SaGa Frontier 2

"This is just not a true SaGa..."

You can go ahead and criticize me all you wish, as I only played this game for about 3 hours before getting totally sick of it. I found it to be so bad, that it actually earned itself a Coaster Award! This is the second PlayStation RPG I've given it to. I only give it to games which are inexcusably bad. The other game that got it? Beyond the Beyond. Yes, SaGa Frontier 2 is without a doubt the worst RPG since then. There were other games out there that I thought were bad, like Breath of Fire III, but not bad enough to deserve a Coaster Award.

It's just not SaGa, at least the way it used to be. Up till SaGa Frontier 2, SaGa used to be almost completely gameplay-based. So what'd they do? They take out all those nice, rich gameplay elements which made the rest of series so cool, and replaced it with a LINEAR, incomprehensible storyline (events just seemed to pass by, a bunch of new characters to the story would just come out of nowhere, etc). Ugh. I look up to this series for a rich RPG game experience, not for a lackluster, linear storyline (or should we say two lackluster storylines?).

Me? I honestly like the first SaGa Frontier. It's fun. Once you're out to do whatever you wish, you can run around towns and stuff, get new recruits for your party just by asking around. In SaGa Frontier 2, characters come and go from your party just like in Final Fantasy IV. Isn't that great to learn when a character you built up for so long just takes off?

They brought back the map screen used in at least Romancing SaGa 1 and 2 (didn't get very far in 3 to see if it existed in it). But instead of marking locations where you could go freely any time you wanted, instead it listed 'storyline events' and you could click on them. Once you completed the 'event', it is greyed out on the map and you can never go back.
Somtimes the game tries to create a little fork, where you can select one of two events. But eventually, you'll end up doing them both, and it really doesn't add anything, just allows you to do some things in a different order, but it'll always be the same event....

Storyline: 3/10
There are two storylines. One seems to be the main storyline involving Gustave XIII, while the other one seems to be a small side story involving some guy named William Knights. You can play them alternately whenever you go to map screen. The one involving Gustave seemed like it had some potential of being good, but it's incomprehensibility had ruined it. From what I played of Wil's story, it seemed pretty lame. But I didn't play it for very long (about 30 minutes for Wil, 2 1/2 for Gustave). If you like Gustave's story, you might want to try Final Fantasy Tactics......

Gameplay: 2/10
Like I said above, it's ruined by the linearity. Don't forget about the omittance of many old features in the series, a really slow paced battle system and unbalance. Christ, I don't even know where to begin here.

Well, we've got to start somewhere, so it'll be... where are the STATS?! Let's see, we've got the manditory HP, the LP (a staple of the SaGa series), WP, and SP. But.. that's it. Yes, that means they've completely dumped the the 'other' stats we've all come to know and love which show individuality, such as Strength, Agility, Intelligence, etc. Because of this, the *ONLY* thing separating characters between each other are their HP/LP/WP/SP and weapon skill levels! Everyone is equal, and in a worse sense than FFVII/VIII! Since you can't make yourself 'buffer' in battle, what's the point in fighting? Because they killed those little stats, half the time you don't even get anything for your efforts for battle. You'll kill the enemies, and you'll get absolutely NOTHING for your efforts! Once in awhile, someone's max HP might go up or they'll gain a weapon skill level. Wowee. Fighting in vain is NOT a good idea... especially how slow and boring the battles are.

If you've played any previous SaGa games as far back as Romancing SaGa 1, then the battle system needs no introduction. I don't feel like explaining the battle system mechanics either because I have no desire to. Read an FAQ if you've never played any previous games. Now OK, take the battle system from those old games and make it worse. Worse by making it SLOOOOWWWW (and really boring to boot). Take into consideration that you'll be fighting just about as much as SaGa Frontier 1, but with a battle system about 3 times slower (no exaggeration), and with monsters with more HP on average. It makes for some really long battles, even as long lasting as the ones in Beyond the Beyond.
The only way to help you make the battles go by faster is by using massive WP (weapon points?) consuming attacks, but even those aren't enough, and before you know it, you're out of WP! This happened to me in the middle of the mine when I was playing as Wil, so I had to run back to town and stay at the bar for a night to recover, while trying to dodge hoards of enemies running my way. The only possible way out of this mess is by spening a LOT of time experimenting to see if you can figure out how some combination attacks work. No fun at all in a game with a slow battle system like this. It's too tedious.
WP consuming attacks are gained the same way as the other games in the series-- they are learned randomly while attacking.

To add some variation, sometimes at the beginning of a battle you'll have the option to fight a full battle using the whole party, or to have one character fight a duel with a single enemy. The object is to select a combination of attacks and options. Using an option will usually affect the succeding attack (I.E. there's one 'option' that makes it so that the next hit a little stronger). Some combinations of regular attacks will cause your character to do special hits like Cross Slash. These battles are quite a bit different, and I like them more than the main battle system. It hardly makes it for the mediocrity of the rest of the game.

I've only fought one of them, but they've added a joke of a strategy game combat setup. You move units around with a set number of movement, and once your unites meet up with the enemy ,teh game goes into SF2's boring main combat engine with unit for a round. Whoever takes the most damage is the loser of the bout.

I want my open-ended SaGa back!! This is just inexcusable.

Graphics: 10/10
This is sadly the best part of the game. The backgrounds are all hand drawn and the character sprites seem to meld in nicely. I swear, they beat standard, 'realistic' pre-rendered graphics with two hands tied behind it's back. Seems like Square put more work in to the graphics than the game. Well, it'd be nice to see more, but too bad I can't stand the though of progressing any further.

Music: 6/10
Another part that was ruined and just obliverates the whole SaGa atmosphere and feel. The music here was written by someone else, and not Kenji Ito (the guy who did the previous games). The new composer didn't even try to capture the style and feel of the music in the previous games. Where's the traditional sounding SaGa battle music? Not here. That's not to say the music is bad, though. Some of it's good, but most of what I heard is forgettable.

Reviewer's tilt: 1/10
What can I say? I hate this game, it's just a Coaster in my collection. In the meantime, I'll be continuing Asellus' scenario in the first SaGa Frontier.

Overall: 4.4
There's the slight, but slim chance you'll like this game if you hated SF1. But if you liked the first SF for the variety it offered, prepare to be one of the people who say ''they took out everything I liked about the first game!''

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 04/22/00, Updated 04/22/00