yeah, reading through a long rpg is basically like reading a book. i had trouble getting myself to read books as a kid but never minded reading through these games.
Same! I grew up in Italy but was able to get games from the second-hand store that the Americans from the military base would drop off before moving. “Quest to Evermore”, “Chrono Trigger”, “Wild ARMs” and “SaGa Frontier” literally taught me English. By the time I’d saved up for FFVII and later FFVIII, I was already fluent and people thought I was American (had movies, too, lol).
This is seriously one of my favorite games. It makes me happy that there are other people who value this game as much as I do. Such a brilliant game. There isn't anything I think I would want to change about it and I don't think I can get bored with it. Love it.
There are a couple of things that I would change/add: 1. As many side quests as Romancing SaGa 3, and more depth per side quest like in RS3. 2. Fuse scenario being put back in 3. Adding in the final scenario that was supposed to happen after you beat all of the others 4. Not making the player constantly reset with each scenario, instead having an Octopath Traveller system so that you never lose everything 5. Adding more story to each character's route 6. Axe the Ring Lord boss, having to do combos like that is painful...
@@Jordan3DS I hope they make an HD remaster that adds everything you mentioned and really completes the game. Also a real ending for Blue's scenario would be nice.
@@nightsong81 They actually are releasing a remaster of the game that's coming out Summer 2021, and they're adding in Fuse's cut route as well as all of the scenes cut from the original game! It seems like they're not making any other major changes which makes sense since this is a remaster and not a remake, but it's still pretty damn cool!
What SaGa Frontier really needed is to be developed with the love that Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song was. Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song had just about everything needed to introduce a beginner to the SaGa series: The Volunteer Brigade with its tutorials, in-battle tutorials explaining combos, "glimmers" (known to SaGa fans as "sparks" or "flashes"), etc. The problem is that Romancing SaGa is *THE* *MOST* non-linear SaGa game, period! 95% of the game is side-quests! The game only has one objective: grind to Event Rank 20. Once that's done, the endgame events can occur. Now, put one of those Volunteer Brigade brats in each of SaGa Frontier's Regions and that would go a long way! In game tutorials would as well!
Finally! Someone who praise and give light about saga frontier! I just teared up over this review, it just brought back so many memories! Saga frontier is my favorite game of all time along with Final Fantasy Tactics. I played it when I was young but I didn't understand how the system works and what was going on. Eventually I understand how to trigger some of the characters stories and side quests but I just never beat the game. The enemies on that game is such a challenge and that's the reason I love this game, also the stories for each characters. But your right about they should have given out a guide book too, that'll make things a lot easier for everyone, but it was the 90's. I heard in japan it was re released on their PSN store but it's released in the U.S., I was very disappointed that it wasn't given a second chance like they did with Final Fantasy Tactics. I'm still hoping they'll give this title another chance some day.
you call blue's brother "rogue" like the xman character, when in actuality his name is "rouge", the french word for the color red. this is why when playing as Red and you encounter Blue during the rading of the Cygnus, blue is happy to join the party until red says his name - at which point blue immediately becomes angry and refuses to join.
This game is notoriously unfinished, but that's why it was so good. Saga Frontier is what happens when we apply minimalist theory to video games. We get a game that only teases us with its world and characters, leaving us frustrated (in a good way) and wanting more. But there is no more. So we go looking for more. We look in every nook and cranny of the game, explore every character's story (even Rouge's), and we're still left wanting more, with questions still unanswered. So we think and we speculate and we *create*, answering those questions for ourselves. We finish the game, not by beating the final boss, but by explaining whatever the hell Omble is. As a result, the world has this feeling of being both familiar and alien to the player. Not giving us enough information made the world come alive in ways no other game-world could.
Square released a special guide to answer questions players had: The Essence of SaGa Frontier They also released another guide for Romancing SaGa Minstrel Song which is known as the Ultimania. Both guides also gave the Canonical series of events that occurred. Sadly the translations for them do not exist or are very minimal.
+Bam Guilani yep, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Now if only the SaGa series gets the eventual massive success that the Souls series eventually did, even if deceptive marketing needs to be used again (Prepare to die! can become Prepare to be confused!) After all, RPGs owe a lot more to the mind that is Akitoshi Kawazu that many might admit...
I liked your video but characters in SaGa Frontier are not permanently dead when LP reaches 0 they just cant fight in battle. Resting at any inn or using sanctuary stones will restore LP to full.
You can sort of perma fk yourself though by buying LP items with Asellus for example and leaving yourself with low LPs and then getting dropped in battle.
hey again. so I finally recompiled my ultimate web guide list for SaGa Frontier. I have a particular history with this game, in that it is my absolute FAVORITE game EVAR all things accounted for, sadly, however, I have been through something like 10 copies, and they always end up breaking, bugging, or getting stolen. I have had discs shatter, disappear, simply cease functioning, and even emulated ROMs just reprogram themselves to freeze halfway into a scenario. as such, I've barely cracked into the game's system(s) and stories. I think I finished one version of Asellus' tale ONCE, despite having logged literally thousands of hours of play into this epic over 15 or so years. consequently, I've learned a thing or two about how to build characters and parties, and how to max out and plan their growth, but have still BARELY seen all the plotlines. ironically, I have become super good at making strong characters. it took reading up lengthy guides compiled by hackrs who pulled apart the game's code to see how all this ACTUALLY works. this game has one of the most complicated RPG stat and growth systems I have ever seen, and the community is STILL figuring out many many details. to top it off, the game was released a BIT before it was really finished, so you actually don't even get to see ANY indication of a lot of things going on in game that very much affect battle mechanics and character growth. so I compiled an ultimate list of how to/what the hell is going on guides which emphasize maximizing one's potential at facilitating the system WITHOUT giving too many plot spoilers. trust me, to really make a Mystics and Monsters work you'll need these. and the Humans and Mechs are actually just as complex, you can just BS them more. before you go checking all these out, I cannot emphasize ENOUGH that Dan Dekker's "Data/Mechanics Guide" is THE go to SOURCE guide, which does a better job of explaining how to even READ these guides, and what the f**k is going on with this game than I ever could. enjoy!!! SAGA FRONTIER WEB GUIDE LIST *this entire set of pages has a decent list of characters, equipment, items, spells ect., however DAN DEKKER'S DATA/MECHANICS GUIDE BELOW HAS THE REAL STATS ON EQUIPMENT wiki.rpgclassics.com/index.php?title=SaGa_Frontier GAMEFAQ'S MAIN PAGE FOR FAQ www.gamefaqs.com/ps/198537-saga-frontier/faqs *Zaraktheus' Data/Mechanics Guide ***ABSOLUTELY MOST IMPORTANT GUIDE*** www.gamefaqs.com/ps/198537-saga-frontier/faqs/58412 *Dan Dekker's Monster Guide www.gamefaqs.com/ps/198537-saga-frontier/faqs/36630 *character Guide www.gamefaqs.com/ps/198537-saga-frontier/faqs/7108 *Tier Guide www.gamefaqs.com/ps/198537-saga-frontier/faqs/48407 *Monster/Item Drop List by JusticeZero www.gamefaqs.com/ps/198537-saga-frontier/faqs/47652 *Monster Skill List by JusticeZero www.gamefaqs.com/ps/198537-saga-frontier/faqs/47745 *Winter King's Encounter Guide www.gamefaqs.com/ps/198537-saga-frontier/faqs/48551 *Bestiary by Malinor www.gamefaqs.com/ps/198537-saga-frontier/faqs/48751 *Mystic Absorb List www.gamefaqs.com/ps/198537-saga-frontier/faqs/47745
consequently, I don't play this game without a laptop next to me, and I spend a LOT of time looking up data in the tables. each battle becomes downright tactical, as every action you choose determines character growth, skills and items/stats received. if you're not careful, you can miss some amazing techs and items that you'd pretty much never find by accident, and miss the chance to hit them later or ever again. SPOILER ALERT: *** *** *** THERE IS A FINAL 8TH SCENARIO WHERE YOU MEET THE PROGRAMMERS AND TRY OUT SOME HIGH DIFFICULTY LEVEL BATTLES WHICH IS ONLY UNLOCKED BY COMPLETING ALL 7 STORIES. the reason I post this here is that the main character that you played as your 7th story will be your character for this scenario, so I tend to plan my 7th story to have my favorite character (Asellus for myself.) this is a major decision to plan, so choose wisely.
i couldn't get into earthbound, didn't really give it enough of a chance though, may try it again soon but i have a ton of rpgs i'm wanting to play now. just tried out strange journey and definitely feel like i can get into that. also been playing radiant historia and it's really been keeping me invested.
Thank you. I put off doing a review of this title until I had honed my craft and editing style for the show. I wanted to do a review that might get a lot of people to play the game and re-examine their perspective on the whole "JRPG vs WRPG" debate. The SaGa series never enters the discussion when people make these debates, and it really is the best counter-argument against the accusations that the Japanese only make turn based, linear games with simple leveling and combat systems.
Great video, brother ! I like how you pack so much content in short burst (Features, Characters, Gameplay) very well paced review !! I'm delving into thw JRPGs I missed during my childhood (Squaresoft's 90s tsunami-era). Waiting for Legend of Mana in the mail and you possibly just sold me on Saga Frontier !
You really are a hardcore fan. I subscribed a while ago because you reviewed some games I played as a kid. I love the information and insight I get on the genre from these videos. Keep up the integrity and enthusiasm. Thanks a lot.
one of the greatest RPG's of all time, unfortunately it was EXTREMELY advanced, and that is why people hated on it. The game is meant for mature, seasoned RPG players.
Ok guys I've been playing this for a couple days now and WOW! The challenge is certainly there! I just came off playing FF7 and going into this game, what a difference and I love it! Anybody who is thinking of getting this, I wanna say do not put it down and dismiss it on the first part you get stuck, the game gets better as you learn from your mistakes and how to play. Also, I think I see why this wasn't a huge hit when it first came out. 1. The difficulty and 2. The graphics, people probably purchased their PS1 and saw these graphics and thought "Gee why would I buy a playstation to play a game that looks like it could be on the sega genesis?"
DJ239 yes it was due to difficulty. The saga game has always been a test of skill and strategy. it didn't do so well in sales in NA because it wasn't marketed heavily here, plus NA missed the 3 saga games in the snes, so people who knew about the saga series were the very few who had experience the saga games in the GB, so for most RPG fanatics, this was the first time they heard about the saga games, and the levelling system was VERY different than most jrpgs. Finishing the saga can be very rewarding in the end, it's definitely a task that could take months to finish
I forgot to include this, but SaGa Frontier and its branching storylines was actually released before Fallout supposedly "invented" the concept in RPG videogames, as various game reviewers have claimed over the years. In truth, the very first Romancing SaGa game has branching storylines and non-linear gameplay, and that title was released in 1992. It's another reason why I need to tackle the entire series. But even Romancing SaGa didn't invent the concept.
Yes, I'm sure. It is mentioned in the linked FAQ at GameFAQs. The Battle Rank that you complete a scenario at determines the bonuses you get in a future playthrough.
You nail so many of my problems with this entire series with this video, sir. I feel like playing ANY game that bears the SaGa name is like playing RNGs on top of RNGs on top of a bullshit mechanic that isn't explained at all alongside an open-ended design that isn't actually open ended because you can try going somewhere for grins and either end up in a dungeon meant for another character's late game to find nothing at the end (and built up your battle counter fighting your way there), or you could end up bumping into a character who says 2 lines of dialogue, joins your party, and then locks you out of an important event because they're a horrible leech. I managed to finish one of these senarios when I was a kid, and that was Lute's. It's exactly one dungeon long, from what I remember.
The only re-releases were for Japan I'm afraid. I plan to do more reviews on the SaGa series, the next will be Romancing SaGa: MS, a remake of the original Romancing SaGa 1 with added features.
This game is amazing, I love JRPGs since the 90's... when I see today's "RPGs" with all the open world freedom and character creation, I can't help but think it as a good excuse for the lack of a good story and deep characters... My fav of all time is Suikoden 2! Cheers from Brazil!
I truly hope you will check out the game then for yourself, and if you become confused during play, this video might help you better understand the deeper mechanics, which don't get fully explained during gameplay.
This may have been posted already, but... the descriptors for the combos are camera movements, at least most of the descriptors are. That's why you see the camera angle change during these moves, and multiple times during a combo. Thanks for mentioning my man Zaraktheus!
Thank you. I put a lot of thought into my reviews. But, because of everything going on with RUclips, I am certain this video will only get a few hundred views from my subscriber feed. This review took a week of sporadic gameplay, since I don't often have time to sit and play games anymore. The editing alone took me about 24 hours..., I had started editing on Friday and didn't finish until Sunday. These episodes are time consuming to create.
Your welcome. I will probably end up doing the review after Martell TV is done. Please check out that project, it's the most video uploaded to my channel. Deeply impacts the future of this show, since I'll be able to slot my episodes into the Martell Games Station, which will get it seen by a larger audience.
A great review! This is where you shine in my opinion. Every review of yours I have watched is always on point, factual, and entertaining. I have always had an interest in playing Saga Frontier but this review makes me want to go out and buy the game. (Which is what a good review by a good critic should do)
one of the best rpg games ever, wow just wow. i would rent this game from blockbuster when i was little every weekend to try to beat Reds story lololol. oh man great memories and using DSC for the first time, skeet
Update: You know, I find a lot of references to permadeath for this game in various old strategy guides. I know there is some stuff removed from the US version of the game that was present in the JPNs version....odd.
Blue story is epic… Also blue/rouge is basically the most powerful character in the game after the duel in which one twin absorb the powers of the other. The only character I didn't like was the robot.
That reviewer "Holy Vampire" just couldn't figure out the battle system. The game is incredibly hard. It is the hardest rpg I've ever played. If you notice, he makes a statement that gives evidence that he couldn't clear through the first part of the game for any of the characters, when he speaks about Emilia's plot line and her rotting in the sewer(like the very first area where you encounter battles on that character), because he didn't have the will to finish it. The only other plot line he talked about was Red's, which was also in reference to the very beginning. In other words, he couldn't make it past the first segments for any of the characters...which is actually kind of understandable. I also had trouble figuring out the battle system. It took me awhile to learn the game, as I'm sure it did everyone. It's hard AF! But its difficulty is also one of, if not its best quality...because slowly picking up on and learning all the skills and techniques required to successfully clear through segments in the game was RE WAR DING ASFUCK. Finishing one character and moving onto another with all your newly found knowledge, just to find out how much deeper it can go? Incredible. I'm just saying, I understand why people hate it, and though it's not a good reason, I can forgive them for any disrespect they gave it(which actually didn't have anything to do with why they didn't like the game). Just have to read between the lines...because nobody is going to tell you they didn't like the game because they're bad at it.
This game is very punishing if you don't learn the individual mechanics of every item, spell, character, side character, etc. But very rewarding to those who do it! It's very much a game that encourages experimentation and is realistic in that the more you practice with a type of move, you actually get points and techs in that skillset. And permadeath really made the stakes of battle that much more real. I put my damn emotions into it a bit, heh. It was way ahead of the levelling system we take for granted in Elder Scrolls Skyrim, which I also love. SaGa and Skyrim might be extremely different but they both have addictive qualities to me despite what may be otherwise glaring flaws😹
+Kalen Bourdeau You should watch some videos of tbe Dreamcast Grandia battles. Once you see how it works you'll know why I say there are no CONS. The sliding bar everyone is on is amazing due to you being able to manipulate it. Causing certain enemies to never get a turn, pushing an enemy back on the bar at a key time so they couldn't heal the boss... I could go on forever about using, abusing, manipulating, the slide bar that shows who goes next. The interaction of that within the battles makes the game amazing.
I played the ps2 one, which I think was the 3rd? and I really enjoyed what I did play. The magic equip system was really intriguing for me as well. So If those typs of elements are still custom for those games, i will probably check it out here in a few days. :j Thanks for the reply!
Just because a single game breaks a few stereotypes (while holding firmly onto others, mind you) doesn't mean that cultural trends in these genres of games don't exist.
The only SaGa game re-made for the PS2 was Romancing SaGa 1, released as Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song. Which is my favorite SaGa game, and that I'm trying to find the time to create a review for in order to further cement to people why the genre "JRPG" doesn't really exist, and respond to critics who think companies like Square only made Final Fantasy games. SaGa series started in 1992, and all of them are non-linear w/ free character development.
Probably my favorite rpg. It seemed so big and expansive when I was younger. My friend actually owned it first, but his copy had a bug on one of the quests (the part where you talk to Leonard in the Manhattan mall wouldn't work; I think T260G's quest). At any rate, I tracked it down years later and got to play through most of the quests. Still the best, albeit much smaller in scope hindsight. I think what really got me was the setting. I love all things cyberpunk (still a crime that ShadowRun never got made into an MMO), and every time you landed on a different planet it really felt special.
Ps1 was an amazing time for rpgs, but your rift with those who dont care much for jrpg's is really laughable. Permadeath is not really a staple of wrpg's , and this game couldnt be more Japanese, the games combat is complicated to provide challenge more than make sense in the context of the situation ( jrpg ) All characters are children or teens but are put into adult roles ( very jrpg ) Males are extremely feminine in appearance ( Japanese, anime, and jrpg ). Now I played this game back in the day and thought it was ok but that it was a little too strange for its own good, but I just said that it was another crazy jrpg.
The only character in SaGa Frontier who is under the age of 18 is Red. Riki might be a kid but he's also a monster. You're trying to stereotype too quickly.
The RPG Fanatic Videogame Review Show Yeah the manual says their older but there character design and dialog are very childish in nature. That in it self is one of the main ingredients to a jrpg which is anime. Hey, don't get me wrong I love a lot of jrpg's ( Xenogears, final fantasy tactics, Breath of fire, Chronotrigger, etc. ) but to say that there is no difference between a jrpg or wrpg is well; lets put this way; you say im too quick to sterotype, and I say you have your head buried in the sand with your fingers in your ears. I will give you the biggest example to why I prefer WRPGs, JRPGs demand you learn how to and play its way, its a very dictated experience, while wrpg's are a more personal experience, in the elder scrolls series you create your own character, every decision you make can and does impact your characters relationships, reputation, and the events surrounding him and the game world in a very direct and obvious way. In JRPGs you are the exception in the world, while in a WRPG you are a part of the world, all leading to a feeling that no JRPG has ever given me which is immersion.
There are plenty of Japanese produced rpgs that allow for that same kind of experience. Many of the MegaTen series has non-linear gameplay too, and recent titles like Dark Souls and Dragon's Dogma even have the same graphical style as a so-called "WRPG" but are made entirely by Japanese teams.
The RPG Fanatic Videogame Review Show wait wut? Dark Souls is a Japanese game?? OWW It didn't really appeal to me do to the apparently almost insane difficulty but now I might want to buy it! :3
one thing he left out is defense is not universal and certain armors may seem weak based on number values but have special hidden properties you find by accident. example: rubber armor seems to reduce lightning and throw move based damage. also additional status effects are unlocked as a character grows : energy chain = paralysis. and lastly hidden spells that are made available only in battle if you have a combination of item , weapon, armor and spell - I cant remember but... runesword equipped with something else... can't remember. also the more powerful you are + the number of skills unlocked makes it harder to unlock skills an gain stats. most players will never see max hp 999 sp999 str99 etc, without cheating. there are bizarre bugs in this game that you may only see one time. some occur with equipment combinations and story line + team makeups. this game was also made alternate battle teams. three teams of 5 characters. You are supposed to switch teams at the start of battle if your initial team is severely injured - they will recover a bit after every battle they do not fight in. also the strategy is team 1 trashmobs team 2 anti death, petrification, confusion. team 3 bosses. gear needs to be swapped out for deferent bosses and superior enemies like the krakken and diva and earth dragon and ringlord - game aint hard just gotta be observant a lot of bosses have mock trashmobs that you can use as a reference for strategy
I intend to do Treasure Hunter G but if I recall correctly (I could be mistaken; it's been a number of years since I played it via an emulator) they are not the same characters as in SaGa Frontier...
Yeah, it's an error others had pointed out. I had always reset the game if a character went to 0 LP because I actually didn't know they don't die. SaGa Frontier was the first game to not have perma-death; prior Romancing SaGa games did, and back when I first played the game I knew 0 LP for the main character meant game over. Everything else sticks, though!
you may want to put in some sort of caption or whatever you awesome vidoe makers do in order to inform the viewers as they're watching that what you're telling them is in error and what the real case is. it's basically being completely unable to fight, instead of unable to fight but being able to be revived in a fight.
The RPG Fanatic Videogame Review Show Yep. The only two SaGa games that have true perma-death from reaching 0 LP are Romancing SaGa 2 and Romancing SaGa - Minstrel Song (the latter only happens for characters that can't be re-recruited).
SaGa Frontier came out 20 years ago tomorrow. I'm gonna start my replay to celebrate. :P Asellus is my favorite followed by Red and T260G. Gen is my favorite character because he's a drunk powerhouse. Also, T260G is a female bot and it's "Rouge" not "Rogue". :) Best soundtrack. I still jam out to it. Thanks for the review!
I'd like to think gamers can put aside graphical and localization advancements for the sake of experiencing a game truly as unique as SaGa Frontier. Sadly, I don't think this video will ever reach 1,000 likes. Please do a retrospective on SaGa Frontier 2. It's one of my favorite games of all time. While you're at it, Final Fantasy Legend II (one of Famitsus favorites) and a bane on my grade school career also deserves a re-review. Thanks for your excellent video, and keep up the good work.
I just wanted to let you know you're wrong about perma-death: While it's an instant game over if your main character reaches 0 LP, if it happens with any other character, they simply can't be used until you restore it somehow, usually by resting at an inn or by using one of the rare LP restoring items, like a LifeCandy or SanctuaryStone. Maybe you could add an annotation correcting that one detail? I really enjoyed your review aside from that though; it's nice to see this game get an in-depth, positive review that recognizes the game's complexity and what it did well, and not simply deriding it due to not being quite like Final Fantasy, as many reviewers had done back in the day.
Even with that one mistake, the game still has a lot of other features that make it smash the "JRPG" stereotype. It's also not quite as easy to just rest at an inn, as there exist inns in only certain regions, and if a character dies deep in a dungeon who was crucial to your lineup, you may be unable to get out of the dungeon. Also if the main character hits 0 LP it is instant game over. Everything else sticks.
This RPG's budget was 45 million US dollars. Never before had so much money gone into the making of an RPG, with the exception of FF7. Over a hundred artists worked on producing the most amazing computer graphics ever seen in a video game. But where are the alleged FMVs? Worse, they fit seven storylines into one CD, while FF7's single story needed 3 CDs. This should have been released before FF7 came out, not after.
FF7 was only 3 discs because of CG. It had nothing to do with the size of the storyline. All of the story data for FF7 is on each disc. Full motion video takes a ridiculous amount of room, though, so discs swaps were needed solely for that reason. Same with FF8 and 9. If the games didn't have CG movies, they all could have fit on one disc with much room to spare.
The most underrated of Square's rpg's. Superb, absolute gem of a game. The instruction manual was not much help, there was no you tube at the time. One of the most satisfying rpgs I ever played.
Yep. By syllables: Asellus: 1st syllable: The "A" is the same as in the word "Father." 2nd syllable: "Sell" as in to sell a product. This is the stressed syllable. 3rd syllable: "is" as in to take a piss. Rouge: The "rou" is like the last syllable in "Kangaroo" The "ge" is the "zh" sound like in the word "Vision"
SaGa Frontier II is very different in terms of story structure. You are playing through about 50 years of history in a world, and you take on the role of multiple characters in chapters that make up that history. But you play the chapters in a non-linear way; it's kind of like Pulp Fiction in that it jumps around the timeline a lot. Combat system wise, Durability points are on weapons and learned techs can be imported between characters. There are other changes, too but I need to make a video.
Dude, nobody even used the term "WRPG" until the mid 2000s. Another fun fact: the overwhelming majority of American produced RPG videogames have linear gameplay and turn based combat systems. The "WRPG" genre stereotype actually only applies to series like Elder Scrolls, which account for less than 1% of the RPG videogames made by "Western" developers. They are not the standard, they are the exception.
My biggest problem about SF is that there's a point in all the stories that you just plain get stuck without and hints where to go next except through trial and error.
I have a script written for Eternal Mana but I don't have the game anymore, so I wasn't able to replay to capture footage about it. I agree it's a great game!
I played this game when I was really young, and as I've gotten older, there has always been a nostalgia around this game for me. That, paired with the fact that the game was amazing and had amazing replay value, always had me scratching my head as to why this game wasn't massively more popular in the US.
Romancing SaGa MS does have perma-death in a certain scenario involving the Ice Sword. Other than that, characters that get LP-killed can actually get re-recruited once they re-spawn at one of their possible spawn points. Exceptions are True Darque, Frielei, the Dragon Knight, and any mercenary. ...but yes, this would mean that RS:MS has perma-death, so my previous statement "Only Romancing SaGa 2 had perma-death" isn't entirely accurate.
Lol, i played saga frontier 2 first and its what got me into the first one. What got me addicted to the series was the insane fighting system and how challenging it was.
Can't wait to see more SaGa related reviews from the Gameboy games to the other ones. Honestly it is my favorite RPG series, especially for many reasons shown in this video with the lack of experience points and levels. I like different ways to grow my characters along with the fact the stat ups that come much more frequently than other RPG's with a standard experience bar and levels. @ChaoticElegy: Yeah the first SaGa game has perma-death but LP didn't return until the SNES games.
I would like to preface this comment by stating that I am an adamant Saga Frontier fan and that I have thousands of hours played in the game, with most of the intricate and random mechanics memorized, along with the world record (unrecorded, I beat the TAS record, under 17 minutes gametime) for Lute (clutch RNG skill learning when I ran out of WP in final fight, TwiggyRod RNG drops, spamming Shield / MindHeal / Vitality Rune, basically an unleveled team with garbage equips not using the Gold cheat, only went for basic shields, tomb, recruit, some spells, and go) There were multiple inaccuracies in your video: The weapon type you use (Sword / Unarmed / Gun / Magic / Mixed) determines your stat growth rates, not "skill usage". Humans learn weapon skills from very abstract skill branches, with certain characters having "aptitudes" (if you don't have the aptitude, your chance of getting the skill is reduced 99%), and the chance of the skill increases based on the difficulty level of the target you attack. Mystics do not gain any stats but HP, WP, JP, and Charm, and the rest are by using a creature slot on each of the three Mystic Weapons to increase stats from certain monsters. Monster transformations are fairly complicated, but it's basically a system where if you have a skill set required to be the monster, you can transform into it. If you have two sets, you'll transform back and forth between forms, making monsters one of the most difficult classes to utilize properly with some of the higher rates of RNG and requires a knowledge of the Battle Rank you mentioned. By far the greatest threat to any run is the extreme variance in difficulty of fights, like sometimes getting wiped by AOE spam or status effect spam.
NOTE: Blue's borther is NOT Rogue. It's actually Rouge. Not a typo. That's because Rouge means Red... Red and Blue... (but there's already a dude named Red)
great review man. Definitely going to look out for this. The graphical style looks like the graphics in mario rpg, I think they look interesting, don't see why people would dislike them.
People in the United States are dumb for the most part, I grew up on this classic, this is no mediocre experience, that mirror puzzle still stays in my mind to this day, in the words of my mother, when in doubt educate and guide them to the right path, playing this game sets you on that right path.
You are mistaken about Romancing SaGa: MS; there is only one way to revive a dead character and it requires unlocking the Netherworld end-game scenario, defeating Death and it allows you to revive one character. The character will never be recruitable until this occurs. Additionally, every revived character reduces the max LP of your protagonist, making the game much harder since when your protagonist reaches 0 LP the game is over. Other games with perma-death: all Final Fantasy Tactics games
I think what he meant is that, there are games which are very open world but the protagonist has no personality whatsoever, and the stories are kind of generic. Games in the SaGa series manage to be marry open world gameplay with well crafted characters that players can relate to. SaGa Frontier is also fairly unique because it marries multiple narrative genres: sci-fi, urban fantasy, gothic horror, tokusatsu superhero and epic fantasy. It's a very unique game.
Thank you so much for featuring this game and giving it some attention. I got a ton of mileage out of it as a lad. I have a question, though - you mentioned that clearing a character has the effect of increasing skill gain in subsequent playthroughs (around 5:40 in the video). I had no idea that this was so. Are you sure about this? How did you learn this? And do you have any idea what exactly the gain is?
@The RPG Fanatic Videogame Review Show These elements might contradict some stereotypes commonly associated with JRPGs from outsiders but not in a way that would nullify apparent distinctions often made between WRPGs and JRPGs. The game you've described still fits the mold and the biased people you're criticizing wouldn't confuse this with what they associate with WRPGs. It doesn't demonstrate any 'crossover' is the issue, it doesn't borrow any elements commonly associated with WRPGs. I also think you're stereotyping 'WRPGs' in the very much the same way they do 'JRPGs'. But I think I already said that in other comments I sent you. I'm glad you made these videos though because I'm looking for entry points into JRPGs and they have helped and I find your stuff genuinely informative. I also have an idea. Given you're so heavily biased towards JRPGs and focused on adamantly defending them against westerners. I'd actually love to see you do a series on great entry points into JRPGs for westerners. Where you focus on Japanese or Eastern titles which provide good gameplay experiences like those people often associate with WRPGs. The end goal here has been to get people to try and to play JRPGs hasn't it? To get the past all of the apparent stereotypes or misconceptions.
![SaGa Frontier Review [Stew Review] HD remaster announced 2021](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/ZM43LTW4Ddg/mqdefault.jpg)
![SaGa Frontier Review [Stew Review] HD remaster announced 2021](/img/tr.png)
Not gonna lie playing RPGs when I was little drastically increased my reading level :D lol
yeah, reading through a long rpg is basically like reading a book. i had trouble getting myself to read books as a kid but never minded reading through these games.
@@Jack_80 Same here. It helped me a lot.
Facts
Yeah playing RPg's made made me a better reader than most people in my class.
Same! I grew up in Italy but was able to get games from the second-hand store that the Americans from the military base would drop off before moving. “Quest to Evermore”, “Chrono Trigger”, “Wild ARMs” and “SaGa Frontier” literally taught me English. By the time I’d saved up for FFVII and later FFVIII, I was already fluent and people thought I was American (had movies, too, lol).
This is seriously one of my favorite games. It makes me happy that there are other people who value this game as much as I do. Such a brilliant game. There isn't anything I think I would want to change about it and I don't think I can get bored with it. Love it.
It's my all time favorite game. Can't believe it's been almost 20 years since it came out.
I never even thought to look at year! which isn't out of norm for me but man!
There are a couple of things that I would change/add:
1. As many side quests as Romancing SaGa 3, and more depth per side quest like in RS3.
2. Fuse scenario being put back in
3. Adding in the final scenario that was supposed to happen after you beat all of the others
4. Not making the player constantly reset with each scenario, instead having an Octopath Traveller system so that you never lose everything
5. Adding more story to each character's route
6. Axe the Ring Lord boss, having to do combos like that is painful...
@@Jordan3DS I hope they make an HD remaster that adds everything you mentioned and really completes the game. Also a real ending for Blue's scenario would be nice.
@@nightsong81 They actually are releasing a remaster of the game that's coming out Summer 2021, and they're adding in Fuse's cut route as well as all of the scenes cut from the original game! It seems like they're not making any other major changes which makes sense since this is a remaster and not a remake, but it's still pretty damn cool!
What SaGa Frontier really needed is to be developed with the love that Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song was.
Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song had just about everything needed to introduce a beginner to the SaGa series: The Volunteer Brigade with its tutorials, in-battle tutorials explaining combos, "glimmers" (known to SaGa fans as "sparks" or "flashes"), etc.
The problem is that Romancing SaGa is *THE* *MOST* non-linear SaGa game, period! 95% of the game is side-quests! The game only has one objective: grind to Event Rank 20. Once that's done, the endgame events can occur.
Now, put one of those Volunteer Brigade brats in each of SaGa Frontier's Regions and that would go a long way! In game tutorials would as well!
Finally! Someone who praise and give light about saga frontier! I just teared up over this review, it just brought back so many memories! Saga frontier is my favorite game of all time along with Final Fantasy Tactics. I played it when I was young but I didn't understand how the system works and what was going on. Eventually I understand how to trigger some of the characters stories and side quests but I just never beat the game. The enemies on that game is such a challenge and that's the reason I love this game, also the stories for each characters. But your right about they should have given out a guide book too, that'll make things a lot easier for everyone, but it was the 90's.
I heard in japan it was re released on their PSN store but it's released in the U.S., I was very disappointed that it wasn't given a second chance like they did with Final Fantasy Tactics. I'm still hoping they'll give this title another chance some day.
Glad you enjoyed the review, and share my love for this classic game. :)
I loved this game as a kid, I can't believe it was unpopular in the west.
Same
@@lablunt6190 Same OMG it was so hard to find this again
The issue alot of people had was it wasn't linear or called final fantasy. I love this game to be honest
you call blue's brother "rogue" like the xman character, when in actuality his name is "rouge", the french word for the color red. this is why when playing as Red and you encounter Blue during the rading of the Cygnus, blue is happy to join the party until red says his name - at which point blue immediately becomes angry and refuses to join.
This game is notoriously unfinished, but that's why it was so good. Saga Frontier is what happens when we apply minimalist theory to video games. We get a game that only teases us with its world and characters, leaving us frustrated (in a good way) and wanting more. But there is no more. So we go looking for more. We look in every nook and cranny of the game, explore every character's story (even Rouge's), and we're still left wanting more, with questions still unanswered.
So we think and we speculate and we *create*, answering those questions for ourselves. We finish the game, not by beating the final boss, but by explaining whatever the hell Omble is.
As a result, the world has this feeling of being both familiar and alien to the player. Not giving us enough information made the world come alive in ways no other game-world could.
Square released a special guide to answer questions players had: The Essence of SaGa Frontier
They also released another guide for Romancing SaGa Minstrel Song which is known as the Ultimania.
Both guides also gave the Canonical series of events that occurred. Sadly the translations for them do not exist or are very minimal.
You realize that you basically explained the essence of the Souls games, right?
I explained the essence of good storytelling. Mystery is compelling.
+Bam Guilani yep, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Now if only the SaGa series gets the eventual massive success that the Souls series eventually did, even if deceptive marketing needs to be used again (Prepare to die! can become Prepare to be confused!)
After all, RPGs owe a lot more to the mind that is Akitoshi Kawazu that many might admit...
*****
There is another SaGa game called Scarlet Grace being released, hopefully that will draw in more people to the series.
I liked your video but characters in SaGa Frontier are not permanently dead when LP reaches 0 they just cant fight in battle. Resting at any inn or using sanctuary stones will restore LP to full.
OMFG I NEVER KNEW THAT FOR THE LAST 15 YEARS WTF!!! THANK YOU!
You can sort of perma fk yourself though by buying LP items with Asellus for example and leaving yourself with low LPs and then getting dropped in battle.
Its still bs that your protag gets 0 LP and you get game over:(
T260G and Ascellus was my most favorite characters in the whole game.
Mine's was Emelia and Red.
hey again.
so I finally recompiled my ultimate web guide list for SaGa Frontier. I have a particular history with this game, in that it is my absolute FAVORITE game EVAR all things accounted for, sadly, however, I have been through something like 10 copies, and they always end up breaking, bugging, or getting stolen. I have had discs shatter, disappear, simply cease functioning, and even emulated ROMs just reprogram themselves to freeze halfway into a scenario.
as such, I've barely cracked into the game's system(s) and stories. I think I finished one version of Asellus' tale ONCE, despite having logged literally thousands of hours of play into this epic over 15 or so years. consequently, I've learned a thing or two about how to build characters and parties, and how to max out and plan their growth, but have still BARELY seen all the plotlines.
ironically, I have become super good at making strong characters. it took reading up lengthy guides compiled by hackrs who pulled apart the game's code to see how all this ACTUALLY works. this game has one of the most complicated RPG stat and growth systems I have ever seen, and the community is STILL figuring out many many details.
to top it off, the game was released a BIT before it was really finished, so you actually don't even get to see ANY indication of a lot of things going on in game that very much affect battle mechanics and character growth. so I compiled an ultimate list of how to/what the hell is going on guides which emphasize maximizing one's potential at facilitating the system WITHOUT giving too many plot spoilers.
trust me, to really make a Mystics and Monsters work you'll need these. and the Humans and Mechs are actually just as complex, you can just BS them more.
before you go checking all these out, I cannot emphasize ENOUGH that Dan Dekker's "Data/Mechanics Guide" is THE go to SOURCE guide, which does a better job of explaining how to even READ these guides, and what the f**k is going on with this game than I ever could.
enjoy!!!
SAGA FRONTIER WEB GUIDE LIST
*this entire set of pages has a decent list of characters, equipment, items, spells ect., however DAN DEKKER'S DATA/MECHANICS GUIDE BELOW HAS THE REAL STATS ON EQUIPMENT
wiki.rpgclassics.com/index.php?title=SaGa_Frontier
GAMEFAQ'S MAIN PAGE FOR FAQ
www.gamefaqs.com/ps/198537-saga-frontier/faqs
*Zaraktheus' Data/Mechanics Guide ***ABSOLUTELY MOST IMPORTANT GUIDE***
www.gamefaqs.com/ps/198537-saga-frontier/faqs/58412
*Dan Dekker's Monster Guide
www.gamefaqs.com/ps/198537-saga-frontier/faqs/36630
*character Guide
www.gamefaqs.com/ps/198537-saga-frontier/faqs/7108
*Tier Guide
www.gamefaqs.com/ps/198537-saga-frontier/faqs/48407
*Monster/Item Drop List by JusticeZero
www.gamefaqs.com/ps/198537-saga-frontier/faqs/47652
*Monster Skill List by JusticeZero
www.gamefaqs.com/ps/198537-saga-frontier/faqs/47745
*Winter King's Encounter Guide
www.gamefaqs.com/ps/198537-saga-frontier/faqs/48551
*Bestiary by Malinor
www.gamefaqs.com/ps/198537-saga-frontier/faqs/48751
*Mystic Absorb List
www.gamefaqs.com/ps/198537-saga-frontier/faqs/47745
consequently, I don't play this game without a laptop next to me, and I spend a LOT of time looking up data in the tables. each battle becomes downright tactical, as every action you choose determines character growth, skills and items/stats received. if you're not careful, you can miss some amazing techs and items that you'd pretty much never find by accident, and miss the chance to hit them later or ever again.
SPOILER ALERT:
***
***
***
THERE IS A FINAL 8TH SCENARIO WHERE YOU MEET THE PROGRAMMERS AND TRY OUT SOME HIGH DIFFICULTY LEVEL BATTLES WHICH IS ONLY UNLOCKED BY COMPLETING ALL 7 STORIES.
the reason I post this here is that the main character that you played as your 7th story will be your character for this scenario, so I tend to plan my 7th story to have my favorite character (Asellus for myself.) this is a major decision to plan, so choose wisely.
Replying so I can find this later. 👍
The reviewer said it was the worst rpg aside from earthbound. Apparently his opinion is invalid lol
i love saga frontier 1 and earthbound lol
Yeah that guy sounds like a real knucklehead
i couldn't get into earthbound, didn't really give it enough of a chance though, may try it again soon but i have a ton of rpgs i'm wanting to play now. just tried out strange journey and definitely feel like i can get into that. also been playing radiant historia and it's really been keeping me invested.
Mom bought me this game and resident evil 2 back in 98. Oh great times as a young lad, love playing the classics even today
Thank you. I put off doing a review of this title until I had honed my craft and editing style for the show. I wanted to do a review that might get a lot of people to play the game and re-examine their perspective on the whole "JRPG vs WRPG" debate. The SaGa series never enters the discussion when people make these debates, and it really is the best counter-argument against the accusations that the Japanese only make turn based, linear games with simple leveling and combat systems.
Great video, brother ! I like how you pack so much content in short burst (Features, Characters, Gameplay) very well paced review !! I'm delving into thw JRPGs I missed during my childhood (Squaresoft's 90s tsunami-era).
Waiting for Legend of Mana in the mail and you possibly just sold me on Saga Frontier !
Glad you enjoyed!
I love how characters strengthen differently, example being the half vampire selling her soul to upgrade, and the mech improving by equipping parts!!!
You really are a hardcore fan. I subscribed a while ago because you reviewed some games I played as a kid. I love the information and insight I get on the genre from these videos. Keep up the integrity and enthusiasm. Thanks a lot.
one of the greatest RPG's of all time, unfortunately it was EXTREMELY advanced, and that is why people hated on it. The game is meant for mature, seasoned RPG players.
Who's ready for the remaster?
Never liked winter, but I want summer to hurry up more than ever!
here
Ok guys I've been playing this for a couple days now and WOW! The challenge is certainly there! I just came off playing FF7 and going into this game, what a difference and I love it! Anybody who is thinking of getting this, I wanna say do not put it down and dismiss it on the first part you get stuck, the game gets better as you learn from your mistakes and how to play.
Also, I think I see why this wasn't a huge hit when it first came out. 1. The difficulty and 2. The graphics, people probably purchased their PS1 and saw these graphics and thought "Gee why would I buy a playstation to play a game that looks like it could be on the sega genesis?"
DJ239 yes it was due to difficulty. The saga game has always been a test of skill and strategy. it didn't do so well in sales in NA because it wasn't marketed heavily here, plus NA missed the 3 saga games in the snes, so people who knew about the saga series were the very few who had experience the saga games in the GB, so for most RPG fanatics, this was the first time they heard about the saga games, and the levelling system was VERY different than most jrpgs. Finishing the saga can be very rewarding in the end, it's definitely a task that could take months to finish
I forgot to include this, but SaGa Frontier and its branching storylines was actually released before Fallout supposedly "invented" the concept in RPG videogames, as various game reviewers have claimed over the years. In truth, the very first Romancing SaGa game has branching storylines and non-linear gameplay, and that title was released in 1992. It's another reason why I need to tackle the entire series. But even Romancing SaGa didn't invent the concept.
The name of Blue twin's name is ROUGE not Rogue; as in French for Red by the way.
Yes, I'm sure. It is mentioned in the linked FAQ at GameFAQs. The Battle Rank that you complete a scenario at determines the bonuses you get in a future playthrough.
I'm glad you enjoyed it, and comments like this make the labor involved in producing these videos worth it.
You nail so many of my problems with this entire series with this video, sir. I feel like playing ANY game that bears the SaGa name is like playing RNGs on top of RNGs on top of a bullshit mechanic that isn't explained at all alongside an open-ended design that isn't actually open ended because you can try going somewhere for grins and either end up in a dungeon meant for another character's late game to find nothing at the end (and built up your battle counter fighting your way there), or you could end up bumping into a character who says 2 lines of dialogue, joins your party, and then locks you out of an important event because they're a horrible leech.
I managed to finish one of these senarios when I was a kid, and that was Lute's. It's exactly one dungeon long, from what I remember.
Small note: Bushido Blade was not developed by Squaresoft, but by Light Weight.
Octopath Traveler appears to be the new SaGa
The only re-releases were for Japan I'm afraid. I plan to do more reviews on the SaGa series, the next will be Romancing SaGa: MS, a remake of the original Romancing SaGa 1 with added features.
I love how youre literally the only one who addressed the critiques of this series
this game and lunar are hugely groundbreaking
This game is amazing, I love JRPGs since the 90's... when I see today's "RPGs" with all the open world freedom and character creation, I can't help but think it as a good excuse for the lack of a good story and deep characters... My fav of all time is Suikoden 2! Cheers from Brazil!
I really want a saga frontier 2 review folks we need some more thumbs up here.
I truly hope you will check out the game then for yourself, and if you become confused during play, this video might help you better understand the deeper mechanics, which don't get fully explained during gameplay.
This may have been posted already, but... the descriptors for the combos are camera movements, at least most of the descriptors are. That's why you see the camera angle change during these moves, and multiple times during a combo. Thanks for mentioning my man Zaraktheus!
So, there's no permadeath. Just use a Sanctuary Stone or sleep at an inn to restore all LP, even for those with 0 LP.
Thank you. I put a lot of thought into my reviews. But, because of everything going on with RUclips, I am certain this video will only get a few hundred views from my subscriber feed. This review took a week of sporadic gameplay, since I don't often have time to sit and play games anymore. The editing alone took me about 24 hours..., I had started editing on Friday and didn't finish until Sunday. These episodes are time consuming to create.
Your welcome. I will probably end up doing the review after Martell TV is done. Please check out that project, it's the most video uploaded to my channel. Deeply impacts the future of this show, since I'll be able to slot my episodes into the Martell Games Station, which will get it seen by a larger audience.
A great review! This is where you shine in my opinion. Every review of yours I have watched is always on point, factual, and entertaining. I have always had an interest in playing Saga Frontier but this review makes me want to go out and buy the game. (Which is what a good review by a good critic should do)
one of the best rpg games ever, wow just wow. i would rent this game from blockbuster when i was little every weekend to try to beat Reds story lololol. oh man great memories and using DSC for the first time, skeet
I REALLY wish Square would have used this art style with FF7. It would have aged so much better.
I played this game when I was 11-12 y/o, now I am 29 and trust me, this game saved a lot of fun time of my life.
We can both agree on one thing; SaGa Frontier was one hell of a game. Underrated, and awesome.
Fire emblem has had permadeath since way before 1997.
This game is amazing, one of my favorites on the console
Asellus and Emelia are my favorites
I miss this game...one of my favorites.
i manage to finish all chara without any information about this game and reach the dev room. love this game
Update: You know, I find a lot of references to permadeath for this game in various old strategy guides. I know there is some stuff removed from the US version of the game that was present in the JPNs version....odd.
Blue story is epic… Also blue/rouge is basically the most powerful character in the game after the duel in which one twin absorb the powers of the other. The only character I didn't like was the robot.
The robot is very weird and his way of levelling was kinda bs but, once you could get mods, it kinda takes off
Thank you sir for you work, excellent and well detailed. Beautiful game and memories, we will have the remake soon.
That reviewer "Holy Vampire" just couldn't figure out the battle system. The game is incredibly hard. It is the hardest rpg I've ever played. If you notice, he makes a statement that gives evidence that he couldn't clear through the first part of the game for any of the characters, when he speaks about Emilia's plot line and her rotting in the sewer(like the very first area where you encounter battles on that character), because he didn't have the will to finish it. The only other plot line he talked about was Red's, which was also in reference to the very beginning. In other words, he couldn't make it past the first segments for any of the characters...which is actually kind of understandable. I also had trouble figuring out the battle system. It took me awhile to learn the game, as I'm sure it did everyone. It's hard AF! But its difficulty is also one of, if not its best quality...because slowly picking up on and learning all the skills and techniques required to successfully clear through segments in the game was RE WAR DING ASFUCK. Finishing one character and moving onto another with all your newly found knowledge, just to find out how much deeper it can go? Incredible. I'm just saying, I understand why people hate it, and though it's not a good reason, I can forgive them for any disrespect they gave it(which actually didn't have anything to do with why they didn't like the game). Just have to read between the lines...because nobody is going to tell you they didn't like the game because they're bad at it.
This game is very punishing if you don't learn the individual mechanics of every item, spell, character, side character, etc. But very rewarding to those who do it! It's very much a game that encourages experimentation and is realistic in that the more you practice with a type of move, you actually get points and techs in that skillset. And permadeath really made the stakes of battle that much more real. I put my damn emotions into it a bit, heh. It was way ahead of the levelling system we take for granted in Elder Scrolls Skyrim, which I also love. SaGa and Skyrim might be extremely different but they both have addictive qualities to me despite what may be otherwise glaring flaws😹
Very underrated game.It didn't hold you by the hand but i liked that.
I LOVE the SaGa series. This is taking me back!
This, Grandia, and StarOcean all have unique combat mechanics, love it.
I'm not very familiar with Granida. Care to explain your pros and cons?
+Kalen Bourdeau You should watch some videos of tbe Dreamcast Grandia battles. Once you see how it works you'll know why I say there are no CONS. The sliding bar everyone is on is amazing due to you being able to manipulate it.
Causing certain enemies to never get a turn, pushing an enemy back on the bar at a key time so they couldn't heal the boss...
I could go on forever about using, abusing, manipulating, the slide bar that shows who goes next. The interaction of that within the battles makes the game amazing.
I played the ps2 one, which I think was the 3rd? and I really enjoyed what I did play. The magic equip system was really intriguing for me as well. So If those typs of elements are still custom for those games, i will probably check it out here in a few days. :j
Thanks for the reply!
I don't think there is anything wrong with old school style games, so long as they are done with an interesting story and the grind is made enjoyable.
I'm glad my review is encouraging people to seek this game out.
Just because a single game breaks a few stereotypes (while holding firmly onto others, mind you) doesn't mean that cultural trends in these genres of games don't exist.
The only SaGa game re-made for the PS2 was Romancing SaGa 1, released as Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song. Which is my favorite SaGa game, and that I'm trying to find the time to create a review for in order to further cement to people why the genre "JRPG" doesn't really exist, and respond to critics who think companies like Square only made Final Fantasy games. SaGa series started in 1992, and all of them are non-linear w/ free character development.
Probably my favorite rpg. It seemed so big and expansive when I was younger. My friend actually owned it first, but his copy had a bug on one of the quests (the part where you talk to Leonard in the Manhattan mall wouldn't work; I think T260G's quest). At any rate, I tracked it down years later and got to play through most of the quests. Still the best, albeit much smaller in scope hindsight. I think what really got me was the setting. I love all things cyberpunk (still a crime that ShadowRun never got made into an MMO), and every time you landed on a different planet it really felt special.
Ps1 was an amazing time for rpgs, but your rift with those who dont care much for jrpg's is really laughable. Permadeath is not really a staple of wrpg's , and this game couldnt be more Japanese, the games combat is complicated to provide challenge more than make sense in the context of the situation ( jrpg ) All characters are children or teens but are put into adult roles ( very jrpg ) Males are extremely feminine in appearance ( Japanese, anime, and jrpg ). Now I played this game back in the day and thought it was ok but that it was a little too strange for its own good, but I just said that it was another crazy jrpg.
The only character in SaGa Frontier who is under the age of 18 is Red. Riki might be a kid but he's also a monster. You're trying to stereotype too quickly.
The RPG Fanatic Videogame Review Show Yeah the manual says their older but there character design and dialog are very childish in nature. That in it self is one of the main ingredients to a jrpg which is anime. Hey, don't get me wrong I love a lot of jrpg's ( Xenogears, final fantasy tactics, Breath of fire, Chronotrigger, etc. ) but to say that there is no difference between a jrpg or wrpg is well; lets put this way; you say im too quick to sterotype, and I say you have your head buried in the sand with your fingers in your ears. I will give you the biggest example to why I prefer WRPGs, JRPGs demand you learn how to and play its way, its a very dictated experience, while wrpg's are a more personal experience, in the elder scrolls series you create your own character, every decision you make can and does impact your characters relationships, reputation, and the events surrounding him and the game world in a very direct and obvious way. In JRPGs you are the exception in the world, while in a WRPG you are a part of the world, all leading to a feeling that no JRPG has ever given me which is immersion.
There are plenty of Japanese produced rpgs that allow for that same kind of experience. Many of the MegaTen series has non-linear gameplay too, and recent titles like Dark Souls and Dragon's Dogma even have the same graphical style as a so-called "WRPG" but are made entirely by Japanese teams.
The RPG Fanatic Videogame Review Show wait wut? Dark Souls is a Japanese game?? OWW It didn't really appeal to me do to the apparently almost insane difficulty but now I might want to buy it! :3
one thing he left out is defense is not universal and certain armors may seem weak based on number values but have special hidden properties you find by accident. example: rubber armor seems to reduce lightning and throw move based damage. also additional status effects are unlocked as a character grows : energy chain = paralysis. and lastly hidden spells that are made available only in battle if you have a combination of item , weapon, armor and spell - I cant remember but... runesword equipped with something else... can't remember. also the more powerful you are + the number of skills unlocked makes it harder to unlock skills an gain stats. most players will never see max hp 999 sp999 str99 etc, without cheating. there are bizarre bugs in this game that you may only see one time. some occur with equipment combinations and story line + team makeups. this game was also made alternate battle teams. three teams of 5 characters. You are supposed to switch teams at the start of battle if your initial team is severely injured - they will recover a bit after every battle they do not fight in. also the strategy is team 1 trashmobs team 2 anti death, petrification, confusion. team 3 bosses. gear needs to be swapped out for deferent bosses and superior enemies like the krakken and diva and earth dragon and ringlord - game aint hard just gotta be observant a lot of bosses have mock trashmobs that you can use as a reference for strategy
I intend to do Treasure Hunter G but if I recall correctly (I could be mistaken; it's been a number of years since I played it via an emulator) they are not the same characters as in SaGa Frontier...
permanent death? puh-lease...all you have to do is visit an inn.
Yeah, it's an error others had pointed out. I had always reset the game if a character went to 0 LP because I actually didn't know they don't die. SaGa Frontier was the first game to not have perma-death; prior Romancing SaGa games did, and back when I first played the game I knew 0 LP for the main character meant game over. Everything else sticks, though!
you may want to put in some sort of caption or whatever you awesome vidoe makers do in order to inform the viewers as they're watching that what you're telling them is in error and what the real case is. it's basically being completely unable to fight, instead of unable to fight but being able to be revived in a fight.
The RPG Fanatic Videogame Review Show
Yep. The only two SaGa games that have true perma-death from reaching 0 LP are Romancing SaGa 2 and Romancing SaGa - Minstrel Song (the latter only happens for characters that can't be re-recruited).
SaGa Frontier came out 20 years ago tomorrow. I'm gonna start my replay to celebrate. :P Asellus is my favorite followed by Red and T260G. Gen is my favorite character because he's a drunk powerhouse. Also, T260G is a female bot and it's "Rouge" not "Rogue". :) Best soundtrack. I still jam out to it. Thanks for the review!
I'd like to think gamers can put aside graphical and localization advancements for the sake of experiencing a game truly as unique as SaGa Frontier.
Sadly, I don't think this video will ever reach 1,000 likes. Please do a retrospective on SaGa Frontier 2. It's one of my favorite games of all time. While you're at it, Final Fantasy Legend II (one of Famitsus favorites) and a bane on my grade school career also deserves a re-review.
Thanks for your excellent video, and keep up the good work.
Some people believe because the technology for 3D exists, that is the only kind of graphics that should be made in games from now on.
I just wanted to let you know you're wrong about perma-death: While it's an instant game over if your main character reaches 0 LP, if it happens with any other character, they simply can't be used until you restore it somehow, usually by resting at an inn or by using one of the rare LP restoring items, like a LifeCandy or SanctuaryStone. Maybe you could add an annotation correcting that one detail?
I really enjoyed your review aside from that though; it's nice to see this game get an in-depth, positive review that recognizes the game's complexity and what it did well, and not simply deriding it due to not being quite like Final Fantasy, as many reviewers had done back in the day.
i loved this game..combo system was amazing
Even with that one mistake, the game still has a lot of other features that make it smash the "JRPG" stereotype. It's also not quite as easy to just rest at an inn, as there exist inns in only certain regions, and if a character dies deep in a dungeon who was crucial to your lineup, you may be unable to get out of the dungeon. Also if the main character hits 0 LP it is instant game over. Everything else sticks.
This RPG's budget was 45 million US dollars. Never before had so much money gone into the making of an RPG, with the exception of FF7. Over a hundred artists worked on producing the most amazing computer graphics ever seen in a video game. But where are the alleged FMVs? Worse, they fit seven storylines into one CD, while FF7's single story needed 3 CDs. This should have been released before FF7 came out, not after.
FF7 was only 3 discs because of CG. It had nothing to do with the size of the storyline. All of the story data for FF7 is on each disc. Full motion video takes a ridiculous amount of room, though, so discs swaps were needed solely for that reason. Same with FF8 and 9. If the games didn't have CG movies, they all could have fit on one disc with much room to spare.
The most underrated of Square's rpg's. Superb, absolute gem of a game. The instruction manual was not much help, there was no you tube at the time. One of the most satisfying rpgs I ever played.
It’s not underrated lol
Yep. By syllables:
Asellus:
1st syllable: The "A" is the same as in the word "Father."
2nd syllable: "Sell" as in to sell a product. This is the stressed syllable.
3rd syllable: "is" as in to take a piss.
Rouge:
The "rou" is like the last syllable in "Kangaroo"
The "ge" is the "zh" sound like in the word "Vision"
SaGa Frontier II is very different in terms of story structure. You are playing through about 50 years of history in a world, and you take on the role of multiple characters in chapters that make up that history. But you play the chapters in a non-linear way; it's kind of like Pulp Fiction in that it jumps around the timeline a lot. Combat system wise, Durability points are on weapons and learned techs can be imported between characters. There are other changes, too but I need to make a video.
Dude, nobody even used the term "WRPG" until the mid 2000s. Another fun fact: the overwhelming majority of American produced RPG videogames have linear gameplay and turn based combat systems. The "WRPG" genre stereotype actually only applies to series like Elder Scrolls, which account for less than 1% of the RPG videogames made by "Western" developers. They are not the standard, they are the exception.
Ive never been able to finish this game, but always wanted to!!
My biggest problem about SF is that there's a point in all the stories that you just plain get stuck without and hints where to go next except through trial and error.
Octopath Traveller was definitely influenced by SaGa frontier...
I have a script written for Eternal Mana but I don't have the game anymore, so I wasn't able to replay to capture footage about it. I agree it's a great game!
This is the original Octopath.
it was very gay, that this wasn't on PSN.
Ikr pissed me off. I would have loved to play on the vita or whatever.
sorry to hear about your trouble.
I played this game when I was really young, and as I've gotten older, there has always been a nostalgia around this game for me. That, paired with the fact that the game was amazing and had amazing replay value, always had me scratching my head as to why this game wasn't massively more popular in the US.
the remake is coming and i cant wait to play as Fuse!
We've argued this before. Needless to say, we've never agreed on whether he was referencing you or not. You see him as a villain. I don't.
Romancing SaGa MS does have perma-death in a certain scenario involving the Ice Sword. Other than that, characters that get LP-killed can actually get re-recruited once they re-spawn at one of their possible spawn points. Exceptions are True Darque, Frielei, the Dragon Knight, and any mercenary.
...but yes, this would mean that RS:MS has perma-death, so my previous statement "Only Romancing SaGa 2 had perma-death" isn't entirely accurate.
wait a second! This reminds me a lot of Romancing Saga!
DJ239 That is because SaGa Frontier is part of the Romancing SaGa series.
The RPG Fanatic Videogame Review Show Well thanks for your great review and info! I've just purchased Saga Frontier and will be enjoying it soon.
DJ239 Glad you liked the video and it convinced you to try this awesome game!
Im from America and this was my favorite game growing up!!! I absolutely loved the level up system.!!!
I remember playing this game long ago. I freaking loved it.
Lol, i played saga frontier 2 first and its what got me into the first one. What got me addicted to the series was the insane fighting system and how challenging it was.
Can't wait to see more SaGa related reviews from the Gameboy games to the other ones. Honestly it is my favorite RPG series, especially for many reasons shown in this video with the lack of experience points and levels. I like different ways to grow my characters along with the fact the stat ups that come much more frequently than other RPG's with a standard experience bar and levels.
@ChaoticElegy: Yeah the first SaGa game has perma-death but LP didn't return until the SNES games.
I would like to preface this comment by stating that I am an adamant Saga Frontier fan and that I have thousands of hours played in the game, with most of the intricate and random mechanics memorized, along with the world record (unrecorded, I beat the TAS record, under 17 minutes gametime) for Lute (clutch RNG skill learning when I ran out of WP in final fight, TwiggyRod RNG drops, spamming Shield / MindHeal / Vitality Rune, basically an unleveled team with garbage equips not using the Gold cheat, only went for basic shields, tomb, recruit, some spells, and go)
There were multiple inaccuracies in your video:
The weapon type you use (Sword / Unarmed / Gun / Magic / Mixed) determines your stat growth rates, not "skill usage".
Humans learn weapon skills from very abstract skill branches, with certain characters having "aptitudes" (if you don't have the aptitude, your chance of getting the skill is reduced 99%), and the chance of the skill increases based on the difficulty level of the target you attack.
Mystics do not gain any stats but HP, WP, JP, and Charm, and the rest are by using a creature slot on each of the three Mystic Weapons to increase stats from certain monsters.
Monster transformations are fairly complicated, but it's basically a system where if you have a skill set required to be the monster, you can transform into it. If you have two sets, you'll transform back and forth between forms, making monsters one of the most difficult classes to utilize properly with some of the higher rates of RNG and requires a knowledge of the Battle Rank you mentioned.
By far the greatest threat to any run is the extreme variance in difficulty of fights, like sometimes getting wiped by AOE spam or status effect spam.
NOTE: Blue's borther is NOT Rogue. It's actually Rouge. Not a typo.
That's because Rouge means Red... Red and Blue... (but there's already a dude named Red)
great review man. Definitely going to look out for this. The graphical style looks like the graphics in mario rpg, I think they look interesting, don't see why people would dislike them.
Saga frontier and legend of mana remaster announced by square enix channel search on youtube now
It's really true
This game is super to dear to me, Reds story and T260 deff my favorite storylines
The OST for this and II were life-changing🎶
People in the United States are dumb for the most part, I grew up on this classic, this is no mediocre experience, that mirror puzzle still stays in my mind to this day, in the words of my mother, when in doubt educate and guide them to the right path, playing this game sets you on that right path.
You are mistaken about Romancing SaGa: MS; there is only one way to revive a dead character and it requires unlocking the Netherworld end-game scenario, defeating Death and it allows you to revive one character. The character will never be recruitable until this occurs. Additionally, every revived character reduces the max LP of your protagonist, making the game much harder since when your protagonist reaches 0 LP the game is over. Other games with perma-death: all Final Fantasy Tactics games
I think what he meant is that, there are games which are very open world but the protagonist has no personality whatsoever, and the stories are kind of generic. Games in the SaGa series manage to be marry open world gameplay with well crafted characters that players can relate to. SaGa Frontier is also fairly unique because it marries multiple narrative genres: sci-fi, urban fantasy, gothic horror, tokusatsu superhero and epic fantasy. It's a very unique game.
Wow thanks for the stat info, I had no idea Saga Frontier out sold Xenogears =O
One of my goto nostalgia games to play. Best characters IMO are Red, Asellus, and T260G.
They actually did have a official guide book for this game,I even bought it too.
Thank you so much for featuring this game and giving it some attention. I got a ton of mileage out of it as a lad. I have a question, though - you mentioned that clearing a character has the effect of increasing skill gain in subsequent playthroughs (around 5:40 in the video). I had no idea that this was so. Are you sure about this? How did you learn this? And do you have any idea what exactly the gain is?
@The RPG Fanatic Videogame Review Show These elements might contradict some stereotypes commonly associated with JRPGs from outsiders but not in a way that would nullify apparent distinctions often made between WRPGs and JRPGs. The game you've described still fits the mold and the biased people you're criticizing wouldn't confuse this with what they associate with WRPGs. It doesn't demonstrate any 'crossover' is the issue, it doesn't borrow any elements commonly associated with WRPGs.
I also think you're stereotyping 'WRPGs' in the very much the same way they do 'JRPGs'. But I think I already said that in other comments I sent you. I'm glad you made these videos though because I'm looking for entry points into JRPGs and they have helped and I find your stuff genuinely informative.
I also have an idea. Given you're so heavily biased towards JRPGs and focused on adamantly defending them against westerners. I'd actually love to see you do a series on great entry points into JRPGs for westerners. Where you focus on Japanese or Eastern titles which provide good gameplay experiences like those people often associate with WRPGs. The end goal here has been to get people to try and to play JRPGs hasn't it? To get the past all of the apparent stereotypes or misconceptions.
Great video. I was actually looking for a retrospective on the whole SaGa series, but this is good too. :D