Originally posted by RPG HackerThe game definitely looks very appealing. Is it anything like Romancing SaGa 3, though? That game really wasn't for me (gameplay-wise), and I think I'm only really willing to give this one a try if the gameplay is a bit more "traditionally" RPG.
Sorry to say but no, all of the SaGa games are of that stanky SaGa style, though SaGa Frontier does simplify the weapons to just Swords+Katanas and Martial Arts (which depend on STR), as well as Guns (which depend on WIL and don't really spark Techs traditionally).
It does complicate the gameplay by adding back the Mecs, Monsters and
Espers Mystics of FF Legend 1&2, the Mystics acting differently from the Espers/Mutants from the GB games though.
Mecs upgrade stats depending on their equipment, Monsters can absorb monster meat to transform into stronger or weaker monsters (PLEASE USE A CHART) and Mystics can absorb monsters into their equipment, the MysticSword, MysticBoots and MysticGlove, and gain stat bonuses and skills through that, but they can't spark techs.
Tech combos were added, if you select certain techs and magic and the turn value RNG graces you just right you can create tech combos where the 2 or more characters team up, Chrono Trigger style, to deal devastating damage by combining their attacks. This was toned down in SaGa Frontier 2 and I think Unlimited Saga and Romancing SaGa Minstrel Song to be less RNG dependant (which makes sense in Unlimited considering selecting an attack depends on timing a reel stop, so it feels like RNG despite not really being).
Gameplay structure leads the player more than Romancing 1 and 3, but it's still hands-off and can be easy to get lost in, especially with the lack of FF7's background map indicators making it hard to find exits and entrances.
It also has 7 (now 8) separate stories lasting as low as 5 hours if you know what you're doing, but in the original PSX version, they were very disjointed and jank, due to the game being unfinished, yet completable. Lute suffered the brunt of this, having only an intro and a complete final dungeon, the game expecting you to build your stats and do side quests between that.
Riki's story is also kind of the worst pick for a starting point because of him being a monster and his story being kind of unbalanced, having a gimmick boss relying on doing tech combos for points. Blue is also mostly a tutorial on magic schools.
Admittedly, Red, Emelia, T260 and Asellus are the better ones, Asellus being special in that it's one of the earliest bits of homosexual representation on an English translated JRPG that wasn't censored, despite it being derived from
Asellus turning half-mystic through Orlouge's blood
, the rerelease even adding back an unfinished sidequest where
she goes to the Bio Research Lab in Shrike to perform surgery to become human again
.
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