Romancing SaGa 2 Review: Revenge of the Seven: A Classic Revived

Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven review

Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven is a full 3D remake of the 1993 classic Romancing SaGa 2. The SaGa franchise has always liked to play with the tropes and trappings of JRPGs, and this title is no exception. While some pieces of this old game are frustrating and the monster design confuses me, it's still a fun time if you're willing to meet it where it is.

Legend tells of seven heroes who once saved the world from a tide of monsters. Supposedly, the heroes would return in their town's darkest moment. In any other game, you'd play as one of those heroes fighting a resurgent evil empire. However, this is Romancing SaGa 2, and you play as the rulers of the Varennes Empire desperately resisting seven fallen heroes.

The game begins with the twisted hero Kzinssie attacking the capital, Avalon. He kills both the crown prince and the emperor with a forbidden spell, leaving the second son, Gerard, to take the throne. Gerard must assume his father's legacy through the magic of inheritance. He and his heirs must gather strength across generations to take the fight to the seven.

The seven heroes will return and take no prisoners. You must pass on techniques to your heirs, develop your power, and improve the capital city of Avalon. And while you wait, there's plenty of territory to annex and countless interlocking missions you can complete in any order you prefer.

Long live the empire

Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven starts off with a great hook. The story itself is not the strongest and I wouldn't call the game a narrative game. Playing as a dynasty means that individual emperors have relatively little characterization. However, that doesn't make it any less fun to explore the game world and unravel its complex scenarios.

This is an open world RPG. New areas and events open up over time, but you can choose which order to tackle them in, leaving out urgent events. The order in which you perform certain tasks and the class of your emperor can affect the outcome. You have a lot of freedom to decide how to approach things.

The graphics are simple and colorful, reminiscent of a more detailed Dragon Quest. Although hair often looks like plasticine when it moves. The contrast between the cute, cartoonish monsters and the horrors they represent creates some dissonance. A lot of people die in this game, but it's a little hard to take it seriously.

I like the character designs and environments, but the monster designs feel out of place. Voice acting is available in Japanese and English, and the English cast is pretty solid. And the soundtrack is excellent and atmospheric. But the main draw of this game is the experience of leading your dynasty to success.

Romancing SaGa 2: The revenge of the seven attacks the hero's journey

Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven is a generational saga with a twist. From time to time, the game goes into a time jump and you must choose a new emperor. However, you can also change a new emperor from your capital and inherit the abilities of his predecessor. It is not necessary to have children, but it is necessary to have an heir. Different emperors and empresses have different abilities. Strategic abdication can be quite useful.

The scale of the game is enormous. It covers a huge continent full of quest hooks, many of which can go horribly wrong if you drop the ball. And if you want to do it right, you'll have to keep upgrading Avalon and unlocking new equipment. These city-building elements are deeply tied to combat. If you succeed in battle, you will unlock materials and cash that you can invest in the capital, thus unlocking new spells, weapons and more money.

This title features turn-based battles with a heavy emphasis on strategy. You must balance defense, attack, and more complex features like Glimmering, which encourages experimentation. Fortunately, you can freely adjust the difficulty between Casual, Normal and Hard.

Different formations influence basic statistics and lend themselves to certain strategies. Surprise attacks on the map can break your formation and do all sorts of nasty things. And you must shine new techniques through combat and then record them so other characters can use them.

Part JRPG, part city builder

While Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven is good overall, I had some issues while exploring. I mean, moving the camera made me quite dizzy. There came a point where I would close my eyes every time I started a battle so the screen wouldn't rotate. I finally stopped it by sitting about 3 feet away from my monitor. Depending on your gaming setup, this solution may or may not be viable for you.

Managing resources can be stressful. The LP system adds a new sense of urgency to managing everything else in combat. If a character loses all LP, they are permanently dead. You are already going to go through many emperors. You can also run out of party members at a bad time if you're not careful.

This game constantly asks you to make decisions with consequences, some minor and some major. Fortunately, even if you make the wrong choice, you may be able to meet the conditions of the other option. Unfortunately, it's very difficult to know which NPCs you can talk to correctly. This can make finding a way to proceed more difficult than necessary.

All in all, I can certainly see why Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven is a remake of a classic. I just wish the monsters were a little more menacing and the narrative a little stronger. And that the camera would stop making me sick.