Translations: SaGa 2 Goddess of Destiny in English

[Garoth Moulinoski]

It is my understanding that SE does not release any game they're not sure will sell a BAJILLION GAZILLION OVERHYPED crapton of copies.

fix'd.

Although, in all seriousness, you can't blame them too much. If the audience just isn't big enough, why should they?

TBH, though, I always figured Saga 2 and 3 would have eventually been localised under Final Fantasy Legend 2 & 3 DS or something. I guess I was wrong.

[noneother]

I still wonder why SE doesn't want to bring SaGa remakes state-side.  Are they afraid that the western market can't handle so many JRPG's? Do they think that the SaGa name would be unfamiliar to modern audiences? Hmmm...

It might be better if the name actually were unfamiliar considering the last SaGa released overseas is often cited as one of the worst RPGs ever and Saga Frontier was similarly widely despised during an era when the Squaresoft love was at its peak.

Not to say that an american release couldn't have made *some* money, but Square really does seem to think no profit is better than small profits.

[DarknessSavior]

I still wonder why SE doesn't want to bring SaGa remakes state-side.  Are they afraid that the western market can't handle so many JRPG's? Do they think that the SaGa name would be unfamiliar to modern audiences? Hmmm...

It might be better if the name actually were unfamiliar considering the last SaGa released overseas is often cited as one of the worst RPGs ever and Saga Frontier was similarly widely despised during an era when the Squaresoft love was at its peak.

Despised? I've never met anyone who said they disliked SaGa Frontier. I've heard a lot of people say they didn't like the -second- one.

Also, the last SaGa game released was the remake of the original Romancing SaGa for PS2. That game was actually good. I think you're referring to Unlimited SaGa, which was a giant piece of flaming shit. >_>

~DS

[noneother]

I still wonder why SE doesn't want to bring SaGa remakes state-side.  Are they afraid that the western market can't handle so many JRPG's? Do they think that the SaGa name would be unfamiliar to modern audiences? Hmmm...

It might be better if the name actually were unfamiliar considering the last SaGa released overseas is often cited as one of the worst RPGs ever and Saga Frontier was similarly widely despised during an era when the Squaresoft love was at its peak.

Despised? I've never met anyone who said they disliked SaGa Frontier. I've heard a lot of people say they didn't like the -second- one.

Also, the last SaGa game released was the remake of the original Romancing SaGa for PS2. That game was actually good. I think you're referring to Unlimited SaGa, which was a giant piece of flaming shit. >_>

~DS

My bad, I did mean Unlimited Saga. Forgot about Romancing SaGa as I don't pay attention to remakes.

Interestingly, I've had the opposite experience with SaGa Frontier-never met or even read about anyone who liked it before, but I've always heard the second was much better (I haven't tried the sequel myself).

[Azkadellia]

I absolutely love SaGa Frontier 1. As for SaGa Frontier 2? Kill it with fire.

[KingMike]

Ouch about Unlimited SaGa. I recall I got that for like $15 new (or GameStop-New, at least) and played for like 10 minutes.
WTF with the dungeon "exploration" system? I was not expecting to explore dungeons the Shadowgate way.

[tcaudilllg]

Ouch about Unlimited SaGa. I recall I got that for like $15 new (or GameStop-New, at least) and played for like 10 minutes.
WTF with the dungeon "exploration" system? I was not expecting to explore dungeons the Shadowgate way.

That game was... a recipe for financial failure. Would have preferred they not brought that over. PS1 graphics on the PS2... really.

[DankPanties]

How is Four Warriors of Light doing?

Looks like it has sold worldwide 377,480 copies.  That's good of course, but not nearly as good as some of the other FF DS games did.  I mean, FF3 on DS sold 1,266,256 copies.

At least FHOL sold more than Chocobo Tales. 

[SargeSmash]

I've never been able to get into SaGa Frontier.  But I loved SF2.  Goes to show it takes all types, I suppose.

For the record, the last SaGa game we got was the remake of Romancing Saga, creatively titled Romancing SaGa.    And it's actually a pretty decent game.  It's certainly better than Unlimited Saga.  Even that game had some interesting ideas, just none of them quite came together.  Here's an entertaining read on the game, even if it's more fun to play in theory than it actually is in practice.

http://www.gamespite.net/toastywiki/index.php/Games/G624-UnlimitedSaga

EDIT:  No funky SaGa spelling for Unlimited Saga for you!

EDIT 2:

Also, the last SaGa game released was the remake of the original Romancing SaGa for PS2. That game was actually good. I think you're referring to Unlimited SaGa, which was a giant piece of flaming shit. >_>

Sorry, DS, missed your post. 

[KaioShin]

I thought The Last Remnant was the last saga game technically. Or at least the last game by the dev team? (And IMO it was better than all the Ps1 and PS2 Sagas easily)

[Gideon Zhi]

I thought The Last Remnant was the last saga game technically. Or at least the last game by the dev team? (And IMO it was better than all the Ps1 and PS2 Sagas easily)

It really is a SaGa game in all but name. And while I'm not sure I'd say it's better than Frontier (which is still a personal favorite) it's still mighty good. It establishes a nice middle-ground between linearity and open-endedness.

[SargeSmash]

Yep, Kawazu was executive producer on that title.

It's got some MMO-ish feeling elements, but battles definitely feel like SaGa.  It's quite good, and I need to get around to finishing it off.  It's far more accessible than several of the games in the series.  I've heard that the PC version is the better version, doing away with the Union Leader limits and whatnot.  Of course, they've made the game more difficult to compensate.  Anyway, it's much smoother on a capable system than on 360, which virtually requires installation to the hard drive to make it playable.  And that's what I'm playing on right now, of course...  and it's not bad, even there.

[DarknessSavior]

Yep, Kawazu was executive producer on that title.

It's got some MMO-ish feeling elements, but battles definitely feel like SaGa.  It's quite good, and I need to get around to finishing it off.  It's far more accessible than several of the games in the series.  I've heard that the PC version is the better version, doing away with the Union Leader limits and whatnot.  Of course, they've made the game more difficult to compensate.  Anyway, it's much smoother on a capable system than on 360, which virtually requires installation to the hard drive to make it playable.  And that's what I'm playing on right now, of course...  and it's not bad, even there.

Does the battle system include my favorite SaGa trope, the whole learning abilities randomly in battle thing? I love that, for some reason.

~DS

[Starscream]

Ouch about Unlimited SaGa. I recall I got that for like $15 new (or GameStop-New, at least) and played for like 10 minutes.
WTF with the dungeon "exploration" system? I was not expecting to explore dungeons the Shadowgate way.

That game was... a recipe for financial failure. Would have preferred they not brought that over. PS1 graphics on the PS2... really.

I'd like to know exactly what PS1 RPG game offers comparable graphics. To begin with, it would have to run in resolution higher than 320x240.  I think Chrono Cross does this in some parts, I popped both games in my PS2 yesterday, and there was no doubt where each belongs..so really, what do you have in mind? Game graphics I associated with PS1 were (in part) some of the Nippon Ichi titles and Growlanser Generations, because of the look of the actual battles.

[SargeSmash]

Does the battle system include my favorite SaGa trope, the whole learning abilities randomly in battle thing? I love that, for some reason.

Yep.  Except this time, you've got Unions that you put together (think Ogre Battle), and there's the potential of any of your guys learning new moves (or upgrading existing ones).

Leveling is also a little different, it's like the earlier games where you just increase stats seamlessly, but there's also something called "Battle Rank" and "Chains".  Your Battle Rank determines how "powerful" you are, although it doesn't really work quite like that.  If you take on lots of enemies at once and get your Battle Rank up too high too quickly, then you stop getting stat increases from the enemies you're fighting, and it leaves you underpowered.  The Chains, if I recall, are how many enemies you take out in a row without getting surprised or whatnot, and affects battle loot.

Anyway, the best way to play is to take on single enemy encounters, to give you more battles by which you can increase your stats before your Battle Rank goes up.  Definitely don't do the aggro thing where you draw them all in at once, that's typically a recipe for disaster.

Oh, the music in the game is also phenomenal.  The battle music, in particular, is noteworthy for literally rocking out. 

[TimeSpaceMage]

Wow, I wasn't even thinking SaGa when I was playing Last Remnant... probably because I haven't played any of the console SaGas. I'll get back into it once my 360 ships here... was pretty fun but the battles were a little long for my tastes. Also hell yes on the battle theme.

It is my understanding that SE does not release any game they're not sure will sell a crapton of copies.

Yep.  They even passed DQ off to Nintendo to deal with while they quietly pretend it doesn't exist.

Which is funny considering how much 4HOL feels like a Dragon Warrior game.

[stranno]

My video

http://goo.gl/BJn9U

[SargeSmash]

Which is funny considering how much 4HOL feels like a Dragon Warrior game.

This.  I've pretty much described it to gamer friends as what would happen if Squaresoft had made a Dragon Quest game back in the day.  It's a really intriguing experiment, and I really should pick it back up, since I loves me some Dragon Quest.