So...what do we have here?

U.S. Game Front

Blue, Lute And Riki Just Chilling Out

When Seven Become One...

Good And Evil...Right & Wrong...

Blue (Left) And Asellus (Right) Are My
Favorite Characters.

Ah...SaGa Frontier...To many people, it may seem like a rather poor RPG addition from Square or a revolting turd of an RPG in general, but I couldn't care either way. All I know is that this is one of my most favorite RPGs...period. Yes, I'm that serious...it outranks even some of the most prolific of RPGs like most of the Final Fantasy titles in my book. I can still remember Gamepro welcomed this game with open arms and showered it with praise, along with a few other gaming mags at the time this game was released. Sadly, the followups to SaGa Frontier in the U.S. haven't been as fortunate in thier reception, both from gamers and the media (thinks about Unlimited SaGa...*shudders*). What exactly is it that makes SaGa Frontier a good game in my eyes?

SaGa Frontier is the first U.S. SaGa game to don "SaGa" in its namesake, though we have "secretly" received a few titles stemming way back on the bulky Game Boy under the name "Final Fantasy Legends". The SaGa series is mostly famous for its "multi-scenario" system, primarily free-roaming gameplay, visible map enemies, atypical growth and ability system, the feature to save anywhere at practically anytime, and its usually "high" difficulty level (in stark contrast to most other Square RPGs, being pretty mild by comparison). While many SaGa games possess many of the aforementioned attributes, the thing that probably makes SaGa Frontier stand out to me more than any other game in its series is the cool characters and settings.

SaGa Frontier let's you choose the role of seven main protagonists who each have their own destiny to fulfill, but they all do it in the same world. This isn't really anything new if you're a fan of this series. Each character actually has several events unique to them (though some will argue with the infamous "Lute" saga), different enemies, different agendas, and significantly different endings, and if you aren't playing with a master magician, a robot in search of his soul or a wandering minstrel, you're playing with a half-human/half-mystic woman, some super hero, a sexy woman out for revenge or a monster child trying to save its land.

It's pretty much a given that you'll find something of interest with the protagonists, but what makes things even better is the cockamamy world put together for this game. Unlike most of the SaGa games where you were placed in a medieval world of sorts, SaGa Frontier puts you in a "post modern futuristic fantasy world". In other words, the setting is so obtuse that you can't really make heads or tails out of the matter. You can go to urban and rural locations, temples, prison, this games equivalent of "Transylvania" (Facinaturu) to even cyberspace, areas that scream "FEUDAL JAPAN!" and...Manhattan (as in, a place slightly reminiscent to the "real" Manhattan)?

The game is so outlandish, yet I never really questioned its relevance because I was too absorbed into just how..."original" it is, and the graphics and sound make the game feel even better. If you're walking down the shady streets of Koorong, you'll get the tune that makes you feel part of the dark city life. You travel by plane to other regions of the world and you're rewarded with an adventurous and slightly mysterious tune. You wanna hang at the hot gambling circles in Baccarat? No problem, because you'll get some music to match the mood. The sound as a whole is excellent. The graphics are also pretty good...at least the somewhat photorealistic overworld graphics, which Squaresoft uses in several games like The PS Final Fantasy titles for example. The battle graphics are kinda sloppy, but not unacceptable for its time, and the game makes up for this by delivering some outstanding special effects, especially when you join your party of five in a spectacular combination attack.

Combination attacks? Are you serious!? Yes, but before I get to that, you must know the basics of the gameplay. SaGa Frontier is not like most RPGs out there. There are no "level-ups" or anything like that. It does well to distinguish itself from the pack of mostly mundane roleplaying games. Characters grow stronger based on their fighting style and race, and randomly gain stats at different areas depending on how you fought and how tough your foe was. Unlike many RPGs where you may have to sit in one region to level-grind, SaGa Frontier is not like that because monsters grow stronger as you do and you're always getting stronger with every fight.

Abilities are not gained by leveling, but by FIGHTING. Characters can randomly generate a "lightbulb"over their head, which means they've thought of a new ability, and demonstrate it on the enemy posthaste. You never know when you'll learn a new move, but due to the pace of the game and the large list of skills in which you can obtain, you'll have plenty of time to discover them all. The game lets you learn barehanded moves, sword moves, dual sword moves, gun moves, magic and more. The tougher the enemy, the greater the odds of learning a skill. Saving often in this game is certainly not a bad idea either because there are many instances where you'll just walk on a spot and unknowingly fight a boss. This is where a lot of the criticism for this game (and the series as a whole) comes from.

While combination attacks were somewhat present in Romancing SaGa 3 and other Square titles like Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross, SaGa Frontier is perhaps the very definition of "strength in numbers" and refined combo attacks in turn-based RPGs to a level so great that every SaGa title after SaGa Frontier could not live up to it. Combination attacks are so easy to do, so varied and so beautiful to behold that I get the urge to play this game as I type this. You just combine several special attacks and the game does the rest. There are THOUSANDS of possible combinations and the moves can start to get so exaggerated that you can't help but smile when you pull off a 20,000+ damage combo.

Some of the faults with this game is perhaps how vague some characters' quest are, and while the plot is interesting (if you can follow it), it leaves much to be desired. You also can't run from battles, so you have to travel carefully if you're the type who doesn't like to battle a lot. Some characters and objects have a "reaction" when you touch them, but nothing happens, and the game can seem pretty generic at times. This is because Square was running out of time and had to either publish the game as is or not publish it at all. You can see some of the things they never finished like areas and events through odd cheat devices like the Mini-Goldfinger or a GameShark. As mentioned before, the game is difficult. If you can't handle a relatively high level of challenge, you probably won't enjoy this game to its fullest. With those things being said, SaGa Frontier is quite different from most RPGs and the same things that make the game great to some are also the same things that ruin the game for others.

While SaGa Frontier isn't a perfect game, it's seven quests (technically 7 & 1/2), great visuals, excellent music and highly addictive battle engine is what got more of my game time than any RPG so far to date, though games like Breath of Fire 3 (strangely put 300 hours into this one getting Ryu to level 99) and Final Fantasy 10/X come pretty close. People may say games are about a number of things, but I think the most important part is to have fun.

- Written by Vyse the determined -