No bad Romance
Some years ago I reviewed Romancing SaGa 2 on PS4 which was a remastered version of the original game on the Nintendo Super Famicom. The Romancing SaGa or the SaGa series as a whole took a different approach to JRPG mechanics that were commonplace back then especially the likes of Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest that have even made it to modern JRPG’s of today. Romancing SaGa 2 is a game that if you go into after playing Final Fantasy you will be confused almost instantly at its mechanics. This is because the game features no experience points to level up, a non-linear world and characters will come and go with barely a word and new characters will take their place and it can be confusing as to where to go next plus the difficulty in some areas can be unforgiving. The characters also lacked charm and personality much like the other games mentioned and just about any other JRPG at that time.
Despite all of this it was the best selling game of the Romancing SaGa Trilogy, so it’s unsurprising that some years after the remaster we now have a remake Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven but how does it hold up and how much different is it to the original game?
Well the game is incredibly faithful to the original, it retains the existence of LP and permadeath, you still defend your empire over the course of generations and are tasked with ending the vengeful seven heroes to restore the world. The difference this time however is that the game has full voice acted cutscenes with both English and Japanese voiceovers, a 3D world and rearrange compositions of the original music which is in itself is a fantastic soundtrack.
The game does also now have some quality of life features such as a turn bar which will show you the turn of the next character or opponent and the game does have other difficulty options so if you wanted a more casual experience compared to the original games then you have that option. What is great is the developers have also allowed you to turn off this information and also a classic difficulty option for those wanting an experience that is much closer to that of it’s original release with the increased difficulty.
You take control of the Emperor or Empress of Avalon and how you control your destiny is up to you, the open-endedness of Romancing Saga 2 is here and if you are familiar to the series then you know what to expect but you can suddenly feel disconnected by your roster of characters as time shifts in the game and suddenly you find yourself not with the same characters but their offspring many years later, this disconnect is something that the SaGa series is known for and it can happen so often so if that’s something you don’t enjoy then Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven won’t be for you. However if you’re happy about retaining your players strength then not to worry, the game much like previously allows you to get up to speed with power with everything learned up to this point.
Being a remake from the ground up the game has fully 3D graphics, I will say graphically it’s not the most ground-breaking in terms of graphics but to have a 3D world of a game that originally was 2D is fantastic, along with the new cutscenes which are now more fleshed out especially when it comes to the story, however personality is something that doesn’t shine through as much with the characters. While originally most of the lore came from NPC’s who spoke about the seven heroes, it is now accessible in the game and by finding collectibles in the world you can learn about the heroes and why they went against the human race and by collecting them you can even unlock new bonuses in doing so.
Menus have also had a huge overhaul, the progress of your kingdom can be viewed and shows you all character skill levels clearly. Quest markers also show you where to go, although again this can be turned off easily if you don’t wish for it. There is a journal which shows you your current quests and previously completed quests also which gives a detailed description of where to go next. The game now has over 30 classes to unlock where the previous has less, 25 with 2 being added since the remaster of the game. There are so many small features such as 3D models of weapons that you have collected and a bestiary.
Combat largely remains the same but has also seen some smaller updates to it. It still remains turn based and difficult, if you want it to be. By attacking enemies you will use BP depending on the skill or spell. The glimmer system makes it easier to tell you which attacks you will use can unlock a new ability. This makes it so you can go into battles knowing if it worth trying to learn a new skill or by exploiting enemy weaknesses, again something which the game makes easier for the player to do.
Any returning players might feel confused about the graphical update but one thing is certain, the music will certainly hit the nostalgia strings.
I have really enjoyed my time so far with Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven, the key aspect of the game is exploration and although admittedly I have yet to finish a SaGa game because of the game suddenly shifting forward without warning, the updated graphics and quality of life features have got me hooked. One thing is for certain the game has replay-ability so if that is something you are looking for then you can’t go wrong here.
A PlayStation 5 review code was provided by Square Enix
