The SaGa Thread

[Octopus Prime]

Are the Male Mutants in Legend 2 supposed to be patchwork Frankenstein-looking guys, or just have swoopy hair covering one eye and/or cool tattoos?Because I always saw it as one way and refuse to consider that I might be wrong

Also, I consider it unfair that Male Mutants get to look like cool monster guys (or a Keebler Elf) in each of the games, but Female Mutants are all Elf Girl

 

[Kishi]

They're 'borg buddies.

 

[YangusKhan]

I started FFL1 last night and quickly got further in the story than I ever did as a kid; I didn't understand how plots like this worked at that age (my only other frame of reference for RPGs was probably FF4, so), so all I ever did was grind for money to power up my humans. But now I've acquired the KING armor and am on my way to Sword Castle. Party is MUTANT M, HUMAN M, HUMAN F, and ALBATROS. I kind of want to ditch the monster or 2nd human for another mutant though. Also: what's the deal with the KARATEKA x4 battles I will randomly get into inside dungeons? At first I thought those were fixed encounters, but when I reloaded the save and they didn't happen I guess that's not the case? But they absolutely destroy me regardless.

 

[Beowulf]

The Alliance Alive
+ Great battle system with robust fast forward options to get through scrub battles. Interesting exploration with lots going on in the world map. Way more story and character interest than most SaGas. People say it feels like a throwback to the great SNES RPGs and FF6 is often cited as a comparison. Recently got an HD port to Switch and Steam. Great art and music.
- Technically not SaGa. HD graphics are still of 3DS models, if that matters.

Alliance Alive, I would argue, is about halfway between a SaGa and a Suikoden; having aspects of both without truly belonging to either.

 

[Beowulf]

I started FFL1 last night and quickly got further in the story than I ever did as a kid; I didn't understand how plots like this worked at that age (my only other frame of reference for RPGs was probably FF4, so), so all I ever did was grind for money to power up my humans. But now I've acquired the KING armor and am on my way to Sword Castle. Party is MUTANT M, HUMAN M, HUMAN F, and ALBATROS. I kind of want to ditch the monster or 2nd human for another mutant though. Also: what's the deal with the KARATEKA x4 battles I will randomly get into inside dungeons? At first I thought those were fixed encounters, but when I reloaded the save and they didn't happen I guess that's not the case? But they absolutely destroy me regardless.

You generally want a mutant to use magic (either a Book or one of their abilities) to wipe out the entire x4 group at once. They give decent gold rewards if you manage it.

 

[spines]

i finished the first area last night and started checking out the tower. i agree with Yangus that the dungeon random encounters are definitely way bigger and harder than ones on the overworld for the most part. though, the encounter rates and contents feel even more extremely variable in this game than the later ones, hahaha

 

[Pajaro Pete]

Are the Male Mutants in Legend 2 supposed to be patchwork Frankenstein-looking guys, or just have swoopy hair covering one eye and/or cool tattoos?Because I always saw it as one way and refuse to consider that I might be wrong

Also, I consider it unfair that Male Mutants get to look like cool monster guys (or a Keebler Elf) in each of the games, but Female Mutants are all Elf Girl

swoopy hair and cool* tattoos in from the ds version, which also features Ryu from hit** dead franchise Breath of Fire

*well, tattoos, any way
**well, it's definitely a franchise that exists

 

[Paul le Fou]

If I'm gonna play 1 SaGa game right now, assuming I have access to all of them, which one should I start with? I remember enjoying Final Fantasy Legend II when I played it on GBC when I was like 10. Also, my sibling played through Romancing SaGa remake on PS2... I remember them having mixed feelings about that one.

I'll throw in another rec for Scarlet Grace - it's the least traditional in a number of ways, BUT it's the best about making its systems understandable, and has an amazing battle system.

 

[Octopus Prime]

They're 'borg buddies.

Better than I dared dream!

 

[Destil]

Are the Male Mutants in Legend 2 supposed to be patchwork Frankenstein-looking guys, or just have swoopy hair covering one eye and/or cool tattoos?Because I always saw it as one way and refuse to consider that I might be wrong

I always read the sprite as having elf ears and wearing a jeweler's loop on one eye with a short ponytail/topknot.

 

[falz]

Scarlet Grace looks like fun. Most recent one, too. Think I'll try that one first!

 

[YangusKhan]

I'll throw in another rec for Scarlet Grace - it's the least traditional in a number of ways, BUT it's the best about making its systems understandable, and has an amazing battle system.

+1 from me too. It's a good introduction to mechanics that are in previous games, but that game actually tries to explain most of it, so I think it makes for a good first entry because it can help explain what's going on if and when you try the older games that follow similar battle mechanics.

 

[Kazin]

Not sure why anyone would want to play anything else, frankly

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1339343254794465285

 

[estragon]

Cute video of Kawazu talking about D&D.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1339013074934624257

 

[Tato]

Several official store pages for this mention it has a quick-save/quick-load system, but I'm not seeing anything in the controls that says how to do either and the game certainly doesn't save your place when you exit to the title screen. Are the official store pages wrong or is this functionality buried somewhere?

Edit - Nevermind, it's inside the game's in game menu, I was expecting it to be an external thing like the speed up option. I'm dumb

 

[Kazin]

On 10F now, after having gotten the second ORB. Figuring out where to go in these games isn't all that difficult because townspeople get right to the point. Sure wish my humans weren't so squishy, armor doesn't seem to boost your defense too much. Still, they're doing fantastic single target damage now, so stuff usually dies before I get too hurt, especially with my mutants having access to spellbooks.

 

[Kzinssie]

Cute video of Kawazu talking about D&D.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1339013074934624257

Huh, would not have pegged Kawazu as a Dragonlance fan. Fully expected him to just pull out a Spelljammer book

 

[Kazin]

Do I need to keep AIR, JAILKEY, WHITKEY, and BLUEKEY? They're taking up precious inventory space... On 16F if that helps answer my question.

 

[Mightyblue]

The catch with Humans is that they have no magic defense, and most of the really painful stuff is magic in SaGa 1/2.

 

[Kazin]

Okay the enemies on 16F - even setting aside Su-zaku - are way too powerful. Time to grind, I suppose

 

[Destil]

Do I need to keep AIR, JAILKEY, WHITKEY, and BLUEKEY? They're taking up precious inventory space... On 16F if that helps answer my question.

You can ditch your key items after you use them, and you can always find them again if you make a mistakle.

 

[Beowulf]

Okay the enemies on 16F - even setting aside Su-zaku - are way too powerful. Time to grind, I suppose

16F is a big difficulty spike, but the money should also still be flowing. It's where I typically gave up as a child, but a willingness to grind and upgrade will get you through. If you can get through the dungeon at the end of 16F, you're pretty well set for the late-game.

The catch with Humans is that they have no magic defense, and most of the really painful stuff is magic in SaGa 1/2.

That's why you need Dragon Armor. Put that on your humans and mutants and only the human who gets the Band helmet is allowed to upgrade any further.

 

[Kazin]

You can ditch your key items after you use them, and you can always find them again if you make a mistakle.

Ah, okay, good to know! I wasn't sure if I'd need AIR again on a later floor, for example (which, by the way, seems to be another change, I guess that item used to be called AIRSEED). I kind of figured I wouldn't need the keys again but I didn't want to screw myself (although since the game lets you throw out important items, I assumed you could get them again or buy them or something). Thanks! This will allow me to carry Eye Drops and XPotions lol

16F is a big difficulty spike, but the money should also still be flowing. It's where I typically gave up as a child, but a willingness to grind and upgrade will get you through. If you can get through the dungeon at the end of 16F, you're pretty well set for the late-game.

Grinding and upgrading is pretty much all I've been doing so far, and I'm a little concerned at how expensive weapons and armor are, but I might go back down and buy some Battle Swords or something rather than try to grind out the 20k+ weapons on 16F. Granted I stopped playing last night after getting the bike so maybe grinding up there won't be so bad.

 

[Beowulf]

Ah, okay, good to know! I wasn't sure if I'd need AIR again on a later floor, for example (which, by the way, seems to be another change, I guess that item used to be called AIRSEED). I kind of figured I wouldn't need the keys again but I didn't want to screw myself (although since the game lets you throw out important items, I assumed you could get them again or buy them or something). Thanks! This will allow me to carry Eye Drops and XPotions lol


Grinding and upgrading is pretty much all I've been doing so far, and I'm a little concerned at how expensive weapons and armor are, but I might go back down and buy some Battle Swords or something rather than try to grind out the 20k+ weapons on 16F. Granted I stopped playing last night after getting the bike so maybe grinding up there won't be so bad.

If you have a mutant, a Cure book is always better than potions. You'll want a NEEDLE if you're going up and down to 10F at all. (And yes, Battle swords are totally fine if your strength is 99+)

 

[Kazin]

If you have a mutant, a Cure book is always better than potions. You'll want a NEEDLE if you're going up and down to 10F at all. (And yes, Battle swords are totally fine if your strength is 99+)

Yeah, I have two Mutants but their inventories come at a premium since you only get four slots, and I want to fill them with offensive spellbooks and some defensive items lol.

What does NEEDLE do?

 

[Beowulf]

Yeah, I have two Mutants but their inventories come at a premium since you only get four slots, and I want to fill them with offensive spellbooks and some defensive items lol.

What does NEEDLE do?

It's a "golden needle" and cures petrification. There are medusas in that stretch of Tower, and they will ruin your whole day.

My approach to Mutants by that point of the game was always one weapon (P-Knife or Vampic), two spellbooks (one elemental, one death) and a suit of Dragon armor. Swap the Cure book onto them out of battle if you need healing. Even with 99 mana, the elemental spell books are going to stop being useful by the time you finish 16F, but instant death hits most foes.

 

[Kazin]

It's a "golden needle" and cures petrification. There are medusas in that stretch of Tower, and they will ruin your whole day.

I got extremely lucky through those floors, then - I never got petrified, I think because I was able to kill them before they could cast anything on me. Of course, having said that, if I do go back down to those floors, I'll probably get petrified lol

My approach to Mutants by that point of the game was always one weapon (P-Knife or Vampic), two spellbooks (one elemental, one death) and a suit of Dragon armor. Swap the Cure book onto them out of battle if you need healing. Even with 99 mana, the elemental spell books are going to stop being useful by the time you finish 16F, but instant death hits most foes.

Oof, those elemental spellbooks/mutants natural elemental spells are what's carried me so far. Going to be quite a readjustment on 16F! I've come this far though, I want to beat it.

 

[Tato]

Wow. Now that I finally have some understanding of the mechanics in FFL, I'm progressing quite quickly and having fun. I can DEFINITELY see why I got absolutely nowhere in this as a kid though. Now that I'm older and also played through FF2, it's not impenetrable.

 

[Kazin]

Well!

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1339760549333184512

What a delightful, weird little game. I thought it went (ending spoilers) meta at the end when the Creator said the whole thing was a "game" - I was like omg is Kowazu the boss of the first SaGa game?!

I enjoyed it, and found it way less obtuse and random than a lot of old school RPGs (at least in terms of where to go next - that was usually pretty clear). It was pretty grindy, but that's okay - and I would have enjoyed this as a kid, too, had I had it at the time and given it a fair shot. I beat it with two humans and two mutants, and whoever* gave me the tip to buy DEATH spellbooks for my mutants, thanks - those kept them viable from 16F to the end, besides against bosses, where my humans shone.

I'm going to try to get through all three of these games. No idea if I'll succeed or get burnt out, but I want to try. I like at least one SaGa game! Never thought I'd see the day lol

*Beowulf. Thank you to Beowulf. It was two posts above this one, Kazin, jfc lol

 

[Lokii]

Congrats Kazin! That's a good story.