The 7th Saga

The 7th Saga, known as Elnard in Japan, is a wonderfully simple game. There is not much to say to describe this game other than it's very pleasant!!! Its simplicity is its biggest charm.

First of all, getting the localization changes out of the way. It is definitely not properly balanced in english AT ALL! I picked the alien so I had the privilege of not requiring to buy weapons but if you have a spellcaster as your main character, it's gonna be rough until you get your partner character. The game in japanese is I assume balanced around letting your team setup be anyone, but this version requires an absurd amount of grinding to do that for certain characters. Even with a good team composition I had to grind a couple of times! However, don't let the guides fool you into thinking you need to grind *that* much. I finished the game 6 levels below the recommended level, it's doable if you properly strategize with buffs and utilize a good team composition. Even though I needed to grind so much, I often found the increased difficulty to be fun and rewarding when I ran it at low levels. That being said, the thing where other characters keep the original Elnard bonus makes duels impossibly hard as you reach higher levels. I recommend you go with the patched original difficulty if you plan to play this game.

As for the building blocks of the game itself, it encourages the use of buffs and defend constantly which makes it much more enjoyable than just spamming attack. The music is punchy and so are the animations! Grinding is pleasant even.

The lack of plot is not a big issue because as a game where you choose the characters you play as it's more of something you use your imagination with to fill in the blanks. The characters do have personalities though, very subtle but it can be seen in their dialogue when they don't challenge you to a fight or offer to join you. However, the twists at the end were actually quite enjoyable!!

Exploration is quite simple, there is a radar at the top left of the screen in all dungeons and the overworld, which tells you where items or runes are. The way the orb guides you around the map is incredibly rewarding, as the map is so big you use the orb to guide you to different areas. You feel incredibly happy when you happen to come across something, such as the town you're looking for or a dungeon. The guiding of the game is seamless and flows extremely well.

Overall it's a nice and simple JRPG experience that flows really well. I recommend the patched original difficulty to avoid the grind sessions and be able to run whatever team you want.