Square has officially announced the newest title in development for its popular SaGa series. The game, entitled Unlimited SaGa, will be released on the PlayStation 2 and will make its debut in Japan this December.

Several lead staff members were revealed, including Akitoshi Kawazu, a SaGa series veteran, as the project leader; Yusuke Naora, known for his work in Final Fantasy X, as character designer; Tomomi Kobayashi, returning as concept artist; and Masashi Hamauzu, returning from his work in SaGa Frontier 2 as music composer.

The story revolves around several selectable characters as they search for the Seven Mystical Wonders. Once the Wonders are discovered, the gods will re-appear and humanity will have a golden age. The only character revealed thus far is a pirate girl named Laura.

A few details about the game's battle system have been revealed. This time around, the combat system will include five possible options for the entire party, rather than individual commands for each character. The five options may be reserved for one character during a turn, or divided up among the entire party. Once the player decides the attack pattern, a slot reel will appear, and, if executed successfully, it will cause characters to deal double or quadruple slashes. These attacks can be unleashed immediately or stored for later use as a combo attack with another character. These special attacks will consume hit points instead of the standard special points.

The graphics, as described by Yusuke Naora, will be neither 2D nor 3D. Produced with the aid of Adobe Systems, the graphical style resembles the hand-drawn style used in SaGa Frontier 2. The title has not been announced for a North American or European release, but such an announcement will likely not be revealed immediately following the game's initial revelation. Expect more details to be released in the coming months as Unlimited SaGa moves through its development cycle.