Unlimited Saga

"Good? Bad? Depends on your Age and Point of View."

This review is STORY SPOILER FREE!

Frankly, I imagine 90% of the review titles for this game to be some variation of “Unlimited boredom, ugliness, crappiness, etc”. Probably a handful will praise this as the greatest game ever made. Then there are reviews like mine which point out some basic truths to this game and try to give it a rating it actually deserves.

Before anyone should rush to judge this game you have to understand what it really is. It is to RPGs what Freedom Force was to comic books or what Contra: Shattered Soldier was to run-‘n’-guns. It is a throw-back to an older style. This game is basically a text-based RPG with some colorful pictures and flashy battle graphics added. So Unlimited SaGa is pretty much beyond old school. It is almost pure nostalgia designed for a niche market. Like Star Wars novels or something. The game is nearly 100% menu-driven and the only movement you’ll ever see is moving your board game piece along the map in a series of moves. The story sequences themselves play out like a comic book.

If you’re a fan of text-based RPGs then this game will probably be for you. However, if you started playing RPGs as early as Dragon Warrior and can’t imagine dealing with anything slower than that, then this game will probably be too old and clunky for you. Understand that fact before any other. Now for my usual breakdown:

1. Story (7/10)

There are actually seven stories in this game that seem to revolve around seven “Wonders”. As with, say, SaGa Frontier 2, the stories are not devoted to saving the world or anything on an insanely epic scale. Rather they are more personal. Really and truly though the heart of SaGa games are the gameplay and the stories merely exist as an excuse to go out and mess with the battle system. Sometimes a good story can pop up but I’ve played several hours of this game and have yet to find anything rating higher than this score.

2. Graphics (7/10)

Hey, look, I could sit here and type a dozen paragraphs about how much the graphics suck for this game. However, like with everything else it has to be judged within the contexts of the game. For what this game is, essentially a text-based RPG, the graphics are very good. The battle graphics are in 2D with supercool backgrounds just like SaGa Frontier 2. They are pretty much the best of show if you don’t want to count the game’s Final Fantasy X-2 preview. The rest of the game, from environments to characters are basically an art book put there so the average RPG gamer won’t totally fall asleep while adventuring through Textland. But hey, if you enjoy the pretty pictures that can pop up go on ahead and enjoy.

3. Music / Sound (10/10)

This is easily the best part of the game as a whole. The music totally fits each area and is excellent for establishing moods. It practically needs to be as the game’s visual style fails so utterly at doing so.

4. Control (5/10)

Control is pretty tight in the menu portions of the game. Of course, it is very hard to mess that up. Two major control issues exist that cause this score. For starters is how you must move on the map for each area. A little bit of pressure on the stick changes direction but some more pressure will actually move your character’s “piece”. I continuously had problems when trying to chose a direction and accidently moving my character’s piece where I didn’t want it to go. The second issue is that of the many reels in the game. They exist to act as dice did during games like Dungeons and Dragons. They are the luck factor. They are also more of a hindrance than a help simply because they appear so often. Getting different timings down and having to repeat them over and over becomes a very tiring repetition that will get on the nerves of anyone who dislikes doing such things (like myself).

5. Gameplay (7/10)

Gameplay itself is a mixed bag. First there is this Grid Growth System which I still do not understand. Keep in mind, though, that I am not saying this Grid system sucks just because I don’t get it. Far from it. The Grid thing seems innovative in that as near as I can tell it sorta allows you to customize skill growth based on element.

After this is all the usual SaGa gameplay, down to the deep custom combos between characters and the more strategic battles you must fight due to weapons having limited numbers of uses before breaking. Nothing truly new to the old SaGa engine except that HP means next to nothing now. LP is everything while your HP is just there to keep LP from being shaved away. When LP is gone, you see, it’s over.

The big problem that exists with gameplay is that stat growth only occurs when an individual mission is completed. One might see that as a way to add difficulty and I can understand that perspective. The problem I have is that I can’t play with the battle system much because it can only be upgraded and altered once a mission is accomplished. To me this seems to counteract SaGa’s gameplay focus and comes off as very unappealing. Maybe if they let you play with abilities at anytime but only allowed stat growth at the end of each scenario, then the game’s intent would come off better.

6. Innovation (2/10)

This is one of the hardest ratings I’ve ever had to think about. On one hand we have this 2003 RPG that acts like something so old that I don’t remember it. Such a thing would seem to rate a negative score in the innovation department. However, on the other hand, this game is innovative in the sense that it is a new game presented through an antiquated style. It’s like a black and white silent movie Summer Blockbuster. It could be considered innovative because it uses a style reserved for pencil and paper RPGs.

I personally see this as a misguided attempt at artistry because RPG evolution has left old time rough edges and inconvenient battle systems behind for things we see in modern RPGs. The whole point all RPGs aren’t like this anymore is because the formula has been improved upon. You can’t further improve it by taking a step back. Thus I give this category two points.

More points would have been awarded here but in the final analysis the old SaGa battle system really hasn’t changed that much from that of SaGa Frontier 2. The only true innovation comes from what I have mentioned before.

Cons (or ''Don't buy the game if you can't live with these'')

-No free roam. NONE. You never get to take control of a character and move anywhere. The game is extremely rigid in this sense.
-Control on the board map can get annoying when you accidently apply too much pressure and move where you don’t want to move.
-The constant, constant traps and monster encounters become annoying very quickly…mostly due to the fact that you have to constantly spin a reel. This game loves being constant…
-If you run across an item or a door while on the board map don’t think you automatically get it or use it. You must enter your menu system and physically enter an “Action” command to pick something up. Just like the first Dragon Warrior. Only that was the late 80’s, this is 2003.
-Your weapons break after enough uses. This is a SaGa game standard by the way.
-Stat Growth only occurs when you successfully complete a mission. So most of your time is spent traveling the menu system to pick up a simple item, hoping luck will be with you when you try to open that chest or avoid that trap, and fighting off 50 random encounters that appear on a square you accidently traveled too because the sensitivity of the Control Stick is insane.

A247 Recommends

Your enjoyment of this game all depends. I personally found it to be an unappealing throwback to a time before mine so I had no feelings of nostalgia to carry me through it. I’m pretty close to 20 now so I’d say if you’re younger than 20, avoid this game unless you are sure you can deal with a setup unlike any you’ve probably dealt with before. If you’re older then 20, try renting it first.

The lack of free roaming was pretty much what did this game in for me. To be honest, it just felt too much like a rip-off. For the game we got I feel we should only have been charged $15-$20. This game could just as easily have been made for the NES mechanics wise and for the PSX graphics wise. I guess that extra $30 was for the Final Fantasy X-2 preview, huh?

Final Score -- (6/10 or 63%)

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 06/20/03, Updated 06/20/03