The Legend of Dragoon was released in 2000 in the U.S. It was released at the end of the lifecycle of the Playstation 1, as the Playstation 2 would launch in North America just months later. Despite being a PS1 game, The Legend of Dragoon is a massive RPG with four discs worth of content. The game sports a fully fleshed-out narrative complete with side content to complete, a party filled with unique characters and backstories. Though it only gained a cult following at the time, The Legend of Dragoon went on to sell over 2 million units and has now been ported to both Playstation 4 and Playstation 5.
With such a breadth of content to explore, players will find themselves needing to level their characters throughout the massive four-disc story. Luckily, Dragoon makes most of their combat and boss encounters feel very organic, so players rarely need to stop the story just to grind levels for hours. Still, some players enjoy the grind, and Dragoon offers more than just character levels to grind, and there are places in the game that are best to stop and level.
7 The Forest
One of the easiest places to quickly gain a level is the opening area of the game, the Forest. Once players fight through the opening village of Seles, Dart will begin his march for Hellena Prison to rescue his friend and love interest Shana. To get to Hellena, players will have to take Dart through a short forest. The Legend of Dragoon tries to evenly disperse EXP gained in battle among the active party members first, then the unused party members next. This means that leveling later in the game might be a real grind thanks to up to seven characters getting EXP.
In this opening forest area though, Dart is the only party member, so all the EXP goes to him. While not necessary by any means, getting Dart an extra level in the Forest makes Hellena a little easier and gets players used to using his Additions on weaker foes. Getting Dart that early extra level here makes fighting the boss in Hellena much easier, and the grind doesn't even take too long because all the EXP goes to Dart.
6 Level New Additions
While not a set "place" to level, players should always look out for unlocking new Additions for their characters. Additions are the primary form of attacking foes in The Legend of Dragoon and involve the player more directly in combat by challenging them to time button presses rhythmically to complete attacks. For example, Dart unlocks his second Addition, "Volcano" very early, possibly on his first level. Players can practice "Volcano" in the Forest right after Seles. By completing Additions, their own levels slowly go up.
Addition levels aren't tied to EXP in any way. Instead, Additions are leveled by reaching a certain number of successful completions of the Addition per level. Each Addition has 5 levels, and at level 5, they will do the most damage they can while also offering the most SP, which is used to both transform into Dragoon form and level the Dragoon meter. If players just want to practice their Additions, they could return to lower-level areas, because players only need to complete the Addition to level it, they don't need to pump EXP into it.
5 The Dragon's Nest (Shana)
Shana is the archer of the party and wields the light magic Dragoon eventually. She also gets taken out of the party for a long portion of Disc 1, where Dart, Rose, and Lavitz will level a few times from boss fights. Players that want to use Shana (and eventually her replacement Miranda) later in the game could set aside some time to level her in the Dragon's Nest. This doubles as leveling for the Greham/Feybrand fight as well. Players will fall into the Dragon's Nest eventually and land right next to some clear spring water, which can be used as a free party heal.
With this free heal and a little patience, Shana can be leveled up a bit in preparation for her departure from the party for the next few hours of game time. It is also a good idea to level Shana after she receives her Dragoon. Leveling her after the Dragoon will upgrade her SP bar and grant her more magic that can be used in combat. Shana and Miranda possess the best magic attack stats of the entire party, and their magic can be used later in the game to wipe out bosses and easily heal the party in just a few turns.
4 Level SP When Possible
It can be fun to always use Dragoon powers in combat. The way to unlock more and more time with the Dragoons is by gathering more and more SP via Additions in combat. SP can be leveled up to five, meaning a character with an SP level of five can transform into a Dragoon for five turns straight before becoming human again. Like the natural player level, SP levels pretty organically as the player progresses through the story, but it's still worth it to try and use Additions that grant more SP to help level the meter faster. Being a Dragoon can sometimes be detrimental in combat, so it isn't wise to always rely on the power, but it can also save a player in some of the tougher boss fights.
3 The Forbidden Land
Found in Disc 3, the Forbidden Land has a few challenging encounters. The final boss in the Forbidden Lands is the Grand Jewel, a foe that guards an item necessary for the story to progress. The Forbidden land has a healing spring near a save point which can be used to help level characters before facing the Grand Jewel. The Jewel kills players in Dragoon form very fast, so it's normally not a good idea to transform unless the SP meter is at one, so the player would only be in Dragoon form for one turn.
Because of this strength, it's a good idea to make sure that the party is leveled enough for combat without Dragoon assistance. A large part of this fight will be using healing items and magic attacks correctly, so make sure that the party is well-equipped as well as leveled. If the player loses this fight, the Forbidden Land is a decent place to grind out some extra levels thanks to the healing spring by the save point.
2 Level Near Rest/Heal Areas
When exploring the world of Dragoon, players will often find areas that act as free party heals. These can range from places where the party "takes a rest" to sources of clean water that can be consumed. As previously mentioned, there are areas in both the Dragon's Nest and the Forbidden Lands that act as free party heals, and thus, make great locations to level the party up.
Level grinding isn't as necessary in Dragoon as in other RPGs, but when it comes up, these are the best places to level. Any dungeon that has a rest or heal area is a good place to level up or practice new Additions before using them against a boss. Thanks to the limited inventory space, players cannot just carry 99 healing potions at all times, and these rest areas provide players with a resource to practice and level without using precious items saved for bosses.
1 Level Before The Moon
The Moon is the final area of Disc 4. Lots of items can be found here and some of the best weapons in the game can be obtained here. One unique section of the Moon tasks players with sending each of their party members forward alone to face a boss fight of sorts. It's a good idea to try and level the characters that the player doesn't use often before sending them off alone. Most of these fights aren't too hard, but players need to make sure that every party member has the best possible gear and is at least one or two levels better than they previously were.
This section of the game is quite tough, as multiple bosses are thrown at the player one after another. So, leveling the lesser used party members can also act as an excuse to level EXP and Additions on the main active party as well, because players are very close to the final boss fight once they get through the majority of the Moon.
The Legend of Dragoon was released in 2000 and is available to play on, PS1, PS3, PS Vita, PS4, and PS5.