Thoughts on the Romancing SaGa series?

>>715617167 (OP)
quite possibly the ugliest art style I've ever seen, topped only by bravely second

Minstrel Song is the best in the RS series if not SaGa in general. I also really love how the game looks. Never played the original.
RotS is disappointing as a safe remake with boring art direction, but it's still good due to being so safe a remake.
RS3 is the weakest of the three but it has some really great moments. I hope they try to change it a little more if they remake it, but I expect a RotS treatment.

>>715617535
normal looking human models wouldnt fit the battle animations. it's supposed to be a 3d abtraction of a snes game. bad proportions come with the package.

>>715619063
>you just don't get it, it's SUPPOSED to look ugly
real yoko vibes there

>>715617167 (OP)
Been playing the new Romancing SaGa 2
Loving it so far

>>715619926
>make the characters so they look good from a fixed side view angle of the battle scene like they were 16 bit sprites
>unlock the camera so they look like garbage 99% of the time
it's about the novelty.

>>715620347
>make the characters only look good from one specific perspective because it's cheaper and easier
>design the game in a 3D space to keep up with the times
funny how the rest of the industry was simply able to make characters look good from all angles during the transition to 3D, except this hack.

>>715620347
What's the combat/ gameplay like? I don't get hung up on things like visuals because I'm not a tryhard immersionfag

never played any saga game
can anyone tell me why i should waste time on this? not on something good.

>>715621412
It's a good game!

Thoughts on Emerald Beyond?

>>715617167 (OP)
At this point I think I like them better than FF, but I don't like scarlet and emerald, I hope they move away from it, especially the format for storytelling, but I get the feeling that's a budget problem.

>>715617167 (OP)
3D chibi humans is unironically the worst aesthetic of any aesthetic to ever aesthetic.

>>715621324
the combat is probably the most refined iteration of SaGa. theres very little tedium to the battles since you start with full hp always and you replenish mana every turn. the game doesnt really hold your hand so you gotta make your own goals and stumble upon content.

>>715621827
I refuse to play it because there's a muslim in it.

>>715622014
Interesting, I'll give that, and the series as well a fair shake. Thanks, Anon

Getting back into Saga Frontier and I started with Red. Where the fuck do I go?

>>715617167 (OP)
Saga is godawful, but Romancing 2 Remake is god-tier. literally the ONLY good saga game
t. have tried every saga game

>>715622641
>new game good
>old game bad

>>715617167 (OP)
emerald beyond and unlimited saga are fucking awful

>>715623024
>unlimited saga
Filtered i see

>>715623024
>Typing in lower case
ESL opinion discarded

>>715621827
The tedious trading is the worst part about the game by far. I did all 5 stories once, and it's hard to jump back in and deal with it.
Combat is great and definitely a big improvement over SG on that front. I just wish the enemies forced timeline manipulation more often, and the game isn't much of a challenge outside of superbosses.

>>715617167 (OP)
i really like that PS2 remake.
i didn't play the original back in the day, because it never released in the states. i eventually did on emulator.
i can appreciate a lot of things it was trying to do and think it's too bad no other JRPGs really picked up on that trend.
good soundtrack.
artstyle could be worse, at least it's not Radiata Stories.

>>715623140
I'm hoping a remaster comes out this year, since SaGa's remasters have basically made it a yearly series for a while. It's the only one left excluding the DS remakes.

>>715617939
I agree with everything said here.
I think more about replaying minstrel song than I do 2 or 3

>meet mermaid
>start quest related to her
>finish main quest in-between
>100 years have passed
>mermaid is still waiting for you to meet her
Defend this

>>715617167 (OP)
Minstrel Song is peak of JRPGs. Never had a sense of adventure from a video game that Minstrel Song had.
>>715621827
It's good, but a different focus on battles from Scarlet Grace. You either line your characters up for big combo damage, or make it so the enemies can't combo. A lot more "faster" paved combat from Scarlet Grace. Fun combat, but there's a lot to be desired from when it comes to exploration. It's the most on-rails idiot proof SaGa game when it comes to knowing where the next progression point is at.
>>715622592
Where ever you want. Have to travel around on the Cygnus a bit before you get to really be on your own. All the territories you visited should be major hints in where you should explore.

>>715624797
Thanks for the insight

>>715617167 (OP)
Minstrel Song is insane, I love it yet I can never seem to beat a single run. Battle Rank and Event Rank(?) are hard to understand and always fuck me up.
Frontier is awesome I've finished it multiple times (PSX and Steam).
Frontier 2 is cool but not as good.
Scarlet Grace is great but really low budget even compared to other SaGa.
I love Romancing SaGa 2, haven't played the remake because it looks generic and boring.
Emerald Beyond... never bothered with it because it looks extremely fucking gay and pozzed (even by SaGa standards)

>it looks extremely fucking gay and pozzed
>he says this on the Romancing SaGa thread

>>715617167 (OP)
Need more SaGa likes in general.

>>715617167 (OP)
SaGa is my favorite JRPG series easily
Although I'd rank Frontier above all of the Romancing titles

>>715617167 (OP)
SaGa are some of the best rpgs for numerous reasons including minimal cutscenes and maximal freedom.

>>715623704
Radiata Stories artstyle looks way better than Romancing Sagas lol

Romancing Saga 2 is one of the greatest JRPGs of all time.
Romancing Saga 3 is excellent.
Never was able to get into 1. And by that I mean the PS2 version.

>Structure is similar to Saga

>>715629893
Kawazu was a producer on Legend of Mana after all

>>715623920
>I'm hoping a remaster comes out this year
Didn't we get Frontier 2 this year?

>>715630359
Yeah but that anon wants an Unlimited SaGa remaster

>>715630401
Same. That game is so fucking fun if you just give it a chance.

How does the Romancing Saga 2 remake run on Switch 2?

>>715630548
Runs fine. It has 7th gen style texture pop in though if that bothers you.

>Tfw

>>715629539
Legend of Legacy was alright. Not as good as other entries of the SaGa series, but still better than the average RPG. Just thought contracting elements was lame since you had to do it while the enemy doesn't, and you often needed a defensive character thus down to two actions a turn instead of three.

Maybe I'll eventually pick up Alliance Alive.

>>715630937
Secret of Varonis is quite solid.

>>715630514
I'd be interested in Unlimited SaGa with enough QoL improvements that it doesn't make 9/10 players want to die, make that 5/10 and we're gold

>>715631031
It looks fucking terrible though.
>dude what if GB except... we just spread everything around just because!
Just fucking make it in 160x144 at that point and be authentic.

>>715631089
Billions must reel.

>>715631089
Unlimited SaGa is actually an IRL 閃き simulator where you bang your head against it for long enough until you have your own sudden realization about how the game is supposed to be played.

>>715631125
Looks great while you're playing it, but I'm not much of a graphics whore.
>>715631089
What QOL would you want? Maybe some more tips about smithing, that shit almost needed a guide.

>>715631249
>Looks great while you're playing it
No, it just looks retarded.
People want to cosplay as having -certain- retro limitations without ever considering how the rest of the limitations interacted with them to make the rest of the game feel like one cohesive whole.

>>715631428
I don't need to cosplay anything, I owned an OG gameboy. The game shoots for an aesthetic and it nails it. Besides which only dorks would put aside a game over graphics.

>>715631751
>only dorks would put aside a game over graphics
No, people with good taste understand that these fake retro games are a big red flag all on their own that signifies that the creator was unable to adhere to simple rules about making an authentic recreation of something they claim to like - so what ELSE did they not understand about the source material that they will make an even bigger mockery of?

>>715631905
They can be inspired by something and have fond memories of it without feeling the need to make a 1:1 recreation of it.

Do you have an issue with False Skies as well because that's not exactly how the gameboy looked?

>>715617167 (OP)
Romancing SaGa Minstrel Song and 2 are my favorite RPGs ever. I enjoyed RS3 as well but not as much as the other two, or as much as SaGa Scarlet Grace or Emerald Beyond if we're going beyond the Romancing series.
Crazy how this is like the only long running series that actually experiments with campaign and character progression mechanics.

>>715617167 (OP)
Any game made by Akitoshi Kawazu is utter non sense but very few games are more utter nonsense than unlimited saga, the game where wizards become better at casting spells by practicing Kung Fu

>>715632371
Nah, it kinda makes sense. Chi manipulation.

>>715632371
Kawazu kino.

>>715632153
Yes, I think the dev is a huge retard as well for advertising his game on /vrpg/ by insulting the OG GB SaGa games.

>>715632523
Well we're all autistic on here. We just have conflicting flavours of autism. All the best.

>>715629747
shame radiata stories is total kusoge gameplaywise

>>715633238
Nah? It's great. It's a solid alternative to the Tales series. I love how you can attack every NPC. Not even close to kusoge - unlike trash like Dawn of Mana.

I am still mad the nereids in the remake of Saga 2 lose their tails

Also remake Rocbouquet may be the hottest design I've seen in a while

>>715617167 (OP)
It didnt take until Unlimited SaGa for the series to have actual good dungeon design and mechanics, but then people ended up not liking it for some reason. It still irks me since that game gave me a feeling of adventure better than any of the Romancing games that gets gassed up by the community more. Like the only thing MS has over that is cooler lore, but thats just me
A game with with an improved version of USaGa's overworld design, dungeon mechanics, and Emerald Beyond's' battle system would be some real kamige.

>>715634673
You might enjoy Dungeon Encounters. It gave me some similar feelings. Not nearly as good, but still fun.

>>715634673
>for some reason
it wasnt executed well. that's the reason. if the game was just bit more orthodox it would had worked. like make the board game grid based instead of having to hold stick in arbitraty angles.

why do scarlet and emerald look off?

>>715634673
Unlimited has great dungeon design and mechanics but a lot of it takes a backseat compared to the older games, it's a great dungeon crawler but the campaigns blows and the combat itself has some seriously massive oversights.
SaGa has the habit of swinging wildly between hyperfocusing on some specific aspects at the cost of everything else like the mainlines with Unlimited onwards or you get a rather average package like the Romancing games, if they will ever get the money to achieve what you mentioned they'll probably solve RPGs forever though.

I have never beaten the jewel beast in Minstrel's Song before event rank 17. Maybe it's possible with like NG+20 but at NG+0 or 1 I don't see how it's possible.

Favorite Minstrel Song party member ? For me it's Neidhart

>If the difference between God and Man is power, then we need you not !

>>715636401
Love me gecklings.

>>715636193
If you sequence break for good equipment and abuse some specific setups you can do it just fine, you do need to know what you're doing though.
>>715636401
Guella-Ha, but I also love Gray's buddies, Darque and Aldora

>>715636193
I did it once but it took me many retries spamming chalice on the zombie dragon pillars and I had to make an extra trip to the underground nisa temple to recharge chalice too.

Any advice on having fun in Last Remnant ? I start it up every couple years but I always kinda give up somewhere after the four fortresses, it never feels like my teams consolidate into something I feel is cool or effective it all feels like random bullshit that ends up working.

>>715636401
the holy trinity of dogshit bp: galachad, gian and herman

>>715636553
>good equipment
Damage isn't really the problem so much as going first with the whole team, and I can't say I ever understood how speed works in this game

I enjoyed the very few story I got but the grind is insane, even for JRPG standards
I don't think I've ever played a run for more than 20 hours, and out of those like 30min-45min is following the story
I don't think I ever reached even 20% of the story
In fact I may re-play it, grind for 20 hours and not even get half the story again
That's my experience with Romancing saga, I've done this about 3 times already, when I was 12, 24, and 32 a couple years ago.

>>715636945
AGI is the main factor when it comes to turn order but there's still the usual dice roll for initiative for every round and that can lead to pretty wild variations unless you build for speed, Trick mode weapons help a lot as well.
The other thing about turn order is that every tech has their own special properties for that too, some stuff like Still Blade has Delay which means you act later than you normally would while other things have Fast which gives you priority over anything else that isn't Fast.
When it comes to the Pillar fights I just get a mage like Patrick or Myriam with Overdrive and spam Chalice until everything's dead, you do have to treck back to the Temple of Nisa to recharge it, but it's a surefire strategy.

>>715637471
do you do anything specific to make sure overdrive goes first ?

>>715637626
No, I just put the caster all the way in the back rows with some castle knight being ready to deflect stray hits.

>>715635903
I love the autistic details in unlimited saga like every character having weight which affects rescue chance.

>>715617167 (OP)
I loved FFL2, RS 2 and 3, Frontier
I'm kind of unwilling to dive into the otthers, I find myself sooner replaying games I already know inside out.

>>715637779
fair enough, but if it's two pillars per chalice that sounds like a real fucking pain in the ass kek

>>715637807
>martial arts change entirely based on character weight
>forging has mostly coherent mechanics like adding carbon based materials to an iron base to create steel items
>skills like swimming actually changes your character stats in a way that makes sense so you can make a /fit/izen build
>spells have an actual use outside of fights like opening magic chests, cooling lava or destroying/creating obstacles
>fucking environment humidity is an actual mechanic
>mfw
It's a a bit of a shame SSG and EB went the opposite way and removed dungeons entirely, maybe one day we'll get a game that is incredibly autistic in every single detail and doesn't cut anything

>>715638997
All that sounds awesome