What a year for Japanese RPGs. And it’s not over yet. Square Enix dug deep into the toy box to find Romancing Saga 2, a game that only came out 31 years ago in Japan (it only came to the West as a mobile version in 2016), and then decided to remake this super Play Famicom and ride the wave of excellent JRPGs. Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven Heroes is also one of them.
In Europe we had little to do with the Saga series. The first three games in the series were released just four years ago with the Collection of SaGa. By the way, these games were called Final Fantasy Legend. The name change to Romancing Saga happened in 1992, but strangely it appeared here as a remaster two years ago, after the remasters of Romancing Saga 2 (2017) and Romancing SaGa 3 (2019). Although Square Enix had already tried to introduce the series to this market, a full remake probably wasn’t on many people’s radar.
As the title of this remake suggests, it’s mostly about the Seven Heroes. These people saved the world from destruction long ago and were celebrated. Then the game completely turns the tables. After the world was saved from evil, the heroes were forgotten. The legend faded with each generation. However, when the game picks up speed, they are back, as the game’s antagonists with bestial forms and appearances. It’s no fun being forgotten after you save the world. We meet the kingdom of Avalon, which is our base during the game, in the year 1000 (the year will be very important). The first of the evil heroes we meet is Kzinssie. After playing the villain in our kingdom, it’s Prince Gerard’s turn for revenge. The problem is that this prince is basically useless in battle. But through a mechanic that will form the basis of the entire game, he can inherit his father’s knowledge, skills and memories.
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It turns out that whoever rules the kingdom will pass it on from generation to generation. Periodically, time jumps forward, forcing me to choose an entirely new leader from a selection of characters. I think that’s totally fine, but at the same time it’s not cool at all. I’ve barely met Gerard when the screen goes dark and the text “85 years later” appears. I was hoping to be introduced to their children or something, but now I’m forced to choose a character I have no relationship with as the new leader. He will go out into the world to defeat the six remaining heroes. I’m doing a side mission. I unlock a new part of the world. I defeat one of the heroes. 125 years later’. Well, nothing is happening here. I barely got used to playing with this character. This mechanic also means that your four companions that you can take with you into battle are constantly being replaced, but luckily only with a copy of the character with a new name.
What I really like is everything you can do with the game world. For example, I recruit a group by doing certain things for them. Then I can have one of them on my team or even as king. This applies to all types of roles. You can recruit ninjas, nomads, mermaids and wizards, among others, and help them with various problems. A few generations after this group is recruited, they begin a revolt. They imposed a blockade on one of the port cities, cutting the kingdom’s revenue in half. This income can be used to build new buildings, such as a forge to produce new weapons. Then it’s about figuring out why that happened and making her happy again. This is made even better by the fact that all characters except NPCs and monsters have recorded dialogue. Generally good. There is also a selection of music from the original version or newly recorded music. The same can be said about the graphics: they serve their purpose for this type of game. I played the Switch version and I have to say that it is a game perfectly adapted to this console.
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The generation system, which gives us a new protagonist from time to time, also means that we are not tied to the same characters throughout the game. I decided to try out different character types like king/queen, wizard and knight, but I never dared to put a pirate on the throne. However, if you want to play Pirate Takeover, you can do it generation by generation. There are various scenarios in which a new leader needs to be elected. Be it when time jumps forward, when the entire team dies in battle, when you decide to abdicate, or when the leader runs out of life points. This HP is a predetermined number that indicates how many times a character can fall in battle before dying completely. If the character’s HP drops to zero, one PP is lost. If the PP drops to zero, this character can no longer be used.
My problem is that I never get notified when a time jump is about to happen. Worst case scenario, you’ll miss out on entire side quests or characters you need to recruit. For example, I tried to recruit a mermaid for my team. I had to collect three different items around the world, but in one of the stories I was told, time jumped forward over 100 years and then it disappeared. I don’t know how long a mermaid lives, but after so long she was no longer recruitable and I lost her. The same goes for every part-time job out there. There is no way to find out who is making progress without using an online wiki. So should I investigate why all the miners are dying? Or should I try to prevent a volcano from erupting? If you find yourself in the middle of a side quest and move on to another, there’s a good chance you’ll never see the end of the first one. However, I was always curious about how the world developed and who did what during the time jumps. The idea that you can travel a maximum of 3000 years into the future is very cool and innovative, but could have been a little more sophisticated.
Otherwise it is a classic Japanese role-playing game. Battles are turn-based and the fastest characters start. Attacks are selected from a list and enemies have different weaknesses. It is possible to equip each character with up to two weapons, for example a sword and a bow or an ax and a spear. It’s very important to have a good mix of this and wizards. All characters can learn new attacks in battle and a light bulb will appear next to the attack that can be upgraded. There is then no 100% chance that a new attack will be learned. This particular type of combat system fits perfectly on the Nintendo Switch. The battles take place in one of the game’s many dungeons. There is no open world, but you select a location on the map to travel to. Next, it can be a city or some kind of dungeon with a lot of monsters. The ultimate goal is to defeat all seven heroes, which you can do in any generation you wish. You can go directly to the quests that will lead you to the heroes or see how the world is set up. I recommend the latter. This remake also added some flashbacks throughout the game world to see what really happened when the heroes turned into monsters.
If for some reason you’ve had time to play all of this year’s major Japanese RPGs and need something else to munch on, I highly recommend Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven Heroes. Sure, most of it is old-fashioned Japanese RPG, but there’s also an innovative spawn mechanic that I think is worth a try. Games don’t always do something innovative, especially not something that seems innovative 31 years after the game’s release. Revenge of the Seven Heroes is an excellent remake that could sell the dark saga series here in the West.