Legend of Dragoon[a] is a role-playing video game developed and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation.

The game includes a quick time event called "addition" during each attack, requiring the player to press a button when prompted to continue inflicting damage.

In the field mode, the player navigates fully scaled versions of the locations represented on the area map, superimposed on pre-rendered backgrounds.

[3] At random intervals on the area map and in field mode in some locations, and at specific moments in the story, the game will enter the battle screen.

On a party member's turn, the player chooses a command for their character to take such as attacking with a weapon, guarding to recover health, using items, or running away.

The longer additions, however, allow enemies the opportunity to counter and the player needs to press a different button to continue their attack.

After obtaining the help of Dragons, Humans became Dragoons to defeat the Winglies and, at the time of the game's events, live in relative peace.

After rescuing Shana with the help of Lavitz, King Albert sends the party to defend the fort-city of Hoax.

With the fort safe, the party travels to Lohan where they meet Lloyd and discover that he kidnapped King Albert and took the Moon Gem from him, an ancient artifact held by the Royal Family.

Diaz reveals that during the Wingly reign 10,000 years ago a creature called the Virage Embryo, also known as the God of Destruction, came to the world to end all other life.

They sealed the moon with magical Signets placed in each of the Wingly cities to prevent the soul and body from reuniting.

The soul of the God of Destruction was originally placed inside the Crystal Sphere, which was worn by the Wingly ruler Melbu Frahma to increase his power.

The soul of the God of Destruction has wandered the Earth and every one hundred and eight years possesses a human child in an attempt to return to its body.

Rose, revealed to be immortal and the Black Monster that Dart has been pursuing, has killed each possessed human to prevent the God of Destruction's soul and body from merging together.

The body can be summoned if the Signets are destroyed, which is done using the immense magical power contained within the artifacts that Lloyd gathered.

Emperor Diaz reveals himself as Zieg Feld, Dart's father and leader of the Dragoons 10,000 years ago.

He takes Shana and destroys the remaining Signet Spheres that seal the Moon That Never Sets, causing it to fall from the sky.

The death of Lavitz is cited as an example of ludonarrative dissonance, as this event serves a narrative purpose but little gameplay consequences.

Sony Computer Entertainment was inspired by the financial success of the Final Fantasy series to create an RPG video game.

Polyphony Digital, which was spun off from the studio a year prior, assisted in creating the game's CGI cutscenes.

[17] The production team grew to over 100 staff members and had a budget of $16 million, both considered large for a PlayStation game.

The team's strive for realism resulted in magic — a common character ability in RPGs — only being incorporated into the Dragoon state or through items with equivalent effects.

The development team acquiesced to use CGI movies for key events because they looked impressive and they wanted to showcase the characters flying through the air.

[21] The Legend of Dragoon was Martin's first work for a video game; he was chosen because Sony wanted a different musical style to other RPGs at the time.

The gameplay was adjusted to become less difficult after feedback from Japanese players, with Yoshida calling the North American release the "complete" version.

This version included additional features such as up-rendering, rewind, quick save, and custom video filters.

[16] David Smith in his review for IGN deemed the titular element of Dragoon transformations inconsequential to the gameplay and criticised the frequency of the random encounters as excessive.

[40] Upon its debut in Japan, The Legend of Dragoon reached second place in sales behind Pokémon Gold and Silver, selling over 160,000 units and becoming the best-selling new release that week.

[46] Chris Greening of Square Enix Music Online gave the album a score of 6/10 in 2010, saying that while innovative at the time, it had been superseded in quality by later soundtracks.

[46][47] "If You Still Believe" was included in the compilation album Game Music Collection Sony Computer Entertainment Japan Best, published by King Records in 2005.