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Post by Sarge on Nov 6, 2019 22:27:53 GMT -5
I've tried several times to get through all the scenarios of SaGa Fronter, but the only one I've cleared is Blue's. It's a game I want to love, but man, it's kinda rough and unpolished in a lot of ways.
SF2 was a bit of a departure; I remember folks not liking it quite as much since it doesn't end up as open-ended. For me, that helped a ton. It also helps that it sports some tremendous visuals.
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Post by Ex on Nov 7, 2019 0:50:47 GMT -5
I barely have any experience with the SaGa series.
I put a good amount of time into Final Fantasy Legend II circa 1991. I remember enjoying it, but didn't finish the game, because I had borrowed it from a friend, who requested its return before I could. Back in 1998, I put a little time into SaGa Frontier. That was by proxy of my (at the time) girlfriend's brother, who'd rented it. I watched him play some of it, then played some myself. I remember thinking the graphics were subpar, and the design sloppy, and it felt like a half-finished mess. Don't know if that's true, but that's what I remember thinking. I own legit, but have not played, Unlimited Saga and Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song on PS2. I've also got the SaGa 2 & 3 DS remakes loaded on my JRPG DS.
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Post by Sarge on Nov 7, 2019 12:55:21 GMT -5
Unlimited Saga is definitely considered the worst of the series. It's probably Kawazu at his most "Kawazu". I suspect the game has its defenders, but obtuse would be a good description, and that's in a whole series of games that can be obtuse.
You're not wrong about SaGa Frontier. It effectively is unfinished; a whole chapter was whacked out, sub-quests were removed, and so on. It was clearly pushed out the door a bit too soon.
I actually put about ten hours or so into Minstrel Song. I liked it a lot, but it also can overwhelm the player with its open-ended nature. There are a ton of different routes you can take to the ending. Well, an ending; there are multiple.
I played a decent amount of SaGa 2, and got brick-walled by a boss. Not entirely sure what I'm doing wrong; I didn't actually have a huge issue getting through the Game Boy game.
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Post by Ex on Nov 7, 2019 13:16:03 GMT -5
I actually put about ten hours or so into Minstrel Song. I liked it a lot, but it also can overwhelm the player with its open-ended nature. There are a ton of different routes you can take to the ending. Well, an ending; there are multiple. This sounds pretty cool to me though. A JRPG that has an open-ended structure kind of like WRPGs do. That's why I bought Minstrel Song, and also why I bought this: Granted this is all theoretical and bird's eye view optimism. I've not played either game yet.
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Post by Sarge on Nov 7, 2019 13:33:24 GMT -5
I snagged Metal Saga myself. I'm also waiting for Metal Max Xeno to get cheaper, but I hear that game isn't very good, so I don't know why I'm actually that interested outside of name recognition. I definitely get the optimism that doesn't survive actually playing the game. There a lot of titles I adore the idea of playing, but when I actually get to them, that resolve withers.
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Post by Chainsaw Bilqis on Nov 8, 2019 20:04:28 GMT -5
I love all the SaGa games so far, even Unlimited Saga (in case anyone would ever need any tips for that one one day). SaGa Frontier is my favorite if I had to choose one, but The Last Remnant and Minstrel Song are close. The last time I played Minstrel Song, I put in 99:99+ hours (the timer stops after that) in just one character scenario. Can't wait for the RS3 official English release, but I wish they had kept the background graphics and battle effects pixelled still just like the SFAM version. Well, at least they did it like the RS2 port with the character and monster sprites still being the same. The moving boss enemy sprites are a pretty nice addition too.
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Post by toei on Nov 8, 2019 21:34:51 GMT -5
Ex, Sarge Metal Saga is decent, pretty good even, but not anywhere as good as Metal Max Returns, which is the one y'all should be playing. It does have some highlights and memorable elements - one that stands out is the part where you have to place a thousand-year old bus stop at particular spot to catch a wild bus in the desert (ie an automated bus that has been riding around in circles since the bus stop's been gone). The bus is a "tank", meaning you can outfit it with guns and so on. The musclemen mansion was pretty amusing as well. I'd say the biggest problem with it is the balance is bad. Either you're not quite strong enough for the bosses in the area, or way too strong. It's never close. I wouldn't compare the Metal games to the SaGa series, though (the title Metal Saga being a coincidence). Metal Max is *somewhat* non-linear, but not really - there's a ton of side-stuff, and it's technically possible to get a certain ending in MMR within a few minutes of starting the game (it's just a joke ending, though), but there's still basically a normal sequence of events to the game, since enemies get tougher as you advance through the land as in any other Japanese RPG. Also, it has actual ideas for events and locales and stuff that makes the world fun to explore, where all the SaGa games I've played are remarkably shallow on all these fronts. This includes Romancing SaGa 3. Don't be fooled by the familiar SNES graphics; outside of the short intros for each playable character, it's basically nothing but stumbling around, looking for dungeons. There is no real story, no substantial subplot like those you find all over the place in Dragon Quest, no character moments, and nothing of interest to find in the game world. It's just a few bad twists on the standard turn-based gameplay and some dungeons. It's not a good game. I've played FF Legends 2 & 3, Romancing SaGa 3, and most of SaGa Frontier (finished a few of the scenarios, I honestly don't remember which). None of those are legitimately good. I don't think SaGa would have ever lasted as long as it did if it wasn't put out by Squaresoft.
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Post by Chainsaw Bilqis on Nov 8, 2019 21:40:42 GMT -5
SaGa Frontier is my clear number one favorite game of all time.
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Post by Sarge on Nov 8, 2019 21:41:28 GMT -5
Chainsaw Bilqis: I'll probably be buying RS3 right off, myself. Whether I play it immediately is another thing, but I like this trend of Square Enix bringing over classics we never got back in the day. Maybe Treasure of the Rudras will be next! toei: I've heard other folks highly recommend Metal Max Returns as well. Good thing it has an English patch!
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Post by toei on Nov 8, 2019 21:42:27 GMT -5
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