Jeremy Gallen's Game Reviews

The Minstrel Cycle

Square-Enix's SaGa series has always been the odd duck among their notable RPG franchises, with the first three games for the Gameboy given the phony moniker Final Fantasy Legend and having their share of issues. SaGa Frontier on the PlayStation pretty much killed the series for me, given my absolute inability to finish it even with the assistance of the official strategy guide. I gave the series endless second chances only to be disappointed over and over, although it seems to have gotten more accessible lately, as demonstrated by the remaster Romancing Saga -Minstrel Song- Remastered.

When starting a new game, the player can select from two different modes of in-game time progression, the first based on that in the Japanese version, and the second being slower, native to the original English version of the PlayStation 2 release (and a faster option is unlocked when you complete an initial playthrough). As in-game time progresses, monsters gradually become more difficult, necessitating the player keeps grinding their party, although I didn't find this to be an issue. There are also a bevy of new features in the remaster, with the player able to decide whether to have them in their playthrough.

The player can choose to play as one of eight different protagonists: Albert the noble, the nomad Aisha, Jamil the thief, Claudia the ranger, Hawk the pirate, Sif the warrior maiden, Gray the treasure hunter, and Barbara the dancer. A millennium before the main events, the three evil gods Death, Saruin, and Schirach warred with the benevolent deity Elore. Death and Schirach were robbed of their powers, and Saruin was split into ten Fatestones scattered across the world of Mardias thanks to the efforts of the hero Mirsa. The powers of darkness gradually accumulate to free Saruin from his imprisonment.

Jack Sparrow makes an appearance

Each character has their own narrative and is ultimately drawn into the ultimate quest to retrieve the Fatestones and defeat Saruin. There are tons of interesting side-stories, although the overall plot direction is fairly poor, and it's up to players to talk to everyone to see where exactly the hell to go next. The narrative does deal with relevant issues such as slavery, having some good humor at times, alongside the backstory of the warring gods, with some occasional twists. The translation is largely good, with occasional puns and no grammar errors, aside from some redundancy in the dialogue.

Talking to everyone is key to opening up new areas to explore across the world, with fields and dungeons galore in between towns where the player can shop for items and do things such as sleep at inns to restore health and weapon durability. Enemies are visible in zones outside of towns, and while they always notice and charge the player whenever spotting them, there are skills allowing players to avert them. Other skills, which have limited uses (restorable at inns), allow for other environmental maneuvers such as climbing cliffs, revealing hidden treasure, and gathering ore and herbs.

The player can set their party of up to five characters into different formations, with front, middle, and back rows, each having their own advantages and disadvantages regarding the effectiveness of different weapon types and how much damage they receive from enemies. Players have a myriad of commands from which to choose such as attacking with equipped weapons (each character can equip up to four, alongside things such as consumables), defending to reduce damage, and using magic. Characters and the enemies exchange commands based on agility, with the later occasionally randomly triggering new skills, and both sides able to execute many different kinds of combination attacks.

Claudia's proposed rename for the Four Seasons hotel was naturally rejected.

Depending upon whether other enemies are nearby if the player encounters them on the field, they may have to fight them as well. Regardless, victory results in all characters gaining random stats, a smidgeon of money, and skill points they can invest into different classes or specific talents like weapon or magic proficiencies at towns. The mechanisms are really unorthodox, but I actually had a blast, and the ability to greatly increase the speed of combat really makes things go by more quickly. Granted, there are issues such as the obtuseness to series newbies, the unpredictable turn order, and the limited money, but otherwise, the remaster is surprisingly fun.

The control is good as well, with great quality-of-life features such as being able to record your progress anywhere, autosaving, the adjustable movement speed in towns (alongside fast-travel within the cities themselves), town and dungeon maps, and the ability to see on the world map which shops in which cities sell what. However, the direction for the main quest and even many of the subquests themselves is often poor, alongside some weirdness in skipping through dialogue. Regardless, Minstrel Song is generally a user-friendly game.

Kenji Ito's soundtrack is easily the remaster's high points, with tons of bouncy, energetic themes that really fit the mood, with each character having their own motif. Most the remixes of the Super Famicom version's melodies are Suspiciously Similar Songs, but still sound awesome in their own right. The English voice acting, however, is mostly a hot mess, but mercifully, players can skip through most of the voiced dialogue, and that in battle goes by quickly. Ultimately, the aurals are a wonder to hear.

The remastered visuals aren't half-bad, either, and actually look improved over those in the PlayStation 2 version, with an interesting colorful style and chibi character models that sort of make me think it would be how JRPGs like Final Fantasy VI would look if given such remake treatment. In comparing the graphics of the Super Famicom version, the environments of the remake look vastly different, but that's a good thing. The combat graphics are well-executed as well, with beautiful animation and ability effects. There are some minor blemishes regarding the blurry texturing and reskinned foes, but otherwise, the graphics are gorgeous.

Finally, completing one character's scenario will take somewhere over twenty-four hours, although there's a crapload of stuff to do, every character to play, achievements, and whatnot, that can easily boost playing time indefinitely. However, one will very likely have to reference the internet to achieve one-hundred-percent completion.

In summation, the remaster of the Romancing SaGa remake is an excellent entry point into the series that surpassed my expectations, surprising given that my experience with the original PlayStation 2 version wasn't wholly positive. While the mechanics may be obtuse for some, the turbo mode really makes things go by more swiftly, with infinite possibility regarding character development. The quality-of-life features also aid the experience, with plenty of interesting side stories as well, not to mention the excellent soundtrack and pretty remastered visuals. There are some hiccups regarding the vagueness of certain mechanics, not to mention poor direction at times and the subpar voicework, but otherwise, the remaster is a peak open-world Japanese RPG that deserves a glance from anyone seeking to give the series a try.

This review is based on a single playthrough as Jamil, with slow time progression.