Putting the 'role' back in role-playing games since 2002.
Donate to Codex
Good Old Games
  • Welcome to rpgcodex.net, a site dedicated to discussing computer based role-playing games in a free and open fashion. We're less strict than other forums, but please refer to the rules.

    "This message is awaiting moderator approval": All new users must pass through our moderation queue before they will be able to post normally. Until your account has "passed" your posts will only be visible to yourself (and moderators) until they are approved. Give us a week to get around to approving / deleting / ignoring your mundane opinion on crap before hassling us about it. Once you have passed the moderation period (think of it as a test), you will be able to post normally, just like all the other retards.

SaGa Series Discussion

Jinn

Arcane
Joined
Nov 8, 2007
Messages
4,930
btw, is this the only Saga that did the inheritance/heir system? saga as a whole seems more suited to this pseudo-roguelike permadeath setup than the scenario shit imo

Saga Frontier 2 had something like it, but different in a negative way. I don't believe equipment and skills always carried on to the next character, but I could be wrong as it has been a long time since I played it.. After finally getting to play this, some of the decisions made for Saga Frontier 2 make total sense to me as homages to Romancing Saga 2. It makes me want to try SF 2 again.
 

Hobo Elf

Arcane
Joined
Feb 17, 2009
Messages
13,999
Location
Platypus Planet
I'm now on the Final Emperor and oh man is he/she stronk. Here I go into the end game..!

And: And I finished the game. Whew what an adventure! One of the best games I've played.
 
Last edited:
Self-Ejected

buru5

Very Grumpy Dragon
Patron
Joined
Apr 9, 2017
Messages
2,048
Bought this having only played Saga Frontier 2 and I'm pleasantly surprised for how much time I've put into it -- pretty impressive game for its time.

Currently on the Final Emperor. Trying to figure out what to do with the stone boat.
 

Jinn

Arcane
Joined
Nov 8, 2007
Messages
4,930
I'm now on the Final Emperor and oh man is he/she stronk. Here I go into the end game..!

And: And I finished the game. Whew what an adventure! One of the best games I've played.

I saw your nicely written review on steam and thought I would suggest posting it for people around here who don't quite know what to think about this game. It has some really good information and is a fine perspective on the game in general.
 

Hobo Elf

Arcane
Joined
Feb 17, 2009
Messages
13,999
Location
Platypus Planet
Alright, here's the review I posted on Steam.

Maybe it'll clear up some concerns people have with the game. It's easy to be worried that such an old and ambitious game that is trying to do literally everything differently would become a balancing nightmare, but surprisingly this doesn't end up being the case.

I came into this game with an open mind and it ended up being one of the best games I've played. To really enjoy this game you have to approach it with the intention to learn to play the game by its own rules instead of trying to impose what you've learned from previous, perhaps more generic jRPGs, as this game is anything but. Reading the manual that is supplied with the game is highly recommended.

In many ways Romancing Saga 2 is the anti JRPG. It subverts expectations and does many things that you, perhaps, as a younger kid might have thought was weird in a game (I know me and my friends did). Things like why don't people give you the items for free from item shops if you're so important (they do in Saga 2 because you're the Emperor!) or why the game world waits for the players input before breathing, for example why is the player allowed to go have a nice rest in the local Inn after they've been told that a castle needs to be stormed immediately (the attack on the castle will have happened without the player if you do this!). These are only a few examples and the player can expect there to be many other cases such as these.

Also, I wish to resolve one of the big boogeymen of this game that I see get thrown a lot, which is how there's level scaling and that the player could somehow over grind themselves into a situation where they cannot win. This is simply untrue.

1) The game doesn't have level scaling. It has encounter scaling, which is quite different. That means that enemy encounters get changed into higher level enemies after a certain amount of fights, though the game does pit you against weaker enemies as well. Basically it just increases the pool of enemies that you can encounter, so you needn't worry about only fighting against hard enemies.

2) Boss stats don't have scaling based on your Encounter Rate (how many times you've fought in combat, which is what determines the encounter scaling). They all have default, flat values set in stone. So you'll never be able to grind yourself into a situation where you can't win. Some of the Seven Heroes do have different forms with different values of power that they might turn into based on your Encounter Rate, but there's a limit to this power, and most importantly their power curve isn't as high as yours is once you bring equipment to the equation. Some bosses also might power up based on choices, but they can never scale up to values that are impossible to beat as, forgive the repetition, their stat values are set in stone.

It really is important for the players to know that the Seven Heroes' power curve is much lower than the players is once you bring equipment and magic (especially fusion magic) into the equation. Having powerful armor and weapons could be the difference between a boss one shotting you and a boss becoming utterly trivial. Even though some of them could become even twice as powerful, stat wise, their final forms might be much easier than the earlier ones simply because of the powerful items and spells you'll have available to you at the time when you take them on.

Basically you don't need to worry about getting yourself into a no-win scenario due to over grinding. In fact you shouldn't avoid fighting either (which I did at first) because, as I said, bosses have their stats set in stone and not getting up to their level will just make it harder for you.

Anyway,

Pros:

-An open world to explore with several quests that can take different twists and turns based on what you do or don't do.
-A highly strategic combat system where thinking smart will lead you to victory. It'll be very hard to simply brute force your way through this game.
-Awesome combat music.
-A good feeling of accomplishment each time you manage to take down one of the Seven Heroes.

Cons:

Pretty much all the cons for this game have to do with a lack of Quality of Life stuff in some areas.

-The biggest issue is that your main equipment menu is useless for information. You can check what items your characters have equipped and what skills and spells they know, but the menu won't tell you what any of them do or what the item values are (for example if a weapon is enchanted or what an accessory does). Some of them are self explanatory, but some aren't. To know what the skills or spells do you'll just have to go into combat as the game will tell you there. To know what an item is you'll have to visit your castles' storage area and deposit / withdraw the item you wish to know more about.

-Another issue that some players might find is that when you equip armor the defensive stat you see in the equipment menu isn't universal for all attacks. The value shown in numbers is for Slash defense. There are several different hidden armor values that are presen't for all items and you'll have to consult an online guide for exact values, though the game is somewhat intuitive in that it's not really mandatory to do this. It's pretty easy for anyone to understand that items, like Helmets, will provide you with a large boost in Bludgeoning defense. It's mostly based on common sense, really.

-I found it annoying that once a character was recruited into your party they couldn't be kicked out if you wanted to swap them for someone else. Only way to get a new replacement character is to try and get the character you want out killed.


In conclusion: if you can put up with some of the odd choices of obscuring data from the player in the basic menus, which, to be honest, is more of a inconvinience, and if you are willing to put forth a total amount of 10 minutes to flip through the manual that is supplied with the game, you'll have a fun game to explore. If you're looking for a more usual jRPG that falls along the lines of, say, Final Fantasy, then this is probably not the game you're looking for.
But if you want something more unusual and a game that's more about exploring the gameplay systems as much as it is exploring the world rather than following a specific storyline with developed characters, then this might be one of the best things you'll ever play.
 
Last edited:
Self-Ejected

buru5

Very Grumpy Dragon
Patron
Joined
Apr 9, 2017
Messages
2,048
Pretty accurate review.


Just had to start a New Game + after fucking myself over at the final boss -- was stuck with 4 units and lacking the spells to counter all the heroes attacks, and since there's no way to go back....
 

Filthy Sauce

Arbiter
Joined
Jan 26, 2016
Messages
614
I had no idea an old school chibi jrpg could be so intense. Either I'm getting a full party wipe or I get to watch my dudes Life Points count down to permadeath. I wish I could rename party members.
 

newtmonkey

Arcane
Joined
Aug 22, 2013
Messages
1,725
Location
Goblin Lair
:necro:

Very nice review Hobo Elf !

This is on sale at greenmangaming, so now I've bought it for the third time (refunded it twice before due to various issues). After a couple patches now, it's in a much better state than when I first got it; no mobile UI, and my controller works with no fuss. Will be saving this one for a rainy day. :)
 

Rahdulan

Omnibus
Patron
Joined
Oct 26, 2012
Messages
5,105
I really wish they'd give the first Romancing SaGa this treatment as well. I guess there's always the PS2 remake.
 

Jinn

Arcane
Joined
Nov 8, 2007
Messages
4,930
Wanted to revive this thread as a catch-all SaGa series (and related games) discussion thread. So here we are.

In only 4 days, Romancing SaGa 3 is getting its first ever western release!



For English speaking fans of the series, this is a momentous occasion. We've had an unfinished SNES English translation project for many years, but it was never quite up to snuff for me to properly enjoy the game with it. Now, 25 years after the game's initial release, it's finally getting the professional localization treatment. I've personally been waiting for a full translation since the early 2000s, so I couldn't be more excited.
 

Hobo Elf

Arcane
Joined
Feb 17, 2009
Messages
13,999
Location
Platypus Planet
Anywhere really. They're all pretty different from one another. They all share similar character progression mechanics and are quite a bit more difficult/strategic than the average rpg, but if you play them all they will have lots of different twists that does change the experience quite dramatically.
 

TigerKnee

Arcane
Joined
Feb 24, 2012
Messages
1,920
Rather than "what game should I start with", I think the question should be "what shouldn't I start with", to which I would say Unlimited SaGa because even amongst SaGa fans it's a very acquired taste (though those familiar with Pen and Paper RPGs will find it more palatable) and Romancing 2 because it has a higher difficulty than is average for the series so it's best tackled once you have some familiarity with the series in your belt (it's one of the better SaGa games overall though so it should definitely be played eventually)
 

Damned Registrations

Furry Weeaboo Nazi Nihilist
Joined
Feb 24, 2007
Messages
14,982
If I wanted to get into the SaGa games where would you bros suggest I start?
I've played through SaGa Frontier more than once on each of the seven characters. So, uh, it's pretty decent. If you play it, give at least 2 different characters a try, the way their scenarios play out varies wildly, and avoid spoilers. Game is a joy to explore, very open world.

Bounced off SaGa Frontier 2 hard. Constantly forced replacing your party members, everything I did felt pointless and scripted.

Unlimited SaGa felt clunky as hell, didn't really even give it a shot. The other one for PS2 seemed interesting but I never got a chance to try it much, just played it a bit at a friend's place. Apparently it has time based quest failure states/unlock conditions, which sounds cool.

Romancing SaGa 3 I was pretty into, though it got weird at the endgame and I stopped playing for some reason, can't recall why. Might have been a translation issue or bug or something.

Romancing SaGa 2 on steam seemed like a really cool premise but not well implemented. The combat felt dull and I felt like I was just being kinda shuffled between fights. Gave up on it after part way into the second chapter, but maybe I was missing something or gave up too early, it didn have a lot of cool ideas.
 

Hobo Elf

Arcane
Joined
Feb 17, 2009
Messages
13,999
Location
Platypus Planet
Rather than "what game should I start with", I think the question should be "what shouldn't I start with", to which I would say Unlimited SaGa because even amongst SaGa fans it's a very acquired taste (though those familiar with Pen and Paper RPGs will find it more palatable) and Romancing 2 because it has a higher difficulty than is average for the series so it's best tackled once you have some familiarity with the series in your belt (it's one of the better SaGa games overall though so it should definitely be played eventually)
I think Unlimited Saga does work better when you're approaching the game with an understanding of what Kawazu is trying to do with the Saga games. It's still quite shit, but for reasons other than what the mainstream cried about when they all bought it for the FFX-2 demo disc.

Edit: Romancing Saga 3 is on sale on the Switch eshop already.
 
Last edited:

Cromwell

Arcane
Joined
Feb 16, 2013
Messages
5,443
Since its on the swtch and mobile rules when you are away I will start romancing saga 2 or 3. Is there anything I should know beforehand or just read the manual and go with it? From what I understood these games arent related to each other so I can start whichever first funnily enough 3 is currently cheaper than 2 in the nintendo store so which would be a better starting point (I never played any saga game)
 

Hobo Elf

Arcane
Joined
Feb 17, 2009
Messages
13,999
Location
Platypus Planet
Been playing it for the better part of the day getting my shit pushed in left and right. Saga is always a fun trip.
 

As an Amazon Associate, rpgcodex.net earns from qualifying purchases.
Back
Top Bottom