Excuuuse me? THAT was intentional? I find it hard to believe, as there is also an unused song for Blue's ending in the game (that can be listened in 2nd Division). But if the director says so...
-
Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
-
We have made minor adjustments to how the search bar works on ResetEra. You can read about the changes here.
Excuuuse me? THAT was intentional? I find it hard to believe, as there is also an unused song for Blue's ending in the game (that can be listened in 2nd Division). But if the director says so...
A lot of things in these games (SaGa Frontier in particular) are unexplained. Partly because of the unfinished nature of the game (Essence of SaGa Frontier has so much story detail, it's crazy) and partly because of Kawazu making this obscure on purpose.
If I remember correctly,
the member of the city seals the gate to Hell, thus locking you inside. And in fact, they intended to do it all along, thus the ending.
And of course, we forget that
the credits do roll when you fight Rouge, and so what he says makes sense.
There is an item that can refill LP, but you get a limited number of them and it's better to save them for your last emperor. Characters are expendable in this game anyway, if you run out of LP, just pick a new emperor or party and move on.
God bless you Kawazu you brilliant mad man. Also this is the first I've heard of Alliance Alive, gonna check it out.
Maybe. Notice however that in the transcription it is lowercase "g." Maybe he was just saying an expression.
On second thought: Kawazu knows English, if I recall. Was this a translation or was he writing directly in English?
Last edited:
I would be down for a SaGa Frontier remake. The actual intended vision of that game is so bonkers that it needs to be made. Also Rouge is supposed to win the battle because he's the "good" twin, which is why he can be recruited by everyone while Blue cannot. And he gets out of Pause Hell through the power of friendship.
Outside of the touchscreen prompts, Romancing SaGa 2 is solid on PC. Playing with my Steam controller feels so much better than on a phone. Hopefully we get as much SaGa as possible!
Bought this a while ago and put in around two hours. I love the battle theme <3. Can't wait to hear the boss theme/s.
Knowing about the encounter counter and trying to avoid some fights makes for some funny moments. These damn monsters home in on you so well...
Knowing about the encounter counter and trying to avoid some fights makes for some funny moments. These damn monsters home in on you so well...
The Nuono thing can have many outcomes.
The best way to deal with it is to help them with the mine (get the treasures there), then refuse the bribe, get sent back to town, and then invade the Pirate stronghold through the Haria (?) peninsula (via Tifal). It's a long and annoying dungeon without any treasures, and if you fail even once you don't get a second chance.
Doing that allows you access to the pirate class (who are awesome and give you a formation that utterly breaks the game) and develop axes (which are just a super cool weapon).
If you don't do that, you'll have to wait until a further event down the line to get the pirates and the axe.
To clarify the steps needed to unlock Armed Merchants early because it's convoluted and hidden:
Rapid Stream is one of the best formations (your entire party is guaranteed first turn) and Axes have some of the best techs including an AOE instadeath. Armed Merchants are a great class too - speedy with good STR.
- Go to Moblem and make sure your Emperor is either a Thief, Monk, or Ninja. These are just the ones I remember working off the top of my head or the ones you can have access to early in the game.
- Go to the building on the left side and knock out the guard (this is where the emperor's class gets checked) so you can eavesdrop on their conversation
- Board the ship docked on the left side of Moblem and talk to the captain. Refuse to pay him, but accept his request to prove yourself by clearing the Mines. This unlocks an extra dungeon with a nice early unique rapier and some extra cash.
- Go back to Moblem and speak to the ship captain again to start sailing to Nuono. Go downstairs and clean the room. Just walk/dash through the dirty tiles and exit the room to repopulate the tiles. You need to do this once or twice. Run back up to the deck of the ship to see if you've docked then exit to the south.
- When in Nuono, talk to the lead pirate Henrique near the water. Select the 2nd answers for both his questions to get booted out of Nuono.
- Go to Tefal and talk to the barkeep. He'll mention another way to reach Nuono by crossing Cape Chalier in the Ludon region.
- Go to the Ludon region and cross Cape Chalier, which is a fairly straightforward dungeon. At the dead end, you need to dash towards the wall to jump into Nuono.
- Once back in Nuono, go to the northernmost house and confront Henrique again. Once you get a prompt, select the 2nd option - submission to the Empire. This adds N. Rongit to the Empire and unlocks Armed Merchants early. It's also a black screen/generation skip if you meet the thresholds.
- Go to the building on the left side and knock out the guard (this is where the emperor's class gets checked) so you can eavesdrop on their conversation
- Board the ship docked on the left side of Moblem and talk to the captain. Refuse to pay him, but accept his request to prove yourself by clearing the Mines. This unlocks an extra dungeon with a nice early unique rapier and some extra cash.
- Go back to Moblem and speak to the ship captain again to start sailing to Nuono. Go downstairs and clean the room. Just walk/dash through the dirty tiles and exit the room to repopulate the tiles. You need to do this once or twice. Run back up to the deck of the ship to see if you've docked then exit to the south.
- When in Nuono, talk to the lead pirate Henrique near the water. Select the 2nd answers for both his questions to get booted out of Nuono.
- Go to Tefal and talk to the barkeep. He'll mention another way to reach Nuono by crossing Cape Chalier in the Ludon region.
- Go to the Ludon region and cross Cape Chalier, which is a fairly straightforward dungeon. At the dead end, you need to dash towards the wall to jump into Nuono.
- Once back in Nuono, go to the northernmost house and confront Henrique again. Once you get a prompt, select the 2nd option - submission to the Empire. This adds N. Rongit to the Empire and unlocks Armed Merchants early. It's also a black screen/generation skip if you meet the thresholds.
Rapid Stream is one of the best formations (your entire party is guaranteed first turn) and Axes have some of the best techs including an AOE instadeath. Armed Merchants are a great class too - speedy with good STR.
Sit on your throne and your chancellor will offer to let you build it. You can generally build one project a generation.
You need min 25mp on your emperor to trigger the option.
Also it's incorrect that you can only build one project a generation.
I built Magic Research Centre and Orchard at the same time.
Game just received a 25MB update on Steam. Wonder what it fixed?
EDIT: The dev team also posted a message that they are looking into concerns on the port. That's good to know, at least. But it looks like they already issued some sort of patch for something today, one day later.
EDIT: The dev team also posted a message that they are looking into concerns on the port. That's good to know, at least. But it looks like they already issued some sort of patch for something today, one day later.
Finally had a chance to start digging into this and my god is it glorious. Getting over the difficulty hump (read: getting Therese to the point where she could survive a stiff breeze) took a second run through the intro stages knowing what I was doing, but it astounds me that this came out in 1993. In so many ways it's more advanced and mechanically interesting than even the most ambitious of modern games, and it's pretty unique as SaGa games go too.
A couple questions for those who're more familiar with this specific entry, if anyone will indulge me.
Since it's kind of topical at the moment, I unlocked the ability to build the magic research center immediately after the initial one year time skip (really regretting doing that second research project, I'd have had the money to fund it right away...), and it made me curious about something. Characters get HP and weapon/spell rank increases after combat, but Gerard's MP has (obviously) been rising since I used him as a caster extensively through the introductory stages. It's apparent by now that the other stats are fixed, but there haven't been any notifications of MP or SP rising on the victory screen despite them going up, so what increases them? Does it go up as you increase ranks in magic and weapon proficiency, respectively, or as a hidden increase from using skills directly? I'm assuming the former, based on how the values have increased across the party.
If it is the former, should I use secondary weapons that don't fit the team members' spark profiles occasionally to boost their SP, or is it one of those things where the increase rises with higher ranks so boosting low rank weapons will wind up being superfluous? I'm guessing I shouldn't bother, since I'm assuming characters in later generations will start with higher ranks in various weapons to begin with as a result of global proficiency scaling.
As magic goes I'm figuring it's (as noted above) the usual RS go-to of giving everyone in the party whose skillset allows for it basic water magic and/or other utility spells that serve their purpose without any focus on casting, then trying to spread the elements that have offensive and higher-end healing spells actual mages would use across two dedicated casters?
A couple questions for those who're more familiar with this specific entry, if anyone will indulge me.
Since it's kind of topical at the moment, I unlocked the ability to build the magic research center immediately after the initial one year time skip (really regretting doing that second research project, I'd have had the money to fund it right away...), and it made me curious about something. Characters get HP and weapon/spell rank increases after combat, but Gerard's MP has (obviously) been rising since I used him as a caster extensively through the introductory stages. It's apparent by now that the other stats are fixed, but there haven't been any notifications of MP or SP rising on the victory screen despite them going up, so what increases them? Does it go up as you increase ranks in magic and weapon proficiency, respectively, or as a hidden increase from using skills directly? I'm assuming the former, based on how the values have increased across the party.
If it is the former, should I use secondary weapons that don't fit the team members' spark profiles occasionally to boost their SP, or is it one of those things where the increase rises with higher ranks so boosting low rank weapons will wind up being superfluous? I'm guessing I shouldn't bother, since I'm assuming characters in later generations will start with higher ranks in various weapons to begin with as a result of global proficiency scaling.
As magic goes I'm figuring it's (as noted above) the usual RS go-to of giving everyone in the party whose skillset allows for it basic water magic and/or other utility spells that serve their purpose without any focus on casting, then trying to spread the elements that have offensive and higher-end healing spells actual mages would use across two dedicated casters?
MP increases with the sum of the levels in magic (maybe 3 MP per level? Something like that). So if you have 5 levels in light, 4 in fire and 1 in Earth, you may have around 30 MP (not sure about the formula, but you get the idea).
SP is the same with weapons. Which is why characters with multiple specialties (and your emperor) will hit max 255 SP very quickly.
No need to have characters use more weapons than the one they are specialized in. It would be a waste of time since characters are throw-away, and it's more important to finish a generation with, say, level 17 in arrow than level 15 in arrow and having your archer have 5 in swords. The 5 in swords will not carry over, while the level 17 in arrow will make the next generation stronger.
Give water and utility spells to everyone, but remember to keep some mages raising the maximum level of each magic school. Even Earth, which sucks early on. Giving extra magic school to people who aren't specialized in it will give them very low level, which will not be enough to go above 10.
SP is the same with weapons. Which is why characters with multiple specialties (and your emperor) will hit max 255 SP very quickly.
No need to have characters use more weapons than the one they are specialized in. It would be a waste of time since characters are throw-away, and it's more important to finish a generation with, say, level 17 in arrow than level 15 in arrow and having your archer have 5 in swords. The 5 in swords will not carry over, while the level 17 in arrow will make the next generation stronger.
Give water and utility spells to everyone, but remember to keep some mages raising the maximum level of each magic school. Even Earth, which sucks early on. Giving extra magic school to people who aren't specialized in it will give them very low level, which will not be enough to go above 10.
Your battle count goes up when fighting in the Maze of Memories, is the talk I've seen of fighting there not affecting battle rank just unconfirmed rumors?
It occurs to me that the whole Gerard situation is actually kind of a cool little mechanics-as-storytelling moment that you don't see a lot of in games anymore because it requires some really "bad" design decisions. He's obviously best suited as a mage and he's geared similarly to his father when the game starts because that's what Leon has likely spent his entire life pressuring him into being. It's what Leon knew, so it's what he wanted his son to be. It's only if you ignore his equipment and starting loadout, heed what his older brother cautions his father about in the introduction, and have him actually take interest in magic and choose to learn it himself by talking to Emerald that he comes into his own as a unit--he'll never be especially good as a swordsman but the spells he can access through himself and his father are extremely potent tools in the early going.
There's no dramatic character moment there or anything, but it kind of tells the story all on its own without there needing to be. It's a kind of economy of storytelling you don't see much in games anymore.
Also, thanks Iggy . Much appreciated.
There's no dramatic character moment there or anything, but it kind of tells the story all on its own without there needing to be. It's a kind of economy of storytelling you don't see much in games anymore.
Also, thanks Iggy . Much appreciated.
Is the Eastern Guard/Samurai missable? I went to Chonto castle and there were monsters and I left midway to do another mission. When I come back the next generation, the castle is empty and there are no monsters, you can get the chests, and there's this boss on top of the castle. Did I miss anything?
Okay - just started this and am really into it. But I have some questions before I press too far forward and mess up the good thing I have going.
1. What do I do when my units die permanently? Therese and James are very low on LP because I only just discovered what LP was and didn't know how death operated mechanically. When they die, will they be replaced with nearly-identical units? Will Therese always yield another archer?
2. Is it ever advantageous to let Gerald die and start a new era? Should I preserve Gerald at all costs?
3. If someone dies, do I lose their equipment?
4. What are the benefits of these different weapons? Everyone right now has swords and are too far advanced with swords to justify using maces or cludges. How do I know when it is best to use each weapon? Is there a "weapon triangle" at all?
5. When do classes get introduced? I've just inherited Gerald's father's power. Am I still in the tutorial?
1. What do I do when my units die permanently? Therese and James are very low on LP because I only just discovered what LP was and didn't know how death operated mechanically. When they die, will they be replaced with nearly-identical units? Will Therese always yield another archer?
2. Is it ever advantageous to let Gerald die and start a new era? Should I preserve Gerald at all costs?
3. If someone dies, do I lose their equipment?
4. What are the benefits of these different weapons? Everyone right now has swords and are too far advanced with swords to justify using maces or cludges. How do I know when it is best to use each weapon? Is there a "weapon triangle" at all?
5. When do classes get introduced? I've just inherited Gerald's father's power. Am I still in the tutorial?
I'll cover these as best I can even though I'm only just approaching ten hours in. I think I have most of this down by now, through either experience or research.
1. When a unit dies permanently it opens up their party slot and you can return to the castle (or other locations, once you unlock more classes) to either recruit another member of the same class or a member of a different class. As units within a given class/gender combo die they'll progress down a list of characters (each unit has a fixed name, stats, and weapon preference) until it's exhausted in a random order, then start over. Everybody's somewhat different, even within a class.
2. There are two separate successor picking situations.
When you complete a certain number (varied, lightly randomized) of plotlines, a new era will be ushered in following a several decade jump forward in time. This locks in the techs you've learned for weapons and allows you to learn them on your future characters at no cost in the training hall. Your objective for each era beyond completing area plotlines is to spark as many skills as possible and raise your proficiency levels in various elements or chosen weapons as high as you can, as these increase globally. As you get stronger, your future parties' starting point grows stronger.
If your emperor dies, you simply pick a new successor within the same era from a list of four of the numerous available units. Nothing previously learned that era is locked in for non-emperor characters in the case of a total wipe because the era hasn't changed, so you start from the same rough point you did at the beginning of the era. The only reason you might want to kill an emperor deliberately during general play is to change to a different class, which can be used to unlock new formations in the training hall in the castle for some classes.
The game is balanced assuming you're going to have some deaths--and even total party wipes--but enemies get stronger with the number of battles you've entered so while the game is pretty lenient about it, you probably shouldn't run around having massacres visited upon you three or four times an hour for multiple generations in a row any more than you should spend hours grinding fights against less formidable opponents.
3. It goes into storage at the castle, same happens when the era changes over.
4. Different weapons have different niches in their skillset and different damage types, yes. The game goes out of its way to hide as much of this as possible, but RPG logic generally applies. Use blunt weapons against skeletons, projectiles against avians and flying insectoids, and so on. A character will tell you what weapon he or she is good with when you recruit him or her, so try to have a decent spread of coverage when you set up your teams.
5. You are still in the tutorial for a while yet, but classes already exist and all of your characters have them. You can recruit different ones when they die or once you switch over to the next ruler.
Last edited:
Just to clarify, you have to replace your current party with characters that will start fresh for that generation, but any skills sparked will still be available when the generation shifts even if the character that learned it died.
Thanks and will this be added to the OP? Is there a decent walk through guide around?
Thank you so much for all your help. This was so useful.
The original SNES walkthroughs are still good. If you need some help, check those out.
Unfortunately, if you start the Chonto castle battle and jump a generation without reaching the boss, the East Guard will become unavailable. To continue, talk to people in Rinshan (?) to learn about the Hakuro castle to finish the map without them.
The East Guard trigger is immediately after the Chonto Castle event, you can hire them even if you stop there, but you do need to finish the castle in one go.
Okay this game confuses me.
How do I set up R And D or the university or anything like that. I've talked to all the NPCs in Avalon and can't get anything started.
Also how do you make another character inherit the abilities and traits of another character that's previously died?
How do I set up R And D or the university or anything like that. I've talked to all the NPCs in Avalon and can't get anything started.
Also how do you make another character inherit the abilities and traits of another character that's previously died?
Anyone know if they touched up the translation for the switch ver. It was sort of...rushed on the Android version
Dumb question, but how do you use restorative items in battle? I HAVE the items but can't seem to figure out how to use them.
Edit: Also, I keep finding money that disappears because I can't carry it. Should I stop trying to collect it?
Edit: Also, I keep finding money that disappears because I can't carry it. Should I stop trying to collect it?
I'm pretty sure all versions got the same android translation... It's not stellar, but serviceable enough.
You have to equip them the same as weapons and then scroll through the command types for the specific character during battle.
Money goes into your kingdom's war chest. That's why you get ludicrous amounts of cash but can only hold 10,000 at a time. You'll definitely be needing that dosh for Urban development in the near future.
I managed to make it to my final emperor that I named myself and am cleaning up the last few heroes. The game has been hard as heck but superb at the same time. I'm so glad I got to experience this gem.
Aha, so I am collecting it, it just goes to the treasury.
Time to go back and get that chest I didn't open.
Okay so another question. Is there any harm in grinding a bit? I've got to the point where enemies are a bit tougher and my natural reaction is to grind, but I know that enemies also level up with you. So what do you think?
Also how should I be learning techniques? Should I just attack and use skills until I randomly learn them? Do I learn anything from weapons? How does that work?
Thanks!
Also how should I be learning techniques? Should I just attack and use skills until I randomly learn them? Do I learn anything from weapons? How does that work?
Thanks!
All right. I'm stuck doing the Thieves Guild quest, and from what I gather, I've made some sort of irreversible error. I'm extremely unhappy about this.
I'll put it in spoilers but this is really early in the game.
Documentation for the game is very poor so I can't find a solution to this problem. I can find plenty of people with the SAME problem, but no solutions. It appears that I've broken the quest because I gave the money to the man in the bar at the Canal? Is that for real?
What is going on here?
I'll put it in spoilers but this is really early in the game.
I got to the Canal and went into the bar. A guy asked me for 10,000 gold to find me a way into the castle. I did it and he ran away. Afterward, I returned to Avalon and found many of the townspeople now referred to thieves running along the rooftops at night.
I slept in Gerard's bed and made it night. I found Cat on the roof and saved her from the monsters. She told me to talk to the old man at the bar.
I talked to the old man at the bar. He said to speek to the custodian at the cemetery. I go to the cemetery and am sent into the hole that leads to the Thieve's Guild.
Inside, nobody says anything meaningful. Cat is there and only says "Tee hee." When I speak to the man who is clearly the head of the Guild, he asks me what I want.
Gerald automatically says "Nevermind" and the man tells me to leave. I am then removed from the Guild.
I slept in Gerard's bed and made it night. I found Cat on the roof and saved her from the monsters. She told me to talk to the old man at the bar.
I talked to the old man at the bar. He said to speek to the custodian at the cemetery. I go to the cemetery and am sent into the hole that leads to the Thieve's Guild.
Inside, nobody says anything meaningful. Cat is there and only says "Tee hee." When I speak to the man who is clearly the head of the Guild, he asks me what I want.
Gerald automatically says "Nevermind" and the man tells me to leave. I am then removed from the Guild.
Documentation for the game is very poor so I can't find a solution to this problem. I can find plenty of people with the SAME problem, but no solutions. It appears that I've broken the quest because I gave the money to the man in the bar at the Canal? Is that for real?
What is going on here?
Last edited:
I don't really know as playing through my first time, but I've just done this mission tonight.
I assume the problem is that you gave 10,000 to the guy at the bar. That gives you an alternative way to infiltrate the fortress. Could you skip the thieves guild bit and do it that way instead? I don't know if there's a reason why you wanted to do that particular route, again apologies not that knowledgeable.
I'm assuming you can't just go past the thieves guild in the bottom left to the sewers?
Other than that don't know, sorry!
I'm assuming you can't just go past the thieves guild in the bottom left to the sewers?
Other than that don't know, sorry!
It sounds like that random guy killed the quest. I wasn't trying to choose a deliberate method, I was just playing along and wanted to pay the guy and see what happened
I can see there is another path on the bottom left of the Guild, but it's blocked by an NPC.
I'll probably start over because everything I'm reading (which is admittedly not much) says there's no other way into the Canal Fortress without beating down the wall in a grueling battle.
What about the dude you paid in the bar? That's the third route isn't it? Is that closed off now?
This dude seems to have vanished without a trace. Nothing I'm doing seems to initiate a second or follow up encounter.
Again don't really know what I'm talking about so apologies if this isn't right.
A guide says you pay him, leave the pub. Go back in and talk to him, then follow him to the secret forest path. Is it possible he's in the secret forest path? Maybe look for that in the fortress. Other than that I really have no idea. Sorry!
I appreciate you trying to help.
He's not back in the bar when I go in and he's not in the secret forest path below. :(
Oh well. I guess this will give me a chance to restart and make a more efficient party.
Did you try filling your wallet again at the castle? The guy actually asks you for 20k and doesn't show up again until you have the other half.
Last edited: