Grinding: it's not just for coffee anymore. Let's Play The 7th Saga!

We were kids at the time. Did we know better? Probably not, but we did know that the less popular games were seven-day rentals for the same price as the popular ones' three-days. About the game itself, we knew two things: it was hard, and it was awesome.

To the Internet at large, only the former really stuck, and predictably, that got blown out of proportion. The game became known for what was seen as incredibly grindy gameplay instead of its ambitious graphics and nuanced battle system. True, the game was accidentally made much harder during localization, but there's more to this game than that.

Let's learn the truth. Let's find out how much of its reputation is hype and how much is deserved. Let's Play The 7th Saga.



It's no secret that 7th Saga got screwed in localization. Released by Enix in 1993, 7th Saga fell into that strange void of off-title RPGs on a system that was already teeming with them. To put it in perspective, RPGs were to the SNES what FPSes are to the Xbox: manifold and of varying quality. That box shot you see is evidence that they weren't quite sure how to market it -- every other game already had the same tagline about not being your grandma's RPG. Naturally, 7th Saga quickly fell off the radar, never to be seen again. On the other side of the seas, where the game was titled "Elnard" and the audience didn't have to wonder about sagas one through six, a sequel was eventually released -- but that's a story for another day. Suffice it to say that the sequel never made it here and that a game titled "Elnard" would have done really poorly in the US. (Heh heh, Elnard.)



One of 7th Saga's most compelling features is its cast. You're given your pick of seven characters (by the way, expect to see that number again in the future) and can later recruit a companion from the remaining six. The other apprentices (as they're called, for reasons that will soon become apparent) aren't just setting pieces: they'll show up later to hinder you and indeed constitute the most difficult battles the game can offer (for reasons that will eventually be explained). When they're not fighting you, they're occasionally helpful, although even apprentices you manage to recruit can backstab you at the least opportune moments.

Let's meet our players. Starting from the top left, working down:

Kamil Dowonna is one of two humans. Of the apprentices, he has the silliest name. The manual recommends Kamil as a starting character, but the sad secret truth is that he's absolutely the most boring and probably the least powerful of the seven. He's the "balanced" character, and you know what that means. His assortment of spells includes the Fire element, which is the most useful because of one certain fight in the middle of the game.

Olvan Jaess, the dwarf, is what Kamil should have been. Olvan gets to equip the best equipment, where Kamil comes just short, and gets mostly support spells with Ice attack mixed in. Olvan has a special event mid-game that gives him some nice goodies.

Esuna Busy, the elf, is your standard offensive spellcaster. She gets some support options, but her mainstay is Ice-element attacks. She excels at dying quickly, but also at killing things quickly.

Wilme Pelin, the alien, has the name that sounds most like a Flintstones character AND the name that sounds most like a failed vice-presidential candidate. There is exactly one item in the game that Wilme can equip and his magic is laughable in both variety and power. Wilme is the most straightforward character (but secretly: kinda boring). As kids, he was our favorite. He attacks by setting his arm on fire then punching dudes. That is the most awesome means of attack available to a dude.

On the right, Lux Tizer is a Tetujin (trans: robot). His kind is mostly extinct blah blah amnesia blah blah. What's important is that he's a walking tank, massively powerful in every appreciable way. He suffers from low MP and speed, but the real drawback to Lux is the "CLUNK CLUNK CLUNK" noise he makes when he walks. This puts "shfshfshf" to SHAME.

Valsu Saizer is human #2, filling the stereotypical priest role. He gets one attack spell in ICE 1, filling the rest of his spell list with support spells. If this sounds lame, that is because you don't know things about The 7th Saga. Support spells are awesome. Idiots will point to the ELIXIR spell he learns at level 42 as the secret source of his awesome, but if you're not doing a solo game, then you're going to win the game around that level (unless you grind like crazy, which said idiots are also going to do).

Lejes Rimul, the demon, rounds out the cast as the character who looks awesome but is secretly kind of terrible. He is the best apprentice to fight in those cases where you absolutely have to fight one, since his combat AI is unfathomably stupid. Playing as Lejes, you'll notice that while he's oriented towards offense both physically and magically, he excels at neither while retaining the poor defenses you'd expect from such a character. Lejes is notable for learning every attack spell in the game aside from Lux's exclusive spells.

I think I've won with each of these characters. None of them is so bad as to render the game unplayable, nor so good as to be a must-have. You can solo the game with any apprentice and you can duo with any pair, though some combinations definitely have an easier time.

For today, though, I only need a starting character. Pick a dude and name him/her for me.

Are you...playing with a difficulty-stabilizer patch? I hope you do.

I vote for Lejes, and to name him Wimpy; because that's what he really is behind that bad-ass demon persona.

So hard to decide!

Ice Dwarf named Plutoid

or

Valsu named Vishnu

Robot, named Tetsujin.

I know about the next game in the series, Mystic Ark, but does anyone know stuff about the PSOne game, Mystic Ark: Maboroshi Gekijo?

Hey, I liked Lux's movement noise! I also played through most of the game with him, using the dwarf for said event (with slight trickery) and Miss Busy for the rest.

Clearly, we must name him Blitz. Because I'm not above plugging my own terrible running gags.

Get out of my sight.



Lux leads with two votes currently.

Esuna! And name her Heal. This is America damn it.

Reasons:
- I seem to recall offensive spells actually rock in this game, especially once you get the infinitely usable MP restoring toy.

- Rudest awakening halfway through.

- POSSIBLY the best at exemplifying how TOTALLY LAME the ending is.

- May be related to Gary Busey!

Wilme.

And name him Wilma.

Because Obvious.

What...what are you doing. This game is worse than SWORD OF MANA.

Tetsujin named Lavos.

It's not that bad... Music's nice, too.

Get the Robot! And pick up the hellbeast later!

I too say Lejes, except rename him Sprong in honor of those beautiful antennae.

Use Lux, and name him Ironsides.

Best name for that dude. Not that I'm voting for that dude, but I do support that name.

But...but..."this is the future of RPG"! "The graphics are eye-popping, breathtaking, stunning, and unbelievable, not to mention incredible"!

Seriously though, the game's pretty awesome and I really love the premise. Mogri clearly has to LP this game seven times, each using different character.

(also I'm changing my name vote to "Mogri" since I just noticed this):

There's no way this is worse than sword of mana, at least not in the same ways.

Lux, named "DeLux!"

I love Lux's movement sound.

Hell, the sound design in this game in general is fantastic. A shame you need to pause the game to hear any of the music for more than six seconds or so.

Also: Lux. Named Lux.

That has to be the most ridiculous box copy I've ever seen.

There's not a whole lot of information about it on the English speaking parts of the net, but apparently it took the graphical adventure bits of Mystic Ark even further, while still having random encounters.

And it has some great music.

With music this good you won't want to turn the sound off--you'll want to pause the game!

You're going to be the demon and you are going to suffer for our amusement. Pick the next most useless character to be your partner.

Bonus points if you can name an RPG that has small elves leading your team.

Double bonus points because 7th Saga lets you have a small elf leading your team.

Triple bonus points if you named the PC after yourself in the elf game and weren't embarrassed about it; you were proud.

Um... Hmm... Nope, none come to mind unless we go into D&D games and make Elf PCs.

Also, I'm afraid my real name wouldn't suit an elf. The hero of DQVIII, however...

You are going to be Lejes and you'll like it!

(Actually I read the LP over at the archives and he's the only one who I don't remember anything about so now I want to see him used)

(And I mean 'be'. You're naming him Mogri)

You have to be Olvan as he is the true main character.

I think 7th Saga certainly gets more crap than it deserves and I'll be looking forward to your take on it.

Weird coincidence - I read another LP of this like, a week ago, and the LPer there... didn't exactly like the game. It'll be interesting to see this game from another perspective.

Hmmm... I don't know. I don't really trust a difficulty assessment coming from someone who plays roguelikes.

For this reason Olvan is my choice. (When I played the game I used Lejes.)

Or as I liked to say - "Electro" Lux Tizer.

Robot. Name him Mogri.

I also vote for Lux, but name him Ziggy, since his 'CLUNK CLUNK CLUNK' reminds me of Ziggurat 8's 'K'STOMP K'STOMP K'STOMP'.

Team him up with the Priest if possible and just wreck things.

I think it's already too late to stem the steel tide, but for what it's worth:

Dwarf named Vinz Clortho or Louis Tully, since his special power is having a key.

Or Jill Valentine, for similar reasons.