Romancing SaGa

"Easily the best in the series, and a great evolution of the game."

Romancing SaGa at last presents a game that uses the vast potential of the SaGa series to its fullest.

Romancing SaGa was a game I was largely planning to ignore. Unlimited SaGa had turned me off of pretty much the entire series. However, after seeing some gameplay movies and excellant screenshots, I began to get more excited about the game.

Far from being as boring and seemingly restricting as Unlimited SaGa was, with its board game set up, lacking graphics, and entirely boring towns, Romancing SaGa takes the few good things from Unlimited SaGa, and adds much more goodness, to make a game that is easily the best in the series.

Gameplay:

To begin the game you have a selection of 8 characters. Each character starts in vastly different settings with wholly different motivations for following certain paths. Each character has a sort of "starter" quest, but after that, it's all up to you what to do. There are well over 50 quests in the game, not all of which can be hit on a single playthrough. Getting these quests often requires talking to a specific NPC, completing other quests, or meeting certain requirements.

You have an "event timer" that basically closes off and opens up quests as you progress through the game. This is supposed to give you the feeling that the world is progressing just as you do, and certain events happen whether you influence them or not. It is a slight aggravation to me, however, because it's a SaGa game, which is supposed to be all about openness, and yet it restricts you in this manner.

Thankfully the developers got rid of the horrific board game set up of Unlimited SaGa. Instead you easily walk around in towns, talking to a SELECT few NPCs (a few either impart random information or quests, but most simply ignore you completely), and exploring dungeons.

The battle system of Romancing SaGa is certainly it's high point. The standard turn based fare is something that is easily picked up on, but a few new things added to the mix make it rather unique in it's own right. Glimmers allow you to learn new skills in battle, with which to dish out more damage. The more you use certain weapons, the more skilled you become with them, and hence the more moves you will have available to you.

There are also combination techniques where characters unleash special attacks in sequence, with many flashy affects. Vortexes and benedictions add to the mix as well.

Magic is a huge part of the game, and exceedingly powerful. Some enemies are virtually immune to anything but magic, and so it is almost essential to have at least one devoted magic user in your group. Not only is magic essential for offensive purposes, but also for healing. The enemies are often on the level of difficulty that other games' bosses are, and so healing becomes a rather large part of at least one characters job.

There are four major things to keep track of in battle: HP, BP, LP, and DP. HP is health points, an RPG standard. HP is fully restored after every battle, along with having all status effects removed. BP are battle points, which are used for many special attacks. LP are life points, which can be healed only at an inn, and if they run out on a character, that character is permanently dead. DP are durability points on your weapon, which decrease if certain special attacks are utilized.

All in all the battle system seems quite fresh and unique. It is quite fun to play, and exciting to watch happen.

The story of Romancing SaGa is one of its more major failings. The game is about building your own story, and, as such, does not have very many true plot points. The majority of the story is simply the quests you yourself pick out to do. Certainly this is enough to please many gamers, however for an RPG , it just seems rather bland. There are certainly epic bosses and quests, but the reasoning behind them is never given. The characters are unique and interesting, but never really have enough of their background revealed. That said, the story that is given to you is usually fairly interesting, and even the side quests are often enough to keep you entertained very well.

Graphics: Graphically, this game is highly stylized. The characters are "chibi" or super deformed, with big heads and small bodies. This will probably turn some off from the game, but in motion, it looks superb. The animations in battle are nothing short of spectacular, flowing very well and with tons of flashy, exciting effects.

The only real complaint here is with the cut scenes. The "Sketch-Motion" system is certainly unique, and there are some points of beauty to it, but all in all it just seems kind of bland. Basically it presents many major plot points in a sort of moving comic book form. Sometimes, as with Hawke, it just seems a little out of place, while at other times, such as with Barbara's opening dance, it is truly beautiful to watch.

Sound: The music of Romancing SaGa is nothing short of superb. The songs all match their areas perfectly, and suit the mood quite well for every instance. The battle music is some of the best I've heard for a very long time. There is even a nifty little victory piece after you win a battle. It is all very, very good.

Sadly, the voice acting is not nearly as good as the music. Some characters have voices that suit their characters perfectly, but the majority of the characters' voices are just bad. The children's voices are all rather annoying, and even some main characters such as Sif have annoyingly overracted voices. Again, though, some characters voices are great.

Value: With 8 different main characters to play the game through with, well over 50 quests to play, and an almost unforgiving difficulty at some points, Romancing SaGa is quite worth the money spent on it.

Tilt: While Romancing SaGa was quite fun for me, I couldn't recommend it to everyone. Indeed, I doubt the majority of gamers would like it, though this is the game in the series to try if you want to try a SaGa game. It is a solid RPG, and a suitable evolution of the series as a whole. Hopefully the games will continue to follow this path.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 10/19/05