Romancing SaGa

"For Those Tired of Cut & Paste RPGs"

Underrating happens a lot to the best of games and although critics are entitled to their opinions, these low ratings can really hurt a game's sales. The mass majority of todays gamers' are casual by all means and don't appreciate much change outside of their Grand Theft Auto's, Halo's and Splinter Cells. For the rest of us, this means one thing: original, outside-of-the-box, games are printed in small quantities and have a very short shelf life. Romancing SaGa is so indifferent from orthodox role playing games that it's brutal, sometimes heart breaking, and bound for eBay with a massive price tag very soon. Those that do manage to acquire a copy and understand RSaGa's challenge will find the game a rich, rewarding, and most importantly: fresh experience. I do warn, however, that tears will be shed along the way as this is one game that demands brains over brawn and will not hold your hand or pat you on the rump to the end.

Romancing preaches one thing, from the very start: It's not where your quest begins or ends but what happens along the way. This is expressed through a very simplistic, and cliche main story. The actual beef takes place in all of the 57 side quests that you uncover along the way, for there, within each quest, are mini stories abound. There's plenty going on in the world of Mardias which comes to life with each play through, as the more you play, the more stories you unravel from different view points.

Another concept that RSaGa forces on the player is that they will not be able to overpower themselves to take on any given boss. Sure, in most Role players, you can completely ignore your stats, or the tools and devices used to manipulate them. You can shun accessories and otherwise completely ignore everything in your sub menu other than your Hit Points as these other RPGs often times offer the solution of power housing your characters through excessive random battles so that you can just steam train through everything. Romancing, on the other hand, punishes the player by leveling up the baddies every time you your characters level up. As mean as that sounds, it does enforce that the player use their noggin more than the X button to excel past problems. Frustrating, yes, but the end results are much more rewarding than simply blinking through menus while yelling "look ma! No brains!"
Unfortunately, this system is not explained in the game or the game's manual and this gamer actually found out about it via the Brady Strategy Guide and I guess while I'm on the subject I should admit that the strategy guide for this game is a necessity which may or may not be a plus, minus or neutral in your book.

The Event Rank system not only levels up enemies as you level but also opens new quests and closes off quests. RSaGa feels that if you're overpowered for a given side quest, it will take it away. This is not a crime as you really do not want to complete all 57 quests on your first play through. One of RSaga's strongest virtues is its re-playability factor. There are eight characters, each with their own story events and quests exclusive to them. To get the most from this title you are probably going to want to play through it with at least several of the eight which also means that if you completed most of the quests on your first game, the second play through will be that much staler as you will be repeating those quests. Romancing was designed so that each game would uncover only X amount of quests (but you can force yourself through nearly all of them) thus leaving plenty of fresh meat for repeat adventures. And yes, you can actually explore dungeons meant to be uncovered by other key characters. In fact, you can spend a good two hours plowing through an area only to find that you do not have the relevant character(s) in your party to open that area up all the way. This is not a crime either, nor is it a waste as along the way, undoubtedly, there were rare minerals to mine, herbs to harvest, hidden chests to unlock, or buried treasure to excavate thus only benefiting your party even though you were not meant to be there yet, or at all.

Sound excessively non-linear? It is but that's another one of the game's strengths - there are so many things that you can do or decide not to do and you can do them in any order. Yes, you can get lost, you can wander for hours not knowing where to go next but all is made good if you put forth the effort to visit everywhere, talk to everyone, and fight, fight, fight (but don't fight too much).

Last and least are the visuals and art. RSaGa has been referred to as looking like a PSOne title but in all reality the game is quite colorful, detailed and the art design was well though out, from dungeons to towns to even the characters themselves.
Everything in the game is voice acted and various characters have various quips for various situations in battle, especially the end battle which can be rather humorous. The soundtrack was done well enough that it's worthy of a purchase, if not for Scorn's banjo-dance-techno theme, then for the opening sequence which sounds very much like a classic Italian composition sung in Japanese.

Finally, I will share the one, real, disappointment that I have with the game: The game is very stingy...very, very stingy. Sure, I understand that I must work hard and think hard to earn an ending but it doesn't quite feel like my monetary earnings equal my efforts. Monsters give minimal gold, if they give gold at all. Sometimes, after really tough battles, you only earn one jewel. Treasure maps are few and far between and the ones that you do acquire often times happen to be for areas that you will not open on this play through either as you have not enlisted the right person to open up that area or it was a closed off quest. Your skills and equipment are extremely costly and if you don't conserve and spend wisely from the start or thin yourself out by spending too much on all five party members, you can be left without the proper skills and equipment for the last battle. The remedy, here, is that you ARE awarded more jewels and gold upon completing quests in later games but the first time around can be a hardship.

In conclusion, RSaga is a thinking man's game. It's often times vicious, unforgiving and without direction which all goes to say that this is a difficult RPG but for those with the time and patience to explore, study, and learn, it's a huge pay off and unique experience during a time when spoon-fed, cut and paste variants litter local game shops.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 12/07/05