X-Men Legends
by Jamesman
Publication date 2009
Publisher Let's Play Archive
In the fall of 2004, Activision released the Raven Software-developed X-Men Legends on multiple platforms.
An interesting take on the "comic book game" genre, XML is an action RPG, in which you create 4-person teams from the 14 playable characters, and earn experience and money to increase their abilities.
Storywise, the game's focus is on "new" character Alison Crestmere, who is of interest to both the Brotherhood of Mutants and the X-Men. She's mostly just an excuse to shoehorn character backstories into the game with some groan-worthy writing, and you're rarely (if ever) required to use her in missions.
Speaking of missions, they can get quite long. I'm doing my best to have efficient playthroughs of each mission, and I also intend to have updates consist of multiple videos covering each mission. Because of this, updates may not be too frequent.
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0:03
and here's a nice little cut scene of
0:05
the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning
0:08
this is a school for mutants essentially
0:12
where they can have their regular
0:17
curricular and um they can also learn
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how to use their mutant powers and
0:22
control them there's a nice loading
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screen for Prof X also known as
0:27
professor Charles Xavier played by
0:29
Patrick Stewart Professor Xavier I'd
0:32
like you to meet Allison cresm and guess
0:35
what hello Allison Welcome to The
0:37
Institute how are
0:39
you a little confused but I'm
0:42
okay that's
0:45
understandable perhaps Jean could take
0:47
you on a tour of the Mansion or would
0:49
you prefer that I show you the true
0:51
purpose of the institute in the sub
0:54
basement yep Patrick Stewart once again
0:57
now we've got some more dialogue that we
1:00
can check out might as well why was I
1:04
brought here you were brought here for
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your own protection the people who
1:08
attacked you in New York City were
1:10
members of the Brotherhood of mutants
1:13
they can be extremely
1:15
dangerous so they could come after me
1:18
again perhaps which is why it would be
1:21
best for you to stay at the Mansion at
1:23
least until we determine exactly why the
1:26
Brotherhood attempted to kidnap you
1:31
are you the leader of the
1:33
X-Men I prefer to think of myself as
1:36
their Mentor I leave team leadership to
1:38
Cyclops or
1:40
storm but you brought them together
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right yes I started with Cyclops and
1:46
several others as time passed I found
1:49
more mutants who were capable of
1:50
handling the responsibilities of being
1:52
an
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X-Man who's the
1:58
Brotherhood the Brotherhood is an unruly
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collection of mutants who consider
2:02
themselves above Humanity they operate
2:05
outside the law and use their abilities
2:07
to further their misguided
2:10
desires but what do they
2:13
want they've labeled themselves homo
2:16
Superior and believe they will inherit
2:18
the Earth but they are far from
2:22
meek okay now we can have Jean show us
2:25
around the Mansion or we can have
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Professor X show us around the sub
2:29
basement
2:30
let's have Jean show us around I'd like
2:32
Jean to show me around it would be my
2:35
pleasure as you move from room to room
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I'll give you a little information on
2:39
the
2:40
X-Men once you're done with Jean's tour
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come back here and I'll show you the sub
2:46
basement lead the way
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Allison now you can also uh tell Jean to
2:51
shut the hell up but in the interest
2:53
of this LP will have her tell us
2:56
everything did you have a question
2:58
Allison in including this
3:02
dialogue this house is too cool who owns
3:07
it the Xavier Mansion is owned by
3:10
professor Charles Xavier once it was his
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family's estate but he had bigger
3:16
plans looks as if it hasn't changed
3:18
since it was first
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built oh it's had quite a bit of
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remodeling over the years but we're very
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fussy about keeping things as close to
3:26
the original design as possible
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this place is huge what kind of things
3:35
are here the Mansion has dormitories for
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the students a swimming pool a library
3:41
and a huge lawn should you feel the need
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to stretch your
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legs who's Professor Xavier Professor
3:49
Xavier or Professor X as some call him
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is the founder of the Xmen but perhaps
3:55
more importantly he's a
3:57
teacher what subject does he teach
4:01
Humanities he's trying to help mutants
4:04
and non- mutants learn that they can
4:05
live together
4:08
peacefully so Professor Xavier's a
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mutant too D oh yes he's the most
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powerful telepath
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alive thanks I'll ask again if I need
4:23
more info Allison asks a lot of stupid
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questions I'll just get that right out
4:28
of the way
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and let's just show this off real quick
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the computer behind Professor X shows
4:35
off character bios for all the X-Men
4:37
that we've
4:38
met pretty much nothing there that you
4:40
can't find on Wikipedia
4:43
though welcome to the Exavier Institute
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Allison this place is
4:51
huge what is it this is the Xavier
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Institute a school where mutants learn
4:58
to control their ability
5:00
as well as discovering more about
5:02
themselves and their place in the
5:04
world a school for
5:07
mutants I I didn't know there was such a
5:10
thing the fact that the students are
5:12
mutants is kept secret for everyone's
5:14
protection in addition to being a school
5:17
the Mansion is also home to the
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X-Men cool I've heard of the
5:24
X-Men what room is this the library is
5:28
one of the most popular room rooms in
5:30
the house there's a wide variety of
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literature here from Shakespeare to
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comic books it's an interesting mish
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mash of styles kind of like the
5:40
X-Men who are you my name is Jean Gray
5:44
and I've been an X-Man most of my
5:47
life today in New York City were you
5:50
talking to people with your
5:52
thoughts yes my Mutant abilities deal
5:55
with telepathy and telekinesis
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you're a mutant D yes I am you'd be hard
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put to find someone around here who
6:06
isn't I didn't think there were many
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people like
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me our numbers are growing and it's
6:13
nothing to be ashamed of Allison even
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though there are a few people who would
6:17
like you to
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be you're
6:22
telepathic I have the ability to read
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minds and communicate
6:26
mentally and telekinesis means you can
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listen stuff with your thoughts
6:31
right exactly I've grown quite powerful
6:34
at it over the years but I doubt I'll
6:36
ever Master
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it surprised that there isn't a question
6:40
that says you're a woman thanks for the
6:43
info ah boy now this is the library as
6:47
she said and you can go over here to
6:48
check out the comic books you've
6:50
collected this is the one we got from
6:51
the first level and as you can see it
6:53
gives Wolverine plus two to strike and
6:55
Agility and there's the cover ultimate
6:58
X-Men number 33
7:02
all the comics are going to be from
7:03
Ultimate
7:04
X-Men including the costumes the default
7:08
costumes at least for the characters are
7:10
from the ultimate universe as well
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classes are held here Monday through
7:14
Friday the students receive a full
7:16
curriculum in math history physics and a
7:19
wide variety of other
7:21
topics nothing else here so let's just
7:25
go to another room
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this is the sitting room it's a great
7:33
place to kick back and relax needless to
7:36
say this room doesn't get a lot of use
7:37
by the
7:38
X-Men then why' you say it
7:43
stupid this door takes you to the
7:45
backyard a little later you'll have to
7:46
go out and see the swimming
7:48
pool yep the uh outside of the Mansion
7:51
areas are not yet available to us but we
7:55
still get a little dialogue from trying
7:57
including this gem this door leads to
8:00
the front lawn where there's a beautiful
8:02
Fountain you can go see it in a little
8:03
while it's a great place to sit and read
8:05
or
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write really my two favorite things are
8:10
reading romance novels and writing in my
8:13
diary I can see we Two of a Kind later
8:16
on we'll have to get together and swap
8:19
books yep some of her other favorite
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things are ponies rainow and
8:25
Myspace now as I said aliceon crestmere
8:28
in this game is is a unique character
8:32
she's created pretty much for the game
8:35
there is an Allison creser in the comics
8:37
but the characterization is completely
8:43
different believe it or not we do take
8:46
the time to sit down every once in a
8:47
while and have a meal together just like
8:49
any other
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family I can't picture any of the X-Men
8:54
actually cooking a
8:57
meal you haven't lived till you've
9:00
tasted Pete's barbecue or Betsy's
9:02
Cornish in or cyclops's
9:08
sausage this is the day room it's
9:10
beautiful isn't it there are times I
9:12
find it hard to believe there's a
9:13
high-tech Underground Level beneath this
9:15
grand old
9:16
mansion an underground
9:19
level oh yes but I'll leave that part of
9:22
the tour to Professor
9:26
Xavier and over here here you can review
9:30
the cinematics that you've seen already
9:33
nothing too fancy just yet but it's a
9:36
nice touch and speaking of nice touches
9:39
I really do appreciate the level of
9:41
detail they put into the Mansion here
9:44
not a whole hell of a lot to do but you
9:47
know it's
9:49
nice they could have just made a menu or
9:52
something or completely skip the Mansion
9:54
all together but to have as much that
9:56
they
9:57
did it's pretty pretty cool pretty cool
10:02
so we're going upstairs now to the
10:04
dormitories the second floor of the
10:06
Mansion has bedrooms for many of the
10:08
X-Men feel free to wander around and
10:10
look in the
10:12
rooms this is the second floor elevator
10:16
from here you can go to the first floor
10:18
or the sub
10:20
basement okay now the exclamation
10:22
Point's above her head again but she
10:24
doesn't tell us anything
10:26
new so let's just skip all these doors
10:29
and and go to the end then work our way
10:31
back over here you can play a trivia
10:35
game and from here you answer questions
10:39
with uh from information that you get
10:41
both in the game and from game facts in
10:45
my case cuz I don't read comics and
10:48
answer questions for experience points
10:50
like this one Rogue has been
10:52
romantically involved with
10:55
Magneto and you get experience for that
10:59
it's pretty neat it's good little uh
11:01
boost there's a good handful of
11:07
questions this room belongs to the
11:10
ultimate Man of Mystery Wolverine
11:12
although he's a bit rough around the
11:14
edges W's the best friend you could ever
11:16
want and the worst enemy you could
11:18
possibly
11:20
imagine this game is fun to play but
11:22
it's very painful to listen to the
11:25
dialogue just kind of Screams fanfiction
11:28
to me the way that they describe
11:29
Wolverine there for example it's just
11:32
terrible but here's a nice little nod
11:34
you can check out the flag it's Canadian
11:37
flag and it's signed by the alpha flight
11:41
pretty cool I like the nice little
11:43
touches like
11:46
that this is the home of Peter Rasputin
11:50
he's pure Russian from the top of his
11:52
crew cut to the bottom of his size 18
11:55
ft never believe a body of Steel could
11:58
house such a gentle heart
12:00
art yep more shitty writing you can also
12:03
check out concept art when you find it
12:06
it's collectible just like Danger Room
12:07
discs and comic books so there's nothing
12:10
to check out there
12:14
yet Bobby Drake stays here his code name
12:18
is
12:19
Iceman let me guess he makes ice
12:23
D he can freeze almost any object
12:26
instantly I'd keep an eye on him if I
12:29
were are you he's a real
12:32
charmer and typical teenage boys room
12:35
clothes on the floor magazines on the
12:38
floor bikini girl posters on the
12:45
wall Aurora Monroe lives here her mutant
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abilities allow her to control the
12:50
weather which comes in handy with her
12:52
favorite pastime
12:55
gardening
12:57
ororo what a pretty name
13:00
her code name is Storm she takes over as
13:03
leader of the X-Men if Scott Summers
13:04
isn't
13:06
around yep lot of plants little African
13:10
mask and
13:11
Spears I do appreciate once again the
13:14
details each room just has little
13:16
different touches to
13:18
it this is rogue's room you like her
13:22
she's a bit of a wild
13:24
child she tends to get into
13:27
trouble well well Rogue did a few
13:30
questionable things before joining the
13:32
X-Men but she's proven herself to be an
13:34
invaluable member of our
13:37
team if you don't mind me asking what
13:40
can she
13:41
do it's a bit complicated but her power
13:45
deals with direct skin contact which is
13:48
why she always wears
13:52
gloves okay let me out you dumb
13:55
come
13:57
on the uh
13:59
having characters block your path thing
14:02
it's a bit of a problem sometimes but at
14:05
least on the field you can switch to a
14:08
character and move them out of the way
14:11
yourself another little relaxing room in
14:14
here you can check out the load screens
14:16
isn't that
14:21
fancy this is Hank McCoy's room we call
14:24
him beast but not as an insult you'll
14:27
find out why when you meet him to look
14:28
at his you'd never guess he was such a
14:33
bookworm and uh pretty cool you can
14:36
check out his
14:42
chalkboard that's a good conclusion
14:45
there
14:48
Beast this is your room Allison if you
14:52
want it I bet you'd find the Mansion a
14:55
great place to learn about your
14:58
abilities I'm not sure if I want to
15:00
learn about them after what happened in
15:02
New York maybe it'd be best if I never
15:05
use them
15:06
again but Allison if you don't learn to
15:09
control your abilities now they could
15:11
wind up causing far more damage later
15:14
on I suppose you're right
15:17
still I don't
15:20
know yep so this is our room if we want
15:23
it and there's a suitcase here how they
15:26
got our belongings I don't know
15:30
and nothing
15:32
too exciting here just talk of a
15:38
yearbook FF Fantastic
15:41
4 now just friends forever which is the
15:45
name of the song by sa by the B Z attack
15:50
I've lived here off and on since I was a
15:52
teenager the X mansion is pretty much
15:54
the only real home I've ever known
15:59
and here you can check out a picture of
16:02
a
16:04
rose and it's uh notd to Scott uh Gan
16:07
gray and cyclops are an
16:10
item on again off again relationship
16:13
because either one or both of them is
16:15
always dead this room belongs to Scott
16:18
Summers you met him in New York the guy
16:19
with the optic blasts he was the very
16:21
first X-Men and he's the team
16:24
leader oh yeah I remember him he's kind
16:27
of cute
16:29
and he's kind of spoken for oh snap oh I
16:33
I didn't mean
16:36
to I'm just teasing Alison Scott and I
16:39
have been together forever I'm lucky to
16:41
have
16:44
[Music]
16:46
him and you can check out his room for a
16:49
picture of Jean that's autographed
16:53
apparently which is kind of
16:56
weird Okay cut out of a little bit of
16:59
walking back we finished the tour and
17:02
now it's time to talk to the professor
17:04
again hello Allison are you ready to see
17:07
the true purpose of the
17:10
Institute could you take me on the sub
17:12
basement tour yes indeed you see a
17:15
majority of this facility is underground
17:18
so as not to attract the attention of
17:20
those who mean ill will towards mutant
17:22
kind it features state-of-the-art
17:24
training equipment that helps prepare
17:26
the X-Men for any challenges they may
17:28
encounter counter
