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SaGa Frontier - Reader Review |
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SaGa Frontier: Not for Everyone
By Tom Lynch
Review Breakdown |
Battle System | 8.0 |
Gameplay | 8.5 |
Music | 9.0 |
Originality | 6.0 |
Plot | 5.0 |
Replay Value | 9.5 |
Sound | 8.0 |
Visuals | 7.5 |
Difficulty | Hard |
Time to Complete | 70-80 hours | |
Overall |
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The game opens and presents you with seven characters. Whose story do
you want to play through first? Even before the game begins, you are
assaulted by decisions to make. Not that that's a bad thing...
 
SaGa Frontier isn't a game for everyone. With seven different
characters to play, seven different quests, and one world that all the
quests are set in, there isn't much room for linearity. Though some
quests are more linear than others, at one point in each quest, you're
free to explore the world to your heart's content, though in most cases,
a few parts of the world will be inaccessible. During this "free time",
there are a number of sidequests to embark on that will help build your
characters in one way or another.
 
Every character is also very flexible, though some more than others.
The game features a variety of races. Humans, which are the most
flexible, Mystics, which have the special ability to absorb up to three
enemy skills by way of their Mystic abilities (Sword, Glove and Boots),
Monsters, which morph and gain abilities as monsters have in past SaGa
games, and Mecs, which can absorb abilities from defeated Mecs, and have
their stats enhanced by equipping different items. Monsters and Mecs
are the only races which can't learn magic, but generally, they don't
need to.
 
The game's battle engine is quite good, though it lacks the real-time
aspect of some other RPGs. Your choices of action are displayed in
different windows, only one of which is visible at a time. There is a
window for each weapon you have equipped (and you can equip up to 4
different weapons/items/shields,) with the exception of shields, and all
the skills your character has learned with that type of weapon. There
is a window for the items you have equipped, and a window for the magic
you have equipped.
 
Abilities are sadly limited, however. A character can learn any amount
of abilities, but can only have eight equipped at once. Choosing the
right ones, therefore, is essential. Also, if six abilities of the same
kind (sword, gun, magic, etc) are equipped, the WP (or JP, in the case
of magic) cost drops by one. This can prove extremely useful, as some
spells and abilities will have their point cost dropped to zero, leaving
you free to use the ability as much as you want.
 
Learning new abilities seems to happen more or less randomly. When
attacking with a sword, every once in a while, a lightbulb will appear
over the character's head, and they'll learn a new sword ability. If a
certain elemental magic is used during battle, your character might
learn a new spell of that element after the battle - that is, if you
don't have all the spells.
 
Spells are learned in an interesting manner, which combines the methods
of Final Fantasy and Final Fantasy IV. You can buy the first few spells
of a given element, which are rather different from the common Earth,
Air, Water and Fire of most RPGs, but to learn the others, you must
acquire the gift for the magic by way of a completely optional
side-quest.
 
Where the game tends to detract players is its non-linearity, however.
There is a lot of time spent simply building your characters for the
next part of the story, which is often short, and involves fighting a
big boss. Then it's off to more side-quests, more character-building,
or both.
 
The graphics in this one leave something to be desired... though not too
much. Good luck finding polygons in this game - there aren't many. The
graphics are primarily all sprites. However, not much life was put into
them. Characters' strides are something we could have seen in Final
Fantasy 6, or Seiken Denetsu 2 and 3. Animation isn't a strong point in
this game. It is quite the same in the battles. Characters have about
4 different sides in a battle, as do enemies. Front-facing, left and
right, and back-facing, left and right. Not very exciting. Some of the
attacks, however, are very lively, and after seeing, left me saying to
myself, "Cooooooooool..."
 
SaGa Frontier is certainly not a game that everyone can enjoy, but if
you like non-linear games, and are willing to check a guide or
walkthrough, this is a game for you. If you're a casual RPG player, I'd
reccomend that you rent this one, and see how you like it.
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