Unlimited Saga

"Final blow in the head for recent RPG'S"

Introduction

Unlimited Saga is the latest saga (like that?) from the Saga Frontier/Granstream Saga manufactured by Squaresoft/Enix. But don't expect this game to be one of the alternative greats that Squaresoft have produced such as Chrono Trigger, Threads Of Fate, Xenogears and Front Mission, or even Saga Frontier II - because this game is offensively, stench riddenly, poo pants bad. So bad, I'm livid that I've reflected on the RPG market all together.

Being in the UK, it's like the under privileged, pauper world of RPG's. Discovering a good RPG is rarely afforded. However, the PS2 is slowly starting to attract more titles. But how come is it that only two to three RPG games tops have actually been good?. I mean really?. Final Fantasy X, Kingdom Hearts and Dark Chronicle are the only games worth playing and recommending from the years the PS2 has graced our lives. Final Fantasy X-2 was a disaster in sequel terms, Arc The Lad's debut was met with a mute reception, Breath Of Fire V was desperately boring and now Unlimited Saga happily joins the bandwagon of disgraceful RPG's. Now some may disagree with me intently, but I believe that the PS2's archive for RPG's is either dying, bland or just lacking in interest. Comercially, it would be only Final Fantasy X-2 that has made an impact in sales. And for all the wrong reasons.

Unlimited Saga being another RPG under Squaresoft's belt had me interested at first glance with it's manga, fresh cartoon look. The price of £40 also didn't deter my determination to get my - rather clean actually - hands on the game. However I bought it for £20 a few months after and was rather relieved that I saved £20, if I had paid the original price, I would have bolted back to the shop and decked the shop assisstant out of fury and regret. But, being cheaper doesn't stop this from being a pile of dung though.

Everything about Saga Frontier II spelled out in syllables that it was headstrong at being different and more hardcore than other RPG's. It was original and unique. I certainly enjoyed it more than I thought I would. Unlimited Saga conveys none of these things, despite the few fans it has, Unlimited Saga could be one of the biggest mistakes ever made by Squaresoft - and I'll even go as far to say - one of the worst RPG's of all time. Yes, it shares the title along with (my opinion obviously) Eternal Eyes, Grandia II and Koudelka. There is no unique battle system, no unique plot line, no unique exploration - no nothing. The game is pants. And I feel pain in saying that. It was my hard earned money after all.

Plot

The plot is rather promising at first glance considering it revolves around seven separate stories, seven different characters to play from. It was what attracted me to the game the most. How wrong I was to be.

The Seven Wonders is a mythological tale of good deeds and heroic proportions. Ancient relics were left by the Seven Wonders, the characters in this game. Their paths interwine with each other but each of the characters have their own personalised mission. It varies from the innocent Judy, trying to rescue her Grandfather who is magically embedded in a mirror, to Ventus, a teenager out to avenge his murdered brother. There is also Mythe, the woman lookalike male infatuated with wine and women, captivated by a portrait of a young woman and Ruby, a fake fortune teller (I laughed at this story) who finds love in adventure.

Basically, the plot is for a wide range of people. It isn't exactly bad nor good, but the further aspects of the game let it down terribly, making it even easier for you to lose concentration. I certainly did trying to figure out how and why they would ever use the concepts. The storytelling ability of Square is retained here, but by no means whatsoever comparable or on par with their other titles.

The dialogue would have been more stronger if the cutscenes weren't so wooden. A simple case of two flat character pictures talking to each other - no movement or illustration whatsoever. This immensely lets down the plot compared to stronger games such as Final Fantasy X. I felt annoyed and cheated within the first five minutes. More would follow though.

Gameplay

Where oh where do I start to criticise?. Every single bloody thing about this gameplay is rotten to the core - I mean absolutely minging. On the cover, it says non linear - already it commits false advertisement. Unlimited Saga is anything but non linear. It's repetitive, abnormal and not dare deviling as some fans would care to think. If you reflect by playing Saga Frontier II, you'd notice the clear fine line between hardcore gaming and utter skidmarks this game has.

First off, there is no exploration. No moving your character normally, in towns or in dungeons. No, you are given a chess piece. And you move on a blueprint map of the dungeon in directions. This means you cannot do much else from get on with the game, no fun, no talking to people and no interaction with things like you would do normally. The towns you visit are like the formula used in Vandal Hearts except more dull and drear. The dungeons are also very bland, with enemies attacking at random movement, also having rocks and glaciers block your way in the default presentation of saying "Bog off, this area's not available yet". It's hard to define the mess that it is, because for those who love moving their character around - not a small and tiny grey faced chess piece.

The battle system is also shady. You can recruit seven characters and use five of them them in battle. You get five slots for your characters to perform an action. You can do special attacks from the weapons that you buy and magic from the magic you buy. You also have the basic, punch, kick and throw attack. At first play, it seems a decent concept. It's not however. The movement is shoddy, your characters can only stay in the one place and some of the attacks don't connect visually.

Almost every character can have any weapon they want, learn abilities you'll never use or have them build up their levels in a specific weapon - this is indeed innovating but buying weapons is a weird experience. There is also materials you can buy to create weapons, which is also quite nifty.

But in battle, you can have your health knocked down to zero and still be standing strong. You can use all the powerful attacks you want without, unlimited times. Meaning the enemies are easier to defeat. You can't have them in a certain formation except of who goes first if you choose them to attack first. The slot machine is again simplistic, five turns makes things drastically repetitive and boring, hence -

You can use the five slots with one character using different moves if you wish - if you combine them in a combo attack, you can distribute around 700+ damage, stronger if you level up your characters. It makes things so easy and confusing. It's messy. More so when you do a combo to an enemy, but it can't die halfway through meaning you have to wait until the end for the HP damage. Say if you had Laura do a Twin Blade attack twice, the enemy could die with one but she would execute two instead, wasting moves. The combo system could have been planned and utilised much better.

And having five characters in a party further emphasises the pathetic challenge of this game (Somehwat easy as or easier than Suikoden). The gameplay is horrible, worst I have ever seen. It abolishes the good qualities of RPG's and creates a hybrid and disgusting surface of layers of breaking into the core. Oh but that's right, the layers are the core.

Graphics

Again, the boring use of the graphics doesn't do it any favours. The characters are a blend of 3D manga style pixels but used in 2D other than the FMV. I seriously thought that the graphics here would have been easily used on the original Playstation. They are dull in quality and we are confined to watching no innovative scenes except from the pictures running in and out of a screen. You'll be vexed.

Character designs are nicely done, I have to say. Even though they don't portray a distinctive memorable image, they are quite good. Mythe kind of annoyed me as he looked like a woman, which made me think of Zidane and all the other Squaresoft male characters that could have been passed off for a female. Armic is a nice looking and very cutish creature called the Chaba - which was original to play a creature at least. Ventus also provides the youth "coolness" with his looks and outfit but my favourite would be the Prince Henri, who looked like a runaway priest but turned into a retro looking guy - very minor but it suffices okay.

Enemy designs are nothing to shout about, but aren't exactly the worst you will see. They do look rather nice with the graphic module used here but still, the orginal Playstation could have pulled this off just as much. To describe the enemies, well, they vary but none I've seen resembles Pokemon so much. Could do much better.

For the FMV, there is not so much disappointment. The 2D pixels become 3D and they look cool and improved. But I wonder if the FMV mode could have been the normal graphics is SquareEnix had used the PS2 to it's capability.

Overall, I thought the graphics looked great on the cover but I soon changed my mind after I got into the opening scenarios. People will be disappointed in this.

Sound

Right - this is something that isn't disasterous. As always, the Squaresoft niche for creating music retains itself here and defends the game by a percentage. The music is just amazing, some violin orchestra pieces to some moody paced themes. I had no complaints here and began to sympathsise with the game a little. The battle theme is also quite good in terms of the atsmophere when you're fighting.

The sound effects are also top notch - all you would expect from nowadays. But the poor use of cutscenes and non movement from the characters seems to overshadow this which is a shame really - it's the sound and music that gives this game an actual score.

Voice acting is used a little here - another bummer. The actors aren't bad, they perform well but the least amount of times it is used means another good concept wasted. The voice acting could have brought more life that has been drained from this game at the drawing board if you ask me.

A good try from Squaresoft, but not hard enough. And with their resume, more effort should have been attained. Why oh why....

Overall

The replayability of this game relies on whether you can be bothered to go through the same dull LINEAR gameplay Unlimited Saga has to offer. The seven characters all have their own difficulty challenge which will provide at least some more play for fans. But despite that, Unlimited Saga is unfortunately a bad game made from a company that is possibly on the downfall. Buy this is you're a fanatic, rent it if you're interested, leave it if you think you could be suprised. You won't. "Saga" will be the cliche of being "limited" if Squaresoft doesn't get their finger out of their arses and start producing some good work again.

Why am I saying this about a wealthy and good reputational company?. Well, play this game and truly look at Final Fantasy X-2 as a SEQUEL and you'll know.

To defend some of Unlimited Saga's content - it was a well constructed idea as a plan, but it's one of those games that are handled carelessly, making an under average game. There is nothing hardcore about this game other than playing it feels like getting hit over the head with a brick.

Good Points
---------------

- Decent sound and music
- I got a free DVD disc "Final Fantasy - The Eternal Calm"

Bad Points
-------------

- Everything but the sound and music

Reviewer's Score: 3/10, Originally Posted: 06/14/04