Official Website

Platform: Playstation 2

Genre: Role Playing

Number of Players: 1

I think that there are definitely quite a few role-playing fanatics that can remember Square’s SaGa series. For those, like myself, that have been into video games for a while, the first real appearance that we saw of the series was technically on the GameBoy, and while the series went under the SaGa name in Japan, it was renamed, taking on the guise of Final Fantasy. But, the series evolved, and later instead of a lengthy adventure, we saw mini-quests, as was the case with SaGa Frontier on the PS1. It wasn’t the type of adventure that would take a great deal of time to complete, but instead had several different characters that could be chosen. The franchise is back again though, this time as Unlimited SaGa, the first US release for the newly formed Square-Enix. Don’t let the name change fool you though, this is still classic Square.

Unlike other RPG games like any from the Final Fantasy series or Xenosaga for example, Unlimited SaGa doesn’t necessarily have a story, at least not in the usual terminology. Instead, the game has, what is called, “open-ended” stories that center on seven main characters. The interconnecting backbone in all these stories however is the Seven Wonders; ancient structures, which it is said, hold the power of the Gods and will bring forth a new golden age. Aside from undertaking your characters primary quest, our adventures may very well lead you to discover the mysteries of these mythical Wonders.

Unlimited SaGa’s characters include:

Ventus – a 19-year old carrier. The carriers are the equivalent of a delivery service, making a pretty penny depending on how tough the job is. Ventus however has become a carrier in order to find out who it is that is responsible for his brothers’ murder.

Judy – Judy is a 10-year old witch in training. But when a guest stops by unexpectedly, her families magic defense system goes off, scattering the members to the far reaches of the world. Now, she needs to locate everyone and reunite her family.

Laura – A pirate with an attitude. Although she has since retired, there’s nothing that a pirate loves better than adventure.

Armic – The non-human of the bunch, Armic is a Chapa and with his village being plagued by drought, he’s be chosen to try and find the means to bring it to an end.

Mythe – A highly talented inventor whom is often regarded as a genius. Mythe’s adventure begins when he is comes across a mysterious image of a woman.

Kurt – Once a knight, Kurt is now the victim of a curse. However, that’s not going to stand in his way of seeking of information that will help mankind in general.

Ruby – She’s what’s known as a fake fortuneteller, and with such little skill, who knows what fate will await her once she runs into the mysterious individual known as Iskandar.

Starting the game is fairly simple; you chose which of the seven characters that you want to play as, and things will go from there. However, keep in mind that this is not a Final Fantasy title, and in fact Unlimited SaGa is quite a different game altogether. It’s fairly obvious right from the start though. Instead of CG or highly animated cut scenes, UsaGa uses what is called sketch motion. What is it? The game features 2-D hand drawn cells that comprise most of the games elements, so when you’re in a city, an image of your character will appear, as will others. There’s no much in the way of animation, and instead it’s a little like looking at a picture book or even a comic book. There is a little voice over work here and there, done by some of the English voice actors who do work for ADV Films, but there’s nothing flashy or fancy, and not a huge amount of dialog, so those that get bored easily by the sometimes over narrative nature of Final Fantasy may in fact be slightly pleased.

The cities themselves are also flat, 2-D surfaces. Instead of running through the nooks and crannies of the cities throughout the world, you’ll find that you simply move a cursor around and chose where it is that you want to go. The Inn’s in each city will provide other characters to talk with and gain information, as well as a place to save, and buy or sell weapons and the like. You will also have the chance to select a mini-adventure for there as well, assuming that you’re not already tied up with something else, which will always be the case if you’re a carrier. There is also a blacksmith’s shop where you can forge new weapons, and important aspect that will be covered a little later.

The world map is done in a similar fashion, but instead you move almost like in the same fashion as you would in a board game, minus the dice rolls of course. Each section will yield many different things. Some are free and clear, some have traps that you have to by-pass, and some might have treasure. Avoid traps brings up a wheel that spins around where you are required to stop it on one of the green spheres that will allow you to escape unharmed. Land of an X or dynamite though and you’ll take damage. Treasure chests will call for you to use your skill, located in the sub-menu to try and open it, but in the beginning, most treasure items you will find will have a higher level than what you have the ability to open resulting in a trap being set off many times. Some other sections though have monsters. Often they will attack, but at times they will not, letting you make the call if you want to jump into battle and get the upper hand.

Battles in the game are the only 3D aspect. You can select up to five different attacks from the characters in your party, although at times you message will pop up limiting the amount of participants in the battle. The different attacks depend on your weapons and skills, and magic can be used as well. Instead of immediately attacking though, another wheel pops up, this time very similar to things seen in previous FF titles. You can do a single attack, or chose to link as many as possible, either connecting attacks from a single or group of characters. At times though, characters will get an idea, meaning they’ve discovered a new form of attack. Once you have, this will also appear in the attack wheel, but in order to use it, of course you need to land on it.

The different weapons, armor, and accessories that are found will be what determines the abilities that can be used. However, they all have durability, and using a sword or spear more than just punches or kicks will drop the durability of the weapon down until it’s useless. A weapon that loses all durability points is worthless, and another will have to be purchased or equipped. This is where the blacksmith comes in handy though. Take in a weapon or other item and combine it with another and you may have a more powerful item to work with. Characters also have not only hit points, but life points as well. During battle, you can take HP damage, but it’s the LP that really matters. Run out of those and it’s game over. So, your character may take 100 HP of damage, but not lose a single LP. HP can be recovered by simply taking an inactive turn on the map, while both HP and LP are recovered once you get to a city or town.

Unlike many other RPG’s though, the end of battle doesn’t mean that you gain experience. Generally, once you reach the next town or reach the end of your adventure, the game will pop up with a screen that lets you advance your character. Different skills will be available, some that you may not have, and others that will be higher than what you currently have. You may currently have Sword Level 1, and the game now has Sword Level 2 as a usable option, allowing you to replace it, thus gaining more powerful attacks and better skills as you learn them. It’s all luck of the draw for the most part, but the combinations can be very interesting, and it’s all done in a style that brings the job skills of Final Fantasy Tactics to mind.

In many ways, Unlimited SaGa combines some of Square-Enix’s greatest RPG titles into one game. Again, Final Fantasy Tactics is somewhat represented here, and the graphics, tending to be of an anime style and, for lack of a better word, occasionally “cute,” bring a game link Legend of Mana to mind. It’s not a bad mix really, but there are some downsides to the game as well. The fact is, that it’s tough in some stages, and a little hard to fully get the idea of how to play at first. Once you get it though, it gets fairly addictive pretty quickly. The other problem is that some of Square’s other titles will give you a walk through on how to do different things during the course of the game, but not in this case. Even the instruction booklet isn’t very helpful, and much the time you’ll have to endure trial and error in order to find out exactly how to do things.

The saves are in towns only, another major drawback, especially if you’ve made a great deal of progress, but something suddenly comes up where you need to leave the game in a hurry. So, you have the choice of either going through everything later, or leave the system turned on, risking losing your game due to a number of different situations. Also, no soft reset, which is a big drawback in my book. I’m fairly used to using the familiar Select+Start+all shoulder buttons to reset the game if I want to load another save file or am just having no luck at all and feel like starting over again from my last save point. Instead, I have to wait through the Playstation load screen instead of simply being allowed the luxury of getting right back to the main menu.

The however is somewhat of a mixed bag when it comes right down to it. Those that are fans of Square-Enix’s Final Fantasy series will more than likely be disappointed that the game lacks all those elements that are so familiar. I know it’s hard to believe, by the company does want to make other RPG titles that are different. The different style though feels as though it may lose some fans right from the beginning, and while others may be willing to try, they may find that the game does tend to get a little tiring and tedious at times. It’s certainly not a title though for those that are just coming into the RPG genre, unless of course they have the patience to figure everything out. While it’s a fun game to pop in once in a while, it’s also not one that I feel I’m going to find myself playing for hours and days on end like with any of the Final Fantasy games. Overall, I can’t give a high recommendation, but on the other hand, I can’t say to steer clear either. If nothing else, it’s at least worth a look by any role player to see how interesting they really find Unlimited SaGa to be.

 -mike-