Title: Romancing Saga
Release Date: 01/28/1992
Developer: Squaresoft
Publisher: Squaresoft
Finally, the Super Famicom RPG that I just chose to quietly ignore the first round through this blog. This entry was one of the big reasons for this whole "redux" run through this blog. It has taken a while to slog through, but I have finally beat the mad god Saruin and defeated this game. My apologies on the lateness of this post, and just updating the blog in general; 2020 has been a horrendous slog for us all, I know, and it seems this game is just one I want to avoid writing about. Anywho, without further ado, let's get started on this late entry into the blog.
Background
Romancing Saga is a Japan only Squaresoft original which sits within the Final Fantasy Legend and SaGa series, created by Squaresoft veteran Akitoshi Kawazu. The SaGa series is an incredibly long running RPG series that most normal video game enthusiasts probably haven't heard of, either due to their limited release outside of Japan, or the fact that many of the games' mechanics are rather inscrutable. Due to these factors, many of the games in this series have been panned by critics. This series does have its ardent defenders, though, due to its ornate sprite art (which in later entrants turned into a beautiful watercolor aesthetic), difficult gameplay, and steep learning curve. I can see some of the appeal. I have played some of the later entries in the series, such as Saga Frontier and Unlimited Saga, and while these games certainly aren't for everyone (Unlimited Saga is like a punishing board game more than a video game) I certainly had some memorable gaming moments with each entrant.
This is technically the fourth game in the series, with the first three being turn based RPGs on the Game Boy (Final Fantasy Legend 1-III), and is also the first of three RPGs in this series on the Super Famicom. The series continued on the PS1 with Saga Frontier 1 and 2, and then on the PS2 with Unlimited Saga. After that the series remained dormant for a while until 2018 with Saga: Scarlet Grace which saw releases on the current console generation (and is apparently pretty good!). The series is known for its multiple protagonists (with some games, this one included, having up to eight characters), non-standard narrative and character progression, and complex battle systems. It also should be noted that this game has a rerelease on the PS2, with updated 3D exploration and graphics, while still remaining pretty loyal to the key story and gameplay (it is known as Romancing Saga: Minsrel's Song); the character models in it look very similar to Bravely Default.
I must also mention that the reproduction of this game and translation is kind of buggy and spotty. I bought a cart, tried playing this on an emulator, and several other methods, but consistently the translation would glitch out into random symbols instead of characters. Online, it is noted that there is no consistent translation, and only certain campaigns have been thoroughly completed. With this in mind, it does hurt the full recommendation just because it is a bear to play through completely in a coherent manner (unless of course you can read the untranslated script).
Now this game looks like a traditional Square RPG, and looks very similar to the sprites and graphics of Final Fantasy IV and V specifically. The story, as well, is quite stock standard for a fantasy JRPG: it takes place in the world of Mardias, a world that was rocked by a 1000 year old cataclysm caused by a war between three evil gods and one good god. Two of the evil gods, Death and Schirach, were stripped of power (though you of course encounter both in the game and can choose to fight them), and the third evil god, Saruin, is sealed away by ten fatestones and the sacrifice of a great hero, Mirsa. Of course, now evil forces are trying to collect fatestones to revive Saruin and restore him to power, so you, as whatever protagonist you choose, must stop his revival (you don't) or destroy him.
What is unique about this game is that it is completely non-linear. Each of the main protagonists, of which there are eight, starts in a different part of the open world, and you can tackle the main quests of the game in any order that you are able. If you learn the location of Saruin, which you can get by talking to Death (if you can find him), you can challenge him as soon as you are able. This "create your own adventure" goes into the gameplay as well; for example, you can feed Saruin the fatestones at one point, and the more you give him the more powerful a final boss he will be. It is a pretty novel idea for an RPG of this vintage.
Gameplay
Exploration and combat are at the forefront of this JRPG. When you start the game, you pick one of your eight protagonists: Albert, the noble lord who is tasked with avenging his family against monsters, Aisha, a tribeswoman searching for her missing nomadic tribe, Barbara, a dancer whose only goal is to explore and entertain, Claudia, a forest ranger who was raised with animals, Gray, a mercenary only out to make his fortune, Hawke, a pirate out for revenge, Jamil, a thief from the slums, and Sif, a valkyrie style warrior looking to become the top warrior in the world. I chose, for this playthrough, Hawke at first, but the playthrough script was bugged as all get-out, so I settled on vanilla old Albert.
The neat thing is that, since the game is open world, you can move around the map and Roomba up the other party members and work on their quests too. Some characters will more readily join you on your quest than others, but you can, theoretically, complete every characters quest in one playthrough. Eventually, though, every characters' individual quest becomes tied to the main narrative of finding the Fatestones to seal Saruin away once again.
This game harkens more closely to older school RPGs, where the writing is more matter of fact and stilted. Many NPCs only have one bark, and they immediately tell you important information. There is no kooky dialects, ways of speaking, or artistic license. The game, in Albert's campaign, immediately opens with your castle being attacked with monsters, and you being told to hoof it out the back door. Enemies, it should be noted, appear on the screen before you attack them, and how you make contact with enemies impacts the battle system.
The battle system adheres to a 3 by 3 grid, and you can set up your squad into certain formations going into the battle. If your characters are up front, they are your tanks who take the most damage but deal damage too; your second row is your DPS row, and you back row is your healers. You can play with this to tinker with the battle system and your party make up, but the annoying thing is that if an enemy sprite so much as brushes your side or back, your party formation is immediately thrown into disarray and all your characters are left exposed. This can lead to some very quick and unfortunate wipes later in the game.
This game, as well, starts using the HP/MP/LP system that becomes the staple of this series. MP is pretty self-explanatory and a trope for RPGs; these are your "magic points" which you use for special attacks. The more interesting mechanic is the HP/LP system. Your character has the standard "Hit Points" but when they are drained they merely become unconscious, and they will lose one LP or "Life Point." If they are further hit when unconscious, they will lose another LP. If they lose all of their LP, that character is permanently dead, and can only be brought back through very specific ways (one of which is making a deal with Death).
Another unique mechanic is that this game doesn't have levels, but instead attributes random stat boosts after successful battles. The only thing that does level up is a character's proficiency with certain weapons, which get increased after continued use. So if a character uses a greatsword continually, they will eventually do more damage and learn new greatsword abilities. It reminds me of the system from Final Fantasy II in terms of the stat focused progression system in that game.
The sprite art is quite nice if a little rudimentary compared to some later Square titles. They use a slightly muted color palette too, which makes it stand apart from Final Fantasy IV and other RPGs from this era which generally relied more on primary colors. The monster design, too, is quite nice. Some designs are really quite imaginative, even if the game suffers from initially fighting a retinue of zombies, feral dogs, and the like.
Overall, as much as this game does have quite a bit of innovation to its design, the main issue is that the game is quite grind heavy and the narrative is dull. Enemies will mob you in huge groups, usually forcing you into battle after battle and breaking your formation at the same time. The narrative/quest writing is very basic, though they do play around with player choice. For example, when you meet Death, you can choose to sacrifice a character in your party to Death to get a powerful weapon.
The Music
The music is quite excellent. It was composed by Kenji Ito, and the focus seems to be more on synth rock than the typical Square soundtracks. It has even been used in the Theatrhythm series of games. Here are some good examples...
Art
Being a Square game, we have some quality concept art behind this title.
Final Verdict
There is some amazing novelty to this title which I recommend checking out, but this one is for RPG purists only. As well, the difficulty in attaining a working copy or emulation makes this an annoying investment for your time. I would check out its sequels, which make some really interesting choices, but if you are dead set on checking out this title, I would recommend playing the PS2 port of Romancing Saga instead.
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