Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven Review – A Classic Revived

Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven Review

Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven is a complete 3D remake of the 1993 classic Romancing SaGa 2. The SaGa franchise has always enjoyed playing around with the tropes and trappings of JRPGs, and this title is no exception. While some pieces of this old game are frustrating and the monster design confuses me, it’s still a fun time if you’re willing to meet it where it’s at.

Legend tells of seven heroes who once saved the world from a tide of monsters. Supposedly, the heroes would return in their people’s darkest hour. In any other game, you would play as one of those heroes fighting against a resurgent evil empire. However, this is Romancing SaGa 2, and you play as the rulers of the Varennes Empire desperately resisting seven fallen heroes.

The game opens with the twisted hero Kzinssie attacking the capital Avalon. He slays both the crown prince and emperor with a forbidden spell, leaving the second son Gerard to take the throne. Gerard must take on his father’s legacy through inheritance magic. He and his heirs must gather their strength over generations to take the fight to the seven.

The seven heroes will return, and they aren’t taking prisoners. You must pass down techniques to your heirs, build your power, and upgrade the capital city of Avalon. And while you’re waiting, there’s a lot of territory to annex and countless interlocking quests to do in the order you prefer.

Long Live the Empire

Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven opens with a hell of a hook. The story itself is not the strongest and I wouldn’t call the game narrative-driven. Playing as a dynasty means the individual emperors have relatively little characterization to them. However, that doesn’t make it any less fun to explore the game’s world and untangle its complex scenarios.

This is an open-world RPG. New areas and events open up over time, but you can choose which order to confront them–urgent events aside. The order you accomplish certain tasks and the class of your emperor can impact the outcome. You have a ton of freedom to decide how to approach things.

The graphics are simple and colorful, reminiscent of a more detailed Dragon Quest. Though hair often looks a bit like plasticine when it moves. The contrast between the cute, cartoony monsters and the horrors they enact leads to some dissonance. A lot of people die in this game, but it’s kinda hard to take it seriously.

I do like the character designs and environments, but the monster designs feel out of place. Voice acting available in Japanese and English, and the English cast is pretty solid. And the sound track is excellent and atmospheric. But the main appeal of this game is the experience of directing your dynasty to success.

Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven Attacks the Hero’s Journey

Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven is a generational saga with a twist. Every once in a while, the game enters a timeskip and you must pick a new emperor. However, you can also swap to a new emperor from your capital and inherit the skills of their predecessor. You don’t need to have kids, but you do need to have an heir. Different emperors and empresses have different abilities. Strategic abdication can be quite useful.

The game’s scale is massive. It covers a huge continent filled with quest hooks, many of which can go terribly wrong if you drop the ball. And if you want to do well at them, you’ll have to keep upgrading Avalon and unlocking new gear. These city-building elements are tied deeply with the combat. Do well in battle and you’ll unlock materials and cash you can pour into the capital, thus unlocking new spells, weapons, and more money.

This title features turn-based battles with a heavy emphasis on strategy. You must balance defense, offense, and more complex features like Glimmering, which encourages experimentation. Fortunately, you can freely adjust the difficulty between Casual, Normal, and Hard.

Different formations influence base stats and lend themselves to certain strategies. Surprise attacks on the map can break your formation and do all kinds of nasty things. And you must Glimmer new techniques through combat, then record them so other characters can use them.

Part JRPG, Part City-Builder

Although Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven is generally good, I ran into some trouble when exploring. Namely, moving the camera around made me quite seasick. It hit a point where I was closing my eyes every time a battle started so the screen wouldn’t spin. I finally made it stop by sitting about 3 feet away from my monitor. Depending on your gaming set-up, this solution may or may not be viable for you.

Resource management can be stressful. The LP system adds a new sense of urgency to managing everything else in combat. If a character loses all LP, they’re permanently dead. You’re already going to be going through a lot of emperors. You can also run out of party members at a bad time if you’re not careful.

This game constantly asks you to make choices with consequences, some minor, some major. Fortunately, even if you make the wrong choice, you may be able to fulfil the conditions of the other option. Unfortunately, it’s really hard to tell which NPCs you can talk with properly. This can make finding a way to proceed more difficult than it needs to be.

All in all, I can certainly see why Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven is a remake of a classic. I just wish the monsters were a bit more menacing and the narrative was a little more solid. And that the camera would stop making me sick.

***PC code provided by the publisher***