SaGa Frontier 2

"A return to fantasy roots in the eighth game in the series"

Saga Frontier 2

Saga Frontier 2 is a continuation of the well-known SaGa series from Squaresoft. Unlike, Romancing SaGa 3 and SaGa Frontier, the story in this installment revolves around the characters of Gustave and Will rather than allowing you to select a character from a fair selection. These two characters who are unknown to each other but finds that their path will interlink at some point or another.

GAMEPLAY

Within the game, there are various chapters that unlock each time you make it through one. This unfolds the story in a unique way, a bit like a novel if you like to think it that way. However, there are chapters that are so short that you think, why is it even there? Fortunately you are given the choice of saving the game when each chapter is completed.

For a SaGa game, this installment has the unusual element of focusing much more on story than any other games in the series.
In terms of the story itself, there is an unequal balance to it. Most of the story revolves more around Will than Gustave. And Gustave is used so few times in battle that his character is never fully covered in the depth that should have been there. You never really sympathise with his character. Like the past SaGa games, you do meet a lot of characters who are willing to join you but in this game, there seems to be less of it which is a bit disappointing. Despite all said, this game does pose some potentially very interesting characters than those from other SaGa games. However, the gamer is left in a lurch at times because characters who we may perceive as important figures in the story may end up disappearing for good. But is this a bad thing? In replaying this game, I find that it is very interesting that characters come and go at the wink of an eye meaning that SaGa takes away the normality of having important and potentially important characters sticking around for a long time.

The battle system in this game is simple enough to understand. Using weapons, magic and combos to fight your way through the various chapters in the world of SaGa Frontier 2 is standard fare. And definitely the magic combos are a welcome sight where many other RPG's rarely does it. But there is one feature that is certainly going to annoy more than a few people - and that is the breaking of weapons.

Most weapons whether they be sword or bow, staff or axe has a limited number of uses associated with them. This gives you the constant fear of actually using the weapon in case it breaks just before a crucial battle. You can fix a weapon to restore the number of uses but these costs a bundle! Money is actually very scarce in this game that fixing a weapon may not be worth the hassle. Sure there are few weapons that doesn't break at all but these are rare and you have to work your way to get them. It is this adverse feeling of fear that puts down the game a bit and can certainly frighten off some newcomers. Nevertheless, SaGa veterans will be familiar with weapon-breaking from the early days of SaGa 2 on the Gameboy system and would not be bothered by this factor at all.

The new Dual Battle system is pretty dull. It is a one-on-one battle that involves you inputting 4 commands for your selected character to act upon. This system enables you to learn new techniques in a way that is not available in party battle mode due to the random nature of characters learning new moves. This may sound interesting but the execution of this system renders battles boring and very predictable. The fact that this system takes away the random nature of learning techniques that have been associated with past SaGa games takes away some of the fun of unpredictability.

There is a lot more restriction in this game than in any previous SaGa installments. Regardless of how many times you play through this game, you will always use the same selection of characters that are specific to the story. This factor may push some fans away because one of the unique aspects of SaGa is the ability to choose/recruit your own characters, but SaGa Frontier 2 takes this away. Of course, you still have a fairly large cast but at times, you don't feel awarded for training them because most characters do not remain very long, and any work you put into training them has gone down the crapper. This scheme won't win over many people who are used to fully developed and fully playable characters, but some people may argue that the reason characters disappear is in line with the story progressing through a historic timeline and so see fit to disappear.

GRAPHICS

Many people would be happy to see that SaGa Frontier 2 returns to its roots so the fantasy old-school style graphics are a welcome sight. The graphics are pleasant enough in their own colorful way and fits the theme of the game well. It may disappoint some gamers that the graphics of the combos which were very cool in SaGa Frontier 1 have been severely downgraded in this game. This isn't really a major issue but it does seem like a stepback from the other SaGa games in terms of presentation.

MUSIC

Nothing special really, especially compared to the great soundtrack present in the past SaGa games. But they are all bearable and you may hum to a few tunes or so. Don't expect classic music though. Mostly, the battle theme is recycled over and over each being remixed slightly.

DIFFICULTY

If you are unfamiliar to the SaGa series, then you will find yourself getting stuck in a few sections in the game. Levelling up your characters' statistics and learning skills is vital in all the Saga games and if you decide to rush through the chapters, I can guarantee that you WILL get stuck at some point or another as the monsters pummel you to death. It really doesn't help that the weapons break and you find that you have no decent replacement in so late in the game. The game interface isn't beginner-friendly so beware. This game is difficult in places and the manual does not offer much help in setting up the beginner for the game that this is.

REPLAY VALUE

At the completion of the game, you are presented with a grade on your performance as a whole. After which you can save the New Game+ option onto your memory card. The New Game+ allows you to restart the game but with of your learned skills, equipment and items intact. All the chapters are available plus a couple of new options to try out.

RENT OR BUY

If you're new to RPG's, I would suggest you steer clear of this game altogether. The frustration you face in this game can put you off RPG's for good and this isn't what you want, do you? RPG veterans may want to add this to their collection especially if you're a fan of the SaGa series of games. Other people may want to rent this game out first and see if the difficulty suits your personal style of play.

With all said and done, SaGa Frontier 2 is not a bad game at all - far from it. But I felt it could have been so much better if the scenarios are worked on more carefully and allow decisions by the player so progress can change depending on what the player chooses to do. There is considerably less freedom in terms of movement in this game than in other games in the series and this does hurt SF2 and I did find this aspect disappointing.

PRO'S

Loads of weapon skills, magics and combos to master.
A fair amount of replay value thanks to the New Game+ option.
Difficult setting which will please RPG veterans.
Some interesting characters in an interesting historical plot.

CON'S

More linear game progress than the previous games.
Weapon Breaking interface may put off beginners.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 08/31/01, Updated 07/01/03