SaGa Franchise

[Rez09]

Alrighty, finally following in the footsteps of another here and picked up RS2 on le Switch and started playing. I've only played up to the first boss on both the SNES and Steam versions of the game previously, so this is largely blind, and I have to say the interface here feels odd coming off of RS3 -- I certainly hope they opt for a more traditional look for the menus in the RS3 port.

I picked my starting Empress, who I won't be seeing for a while, and immediately ignored the King and left the cave without fighting anything just to see if I could -- turns out it is not only possible, but progresses the story as well. Progression was pretty standard from here until the first boss fight, minus my death at the hands of a mimic box, where I learned my Soul Steal evade, and following that I took the advice I was given went to the dungeon that popped up before heading back to the boss. My RS1 instincts are still in full gear, so I've been avoiding all the fights I can, and have happily found that rushing area bosses removes most enemies from dungeon, so I can backtrack and loot to my heart's content, which is what I did here and picked up an . . . Elder bow, I believe, which I gave to my blonde archer, and a box filled with gold. Like, a hilarious amount of it. Too bad I didn't lose it all because I didn't make gems before opening it.

Following the cave I went back to the first boss' house and killed a few mimics, picking up some more money and a helmet along the way, then attempted to kill the boss himself, which actually proved pretty problematic with with his random AoE attacks, especially Ill Storm (fun story -- you can learn this attack in SaGa Frontier! ) due to its combination of poison and damage, and I had to leave to pick up healing balms from my treasury to deal with the that. I also seemed to remember LP healing items in there in the SNES version, but they were either removed for this version or I'm just wrong -- either way, I trekked back and beat the boss this time, kicking off the farthest I've been in the title so far.


Decked out in my sweet new armor, I sat on my throne and commissioned a magic research facility, so I'll be able to learn magic once that finishes. As this game uses a max WP/JP system like RS1, where effective MP is based on weapon/spell ranks, I want to get to leveling those as soon as possible. I also recall this game unlocking new spells based on how many levels in a school your party has, so that's another big reason to invest early. I also was offered to build an orchard or something, but I lack the funds, soo . . . bleh. Being finished with that, the game has informed me I need to visit a canal fortress, but I instead decided to visit a village near it and look for new information.

From what I gathered there, the town is normally protected by some nearby mountain monks and everyone seems to love them, but after hitting up the bar I overheard some patrons talking about them not clearing out some nearby monsters, so I went over and they asked me to clear out the cave instead, which I decided to do. After visiting the monks, of course, since their place was also added to my map. Talking to their leader, it turns out someone left a physical attack resistant gooball on the second level of the cave which they can't deal with, as they are all godawful with magic, but since I am specializing in Fire magic I told them I'd take care of it, much to their leader's joy. He then warned me about using 'tight' formations in the fight due to the boss' electrical attacks, after which I proceeded to dodge my way through the cave and run face first into the encounter in the Imperial Cross formation and wiped almost immediately. Fun story, this slime here pops up in RS3, complete with its row attacking electricity . Following that defeat I swapped over to the Free Fight formation and stomped the encounter, and after exploring a bit more told the monks I cleaned the place out, which made them about 30 kinds of happy and they went in to clear out the remaining monsters. The final area after the boss had mobs after I killed it, so I decided to follow them back in to see if they actually did anything and, lo and behold, they not only did, but you can find them at the back killing off the last of the mobs and one of the guys is super happy about it. Warm feelings of success. The patrons at the bar are also talking about joining my town now too, though I doubt that is of any real consequence -- the other people in the bar telling me about another town and gem mine was however, and so was my next destination.

Stopping into that town, people told me monsters took over the gem mines and one old lady said her son had moved away due to the mines closing and that she missed him, so of course I had to help. After talking to a few more people for any extra info all I learned was that the crystals in the mine were trapped, so I took that into account and headed in. The area was super short and had some doors that led to crystals, but after that mimic crap earlier I avoided picking them up, and again rushed the boss on the second floor: three Frog Princes. It was around this time I realized I was underleveled as all hell, because these things literally one shotted my characters, but I lucked out and Sidewinder can OHKO frog type monsters like in RS3, so my thus far fairly unimpressive epee user actually carried my through the fight. There was a room visible behind the boss I was planning to check out before I backtracked to those trapped crystals, but the game autoejected me from the dungeon upon killing the boss and it appears this chunk of the map was added to my empire, as it lit up on the map.

Heading back into the mines I found a bunch of villagers are there now, merrily mining away, and they already dug up the crystals on the first floor and taunted me about the phat loots they got from them. ; -; One of the miners also mentioned that they get headaches from the second floor and haven't been mining down there, which sounded like trouble to me, so I saved and went down to check things out in that back room -- which had no monsters at all and three crystals for me to loot! Yippie! I also went and talked to the old lady again, and her son did indeed come back and his kids are running around in her house, one of them holding a literal piece of poo and chasing the other around with it. She also told me about this beautiful lake nearby, and since it opened a new location on the map, I decided that'd be my next destination, after . . .

Heading back to Avalon to check up on things and totally not because my blonde haired archer gave her last in our grueling deathmatch with killer frogs. Farewell, oh archer, your highly inaccurate AoE attacks shall be sorely missed and never forgotten. Seeking a replacement, I decided to take a mage with me this time and picked up a wind/water mage, which is an interesting combination coming from RS3 where you can't mix earthly elements on a single character, though I don't recall that being a limitation in RS1, instead using opposite schools in that game, so I'll have to do more testing later to see what I can and cannot combine here. Our chancellor also informed me that our magic academy was completed so I decided to pop into there and learn some new magics for everyone, combining sun/fire on my epee user, water/wind on my tank, and mono earth on my swordsman. I don't know if I have the patience to keep all these leveled, but I'll give it a shot -- if nothing else, four party members having access to non-item healing now will be useful-ish. I also found stairs into the sewers in the back and found an empty bar down there with a door my character freaks out about when I try to open, not to mention a backdoor into my own prison, soooooo . . . that's secure. Heading out of the town people are talking about thieves and someone has been robbed too, and a kid told me about rooftop pathways, but I don't seem to be able to do anything with this information yet. There's also a big hole in the cemetery I can't interact with and people talking about moonwatching in the town, but sleeping in the moonlight or whatever it is called Inn doesn't seem to do anything so . . . back to exploring with me!
^ _^ /

Oh, I also stopped by the town with the first boss in it, and the people are back and one is talking about pirates or something, but, again, nothing opened up by talking to people, so I'm just assuming this does stuff later.

Heading to that lake the woman mentioned I entered a plateau crawling with monsters and wandered around until I found it on the western side, but nothing seems to be happening there yet. Bossman says it is pretty, though. A bit more exploring and I end up in a new village to the south of the plains where things are, unsurprisingly, going terrible and people are starving, a thing the kids are quite intent on informing me. Speaking with the people there I learned about a tribe to they trade with, but no now towns are added to my map; a new dungeon, however, is, so of course I head there.

Much like the other dungeons so far, this one is super short and I rushed to the boss on the second floor after maybe . . . 4 encounters? Big problems here, though -- four snakes, I am ungodly underleveled, they don't insta die to Sidewinder, they are immune to my stun spell, and they murder me with AoE poison attacks and hypnosis. I attempted air barrier in the hopes it worked like Dancing Leaves in RS3 and I could gamble on it, but this is sadly not the case, and after numerous attempts and strategy tweaking I discovered one of junky epee techs I had could actually paralyze them, so it again became a game of "dear God, keep the fast lady with the pokey stick alive!". Fortunately I had been using an accessory on Gerard to prevent sleep, and after moving that onto her it only took two or three attempts to clear the fight. I . . . seriously might need to invest in some new equipment and leveling soon, though.

Returning to the village, people are magically not starving anymore and told me about this town to the south with awesome bisons, so I went there and, of course, they are having problems of their own that it is up to me to solve. It seems there are monsters preventing their herd from migrating, and the lake will be thawing soon, so unless I help them kill a dragon they will be trapped. Little else of note is being said in the town, so I've agreed to help them, and that is where I am currently. Wish me luck, I'm sure I'll have no problems at all with this next area.

Edit: Turns out, 'Dragon' means four lizards that are vulnerable to blind, stun, and paralyze. Might've just stomped that fight and picked up a 'Spasher' sword that over doubled my single handed sword user's attack. Seems I am now friends with the people of this area as well, and they have joined my empire! Unfortunately, it also appears this was the last great act of king Gerard, and a full century has passed since his death -- but that means we get a new character, and I am going with . . . the pink haired Shirley, new queen of Avalon!