Unlimited Saga

"For an Unlimited Saga, there sure are a lot of limits…"

Let me first start off by saying that I am a HUGE Squaresoft (now SquareEnix) fan. I’ve played a ton of their games and enjoyed just about all of them, especially the Final Fantasy series. They are my favorite company and have been for a really long time. Therefore, I would expect only the best from the company that I have admired for so long. Then I tried Unlimited Saga and boy, I’m really not impressed. From a company that has produced some of my favorite and some of best games in the world, I didn’t expect them to make such a poor one. It’s lack luster gameplay and graphics are enough to stay away, not to mention the confusing story. But, enough complaints, let me tell you why this game is well under my standards. (By the way for those who like the game, I’m not against you. It’s a decent game, but, I, personally don’t like it).

*If you don’t want to read my whole review (it’s quite long), then just go to the bottom. I have a quick pros and cons review of the game.

Graphics
Well, depending on who you are you might like the graphics or you might not. It really depends on if you like to stare at one picture for a while or not. Personally, I like some movement, but I’m not sure about others…
The backgrounds are very nice, still, drawings, but one would expect a little more action from a game on the PS2. Half the time you’re looking at a picture of grass with a road or some building. There’s really no interaction with anything since you can’t move! That’s right, but I’ll explain this more in the gameplay section. When you talk with someone all that appears is a picture of your character, the person you’re talking to and some cheap speech bubbles, oh and sometimes a bit of voice acting, which isn’t to great I might add. Don’t even get me started on the “adventure/moving board”. Nothing but a few colours and some odd looking paths that connect to one another. Boring. It feels as if the graphics were really rushed and I don’t like it. Normally the Graphics Square comes up with are top notch, but this time you really can’t say that. Still graphics don’t make the game, so I’m not judging the game based on the graphics, although the other elements of the game aren’t too great either. The best the graphics will get from me is a
6/10 (Square could have done so much better)

Sound
This is probably the best part of the game. The music is very nice and suits each area well. I expected nothing less from Square. Probably one of the best soundtracks out there, besides the Final Fantasy’s of course. There is a little voice acting, which isn’t too bad or too good. It’s about the average quality a game should have even if there isn’t much. Really no complaints for the sound section, thus it gets a
7/10 (Probably the only good part of the game)

Gameplay
The games downfall. It seems as if Square tried to be too innovative. I know we all like new and improved games, but this one is just too confusing and just isn’t fun overall. You start the game and are able to choose from seven of the main characters, each with a different story. Sounds good right? Wrong. The stories are linear and really aren’t stories. Sometimes you don’t even know what you’re trying to accomplish and for what purpose. Now after you’ve chosen your character you will normally start in a town. Instead of being able to move your character around the town, you are given a background picture of the town and a selection arrow. There are around 3-6 different areas you can choose to move to depending on the town. Not very exciting. You don’t even get to see your character moving. Now to start the game you want to go to the town’s inn. Once there you will find a number of selections, which include: shop, information, adventures, equipment, adventure log and exit. Shop is obviously where you can buy things, but the problem is that there isn’t much to buy. A few weapons here and there and some items, but that’s it.
Information is where you supposedly talk to people and they give you “information”. Hah, these people don’t tell you anything, absolutely NOTHING! What I mean is that their information is irrelevant. It won’t help you at all. Adventure, this is where you do little missions that for the most part, have nothing to do with the story. This is what the game is based around. Once you choose an adventure, you are sent to the “moving/adventure board”. This is where I find Square got EXTREMELY lazy. Instead of moving your character manually like in the Final Fantasy’s, you have a small, chess like piece that looks like your character. There are question marks surrounding you and you point to the direction of the question marks to move to that area. Once you do, your “chess piece” will jump, yes jump, not walk or run, jump, with no animation, to the new area selected. Talk about lazy. It’s like you’re playing a board game. Now on the areas different things may be there like traps, enemies or items. Every time, random and it can get annoying especially if you’re trying to get somewhere fast. The worst part of this board is how complicating the menus are. You have the skill, equipment, item, status and quit options. To open a chest for example, you would probably have to go to the skill menu and deactivate the trap by using one of the skills. Next you would probably have to unlock it and this calls for another character to do so. Not to mention that there are slots (think Casino) to reduce your chances of deactivating and unlocking the chest. If you land of the green ball you’re successful, if not then you get hit by whatever trap is set. Yah, it sounds kind of fun, but when you’re trying to get the chest open and keep getting hit by the traps, you’ll quickly get annoyed.
Battle System: Very innovative, but very confusing. When you first start a battle you can choose what you want to attack with. If you have a weapon you can use that, if not then you use your melee attacks, which include: punch, kick, throw and rescue. No you cannot run from a battle, which means if you’re about to die, you’ll die. Now, once you’ve chosen for one character you can choose again for another or the same one for up to five times. Now you start the fighting. A giant slot reel will appear and you just hit the X button to select when to stop it. A bit later there will be more different slots to choose from, but since the reel is moving so fast it’s almost impossible to get the slot you want. You can also link attacks with your party members by pressing Square, but the enemy can also interrupt the combination, allowing for them to attack as well. This can get annoying. All your fighting is practically based on luck and that’s not very reassuring at all. The graphics are again, terrible. The characters movements are very motionless. At times it felt like I was playing a PS One game. You slash at a far away character and all you’ll see is your character slashing their sword from their standing spot and the enemy flinching. Sometimes your character will go up to the enemy, but that’s if they’re close. The magic effects are somewhat flashy, but still nothing compared to others. Again, this could have been so much better, but it seemed as if Square put very little effort in. Or maybe they were just being too innovative and this resulted in an un-enjoyable gaming experience. Personally, I really dislike the gameplay and that’s enough reason for me to dislike the game. It gets a poor
3/10 (Sorry, if that was too long)

Story
Since it’s different for every character, I won’t go into it, but I’m pretty sure you won’t find it as binding as a Final Fantasy.

Controls
The basics that any RPG has. Nothing too complicated, just your average controls.

Replay Value
If you like the game then the replay value is very good. You have seven different characters to choose from and if each has a different story then you’re set. That is of course, if you like the game. Chances are that you won’t. With the terrible gameplay and extremely limited movement you’ll probably have something better to do with your time. It’s just not fun.

Buy/Rent/Trash
Rent it to see what I’m talking about, but definitely don’t buy it. Spend your money somewhere else because this is one investment you’ll want to pass on. You’ll get nothing, but a waste of money from this game.

Overall
A game to stay away from for sure. Most people play a game for the graphics or gameplay. Well this game has neither therefore reducing its appeal to many audiences. It seemed as if Square either tried too hard or not at all, because either way this game is just not appealing with all its new and “improved” systems. Definitely one of the worst games Square has ever made in my opinion.
5/10 (The only thing keeping this at a 5 is the music)

Pros and Cons
Pros
+ Cartoonish graphics may appeal to some
+ Slots are a new addition that may seem fun to some
+ Very good music
+ 7 Characters to choose from, each with a different story (good replay value if you like the game)
+ ***Final Fantasy X-2 preview (Very good)

Cons
- Lazy graphics (Not much movement at all)
- Bland characters (Too normal and boring)
- Terrible gameplay
- Mostly based on luck
- Quite difficult (At some points almost impossible to beat)
- Lacking stories for each character
- Voice acting isn’t too great plus there isn’t a lot which might be a good thing…
- Overall, seems like there was no effort put into the game
- Too innovative (Too many new and confusing things)

Special Note: I am very sorry for bashing this game so much, but I just really don’t like it. Yes Square is still my favorite company, but I’ll just stay away from the Saga’s. Please, don’t make another one Square.
Oh, and don’t think any less of Square that you used to just because I gave this game a bad review, remember this is just my opinion. SquareEnix is still a great company!!!

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 06/29/03, Updated 06/29/03