We had a good SaGa thread yesterday, let's try again. What

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>>378776940
My opinion won't change in less that 24 hours anon.

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>>378776940
The king of JRPG ludo and battle themes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPC63TtQtjQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIlJsCBEhSY

Aw, I missed a good thread?

Fucking love SaGa. Frontier and Romancing were my jam, but mostly Frontier.

>>378777710
Feldschlacht is really a great track, the Feldschlacht medley they made for the SaGa Orchestra last year was superb.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWvEsYnPojE

>>378777710
Truth.

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Reminder that Kotobukiya made a neat young Gustave figure some time ago.

>>378776940
Superb, but flawed series. One of the JRPG series that can actually be challenging.
SaGa Frontier will forever be my favorite game of all time, despite its flaws.

>>378778440
If the stars align we could get the fated Frontier remake for the 2019 anniversary that will fix all that is wrong with it, unless Kawazu surprises us and makes Romancing SaGa 2: Minstrel Song or a new mainline, but it's unlikely he'll do anything with the Romancing games now that 3 is getting a remaster, Frontier will probably be the next in line to get fixed and it will probably be big, wouldn't be surprised if it will be a PS4 game with actual budget.

>>378776940

Same thing i said yesterday, akitoshi kawazu is an hack who should be put in a cell

>>378777710

>play this game
>don't understand how it works
>hate it
>play it 6 month later
>read a bunch of guide to understand how it works
>finaly understand the game
>hate it even more

FUCK KAWAZU

If SaGa Frontier 2 didn't go with a generic 4 person battle system then it'd be the best.
But it did so it's not.

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>>378779912
SaGa Frontier 2 set a lot of standards for the series and polished the new combat rules set up by Frontier a lot.
You might not like the linearity and scenario based system, or the fact that there's only four characters instead of five, but it is extremely important as a mainline game when it comes to general design decisions.

I personally think it's one of the weaker games overall, but it's hard to overstate how much it did for the series, channeling, cross combos and the return of forging and weapon durability are just a few of the things that make it a big turning point.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0YjqmMcZVQ

>>378776940
SaGa Frontier was one of the coolest game I've played. The branching stories between main characters and getting more info about them while playing other characters was really cool at the time it came out.

I like 1-3 and Frontier 1. Tried Frontier 2 and Minstrel's Song but couldn't get into them. Maybe I just like the sci-fi/fantasy ones better. Or maybe I just suck that bad.
I guess nobody really cares about 2 anymore but I love how the final boss's music changes on each phase. First there's the standard boss music, then the regular battle music and you're like "what the heck man" and then https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuzHEDYHsjU SHIT GETS REAL

How do saga guys feels about TLR? I really enjoy it but opinions seemed mixed.

>>378780509
Playing as other characters made it feel like it's 7 games in one with all those different stories and shit.

>>378776940
Interested in checking out the games. Which one is considered the best?

It says Salsa. Not saga.

>>378780965
Either Romancing Saga 3 or SaGa Frontier.

Both are very non-linear so pick your poison.

>>378780702
FFL2 is great.

>Arsenal launched the smasher!
>Ds remake final boss
>Plays out as normal
>Suddenly it turns into a giant mecha
>Then the other Arsenal comes out of fucking nowhere and combines with the giant mecha

>>378780759
It's definitely part of the family.
But Takai made a lot of retarded decisions like the insane grind for materials and mystic arts, and to this day I don't know why Kawazu went with it considering he hates slow progression and grinding in games.
>>378780965
SaGa games are all very different and all have exclusive gimmicks and mechanics that don't appear in other games so it's hard to say whether there's a best game.
If you're a total newcomer to the series SaGa 2, Romancing SaGa 3 and SaGa Frontier are the best games to get used to the series, start with SaGa 2 if you feel non linearity is too much for you, but keep in mind that except the three GB games and SaGa Frontier 2 all other SaGa games are very non linear.

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So, why haven't you bought Kaspar's game /v/?

>>378782228
I would if it was in english.

>>378782228
What exactly am I looking at?

>>378782228
I unfortunately can't read nip.

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>>378782262
>>378782371
That shouldn't be a problem, you don't need moonrunes to understand Kaspar's game.
>>378782318
The mighty Kaspar, the best semi generic in the game.

>>378776940
>Squaresoft
This game has to be good. Need to watch some gameplay about it on youtube to see

>>378776940
>Be 7 and never hear of SaGa at all
>Play the fuck out of the trailer in the demo disc that has FFVII and Bushido Blade
>Get Hype
>Buy it and don't know what the fuck I'm doing but having so much fun.
SaGa Frontier was fucking goat. I had no idea at the time that Final Fantasy Legend II was SaGa 2. I fucking love SaGa games even though I've only played four. Too bad Legend of Legacy sucked ass.

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And it's also Snake's game, don't forget about that.
>>378782620
You won't understand much by watching a video, SaGa games are meant to be played first and foremost, otherwise you'd just think it's a generic JRPG with cool music.

>>378782772
>Too bad Legend of Legacy sucked ass.
Alliance Alive is going to be GOAT though.

>>378776940
>"It looks like we truly are the SaGa Frontier, T260G..."

Fucking REALLY?

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>>378782784
Should I just emulate it on my pc? Should I start with the first one to get a feel for the series?
I'm a huge FF fan if that helps. I'm just afraid that I might have missed out on something good

Every time I try to replay Minstrel Song, I'm reminded of why it took me so long to get into it the first time: god damn voice acting. Such a waste of dev resources.

>>378783256
Just choose the character who you think has the least bad voice.

Worked for me when I picked Hawke

>>378782228

As much as I love the series, not buying a vita just for one game.

>>378783395
The Vita is the best JRPG machine to own right now though.

>>378783374

What's going to happen is that after a week or so of trying to get it started, I'll just leave the game on mute and that will be it.

>>378783090
Really looking forward to it, the demo was good enough to keep me interested and it does fix a lot of shit wrong with LoL. This time I'm sure Cattle Call will nail it.
>>378783171
>Should I just emulate it on my pc?
Sure, SaGa games don't require much power so you can easily emulate anything even with a potato.
>I'm a huge FF fan if that helps
That might be a problem if you want something like FF, SaGa is literally the opposite in every way, it's the natural evolution of FFII but taken to the extreme, so you must like really mechanic heavy games that will smash your balls if you don't take time to understand what you're doing, moreover, most games are non linear and particularly geared against grinding.

Since you're a beginner let me tell you this, throw away all your ideas about JRPGs when you're playing SaGa, they don't apply, forget about grinding, cinematic story and whatever you find in FF games, SaGa is basically the japanese Dorf Fortress.
>>378783395
If that helps Vita has six SaGa games on it, and many other good games too.

I didn't understand a single thing when I played it on SNES when the translation came out, but damn, that music.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NdK7cRcBcs

I'll try to get into series again this summer.

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Here's what I think

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>>378783842
>SaGa is basically the japanese Dorf Fortress.
Oh shit I haven't even played DF
>it's the natural evolution of FFII but taken to the extreme
>so you must like really mechanic heavy games that will smash your balls if you don't take time to understand what you're doing
Oh I don't mind that. In fact, it sounds like fun. Thanks for the input anon.

>>378776940
I've only played Saga Frontier and Final Fantasy Legends and loved them both. I really want to play another so which should I play?

>>378784440
Frontier II

>>378783090
I want to believe, anon!

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>>378784227
>Oh I don't mind that. In fact, it sounds like fun
Good! That's the spirit.
There's a SaGa general on /vr/ to help you out when you feel stuck, get over there and people will give you directions or explain some of the more esoteric stuff in five or six posts with walls of text.
Just don't be afraid of the series' apparent randomness and entry barrier, once you get into them you can easily play for hundreds of hours, they're games built around replayability after all.

Saga Frontier on PSN FUCKING WHEN?

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I should probably get around to playing this, huh.

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>>378784969
Someday.

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Is this a good saga substitute?

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>>378785141
You should.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJ4QtN6aam8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rz-Sq2zUYn4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0Vr2ySOOGI
>>378785412
Eh, not quite, it's really a shabby Minstrel Song clone mixed with Romancing SaGa 3 but with none of the good stuff of either ones, wait for The Alliance Alive, that's going to be much better.

>>378784769
Thanks again, anon.

I never played the SaGa games. Are the games connected?

>>378785412
Good soundtrack.

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>>378785627
>You should

I'll get to it after I finish Zero and Ao no Kiseki then.

>>378784969
Now.
If you play on your CFW PSP :^)

>>378776940
I tried Final Fantasy Legend II (SaGa II) and somewhat understand how it works after reading a guide. Anyone got some tips for a new to SaGa? I'm playing FFLII because apparently Unlimited SaGa, which I got a few days ago isn't good for someone new to the series.

>>378786137

I wish I would get the SNES emulator to work properly on my PSP. Too many crashes.

Sad cause I would definitely love playing all the SNES+PS1 Saga games playable on z single device.

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>>378785651
You're welcome anon, it's always good to see people interested in the series.
>>378785740
None of the games are connected, though some of them share some thematic elements, like the GB Trilogy and Frontier having different worlds you hop around in and a more Sci-Fi setting with some influences from Kikuchi's novels, so vampires, mechs, humans and shapeshifting monsters living together in the same society with all the shit that involves such a setting, the Romancing series is more high fantasy with less mecha, and so is Frontier 2, Unlimited is a weird mix of steampunk, high fantasy and some sci-fi and Scarlet Grace is based on the Romancing setting with some Frontier like visual elements.

>>378786471

I don't know about it not being good to new players, if it's your jam you might love it anyway (I have a friend who started the series with that one), but it's a very polarizing, very abstracted, pretty overwhelming game.

Is The 7th Saga a Saga game? It has "Saga" in the title and seems to have more than a passing resemblance to the other games

>>378786939

Nope. Very interesting game nonetheless. I wish people would try to reprise some of the interesting things it did.

>>378786939
Hahaha, no, they're completely unrelated
Seventh Saga is called Elnark in japan and is part of the "Mystic Ark" series, so Seventh Saga, Brain Lord and the two Mystic Ark games, they're all decent games though, especially Brain Lord and SNES Mystic Ark so check them out if you want a more relaxed and normal JRPG to play, Mystic Ark has a great setting and some amazing music as well.

>>378786912
>but it's a very polarizing, very abstracted, pretty overwhelming game.
How so?

>>378786939
Not really. Mainly because it's battle system isn't like a usual SaGa one. It does some things like a SaGa game such as the multiple characters.

It's still good though. Just not a SaGa game,

>>378787451
>It does some things like a SaGa game such as the multiple characters.
That's really the only thing it has in common with SaGa games, all the rest is basically Dragon Quest.
I also forgot to warn anon to get the patch that restores the game, playing the fucked up US version isn't a good idea.

Were any of the Vita SaGa games localised?

Just wanted to bump

>>378788256
Romancing SaGa 2 is in localization limbo right now, Romancing SaGa 3 is already confirmed but again, localization limbo might strike again.

We'll see.

>>378787352

Generally people describe it as playing a very complex board game in video game form, and that's basically it.

Most of the game is menu based. Moving around the map? Well, you're literally moving a pawn on a map. Then some skills are used (say looking for resources, defusing a trap, etc...), some combat happens - this being the closest you'll get to a general video game RPG... then you finish you quest and go back to town.

Most people will find it really dry.

From a game system perspective though, very good game. Has to be your jam in the first place.

>>378788219
>Not wanting to play the US version with the fucked up growth rates and balls hard enemies
But..yeah. Maybe getting the patch would be a good idea.

>>378788529
Well not totally bad news then. Thanks, amigo.

>>378788545
Ah I see. I think I'll hold off of it for now and play some of the earlier entries first then. Should I just move through them in release order or is their a definite good place to start?

>>378788551
>Wanting to get stuck in an unwinnable game file because the game itself has been fucked up during localization
If it was deliberately designed to be so, I'd agree, but it's simply the result of messing with the game's files.
>>378788726
Release order is fine if you can handle some bumps along the road, the original SaGa 3 for instance is the black sheep of the series and plays more like a Final Fantasy game than a SaGa games, that has been fixed with the DS remake, Romancing SaGa was the result of heavy experimentation and many things came out so so and were polished a lot with Romancing SaGa 2, which also upped the game's difficulty A LOT, but yeah, it's fine to play in release order if you aren't too worried about getting into the more modern entries.

SaGa games also influenced and inspired a lot of games of the times, like Pokemon, Grandia and so on, so it's interesting to see how much those games shaped the genre, not many people in the west are aware of this but SaGa games have always been light years ahead compared to 90% of the genre and have been doing things that many JRPGs are beginning to do now decades ago.
If you're interested in japanese memes and pop culture in general they're also a pillar of the 80's/90's generation of japanese players.

>>378789334
>SaGa games also influenced and inspired a lot of games of the times, like Pokemon, Grandia and so on
That's actually fucking cool man. Don't suppose you have any examples of ways SaGa influenced other series? Actually that whole paragraph actually interested me quite a bit.

>>378788726

Honestly couldn't say - hard to gauge for someone whose tastes you know nothing about. Personally, if you have access to it, I'd say starting with Minstrel Song is a good move. The game is less of a rough package than others in the series can be (voice acting be damned though).

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>>378789785
>hard to gauge for someone whose tastes you know nothing about.
pic related is my 3x3 if that helps at all.

>>378789334
>>378789725

Same, I'd like to read more.

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>>378789725
>Don't suppose you have any examples of ways SaGa influenced other series?
Oh there's many examples.
Pokemon's whole deal of having monsters that evolve into different forms is directly inspired by SaGa's monster race, the whole concept of weapon proficiencies used in Grandia is again, something the SaGa pioneered, if you've played FFXIII-LR you'd know about monster ecology, so how monsters actually work in an ecosystem you can influence by killing either the prey or the predator of certain monsters, SaGa did that a decade before it with Unlimited: Saga, then there's Life Points mechanics and much more, thematically speaking SaGa is the first non licensed/crossover series with an explicit Tokusatsu protagonist and storyline, which is extremely rare even nowadys.

If you want to talk about pop culture we may never end, Nyarko-chan had tons of SaGa references for instance, there's popular japanese theory regarding One Piece saying that the Shichibukai are inspired by the Seven Heroes of Romancing SaGa 2, which are an iconic boss that is referenced in crossovers by fucking everything from Tohou to Fate, Barthandelus being weak to the Death status is a nod to SaGa 1 God being instakilled with the Chainsaw and so on.

There's really a lot of stuff to talk about.

I love the series a lot. I hope Scarlet Grace comes out in the US soon. I'm so glad we're getting the RS 2 and 3 ports.

>>378790754
How the fuck has a series influenced so much shit not had a game in years (I know there was one recently), and not get talked about all the fucking time.

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Posting some SaGa crossover art since we're here.
For those who don't know this is a reference to Kujinshi from Romancing SaGa 2 and his Soul Steal.

>>378790754
>if you've played FFXIII-LR you'd know about monster ecology, so how monsters actually work in an ecosystem you can influence by killing either the prey or the predator of certain monsters, SaGa did that a decade before it with Unlimited: Saga
Neat, it was addicting to make races go extinct in LR.

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>>378791040
Referenced to the point where people don't realize what they're referencing anymore.

>>378791040
half the series didnt get released in the US

>>378776940
garbage like all jrpgs

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>>378791040
>and not get talked about all the fucking time.
Because SaGa isn't your average JRPG, it's more a weird fusion of WRPG, JRPG and tabletop RPGs, it's not for everyone, and it doesn't help that in the west it was renamed as Final Fantasy Legends, then we didn't get any of the SNES games and the PS and PS2 games were all poorly received.
In Japan it's a huge cult series despite being niche nowadays, but the fact that it's a wildly experimental series with a creator that doesn't give a shit about pandering to anyone but himself and the core fans made the series progressively shrink, most of the fanbase in japan is composed by 30 years old and fujoshi.
That said, Kawazu, the series creator and director is basically a god in japan, they literally call him god over there.

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Also, SaGa has always been associated with JoJo due to the characters' poses and general bizarre adventures you have during the games, JoJoXSaGa fanart has been a thing since a long time.

>>378789894

Using emulation allows you to get a taste for little to no investments. Going into more details (hope it helps):

The gameboy games have the advantage of having been tailored for their portable format, so there is that. They're shorter and can be ingested in smaller chunks. Being some of the oldest games, they are also less complex - one of the advantages of doing the games in release order is you get to see learn them in bits and pieces as they get more complex.

The SNES games >>378789334 mentioned. Love them dearly, but unless I''m mistaken, only the second one available in English (via fan patch no less). Might not make for the best start.

SaGa Frontier is a bit rough but can be a good jumping point, I find. SaGa Frontier 2... well it commits a few design mistakes in my opinion. Very good (not to mention gorgeous) game, not the one I would advise starting with.

Minstrel Song is a remaster/remake of RS1. Polished. I think it's the best starting point to most.

Unlimited, we've discussed.

The DS remakes of the game boy games are pretty good, the first one is fan translated. Good jump point too.

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>>378776940

Does The Last Remnant count as a SaGa game? Gave me the same vibe. I read that it has some of the same team.

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>>378792320
>Does The Last Remnant count as a SaGa game?
Yep

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>>378792320
It's one in all but name.

>>378792016
Thanks bro! I think I'll stick with my plan to play them in release order. Appreciate the help.

>>378792503
>>378792413

Nice. I'm disappointed there isn't a prequel or sequel game, I really liked the world/lore. There was a very weird dichotomy between that and what was "on stage" with the plot, which was really underwhelming.

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>>378791040
I just remembered another interesting fact, you know how people say Chrono Trigger did time travel first?
SaGa 3 did exactly that some five years before it, on the gameboy.

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>>378792765
>Nice. I'm disappointed there isn't a prequel or sequel game
Unfortunately, the game was originally planned to be a dual protagonist game like SaGa Frontier 2 so you could play as both Rush and The Conqueror, they decided to scrap the Conqueror's perspective entirely during development, I guess due to budget or time problems.
Scarlet Grace has quite a few references to The Last Remnant, see the Demonblades in pic related for instance, some mechanics from The Last Remnant like a new version of the Morale system and turn count are also in Scarlet Grace.

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>>378793314
>you could play as both Rush and The Conqueror, they decided to scrap the Conqueror's perspective entirely during development

whaaaaaaaat damn that sucks to hear. Getting his perspective would have probably answered some of the headscratchers the game leaves you with.

I'd kill for Square to give their not-FF IPs some love and polish.

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>>378793597
>Getting his perspective would have probably answered some of the headscratchers the game leaves you with.
Yep, you can imagine how much the story would have benefitted from this, SaGa Frontier 2 used the dual protagonist system and while the plot was nothing like TLR it did help a lot with the narrative, and TLR would have been much better with two main protagonists on the gameplay point of view too.
The Enlightened Seven would have been much better in The Conqueror's route too as characters, in Rush's story they're not that good and end up being more relevant as a reference to Romancing SaGa 2 than their own characters.

>>378792979
So much and yet I've only just learned about the series. What kind of JRPGfag am I? Thanks for the tidbit though.

Well, this thread made me check... memcard on which I had Unlimited beaten with every character is dead.

I guess I know what I'm doing next month.

God damn Armic... gonna take willpower to do that again.

>>378794934
>TFW we'll never get a JRPG as ambitious as Unlimited again

Best place to start?

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>>378794748
You better play the games Anon, SaGa's a great series with some stuff you won't find anywhere else.
Consider the simple fact that it predated TES' approach to levelling stats and proficiencies by doing stuff instead of allocating points or using level up tables, and it did so by almost a decade, then there's layers and layers of mechanics like sparking, magic fusion(and magic being really weird in most games too), battle rank where enemies get stronger as you do and you get actually new monsters too, extremely in depth character building, multiple main characters all with their own storylines, functional world economies and societies, and then there's Unlimited which is basically the deep sea of JRPGs, if you like JRPGs you must play SaGa, it's usually a love or hate relationship depending on the person, but anyone who like JRPGs and RPGs in general must at least try them.

>>378795105

Give them time. May be a miracle we had one such game already, but I'm willing to bet there is someone with the will and the particular gaming culture it takes to make one such game again. And if there's one thing I love about Japan, it's that even the craziest idea can get a chance.

Hell, for all we know in a few year's time someone that got to now the series from one of those threads will make a non-Japanese spiritual successor.
World is crazy enough for that.

>>378795640
Here's some earlier posts which you might hand helpful, fellow new-guy-looking-to-get-into-the-series
>>378792016
>>378791654
>>378789334

>>378795682
FFII's level up mechanics are a pretty blatant adaptation of BRP skill leveling rules to a JRPG. Which isn't surprising when you know that Kawazu plays the shit out of tabletop games. It's why FF1 was pretty much AD&D.

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>>378776940
Salsa Frontier

>>378795856
>It's why FF1 was pretty much AD&D.
FF1 is literally Kawazu's goldbox's "Temple of Elemental Fiends".
I just love some his comments of how he worked on it, like when he pointed out that no JRPGs until then even used elements properly and how that wasn't right, or how he basically ripped off Wizardy's ideas of items giving you access to skills like he did with the Silver Gauntlet making anyone able to cast Thunder2 because it was cool, then you see how he jumped the shark with FFII and later with Unlimited saying he wanted to tackle basic game design again from the roots and create something different.
He's a madman and I love him for that, shame he has to work in such an environment where he can't go all out anymore like he did in the 90's and early 00's, Unlimited is an amazing work despite a few flaws and the terrible wrong move of not making a decent manual for the basics, Scarlet proved that he's still got it though.

>>378790754
>Pokemon's whole deal of having monsters that evolve into different forms is directly inspired by SaGa's monster race
Apparently not only that but due to the first SaGa game it proved that you can do RPG's on a handheld. I also find it amusing that Pokemon used charges for their skills like monsters and espers did in SaGa 1/2.

>>378779704
HE BELONGS IN A MUSEUM.

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>>378780702
Made me shit my pants when I saw what he did to my party after.

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>>378797219
Dad please.
>>378797359
>That fight in the DS remake
My body would have never been ready

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Don't die on me now

>tfw sparking an endgame tech in the last stretch of a boss battle

>>378799357
Always feels great. I remember getting Reverse Delta and Acupuncture when fighting Chaos.

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>>378799357
>>tfw sparking an endgame tech in the last stretch of a boss battle
>sparking Godless or the last component for DSC

So what's the consensus on SaGa Frontier 2? It seems like some people love it and some people absolutely despise it, why is that?

Is it a good choice for someone who has only played a couple SaGa games so far?

>>378800538
It's linear and a lot less interesting than RS2-SF1 are. Still a decent game.

>>378800609
Interesting how? Gameplay-wise, story, or what?
I generally prefer the gameplay of linear games since that makes them a lot easier to balance properly. Maybe I should give it a try.

>>378801274
Mechanically.

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>>378800538
>why is that?
Many reasons.
Most people got kinda burned by the name since the first Frontier was totally different in everything, then it introduced the self contained scenario format which made the game work on many points of no return, coupled with the general linearity and almost complete lack of actual influence on the world like other SaGa games probably disappointed many people, it doesn't help that the game is heavily reliant on long term planning and is full of parts where you have zero control over your party members who come and go as the story requires, so it's hard to know who to focus on when the cast is so hge but many characters appear for one or two scenarios only.
It's still a very good game and it polishes the general gameplay a lot compared to Frontier, but it's no wonder that many people don't like it, South Moundtop doesn't help either.
>Is it a good choice for someone who has only played a couple SaGa games so far?
Absolutely, it's a one of a kind experience with some of the best characters in the whole franchise, timeless graphics and amazing music, coupled with a really refined battle system, albeit on a 4 member base rather than the ususal 5.

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>>378778854
>now that 3 is getting a remaster
I'm going to need you to back this up immediately

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>tfw your waifu is a lesbo
It's not fair

>>378801454
By the mouth of God himself, ye unbeliever.
https://twitter.com/SaGa25kawazu/status/851792210731204613

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>>378801613
>We will make western version RS3

I've never played a Saga game before so I started up Romancing Saga: Minstrel Song and picked the character Gray is that a good starting point?

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>>378776940
I've only played The Legend of Legacy, which is one of my favorite games on the 3DS, but people say it's like SaGa. Would SaGa be good for me? I've heard a lot of people didn't like TLoL which makes me kind of sad but idk.

>>378801991
I asked the same question yesterday and was told not to pick Gray. I'm going to go with Claudia but I think someone said Albert is a good starting candidate as well.

>>378801991
Ignore his main quest and you'll do fine. Upgrading the falcata is a huge pain in the ass that requires you to know stuff you basically couldn't on a first playthrough.

>>378801991
>is that a good starting point?
That's terrible if you want to complete his quest, his quest is a nightmare for rookies and Minstrel Song is pretty tough to manage on top of that, Barbara, Claudia or Albert are better choices for beginners.
>>378802042
Try Romancing SaGa 3, LoL references it a lot with some of its characters and it's a good starting point for any beginner, the other game that LoL uses as base is Minstrel Song, but it's a much more complex and ruthless game than LoL so be advised.
Look out for The Alliance Alive too.

What is the deal with the PS2 game?
I tried playing a few times but I cant really figure out the point of the game.
Are you supposed to just explore and do quests or is there a main questline?

How open ended are these games?

>>378802571
I suppose I'll just jump into Minstrel Song then. I enjoyed the strange, interpretive piecemeal plot of TLoL and the sudden and high difficulty curve. It's refreshing to have a JRPG where every normal battle is a potential instant party wipe, and the dragons were some of the best bosses I'd seen in a long time. Just got the Pearl Wargrips to go with my Cherubim's Grasp.
Why do people dislike it though? Asking you as you are the seeming target audience of it and apparently SaGa fans despise it anyway. It felt very exploratory and I liked the lack of handholding and tutorials.

>>378802763
>What is the deal with the PS2 game?
People have been asking this question for nearly 15 years.
All I know is that has some fucking lit battle themes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldddwbezzi8

>>378802763
There's a main questline but you can fuck around with sidequests that tend to be mixed in. I know Ventus in particular lets you fuck around a ton with delivery stuff.

>>378802763
It's a little bit of both. You'll eventually stumble into the Fatestone quests and that'll make it more obvious what's going on.

>>378802763
You're suppose to explore and try to pick up what ever quests you can. You have to wrest the adventure from Romancing SaGa Minstrel Song.
>>378802806
Depends on the game. Some are linear, some have a world in which you can explore but there are certain things you do to trigger the next part of the main story, and others there may seem to be no clear way to progress the game or what the main story is but the game still progresses over time.
>>378802886
Probably expecting something exactly like the SaGa games but didn't feel as fleshed out. I just got a 2DS so I will try the demo out and see if I will get it later on.

>>378803278
>and others there may seem to be no clear way to progress the game or what the main story is but the game still progresses over time.

Huh... very interesting, So what's the most open-ended game in the series?

>>378802042
Don't worry anon I liked it too, Alliance Alive also looks to be much better.

What's the best way to play the SaGa games?
After I finish Dragon Quest series that's the one I'm doing next but I haven't looked into what I need first.

I play jrpgs for like 20 years now and I have yet to actually finish one of the SaGa games.
The most I played was that one remake for DS cuz it looked cool.
And that one game for PS1 that has the girl who's husband is killed and she gets sent to jail. That shit was a pretty nice way to start a rpg and I loved that girl.

And I guess Live A Live is like a prequel to this series? If not it sure as hell inspired it.

>>378794092
Frontier 2 has way too many details on the Gustave side that you need the Perfect Works to clear up.

>>378803556
Other way around. RS1 was a huge inspiration on LaL.

>>378803347
I believe both Romancing SaGa 3 and Romancing SaGa Minstrel Song are, though the destination will always be the same, but getting there can be different for many people due to the event rank mechanics.

>>378802763
>What is the deal with the PS2 game?
Which one?
>>378802806
Depends on the games, some have multiple endings, others have more linear main quests.
>>378802886
>Why do people dislike it though?
The problem with LoL is simply that it caught a lot of attention but ultimately didn't deliver, it is made by a former SaGa designer, they even got the main illustrator and one of composers for SaGa yet the game ended up being extremely barebones, derivative and ultimately unoriginal compare to SaGa games, some people almost felt insulted.
What you listed is what SaGa has been doing since its inception, but SaGa didn't copy other series, it set and still sets rules for others to follow, LoL just rehashes a really basic mechanic set and puts it in a fundamentally empty world, it would have been fine if it was a SNES game, but even the PS games have more substance at the end of the day, not to mention that it doesn't really have any of the bizarre or unexpected stuff SaGa has, nor does it have the feeling of a cohesive world, SaGa games have always the feeling you're in a society of sorts, especially the later games when there's stuff like economy, ecology and all the various routes and quest variations, LoL's world is kinda dead compared to the average SaGa game.

It's still a fine game and The Alliance Alive will actually be much better judging from the demo, but it just can't compete with the real thing.
>>378803430
Either in release order or from easier games like SaGa 2, Romancing SaGa 3 or Frontier.
>>378803556
>And I guess Live A Live is like a prequel to this series?
It's teh contrary, LaL takes a lot of stuff from previous SaGa games.

>>378803430
You play them almost blind. Just look up the online instruction manuals when you play them to get a general gist of how things are suppose to work. After that you fumble around and figure things out. If it is monster meat in the Gameboy games, where to go in the Romancing SaGa games, or how the hell you are suppose to put panels on your skill grid in Unlimited.

>>378802042
If you liked Legend, it's basically considered an inferior version of SaGa, so I can only imagine you'd have a blast playing these.

>>378776940
I tried playing SF1 recently but it was so damn dated.

I was in some prison sewer and couldn't figure out how to get the shit to progress. The combat was very weak and generic too, which didn't help me to keep playing.

>>378780965

II, Saga II is the best.

>>378804135
That reminds me, one thing I never got about Unlimited was magic. I understood the damaging spells, but it takes forever for a magic tablet to level up and a lot of spells left me going "wait did this even do anything?"

>>378776940
A nigger stole my playstation and games so I never got to finish that game.

>>378803278
If you need help I can give some advice for it. It's a good game. Several reviews for it that bashed the game were insulting on the merit that they were expecting Bravely Default, so I didn't realize that SaGa fans didn't like it either since I assumed that much of the low scores and such were from these people.
>>378803350
I'm hoping Alliance Alive gets localized. Same lovely art style but hopefully the battle system is suitably good as well. I'm still trying to complete the encyclopedia in TLoL so maybe I'm just a lonely autist but it felt good hunting down a Ghastly Stalker.

GB > Super Famicom = Playstation > PS2 >every other platform
There's something about the rest of the series that is daunting to play. I just played SaGa 2 the other week, it was fun as shit for the whole 10 hours. The Last Remnant on the other hand there are so many things I need not do that it's not fun.

>>378792320

I have to give this another chance...

>>378776940
I honestly don't know much about them, but I enjoyed the janky sort of freedom the gameboy ones I played provided and I'd like more of that.

>>378804291
Ah, you picked Emelia? Her start is a bit confusing. Just drops you in that maze and expects you to know what the hell you're supposed to do. The other characters have different beginnings, you might fare better as them.

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Frontier II has the best OST.

>>378803796
What did they do? I hope the SaGa games aren't heavily story based. I liked that it lacked a series of towns actually and the progress was entirely dungeon based, I would rather avoid games that focus on the towns and societal aspects given how many JRPGs I've played that are just town>dungeon>town>dungeon>story>dungeon>town. Please tell me there's a SaGa game without the towns thing you described. I mean if TLoL is barebones then SaGa would surely be incredibly meaty but still, that sounds rather unnappealing to me.
>>378804215
Are there any with similar battle systems?

>>378776940
>>>/vg/

Is there a reason you guys are so adverse to posting generals on their respective board? Persona faggots are even worse lately.

>>378804526
That is personally why I suggest FFLII first. It introduces you to enough mechanics from the series while still not overwhelming, easy to know what you're suppose to do, and it is short. Fun party building as well.

>>378804901
That's cool and all, but general threads get remade the instant the other one vanishes. That isn't the case with this.

>>378804849
I don't know exactly how Legend plays, per se but looking up footage I'm reminded at a glance of Minstrel Song from PS2. At least on the surface.

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>>378804827
It's pretty good yes.

>>378803796
Legend of Legacy's world was fine, just not SaGa standard. It felt rather like a world after the ending of another RPG with a bad ending as the canon one.

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>>378805123
Honestly I'm surprised this game has as much art as it does.

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>>378804353
Magic in Unlimited is complex stuff, I'd need to explain to you tons of shit like how spells have different effects on the map and in battle, field manipulation, spell locks, elemental setups, spell fusion through Magic Blender, Forbidden Magic and on and on.

It's a very complex and functional system, but no spell is worthless, let me tell you that, even if it's not good enough in battle it might still have some very useful role while you're out in the field, for instance, Bubble Blow gets weak once you get stuff like Thunderbringer, right? But let's say you're exploring a volcano, Bubble Blow can be used on the map to cool down lava tiles so you can walk over them and keep exploring and completing quests, not to mention that you can also use it to open chests locked with magic, Detect spells let you see where enemies are on a map but during battles they reduce their LP defense given you use the appropriate one, Detect Gold increases drop rates on monsters while finding out chests in the map too, all spells have their uses.
>>378804849
>I hope the SaGa games aren't heavily story based.
Not really, SaGa games are more of a simulation series, the stories are there, but it's more about making believable worlds through lore, mechanics and exploration.
The problem with LoL is that it has none of the care put into its world compared to SaGa, but you'll understand once you play a SaGa game.
>Please tell me there's a SaGa game without the towns thing you described.
Starting from Unlimited, towns are basically a visual hub, Unlimited in particular is 90% dungeons, Scarlet Grace doesn't even have dungeons if you wanna be truly hardcore.
>>378805261
Frontier 2 has a very vocal fanbase, it has lots of fanart even compared to more popular games.

>>378805062
I think I'm going to just be that one lonely faggot who really loves the game and is pretty much a walking guidebook for it that no one wants to read. I mean yeah, I can enjoy it without other people having to reciprocate but it makes me sad when I love a game and everyone else dislikes it or doesn't want to talk about it.

>>378804827
Reminder Hamauzu is doing the OST for Alliance Alive.

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>>378805261
SF2 has lot of art compered to the others to be honest. I'm not entirety sure why. But there you go.

>>378805636
Because it has the best art direction in the series.

Never played it. I just know a little about Final Fantasy Legend and Saga Scarlet Grace. The Romancing Saga games are getting a Vita port at some point, so I might be able to try it out there.

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I just want a SaGa 1 remake and for Scarlet Grace to leave Japan.

>>378805946
SaGa 1 was remade on the wonderswan and I believe it has an English patch if I'm not mistaken

>>378805440
Well that certainly sounds like something I'd enjoy, although I don't mind story, e.g. I like the newest Pokemon game, but I've grown a little tired of it.
This Minstrel Song game sounds like it is the most appealing so far though. Are any of these native to PC? Or do I have to emulate?.
It certainly felt like there was effort put into the world in TLoL, it had a lovely look that communicated a society lost to time without having to put in copious descriptive text to give the player a sense of the world around them. Kind of felt like exploring a natural landscape without NPCs or anything to bug me.

>>378785141
>want this game
>Don't know a lick of Jap
>also don't have a 3.63 Vita
One day. ONE DAY. Also, it's rather expensive for a Vita game. On a semi-related note, should I just skip Legend of Legacy? It's apparently not that good. Maybe I should start with Frontier? I have Romancing Saga on PS2 as an option as well.

>>378796109
Saya Frontier

>>378806150
Yeah you can start with SaGa Frontier.

>>378797359
>not saving nuke for 1/4th of the whole game just for that battle

>>378806295
I always nuked Odin. I always find that fight ridiculous.

>>378799357
Is that what that's called now? I thought it was called glimmers.

>>378806040
It was more like this is the game if it was on Super NES. I want a little rework like SaGa 2 and 3 had

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>>378805464
SaGa suffered the same fate, so I know how you feel.
I don't dislike LoL though, but for a SaGa junkie it's just not enough, plenty of people liked that anyway, it wouldn't have got a sequel if people didn't wanted more.
>>378806075
>Or do I have to emulate?.
PS2 emulation, they're not heavy games at all so you won't have problems even with a laptop, if my six years old laptop can run them so can yours.
>Kind of felt like exploring a natural landscape without NPCs or anything to bug me.
SaGa games are all like that, most of the world's lore and story is told through visual or musical clues with no direct explanation, or no explanation at all, they're huge puzzles you put together by yourself, but they're very rich and there's a great amount of care put into them, SaGa Frontier has an especially great setting with tons of care for the world(s) and lore.

>>378806743
>it wouldn't have got a sequel if people didn't wanted more.
Still don't know how it got a sequel, there can't be THAT many fans. Either way I'm not complaining.

Can I go from PS2 Romancing Saga to RS2/3?

>>378805464
You sound exactly like me with Xenosaga II. I'm pretty much the only person on this board that has a positive opinion of that game, and I've been the only person to actually not shit on it.

Do SaGa frontier 1&2 both run on psxfin? I like it because it's simple to use and has a turbo speed option. If not, what emulator should I use?

Theoretically speaking, how would you make SaGa more successful in the west? Would just including more detailed manuals and guides be enough?

>>378807396
You can't without taking away what makes SaGa what it is. SaGa simply doesn't appeal to most westerners.

>>378806743
I might try them someday, that image is a good sampler. I just kind of put games I have to emulate to the bottom of my "to play" list since my shitty ass laptop has severe issues with every emulator I've ever used. Few people liked it though, the fanbase barely reaches into the thousands, maybe even only in hundreds. It got panned for lack of tutorials, story, and the obtuse difficulty curve. It's amazing that it even got localized given the poor sales and poor reviews.
>>378807051
Xenosaga II is ok anon
>>378807046
Furyu apparently just wanted to make it.

>>378807396
Retroactively speaking? Bring over RS2 and 3 when they were new, market them more heavily and focus on what they bring over typical JRPGs, do NOT market Unlimited SaGa with the marketing blitz it had and instead use it on Minstrel Song.

>>378807051
>Xenosaga II

If it makes you feel any better, I didn't hate it. Felt it was too short.

I'm "that guy" with Star Ocean 3.

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I can't wait for scarlet grace localization on ps4 in this e3

>>378807396
SaGa goes against what most people expect in JRPGs. Especially nowadays. I'd be lying if I said that SaGa as a whole wasn't an acquired taste. You either like it for what it does different from other JRPGs or you don't.

>>378777710
wasn't Unlimited Saga one of the worst Saga games, and maybe JRPG's of all time?

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>>378807046
>Still don't know how it got a sequel
Well, it sold well enough to warrant one, Koizumi is also a pretty persistent guy who has been forged by years of work with Kawazu, so he won't give up easily, especially when he does what he likes to do.
>>378807051
>Can I go from PS2 Romancing Saga to RS2/3?
Sure, Romancing SaGa 2 is one of the most unique games since it works on a generational system, so you'll have to get used to that, it's also a bit less complex, understandably so, but it's an amazing game, my personal favorite together with Unlimited.
>>378807107
>Do SaGa frontier 1&2 both run on psxfin?
I don't see why they wouldn't.
>>378807396
>how would you make SaGa more successful in the west?
You don't, SaGa's an acquired taste, most older SaGa fans religiously play without manuals or guides until they're done with the game and want to check whether they missed something, SaGa just has to click with you to work, it's not a series that tries to convince you to play it or changes its ways in order to be more appealing.

>>378807823
Unlimited SaGa isn't a bad game, and it's certainly nowhere near as bad as actual shit JRPGs like Beyond the Beyond or Secret of the Stars, but it is absolutely not for everyone.

>>378807823
That's just another one of Ondore's lies Anon.
Unlimited is a masterpiece, it's just really, really, really not for plebs.

>>378807796
You'd probably do better by marketing towards WRPG players instead. It has a lot in common with them.

>>378807713
>Felt it was too short.
The whole series after 2 is too short, but you know what happened. II is basically the "Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories" of the series, so it make sense for it to be shorter. Luckily, it's got replay value. Still my favorite.

>I didn't hate it
I respect that. I still feel like the only one whenever there's a Xenosaga thread, though.

>>378807825
>Sure,
Cool. I'll consider it after I finish FFI and XIII. Now, I see that Romancing Saga and Unlimited Saga were both rated pretty poorly. Is there a reason for that? What's the deal with Unlimited Saga? Should I buy a copy?

>>378808031
That did cross my mind a few times. But even then I think it'd be a hard sell.

>>378808031
>You'd probably do better by marketing towards WRPG players instead.
Not enough Buff McManly, guns and sex scenes for today's WRPG players, and most people diss it because it's too japanese when it comes to battle design, not to mention it's turn based.

>>378808323
>after 2
I mean 1.

>>378808410
You'd be marketing to early 90s-mid-2000s WRPG players, not braindead DA2 players.

I've been thinking of buying Scarlet Saga, but I have little to no moon under my belt. Would it still be enjoyable or will it just be a frustrating time?

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>>378805062
Bear with me, since few people care or like it I won't bother spoilering this.
Legend of Legacy plays with a party of three.
Much like normal SaGa as I am told, it has zip in terms of instruction or tutorials.
Battles go from easy in the initial 3 areas to so overtly hard that running into a single Spriggan Raider (a VERY, VERY common enemy) is grounds for an instant gameover as it is capable of oneshotting the whole party in a single move.
Battles revolve around managing a system of elemental contracts and dominating the field with a specific element.
Shadow, usually the default dominant one, triples the power of magic (which is largely useless offensively). Players cannot control or add shadow contracts.
Fire dominance doubles physical damage and supposedly the contract boosts ailment chance.
Water recovers HP and dominance cuts magical power.
Air recovers SP and dominance cuts physical power in half.
The progression is odd and many western players find it very frustrating, for example you can get a mandatory item, the Shadow Stone, from either simply talking to a kitty (which permanently removes the save cat in pic) or by battling a very powerful trio of enemies usually reserved for miniboss battles. There is no indication of this.
Skills and stat gains are random but only usually gained from stronger or equal enemies.
There is technically a story but it is barely there and only is from optional item giving stones. The characters all have proficiencies, which are invisible to the player, with Bianca, as the presumed Shadow Golem, as by far the best character.
Areas are unlocked by the player through touching certain map areas.
NG+ only carries over some incredibly rare items, some bonuses to the endgame areas, and some other stuff.
I think that's mostly it.

>>378808663
Apparently the story isn't terribly important. Personally, I'd like to know a little of what's going on in the game, but I guess it won't be a huge deal if the former is true.

>>378807796
Games shouldn't have to be marketed "for JRPG player" or "for WRPG players" or anything like that. It sucks that anything that doesn't fit perfectly into an established genre gets disregarded by so many people. I often see threads about other games saying things like "this isn't a role playing game therefore it's bad" or "this isn't a fighting game therefore it's bad" but really those classifications don't matter at all, the game just needs to be good.

>>378807396
To be more successful in the west is to make it appeal to more people. Neither the fans or the creator would want what that would entail. People that like JRPG's and are completionists LOATHE the event rank mechanic. People that want to just chill out and grind in one area for experience and money LOATHE the battle rank mechanics. But these mechanics are what make SaGa what it is. Introduced, taken out, refined, or flipped on its head.

The first game had lives for your characters and it didn't come back until Romancing SaGa 1 in a different form. Then again it changed up again in how HP and life points worked in Unlimited Saga. The series continually puts in new mechanics or alters old ones to something new.

>>378808323
>Is there a reason for that?
As you can read in the whole thread, SaGa just isn't for everyone, it's a highly experimental RPG series made by an absolute madman with zero regards for rules or pandering to people to sell his games.
>What's the deal with Unlimited Saga?
It's basically /tg/: the JRPG, it's amazing if you're that kind of guy.
>Should I buy a copy?
Nein, never buy something you aren't 100% sure you're gonna like, try out other SaGa games first then decide whether it's worth your money, and even so Unlimited is highly experimental in an already experimental series to the point that it does rework even most fundamental SaGa rules from the ground up.

You know that everything in Unlimited has infinite HP? And that your characters don't faint a 0 HP? Yeah, it's not even the weirdest shit out there.

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>>378808323
I feel like that all the time.
SaGa fans don't like it because it's not SaGa enough, normalfag fans don't like it because it's not normal enough.

>>378807986
>Unlimited is a masterpiece, it's just really, really, really not for plebs.
It's definitely not for the faint of heart.

>>378807823
The mechanics flip everything on its head. To get that point home it isn't the end of the world if your HP is at zero. Your guy can still fight if their HP is at zero. That's how much it flips the genre upside down that people who expect certain mechanics from the genre get turned away from the game because you cannot apply your past experience from playing other JRPG's onto Unlimited Saga.

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>>378809003
Forgot pic.

>>378808952
It does stand in a terribly odd spot though, hopefully The Alliance Alive will fix that, bringing back mounts from Romancing SaGa 3 and refining the existing mechanics already makes the game much better than LoL, and it's also using the classic SaGa formula of multiple worlds too, so old SaGa fans might be more willing to give Koizumi another chance.

>>378808747
>I often see threads about other games saying things like "this isn't a role playing game therefore it's bad" or "this isn't a fighting game therefore it's bad"
I typically only see comments like that when people try to incorrectly classify games. Like, SSB, for example. Although as far as the game automatically being bad is concerned, that's /v/ talking.

>>378808806
>highly experimental RPG
Sounds good.
>Zero regard for rules or pandering
Sounds kind of good.

>/tg/ the video game
No clue what the hell that means, but it might be cool.

>Don't buy it just yet
It's less than 10 bucks, so I'll look up some gameplay and make a decision from there.

>enemies have unlimited HP
Uhhh...
>Characters don't faint at 0 HP
Yeah, I'll do some research.

Is saga frontier 1 worth the $30 bucks?

>>378809003
Weirdly, it's what got me interested in the series. Ended up renting it for the hell of it around 13 years ago and even though I had no idea what I was doing, I slowly got hooked on it. I still didn't get a lot of the mechanics, but I never understood why reviews shat on it so hard.

>>378809079
I remember reading the detailed review on the EGM magazine when it came out, and they were so horrible that it scared me of trying it out.
I normally don't listen to reviews but at the time I was a fan of EGM's three person review for each game.

But if you say that it's worth checking out if I'm looking for a unique and challenging experience for RPG's I'll take your word for it

Just curious, when getting into the SaGa series are the individual stories of characters interesting. Even if another anon said to throw away everything to know about JRPG's and Final Fantasy, is the story telling at least similar to Final Fantasy 6?

>>378809079
>Unlimited Saga exemplifies everything that's wrong with RPGs today
I wonder what that is. Using field skills? Stat gains based on quest completion rather than grinding enemies? And expansive world with many optional quests?

>>378809470
Not even remotely close.

>>378809503
>I wonder what that is.
That it wasn't Final Fantasy.

>>378809153
It'll be fun but I predict it'll land in the same spot. It'll probably be liked a little better by one side but take too much away from one to be popular in either circle.
Want to sell more? Here's some tutorials and such with a lightened difficulty (although given the director I doubt difficulty will let up).
Want to attract your old fans? Well too bad, the game sold 10k copies and is a total flop, you're never getting another one again.
I think it'll be a slightly better TLoL but overall SaGa players will think "eh, it's ok but it's no (Favorite SaGa game), SaGa is dead" and normalfags will think "it's cute but it's too hard/the story sucks, I'd rather play (popular JRPG)."

>>378809470
In most SaGa games it isn't as much about the characters but the world they are in. There is some good character driven stuff in both Frontier 1 and 2, but expect developing the characters themselves for most of the series to take the back seat.

>>378801491
This thread made me start SaGa Frontier 1 as my first SaGa, I picked this girl and I'm already confused, do I need to complete the training or should I just try to move forward in the main tower? the training keeps throwing me groups of enemies and I have no way to respond to that and I feel like a grinded a little too much.

>>378809342
I say emulate some of the games or even Frontier before you make that plunge.

>>378810018
You picked a really shitty first scenario.

>>378809284
>I'll look up some gameplay and make a decision from there.
Anon, sorry to break it to you, but you're not going to understand shit by looking at a video, really, you're not going to understand anything about SaGa by looking at videos.
>>378809470
>Just curious, when getting into the SaGa series are the individual stories of characters interesting.
Yeah, greatly so.
You have everything from Tokusatsu heroes, Mechs in search of their lost main directories, pirates, smiths who fall madly in love with pictures of girls, Zorro expies, jeans wearing drunk samurais, interdimensional cops, bisexual vampires, monstergirls, muscular ladies who get shit done, nobles, banchou farmers, gene simmons, lizardmen bros, shapeshifting monsters, commando supermodels and more.
>>378810018
Asellus' training can go on indefinitely, you have to get out of Fascinaturu or you'll be stuck in a loop, go around and talk to people, you'll get a few clues.
Also, do talk to Illdon and White Rose, especially when you go to Rei's chamber.

>>378810280
>you're not going to understand shit by looking at a video, really,
Yeah, I'm not really getting anything out of this. I'll have to try it before I buy it.

>>378809153
I doubt it. It won't be SaGa regardless of the stuff they add, and I doubt the existing SaGa fanbase will be remotely satisfied by it. It'll be LoL 2.

>>378810280
>You have everything from Tokusatsu heroes, Mechs in search of their lost main directories, pirates, smiths who fall madly in love with pictures of girls, Zorro expies, jeans wearing drunk samurais, interdimensional cops, bisexual vampires, monstergirls, muscular ladies who get shit done, nobles, banchou farmers, gene simmons, lizardmen bros, shapeshifting monsters, commando supermodels and more.

I hope it's not campy like Japanese Toku franchises and ect. because it sure sounds like it. But yeah got it, you got into SaGa for the world and mechanics, and not take the characters so serious

>>378809153
It will add stuff but it won't be enough. It will be kind of like a version of LoL with a better world but likely worse combat.

>>378810719
>Yeah, I'm not really getting anything out of this.
You won't understand anything before the 30 hours mark either, so do get an iso, play it and then decide whether it's worth your money, SaGa games are huge timesinks built around almost endless replayability, don't be suprised if you end up clocking 200 hours by replaying the games over and over again, but again, you need to spend quite some time to understand them, Unlimited is especially arcane by any known standard, but boy if you do get into it it will open up a whole new world to you.
>>378810731
>It won't be SaGa regardless of the stuff they add
Well, it's not SaGa to begin with and will never be, Kobayashi isn't even doing the designs for this either so it's already technically less SaGa than LoL, but I'll give it a chance anyway.
Honestly, my real gripe with Koizumi is that he's recycling old shit without innovating, I can deal with his games not being as thematically crazy as Kawazu's, I can deal trying to ride the SaGa name in order to sell your products, but you ain't going to please me by warming an old dish I've already eaten times and again.
I like mounts, but that thing has been in SaGa since almost two decades, and I'm sure Koizumi can design something original, but he seemingly keep on playing it safe and just reuse oldass stuff, that's great for people who like classic SaGa games and can't deal with the modern ones, but it's not for me, and it's not the spirit of SaGa.
I'll probably still going to buy it though because I want to support Koizumi and I appreciate his efforts anyway, I'm sure that once he'll build up a fanbase he can go a bit wilder.

>>378810893
>and not take the characters so serious
I actually take the characters seriously because they don't take themselves too seriously, they all feel very genuine and the fact that you can choose whoever you like and develop them however you like is special, you develop some bond with them in a way that most other games can't do, it's hard to explain.
Besides, some characters have really good stories, like Gustave, Gerald or Harid, it also helps they speak and behave like human beings and not anime characters or caricatures.

>>378811512
I think too many people judge it as a SaGa game, which it isn't in any way. It barely has any sort of connection to it and plays vastly differently. It's not SaGa. It will never be SaGa. And it can't be compared as one. It's just a little tough JRPG with terrible reviews on a handheld that has a shitload of JRPGs already with better reviews, more accessible difficulty, and stories that drag people in. It's a little failure of a game that just happens to have a tiny modicum of appeal to SaGa fans due to some similarities in the creator of it and lacking handholding, which people actually want nowadays for some reason. Alliance Alive is going to be much the same but it's part of the same FuRyu series of games as TLoL and like its predecessor, it will not be anything like SaGa, and it will not satisfy a single SaGa fan. It will be just another critically panned JRPG on the 3DS that doesn't really have a super hold on any playerbase.

>>378784969
Never. PS1 classics is done. I mean the PS4 doesn't even utilize that branch does it? Not only that but Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song is on PSN as well.

>>378812715
>It barely has any sort of connection to it and plays vastly differently.
Come on now Anon, you know that's not true at all.
>it will not be anything like SaGa, and it will not satisfy a single SaGa fan
Japan tells me a different story though, people who bought LoL bought it because it was a SaGa-like, the small fanbase in Japan is mainly composed of people who play SaGa games, you're painting a bleak picture when it's not the case at all.
You just can't expect a game like that to be popular or even more popular than the series it rips off, especially when it's directly feeding on another series' fanbase, it's like wondering why Yokai Watch sells a fraction of what Pokemon sells.

>>378811512
Was anyone ever expecting a full SaGa game on 3DS though? It's kind of expected that it wouldn't be able to be as big as a normal SaGa game but people wanted it to be. It's a totally different series that isn't anything like SaGa really, it only shares some music, art, and a few of the devs. Just sharing devs and such doesn't guarantee a game of the franchise, e.g. Gamefreak produced Giga Wrecker recently, which has nothing to do with Pokemon. LoL is just another lone JRPG with no significant connections/settings of SaGa. I don't know why it's even really discussed by the same community considering how different it is.

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>>378813360
>LoL is just another lone JRPG with no significant connections/settings of SaGa.
It literally copies anything but elemental contracts and shields from SaGa, everything else works almost exactly like SaGa, even some characters are ripped off from SaGa, like Owen being basically a carbon copy of Harid down to his money obsession.

Hell, the game was literally marketed as a spiritual successor to SaGa and so is Alliance Alive which explicitly recycles mounts from Romancing SaGa 3 among other things, with passive battle abilities being the only somewhat original element so far judging from the demo.

>>378813251
Well maybe "barely" is exaggerating it but it certainly does play differently, and the connections are so thin that it's kind of like it tries and fails to be SaGa lite.
A great deal of them bought it because they THOUGHT it was a SaGa type game though, not directly because it is. The fanbase is very small. It isn't even really similar to YW compared to PKM, as this is from less of a competing dev and more of the last remnant of it. If I didn't know better I'd say this was the director just trying to make a new IP but falling into his old design style unintentionally, but I do believe he did make it like this on purpose. It did fail though, sales wise, the game was very poor. People act like it's a successor to mainline SaGa but it's just a legacy spinoff series that is not and never will be SaGa. The fans in Japan for this weren't that satisfied by the game either, if I remember correctly the comments on it were often complaints about the game being too short.

>>378814129
>Money obsession
Owen is contracted once and then refuses payment.

>>378814245
>it certainly does play differently
You gotta be kidding me Anon, it works almost exactly the same, but much more watered down on all fronts, I'm not even sure why you're saying this if you did play SaGa when it's basically a really shallow Minstrel Song clone with a third of the combat system and nothing else, even the character roster was abysmal, people didn't like it because they marketed the game as a SaGa successor and delivered a half baked game with a fraction of the content of a SaGa game while shamelessly ripping off the main series.

who cares whether or not it's 'SaGa' or not, judge it based on whether or not it's good

>>378815046
Watered down is still a difference. The game was not half baked, but it certainly was not SaGa. It reminds me far more of old PC98 JRPGs than SaGa, and I do not consider it to be SaGa or even touching SaGa even with a retarded marketing campaign.

>>378814129
Owen was a pretty generic merc with no real character trait, not even something as small as money obsession. Recycling/stealing elements that have been stolen by countless other games, offical, indie, and older alike, is not really a significant connection, and dragging people in on false promises does not make the game what they promised.

>>378809284
Think of HP as stamina, that is the system in Unlimted, when your stamina is at 0, your LP becomes easier to lose. Piercing damage such as Reverse Delta or Spear techs are more effective at dealing LP damage directly.

>>378816653
And that's why spears are overpowered as shit.

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Your series isn't even dead, why are you arguing the merits of a spinoff made to let 3DSfags, who are a huge potential playerbase, try out a lighter, entry level clone of it?
It's just a nice little spoonful of gameplay to help expand the playerbase of the home series.
It's a good game for what it is, it certainly doesn't deserve all the complaints and bad reviews.

Good lord.

>>378814129
Forgive me as a newfag to this series but why do they need to push for a successor when the franchise is still active and just got a new official release and got a bunch of official spinoffs that weren't these "rip offs" in the past few years.

Bump for suguh

SaGa is ok

Is Scarlet Grace good?

>>378821995
Yeah, it's pretty damn great.

>>378822179
Okey dokey then
I'm going to buy a cheap used Vita.

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>mfw I bought Unlimited Saga on release day at full price

>>378776940
I heard Saga Frontier is a good starting point for this series, are there any tips for it?

>>378822875
Try not to use a guide, and I would recommend starting with Red, Blue or T260

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So I hear from the rest of this thread that the legend of legacy is watered down in the combat, why is that? I can't play any other saga games, I only have a 3ds. It certainly seemed challenging enough.

>>378824559
I don't think they are saying it is the combat, but most of the mechanics and exploring the world. Character growth mechanics, skill acquisition, enemy scaling, how quests appear, and so on are various mechanics that are important in the series that doesn't have to do with combat.

Best starting point for the series?

>>378825323
What is supposed to be like? Pls tell me, I kind of want to know what I'm missing. No quests though, I don't like quests.

>>378825664
Others might disagree with me, but Final Fantasy Legend II is a great point because it introduces you to different growth mechanics due to the racial based growth while not having you get lost since the story progresses like a standard JRPG. It is also short, about twelve hours long or so.

If you just want to dive in go for SaGa Frontier.

>>378825770
I can only say what I know of SaGa since I personally haven't played Legend of Legacy. Though a lot of SaGa games have a ton of quests, though not all of them are even essential. Even when you get a quest it isn't always obvious where to go or how to complete it so it requires a lot of exploration and experimentation.

>>378825323
I thought the enemy scaling was excellent though, throwing ridiculously overleveled killing machines at the player relatively early. The biggest issues was that the hand drawn worlds weren't as lively as they should be.

>>378776940
Link to the last thread?

>>378826080
Do you always move last in saga too? I go into fights in legend of legacy hunting for rare enemies (the immortal mantis) to complete my encyclopedia and have to always have a QS beforehand because there's a chance that the enemy will instantly wipe out my party with a single Incinerate. I still don't like quests though.

>>378826461
No you don't always move last.

>>378826172
https://boards.fireden.net/v/thread/378687135/#378687135

>>378826531
I don't even think it's an always move last thing. The devs were weird and just made the enemies other than Spectral Soul really, really fucking fast.
how hard is saga in general? can you grind that shit out? because I'm enjoying lol but I'd like a game where you can grind the shit out of it and actually not get shit on every two seconds by common enemies, it's a little TOO hard

SaGa Frontier 2 is better than SaGa Frontier

>>378826834
Depends on the SaGa game to be honest. Not sure when battle rank was introduced, my guess was around Romancing SaGa 2. Some entries of the series have a lenient battle rank, like SaGa Frontier so you have a bit more freedom in grinding a bit. Something like Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song isn't, and it is much easier to make your file unwinnable if you just mindlessly grind since the enemies will be very strong were as you don't have the stats, skills, and equipment to deal with those encounters.

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To this day Romancing SaGa 3 is one of my favorite games ever

>dthat music
>those slick flashy moves
>commander mode
>formations affect your skills and status
>that final boss
>that one last bit of the end credits

Man, what a great game

>>378827069
I'm going to take a leap and assume battle rank means how strong enemies will be compared to your level
In legend of legacy the enemies are simply too powerful most of the time unless your stats are super jacked, but it's not possible to actually grind out stats to levels where you get that way until the absolute end of the game because stat gains only happen with high level enemies compared to your stats and you'll gain nothing from grinding
what I mean is are there any ones that let me circumvent measures like this

I don't even play SaGa but I enjoy the art style.
Both the hyper detailed one in first post and the chibis

>>378806743
the art style is amazing

>>378827456
not romantic enough

I'll probably make a saga thread right after e3.
Just so I can lament.

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If anyone wants a ton of data involving SaGa Frontier 1, this is the forum for you.

http://jce3000gt.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=404

>>378799357
>Red sparks Re-Al-Phoenix

>>378830815
RIP Biolab

can someone explain the overarching plot of saga frontier 1 or was it literally 7 different story timelines

>>378830503
I just hope Alliance Alive is coming to us. Even if it's not a "real" SaGa game it'll still be a treat to play and something nice to add to the 3DS.

>>378810893
whats a tokusatsu hero

Have not tried any of them yet but they are on my Backlog of RPG titles

>>378834765
power rangers and kamen rider, shit like that

>>378776940
Well I only made one post yesterday, I think. I'll say more a less the same thing here.

I only played the first one. My brother said he found 2 very disappointing compared to the first game. Haven't played any other Saga games. I also only beat it with two characters. I've been wanting to go back to the game and beat it with the others but I'm just such a lazy bastard with no motivation to even get into games anymore. Especially RPG games which require more than just a few minutes of your attention.

Saga Frontier is a very underrated gem imo even though I didn't beat it with everyone.

tree

saga frontier 2 story didn't make any sense

wtf is the egg , is that the thing from FF legend?

>>378835159
Frontier II is filled with tons of details that make no sense until you read the Perfect Works. Stuff like how Cielmer fucked up reading Gustave's anima aren't explained in the game.

The Egg, quells and Megaliths in general were relics of an ancient race and the Egg was supposed to be a tool to manipulate the races that came after to revive them or some shit.

>>378835336
>Cielmer fucked up reading Gustave's anima
what did he mean by this

>>378835336
>until you read the Perfect Works

Are you talking some sort of book or comic here? If so that shit is lame. 343 did this with Halo and it has backfired on them because they went so heavy on inserting things from the books.

>>378835561
>Are you talking some sort of book or comic here?
It's a book that has info about the plot, characters, world and terminology with a whole bunch of art.

It's not exactly uncommon for RPGs to do this shit where they only explain important details in side material like this, Square used to do it all the time their Ultimanias.