guigui wrote: ↑Tue Jul 15, 2025 6:40 pm
Coming back here for recommendations from shmups forum community :
Romancing SaGa
Feel like trying one game in the series for the 2025-2026 period. Of course only have time for one, which one would you recommend among 2, 3, Minstrel Song ? Or maybe other games in the series available on the Switch that I am not aware of ?
I can only summarize the ones that I think are notable. Which SaGa game one prefers is a matter of taste. The games all are similar but also have some major differences.
The gameboy SaGa games are fun but limited somewhat by the architecture of that original game boy. These were the first SaGa games and they were known in the USA as Final Fantasy Legend. Because something something brand recognition. And lying about your product is cool. I think SaGa 2 is the best of the gameboy ones, although some will argue for the simplicity of SaGa 1.
Romancing SaGa 3 is the third game in the romancing saga series (no shit,) and was originally a SNES game. It uses some similar sprites (even some of the same sprites iirc) as Final Fantasy 6. Romancing Saga 3 is one of the easier SaGa games, which makes it a pretty good starting entry. It retains the classic open SaGa structure of the Romancing and later games, where finding quests can be as difficult as completing them. It's like a big SNES-era open world rpg playground, where you can build all your characters how you want. There's a stock market minigame and some other weird ideas/characters that you wouldn't typically see in a normal jarpig. Boston remains one of the best sprites in the history of sprite art characters. His death sprite is just the best. Romancing Saga 3 gets a strong recommend from me if you like golden-era jarpigs at all, and aren't afraid to learn the SaGa mechanics with an older game. The port on switch/ps4 is fine. It's not quite mobile slop levels of bad porting but it's not an M2 shottriggers masterful showcase either. Better than the Romancing Saga 2 port.
Romancing Saga: Revenge of the Seven is a full remake, not remaster, of romancing saga 2. I haven't played it, but a lot of Saga veterans actually kinda dislike this game for making SaGa TOO approachable. Many new players have found their way into the series from this remake, which apparently explains all of the unique SaGa mechanics and the other elements of Romancing Saga 2 that make it one of the most obscure and difficult entries in its original form. I think most people who are asked would tell you to start here, because it's new and people like it. It has mainstream appeal with normies, which no other saga game can boast.
Romancing Saga: Minstrel Song Remastered is my favorite SaGa game of all time. In my opinion, it strikes a good balance between remaining SaGa as fuck (and obscure,) while not overly punishing the player for not understanding its systems. Yes, you will probably have a few dead runs before you get the hang of things, especially if you want to go for all/most quests. But you probably shouldn't try to do that on a first playthrough, considering how hard optional quests can be. This is a remaster of the ps2 REMAKE of the original Romancing Saga 1. This version adds the Event Rank clock on the HUD, so you don't have to check with tutorial kid every 5 seconds to know where you are on the timeline (be THANKFUL you don't know what this means!) The remaster does a great job giving you speed up options and other features which dramatically reduce the tedium of the original experience. While still preserving everything that's wonderful about this game. Which is the completely open structure, beautiful art and some of the best video game music of all time. Seriously, go listen to Passionate Rhythm. It's even better when you experience it in the Scorn boss fight. Minstrel Song is one of my favorite jarpigs ever made. My recommendation would be to start here, but only IF you are willing to get absolutely bodied by the game while learning. This is still a hard game. Even if you know where to go and what to do (which the game mostly won't tell you,) the difficulty of bosses can be extreme.
Saga: Scarlet Grace Ambitions is a solid entry which simplifies a number of the other elements so that the combat can shine. It's a lot harder to become stuck or lost in the game due to the way quests are tracked and the overall small size of the storybook world. The star of this game is the combat. It's some of the deepest in the series. HOWEVER... I personally think the combat in Minstrel Song is just as good, and that game has more actual jarpig stuff in it, like exploration and questing. So I probably wouldn't start here.
SaGa Frontier could be the best place to start,
if you hate yourself. It's an extremely difficult and obscure game, but also a full-featured and rich one. Combat and character building are incredibly deep and take a page from the old-school SaGa racial system, where different races have their own unique abilities and leveling progression. Fans of original SaGa 1 and 2 on the gameboy will love Frontier. Or already do, since the game is old as balls. The new remaster of it is good. They gave every part of the game an HD facelift and the art looks a lot less "smudgy blur" than on the ps1 version. Game loads faster and you can turn on 2x+ speed for battles or traversal. Really, the remastering job is excellent. Last I heard, the remaster was THE version that speedrunners use now. When the speedrunners switch, you know the port job is good. As far as the game goes.... It's Saga Frontier. It has no pity or remorse for you. If you fuck up, the game will kill you. If you don't fuck up, the game will still kill you in a couple of areas (like the end of Red's story.) This is the epitome of a SaGa experience. T-260G is probably the best starting scenario if you are new, because robots are too OP and the story gives you some direction. If you start with Lute then you're gonna have the most SaGa experience ever and also probably hate your life. (I say this as someone who always starts with Barbara in Minstrel Song, who also gives you zero direction if you are new.) I guess I recommend SaGa Frontier to a veteran player, but not so much if you are new.
The best SaGa games for someone completely new to the series are probably Final Fantasy 2 or Revenge of the Seven. FF2 because bro, if you can't get past the SaGa combat engine in a linear jarpig then you ain't doin' shit when you pop saga frontier into the ol' switch machine.
Maybe the obscurity is better for SaGa games? When 2 remake was announced I was a little excited because it looked like the first time Kawazu's team was given a budget for audiovisuals (nobody plays SaGa for anything outside of the gameplay, but still...)