An old school RPG with some mechanics ahead of its time.
You’d be hard pressed to find many people that have played a SaGa game before. Aside from a few obscure games released and the GameBoy Final Fantasy Legend games, the SaGa game series hasn’t seen much play time in the US. Then last year, SqureEnix released Romancing SaGa 2 on mobile devices. This is the first the US had ever seen of this game. They finally decided to bring it to the modern consoles to hopefully get a wider audience to try it out. Well, now that it’s here, let’s talk about it.
Romancing SaGa 2 has players take on the role of leaders and the descendants of said leaders who are trying to protect, expand, and flourish their kingdom. The game begins with the king and his two sons protecting their capital of Avalon. In a turn of events, the rightful successor to the king is killed and the younger brother is now next in line. Taking up arms for revenge the king is then killed, and so begins the adventure of Gerard as he goes off to defeat the now evil Seven Legendary Heroes.
Platforms: Switch, PC, XB1, PS4
MSRP: $24.99
Price I’d pay: $20
Don’t get too attached to Gerard. He’s merely the first leader players will control. After certain plot points or if the main character dies in combat, the next generation of leaders will take over and have to progress. Think of it a lot like Rogue Legacy in that sense. The difference here is that advancement in skills and power will carry over as well as abilities learned. Along the way, players can upgrade their armory and research new weapons, armor, and items to use as well as extra upgrades to their base of operations. This is all done with funds found and acquired while traversing dungeons. Many times, I would have funds already on my person so any funds found would be put into my bank that I could use later on when upgrading my base.
Combat is a rather simple fare with turn-based menu systems. Interesting aspect to the combat, characters that fall in battle don’t actually die. Much like old school Dungeons & Dragons, they have a number of HP after taking knock out damage. If they take enough damage after being knocked out, that is when they officially die. Oh, and when they’re dead, they’re dead for good, but if everyone survives the end of battle, everyone is back to maximum HP. What sets Romancing SaGa apart from others is the progression system. Party members don’t particularly level up but their stats increase after obtaining enough tech points. Party members will also learn new abilities at random times as well as become more proficient with certain weapons as they are used in battles. Here’s the kicker – with every battle the player faces, the enemies (including bosses) grow stronger as well. This means that grinding may very well not be a very good option in this game. Of course, players will need to get stronger, but keep in mind, this is no such thing as overpowered in this game.
As you read the last paragraph, you’re probably thinking this game would be difficult as hell. You’d be right. This game does not hold any hands, and it most certainly will kick players when they’re down. It is from the old school and it lives and breathes that. Nostalgic and classic RPG players will be right at home with this one.
Now, visually, it does look like an old SNES game blown up on a big TV screen, and at times it does look rather muddy. There are some changes to some sprites, particularly the boss sprites. Other than that, it is pretty much a straight port of the mobile version that includes most of the menus. That can be off-putting at times and kind of gives it a cheap feel. It all controls fine, but the mobile looking menus stick out like a sore thumb.
One thing to note, the soundtrack is pretty stellar. It has that classic Final Fantasy feel to it with some rather catchy tunes that fit right in with the overall feel of the game. Very retro and full of nostalgia.
All in all, Romancing SaGa 2 is a decent RPG with some very interesting mechanics that were revolutionary for its time. There’s some issues here and there with the old style of game play where players aren’t told where to go or what to do. Then on top of all that, the game is not going to go easy on you. This one is for the fans of this style of game and for people looking for a bit of nostalgia. For those, you’ll find a finely crafted RPG with some interesting mechanics. At the same time, the price is a bit steep for a 25 year old game at this point. I would still wait for a slight sale.
Review copy of game provided by publisher.