Hope you guys like my new setup for filming some stuff! Also, huge thanks again to Square Enix for sponsoring today's video! Be sure to download Romancing SaGa Re;univerSe using this link to check it out, and to support this show! sqex.link/SuperDerekRS
The SaGa franchise is legendary and so underrated in the west. Thank you for giving it more exposure. I highly recommend this mobile game too. As a SaGa fan it's awesome, but it's great for a casual audience as well. It really is fun for free. Best mobile game I've ever played.
Your channel is going to the moon with this set, production quality, and your dedication. I have the ps2 game, though I haven't played it much. I like the sandbox idea though. I wish more games were like that.
Growing up a poor European kid, SF 2 was my entry to the series as this was the first game we have ever gotten. At this point we had only FF VII, FF VIII and the first Dragon Quest game hit or was about to hit our shelves: DQM, not even a mainline game. Considering this, SF 2 stood out as this odd new thing to me at the time, because I played little JRPGs until then and nothing really gave the player the same amount of freedom SaGa did. The WRPG roots are always visible in the SaGa series and over time I played quite a few of them as well as SaGa-likes. I enjoy the challenge they offer and how most fights require focus and strategy, even trash mobs can easily stomp you here. Since a few people in the comments are skeptical, here is an my non-sponsored opinion: Re;universe is hands down the best mobile gaming experience I had in a long time. No mandatory ads and in my experience no P2W at all. If you make steady progress, you always get 20 or 30 draws for free from the latest banner and I felt the odds of getting super rare chars are fairly high compared to other games. It might even be the best mobile game to be sponsored by atm.
Your new set up looks like a PSone-era prerendered background and I absolutely love it. And this is actually really handy, I've been a intimidated by the series' reputation, but I think I'll give Romancing SaGa 2 or 3 a try soon, since they're on basically every modern platform
Regarding Romancing SaGa 2, I feel like there was a bit of misinformation here. Generational shifts aren't really story events with a new main character, they're strictly gameplay related. What I mean is, you have an actual named protagonist at the beginning of the game with Gerard, but after his generation you just pick keep picking random classes to be your emperor each generation. You don't get another actual protagonist until you reach the Final Emperor, who has his own design and much higher stats that the rest, when you've beaten 5/7 of the Seven Heroes. Also, you CAN restore Life Points, and pretty easily at that. There's a place called the "Witch's Cave" in the game, and you can spend 10,000 gold there to buy a life point potion that restores one life point. Considering that I had over 15,000,000 in my country's coffers by the end of the game, you can buy as many of those as you'd like and never have to worry about people dying again. Permadeath doesn't have any consequences anyway, though, since you can just go back to the place where you got that party member and their descendant will have already taken their place, so you're not punished for losing a party member or anything. I think it was kind of weird to say that 3 has "some of the best 2D artwork on the SNES", and then only show the mobile version that changed all of the backgrounds. I think it would have been a good idea to show both of the versions, like you did with 1 on SNES and Minstrel Song earlier in the video. Also, I completely agree that Re:Universe feels exactly like the original games. My brother and I were talking about it the other day, and we realized that every single problem that we have with Re:Universe are the exact same problems that Romancing SaGa 2 has. They've taken from the original games so much that they've even copied the flaws over, as well, which is pretty funny.
I’ve done a bit of research on this series and have been growing in interest, but your concise yet detailed descriptions were perfect for showing me how much I’ll probably enjoy this series! It looks like these games solve every problem I’ve had with classic JRPGs (despite really liking them anyways).
I really couldn't get into RS3. It looked so much like Final Fantasy VI which is probably my favorite game of all time, but played so differently. Most of my problem with the game is that it seemed to have no direction to the story. Besides the initial motivations of the cast, the characters felt undeveloped and I questioned why they were even continuing to adventure beyond the first couple hours. What is it you liked about Romancing SaGa 3? I'm interested to know.
I haven't any experience with the first two titles, but I remember when I was a teen and getting into emulation for titles that I wasn't able to play in Australia, and coming across Romancing Saga 3. It didn't have an English patch at that time, so I muddled through the Japanese. The most distinctive thing I remember is the soundtrack. Especially the normal battle and boss battle themes. They were just so good! I definitely have to go back and revisit it at some point now that it's available in English (and also now that my Japanese is serviceable).
Love the set-up! Like you're talking RPGs from the local tavern. Also, how did I not know the Final Fantasy Legend games were Saga games? You brushed over it, but my mind was a little blown by that.
This is funny timing, my brother and I recently started playing the Romancing SaGa series together (we've beaten 1 and 2 and in the middle of 3). If I had to describe the series in one phrase, it would be "ahead of its time". The first game has a level of freedom and scope that wouldn't be seen until the Elder Scrolls released years later, and even then they managed to accomplish it on a 16 bit console without the luxury of working on PC! You can literally go anywhere and do anything that you want, and there's no main story or forced quests whatsoever. You have the choice between one of 8 protagonists (if you've played Octopath Traveller, that game was a spiritual successor to Romancing SaGa) I highly disagree about Minstrel Song on PS2 being the "definitive version of the game", though. They redesigned all of the party members for the worse, and it has quite possibly the ugliest art style I've ever seen for an RPG. It looks like they were trying to capture the style of the original sprites in 3D (like how FFVII did), but it just didn't work out and ends up looking horrible. I would recommend that anyone beat the SNES version of the game first, then play Minstrel Song if you want to replay it in the distant future to get a fresh experience. The 2nd game also did some pretty insane things for a SNES game. There's a generational system where each time you wipe in combat or complete a certain amount of scenarios, leading to a lot of opportunities for party change-ups. You play as the emperor of an empire, and so you can do things like spend money to upgrade your city and equipment in shops. The open ended nature of the first game is still there, except now, each square on the map that you finish the scenario for gives you that place in your empire, letting you fast travel there at any time. There's also a vast amount of classes in the game, and beating scenarios unlocks more and more classes for you to use.The goal of the game is to beat the "Seven Heroes" that are each a part of their own scenario. Once you've killed 6/7 of them, the final dungeon opens up and you fight the last one and the final boss there. I played the SNES version, but the translation is a mess of garbled gibberish except for stuff like weapons, skills, and names. My brother played on the mobile/Steam remake and he had a much better time with it. You can actually read it (a great luxury, I know), and it includes a really useful added dungeon that makes the game a lot easier, giving you incredible equipment way above the grade of the base game and letting you spark techs WAY easier. The new backgrounds also look surprisingly nice as well, so if you can get over the ugly mobile game font then it's a great way to play the game! We only just started 3, but I can already tell that it's a masterpiece. It seems that many franchises like to do something really unique and different with their second game, then go back and make a really refined version of the original for their third game (It happened with Link to the Past, Super Metroid, Final Fantasy III (NES), Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem, the list goes on), and Romancing SaGa 3 is no different. They took the open ended design of the first game and simply made the perfect Romancing SaGa game. 1 and 2 have a couple of gameplay hiccups, but 3 has the perfect combat system where getting skills is easier than ever. You can also give mastered skills to any party member at any time from the menu, which is a HUGE step up from 2, and the dungeons have much more interesting design. On top of that, the visuals are absolutely gorgeous, and some of the music is arguably the best in the series. One of the potential protagonists even has his own in-depth empire running sim baked into his playthrough, even though most players won't even see it. If you're only interested in playing one Romancing SaGa game, then play 3. There's both a SNES fan translation as well as a mobile/Steam remake, but unlike with 2, I would say to avoid mobile and play the SNES version instead. The level of quality in the mobile version is about the same as it was with 2, but the visuals of 3 on the SNES are Final Fantasy VI/Chrono Trigger levels of incredible, it's a visual feat for the system. Thus, I feel like it would be doing yourself a great disservice to play the new version and miss out on how incredible the original backgrounds looked. If anyone actually read this, then I hope this helps!
highly disagree with you on minstrel song. that's just your opinion on the art style. the game has things going for it that the SNES original just doesn't offer, and makes it way more appealing, to me. Not knocking on the original, but if it's not up your alley, that's alright, but it absolutely is the best way to experience RS1 without dealing with the antiquated, clunkiness of the original.
Also something that most people don't know is that the original Saga games recieved remakes on the Nintendo DS with vastly improved visuals, quality of life enhancements and many extra features. Though these games were only ever released in japan, there are ROMS that exist with translations.
one of the best features that makes re:universe so easy to pick up when you want is the fact that since its an Xf2p, login in rewards are not interrupted. yes, there are monthly calendar login rewards, but in other gachas they have an overarchin track of your attendance & subsequently rewards attributed for total days logged in. & RE:universe does not interrupt this count due to truancy. thanks for this video, i enjoyed it & reaffirmed that my favs are still rs2&3
Ohohoho I already play Re: Universe thanks to another sponsorship from this channel. Seriously tho, play Re: Universe. The story is really good, and the gacha is really forgiving. For a Square mobage, it's Very f2p friendly.
Honestly Square should have given you some more dosh to mention Scarlet Grace, since that got released relatively recently, and its a great game to boot. Glad to see one of the big channels talk about this series, Kawazu is love, Kawazu is life.
Thanks man! I actually *am* a UA-camr from 2013, just been keeping at it for the long haul, reviewing RPGs. Square Enix asked me to put this video together, but the other videos I make aren't just ads. They're mostly independent RPG reviews and weekly RPG news videos. :)
YES, I never clicked one of your videos so fast! I am so happy re;univerSe sponsored you Derek, congrats! Only thing I'm bummed about is why just Romancing SaGa games, when the SaGa series contains so much more including SaGa Frontier 1 and 2, and Unliited SaGa? 3 more games to talk about to cover the whole series doesn't seem like that much more to include, especially since SaGa Frontier is so similar to the first and third Romancing SaGa games and Unlimited SaGa seems like the perfect way to elaborate and explain more about how Akitoshi Kawazu was influenced by the Wizardry and Ultima series.
I did touch briefly on the original SaGa titles, but I realize there's a lot more to cover in the overarching series. This was specifically narrowed to cover the Romancing subset of games to highlight the similar mechanics carried out between this set of games, and because of how those mechanics are carried out throughout the series up through Re;univerSe. I also think covering other entries in the series could easily make the video pretty lengthy! At some point though I'll definitely return to SaGa for more in-depth looks at the games. :)
They have SaGa Frontier characters in the game as well, they just named the game "Romancing SaGa' since the gameplay, visuals, and music are all derived from those games. They have characters from every SaGa game except for the original Game Boy games, I believe (but the devs said that they want to put in original SaGa characters in the future). Think of it like Final Fantasy: Opera Omnia. That game uses the same style as Final Fantasy IX for its visuals, but comprises characters from the entire FF franchise.
I beat saga frontier 1 with all the characters; I think what makes this game so good is also the same reason most people don't really like it. If I remember correctly, there are 2 characters who have a linear story progression like almost any other jrpg, the other 5 though... You have to explore a lot and go into places where you shouldn't be and I LOVE that (the monsters kinda level up with you, so some areas in the are tougher than others) then you mix that with treasures that get you strong weapons and spells mixed in with the special chance of getting new skills which also can combine into your other characters' skills OHHH baby. So by the 3rd time you beat the game you kind of know where you can go to get the best items and how to beat certain bosses and I find it very enjoyable.
Glad this video was made. I would like to correct you on one thing though - you *can* restore LP in Romancing SaGa 2. There's an item you sometimes find in your storage called "Anima Daught" - these potions restore 1 LP, but they are very rare, and you can make them with the witch in the cave east of Atlanticus. 10k a potion. Its a pain in the ass but sometimes its worth it.
Always wanted to try the Saga games, been eye balling the switch releases. Might check out the mobile game, despite my feelings on mobile. Great video!
Honestly, I don't think that mobile games are inherently bad, they just get a bad reputation from the glut low quality/money grubbing games. Stuff like Opera Omnia, for example, feels like an actual game and is insanely free to play friendly, and the SaGa game feels pretty close to a console game as well. I'd say that the best mobile games are more legitimate than MMOs, honestly.
Jordan3D this. Their reputation really rubs me the wrong way but there have been many mobile games that I have either enjoyed a lot (Deemo) or have wanted to try.
Great stuff Derek it’s good and informative for newer fans definitely going start playing Romancing Saga 2 again love the new setup looks really well lit.
I think its the charm that gets put into the saga games is what draws me to them. *spoilers* something about waiting a couple minutes at a certain menu screen in order to unlock a secret dungeon is just so stupid that I love it lol
Just want to make sure something is super clear for everyone. From what I read (and my experience) monster progression at least in Romancing Saga 2 is based on number of battles entered, not your actual level. I.E. running from trash is very rarely a good option. The battles are avoidable on the map, but if you go into one, you're better off completing it and getting the stats buffs or sparks. Otherwise, you can get passed by the enemies.
My fave SaGa game is Genius of Sappheiros. Seriously, I wish more people would try it. It' soooo good, and the final boss was as nuts as arsenal or whatever its name was from FFL2, I mean, back before the internet was a thing, and people could use guides to find the 7-sword and figure out how to level up, and how to evolve monsters. Before that stuff? Arsenal was the hardest rpg boss ever for me, by a long shot.
As I understand it, that's not an official SaGa game, but a Touhou fan-project that's heavily inspired by the SaGa games. I never heard much about it, sounds cool though! :)
Video idea: talk about history of games that share names, changes, and why. Maybe why the GB ones were called FF or history on what Enix did before the merge, they need to be recognized for some rad games
i was following you for ages but somehow got unsubbed and didn't notice. just started watching again and you're setup is awesome!!! Def come a long way
Didn't realize the Final Fantasy Legends were just a yearly series being popped out one after another, '89, '90, '91. And why square localization sat on FFL 3 for two years was a mystery. I'd stopped paying attention to gameboy then, and I only came across it on emulators a decade later.
5:40 There is 1 actually. The game has a rare item that replenishes 1 LP per use. It's really rare though. I think you could buy some from an NPC in a cave. Also, this game is brutal as hell. The final boss (Last Battle is a good song btw, and I actually know this game because of that song in a Super Mario World hack I played called Super Kitiku World) is really something else, and if you aren't prepared, you will have a hard time.
If someone wants to experience something like SaGa without the pain that is SaGa's punishing and opaque mechanics, I'd highly recommend Alliance Alive. It has some staff from SaGa involved and plays like a love letter to that series, but significantly easier in part because the mechanics are well explained in-game. I love many of the ideas is RS1-3 (and SaGa Frontier) but I don't find them very fun to play.
New set looks absolutely incredible. One piece of constructive criticism (If I may) - try not to lean forwards onto your hands during the standing shot, it's a bit of an awkward posture for a straight on camera angle. Generally if the camera is straight on you having your hands showing makes the whole shot more welcoming. Hope I've put that politely! Absolutely love your content and always have done!
I'm glad you enjoy my earlier content. Rest assured, what you are seeing in this videos is still quite humble. Most of what you see in this video I have either built with my own two hands, or restored in hours-long weekend projects between my day job and making content. I like to think I've always punched above my weight-class in terms of production quality, and this is a continuation of that long-standing goal.
Oh, most definitely. I didn't mean any ill will what so ever by my comment. Growth is a good and healthy thing. I still really love the channel. I think I'm just having one of those days and am feeling a bit nostalgic. Sorry if my comment came off a certain way.
As a European, I never heard of this series until I would eventually randomly find Final Fantasy Legend 1 and 2 on emulation sites. I loved those and eventually picked up Romancing SaGa 2 on Switch almost a decade later, as I knew the series were somewhat connected. That said, I never really got into it, because nothing was explained and the world seemed stuck with no encounters or events to happen. It was very confusing, so much so that I eventually dropped it. Interacting with fans to find out what's it about had me met with a wave of elitism that ultimately drove me away, as my questions weren't answered but rather ridiculed. I keep hearing the games are good, so maybe I'll try it again sometime. The overall mechanics *did* seem up my alley.
The newest game is already on Steam (unless you're talking about the mobile game, in which case they don't really put gacha games on anything other than phones).
A lot of people didn't seem to realize just how much Octopath Traveler was inspired by Romancing Saga. I kinda feel like it just never gets it's dues. Also, that RPG stage/prop area you're filming in is awesome. I'd ask where you got all of that stuff, but I'll just assume most was rewards for grinding dungeons and defeating bosses :p
Most of the major pieces in the set you see are things I either built or restored. I built the rock wall pillar out of foam, (I have a video about that process,) and built the wooden wall paneling recently out of some reclaimed pallet-wood. The table I'm standing at is a restored workbench, and I restored the wooden game shelves to the far left, which I got from a thrift store. The golden dragon-egg I also sculpted and painted up. There's a lot in this set that is hand-made just for this set, even before I knew I was making it. Lots of the other odds and ends I have picked up from thrift stores over the years. :)
@@SuperDerek I saw the stone wall video and have been admiring that for awhile now, but it all just goes together so nice. You're production values and now this awesome set... It's pretty inspiring that you're pulling this all off by yourself. Please keep up the great work and thanks for spreading the love of so many underappreciated games :)
It's funny, because my brother found a board of Romancing SaGa 2 fans that absolutely HATED Octopath Traveller and felt like it wasn't enough like SaGa. Personally, I think that the first two Romancing SaGa games are fairly flawed, while Octopath Traveller is a perfect game outside of not really having a story (which was done by design, so I can't really fault it for that).
@@PatrickGann As I've been playing Romancing SaGa 3, it's made me realize that there's one thing that Octopath Traveller is kind of missing: dungeon variety. RS3 has some incredibly spectacular dungeons that both push the SNES to its limits while also looking unique and interesting. Octopath Traveller instead has every dungeon take place in caves, every now and then letting you explore a building. I get that it's that way because Octopath Traveller is meant to be more of a collection of personal stories than a grand epic adventure, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't want Octopath Traveller II to have more unique looking dungeons.
What's the deal with all the kicking poses on romancing saga onwards? Flying kick pose while chosing an attack, when gaining an attribute... is there a special meaning to this or it's just a coincidence?
Here's my thoughts on Re:universe honestly: I like the game, it's really interesting how they took the whole of Romancing SaGa and compress it for mobile, but I feel that it's only in it's infancy. The game came out relatively early and as a gacha player myself, it's gonna take a while to really flesh out the game, much like other gachas of it's kind. I hope at some point, they'll try out new mechanics for new featured units along with more skills that characters can learn (currently it's at a cap of 3 but 5 would be fairly interesting, even if it's a bit more of a hassle). Also get rid of the paid summons thing, fuck that noise
oh did you build that model ship? I've played a few of the saga games while I admit status growth through actions tends to make me paranoid that I'm doing something super wrong. They are solid RPGs.
There's no wrong way to build your stats in those games, and you can't lock yourself out of anything by making certain choices. For example, you can use swords and wind magic the entire game and suddenly decide to switch to axes and water magic without issues. Sure, it'll take some time to get the same levels in those skills, but there's no punishment or anything.
Thanks for the video! I'm no SaGa expert, but the leveling system, at least, sounds a lot like Final Fantasy II's. What is your opinion about the statement that Final Fantasy II is SaGa's alpha game? Are the level systems really similar? Are there any other shared concepts?
![Where to Start with SaGa - Best Game to Play First [Part 3/3 of The SaGa Newcomer’s Primer]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/0DdTG6tUEz0/mqdefault.jpg)
Hope you guys like my new setup for filming some stuff!
Also, huge thanks again to Square Enix for sponsoring today's video! Be sure to download Romancing SaGa Re;univerSe using this link to check it out, and to support this show! sqex.link/SuperDerekRS
I like the new setup Derek! Thanks for inviting us into your tavern/item shop hehe
8
Love this! Extremely useful video, great looking new set too
Thanks dude! Much appreciated!
SNES drunk! You got me into the Romancing SaGa series! I think that goes for a lot of us more recent fans of the series. :D
A crossover of my favorite UA-camrs
SNNNNNNNES DRUNK!
I think it’s been confirmed, Derek lives in a castle.
It’s nice to see Romancing Saga get some love.
Also love this new setup
It's so awesome you uploaded this! The Romancing SaGa series needs more love.
The SaGa franchise is legendary and so underrated in the west. Thank you for giving it more exposure. I highly recommend this mobile game too. As a SaGa fan it's awesome, but it's great for a casual audience as well. It really is fun for free. Best mobile game I've ever played.
Everyone's already said it, but that is a kick ass set.
Your channel is going to the moon with this set, production quality, and your dedication. I have the ps2 game, though I haven't played it much. I like the sandbox idea though. I wish more games were like that.
Growing up a poor European kid, SF 2 was my entry to the series as this was the first game we have ever gotten. At this point we had only FF VII, FF VIII and the first Dragon Quest game hit or was about to hit our shelves: DQM, not even a mainline game. Considering this, SF 2 stood out as this odd new thing to me at the time, because I played little JRPGs until then and nothing really gave the player the same amount of freedom SaGa did. The WRPG roots are always visible in the SaGa series and over time I played quite a few of them as well as SaGa-likes. I enjoy the challenge they offer and how most fights require focus and strategy, even trash mobs can easily stomp you here.
Since a few people in the comments are skeptical, here is an my non-sponsored opinion:
Re;universe is hands down the best mobile gaming experience I had in a long time. No mandatory ads and in my experience no P2W at all. If you make steady progress, you always get 20 or 30 draws for free from the latest banner and I felt the odds of getting super rare chars are fairly high compared to other games. It might even be the best mobile game to be sponsored by atm.
Your new set up looks like a PSone-era prerendered background and I absolutely love it.
And this is actually really handy, I've been a intimidated by the series' reputation, but I think I'll give Romancing SaGa 2 or 3 a try soon, since they're on basically every modern platform
That set is absolutely stunning. Taking that cozy-ness of your videos to a whole new level. Love it, man.
Hehe, that setup is kind of cool and also kind of funny by being a bit over the top. Nice. 😉
this was the best paid promotional video i've seen like...ever lol keep it the great content dude
Mate, the games room is looking great! So jealous
Your content is always solid, my man. Glad to see you’ve been sponsored.
Regarding Romancing SaGa 2, I feel like there was a bit of misinformation here. Generational shifts aren't really story events with a new main character, they're strictly gameplay related. What I mean is, you have an actual named protagonist at the beginning of the game with Gerard, but after his generation you just pick keep picking random classes to be your emperor each generation. You don't get another actual protagonist until you reach the Final Emperor, who has his own design and much higher stats that the rest, when you've beaten 5/7 of the Seven Heroes. Also, you CAN restore Life Points, and pretty easily at that. There's a place called the "Witch's Cave" in the game, and you can spend 10,000 gold there to buy a life point potion that restores one life point. Considering that I had over 15,000,000 in my country's coffers by the end of the game, you can buy as many of those as you'd like and never have to worry about people dying again. Permadeath doesn't have any consequences anyway, though, since you can just go back to the place where you got that party member and their descendant will have already taken their place, so you're not punished for losing a party member or anything.
I think it was kind of weird to say that 3 has "some of the best 2D artwork on the SNES", and then only show the mobile version that changed all of the backgrounds. I think it would have been a good idea to show both of the versions, like you did with 1 on SNES and Minstrel Song earlier in the video.
Also, I completely agree that Re:Universe feels exactly like the original games. My brother and I were talking about it the other day, and we realized that every single problem that we have with Re:Universe are the exact same problems that Romancing SaGa 2 has. They've taken from the original games so much that they've even copied the flaws over, as well, which is pretty funny.
Lp potions are limited.
After a certain quantity, the witch stop selling those
Woah what a cool set! Looking forward to more videos like this.
Thanks man! It's been a work-in-progress for a while now! Things are finally really coming together with it!
I’ve done a bit of research on this series and have been growing in interest, but your concise yet detailed descriptions were perfect for showing me how much I’ll probably enjoy this series! It looks like these games solve every problem I’ve had with classic JRPGs (despite really liking them anyways).
Love the set and filming style - very professional.
Thanks man! I'm really happy with how well this video came together!
Romancing SaGa 3 is still one of my favorites on the SNES!
I really couldn't get into RS3. It looked so much like Final Fantasy VI which is probably my favorite game of all time, but played so differently. Most of my problem with the game is that it seemed to have no direction to the story. Besides the initial motivations of the cast, the characters felt undeveloped and I questioned why they were even continuing to adventure beyond the first couple hours. What is it you liked about Romancing SaGa 3? I'm interested to know.
Derek your set look freaking awesome!!! Congrats!
That new set is SOOOO Lit!!! Been following you from a veeery long time, glad to see you're killing it, my dude
I haven't any experience with the first two titles, but I remember when I was a teen and getting into emulation for titles that I wasn't able to play in Australia, and coming across Romancing Saga 3. It didn't have an English patch at that time, so I muddled through the Japanese. The most distinctive thing I remember is the soundtrack. Especially the normal battle and boss battle themes. They were just so good! I definitely have to go back and revisit it at some point now that it's available in English (and also now that my Japanese is serviceable).
Love the set-up! Like you're talking RPGs from the local tavern.
Also, how did I not know the Final Fantasy Legend games were Saga games? You brushed over it, but my mind was a little blown by that.
Great video as always, Derek. I think this primer format is a great idea for a series. :) I would love a Persona primer, for example.
Love your new map room, Derek! Been a fan for a long time.
This is exactly a video what I was looking for. Thank you!
Thanks for the heart. I downloaded the game to support the channel. Not sure how long I can tolerate Gacha style games but I'll give it a shot.
If you end up trying out the games and have any questions, come back here and I'll help you out!
You are on fire! Highly enjoying all of your vids recently!
Super Derek never steers me wrong so downloading now to support a fav youtuber
This is just what I needed. I'm pondering trying the Final Fantasy Legend series, which I recently learned is SaGa (in Japan).
Just want to point out that some of them were remade on the DS in Japan, and there was some fan translations of the ports.
ua-cam.com/video/z-ZiJKMdHg4/v-deo.html
This is funny timing, my brother and I recently started playing the Romancing SaGa series together (we've beaten 1 and 2 and in the middle of 3). If I had to describe the series in one phrase, it would be "ahead of its time". The first game has a level of freedom and scope that wouldn't be seen until the Elder Scrolls released years later, and even then they managed to accomplish it on a 16 bit console without the luxury of working on PC! You can literally go anywhere and do anything that you want, and there's no main story or forced quests whatsoever. You have the choice between one of 8 protagonists (if you've played Octopath Traveller, that game was a spiritual successor to Romancing SaGa) I highly disagree about Minstrel Song on PS2 being the "definitive version of the game", though. They redesigned all of the party members for the worse, and it has quite possibly the ugliest art style I've ever seen for an RPG. It looks like they were trying to capture the style of the original sprites in 3D (like how FFVII did), but it just didn't work out and ends up looking horrible. I would recommend that anyone beat the SNES version of the game first, then play Minstrel Song if you want to replay it in the distant future to get a fresh experience.
The 2nd game also did some pretty insane things for a SNES game. There's a generational system where each time you wipe in combat or complete a certain amount of scenarios, leading to a lot of opportunities for party change-ups. You play as the emperor of an empire, and so you can do things like spend money to upgrade your city and equipment in shops. The open ended nature of the first game is still there, except now, each square on the map that you finish the scenario for gives you that place in your empire, letting you fast travel there at any time. There's also a vast amount of classes in the game, and beating scenarios unlocks more and more classes for you to use.The goal of the game is to beat the "Seven Heroes" that are each a part of their own scenario. Once you've killed 6/7 of them, the final dungeon opens up and you fight the last one and the final boss there. I played the SNES version, but the translation is a mess of garbled gibberish except for stuff like weapons, skills, and names. My brother played on the mobile/Steam remake and he had a much better time with it. You can actually read it (a great luxury, I know), and it includes a really useful added dungeon that makes the game a lot easier, giving you incredible equipment way above the grade of the base game and letting you spark techs WAY easier. The new backgrounds also look surprisingly nice as well, so if you can get over the ugly mobile game font then it's a great way to play the game!
We only just started 3, but I can already tell that it's a masterpiece. It seems that many franchises like to do something really unique and different with their second game, then go back and make a really refined version of the original for their third game (It happened with Link to the Past, Super Metroid, Final Fantasy III (NES), Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem, the list goes on), and Romancing SaGa 3 is no different. They took the open ended design of the first game and simply made the perfect Romancing SaGa game. 1 and 2 have a couple of gameplay hiccups, but 3 has the perfect combat system where getting skills is easier than ever. You can also give mastered skills to any party member at any time from the menu, which is a HUGE step up from 2, and the dungeons have much more interesting design. On top of that, the visuals are absolutely gorgeous, and some of the music is arguably the best in the series. One of the potential protagonists even has his own in-depth empire running sim baked into his playthrough, even though most players won't even see it. If you're only interested in playing one Romancing SaGa game, then play 3. There's both a SNES fan translation as well as a mobile/Steam remake, but unlike with 2, I would say to avoid mobile and play the SNES version instead. The level of quality in the mobile version is about the same as it was with 2, but the visuals of 3 on the SNES are Final Fantasy VI/Chrono Trigger levels of incredible, it's a visual feat for the system. Thus, I feel like it would be doing yourself a great disservice to play the new version and miss out on how incredible the original backgrounds looked. If anyone actually read this, then I hope this helps!
highly disagree with you on minstrel song. that's just your opinion on the art style. the game has things going for it that the SNES original just doesn't offer, and makes it way more appealing, to me. Not knocking on the original, but if it's not up your alley, that's alright, but it absolutely is the best way to experience RS1 without dealing with the antiquated, clunkiness of the original.
Also something that most people don't know is that the original Saga games recieved remakes on the Nintendo DS with vastly improved visuals, quality of life enhancements and many extra features. Though these games were only ever released in japan, there are ROMS that exist with translations.
Loving the tone of the new set, neat!
That rock wall you made turned out really good!
one of the best features that makes re:universe so easy to pick up when you want is the fact that since its an Xf2p, login in rewards are not interrupted. yes, there are monthly calendar login rewards, but in other gachas they have an overarchin track of your attendance & subsequently rewards attributed for total days logged in. & RE:universe does not interrupt this count due to truancy. thanks for this video, i enjoyed it & reaffirmed that my favs are still rs2&3
Ohohoho I already play Re: Universe thanks to another sponsorship from this channel.
Seriously tho, play Re: Universe. The story is really good, and the gacha is really forgiving. For a Square mobage, it's Very f2p friendly.
I glad ff2 battle system is polished in romancing saga.
Been a while since I viewed the channel. My god your set is gorgeous!
Thanks dude! This was the video debut of the new set, I'm glad you like it! :D
lol This is new and feels like a classic Super Vid. Can we have more of this dude?
Honestly Square should have given you some more dosh to mention Scarlet Grace, since that got released relatively recently, and its a great game to boot.
Glad to see one of the big channels talk about this series, Kawazu is love, Kawazu is life.
They actually did offer a code for it, I just decided it was so different from the other entries, the video would be more cohesive without it
I dig this ad. Reminds me of 2014 gaming vids. This genuinely got me interested and does, in fact, tickle my fancy.
Thanks man! I actually *am* a UA-camr from 2013, just been keeping at it for the long haul, reviewing RPGs. Square Enix asked me to put this video together, but the other videos I make aren't just ads. They're mostly independent RPG reviews and weekly RPG news videos. :)
Your beginning in this video is very Lord British! ;)
In the end, a very entertaining commercial. Why not, everybody has to make a living...
YES, I never clicked one of your videos so fast! I am so happy re;univerSe sponsored you Derek, congrats! Only thing I'm bummed about is why just Romancing SaGa games, when the SaGa series contains so much more including SaGa Frontier 1 and 2, and Unliited SaGa? 3 more games to talk about to cover the whole series doesn't seem like that much more to include, especially since SaGa Frontier is so similar to the first and third Romancing SaGa games and Unlimited SaGa seems like the perfect way to elaborate and explain more about how Akitoshi Kawazu was influenced by the Wizardry and Ultima series.
I did touch briefly on the original SaGa titles, but I realize there's a lot more to cover in the overarching series. This was specifically narrowed to cover the Romancing subset of games to highlight the similar mechanics carried out between this set of games, and because of how those mechanics are carried out throughout the series up through Re;univerSe. I also think covering other entries in the series could easily make the video pretty lengthy! At some point though I'll definitely return to SaGa for more in-depth looks at the games. :)
They have SaGa Frontier characters in the game as well, they just named the game "Romancing SaGa' since the gameplay, visuals, and music are all derived from those games. They have characters from every SaGa game except for the original Game Boy games, I believe (but the devs said that they want to put in original SaGa characters in the future).
Think of it like Final Fantasy: Opera Omnia. That game uses the same style as Final Fantasy IX for its visuals, but comprises characters from the entire FF franchise.
Congratulations on the sponsorship. Great idea to put the history of the series in there.
Wonderful video about a wonderful, if underappreciated, series! Thank you very much, I always enjoy hearing about these games.
I'm happy to see you get some sponsorship. Especially one that isn't express vpn or audible :-D
I beat saga frontier 1 with all the characters; I think what makes this game so good is also the same reason most people don't really like it.
If I remember correctly, there are 2 characters who have a linear story progression like almost any other jrpg, the other 5 though... You have to explore a lot and go into places where you shouldn't be and I LOVE that (the monsters kinda level up with you, so some areas in the are tougher than others) then you mix that with treasures that get you strong weapons and spells mixed in with the special chance of getting new skills which also can combine into your other characters' skills OHHH baby.
So by the 3rd time you beat the game you kind of know where you can go to get the best items and how to beat certain bosses and I find it very enjoyable.
Glad this video was made. I would like to correct you on one thing though - you *can* restore LP in Romancing SaGa 2. There's an item you sometimes find in your storage called "Anima Daught" - these potions restore 1 LP, but they are very rare, and you can make them with the witch in the cave east of Atlanticus. 10k a potion. Its a pain in the ass but sometimes its worth it.
MUH BOY GOT SPONSORED BY SQUARE BROOOOOOOOO IM SO PROUD
Always wanted to try the Saga games, been eye balling the switch releases. Might check out the mobile game, despite my feelings on mobile. Great video!
Honestly, I don't think that mobile games are inherently bad, they just get a bad reputation from the glut low quality/money grubbing games. Stuff like Opera Omnia, for example, feels like an actual game and is insanely free to play friendly, and the SaGa game feels pretty close to a console game as well. I'd say that the best mobile games are more legitimate than MMOs, honestly.
Jordan3D this. Their reputation really rubs me the wrong way but there have been many mobile games that I have either enjoyed a lot (Deemo) or have wanted to try.
Love the setup, your voice sounds different but great, you look great, love this series. Fantastic video!
Yeah, had to use different mics for this project. Next time I'll have a better solution in place I I think. :)
Great stuff Derek it’s good and informative for newer fans definitely going start playing Romancing Saga 2 again love the new setup looks really well lit.
So may I ask, what do you think of Romancing SaGa 2 so far?
Jordan3D I’m loving what I played of it so far haven’t touched it in while other games in backlog have been there longer
Yaas I'm GaGa for SaGa!
I think its the charm that gets put into the saga games is what draws me to them. *spoilers* something about waiting a couple minutes at a certain menu screen in order to unlock a secret dungeon is just so stupid that I love it lol
Excellent video! Really professional, very enjoyable
Awesome Video As Always Man 🤘 Love The Set Too 👌
Just want to make sure something is super clear for everyone. From what I read (and my experience) monster progression at least in Romancing Saga 2 is based on number of battles entered, not your actual level. I.E. running from trash is very rarely a good option. The battles are avoidable on the map, but if you go into one, you're better off completing it and getting the stats buffs or sparks. Otherwise, you can get passed by the enemies.
Very slick studio. Now I feel like having a dark beer.
So awesome to see the FFL boxes together like that. I lost mine.
Romancing Saga 1 is one of the only older collectibles I have, sill in its SNES box and manual
My fave SaGa game is Genius of Sappheiros. Seriously, I wish more people would try it. It' soooo good, and the final boss was as nuts as arsenal or whatever its name was from FFL2, I mean, back before the internet was a thing, and people could use guides to find the 7-sword and figure out how to level up, and how to evolve monsters. Before that stuff? Arsenal was the hardest rpg boss ever for me, by a long shot.
As I understand it, that's not an official SaGa game, but a Touhou fan-project that's heavily inspired by the SaGa games. I never heard much about it, sounds cool though! :)
@@SuperDerek That's correct, but made you look =P
5:40 oh, but there is.
Video idea: talk about history of games that share names, changes, and why. Maybe why the GB ones were called FF or history on what Enix did before the merge, they need to be recognized for some rad games
OH man here we go!
sponsor ship aside, i truly mean it - yeah right. remember that scene in spaceballs > "would i lie?"
This is the most hard difficult rpg i have played.
i was following you for ages but somehow got unsubbed and didn't notice. just started watching again and you're setup is awesome!!! Def come a long way
Didn't realize the Final Fantasy Legends were just a yearly series being popped out one after another, '89, '90, '91. And why square localization sat on FFL 3 for two years was a mystery. I'd stopped paying attention to gameboy then, and I only came across it on emulators a decade later.
Awesome vid Derek! You should've put links from Play-Asia to buy the games on the Switch! Like that you get even a bit more support 😁
what we need to talk about is Saga Frontier, which IMO is much better than Romancing Saga.
the saga franchise is such an underrated series
LOVELY SET!
5:40 There is 1 actually. The game has a rare item that replenishes 1 LP per use. It's really rare though. I think you could buy some from an NPC in a cave.
Also, this game is brutal as hell. The final boss (Last Battle is a good song btw, and I actually know this game because of that song in a Super Mario World hack I played called Super Kitiku World) is really something else, and if you aren't prepared, you will have a hard time.
If someone wants to experience something like SaGa without the pain that is SaGa's punishing and opaque mechanics, I'd highly recommend Alliance Alive. It has some staff from SaGa involved and plays like a love letter to that series, but significantly easier in part because the mechanics are well explained in-game. I love many of the ideas is RS1-3 (and SaGa Frontier) but I don't find them very fun to play.
Damn, I like your game room set up.
Are you a mind reader? I was just looking into the SaGa games. Great content Derek, so glad I found your channel.
The GB trilogy on Switch looks good
you should check out the ogre battle series, specfically ogre battle 64. some of the most interesting and under rated rpgs of all time
New set looks absolutely incredible.
One piece of constructive criticism (If I may) - try not to lean forwards onto your hands during the standing shot, it's a bit of an awkward posture for a straight on camera angle. Generally if the camera is straight on you having your hands showing makes the whole shot more welcoming.
Hope I've put that politely! Absolutely love your content and always have done!
I appreciate the feedback man! It's a brand new set, so I've still got to figure out what works best when presenting from behind the table.. :)
Hoping they port more of the games to new platforms like they did the last few years.
I miss the old humble beginnings of this channel.
I'm glad you enjoy my earlier content. Rest assured, what you are seeing in this videos is still quite humble. Most of what you see in this video I have either built with my own two hands, or restored in hours-long weekend projects between my day job and making content. I like to think I've always punched above my weight-class in terms of production quality, and this is a continuation of that long-standing goal.
Oh, most definitely. I didn't mean any ill will what so ever by my comment. Growth is a good and healthy thing. I still really love the channel. I think I'm just having one of those days and am feeling a bit nostalgic. Sorry if my comment came off a certain way.
As a European, I never heard of this series until I would eventually randomly find Final Fantasy Legend 1 and 2 on emulation sites. I loved those and eventually picked up Romancing SaGa 2 on Switch almost a decade later, as I knew the series were somewhat connected. That said, I never really got into it, because nothing was explained and the world seemed stuck with no encounters or events to happen. It was very confusing, so much so that I eventually dropped it. Interacting with fans to find out what's it about had me met with a wave of elitism that ultimately drove me away, as my questions weren't answered but rather ridiculed.
I keep hearing the games are good, so maybe I'll try it again sometime. The overall mechanics *did* seem up my alley.
The only SAGA Game I ever played was Saga Frontiers 2 and I got hard stuck at one point. Neat games though
Hopefully that new game comes to steam.
The newest game is already on Steam (unless you're talking about the mobile game, in which case they don't really put gacha games on anything other than phones).
A lot of people didn't seem to realize just how much Octopath Traveler was inspired by Romancing Saga. I kinda feel like it just never gets it's dues.
Also, that RPG stage/prop area you're filming in is awesome. I'd ask where you got all of that stuff, but I'll just assume most was rewards for grinding dungeons and defeating bosses :p
Most of the major pieces in the set you see are things I either built or restored. I built the rock wall pillar out of foam, (I have a video about that process,) and built the wooden wall paneling recently out of some reclaimed pallet-wood. The table I'm standing at is a restored workbench, and I restored the wooden game shelves to the far left, which I got from a thrift store. The golden dragon-egg I also sculpted and painted up. There's a lot in this set that is hand-made just for this set, even before I knew I was making it. Lots of the other odds and ends I have picked up from thrift stores over the years. :)
@@SuperDerek I saw the stone wall video and have been admiring that for awhile now, but it all just goes together so nice. You're production values and now this awesome set... It's pretty inspiring that you're pulling this all off by yourself. Please keep up the great work and thanks for spreading the love of so many underappreciated games :)
It's funny, because my brother found a board of Romancing SaGa 2 fans that absolutely HATED Octopath Traveller and felt like it wasn't enough like SaGa. Personally, I think that the first two Romancing SaGa games are fairly flawed, while Octopath Traveller is a perfect game outside of not really having a story (which was done by design, so I can't really fault it for that).
I like to think of Octopath as the most user friendly SaGa game. I love Octopath, and I love the SaGa series.
@@PatrickGann As I've been playing Romancing SaGa 3, it's made me realize that there's one thing that Octopath Traveller is kind of missing: dungeon variety. RS3 has some incredibly spectacular dungeons that both push the SNES to its limits while also looking unique and interesting. Octopath Traveller instead has every dungeon take place in caves, every now and then letting you explore a building. I get that it's that way because Octopath Traveller is meant to be more of a collection of personal stories than a grand epic adventure, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't want Octopath Traveller II to have more unique looking dungeons.
Great video!
Romancing Saga 2 and 3 on Xbox One Xbox One S Xbox One x Xbox series X
romancing salsa
What's the deal with all the kicking poses on romancing saga onwards? Flying kick pose while chosing an attack, when gaining an attribute... is there a special meaning to this or it's just a coincidence?
Here's my thoughts on Re:universe honestly:
I like the game, it's really interesting how they took the whole of Romancing SaGa and compress it for mobile, but I feel that it's only in it's infancy. The game came out relatively early and as a gacha player myself, it's gonna take a while to really flesh out the game, much like other gachas of it's kind. I hope at some point, they'll try out new mechanics for new featured units along with more skills that characters can learn (currently it's at a cap of 3 but 5 would be fairly interesting, even if it's a bit more of a hassle).
Also get rid of the paid summons thing, fuck that noise
Make that paper stack.
congrats on the sponsorship
Thank you!
oh did you build that model ship? I've played a few of the saga games while I admit status growth through actions tends to make me paranoid that I'm doing something super wrong. They are solid RPGs.
The model ship I inherited, but I _did_ build a lot of other things on display! :)
There's no wrong way to build your stats in those games, and you can't lock yourself out of anything by making certain choices. For example, you can use swords and wind magic the entire game and suddenly decide to switch to axes and water magic without issues. Sure, it'll take some time to get the same levels in those skills, but there's no punishment or anything.
Thanks for the video!
I'm no SaGa expert, but the leveling system, at least, sounds a lot like Final Fantasy II's. What is your opinion about the statement that Final Fantasy II is SaGa's alpha game? Are the level systems really similar? Are there any other shared concepts?
Didn't knew this games could be that deep. It does makes you wonder how Final Fantasy got way popular than it.
Lots of people just prefer to wade in the shallows, compared to the relatively few divers who like to scuba. :)
i got an ad from someone im subbed to lol
Yeah! I think Square Enix is actually using this video as a preroll ad. I was pretty surprised by it, but it's also pretty rad! :)
Brooo how did you know about the final fantasy legends collection announcement coming today lol
Hey dude do you think Romancing Saga will be on PC?
Increase video playback speed by 1.25x and thank me later fam!
In RS2 remastered you can restore LP at the cost of 10,000
No SaGa Frontier? How dare you!
Not this time! This one's just specifically about the "Romancing" games, this time around!