SaGa Frontier Remastered

SaGa Frontier initially released as the series first entry in 3D in 1997. Just shy of 24 years later it gets a remaster that really helps it find a new audience. Initially a very niche game with a small cult following, this remaster follows on the heals of previous SaGa releases of classic games getting released on modern consoles.

In SaGa Frontier you have 7 main protagonists, each with their own story. Some of these are linear, some are more open world. Some are long, some are short. With the introduction of a “New Game+” feature that allows you to carry over over almost all stats and items, even the longer play throughs breeze by once you get familiar with the world and characters.

I actually have the physical disc of this game for the Playstation. I’ve started a few of the stories multiple times, but never finished any. I’ve constantly thought about it over the years as one of the games that I always planned on going back to. Well with the remaster release I knew it was the universe telling me that like the mystic Time Lord, there’s no better time than now. 

I dove in first with Emilia, and I sure enjoyed exploring every nook and cranny. I think this was a good choice to start with because it’s got a nice combination of linearity and open aspects. The addition of the “story log” in the menu helped you from feeling too lost. That was one of the major issues younger me had at times with this game. “Where the f*** do I go?!” Well fast forward 20 years and now I’m a JRPG wizard, I didn’t even need the story log all that much. However, Google was imperative for understanding the crazy mechanics of this game. SaGa games are known for utilizing the divisive level up system first piloted in Final Fantasy II. However, they’ve really made it their own, and polished that stone quite a bit. Doing specific actions in battle can guide the growth of skills. Want to be able to do more weapon skills? Use your weapon! Want to do more magic spells? Cast more magic! Want more HP? Battle more! Simple enough. Enter mystics, mechs and monster characters. These guys have the ability to absorb other enemies. Mechs aren’t as versatile but can specialize in one thing and do it well. They absorb programs from other mechs to power up their skillset. Monsters absorb a skill from a monster, and depending on your current monster skillset you transform. Each monster form has its own stat set, which means you want to try to transform into the biggest baddies you can find. Mystics are a mixture of humans and monsters. They can absorb up to three monster skills, and also learn magic. The monsters they absorb also increase their base stats. Sadly they don’t learn weapon skills. With one exception, one of the main characters Asellus is half human/half mystic and she absolutely wrecks. She can do it all, and she’s good at it too. Yeah it’s a lot to swallow, and is difficult the first go around or two. But by your…. 5th or 6th story you’ve seen each of the mechanics play out.

ROM hackers have data dumped the original PS1 release and found remnants of story events that were cut, and even an 8th protagonist that was cut. Well the devs behind the remaster must have been reading up on the romhacking.net forums because they sure didn’t disappoint. Asellus got some cut content added back in, and the missing 8th protagonist Fuse was added back in. However the developers decided to go a completely different route than the initial story boards would have done it. Which I think is pretty cool. I enjoyed ending my play through with some super short condensed recaps of each story line from an outsiders perspective. 

The inclusion of an art gallery was amazing. I love all the different art styles of the characters, and seeing the artists renditions sprinkled throughout was great.

As for complaints. The repetitiveness of some of the magic mastery quests really gets dry. The Rune and Arcane quests in particular. Traveling around to all the regions to collect 4 runes and 4 arcane cards got super tedious and boring after the 2nd or 3rd time. But if you want the super cool characters that specialize in Time and Space magic on your play through you have to do it. Eventually I wound up with my core crew of 6 or 7 people and once I got those I just carried on with the stories. There isn’t much back story on any character at all. Even the main characters. Not a whole lot character growth. Stories are fragmented and more like pieces shoved together, more than a journey. The game is very flat from a story telling aspect. Only a few instances of that are the exception. I think T260G, the robot, had a really heartwarming quest. Also Asellus’s quest was pretty freaking cool in retrospect, but it was a bore during it. Story progression was locked behind RNG while visiting various regions of the world. One major issue I had was the game clock did not stop while in sleep mode. So I have no idea how long it actually took me to beat. My game clock says 170 hours though. 

Overall, I enjoyed my time with SaGa Frontier Remastered. I hope they move on and do SaGa Frontier 2 as I also have that one, and started it a couple times but never finished it. It was a great way to take an old game and bring it to modern platforms. More developers should re-add cut content and add more quality of life upgrades. I’m looking at you Secret of Mana Remake devs with your garbage remake of my favorite game. 

Would I recommend this game though? Only if you’re really into classic JRPGs. There’s a lot to love, but it’s a very niche game.

P.S. Rogue is wayyyyy cooler than Blue.