What are you anons doing to prepare for Friday?

What are you anons doing to prepare for Friday?

I don't think I'm ready, I never even beat Minstrel's Song. I always got stuck shortly after starting with any character.
But I will buy it anyway, must have a SaGa game in my steam library.

Did you ever buy The Last Remnant? I might just say fuck it and finally do so myself along with RS2.

I did actually, but I never got around to playing it. It's just sitting there, waiting. "Once I beat Minstrel's Song at least once, I'll try it", I said.

If you're struggling with Minstrel Song, best to put it on the back burner and give TLR a spin.

Minstrel's song is my favorite ps2 jrpg, so I'm pretty stocked to play this. I'm tempering my expectations cause I can't imagine this being as polished and full of content as a ps2 remake, but it should still be fun.

Minstrel Song is BAD EXAMPLE of a saga game. Don't worry you can fight any number of random battles you want just Remember to kill THAT before it destroys towns.

how is the best saga game a bad example of a saga game ?

user is probably coming at it from the perspective that its not a good game for people just getting into the series.

I don't know if TLR is necessarily any better
The best Saga to start off to me is probably SaGa Frontier 2, it's as streamlined as possible and has a strong narrative

Cant wait, I just hope Scarlet Grace gets ported by some miracle

I've never played this series, can someone sell me on it or this game?

I'm doing a casual replay to refresh my memory, currently at the fourth generation, having fun as usual.
It's hard to sell someone on a series as unique as SaGa.
It's basically a highly experimental, mechanic driven series of JRPGs, characterized by heavy focus on gameplay, non linearity and replay value.

lets put it like this, if you want a traditional JRPG, you go to Dragon Quest
If you want to go as far as possible from the formula, mechanics wise, while still remaining a traditional JRPG, you go to SaGa games
FF and everything else are found somewhere in the middle

TLR has its own share of obtuse mechanics but its still probably one of the more straightforward entries in the series, especially if a person is looking for modern (localized) entry-points into SaGa.

>It's basically a highly experimental, mechanic driven series of JRPGs, characterized by heavy focus on gameplay, non linearity and replay value.
That sounds a lot like something I'd want to play, you have nothing specific to say?

Is this one specifically worth looking into and an okay place to start? (I'm fine with playing a newer version of something and going back to older ones)

Someone put it best when he said Romancing SaGa games are basically an evolutionary dead end for JRPGs because most genre fans are simply too casual to enjoy proper challenge.

All three Romancing games are different, yet keep the same focus on gameplay. This might sound basic, but you have to keep in mind almost all JRPGs are very story focused at the expense of basic approach to gameplay so anyone can play them. It should be noted this re-release is the only way to play Romancing SaGa 2 in English proper because fan translation was never completely finished.

I'm genuinely hopeful that if RS2 sells well, they'll actually bring Scarlet over. They seem interested in doing so.

TLR is probably the closest a modern JRPG will ever come to SaGa formula.

Are you bad enough dude to survive this?

>you have nothing specific to say?
I wish, that's why I told you that it's hard to sell you on SaGa, all games in the series try something radically different every time, outside of the old GB games I guess, and even there there's quite a lot of variation.
Since people are waiting for the Romancing SaGa 2 remake I'll give you a short index of that particular game's features:

>Game works on generation of characters, the story quite literally spans a millennium or more depending on how you play
>Sandbox world, you're free to explore it at your own leisure after you're done with the prologue.
>Game works on a unique freeform class system where all characters fall into specific classes but are still customizable however you want despite having specific traits
>Dynamic quests mean you can solve them in a variety of ways and see various subroutes and effects that alter history
>You can die and still keep on playing the game(outside of the prologue and last generation), dying might also alter the world's history depending on when and how you die
>LOADS of recruitable characters
>Very tight gameplay that rewards experimenting and learning the system
>Antigrind measures are in place
>Tough bosses that also change depending on how you play through the game, getting stronger or weaker
>Great Music
>Pretty nice story

Sure, I don't know whether I have the strength to deal with 10FS Saruin again though, that battle lasts literally up to a hour even if you minmax and plan your game perfectly, I'm not that young anymore.

A lot of games I like are described similarly, as long as the game is fun and gives me the ability to learn in the game I don't really give a shit how hard it is.

Sounds awesome, what exactly about the actual gameplay is so tight and experimental though? Is it turn based? If so what does it offer to that formula?

>implying SaGa Frontier wasnt the best entry in the series

>mfw playing the stock market in RS3

They already said they want to give it the same treatment.

I started playing SaGa 2 to ease myself into the series. Doesn't seem like it has many of the mechanics though.

Wait what
I'm fresh out from under the rock
Is this just port from SNES on steam or remake or what

I would argue Frontier was way too experimental for its own good.

I'm gonna buy a copy for both PC and PS4

>what exactly about the actual gameplay is so tight and experimental though?

Have you ever played other jrpgs and thought "Damn, it would be great if I could ______"? SaGa lets you do it. The games are generally filled to the brim with mechanics you might never experience unless you happened to stumble upon them.

>what exactly about the actual gameplay is so tight and experimental though?
Oh boy, you've opened another can of worms.
SaGa does things its own way so to speak.
There are no levels, your characters level up either stats or proficiencies instead, if you've played FFII it's basically a highly refined version of said system.

In Romancing SaGa 2 you use a fixed stat system so characters level up three main stats, HP/WP/JP and proficiencies depending on the weapons you use, if you use swords a lot your characters will hit harder with swords for instance, if you use axes they'll get better at using them the more they do and so on.

Characters are able to learn techs(waza) or magic(Jutsu).
Techs are learned in battle by glimmering, or sparking as older fans use to say, your characters will learn a new technique on the spot and perform it, the more techs you use the more you'll learn, but it's all up to how you use your characters, some characters are also better at learning certain techs than other.

Magic is learned by having a mage teach you a spell, however, by using a certain school of magic and levelling its proficiency level you'll be able to teach new spells, and even fuse different schools of magic to create new ones, not to mention that the spells themselves often gain new properties when you reach a certain level of proficiency.

And this is just a tiny, tiny bit of what you can do, without going on into equipment mechanics, racial mechanics, monster ecology and so on, SaGa games are pretty deep so don't expect people to explain things in one post.
Well, it is a GB game, the remake does add new mechanics though.

I'm pretty sold at this point, but I'm just really curious what some examples are, especially for this one.

>And this is just a tiny, tiny bit of what you can do, without going on into equipment mechanics, racial mechanics, monster ecology and so on, SaGa games are pretty deep so don't expect people to explain things in one post.
Oh, sure, but I was just hoping for examples, even little ones, something that was really cool or interesting to you or whoever wants to answer.

Keep in mind not to confuse people - SaGa trilogy aka Final Fantasy Legend is separate from the Romancing SaGa trilogy.

>but I was just hoping for examples
Let's say you're fighting a dragon.
You're having a tough time because that dragon is spamming tail swings on you and your party is in critical conditions.
Suddenly, your party leader learns how to evade tail swings, in the same turn another party member you ordered to use an attack enters fighting nirvana and learns a new, powerful attack that deals a shitton of damage and possible debuffs the dragon, but the tail swing also hits another character who was in critical conditions and permakills it, also breaking your party formation and making your party more vulnerable.

Are the DS remakes a good starting point?

WonderSwan remake of the first SaGa game is pretty good, but I'm not big on DS graphical overhaul. It makes the other two games look really cheap.

Sure.
Keep in mind that those games are linear and use a more traditional game structure instead of the typical sandbox style adopted from the Romancing trilogy onwards.
The DS remakes add quite a lot of modern standard mechanics like combos and various QoL touches like seeing how your monsters are going to evolve and which traits they will inherit.
SaGa 2 DS is still a very different game from SaGa 3 DS though, there's many mechanics that are unique to both games.

That version isn't translated thou, is it?

Yeah, I get that. I kind of want to see how the series started I just won't play the GB versions since I frankly don't think I got the will in me to play a GB RPG

The GB versions still hold up, but that may be my nostalgia speaking.

it did get a translation

I think all SaGa version have been translated so you can pick and choose.

Well, if you really want to see how it all started you have to play the first game too I'd say, since it was a cultural phenomenon and the first RPG ever made for a handheld system, it was also Squaresoft first million unit seller.
Though really, the series as we know it today basically started with the SNES games, there's very little left from the GB SaGa games, outside of starting the racial mechanics for playable characters I guess, and even those aren't really a thing in the mainline anymore.

Oh, seems I failed to google that properly. Will start with that one, then. Thanks.

Eh, might as well just try and play the GB versions too, I guess.

You can always toss an emulator on your phone to have the games ready when you have free moments.

The games are all very short, you can finish them handily in a couple of hours and aren't really hard at all, the DS remakes are slightly longer due to having actual graphics and cutscenes, but still, nothing you can't finish in 10/15 hours.

Will there be physical copies?
It appears to be harder and harder to find definitive answers for these kinds of things lately.

The game boy SaGa games are the only ones where you can change your characters into monsters and robots, right?

Possibly for the Vita. Not sure about other consoles. Doubtful.

Yep, they're the only ones with generic characters, SaGa 3 characters are not generic but you can still change them to whatever race you want.
SaGa 1 didn't have robots though, only humans, espers and monsters.

>Will there be physical copies?
Game is download only on all platform, as it is in Japan.
The Romancing SaGa 3 remake will be as well, no physical/retail version.

Yea I remember not being a big fan of the concept back when the games first came out, but I wouldn't mind a new entry that built off it.

Yeah I am not really expecting it. But I've been wrong before, taking it for granted that a game would be digital only. Then get it digitally. Only to find out that it was made available physically. And then regret it.

For how much video game "journalism" there is out there. One would really expect that they would manage to get some of the really simple answers. Such as what formats a game will be in. But I guess not.

Last game that had multiple races was TLR.
Maybe they'll do something with it in the next mainline but I doubt it, especially when the SaGa Frontier remake is all but confirmed now, Kawazu doesn't seem interested in using the old four race formula anymore, he'll probably polish that for the Frontier remake and let it go for good after that.

It's likely a port of the android release with inputs instead of the use of touch screen.

>Last game that had multiple races was TLR.

TLR was more of a "standard" multi-race fantasy thing, rather than FFL's "change characters into different forms" approach, but you're probably right that the whole concept won't be brought back any time soon.

>SaGa Frontier remake is all but confirmed now,

Sauce?

>Sauce?
No sauce because Kawazu doesn't announce things a decade earlier but it's pretty evident that the next big announcement will be a Frontier remake, all other games have already received a remake or a remaster and the 30th anniversary is coming up in 2019, coupled with the producer's effort in helping the series getting back on its feet it's all too obvious that we're either getting a new mainline or a Frontier remake next, it's really just a matter of time now that Romancing SaGa 3 is inbound.

To add on this, Kawazu often puts some clues when it comes to remakes.
when Imperial SaGa launched in 2014 the website had a minigame with Gerald from RS2, and Gerald was also one of the characters they gave you as starter pack, the RS2 remake was announced a few months after that.
Then in 2015 the plot focused on RS3 and they also made the RS3 Festival in the SaGa prefecture and announced a theatre play based on it, in 2016 they announced that a remaster was in the works.
Scarlet Grace comes out in 2016, the game has a lot of cameos from Frontier and what a coincidence, Imperial SaGa has a limited crossover campaign with Monster Hunter Z for Frontier characters.

Guess what game is gonna get remade next?

How much is it going to cost? Is it digital only or will there be a physical release too?

Last I checked it was digital only, I know that the price was $18 at the time, but that could change.

Digital Only.
It will probably be 17.99$ like the original launch price but don't trust me on that, it might be lower, though I personally doubt it.
I think it's possible it will be put on sale on PS4/Vita since the game was already out for two years in japan for the Vita, and is one of the highest rated games on the system, but again, take this with a grain of salt.

Huh, that's not too bad. I could buy it for $17.99.

It's a decent price all in all, especially considering the replay value of the game.
I do hope it comes out with the digital manual it had for the Vita version though, because the game explains fuck all and a lot of people are already going to be pissed for that, if they take out the manual it's gonna be pretty bad.

People nowadays will just google shit or mod the game just like they did with TLR. That kinda defeats the big element of mystery and unknown, though. TLR is built with lack of absolute control over everything your units do or want, for example.

Okay SaGa fans, I know SaGa is a very gameplay focused series but does RS2 have any kind of story/character personality. i don't need FF or Fire Emblem levels of detail and focus, but blank created pawns like in Tactics ogres, disgaea etc really turn me off. The gameplay is very enticing since I tend to appreciate good gameplay but I still need some kind of hook even a very basic one will do. What do?

I don't know what gave you the impression there are generic pawns. Like someone said you have to keep in mind SaGa and Romancing SaGa are two different sets of trilogies.

I have almost zero experience with this franchise. Does that mean RS2 has proper characters and story? As long as the characters we recruit have their own names and personalities I'm all in.

Outside of the original SaGa games, there's still a decent focus on story and characters. You just don't have to worry about FF-tier cinematics taking you away from gameplay every 10 minutes. Aside from The Last Remnant, that is.

Noice. I'm sold.

>but does RS2 have any kind of story/character personality
Yeah, as far as a SNES game from 1993 can go.
SaGa games are more lore focused than character focused though, RS2 has a great story and some pretty memorable characters and twists, but do not expect the drawn out melodrama you'd find in stuff like FF.
>but blank created pawns like in Tactics ogres, disgaea etc really turn me off
RS2 works on a pseudo generic system in the sense that since you're playing the game through generations of character you must pick a successor to the emperor/empress that eventually dies.
In RS2 most of your emperors are generics that belong to a class, all classes have a representative with his or her own storyline and development, when you do choose them as emperors the effects on narrative are basically different lines for events, in some cases though, certain quests or quest variations are also exclusive to certain either genders or a specific class.
All classes are made up of pallette swaps of the main Rep(s), they're all named according to particular conventions, and I'm not going to spoil you on that because some of those are pretty clever too.
The game's narrative is also arguably more focused on the main antagonists, the Seven Heroes, they're the ones who get the most in terms of story because everything in the game revolves around them, and they're pretty well done characters with a very good twist.

Outside of those, there are a few unique characters, Leon, your first emperor, his son Gerald and the last generation of emperors, and arguably Coppelia too since she/it is also playable.

Yeah that is more than enough for me. I was honestly expecting much less. Seems like a cool plot setting too.

I'm interested in playing RS2 for the first time on Friday. Should I play with the extra content or is it unbalanced or something?

The plot setting is very nice because it's told in a rather interesting way, and the Seven Heroes themselves are pretty iconic characters.

All classes having their own storyline helps building up a rather detailed world for a console game in the early 90's, not to mention that multiple quests have different paths where characters are seen in different situations and show different sides as well.
The big plot twist is also a pretty heavy hitter, especially if you met some of the heroes before you get to that point, not to mention that it's also completely missable given the game's nonlinearity, and the way it's tied to the events in the prologue is also pretty emotional in a way.

The ending is also pretty emotional.
The extra content is RNG dictated in a way, so you might or might not unbalance the game since the loot is randomized and loot is the only thing from there that might affect your game.
I'd say ignore it in your first run, especially because the bosses in there are quite unfair for beginners and are meant for people who are familiar with the game's system.

>All classes having their own storyline helps building up a rather detailed world for a console game in the early 90's

Its kinda sad how with all the "throwback" "SNES styled" rpgs that have come out over the years, none have ever taken a page out of SaGa's book when it comes detail and expansive storytelling.

Which platform are you getting it for?

Thinking of switch

Steam is really the only option for me. But even if I had any of the other consoles the game was coming to, I've grown ambivalent towards buying anything digital for consoles.

I don't honestly blame them too much, the vast majority of people prefers character driven melodrama, SaGa is almost entirely unconcerned with that, and if there is the game is very raw on that, which I'd argue it's actually more impactful for the player, see SaGa Frontier 2 or Unlimited for that.

What SaGa games try to do is to actually build a believable and organic world through both gameplay and narrative, rather than creating a epic story, it's a narrative choice that it's not really popular, so even if it's done really well it doesn't have the same success.
I already bought the JP Vita version two years ago, I'm not sure whether I'll buy it again since I'm not really alright with the translation, on the other hand I do want the series to receive more support for those who don't know JP, so I'll probably buy it on Steam or something.

Switch for me.

Skeleton on a bench.jpg

>since I'm not really alright with the translation,

Wasn't the translation cleaned up for the console releases?

Does it have an event rank like minstrel song?

Be patient grasshopper, they will deliver eventually.
Not that I know, no.
They did fix some typos and wrong descriptions, but I'm fairly sure they didn't change the wrong transliterations for the Heroes' names or the various cities.
ER is only a Minstrel Song thing, it doesn't exist in any other game, Romancing SaGa 3 and TLR have some quests that do expire at a certain point, but it's not the same as ER.
BR grows A LOT faster in RS2 though.

Is it safe to assume this has the same dumb fuck grinding mechanics the other games have? I remember that mindless grinding fucked you in the ass in saga frontier. I also remember you had to GRIND to unlock certain events in minstrel song but grinding too much again would fuck you.

It is the game that started the anti-grind measures, so yeah, you can expect to get fucked in the ass if you play like a retard.
But seeing how you already played other games there's nothing you should really fear, outside of the fact that BR grows much faster in RS2 and normal encounters tend to be more dangerous than the average SaGa game, which is pretty noteworthy in itself.
At top tier battle ranks you can expect to have a mini boss fight for nearly every encounter you make, though by that time you should be plenty prepared to deal with anything bar the Seven.

frontiers problem is that frontier was an unfinished game rushed to release. atleast in the case of 1.
see: lutes plotline and fuze not actually being a playable character.

whats this game and why should I buy it?

>whats this game
It's a great JRPG
>why should I buy it?
It's a great JRPG

As someone who's never played SaGa before, how should I handle random battles? In most games, I fight everything I come across, but I don't specifically grind. I only run if I'm low on health/MP/etc.

yeah I didn't really mean to come off as hating the system, it was just a huge pain in the ass when I first played SF1 and had to crawl 1998? internet for advice on how to actually progress in a meaningful way.

Its unfortunate but you know every single steam review is going to rail it for being too fucking hard because babby cant autopilot through shit.

Hopefully it comes with some manual of some kind.

I can't answer this perspective from an actual original saga series perspective because minstrel saga made me throw my fucking controller at numerous points and I just gave up.

But in sagafrontier you needed to understand that certain actions affected what you gained from a level up at the end of a fight. You wanted to isolate these stat gains to the important shit you wanted/needed and you also had to make efforts to learn the appropriate weapon skills not just for your character but for your team as a whole.

So basically all new players walked into the game, swapped weapons a ton causing them to have "diverse" skills and grinded way too many mobs causing bosses AND normal encounters to become exceptionally difficult. I hate to say it but playing the game without some kind of guide is just an exercise in frustration. you can beat some character lines in SF1 without handholding but trying a few of the others will get you ass ravaged by your ignorance of the systems and the games world.

In RS2 the battle rank rises even when you flee, making the game harder without you getting stronger - so much for running away.

Perhaps you can play one of the other games first, they are gentler. I recommend saga2 and Frontier.

Well, first off, SaGa stopped having random battle since the SNES games, you have neemy icons on the screens which you can avoid, it also takes some skill in itself since different enemy types also behave differently and have different movements and patterns.

Generally speaking, you'd want to fight what you come across naturally, but not do that aggressively like reentering an area to make enemy respawn and fight them.
SaGa games have a mechanic called Battle Rank(BR), battle rank is basically a scale that makes enemies grow stronger according to certain factors, and by growing stronger I mean you get radically different enemies with higher stats, different attacks and different patterns.
In RS2, BR grows by triggering fights, the more fights you get in the higher the BR grows, which means the more you fight the stronger the monsters will get, be aware that by triggering fights I mean simply that, entering a fight, whether you win, lose or run away the BR grows all the same, so you must be very careful in evading enemies in the first place and make the most of each fight you get in.

When people tell you not to grind in a SaGa game they simply mean to not aggressively fight things, just kill what's in sight if you can and don't get too greedy, eventually you'll grow powerful enough to deal with things without needing to fight more than necessary, also because SaGa is fairly equipment dependant on that, and looting is a key factor in controlling the BR and making the game actually easier.

Bear in mind that once you do get skilled enough you can totally "grind", though it does require a certain degree of knowledge, and grinding in SaGa can be rather bizzarre.
In TLR for instance, the best way to powergrind is to literally wail on the weakest mooks in the game, as counterintuitive as that sounds.

Furyu should just drop dead already.
Why are people still encouraging him and his shit progression system that never worked?

for people who don't understand how grinding works and why this game hates you for it:
In saga frontier there is a character called Red. Red is unique because he can transform into a superhero named Alkaiser, gaining a whole new skill set and super buffed stats. It introduces a number of systems around this too. Red for example can't transform around other humanoids in order to keep his identity secret, HE can however transform around robots(maybe monsters too?). But the key element here is that the games systems hate you. Every x amount of fights you successfully complete will increment a difficulty modifier for all fights in the game. The problem with this is made abundantly clear with red. People tell you to play red because hes cool and hes strong. The reality is you don't actually level any stats up when you end a fight as Alkaiser(your super hero form), and all skills gained in Alkaiser form are unique to him. So what do new players do? Of course they just all in on the superhero form. And then they get put into plot fights where red cannot transform and they get absolutely raped because their base character is trash and the battlerank is so fucking high its impossible to win. In the last remnant they atleast visualized this and hinted to its existence and told you that grinding isn't always the solution. In SF you were required to fucking google it because there was no explanation of this in game or in the manual.

What are you even talking about

hes mad you can't grind your way past all challenges in the game

I always hated how fleeing from battles fucks you from getting any kind of stat growth whatsoever in rpgs. I understand why that is, but you'd think games would've figured out to balance that out, so fleeing from battles doesn't render them giant wastes of time. Though I guess it could be easily abused, which is why devs don't bother.

>and grinding in SaGa can be rather bizzarre.
I remember, once I knew the ins-and-outs of SaGa Frontier, I would quick-save and quick-load to avoid encounters, keeping track of how many I fought on paper. And then I would fight in the Biolab, fighting enemies and using skills that would most likely spark the techs I wanted. And would just quickload if I didn't get it. I think on one of my Asellus runs, I had someone with DSC and Asellus had Rosario Impale, and by the time I reached Orlouge, I think I fought less than 30 battles.
This kind of meta-gaming is just as fun as playing it naturally on your first run, I love it.