Retro Review: SaGa Frontier 2

In my time, dozens of JRPGs have come and gone. Unfortunately for the genre I love, many of these titles are utterly forgettable, and get lost in the shuffle of memory as you move through games with better plots, better music, better gameplay, etc. Some games hardly even get that chance. Some games are so painfully overlooked that you're left wondering if the game you just played was actually good, or if you just have bad taste. I'd like to think that the latter isn't what's true. For goodness' sakes, I played and enjoyed Ephemeral Fantasia, but I'm well aware it's not what's considered a "good" game. One such game that gets little to no love, and the focus of this post, is a gem titled "SaGa Frontier 2."

--Story--

SaGa Frontier 2 is the 8th installment in the overarching "SaGa" series, but like other games in the series it has nothing to do with its predecessors. It was originally released April 1999 in Japan, and January 2000 in the United States. Initially, it follows the viewpoints of two young men who must find their own way in the world.

The first is young Gustave XIII, the crown prince of the Kingdom of Finney. This prince is the first child of King Gustave XII and Queen Sophie, and is seemingly destined for great things. At the age of 7, he undergoes the Firebrand Ceremony, a royal tradition that has the next heir to the throne hold the sword Firebrand, and allow it to draw his Anima, a force of nature that enables magic. However, it is discovered during the ceremony that Gustave XIII has no Anima to be drawn. Shamed by this, his father casts him and his mother out of the kingdom. From there on, Gustave learns to live with being "Ungifted," and must learn to make his own way in life.

The second is William Knights, a boy who seeks adventure not only for the sake of excitement, but also to investigate and discover the cause behind his father's demise. As he adventures on, he meets new friends who join his quest to discover great treasures, and as they become closer to him, his father's cause of death. He learns the cause of his father's death early on, but the consequences of learning such a tale begins to haunt and possess him, turning into something so much more than inquisition.

The game's storyline itself spans over 100 years, and as you progress through the game, more characters become playable, storylines branch and weave, and eventually all come to a head in an exciting final scenario that wraps up the loose ends. An interesting note here is that every consequence, every event that takes place can all be traced back to those first two men, Gustave and William, who goes by "Wil" in the game.

The story is deep and intense, and it becomes easy to lose yourself in the best possible way. The twists are entertaining, and the game understands how to put forth an emotional scene without overstepping its bounds. The only drawback is that at times the storyline takes a bit of time to really get going, so you're left doing a scenario or two which may feel like filler content to the player.

9/10

--Audio--

The music is done by Masashi Hamauzu, who also did work on Final Fantasy X, Final Fantasy XIII, Front Mission: Gun Hazard, and several more. The game features an emotional, piano-heavy score. A score you wouldn't think works well with an action-intense game, but the surprise is good and welcome. The sound itself is clear, and any atmospheric background tracking fits the scenes, theme, and mood. Most notable are the battle themes. Each battle theme is remixed and derived from  the first one that you hear in the game, yet Hamauzu finds a way to keep it interesting, and manages to make each theme distinct from one another.

10/10

--Gameplay--

During combats, the player selects a command for up to four characters at the start of the turn, and then the enemies and players all act at the same time. By upgrading your skill with certain weapons or spells, you can speed up your action time and the power of your techniques, as well as make it easy to learn new techniques. Techniques, or as they're called in the game, "Arts" are learned seemingly at random while in a party battle. By using a particular weapon, sometimes a light bulb will flash over a character's head and they'll perform a new technique. Arts are divided into three categories. Weapon Arts, Spell Arts, and Hybrid Arts which require a proficiency in a weapon and a corresponding spell type. New to SaGa Frontier is the Duel system. At the start of some battles, you can choose to fight with either your full party, or just one of your characters. This is largely beneficial when trying to learn new techniques for your characters, but can become dangerous very quickly. The fortunate thing about learning skills, as aggravating as it can get, is that once one character learns the skill, any character you have the ability to play can use it. This was likely done for the fact that the game progresses over 100 years.

The biggest drawback to the overall gameplay, is that getting into and out of monster encounters can be a lengthy process. The game has an issue with load times between combats, and sometimes there are delays between entering commands, and the action taking place. More problematic, is that many combats are either difficult, or nigh impossible to avoid. The monsters can be seen roaming the playing field, so they're not exactly random, but they are numerous. The game also has a strange habit of occasionally, but not often, putting a monster in a dungeon that is way out of your power range. It can be a little unforgiving if you explore too far from the path.

7/10

--Visuals--

Saga Frontier 2 does something entirely different with its physical presentation. All of the backgrounds in the game, as well as the character sprites are hand-drawn and water-colored. The intention was to give the game a "story-book" atmosphere, and it worked fantastically. Though not using the polygonal 3-D style that was so prevalent at the time of release, Saga Frontier 2 still makes a graphically and visually stunning game that allows you to enjoy each of the areas of the game fully. The only minor drawback to the artistic direction is that it can sometimes be difficult to discern the different pathways that you can trod, making it hard to figure out where to go, but this only becomes an issue once or twice. The action graphics are pretty, and the sprite motions are well animated, making for a graphically pleasing experience.

9/10

Total: 35/40 - B+

--So why have I never heard of it?--

The SaGa series itself has an underground cult following here in America. With series like Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, Pokemon, etc., it gets hard to pay attention to such a severely under-hyped product like SaGa Frontier 2. Hell, I wouldn't have even heard of it if I wasn't strolling through a blockbuster when I was 12 and feeling adventurous. IGN's reviews give the game a 7/10, much less than what I gave it, for the fact that it was poorly marketed, and some believe that the 2-D movement of the game was just too little, too late. As such, many who have heard of the game, much less played it, will not have a great amount of good to say about it. All these things combined buried the game, and kept it out of the spotlight.

I, however, believe that this is a game that was denied the spotlight it oh-so-deserved. It's a 2-D adventure that, in Japan, hung in with the likes of Final Fantasy 8. It's been re-released several times and sold quite well during its initial release. I firmly believe the game just wasn't given a fair chance or enough exposure. It's got more than anyone could rightfully ask for in a JRPG, and I consider myself extremely lucky to own a copy.