Despite some glaring issues in the late game and monsters being underwhelming in general, it feels like a proper adventure where you gather a group of adventurers who actually have stuff to say at the climax of the story, and you get to visit a lot of locations that you probably didn't see a lot of in other stories (unless you went out of your way)
Incidentally, this is one of the reasons I remember SaGa Frontier simultaneously fondly/"that was a mess". There are a few areas that are very distinctly created "for" particular characters, and only one (maybe two) scenario utilizes those dungeons. And in, like, any other JRPG with the premise of multiple playable characters/scenarios, you would arrive at an abandoned temple meant for Riki, and your character would say "there's no reason we have to be here" and walk away. Or there would be a permanent "guard" outside. Or you wouldn't even be able to select the area on the map. Or
something. SaGa Frontier gives you the freedom to say "hey, you want to explore here? Go ahead!" And that was something that was sorely lacking from earlier 32/16-bit JRPGs! I mean, how many people would get excited in the olden days trying to squeeze one character into a place they "shouldn't be" just to see what would happen? ("Hey, I got Gogo to work in the World of Balance!") But, that said, the answer here is kind of sad, because you
can bring Red to somewhere he's not supposed to go... and the best you see out of it is maybe some decent treasure, but more likely just a literal waste of time. Did that feel worth it for you? Maybe! But more often than not, when an area doesn't have a distinct reward, it feels like you did something wrong. It varies from player to player, but it is very easy to do a LOT in SaGa Frontier, and feel like the end result of those adventures is a waste of time. And, as I've mentioned elsewhere in one of these SaGa threads, (random example) exploring an area meant for Riki during Emelia's campaign, finding nothing, and then revisiting it for the "real" scenario with Riki feels less like "I got this" and more like "Oh, heck, now I have to do this area again".
When there's the possibility that you can explore 90% of the whole game with one scenario, there is the distinct danger that the player is going to become too exhausted/frustrated trying to play 630% of the game. And never mind "knowing" that, like, one goofy NPC or dungeon is going to be a silly diversion in six scenarios, but absolutely essential in scenario seven...
That kind of brings me to my own "final thought" on SaGa Frontier: I feel like this game was a little
too understood by its authors, and there were a lot of design decisions that can absolutely make sense, but only if you really understand the whole of the game. Like, every scenario, every sidequest, and the importance of knowing the difference between the two before you burn out on experiencing everything. And narratively, the fact that, say, Blue is very much just a jerk, and isn't like another PSX Final Fantasy-esque "he'll be less gruff eventually" protagonist is super important to his ultimate fate, but you really can't understand the full scope of that until you realize Rogue was
"the good twin" all along from other scenarios. And the whole of the game (particularly in the original incarnation, thanks memory cards) is not the easiest thing to grasp under the best of circumstances. I can see how a lot of these decisions make sense in the fullness of understanding all of SaGa Frontier, but in the individual moments of it, it is all over the place, and likely to "offend" a player with its very distinct choices.
Anyway, I do believe a lot of thought and care went into SaGa Frontier's original creation and the remaster. I very fondly remember the game then and now. I also think it is kind of a mess.