Romancing SaGa 2 actually was quite fun. At the very least, it was nice to see an older game re-emerge on a next generation console and still be more fun than a hindrance. It certainly contains some classic structure, some unique gameplay, tough-as-nails enemies and some linear restriction to keep it all grounded back in 1993.
Old school RPGs can be surprising sometimes, especially when the genre is shifting into an action/RPG mentality and away from turn-based style of play. Romancing SaGa 2 was an eye-opening surprise, though also showing its age in some aspects.
The story of RS2 revolves around the Emperor/Empress (your choice at the beginning of the game) of Avalon. You start out as King Leon, whose son, Gellard, accompanies him on a quest to rid evil from the land. When things go to pot, Leon ends up perishing and passing his kingly powers to his son. When his son passes (dies), and that will happen — believe me, the player must choose the next heir (out of four) to continue the quest of ridding evil from the land of Avalon. It’s an interesting concept and one that certainly puts the player in a real pickle when it comes to staying alive. If you die, then you basically have to start rebuilding your team again. This is a prototypical Square Enix game, which means its tough as nails and slightly unforgiving.
To put it in better perspective, if Dark Souls and Phantasy Star III met at a video game party in the 90s (those happen), had too much to drink, hooked up, and ended up having a video game child nine months later, then it would be called Romancing Saga 2. That’s pretty much the mixture of gameplay that you should expect from RS2.
On the Dark Souls side of the parenting, which is easy to see when you’re talking about difficult games, you’re going to find a lot of cheap characters that will rock your world early on. How cheap, you ask? There is a bastard character early on called a Doppleganger, which masks itself as a treasure chest. Early on, no matter how powerful my characters were, no matter the magic I had at my disposal, I could never defeat the thing. You will find characters like this scattered throughout the game and a few characters that can only be killed via magic. How do you tell these characters from the others? Simple. You can’t. This sort of challenge, which is pretty much random, is what makes me think of Dark Souls Lite when I think of how RS2 throws enemies at you. Is that a knock against it? Absolutely not! It certainly will piss quite a few gamers off these days, but for us old school people that cut our teeth on randomly selected and hard as nails enemies, it’s expected. It was surprising to revisit such a thing, but nonetheless expected.
Now, in regards to the Phantasy Star III parenting, and yes there were Phantasy Star games prior to the shit show that was/is Phantasy Star Online (I will never forgive Sega for that atrocity — such disappointment for a Dreamcast owner), it was pilfered for the driving backbone of its content, which was growing generations of families throughout the game. While RS2 doesn’t necessarily steal the concept, it does borrow from its structure. In PSIII, you would meet two people and decide which one you were going to marry, which equaled out to a specific child that was going to take the thrown after your character and continue the adventure with the child. It was a neat concept and one that contained multiple endings, and probably the only thing entertaining about PSIII. RS2 allows you to live, die and then have your spot replaced by another character. It’s a cool concept for a 1993 game and it still is interesting in 2018.
As for the rest of the game, the structure is typical of a basic RPG, though there are some unique bells and whistles that make it just enough different from the others. For example, the weapon system is sorta cool, where you can carry multiple pieces of armor and weapons with each character. I know, probably not impressive or mind-blowing for those who can’t appreciate the history of RPGs and how they were structured during the 90s, but believe me folks it was a cool system for 1993. Generally, RPGS allowed you one piece of armor, one weapon and that was it. You would switch them out as you go, but not this one. RS2 does a good job of opening up that option and making it a bit more interesting.
On the actual fighting system itself, RS2 allows for multiple categories to select from when you’re in a fight. Depending on character, of course, you might have various ways to attack, including a separate option for each weapon, a special power and/or an option for magic and to flee. Sometimes these options seemed messy and seemed to go on forever before a selection could be made, but thankfully because this is a turn-based RPG, there are no time limits for selecting what you want. It works and it’s good.
Shifting gears from how the gameplay system works, let’s shift focus on the adventure. It’s going to be a long adventure for a few reasons. The first one is that you’re going to run into a boatload of enemies along the way. They will actively seek you out, if you’re near them. They will come in droves and will not stop until either you eliminate them or they eliminate you. Unlike other RPGs at the time, Romancing SaGa 2 actually let’s you see the enemies roam around and, as I stated previously, they will chase you into a fight. You will fight, fight and fight more in this game. It’s a weird sorta grind that isn’t typical of this time period in gaming, but nonetheless it’s neat and it certainly won’t bore you.
The second/final reason this is a long adventure, is because it’s a bit linear to the point where you will have to wait and unlock places on a map to actually be able to adventure. It makes the entire experience feel a bit restrictive, even for this period of time in gaming, and at times long. The likes of Phantasy Star and other RPGs that came before Romancing SaGa 2 gave a bit more freedom for players to explore maps before going into cities or lands. The linear-ness is fine for this type of game, if not expected, but just not the restrictive gameplay for exploration.
Having said all of this, Romancing SaGa 2 actually was quite fun. At the very least, it was nice to see an older game re-emerge on a next generation console and still be more fun than a hindrance. It certainly contains some classic structure, some unique gameplay, tough-as-nails enemies and some linear restriction to keep it all grounded back in 1993.
