I fully admit that I've always been hesitant to try out the SaGa series because of just how much I dislike Final Fantasy II. However, on a whim I decided to try this out because I wanted to play a bite sized simple JRPG, and I gotta say, it's pretty damn good. For this game to not only be the first SaGa game, but also the first RPG on the Gameboy, but also be such an early example of a JRPG (coming out only 3 years after the original Dragon Quest), and also be a follow up to one of my least favorite JRPGS, this is extremely impressive! This is a perfect example of a game where I had so many preconceived biases that I expected to absolutely despise it, and yet I'm walking away having had a pretty great time.
The setting here is very interesting, I always have a huge soft spot for games that meld fantasy and reality, but I also love world designs that just make no sense if you're thinking about them on a purely physical level. The idea of this massive tower at the center of the fantasy world you start out in that deposits you into worlds with completely different vibes seemingly all stacked upon one another in a geometrical nightmare just really gets my gears turning. Add to that the fact that your gear gets progressively more unhinged leading to a point where you can literally have Excalibur and an atomic bomb equipped at the same time and it's just a really exciting setting to wrap your head around. I think the hardware limitations help a lot in this aspect, just letting you fill in the gaps with your own fantastical assertions is something you couldn't do on anything other than a dinky little Gameboy in a game with not much dialogue and a shaky translation.
I did have my fair share of problems with the gameplay systems here. The character progression is extremely arcane and because I chose a really bad party at the beginning (2 monsters) it led to a lot of instances of feeling like I could only progress if the RNG didn't absolutely fuck me. I do think that each type of character having a completely different progression path is a cool idea I just think I had a particularly rough go of it. There were a few times where I felt as though I had been soft-locked, because I was deep into a dungeon with no way out but forward and I could not figure out how to progress with the party composition and items I had at that point. Add to that the astronomically high encounter rate as was the style at the time and I definitely had my fair share of frustration. There also doesn't seem to be anywhere in the game that explains what your items and abilities do, at least not that I found, so that led to a lot of trial and error and just buying the absolute most expensive thing at every store hoping it was the best option only for it to sometimes seem kinda useless. Honestly some of my gripes here might've been remedied if I had the instruction manual the game came with which I'm sure was the intention of the designers.
Overall I think this game is a really cool piece of JRPG history, just doing everything it can to go against established genre conventions this early on in the life of the genre is something I admire a lot. As a modern JRPG enjoyer who has become accustomed to said conventions after playing 3 decades of games following The Rules set forth by the original Dragon Quest I do think the friction this game provides can be a little unappealing at times, but I'm glad I gave it a shot because it's a truly singular experience. Possibly the earliest example of Punk Rock Game Design that I've played.
The setting here is very interesting, I always have a huge soft spot for games that meld fantasy and reality, but I also love world designs that just make no sense if you're thinking about them on a purely physical level. The idea of this massive tower at the center of the fantasy world you start out in that deposits you into worlds with completely different vibes seemingly all stacked upon one another in a geometrical nightmare just really gets my gears turning. Add to that the fact that your gear gets progressively more unhinged leading to a point where you can literally have Excalibur and an atomic bomb equipped at the same time and it's just a really exciting setting to wrap your head around. I think the hardware limitations help a lot in this aspect, just letting you fill in the gaps with your own fantastical assertions is something you couldn't do on anything other than a dinky little Gameboy in a game with not much dialogue and a shaky translation.
I did have my fair share of problems with the gameplay systems here. The character progression is extremely arcane and because I chose a really bad party at the beginning (2 monsters) it led to a lot of instances of feeling like I could only progress if the RNG didn't absolutely fuck me. I do think that each type of character having a completely different progression path is a cool idea I just think I had a particularly rough go of it. There were a few times where I felt as though I had been soft-locked, because I was deep into a dungeon with no way out but forward and I could not figure out how to progress with the party composition and items I had at that point. Add to that the astronomically high encounter rate as was the style at the time and I definitely had my fair share of frustration. There also doesn't seem to be anywhere in the game that explains what your items and abilities do, at least not that I found, so that led to a lot of trial and error and just buying the absolute most expensive thing at every store hoping it was the best option only for it to sometimes seem kinda useless. Honestly some of my gripes here might've been remedied if I had the instruction manual the game came with which I'm sure was the intention of the designers.
Overall I think this game is a really cool piece of JRPG history, just doing everything it can to go against established genre conventions this early on in the life of the genre is something I admire a lot. As a modern JRPG enjoyer who has become accustomed to said conventions after playing 3 decades of games following The Rules set forth by the original Dragon Quest I do think the friction this game provides can be a little unappealing at times, but I'm glad I gave it a shot because it's a truly singular experience. Possibly the earliest example of Punk Rock Game Design that I've played.
Reviewed on May 17, 2023