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SaGa Emerald Beyond |OT| Beyond this door, a weird new Frontier
- Thread starter Jakenbakin
- Start date
- OT
I ask because while SG shares a lot in common with Emerald Beyond, some of the stuff was a bit better--it certainly had a more coherent world and storytelling.
But it definitely still has that pop-up-book presentation.
Your instincts are right.
SaGa games are almost entirely about gameplay and the stories and characters can be pretty bare (although still charming at times). I love it for how different it all is but its definitely going to repel anyone expecting a traditional JRPG experience.
Especially Scarlet Grace and Emerald Beyond which don't really have much in the way of presentation. Its all about experimentation in the genre and sometimes it works really well and sometimes its pretty divisive in the case of games like Unlimited SaGa.
Some 12 hours left and I still haven't decided whether I'll play this on Steam (don't have a deck) or Android.
Is there an actual review for Android version?
I guess I'll get Steam first to be safe, even if I'm not playing it anytime soon. (Gotta support devs I like.)
IIRC, back when Scarlet Grace first released, there was an interview where they asked Kawazu why there'd be no dungeon in SSG (instead have enemy objects on world map itself).
He replied something to the effect of "We already have lots of RPGs with dungeons. You can play them if you want dungeons."
I hadn't played SaGa games outside of Scarlet Grace but I like Kawazu.
I appreciate him for cooking up a unique experience and developing it into a good game.
Is there an actual review for Android version?
I guess I'll get Steam first to be safe, even if I'm not playing it anytime soon. (Gotta support devs I like.)
IIRC, back when Scarlet Grace first released, there was an interview where they asked Kawazu why there'd be no dungeon in SSG (instead have enemy objects on world map itself).
He replied something to the effect of "We already have lots of RPGs with dungeons. You can play them if you want dungeons."
I hadn't played SaGa games outside of Scarlet Grace but I like Kawazu.
I appreciate him for cooking up a unique experience and developing it into a good game.
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Will most likely get this as a Birthday gift for myself next month.
Im gonna do what I never do in SaGa games and actually play with Mechs/Robots so im going with Diva for my first playthrough.
Im gonna do what I never do in SaGa games and actually play with Mechs/Robots so im going with Diva for my first playthrough.
I wonder which protagonist the reviewers played with, and if any did multiple playthroughs, which one did they like the most?
I played Ameya, Bonnie + Formina, and Diva. I liked Diva the most, if only because it was a good balance of freeform and some structure + an excellent exclusive final boss theme. Bonnie and Formina was my first playthrough and a real trip.
On a related note, about how long is a route on average?
I moved on to other games after just one route in Scarlet Grace, I don't remember the time but I did a lot of running around and optional stuff so I know it was longer than it needed to be, but either way I had my fill for the time.
The Android version of the game is unsurprisingly the same price as PSN and Steam, at least for my region.
So are Bonnie and Formina the titular freeform character with the least direction?
Cause i really want to play them first, but not if the are then i will hold off and play Siugnas first
OP
OP
Having a lot of fun with the idea of revisiting the same scenarios already.
I'm continuing my Mido playthrough and had to leave Delta Base without getting to check up on the incubator and the soil in which you could make stuff because I had saved at the end of the scenario with no repeatable fights in view. Whoops... guess all that crystal collection was for naught. Went to the people-are-frozen world (Grelon?) where you need to thaw them. In the Switch demo I came here with Ameya and my actions led to me fighting some strong monster with the help of the Final Emperor, who was actually the kid you're helping. Knowing that, this time I wanted to fight the emperor so I only thawed people that had horrific nightmares of the emperor instead of those having sweet dreams. Unfortunately while I got the fight I wanted it wasn't quite the same. In fact this time the kid wasn't even the emperor! A ghost emperor tried to take the kids body for itself and I ended up protecting him and killing the ghost emperor, saving the kid but ending the scenario "banished" from that world. It felt more distinctly like a "bad ending" to the scenario then when I had fought alongside the emperor haha. It's fun recognizing some of the divergent paths to take and trying to game the system to my favor, but the amount of choices might still make it difficult to get what I want lol. I can't help but wonder if I had done certain quests differently even in this intentionally different run how much else it could have varied. For one I was hoping to game it into giving me a Brutal level fight but only got a Hard haha.
Speaking of Brutal fights I did the first post-demo Brutal fight offered in the Beyond. Reloading my save could give me different enemy configurations which was good because some were tougher than others. The game seems to scale stats quite strongly because at the end of the fight all my characters got massive stat increases, like +3 in every category.
Having a blast :)
I'm continuing my Mido playthrough and had to leave Delta Base without getting to check up on the incubator and the soil in which you could make stuff because I had saved at the end of the scenario with no repeatable fights in view. Whoops... guess all that crystal collection was for naught. Went to the people-are-frozen world (Grelon?) where you need to thaw them. In the Switch demo I came here with Ameya and my actions led to me fighting some strong monster with the help of the Final Emperor, who was actually the kid you're helping. Knowing that, this time I wanted to fight the emperor so I only thawed people that had horrific nightmares of the emperor instead of those having sweet dreams. Unfortunately while I got the fight I wanted it wasn't quite the same. In fact this time the kid wasn't even the emperor! A ghost emperor tried to take the kids body for itself and I ended up protecting him and killing the ghost emperor, saving the kid but ending the scenario "banished" from that world. It felt more distinctly like a "bad ending" to the scenario then when I had fought alongside the emperor haha. It's fun recognizing some of the divergent paths to take and trying to game the system to my favor, but the amount of choices might still make it difficult to get what I want lol. I can't help but wonder if I had done certain quests differently even in this intentionally different run how much else it could have varied. For one I was hoping to game it into giving me a Brutal level fight but only got a Hard haha.
Speaking of Brutal fights I did the first post-demo Brutal fight offered in the Beyond. Reloading my save could give me different enemy configurations which was good because some were tougher than others. The game seems to scale stats quite strongly because at the end of the fight all my characters got massive stat increases, like +3 in every category.
Having a blast :)
Square knows this game is not going to sell super well so they aren't pushing it hard. SaGa games are the definition of niche, and they're basically counting on the pre-existing SaGa fanbase to do most of the work, especially since the majority of games journalists tend to struggle to grasp and communicate what makes SaGa special. Not at all surprising.
You've definitely been missing out.
They're the best classic SaGa race, tough as balls and super easy to manage since all they require is decent equipment.
If they stick to that, you'll also never have to worry about them falling behind or have to grind stats either if you stop using certain ones for awhile.
PC version is live. GMG also sent out their keys
also wallpapers and Sensei emotes
vvv try restarting Steam?
also wallpapers and Sensei emotes
vvv try restarting Steam?
Genius! That did it.
Very excited for this. Didn't touch the demo and went on a blackout which… wasn't difficult. This is one of the very few games I'd buy way in advance because of Scarlet Grace.
No idea who to start with.
Diva. Shes the real main character as far as I'm concerned. Accent is ridiculous charming and her mech design is awesome.
Also her and the vampire will probably feel the most mechanically fresh coming from Scarlet Grace.
Diva is a robot like in the gb games and Frontier. Dracula has some interesting things to do to his party to kind of buff them by turning into thralls or something like that.
The Witch, Mido and the duo don't really stand out immediately to me though Mido does start with a full party of the new puppet race which are pretty unique themselves.
For what it's worth, the developers did answer this question.
> Which protagonist would you recommend for newcomers to the SaGa franchise, and which would you recommend for experts?
> Tsunanori Mido is fairly easy to get to grips with if you are new to all the different systems of SaGa.
> Whereas Bonnie and Formina might be more fun to play if you are already well versed in the series or after you've explored lots of different worlds with the other characters of SaGa Emerald Beyond, but if you like a challenge, of course there's no problem with picking them first!
> Which protagonist would you recommend for newcomers to the SaGa franchise, and which would you recommend for experts?
> Tsunanori Mido is fairly easy to get to grips with if you are new to all the different systems of SaGa.
> Whereas Bonnie and Formina might be more fun to play if you are already well versed in the series or after you've explored lots of different worlds with the other characters of SaGa Emerald Beyond, but if you like a challenge, of course there's no problem with picking them first!
On one hand, it's been years since I played Scarlet Grace (and I only got an act or so in), and I have totally forgotten my already lacking understanding of the combat/equipment system, so Mido would be fitting. On the other, I would rather play as a woman if I can help it.
So… Diva's my compromise, I think? I liked Ameya well enough in the hour-ish I played of the demo, but was planning to play Bonnie and Formina till hearing they're not ideal for an initial playthrough. Diva seems like she might be the easiest to learn the game with out of my options.
It'll probably be a few days till I start anyway so I'll keep an eye out for what people think here. I am just hoping I can actually process all the systems… I really liked what I played of SG but RPG stats and builds and whatnot often don't feel very intuitive to me at all, and the demo felt very willing to throw you into the deep end. Or at least it was fairly slow to give tutorials for basic things despite giving you free rein to mess with your abilities/gear/etc. immediately, which I respect overall but it did make it feel more overwhelming.
So… Diva's my compromise, I think? I liked Ameya well enough in the hour-ish I played of the demo, but was planning to play Bonnie and Formina till hearing they're not ideal for an initial playthrough. Diva seems like she might be the easiest to learn the game with out of my options.
It'll probably be a few days till I start anyway so I'll keep an eye out for what people think here. I am just hoping I can actually process all the systems… I really liked what I played of SG but RPG stats and builds and whatnot often don't feel very intuitive to me at all, and the demo felt very willing to throw you into the deep end. Or at least it was fairly slow to give tutorials for basic things despite giving you free rein to mess with your abilities/gear/etc. immediately, which I respect overall but it did make it feel more overwhelming.
I'm starting with Diva, though I won't be using my demo save.
She has the most variety in starting party members, so it seems like a good way to play around with a bunch of character types to see what I like for future playthroughs.
She has the most variety in starting party members, so it seems like a good way to play around with a bunch of character types to see what I like for future playthroughs.
yeah... the title is too niche :') im so glad the series still going on tbh
hope it sales meet expectation
I played Scarlet Grace for around 5 hours but I didn't get hooked at all, I did enjoy what I played but I hit a wall early on and I didn't feel like playing more after that.
The only other SaGa game that I have played/finished is the DS remake of SaGa 2 which I enjoyed. This is a series I want to play more of because it seems to be made for "me" but for whatever reason I haven't played more of them.
I'll buy this to support the series and give it a try, I like that this is apparently not that long for a single route which could help my experience, now the question is if I play as Mido or Diva.
The only other SaGa game that I have played/finished is the DS remake of SaGa 2 which I enjoyed. This is a series I want to play more of because it seems to be made for "me" but for whatever reason I haven't played more of them.
I'll buy this to support the series and give it a try, I like that this is apparently not that long for a single route which could help my experience, now the question is if I play as Mido or Diva.
OP
OP
I love this heckin' dork, I will love you even when the world does not. 👍
Looking at what someone said on Reddit I'm guessing that I will probably finish my Mido run in the next hour or two, around 10 or 11 hours (and even that might be a bit of a long run due to my experimenting, reading all the glossary, doing as many brutal encounters as I could, etc). I really dig these bite sized runs ala Frontier, Scarlet Grace is so fucking long I've never had the desire to play through multiple protags, but I'm just so excited to do all of these and maybe even see how it changes upon replaying the same protag. Very interested in the overall sense of progress in the game via multiple playthroughs.
Thats kind of disappointing, was hoping each run would be atleast a solid 20.
I love this heckin' dork, I will love you even when the world does not. 👍
Looking at what someone said on Reddit I'm guessing that I will probably finish my Mido run in the next hour or two, around 10 or 11 hours (and even that might be a bit of a long run due to my experimenting, reading all the glossary, doing as many brutal encounters as I could, etc). I really dig these bite sized runs ala Frontier, Scarlet Grace is so fucking long I've never had the desire to play through multiple protags, but I'm just so excited to do all of these and maybe even see how it changes upon replaying the same protag. Very interested in the overall sense of progress in the game via multiple playthroughs.
I'm happy to hear that the game isn't that long, because that will make me want to do the other playthroughs and experiment more.
I do kind of miss ScaGrace characters having, like, a specific partner to play off through the game, instead of here where it seems like your partner is designated by the World you're currently in. Like I would love to see Lita piping up in Tsunanori's stories.
We'll see how it actually ends up playing out but I feel like the breeziness is probably gonna end up as a good thing that encourages experimentation - at least one world I visited seemed to have like three different story paths I could have taken, and it'll be nice to try one of the others the next time I end up there (it also seemed like I could have skipped all three of it if I had really wanted to?)
We'll see how it actually ends up playing out but I feel like the breeziness is probably gonna end up as a good thing that encourages experimentation - at least one world I visited seemed to have like three different story paths I could have taken, and it'll be nice to try one of the others the next time I end up there (it also seemed like I could have skipped all three of it if I had really wanted to?)
I was afraid that Bonnie and Formina would be the route geared toward more experienced players. I wanted to play them first but I might have to go with Mido->Ameya first instead.
I'd agree normally if there was a large cast like some previous SaGas but with only four characters, I was hoping each run would be a lil meatier than that. :/
Oh wow, Combat has changed A LOT more from Scarlet Grace than I assumed it would although being a SaGa game, I shouldn't be surprised.
United attacks seems completely different now? Instead of being procced off of eliminating wedged in (between two party members) enemies, seems like you queue attacks with similar attack ranges/combo number thingies and it increases attack power and builds up a gauge that unleashes "overdrive" combos which seem to be the traditional everybody suddenly jumps in and takes a shot at a guy.
Interesting. Not sure if I like it but still early.
United attacks seems completely different now? Instead of being procced off of eliminating wedged in (between two party members) enemies, seems like you queue attacks with similar attack ranges/combo number thingies and it increases attack power and builds up a gauge that unleashes "overdrive" combos which seem to be the traditional everybody suddenly jumps in and takes a shot at a guy.
Interesting. Not sure if I like it but still early.
That's... kinda awesome, makes me more excited than ever to jump in
So uh. Is there a way to heal? I've been playing the demo and transferred over to the full release last night but it seems like combat is just a battle of attrition?
Alright, hearing the scenarios are shorter just bumped this up my list and I might pick it up sooner rather than later.
Wonder if I should just keep going with Ameya then. I don't think Switch performance was too bad and I like having the whole series under one console anyway.
Wonder if I should just keep going with Ameya then. I don't think Switch performance was too bad and I like having the whole series under one console anyway.
I want to support this but I won't be able to play it for a good 6-month and I'm a bit short on money right now...
The Jp official guide's been announced for a late May release. As usual for S-E with this kind of mid-to-low budget games, it's both a guide and an artbook, and will contain the exact same number of pages (256) as Scarlet Grace's expanded one for its rerelease,but is 200 yen more expensive :(
The Jp official guide's been announced for a late May release. As usual for S-E with this kind of mid-to-low budget games, it's both a guide and an artbook, and will contain the exact same number of pages (256) as Scarlet Grace's expanded one for its rerelease,
Showstoppers are so satisfying to pull off omg
One without healing.
One without healing.
And when you accidentally put enemies into showstopper territory, then you done fucked up... it stings, bad
Personally I like this much more than Scarlet Grace already because of the setting, focus on combos, and how much more dialogue/backstory there is for each little scenario. But SG is also a great game, and it's probably cheaper, so it depends on what you feel about each.
OP
OP
While it's early days yet I also love this more than Scarlet Grace, which was already my favorite SaGa. The humor and irreverent tone speak to me, the art is much more diverse and fun, the battle system is somehow even better, the character diversity is at the series peak, the short routes are a huge boon to me though I can understand apprehension here from others, the sci-fi elements are cooler to me than the more classic fantasy, and I've personally thought the writing and characterization is better too (sometimes it was pretty fun in Scarlet Grace but it just didn't have near the personality of this one). There's definitely an element of atmosphere in Scarlet Grace being one large divided game board world that is lost in Emerald Beyond, where these separate worlds feel much more gamey, but I don't think either approach there is necessarily better, but now it's far easier to track consequences of your actions and the shorter playtime will make it easier to take advantage of learning those consequences so again I might prefer this. Of course I'm also riding high in the honeymoon period right now.
All of that said it it's a choice of either or and you're considering the price, well Scarlet Grace is frequently on sale. It's currently $9 on the eShop. Do I think Emerald Beyond is 5.5x better than Scarlet Grace? No. And I think $9 is a pretty great price to see if you would even get with what can be a very divisive game. I totally understand why a lot of people don't like it and it's not necessarily a safe purchase even when you hear a lot of praise.
I went into a hard level encounter messing about in the demo and just 1-shot everything on a second round showstopper. They are soooo fantastic, honestly to my detriment sometimes because I like setting them up more than combos and sometimes ruin my strategy in doing so lmao. I'm like okay this one person is going to fuck all y'all up WAIT YOU CAN'T STUN THEM THAT'S ILLEGAL
Healing is a minor thing from what Ive seen in most SaGa games and relatively minor in Saga-likes. Dead enemies cant hurt your people!
OP
OP
Not really, outside of the fact that sometimes you're given the choice of which encounter to proceed and might have choice of easy-medium-hard-brutal. Some SaGa games have had more emphasis on healing but the ones that are designed without it really don't need it.
Instead of healing, one big pro tip is be aware of defensive maneuvers. First of all you've got moves like parry which can help you mitigate damage for yourself. An even better move is deflect - you cover for someone else, and in doing so are ensuring that person 1 blocks person 2, so person 2 takes no damage at all and person 1 takes reduced damage (or negates it it's a parry type protect). If you recognize an attack from the enemy is going to be a huge AoE or damage intensive attack it's a great idea to use a protect tech and protect someone weaker or already injured. You can also defend by not doing any techs, so maybe if you're getting hit with a big AoE you can even have as many people deflect/parry and the rest just defend so you save BP for the next round. You can also control who is getting attacked, either by status effects controlling the enemy aggression or just by having more active damage outputters (the more damage a character does the more likely they are targeted).
A little more difficult to keep track of but there's also a shield icon on the tech UI, and some moves let you block or evade even while performing an attack. Look at these two pictures and in the bottom right of the description you can see an arrow pointing right, and an arrow pointing left. These indicate that the first tech you can defend/evade after your tech, the other before your tech (there's a chance I have this backwards I really should've double checked the glossary section). I honestly don't have many techs with it and haven't paid any attention to it yet, but it's there I guess.
In addition to this, like others said, be proactive and destroy your enemies first! Make sure you're paying attention to the timeline and not letting the enemy set up a united attack or showstopper that you could have prevented!