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The SaGa franchise has always been one of Square Enix’s oddest and most avant-garde series. Helmed by veteran designer Akitoshi Kawazu, SaGa pushes against the norms and trends that define the genre. Sometimes the results are glorious, such as in SaGa Frontier 1 and 2. Other times, the results are more… mixed (Unlimited Saga).

After a 3 year wait, the most recent release in the franchise, SaGa Scarlet Grace, has finally been released in English. Originally released in 2016 on the Playstation Vita, this new version is now playable on all major consoles and mobile devices. Is this new game worth the wait?

SaGa Scarlet Grace’s characters are full of personality.

SaGa Scarlet Grace follows four different characters, each with different goals. Set in a world where in ancient times a comet known as the Firebringer rebelled against the Gods. Seven times he attacked the planet, but each time was defeated by a line of emperors ordained by the Gods. Following their seventh battle, the line of emperors ended and the empire itself dissolved.

Upon starting a new save file, the player is asked a series of questions that dictate which character the game recommends. However, you can ignore this recommendation and play as which ever character you want. I chose Leonard, a rural bumpkin who is joined by local feisty rich girl Elizabeth. Their quest is to find the mythical city of Ei-Hanum.

The world map has a sort of pop-up book look to it.

Exploration in the game is entirely in the world map. The world map is broken up into regions that are populated by various points of interest. However, there are no dungeons or towns. If you visit one of the various cities in the game, you are treated to a menu of where you want to go. Usually there are only a few options such as blacksmith, unless there are story events available.

Likewise, there are few cut scenes in the game. Story events are told entirely via dialogue. The characters involved appear on screen in front of the map, but are only as artwork. There is no animation in these scenes. The English voice acting is not bad, but not great either.

The battle system is where the game shines. When entering an area with an encounter, players are provided information on how difficult the encounter will be. From there, prior to combat, the player is provided one last opportunity to customize their team, called a retinue in game, prior to clashing. There are several factors to take into consideration before the battle starts, the most important of which is Formation. Formation dictates passive bonuses such as speed, as well as how many Battle Points the party has in battle. Players can also view potential rewards for the encounter, which have bonuses for certain conditions being met such as not having any party members get KO’d, or poisoning monsters during battle.

Once battle begins, the player is presented with a timeline. Players select the character they wish to attack with, and then their actions. Their attacks are based on which weapons the character is currently equipped with From the menu, each attack displays a various amount of stars. These stars are battle points. It is important to economize your attacks, since Battle Points are shared amongst your entire party. It is unlikely you will ever be able to attack with your entire squad in one turn.

Since your characters do not level up like in Dragon Quest or Final Fantasy, it is important to share the load. Stat progression is tied to use. If you want your character to become stronger at Swords, then they have to use sword attacks frequently. Returning from previous SaGa games is the fabulous Glimmering system. When using an attack in battle, party members occasionally have a light bulb flash above their head. They then perform a previously unused technique. It is unwise to rely only on your best team members, as that will put you in dire situations later on.

Visually the game is a mixed bag. The character designs, once again by series veteran Tomomi Kobayashi, are once again on point. Lush, colorful and surprisingly diverse, her designs match the personality infused by the script. Battle animations are hit or miss. Quite a few are stylish, but other more basic attacks are boring and awkward. Environments and backgrounds are to be frank, pretty bad. Usually no more than just vague blurry splotches of color.

Musically the game lives up to the series’ pedigree. Kenji Ito returns with his wonderfully bombastic progressive rock melodies. He delivers another fantastic soundtrack, packed full of tunes. I think I heard 4 different battle themes within 30 minutes of playing. All of them are head bangingly awesome. This is a game that should be played just for its soundtrack. Each of the four characters have their own world map theme and main battle theme as well, which means it will be a long time before players will grow bored of this OST.

While its clear that this game was built with a tight budget, it is still worth exploring. As Tristan noted in our recent Year in Review Podcast, the game does seem to be more in line with a mobile title than a full-fledged RPG. Despite that I am enjoying what I’ve played so far and am looking forward to experiencing more from this content-filled game. I do not love the game yet, but it is growing on me. If you are new to the series and can only pick one of the recently released games I’d probably recommend Romancing SaGa 3 over this game, but if you can try both then by all means please do.

SaGa Scarlet Grace was released on December 3rd, 2019. It is available on Nintendo Switch, Playstation 4, Steam, Google Play and Apple.

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