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Thread: SaGa Franchise

  1. #106
    Radical Dreamer Fynn's Avatar
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    Fynnek Zoryasch (Twintania)
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    There was this lady who said there was a butterfly stalking her and then when I entered the mazewood it basically just led me to the pendant. I’ll have to check to see if I still have it though

  2. #107
    Radical Dreamer Fynn's Avatar
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    Fynnek Zoryasch (Twintania)
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    So yesterday I learned I am a complete smurfing idiot who doesn’t understand proficiencies. I kept wondering why my climbing is still level zero when Sif’s survival attribute is at level two. Only then did I learn proficiencies work like spells, as in you buy them for specific characters, not for your party in general. So I realized I wasted thousands on buying Hawke all the proficiencies I could get my hands on in the hopes that I’d be ready for anything - now most of them will be unusable since he won’t learn all the attributes so I’ve basically thrown away a bunch of cash.

    Sigh

  3. #108
    Black Magic Shopkeeper's Avatar
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    Yeah I ran into the same exact dumb stick a bit ago. Luckily I was quick to find the reason as to why I was being so faily thanks to my mom coming in to watch a little of me failing to jump and saying "How do you level that up then?" Big 'uuuuuhhhhh' moment right there.

    Anyhow, I only did one measley thing on RS:MS since my last update, and that was going to Mt. Tomae and having Pyrix not only help get rid of the monsters in Justern but also.... promise the Ignigarde, in return for finding the Ice Sword. Honestly, I didn't feel up for just flat-out killing him, not only because it seemed wrong, but also because I was pooped and didn't think I'd stand a chance. So, onward I went to try and go about Bayre Plateau and got lost and confused, and gave up for the time being.

    On the RS3 front though, I got A LOT done. I explored the Crystal Palace, completed the Zweig tournament, defeated the Dragon Car, and did Ice Galaxy before farting off back to the Demon King's Palace to see if I didn't miss anything my last time there (yeah...I actually missed a lot. Oops.) I also meant to go in there to trigger an event that was supposed to make a new cave available between Farce and Stanley, but I couldn't figure out where it was. I'll probably go back in there again-- there might have been a secret passage I missed or something.

    All in all, even though I'm definitely enjoying RS:MS, I find myself much more engrossed in RS3 for some reason, and I can't quite put my finger on it. It might be because of a slight difference in how proficiencies are upgraded between the two games, but that's a very minor thing. It does however feel much more rewarding for me in RS3.


  4. #109

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    The Devil King's Palace doesn't open the cave you are talking about, but it does contain an empty chest with a prayer in it about death being great or something -- it is on the bottom floor of the main castle in a room to the left of where the teleporter drops you. You need to have learned that prayer to fight the bonus boss in the cave you mentioned and it drops the only Death Fragement in the game, which you need to make either the best bow or mage ring in the workshop.

    The cave itself requires you having beaten the second boss in the thief cave, so if you haven't been back there in a while there should be a new boss hiding at the back where the bandit leader was. If you don't have the cave open there is a woman in the bottom left house in . . . Stanely, I believe it is (the left of the two), and she should mention monster activity in the thief cave and add it to your map. After clearing it out the second time you can talk to her again and she should open the second cave -- she might even open it the first time you talk to her if you are late enough in the game.

  5. #110
    Black Magic Shopkeeper's Avatar
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    Well, uh... bad news, guys.... :[ I lost a lot of progress in RS3. I think I accidentally exited out of the rom without saving the session, which shot me back by several hours-- before my last post was made, at the very least.

    That's fine though I guess... Kinda serendipitous actually, because before the progress loss, I had realized that I was underpowered for the boss battle I was trying to get to... And then I'd started up the Maximus quest, and discovered too late that I needed 10000 gold in order to get into the holy shrine tower or whatever it is. After doing some reading up I found that I could have gotten all that gold if I'd just done all three parts of the business minigame, but I couldn't do that because as soon as the Maximus Quest is triggered, you're unable to open the business minigame menu with a certain NPC standing outside of the tower.

    Sooo... after that happened, I retired Undine and instead put all the spells she had on Boston. I'm already finding that he's actually doing much more damage with his water magic than Undyne was, and he's not even up to the level she was at yet. For now, Undine has been replaced with Thomas, until I find someone I definitely want. Thinking about getting either Paul or Zhi Lin, but I think I'll do that after I've finished the business minigame and then completed the Maximus quest, since that quest locks Herman into the party. (Maybe next time I play through I'll get Herman sooner so I can turn him into Black and have an even better axe-weilder than Ellen...)

    Looks like the ruins aren't gonna happen for a loooong while...


  6. #111
    Memento Mori Site Contributor Wolf Kanno's Avatar
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    While there is no word of the English version release date yet, SaGa Scarlet Graces has a new Japanese trailer ofr the port version showing off the four main characters, as well as one significant character in each of their scenarios. It also highlights the combat system which is where a good chunk of the game's production values went.



    I felt this way playing SF2, but watching this trailer made me really feel like Kawazu is a huge fan of JoJo's Bizarre Adventures cause the combat animation feels reminiscent of the manga series. Anyway, the port comes out in Japan on August 2nd, so hopefully we'll learn more about the Western release afterwards.

    Also, Rez09 will be happy to know that Kawazu has hinted that the Remaster of Romancing SaGa 3 may be showing up at the 2018 Tokyo Game Show in September. Fingers crossed that we'll see a western port of that as well.

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  8. #113

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    < _______________ <

    I might be on another playthrough of that at the moment, actually. My God, let me tell you rare drops in that game are absolute hell.

  9. #114
    Memento Mori Site Contributor Wolf Kanno's Avatar
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    While a few other games have dominated my time and I'll likely not go into full blown investment until much later, Ihave been playing a bit of Romancing SaGa 2 and it's a really interesting change of pace from the rest of the series. The LP mechanic is introduced in this game but serves a unique function. Health is completely restored after every battle except for LP, but since this is a generational story, if your MC's LP reaches zero, they die and you switch to their successor. Due to this LP=true death, you have a crap ton of characters to choose from to be in your party since anyone of them can die permanently so characters are less story focused and more class focused. It's still too early to see where it will go, but the Sim-lite empire building aspect of the game has some interesting potential as well.

    My major gripe from combat in the first game has been removed, any skills your character learns from using a weapon stays with them instead of losing them when you switch out equipped weapons. The rest of the game plays out a bit like the original from there, but there is a group of advisors in your castle that spy for you and give you a heads up about what quests are available, which is a neat time saver instead of having to chat up every NPC you meet. You also have two different bank accounts, a personal one you carry around to buy stuff in shops, and one for the empire which can be used to research new weapons, armor, spells, and formations.

    You also unlock unique classes and characters through these events, a very early one is a Thief who plagues the citizens at night. Once you gain the ability to switch to night time, you can encounter her in the city and do a minor quest that eventually ends with you recruiting here to your cause. I'm not sure how all of this will translate once we start to seriously jump through time skips. I'm only on Gerad, the second emperor, and the one seen in most of the official artwork.

  10. #115
    Memento Mori Site Contributor Wolf Kanno's Avatar
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    TGS 2018 is here, and as Kawazu promised, we get our first look at the Remaster of Romancing SaGa 3 that will be coming out early in 2019 in Japan for Switch, PS4, Vita, XBOne, PC, and even mobile. They also announced a new mobile title that is the SaGa equivalent of Final Fantasy Record Keeper.


  11. #116

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    Oh . . . oh God. I was super down with the RS3 update until I saw that Byunei animation, gaaaahhhhhhhhhh. Oh well, the rest looks fine. Better come out over here, I need to waste even more of my life on that game. >: I

  12. #117
    Memento Mori Site Contributor Wolf Kanno's Avatar
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    We just got a new trailer for Romancing SaGa Re: Universe, which for those who don't know, is a bit like Record Keeper where you can collect characters from the whole franchise. Though this trailer shows the game takes place 300 years after RS3 and will actually feature a main story campaign with new heroes and villains.


  13. #118
    Memento Mori Site Contributor Wolf Kanno's Avatar
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    Decided I was bored finishing up questlines in FFXV and needed something new to sink my teeth into, well until I get back to the FFV Let's Play. So I picked Romancing Saga 2 back up and I'm now playing as the successor. I got to choose between four characters and the 11 year old me couldn't resist choosing the female heir who happens to be named Beaver of all things.

    During the end of Gerad's reign, I infiltrated the Thieve's Guild and got them on my side as well as took down an obnoxious Slime monster so some badass monks could save face with the the local town they protect and got both groups to serve my empire. I should have headed south but instead takled the Ocean Fortress set-up by the next member of the Seven Heroes and run by their henchmen. The cool thing is that I asked the Thieve's Guild to help scout the place out and the Thief I met earlier volunteered to do so. In addition to finding the entrance to the place, she also set up markers through the dungeon telling me where to go and which rooms actually had treasure in it. The boss fight could have gone better but I won nonetheless and jumped to the next era.

    The orchard I commissioned as Gerad is now finished and earning the kingdom more Gold, and with my new Empress, I've recruited one bow user, a meat shield, and called in the favor for my monks from last gen. I'm keeping my fifth slot opened because I really hope to recruit a mage. I started reading up on the game a little and one tidbit I read explained this game kind of works like RS1 where magic is underwhelming in the beginning but becomes crucial by endgame and with the revelation of Global XP that I didn't know about, it seems like this is something I really need to start cracking on sooner rather than later.

    For now, I'm investigating the Gemstone mine my ancestor should have cleared out.

  14. #119
    Memento Mori Site Contributor Wolf Kanno's Avatar
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    Made a bit more progress.

    Found out where all my castle mages are hanging out and recruited me a Pyromancer with some Wind magic as well. My team was really awkward in the beginning but things are starting to go a bit more smoothly. Beaver is suppose to be a Spear/Bow user with a bit of a magic touch, but for the life of me, I can't seem to raise anything for her but the Divine Magic she has. Thankfully, I grinded enough Sword levels in the previous generation that she's still a powerhouse with those weapons and she even sparked a new skill once I realized she wasn't learning anything new because I already hit her cap of equippable skills. Walrus, my frontline fighter is a poor substitute for his previous generation counterpart. I don't think he's as good with shields and he's had very few HP increases. My bow user is doing fine except she dies a lot. She may actually be my first party death if this scenario continues any further as she has like 3 LP left at this point. Not that she started with a lot mind you. My monk is pretty badass actually and even learned a free healing technique that will be amazing once I jump to the next generation and gain the ability to teach all my party members the skill. His only issue is that he's completely worthless against slimes and magic beings, like he can do close to 200 damage against most things but does nothing against slimes and he can't really learn many other weapon types either making him a bit too specialized. Speaking of which, my mage has a really bad habit of dying too, but she's gained quite a few magic levels really quickly which is making her more useful in battles especially with MP being tied to magic levels. Her greatest contribution has been sparking an excellent skill for rapiers, Matador, which is basically a defensive move that evades enemy attacks and counters with a surprisingly strong hit. Excellent for a squishy mage character low on MP.

    I finished clearing out the Mines and increased my imperial coffers while also expanding my territory. Making the local town a hotspot for miners also allowed me to learn about the Beast Road, which I needed to go through to reach the HQ of the Armed Merchant's Guild which are causing a ruckus in a nearby town that has a ship I need to get to my final objective of this scenario. Not a pleasant place but at least it didn't have a boss fight. I sneaked into the town and reached the boss who gave up without a fight. I was offered the choice of disbanding, subduing, or allying with the guild and figured it would be in my best interest to ally with them. I've now reached a town that has a similar fishing tradition as some rural Japanese villages in the south, and I'm hearing tales of mermaids. I also learned that a few of the expansions I can make for my empire require me to raise certain stats and stuff or fight more battles, so I may focus on that a bit next playthrough, but I'm leery to do some of it because I know that battles = Time in this game and I don't really want to advance the story too quickly. As usual for the franchise, you have to be careful about old RPG habits, and you certainly need to plan in the long term. I'm really starting to get into the game right now which is nice.

  15. #120
    Memento Mori Site Contributor Wolf Kanno's Avatar
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    I know Gerald is one of only three playable emperors you get that has actual character artwork, but Empress Beaver probably got way more done during her reign than Gerald did.

    From my last playthrough, I didn't save properly so I had to do the pirate scenario again but luckily saved when I reached the town itself. I chose to subdue them instead of allying with them and got a trophy and access to the Corsair class for my next generation. I blew most of the empires money on building a Magic Laboratory which arrived during the next generation and gives me access to not only more mages, but the ability to teach magic to all my party members as well.

    I accidentally started the mermaid quest in Atlantica, and while I saw it to a certain point, I learned I can't complete it properly because my PC is a female and the scenario requires a male lead. So I backed out from there and will hopefully be able to do it in the next generation. I opened up the way to both the Savannah and Cumberland which was my next story destination. In the Savannah I explored and found a few small villages that ended up being destroyed thanks to a giant termite infestation. I fought the Hive Queen, who has easily been the hardest battle in the game thus far and beat her. Rescued the Mole people her hive was occupying and even unlocked some cool new gear for my team. The hard part was that both my mage and archer took some heavy hits to their LP and since both of them are pretty snazzy, I ended up using some save scumming options when either got killed off for real, which ended up making the Cumberland scenario more difficult than it should have been.

    Cumberland was interesting, the King asks you to visit him because he wants to get a second opinion on which of his three children should ascend the throne: His eldest Georg who guards the border wall to the Savannah and commands the respect of all of the kingdom's army; Sophia, only daughter and wisest of the three who is expanding the commerce and infrastructure of the kingdom; or Thomas, youngest of the three but the king's favorite. I opted for Sophia, cause I felt she was the best choice and hey, I'm a freaking Empress, and the royal lines could all stand to have more lady rulers. Well as one would expect, the king mysteriously dies the very next day and Thomas is pronounced king. From here the scenario takes a few interesting turns. Completing it unlocks the Crusader class which feels like a statistical upgrade to the heavy infantry class with better stats for magic, making them feel like a Red Mage class of sorts. This ended Beaver's scenario and I jumped to the third generation.

    I now realize that in addition to the four I choose, each of them represents a random class I've unlocked. Beaver for instance was a Thief/Vagabond class which probably explains why she was suppose to be good with bows. I initially chose Herbert, a Light Infantry character, but I ended up getting thrown into a scenario where my team was captured and sold into slavery. We lost all our gear and had to fight our way out with out bare hands, but unfortunately for me, only my Corsair character Magellan had any levels in hand to hand combat and I forgot to teach the team any skills before leaving the Empire.

    Since I wasn't ready for a party wipe, I reset and had to play out the last part of Beaver's story before trying again because the auto-save had me stuck in the slave scenario. This turned out for the best though, because the heirs I could choose were a much better selection and I had access to the new Crusader class, so now I'm Emperor Peter who starts with good levels in Swords, Spears, Light Magic and I have access to Wind magic as well, which meant I could shake up my party build as well. My Team consists of the Archer Anne, the Light Infantry Medea who stats with fire magic, the Corsair Magellan, and the Earth and Fire Mage Rose. I taught Water magic to Magellan. I still need to visit the Dojo so I can unlock my new formation and teach a few skills to my new team.

    I'm split on what to do here though. If I go the slave route, I'm going up against another one of the Seven Heroes which may end this scenario rather quickly. On the other hand, since I'm rolling with a male emperor, I can see if I can finish the mermaid scenario which I also know will end this scenario. If I go with the mermaid one, I'll likely spend this scenario just grinding out magic levels and sparking as much weapon techs as I can since the battle number shouldn't affect anything since I'll likely be doing a scenario that ends this generation prematurely anyway. I kind of want to get access to Fusion Magic as earl;y as possible, but apparently I'm going to need to seriously grind some magic levels to build up my global levels so I can finally get the ML to research the spells in the next generation. This has kind of been the real fun thing about this game which SF2 did a little of, which was the fact you needed to kind of prep more for the end game than be overly concerned with how your current team is doing. I also need to do these battles because I need another 500,000 Gold for the empire so I can build a University and unlock the Tactician class which apparently was suppose to help me out in Cumberland and the Steppe scenarios. So maybe grinding and doing the mermaid scenario will be for the best.

    So far, I've been having an absolute blast with the game now that I'm getting into the swing of things and reading up a bit more on the mechanics. I do have two gripes with the game so far.

    1. The localization feels off in places. I'm not sure if this is due to the localization team having to do a rush job or something or if this is simply due to the limitation of the game's origin as a 16-bit JRPG, but there are certain places where the dialogue often feels like a direct translation as opposed to actual normal sounding dialogue. The ending dialogue to the Cumberland scenario for instance has two characters offering weird dialogue asking for forgiveness despite not actually doing anything to really cross me. I can't tell if the translator simply didn't get a chance to smooth this dialogue over, or if the dialogue was referring to an alternate way this scenario could have played out but due to the game's limitations, they couldn't hold separate dialogue for every part of a scenario. If that makes any sense. It's not hurting the entertainment value of the game, but it dawns on my that SE currently would likely never have allowed something so glaring to go to release had this been an Final Fantasy, and this strikes a chord with me because I also felt SE cut corners when working on the SoM remake.

    2. It kills me that this game doesn't have a better UI when displaying statistical information. I think one of the best things that ever came out of the FFIV DS remake was the fact the game finally properly displayed all of the statistical information on equipment when you played around in the equipment menu. I can't believe it took Square until FFV to finally display this type of info. SaGa, and this extends to every entry I've played so far, is the absolute worst in displaying this much needed information. Which is all the more infuriating because the gameplay mechanics of these titles are leaps and bounds more complex than FF. So to give an example of what I'm talking about, most armor displays one stat to represent their defensive level, similar to FFIV. Here's the catch, that stat is not a representative of the armors total defensive power, it's actually just how much it defends against Slash damage. There are two more types of physical damage in this game and six types of magical damage which are never displayed, so you can't even trust looking at the character's Attribute screen to get a fair assessment of what your armor is actually doing. SaGa Frontier 2 pulled the same crap with several items that looked statistically weak turning out to be game breakers because the game never explains their full attributes like whether the item absorbed certain elemental damage or boosted others. So now I'm going to probably have to have a full equipment guide on my phone at all times just to figure out how I should be equipping my team. Weapons have a similar issue as well.

    Other issues I've seen is just the sheer amount of algorithms go into weapon sparking and how it correlates to your party members class and I haven't even touched on the Global Level mechanic which ends up being the most important level to strive for. It just dumbfounds me that such a mechanically and technical rich franchise would simply flat out leave you in the dark on so much of how it works. This has been going on since FFII for crying out loud. If Kawazu and the rest of the SaGa team simply conveyed this info a bit better to the players, I feel the game's would stand a better chance of being accepted in the West. Hell, I still can't seem to find a guide that agrees on how Unlimited SaGa's mechanics actually work

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