Saga Frontier 2 Reviews

When I first heard that Saga Frontier was going to have a sequel, I had mixed reaction. I enjoyed the first one for what it was, a new and different approach to rpgs instead of the usual kind. But overrall I wouldn't want to see more rpgs to be made like it. So hearing that Saga Frontier 2 was coming didn't make me jump with joy. Not until I saw the screenshots and the outline of the story. Saga Frontier 2 shows you that first impressions don't always give you the lasting impression that you want. Let's break it down.

Saga Frontier 2 approach to the story is very unique. Instead of one whole story, it feature tales of two different hero stories in separate scenarios. Of course this isn't new at all, if you played Kartia and Star Ocean before. But what is new is the fact that these stories don't center around one hero but generation of heroes. In other words you may start off with the first hero but by the time you are at the end of the game, you'll be playing the hero's grandchild. A very unique approach, and one I really like. Unfortunately Saga Frontier 2 didn't pull it off right. Tried to do too much by giving us two separate stories instead of one and generation of stories to boot. If they had kept it to one hero and his generation then it might have worked. Trying to jam everything in one rpg and in one disk will only lead to confusion. Let's break down the separate story even more without any spoilers.

Gustav Scenario: Gustav story isn't so much about generation of his family since he doesn't have any kids. No, Gustav story is more of a history lesson in all the historic events that takes place in the world of Saga Frontier than anything else. In a strange way the game does pull this off pretty well. You do get a sense that you're watching the History Channel when playing Gustav story. Unfortunately there's a real lack of in-depth story developement that leaves you with more question than answers by the end of the game. It's more or less, short notes breakdown of all the important historic events in Saga Frontier 2. Gustav, himself is only a quarter part of the story in this scenario. This is a major let down considering that he's probably the best and most favorite character in the game.

Will Scenario: Will storyline is much more inline with the Saga Frontier 2 plotline or gameplay. You start off with Will and his quest to stop an evil force named as The Egg. You do the usual stuff in rpgs. Explore dungeons and fight bosses. By mid way into the quest you will be playing Will's son, Rich, and the main hero. And by the end of the game, the main hero is Ginny, Rich's daughter. Hence the generation gap is complete. I really like this innovative idea. Too bad that in the end it's still small short stories of different members of Will's family. And when you have short stories, you have the lack of character developement.
Overrall a good idea but one that should have been made simplier.

There are alot of characters/fighters that appear in this game. One of the best selection around. But due to the lack of length in each generation of stories, character developement is very weak. Characters come and go without much effort. Sometimes a character is added to the game simply to have him/her as a party member and nothing more. Just when you start to like a character or develope a really good fighter, you lose him right away. In other words you can't really get yourself attach to a favorite character or fighter. Too bad too. Gustav and others could really be good Squaresoft character like Squall or Cloud.

Unlike most Squaresoft games, Saga Frontier 2 uses beautiful handdrawn artwork of sprites and background. It really makes this game look special and all important. But it also shows that what's on the outside isn't always good inside.

Like with other Square games, Saga Frontier 2 does feature some really good midis or musical scores. There aren't any real strong memorable ones that stick out like say Aeris midi theme but they are pretty good.

Now comes the all important gameplay section. What can I say?? Hmm. How about this game is so freaking hard that even a die hard rpger like myself who has no problem beating all the other rpgs out there can't even finish this game due to the major difficulty of the last boss. Give me Omega, Ultima, Ruby, and Emerald Weapons anyday. I rather face all the Weapons than fight the Last Megalith. The gameplay is unbelievably inconsistant.
Gustav Scenario takes a strategy rpg approach. Story, story, battlefield fight, story, story, and battlefield fight. You can finish Gustav Scenario very quickly with this approach. You don't even get a chance of much gameplay out of it too.
Will Scenario takes a more traditional rpg approach. Explore dungeons and have a boss fights.
Still in the end the gameplay rage from hard to extremely hard. The problem is that you don't really get a good chance to level any of your characters up or get a good feel for any of your fighters cause they come and go just like that. By the time you have to face the end game boss. You have a whole bunch of new fighters to get used to again and to develope again. A pain in the ass.

Battle System: The battle system is like the first Saga Frontier. You have 4 members in each party and each member can learn a special attack on the weapon that they are using. You also have combo attacks as well. Up to 4 combos with all 4 members going at it called an All Out Combo Attack. The battle system also give you a choice of duel fight or party fight. Duel fight is a one on one fight and of course we all know what a party fight is. I like this idea. Now the problem with the battle system is that you have to learn how to do special moves called Arts inorder to really progress in the game. You especially need to know special Arts moves and combos moves inorder to beat any bosses. But the frustrating thing is that learning Arts are random. In a party fight, a fighter learn it randomly. In duel fight, the player has to press the right sequence of action to learn an Art move. But it's still random at best. In the end if you don't learn enough Arts and Combos, you're toast against the last end game boss. Actually even if you learn all the good Arts you're still toast against the end game boss like me. Very hard game. Recommendation is that this game should only be played by die hard rpgs fans and not ones who only play the FF series.

There are only a couple of side events that you can get in this game. One is to fight a boss. You don't really get anything from beating that boss other than the satisfaction of beating it and the other is a tower. The tower is simply to get a couple of good weapons and fight a few sub bosses. Nothing too important. You can do all this in your first game. There's not really much of a replay value unless you really like this game and want to go through the pain in the ass, getting all the Arts and Combos and to fight the Last Megalith.

Final thoughts. Overrall Saga Frontier 2 is a little above average rpg that should only played by the best rpgers out there. Even the best ones like myself will have a difficult time with it. Better than the first one but still needs some improvement to make this a lasting series like the FF series.

Saga Frontier 2: The Generation Gap

Saga Frontier 2:
The Generation Gap