VGCollect Forum
General and Gaming => Classic Video Games => Topic started by: darko on January 24, 2013, 03:39:19 pm
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So, I've been under a rock. What's up with the Saga Frontier series?
Part 1 & 2 on the PS? Are there more? Are they any good?
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I have SaGa Frontier II. It's pretty sweet and the graphics are awesome. It's all hand drawn and seems to hold up really well for an older game. There are 2 storylines to play too. I've only strached the surface w/ it though and haven't had time to devote to it.
I need to find a nice copy of SaGa Frontier I though.
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I havent messed with the SaGa Frontier games yet. Ive heard that the first game had potential but it kind of wasted it. II is supposed to fix what the first one was supposed to have.
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I loved SaGa Frontier II - was one of the first RPGS I played where I felt like everything I did actually meant something. Not sure if it actually worked that way (I was in my early teens), but it felt that way, and I loved the art style and the whole package. The fact that you get to play as different protagonists was fascinating to me at the time as I'd never played a game like that before.
Never tried the first one, but I've been meaning to get it as I've always wanted to try it.
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I've heard that the first one is really, really amazing. It's just complicated and difficult. I'm kind of intrigued by both.
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SaGa Frontier is part of the SaGa series, no? I haven't quite figured it out (or looked it up on wikipedia), but I'm assuming it's a branch off like Persona from the SMT franchise.
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Here is a review of both games from RPGfan
http://rpgfan.com/reviews/sagafrontier/SaGa_Frontier.html
http://rpgfan.com/reviews/sagafrontier2/SaGa_Frontier_2-5.html
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Here is a review of both games from RPGfan
http://rpgfan.com/reviews/sagafrontier/SaGa_Frontier.html
http://rpgfan.com/reviews/sagafrontier2/SaGa_Frontier_2-5.html
1: Gameplay 88%, Graphics 80%
2: Gameplay 87%, Graphics 97%
I'll take both!
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Saga Frontier is decent until you have no direction on where to go, which happens in every character's story. Then it's frustrating and not fun.
Or playing the superhero story and getting killed immediately if you don't get a lucky shot in. Not necessarily fun, but frustrating.
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Have both of 'em in the backlog.
Think they're 'related' to Romancing SaGa (played; IMHO = 6.5 - 7/10) & Unlimited SaGa (haven't played).
I'm pretty sure that the main "connection"/commonalities (other than art/sound) = having ~5 to 7 different characters/routes to play through as...w/ some overlapping.
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Unlimited SaGa (haven't played).
Heh, I want to hear what you think of Unlimited SaGa when you get to it. The only game I can remember where I rented it, got to my first battle, had NO idea what I was doing (despite having played other RPGs before), rinse, repeat, took the game out of the console and returned it to Blockbuster Video.
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Unlimited SaGa (haven't played).
Heh, I want to hear what you think of Unlimited SaGa when you get to it. The only game I can remember where I rented it, got to my first battle, had NO idea what I was doing (despite having played other RPGs before), rinse, repeat, took the game out of the console and returned it to Blockbuster Video.
Hah!
I've heard that USaGa's very much a "Love-it-or-hate-it" kinda game :P
Then again...I *did* end up on the "Love it" side of Cross-Edge...which seemed almost equally polarizing; Hmm...
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I read a description of the mechanics behind the battle system. The issues seems to be that it wasn't really described, at all, in the book. If you know what you're getting into it's supposed to be really great.
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I read a description of the mechanics behind the battle system. The issues seems to be that it wasn't really described, at all, in the book. If you know what you're getting into it's supposed to be really great.
Ha!
Sounds right, Darko...One of my friends who *likes* the game said it took him hours to figure out how to open chests ;D
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I read a description of the mechanics behind the battle system. The issues seems to be that it wasn't really described, at all, in the book. If you know what you're getting into it's supposed to be really great.
Yeah, I recall there possibly being *no* tutorial in-game for how the battle system worked and battles were random encounters so I couldn't even get far enough to figure out what the actual story was before throwing my hands up in the air in frustration.
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The SaGa series is the brainchild of Akitoshi Kawazu. He was an early designer for the Final Fantasy series. He played a large role in the development of FFII since Hironobu Sakaguchi was moved from designer to over-all director for the project. As a result FFII is a much harder game with an emphasis on realism, particularly in the way characters level up. The ideas he had during the creation of FFII would carry over into the SaGa series.
SaGa Frontier was a great game but was very difficult. Kawazu's emphasis on realism meant that from the beginning of the game your character could go just about anywhere, and with no scaling of enemy level this meant that you could start the game, go to an area, and immediately be killed in one hit. Characters didn't have levels, instead attributes that were used the most got stronger (just like FFII). New powers could be bought but were also randomly learned when similar powers were used. The big drawback of the game is that it could be hard to know what to do next. There was no quest log or way point system like modern RPGs.
Over all it was a good game. It was split up between several characters, and you could play their stories in any order because they all happened at the same time! You could even get other main characters in your party before you played them. What's interesting is that many of the ideas Kawazu had later became staples of western RPGs. Think about a game like the Elder Scrolls. It's an open world were you can go anywhere. Your stats improve as you use them. The choices you make mean something. It's ironic that a Japanese designer was already rebelling against the tenets of what would become JRPGs at the very dawn of the genre. Had Kawazu had a more enduring legacy with the Final Fantasy series the RPG landscape could be very different today.
I didn't play very much of SaGa Frontier 2 but I liked what I did play. It was a little more polished and organized than the first one.
Unlimited SaGa was a disaster. Everything about it was incomprehensible. The battle system had some sort of spinning ring mini-game. The world navigation was a sort of game board where every space had some way to kill you. I knew it had terrible reviews but I bought it anyway because it was 3 dollars used. I thought I'd give it a chance because the Frontier games were underrated. No. No. It really was god-awful.
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I picked up Saga Frontier today. I got it complete and didn't pay anything for it :) I'll report back when I'm not obsessed with Ni No Kuni as much.
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Nice!
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I picked up Saga Frontier today. I got it complete and didn't pay anything for it :) I'll report back when I'm not obsessed with Ni No Kuni as much.
I guess it should be noted that I didn't steal the game. It was given to me :)
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It was just a loan. Ill need it back when you are done with it!
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It was just a loan. Ill need it back when you are done with it!
You wish!
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It was just a loan. Ill need it back when you are done with it!
D'oh!
Darko's already added it to *HIS* collection :o
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It was just a loan. Ill need it back when you are done with it!
D'oh!
Darko's already added it to *HIS* collection :o
Ha. Soera's just mad because he didn't get it for free before I did :)
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Its cool. :) I may pick up a copy soon though. I think there is one at one of the VS for $15.
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I didn't see anyone bring up Romancing SaGa or Unlimited SaGa on PS2. Although I could have over looked it.. The former is pretty much right up their with the PSX releases, it's decent. The latter on the other hand is just horrible.
Unlimited SaGa tries the table top miniatures thing in it's own way. With moving static character figures through the dungeons as if it were a board game. Some panels have treasure or traps which activate the "action ring" which I believe is supposed to be like rolling saving throws. It also uses that ring in combat to kind of add an element of chaos to it since you might not get the same attack sequence twice. Some dungeons have a move limit. If you don't clear the dungeon before you reach the limit you are sent straight to town. Meaning you have to do it all over again. It has 8 characters you choose from, but the only good part of the game is the opening sequence.
Romancing Saga I only got to tinker with. So I'm not a real authority on it. What I played of it seemed decent enough though.
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I didn't see anyone bring up Romancing SaGa or Unlimited SaGa on PS2. Although I could have over looked it.. The former is pretty much right up their with the PSX releases, it's decent. The latter on the other hand is just horrible.
Unlimited SaGa tries the table top miniatures thing in it's own way. With moving static character figures through the dungeons as if it were a board game. Some panels have treasure or traps which activate the "action ring" which I believe is supposed to be like rolling saving throws. It also uses that ring in combat to kind of add an element of chaos to it since you might not get the same attack sequence twice. Some dungeons have a move limit. If you don't clear the dungeon before you reach the limit you are sent straight to town. Meaning you have to do it all over again. It has 8 characters you choose from, but the only good part of the game is the opening sequence.
Romancing Saga I only got to tinker with. So I'm not a real authority on it. What I played of it seemed decent enough though.
Some of us did mention Unlimited SaGa, but I don't know if any of us had gotten far enough to have figured out as much of the game as you have. I couldn't get through the first battle >.>
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I've been meaning to start Unlimited SaGa... if it's a like a tabletop game, I may actually dig it. ha
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The most I put into it was about 20 hours, when I convinced myself I was going to beat it. It never happened. I do keep going back to it from time to time. It must be my masochistic side. That aside it's not too terribly hard to figure out. It's just a labor to play, and by labor I mean chain gang in Arizona around July/August.
I may have another go of it actually. :D
Scott, Tabletops are fun. This game isn't. So if you try and hate. Don't blame me. ;)