SaGa

[Anonymous No.4362131]

What advice would you give someone who wants to get into the SaGa series? Do you have a tier list?
Are the stories connected, or are they all self contained?

[Anonymous No.4362460]

Story isn't really continuous across the series; don't worry about it. Frontier 1/2 and Romancing SaGa 3 are your best bet for retro, or Unlimited SaGa if you don't mind non-retro.

[Anonymous No.4362472]

>>4362460
>Unlimited SaGa
You're absolute evil

[Anonymous No.4363234]

>>4362472
what's wrong with it?

[Anonymous No.4363338]

>>4363234
it is honestly really hard until you figure out how to play it

even then once you've cracked it it can be pretty grindy

on the other hand I can't think of any single player rpg that's more comfy to just waste time and grind through and relax with

[Anonymous No.4363352]

While RS3 is probably the best of the SFC triology the second one is still my favorite. While the story was the same for the most part I like the mechanics in 2 where you pass down your abilities with each generation and build more areas of the castle and recruit more characters to learn different formations and abilities (which they also use in the 3rd game).

[Anonymous No.4363356]

Palm trees and 8.

[Anonymous No.4363360]

>>4362131
>What advice would you give someone who wants to get into the SaGa series?
Don't, because it probably won't be up your alley. SaGa doesn't even have a niche appeal, it's just different for the sake of being different. Instead of walking outside and grinding on random battles for experience points, you might have to purchase skill training from shops, or you might randomly gain skills or stats after battles, or you might have to purchase a bunch of drugs and eat them to boost your stats... or you might have to eat your enemies to evolve into another species. Yes, I'm serious about those last two.

Getting into SaGa is less about actually playing the games and more about reading extensive guides documenting the games' clusterfuck of bizarre rules and mechanics. And even if you have the patience to deal with this learning curve, the games sometimes rely on a high degree of random chance, which means you can't necessarily anticipate how to develop your characters or win any given battle.

[Anonymous No.4363457]

>>4363360
haha look at this fucking brainlet

I'm dying

every saga game can be solved by the experimental process, by design

[Anonymous No.4363460]

>>4363360
I don't think it's a bad thing for a game to try something weird that goes against what you normally expect from a JRPG. It definitely does flip a lot of genre conventions on their heads. The main example being that if you stop to grind, you're fucking yourself over really hard.

But ultimately, these games are designed to be replayed. It's not really a matter of "hurr read documentation until you finally understand how to play it," it's a matter of "learn the absolute basic rules, struggle through the game, and play it again." Hell, "stop fucking trying to grind and just play the game" is good enough advice to get you through 99% of what the series throws at you. And then when you become experienced enough, you learn how to grind properly, and it's even more fun.

[Anonymous No.4363487]

>>4363360
>don't play this series!
>lists off crazy and neat ideas

well shit, now I definitely gotta try this series out, byzantine mechanics don't deter me

[Anonymous No.4363490]

>>4363460
in the first three sagas and frontier 1 you don't even get punished (too much) for grinding, frontier enemies scale a little but they're still totally beatable.

>>4363360
>the games sometimes rely on a high degree of random chance, which means you can't necessarily anticipate how to develop your characters or win any given battle.
a bit of luck helps, but many of the mechanics are absolutely deliberate and you have full control over them. Such as the monster transformations you mentioned. If that feels like too much to handle, you can always choose more straightforward characters instead.

[Anonymous No.4363574]

>>4363490
Why are you posting Final Fantasy Adventure 2 for the Gameboy when this is a SaGa thread?

[Anonymous No.4363575]

>>4363574
>Final Fantasy Adventure 2
I've read many weird posts today but this one takes the cake. What the fuck man?
FFL2 = SaGa2

[Anonymous No.4363670]

Is there a way to play Romancing SaGa 2 an English aside from mobile?
I see incomplete translation patched roms, are they playable? Does it have a very wordy story like RS3?

[Anonymous No.4363678]

>>4363575
why are you using an image from a pedophilia simulator in a saga thread

[Anonymous No.4363684]

I really wanted to like the series but the whole "doing battle ticks down the timer" shit really puts me off.

[Anonymous No.4363687]

>>4363684
>doing battle ticks down the timer
What do you mean?

[Anonymous No.4363695]

>>4363687
Instead of just grinding you have to efficiently build your team and can never go full retard or the bosses will outpace the growth of your party because you haven't actually developed your strategy or visited different places to get a variety of drops and treasures and learned to fight different enemies. When he can't just use his autism as a hammer for every nail it makes him insecure because he feels powerless and inadequate just like real life.

[Anonymous No.4363707]

>>4363695
So you have to basically a play the game in a certain rote way? Or do you need to specialize? How does grind disadvantage you, is there level scaling or is stat growth limited?

[Anonymous No.4363737]

>>4363707
You just play the game however you want, the idea is that as you explore the game the enemies will get stronger and events will progress. But for people who like to min/max and make a 'perfect' file or something, maybe you do have to play in some sort of restricted manner.

[Anonymous No.4363740]

I'm playing the romancing saga remake on ps2. Any general tips or other things I should be aware of?

[Anonymous No.4363741]

>>4363707
Basically imagine a counter that scales the difficulty of every encounter by either changing the enemies of the encounter or increasing the boss's stats, this counter runs from say, 0 to 10000, and every battle increases the counter by a random value from 10-40. At the end of each battle your characters gain stats according to the actions they took and a random roll that's benefited by the difficulty of the enemies you just beat.

The entire system is heavily weighted and does not use real random number generation (nor does any videogame), and you have to purposely fight increasingly stronger enemies and gain better equipment in order to remain competitive with the kinds of things you'll be fighting. A big part of it from RS onwards is sparking new Waza(techniques) and Jutsu(spells), the chance of which is directly proportional to the risk posed by the opponent you're fighting, and also related to the Waza you're using (you can only learn waza from certain other related waza, i.e. Thrust>Thunder Thrust>Triple Thrust).

Thus, you can never beat any encounter simply by raising the powers of your characters, beyond the initial training period that familiarizes them with fighting and turns them from random civilians and teenagers into fighting adventuring science-fiction-ninja-wizards. You actually have to get better and be smarter and learn tactics or turn based combat and what spells and equipments do and shit.

[Anonymous No.4364231]

>>4363684
why they couldn't just have picked Tomomi's old art for the character designs in MS is beyond me.

[Anonymous No.4364234]

>>4363695
SaGa is complex but only really the last remnant fucks you over if you grind too much, there are more efficient places to farm (biolab in saga frontier 1 for instance), but its hard to fuck yourself over

[Anonymous No.4364298]

I really like SaGa Frontier because the intersecting storylines were awesome.

[Anonymous No.4364307]

What is with the SaGa Frontier setting? Are you dimension hopping? Makes me feel weird.

[Anonymous No.4364319]

>>4364307
you talking about the airship cutscene? It just has a funky background, you aren't actually hoppin dimensions

[Anonymous No.4364335]

>>4364307
FTL travel.

[Anonymous No.4364338]

>>4364335
are you going to other planets than? Blue gets globes.

[Anonymous No.4364343]

>>4364335
are you going to other planets then? Blue gets globes.

[Anonymous No.4364425]

>>4363737
>But for people who like to min/max and make a 'perfect' file or something
You got me there. While not exactly "min/max", I do like to just wander and fuck around, and here I'd be missing out on stuff because of this. Also because of that I actually loathe "cookie cutter" or default builds (which is what min/max is all about), and often assign stupid shit like different skills/weapons to some characters just for the heck of it, which is again punished by the game.

[Anonymous No.4364436]

>>4363737
you guys are confusing yourselves, saga has complex mechanics but in most cases you can't fuck yourselves over, there are efficient ways to grind but you can still get from point A to point B inefficiently if you want

I mean really these series of posts are bit much and sorta long winded for people that don't know what they are talking about. The only game you could ever truly fuck yourself over with regards to the battle rank was the last remnant, and they fixed that in the PC version for the most part

[Anonymous No.4364438]

what's the best story in a SaGa game? i'm a sucker for JRPG stories.

[Anonymous No.4364450]

>>4364438
for story I'd say SaGa Frontier 2, though don't get too attached to the characters.

[Anonymous No.4364629]

>>4364438
SaGa games always have lackluster stories. Pick any one you want really.

[Anonymous No.4364654]

>>4364438
the stories are usually good but bare bones. Best stories overall though is probably romancing saga 2 and saga frontier 2, IMO

[Anonymous No.4364663]

>>4364343
Basically yes

[Anonymous No.4364670]

>>4364663
wtf man

[Anonymous No.4364683]

>>4364438
I was obsessed SaGa Frontier as a kid. I struggled with it a lot, but I found the setting and characters intriguing enough to keep going. I generally preferred loosely connected scenarios over a consistent narrative and I was really disappointed with how linear the second game was...plus Masashi Hamauzu and his depressing sounding music.

[Anonymous No.4364709]

>>4364683
the first saga frontier game is underrated imo. Maybe not by the saga fanbase but by general gamers, I think most prefer 2 because of its presentation but its the lesser of the 2 gameplay wise imo, its just too restrictive for a saga. It's good for what it is I guess, but after you play it that one time its like okay I'm done.

I can always go back to SF1 and have a good time even for characters I've cleared multiple times, its just nice and free form, without too much story to get in the way, just lots of gameplay

[Anonymous No.4364717]

>The basic concept of SaGa Frontier is based on its Free Scenario System, in which one can play as any of seven different protagonists, all of whom exist in the same setting: a solar system known as The Regions, a group of planets, each with its own culture, game-level of technology, and form of magic. The game is considered non-linear, in that from the beginning many of the characters are free to go almost anywhere and interact with almost anyone. Travel through most of the Regions is easy due to inter-regional ships traveling regularly between them. The player controls the protagonist on the field screen, a set of interconnecting pre-rendered backgrounds, and is able to speak with a slew of other characters in order to gather information, recruit party members, and initiate quests. Each character has his or her own storyline and a main quest to fulfill, but there are also several optional quests that any of the characters can participate in. Some of the main characters even encounter each other during their quests.[4] The storyline of each character also changes depending on who is chosen, what is said in conversation, what events have already occurred, and who the protagonist has in his or her party, a concept first introduced in Romancing SaGa 2.

[Anonymous No.4364726]

SaGa is the RPG series for people who think Suda51 is a genius

[Anonymous No.4365223]

>>4363490
You get punished for grinding in saga 1? In the remake I am running four mutants and easily steamrolling, partially because I was able to easily grind stat ups and abuse instant death spells/OP as fuck magic items.

[Anonymous No.4365231]

>>4365223
the punishment is losing your time and dignity.

[Anonymous No.4365273]

>>4364438
SaGa 1 is actually really good

[Anonymous No.4365278]

>>4364683
>Masashi Hamauzu and his depressing sounding music.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bfp4jErD-Qs&list=PL7DCAFC96D6B1FE44&index=27
man just shut up seriously

[Anonymous No.4365291]

>>4364726
I wouldn't say he's a genius but he's definitely made some unique and innovative stuff that's near and dear to my heart.

[Anonymous No.4366027]

>>4364231
second best character theme
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOSNUAGnzCo

[Anonymous No.4367231]

>>4366027
uh, who's best?

Jamil or what?

[Anonymous No.4367747]

>>4363684
That is only the Romancing SaGa games. The Gameboy games don't have battle rank or event rank so there wouldn't be a world timer. SaGa Frontier 1 and 2 only have battle rank, all other quests generally don't appear or vanish due to event ranking since it doesn't have that mechanic. Same thing with Unlimited Saga as well.

So there are plenty of games in the series to play if you don't like the pressure.
>>4364307
World hopping. It harkens back to the Gameboy games that don't have a static setting.
>>4364438
SaGa Frontier 2 is the only story heavy SaGa game, that is discounting Final Fantasy Legend III but that isn't a Kawazu game and isn't a good representation of the series. In general they are more light on story than other JRPG's and let you fill in the blanks yourself in how the world is like or how the people are rather than locking you into reading tons of text.
>>4364726
SaGa is based on game mechanics, not story.

[Anonymous No.4368040]

>>4367231
glad you asked
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87YnY1fTKt8

[Anonymous No.4368056]

>>4368040
Are you being fucking serious right now? Robin doesn't even have a real henshin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spILjDqKTuo

[Anonymous No.4368087]

>>4365231
I don't know how you would get through without grinding, now that I think about it. Mutants can give themselves stat-ups but only through fighting, and humans need tons of cash to get equipment. Monsters are either useless or OP for one floor and then they're useless again. I remember you can cheat the system and get end-game monsters at the beginning of the game, but saying that breaking the game is normal, expected play is a bit much. So unless you break the game, you're either grinding or losing guys left and right (thus requiring more grinding to get them back up to snuff unless they're humans since you can take their equipment off and give it to new ones, which you had to grind to get anyway because of how expensive they are).

Honestly the first world seems to encourage it, with how they give you an unbeatable equip set but don't let you use it against the boss. It's an open invitation to grind for money and techniques.

[Anonymous No.4368136]

>>4368087
When the game was made grinding was actually somewhat desirable. It was like a way to relax or escape from things. There wasn't the constant flow of stimulus input massaging your brain like in a modern game.

[Anonymous No.4369130]

>>4368087
some people like grinding though, it can be cathartic, and its not that hard to understand either since the human brain is a beast of habit, I mean you already grind every day for a living as it is

[Anonymous No.4369181]

>>4369130
>I mean you already grind every day for a living as it is

[Anonymous No.4369904]

Every time I bring up FFII people recommend I play SaGa, so since you play SaGa, I recommend that you play FFII

[Anonymous No.4370197]

>>4362131
I started playing Romancing Saga 1 and it sucks. The way progression works is absolutely fucked, for example the quest where you save the lizards... you already know the weapon shopkeeper has captured the lizards to make them slaves, but you need the innkeeper to tell you this before you can fight him. This is after you heard lizard noises behind the store, and after the lizard king tells you they are captured.

On top of that, the game is mercilessly padded out by a slow walk speed, massive maps that aren't nearly maze-like enough to justify their size, and dozens upon dozens of roaming enemy mobs in each room. This might be okay if combat was interesting, but it isn't. Just mash attack and you can almost always kill every enemy before they decide to fight back. No encounter so far has forced me to bother with the extra commands. Even if it becomes more interesting in the future, it doesn't justify how braindead these first 10 hours were.

Also, the story is barely even there and generic. The graphics and the music are generic too although at least the music is decent quality. I like the open ended progression, but everything else about the game is pathetic and really makes me appreciate Final Fantasy. Regardless, I am definitely going to try RS3 or the game boy ones at some point cause they look way better than this one.

[Anonymous No.4370374]

>>4370197
>The music is generic
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1k1OsApDSIw
Yeah, naw, fuck off.

[Anonymous No.4370389]

>>4370197
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kv9fXeR2Qb0

[Anonymous No.4370403]

>>4369904
I did. It sucked.

[Anonymous No.4370430]

>>4370374
>only MY opinions are allowed here

You must be 18 or older to access this site.

[Anonymous No.4370781]

>>4370374
Are you retarded? When did I say I was playing Minstrils Song? I'm playing the SNES game entitled Romancing SaGa.

Your post is NOT RETRO.

Also if all you can defend is the music than you must have no argument.

[Anonymous No.4370814]

>>4370430
>Someone says an opinion I don't like so they must be underage ban
Go back to your hug box.
>>4370781
People often say the original is rough at best. There is a reason to why they say play the remake. If you want to stick it out with the original then it is your pain.

[Anonymous No.4370837]

>>4370814
I'm sure the remake is better, almost anything would be, I just wanted to share my thoughts on the original and maybe hear other peoples thoughts. Its kind of an interesting curiosity because its one of the first major rpgs on the super famicom, and its well regarded in japan, but almost no one in the west seems to have discussed it. I'm surprised it is well regarded in japan but this wouldn't be the first time they had bad taste. Anyway I am probably going to keep playing cause I'm a bit of a masochist when it comes to games.

[Anonymous No.4370930]

>>4370814
>Go back to your hug box.

This is your rebuttal to someone calling you underage? Boy, you sure proved that anon wrong.

[Anonymous No.4370981]

How does the battle rank work in SaGa Frontier? Where can I see it? How does it chang and what does it affect?

[Anonymous No.4371017]

>>4370981
It just affects what enemies show up in battles. Honestly, in Frontier it's not much of a big deal and you can get through the game without even acknowledging it

[Anonymous No.4371080]

>>4371017
I don't understand :(

[Anonymous No.4371140]

>>4371080
Ok, so when you win fights you have a counter that goes up. The more fights you have the harder the enemies appear.
So in short "more fights=stronger enemies".

[Anonymous No.4371195]

>>4371140
So I have to only fight certain monsters?

[Anonymous No.4371208]

>>4371195
Yes, you want to pace yourself and fight smart instead of grinding. Focus on strong enemies to get better chances at sparking new techniques. You don't have to avoid -everything- but the game will punish you very harshly if you grind.

[Anonymous No.4371386]

>>4370837
Anon, you aren't taking RS1 in context. It tried a ton of crazy new shit that hadn't been done in other games before, and that's what got people talking. Looking back on it now, it's not that great: that's why they remade it into an almost completely different game. But it was avant garde as fuck back in 1992. Newer SaGa titles are basically just increasingly refined versions of it.

[Anonymous No.4371470]

>>4371386
Perhaps I'm not. Regardless, I think that it doesn't really bring anything to the table that contemporary wrpgs weren't already doing. Ultima for instance did nonlinear progression and recruitable characters and whatnot. It's also really amazing how much more interesting combat is in Final Fantasy, which is already pretty depthless. At least FF had you superficially interacting with enemies instead of just trying to outrace their nukes, if they even have one and bother to use it.

[Anonymous No.4371474]

>>4371386
I wanna add though that despite not finding it innovative I like what it was going for overall and with some major reworking I think the concept could work very well. It seems that's what happens for the sequels.

[Anonymous No.4372218]

>>4362131
>What advice would you give someone who wants to get into the SaGa series?
Pic related.
Don't be afraid of failing, SaGa is different from most other RPG in pretty much everything it does, and even between entries there's a lot of difference, so it's hard to get bored.
It does require a lot of investment, but once you get the common basics and game flow down, it's more or less smooth sailing.
>Are the stories connected, or are they all self contained?
None of the stories are connected, though SaGa always pushed the multiverse theory since the very first game, so you can consider each game to take place in a parallel universe(s)
>>4364438
Eh, SaGa games don't really focus on the story, it's more lore and character focused, the story is almost always about empires and shit because Kawazu is a ancient history junkie, the real focus on the writing is in the characters and situations.
I personally like Romancing SaGa 2 and Frontier 2, mostly because of the Seven Heroes in RS2 and all of the cast in SF2, especially Gustave and the whole Knights family, but the first Frontier also has great characters, and so does Unlimited, especially with people like Laura or Judy and her family.
I feel Scarlet Grace also has some great characters, but it's still the usual empire focused story with themes you'll find in most entries, only a bit more expanded.
You'll probably enjoy Frontier 2 the best if you want a more "story focused" game, you'll also very probably cry like a little girl at times because the game is very somber and melancholic despite the visuals.
>>4371470
>I think that it doesn't really bring anything to the table that contemporary wrpgs weren't already doing
You're very wrong.
>It's also really amazing how much more interesting combat is in Final Fantasy
You must be joking, there's an abyss in terms of combat design between FF and SaGa, but I'll give you that the first Romancing game is highly unpolished.

[Anonymous No.4372248]

>>4371470
Final Fantasy has depthless combat compared to what JRPG?

[Anonymous No.4372249]

>>4372248
Romancing SaGa 1

[Anonymous No.4372251]

>>4372218
Have you played Ultima? Can you describe one thing that Romancing SaGa 1 did that was innovative?

[Anonymous No.4372254]

>>4372248
Sorry, I answered that backwards.

Almost all JRPGs have depthless combat, Final Fantasy included. Although by the standards of the genre, its one of the better ones. That isn't saying much though. To be clear lets say I'm talking about the combat specifically in FF4.

[Anonymous No.4372263]

>>4372251
>Can you describe one thing that Romancing SaGa 1 did that was innovative?
Learning abilities mid combat by fighting for instance.

[Anonymous No.4372267]

>>4368056
IMO it's a bit too complicated for the kind of music, and a strange choice of instruments.

[Anonymous No.4372453]

>>4372263
That isn't how it works, weapon level ups don't occur until after combat, and new skills only are learned by level ups.

[Anonymous No.4372552]

so you want to dilly-dally?
bye

[Anonymous No.4372579]

>>4372453
Had a brain fart, you're right, that stuff came only with Romancing SaGa 2.

[Anonymous No.4374465]

>>4372251
playing techno music in sewers

[Anonymous No.4374607]

>>4374465
>Go to sewer dungeon
>Filled with undeads and mages performing dark rituals and human sacrifices
>Groovy Techno/Disco music starts playing
>mfw
No wonder the undeads in Minstrel Song have a Thriller reference in their attack animations.

[Anonymous No.4376975]

>>4374465
>>4374607
which SaGa game has this?

[Anonymous No.4376986]

>>4376975
Romancing SaGa 1 and Minstrel Song

[Anonymous No.4377026]

What are the best guides for each of the three Romancing SaGa games? I want to experience these games but not drive myself to crazy with the systems.

[Anonymous No.4377430]

>>4376975
First Romancing SaGa and the PS2 remake, Minstrel Song.
The track is so groovy and out of place it became a meme in Japan, if you search 下水道(Sewers) on Google one of the top results is the track from the games.
Ito himself is very fond of the piece and often plays it on his concerts, there's also many other arrangements made by fans or doujin bands because it's one of the most popular tracks in the franchise.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aJgGr1T750
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBqvopxjKHE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_ZeqNU-eUU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaON5eme0HA
>>4377026
>What are the best guides for each of the three Romancing SaGa games?
There are none, unless you want to follow the broken and incomplete english ones on Gamefaqs.
>I want to experience these games but not drive myself to crazy with the systems.
I don't really understand this since driving yourself crazy with the systems is one of the reason you play these games, nevertheless, reading a guide on mechanics won't help you all that much, there are some incomplete mechanical guides on Romancing SaGa 2 and 3 on gamefaqs, but only the JP wikis have complete and in-depth explanations of the systems, or what they managed to crack through hacking.

Needless to say, you can also ask here if you need some explanation about the system, as long as you like to read of course.

[Anonymous No.4377473]

I'm playing SaGa Frontier for the first time after only playing RS3. I'm enjoying it a lot but are there actual side quests? It feels like I'm just doing stuff without any consequence. I'm playing as Emelia who's really shit with guns and I've just been grinding between missions and killed a boss for a rune. I just can't seem to find any NPCs that kick off a proper side quest.

[Anonymous No.4377478]

>>4377026
WeekendRisktaker for RS2 is pretty good for a walkthrough, but not particularly for mechanics, which is basically scattered in several forum posts with no attempts at compilation.

For the PS2 Romancing Saga remake (because I don't think anyone cares about the original), Ramtieger is pretty good for System Mechanics - there's something telling about how complex Saga is that he dropped updating it and there's still incomplete portions, but the text file is already more than 1 mb huge.

[Anonymous No.4377486]

>>4377473
Luminous has the super short sidequests for Light/Shadow magic.
Devin will point you in the direction of the more involved Rune/Arcane magic sidequest

[Anonymous No.4377493]

>>4377473
>I'm enjoying it a lot but are there actual side quests?
The only real sidequests you can do are the magic school ones, there's some other stuff like Furdo's Workshop in the Magic Kingdom or the Biolab in Shrike, but due to various constraints in development the content you can do in those places is not tied to any real quest flag like the magic quests, it's basically stuff like exploring dungeons and getting some loot or killing some unique boss/doing puzzles.
The NPCs that give you the flags to start the magic quests chains are in Devin, you can also go to Luminous and do the Shadow or Light quest, bear in mind that you can get the gift for either schools only for the people that you currently recruited, and since they're opposing schools if you do one dungeon you'll skip the other, though you can still send other party members to get the gift, they'll just go and return almost instantly.

[Anonymous No.4377514]

>>4377486
>>4377493
Thanks. In that case, I came across the magic sidequests already.

>>4377493
>due to various constraints in development
Damn, that's really depressing. I came acrosss the Biolab already but figured that I had to flag something to progress.

Goddammit. Isn't there a complete, polished SaGa game with lots of sidequests, isn't too beginner-scary and isn't Minstrel Song (which I forgot to mention I played already)?

[Anonymous No.4377753]

>>4377514
>Goddammit. Isn't there a complete, polished SaGa game with lots of sidequests, isn't too beginner-scary and isn't Minstrel Song
I think the only games that fill that description might be Romancing SaGa 3 and the DS SaGa remakes, I'd say The Last Remnant too but I don't think that's beginner friendly at all, and even Romancing SaGa 3 has some pending questlines like Tatyana's.

I don't personally think any SaGa game is polished, the vast majority of games aren't anyway and the concept of polish in games is really arguable anyway, most of the time it's just gut feeling or some vague description.
SaGa games might give you that impression more than others because the narrative is open ended most of the time so it might seem that a lot of stuff was left unfinished or put there just because, which makes it pretty hard to distinguish between actual cut content or proper content, especially since unlike other directors Kawazu is pretty direct in the various interviews or memos he writes, a good part of the Essence of SaGa Frontier was in fact about all the stuff that they cut from the game, same about SaGa Frontier 2 when it came to a few story segments that didn't make it in the game and were published as a novel, other directors aren't really that honest when it comes to cut content, see the recent mess that happened with FFXV for instance, another game that was published evidently unfinished.
I personally think that RS2, Frontier 2 or Unlimited are all quite polished, but mainly because they have a tight set of systems and some good overall design choices in terms of environments, scenarios and enemies that makes them a more solid experience than other games where the balance and design is questionable, and all of these still have some unfinished content, just like the other games where it's more "evident", I mean, we know by word of God that Tatyana's quest wasn't implemented and it remained a background story, but what about the Crystal Ruins, or Galatea?

[Anonymous No.4377765]

>>4377753
good lord, anon, work on your syntax. your posts are nigh illegible.

i mean, look at this:
>I personally think that RS2, Frontier 2 or Unlimited are all quite polished, but mainly because they have a tight set of systems and some good overall design choices in terms of environments, scenarios and enemies that makes them a more solid experience than other games where the balance and design is questionable, and all of these still have some unfinished content, just like the other games where it's more "evident", I mean, we know by word of God that Tatyana's quest wasn't implemented and it remained a background story, but what about the Crystal Ruins, or Galatea?

it's a single fucking sentence!

[Anonymous No.4377773]

>>4377765
Sorry, I just wrote my train of thought on the spur of the moment, it's hard to control autism sometimes.

[Anonymous No.4377774]

>>4377765
For just pennies a day we can teach this man to cope with his autism.

[Anonymous No.4377789]

>>4377026
You aren't experiencing the games if you look up quest guides constantly or how game mechanics work on a deep level. A basic over view is all you need then you have to feel everything out for yourself. That is how you experience a SaGa game.

[Anonymous No.4377836]

>>4377753
I think Minstrel Song and RS3 just gave me the wrong impression of the series. What I was looking for in SF1 was the usual: talk to someone, act on hints and discover a sidequest. Are the Romancing Saga games kind of like a subseries, as in that gameplay is common to all of them? Or do other Saga games have a similar quest process?

And do the other characters work the same way as Emelia? Since her scenario so far involves talking to the boss guy to advance her main storyline and when you're done with a mission you spend time exploring while the cooldown timer zeroes out. It's not a bad formula, I just wasn't sure if I was missing something.

[Anonymous No.4377860]

>>4377836
All the character quests in SaGa Frontier are different and have a different means of progression.

In a basic sense, they all have a part where you're set loose onto the regions, and a few of them have a little bit of detective work that the game characters mostly take care of for you.

[Anonymous No.4377871]

>>4377774

These threads are mostly just autism. I'm starting to hate the series simply out of spite.

[Anonymous No.4377886]

>>4377871
>I can't be a success so I just make a mess
why do I feel like you shit your pants until an advanced age as a child

[Anonymous No.4377916]

>>4377836
>Are the Romancing Saga games kind of like a subseries, as in that gameplay is common to all of them?
I wouldn't say they are a subseries, the Romancing naming comes originally from the romance between Raphael and Constance in the first game, the recurrent theme of romance in the trilogy is there to some extent, coupled with a leitmotif, but there's nothing that really separates the trilogy from the rest despite the naming convention.
>What I was looking for in SF1 was the usual: talk to someone, act on hints and discover a sidequest
That's present in Frontier too, you probably still haven't noticed, but that's mostly because Emilia's scenario is pretty focused on the main quest, and most of the ties between rumours and NPC dialogues are only explained by playing different MCs' scenarios, the most evident one being the skeleton talking about Gen in Koorong, keep on playing and you'll find the usual stuff.
>And do the other characters work the same way as Emelia?
SF has all characters have specific gimmicks and sometimes progression, Emilia can use different costumes(which change her spark tables) and receives some paycheck from Roufas after each main quest segment, none of the other characters have those, moreover, Emilia can choose to advance her own main quest whenever, whereas Asellus for instance can't and has a specific method of advancing through her main quest.
>>4377871
Yeah anon, you post this in every goddamn SaGa thread made on /vr/ or whenever someone mentions the series, we get it, you're the only true SaGa Fan™ and all others are autistic waifufags.
Aren't you gonna mention all the moeshit/waifushit posted in this thread too, like you do all the times?

[Anonymous No.4378417]

Are there any other games similar to Blue's quest in SF1? Having to become a powerful wizard before your rival does kind of thing. I heard it was originally supposed to be timed where you can't get the spells Rouge gets.

[Anonymous No.4378429]

>>4377916
Red gets a paycheck though

[Anonymous No.4378435]

>>4378429
Red gets deez nutz

[Anonymous No.4378438]

>>4377916
>Aren't you gonna mention all the moeshit/waifushit posted in this thread too, like you do all the times?
SaGa has the best husbandos for fujoshi and waifus for /men though, it's basically a joseinen rpg series if you consider how many of it's fans are hitting their 30s now.

[Anonymous No.4378494]

>>4377916
>you post this in every goddamn SaGa thread

Uh no I don't. I'm not interested in this franchise beyond the Game Boy games. Apparently I'm not the first anon to call you an autist either.

[Anonymous No.4378536]

>>4378417
Only game that comes to mind with a similar theme is Battle Mages, but it's a RTS, check it out though, it's pretty neat.
>>4378429
Right, I forgot, Red does get a paycheck for his prologue.
>>4378438
>it's basically a joseinen rpg series if you consider how many of it's fans are hitting their 30s now.
It pretty much is, if you look at the people who were at the various festival events like the SaGa Cafè, the theater play for RS3 or the other events in the Saga prefecture they're pretty much all in their 30's or late twenties.

[Anonymous No.4378558]

I've tried playing both Frontier 1 and 2 and can't get into them. I feel like I'm playing something that was only 10% finished. I really want to play them but I can't. What am I doing wrong?

[Anonymous No.4378572]

>>4378494
Not him, but the tone of your posts lead me to think you're full of shit. Why don't you fuck off and find a new thread to shitpost in? /v/ seems more your speed.

[Anonymous No.4378579]

>>4378558
What does exactly feel 10% finished?
Especially in Frontier 2, I really don't see what you're talking about

[Anonymous No.4378580]

>>4378558
You're right in that it's rather unfinished. It's not the best of the SaGa games. You're best off starting with Red or Blue's story as they have some good rails that cover a sizable chunk of the setting.

[Anonymous No.4378592]

fuck saga and fuck all white people

[Anonymous No.4379568]

>>4378558
Which character did you choose?

[Anonymous No.4380054]

So, why is it "SaGa" instead of just "Saga"? I feel kinda weird typing the former...

[Anonymous No.4380301]

>>4380054
>I feel kinda weird
that's the point

[Anonymous No.4381137]

what's a good build for Emilia

[Anonymous No.4381187]

>>4381137
Surprisingly in her normal incarnation she's great with swords, in her own quest Pink Tiger turns her into Liza which makes her great at fighting and Guns/Magic, while Dancer costume gives her Annie's weird spark tree which fills out all her unknown techniques.

Annie is great in speedruns but otherwise terrible. Emilia in her ordinary costume is much better at basically everything.

Emilia is also dumb as bricks without the Pink Tiger costume, and so is Annie, so I generally just try (hope) to get them to learn Light Sword and some other quality of life spells like Glass Shield or Mind Heal, and then I quit.

I regularly pick up Emilia as a sidekick with other characters because she just makes such a great second-swordsman.

[Anonymous No.4382098]

>>4381137
Dual guns Trick Shot + MecSonata = unreasonably high damage

[Anonymous No.4382459]

>>4380054
Because it looks cool.
>>4381137
Depends whether she's your main or a side character, >>4381187 explained it perfectly, as a main you can get her to do pretty much anything well but magic/guns since you can swap costumes around, as a side she's locked to her standard version, so she's pretty much a sword user in terms of natural talents, but you could also say fuck you to natural talents and develop her the way you want, I usually give guns to her anyway because of her concept art, and in the Charlie's Angel trio someone gotta use guns.

[Anonymous No.4382880]

>>4382459
>and in the Charlie's Angel trio someone gotta use guns.
That someone is Roufas.

I actually rarely get to use Asellus in Emilia's scenario because it's way to easy to just use Roufas and Rouge as your 4th and 5th party members.

Asellus with Fighting techniques is a blast though.

[Anonymous No.4383119]

>>4381187
this is why emilia is great as first character, that and easy access to liza who basically can solo the game, gets you nice and familiar with its mechanics.

Asellus is still best waifu tho

[Anonymous No.4384135]

>>4383119
how does Liza get to be so powerful? How else do you recruit her?

[Anonymous No.4384149]

>I tried drawing a lonely Asellus, based on her feelings of isolation from being neither Human nor Mystic. Using a composition from the back makes it difficult to tell her gender and makes the image feel ambiguous.

[Anonymous No.4384160]

>>4384149
Actually it's a reference to a heavy metal album.

[Anonymous No.4384180]

when's rs3 remake lads

[Anonymous No.4384183]

Can you name a game that has a similar setting and characters as SaGa Frontier? I got so attached to this unusually world.

[Anonymous No.4384184]

>>4384180
in your butt

[Anonymous No.4384197]

>>4384183
no

but you might like star ocean 2 a little bit

[Anonymous No.4384207]

If you talk to Virgil after the duel with Rouge, he says “Here comes the ultimate magician. You have no more business here,” and kicks you out of the room.

[Anonymous No.4384370]

The Asellus scenario was written by a damn woman, a WOMAN

[Anonymous No.4384494]

>>4384370

That makes a lot of sense honestly

[Anonymous No.4384501]

>>4384135
>how does Liza get to be so powerful?

There's no real story explanation for it but she has the best learning curve for martial arts skills in the whole game and learns the skills needed for the Dream Super Combo in a fraction of the time as anyone else.

as for how to get her it depends on the character. She won't join Aseulles, Rikki, Lute or T260g. Joins as part of Emilia's story and you can get her or Rufus in Red's story after Annie joins. If you pick Rufus you're a moron.

[Anonymous No.4384526]

Why won't anyone translate these games? You'd think a series from one of the biggest companies would garner some kind of interest in translating, but nobody fucking touches the RS games. Are they afraid to? Did somebody call Dibs and nobody wants to interfere? What the fuck is the issue here, they can't be that complicated to deal with.

[Anonymous No.4384529]

>>4384501
it's Dangerous Suplex Combo

[Anonymous No.4384530]

>>4384183
SaGa 1 and 2.

[Anonymous No.4384534]

>>4384526
What do you mean, Romancing SaGa 2 has an official translation, Romancing SaGa 1 got a PS2 remake and it got it in English as well. It is only Romancing SaGa 3 that has a fan translation and it is in English as well. So yes, you can play all of the games in English. You'd be restricted in not being able to play the games designed for mobile or the newest entry.

[Anonymous No.4384540]

>>4384534
RS2 on SNES just has a shit partial translation, and fuck trying to play the mobile port on a fucking phone.
I have Minstrel Song but it would be nice to actually play RS1. And just how translated is RS3? I was under the assumption it only had a partial translation as well.

[Anonymous No.4384546]

>>4384540
>I have Minstrel Song but it would be nice to actually play RS1.
Uh, the original RS1 for SNES does have a full translation out already.

>And just how translated is RS3? I was under the assumption it only had a partial translation as well.
RS3's translation is complete, it's just cleaned up machine translation tier

[Anonymous No.4384582]

>>4384546
You have educated me, good sir. Thanks, for realsies.

[Anonymous No.4386550]

>>4384540
There's a retranslation of RS3 on the way, it will probably take more liberties with the source material but at least it's written by a real human being.

[Anonymous No.4386559]

>>4386550
There's also an official port to phones coming as well. The RS2 port to phones was really good aside from the movement controls. Pure port with polished visuals, none of Square's "Here have some shoehorned in fancy dungeons" bullshit like in FF1.

[Anonymous No.4386595]

is it just me or does everything about SaGa seem a lot more feminine than most jrpgs

[Anonymous No.4386609]

>>4386595
The games are literally tumblr, one of the main characters is a turbo dyke

[Anonymous No.4386616]

>>4386609
One main character out of like thirty?

[Anonymous No.4386637]

>>4386609
>tumblr
I said feminine, not feminist

[Anonymous No.4386661]

>>4386609
>He couldn't beat the Green Sage

[Anonymous No.4386672]

>>4386595
Kobayashi's artwork probably has a lot to do with it.

[Anonymous No.4386709]

>>4386595
I don't know, there's more old men or adult characters in general than most JRPGs around, Kobayashi has a more josei aesthetic than most artist, but I wouldn't call it feminine, especially when there's stuff like Atelier.
>>4386609
Guess Tezuka was also literally tumblr since Asellus is heavily inspired by Sapphire from Ribbon no Kishi.

[Anonymous No.4386741]

>>4386595
SaGa Frontier is the manliest JRPG I have played in my life

[Anonymous No.4386752]

>>4386741
I don't know, can you nuke God then chainsaw him to pieces?

[Anonymous No.4386765]

>>4386752
I always wondered whether the chainsaw was a reference to The Evil Dead.

[Anonymous No.4386783]

>>4386752
Superheroes and 40 hit conbos are much manlier to be frank

[Anonymous No.4386818]

>>4372248
Any SMT game

[Anonymous No.4386835]

>>4377765
Holy shit or just gain some reading comprehension you fucking idiot

[Anonymous No.4386842]

>>4386752
What game?

[Anonymous No.4387147]

>>4386842
The first SaGa game.

[Anonymous No.4387325]

>>4386835
i think we should all make an effort to uphold a certain standard in the use of the english language. i don't see why we should legitimate the bastardization of our language. do you?

[Anonymous No.4387332]

>>4386835

No one should be expected to try to parse through your lingual fuckups. Have some common courtesy and don't be a piece of shit.

[Anonymous No.4387593]

>>4386818
How so? Final Fantasy was the series that brought elemental weaknesses to JRPGs since the guy working on the battle system saw that JRPGs were doing pure nonelemental magic and no weaknesses or resistances like in western games or table top.

Hell, modern SMTs battle mechanics revolve heavily around elemental weaknesses and resistances.

[Anonymous No.4387645]

Wow. Another awesome general that's just shitposting and autistic sperging. Now all we need is some tripfags and we'll have a quality /vg/ circlejerk.

[Le BogeyMan Quality User No.4387682]

>>4387645
Sorry am i too late?

[Anonymous No.4387684]

>>4387682
>Le

[Anonymous No.4387695]

>>4387645
This isn't the Doom thread though.

[Anonymous No.4387708]

>>4387645
it's just a bunch of trolls piggybacking the discussion because they hate the concept of other people not being as miserable and misanthropic as they are

[Anonymous No.4388357]

Hey I'm American

[Anonymous No.4388626]

One year later and we still haven't gotten the damn RS2 port for the Vita. Is it that hard translating the port of a phone remake of a game from 20 years ago?

[Anonymous No.4388689]

>>4388626
I'm considering it cancelled, they haven't even brought it up since like january.

[Anonymous No.4388910]

>>4388626
The bigwigs at Squenix probably blocked it because it wouldn't make them enough money since Vita is basically dead in the west.
It sucks we didn't get it on a proper console, but corporations are like that.
You can emulate it on PC anyway.

[Anonymous No.4389147]

>>4363360
>Play SaGa frontier
>No idea about how stats are gained/calculated or anything else.
>Don't care and just amble through the game anyway completely oblivious to character building and complete the first chapter I did.

I would complain not understanding the mechanics would be a problem, but since you can finish the game without knowing it anyway, it's really not. That's like saying Diablo 2 isn't worth playing because you don't understand how some of the more esoteric skills interact with each other, such as Slows Target and Chill Effectiveness. You don't have to completely understand the inner workings of the engine to drive the car.

[Anonymous No.4389163]

>>4389147
i wish i didn't have to understand how girls work to get a gf

[Anonymous No.4389208]

>>4389163
you don't you just need money and the ability to brute force your way through social situations

[Anonymous No.4389237]

>>4389208
Last time I tried the second part I served ten years for rape.

[Anonymous No.4389239]

>>4389237
you must have not had enough money then

daddy trump says that everyone has a price, you just have to name it for them

[Anonymous No.4389248]

>>4389239
That got me five years for soliciting a whore.

[Anonymous No.4389289]

>>4389248
you're supposed to pay them off after you rape them you fool

[Anonymous No.4389569]

What SaGa should I start with

[Anonymous No.4389575]

>>4389569
Final Fantasy Legend II if you want to ve eased in, and it is also short. Saga Frontier is a good point as well.

[Anonymous No.4390774]

>>4384529
>it's Dangerous Suplex Combo

Really? Ive been going off the US strategy guide