Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven

Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven is actually a remake with so many new gameplay mechanics that it's basically its own experience and not a replacement for the original (which is available for purchase on most devices). However, because I feel these new mechanics are oddly balanced(such as BP costs and magic and techs utilizing the same resource) I do not think I enjoy it more than the original.

On things I don't really like is the way it looks for sure. SaGa games in 3d have never looked good besides the painterly style in MinSaGa but I feel this one is especially ugly. Despite it utilizing Kobayashi's designs, it looks bland, the facial structure of the characters looks very generic. The way the models are colored lacks depth. It makes sense the Trials of Mana remake people made this cause it looks more like that than any SaGa. Even the Seven Heroes utilizing Kobayashi's designs look weird and boring to me. I think it might just be impossible to capture her artwork in 3d but I expected something prettier.....

Another thing I dislike is the way you learn spells compared to the original. In the original, you leveled up your global spell element levels and that unlocked new spells at the magic research lab. Anyone could equip any spell as long as it was available at the lab, however in this version you spark spells after battle similar to SaGa Frontier and Emerald Beyond. Additionally you need to be a specific magic level to even equip certain spells. While this makes for more normal balancing, I found it annoying. I really enjoy the flexibility SaGa has with spell/tech learning so it was a change I didn't enjoy. Additionally, unlocking fusion magic by finding tomes is not something that appeals to me, I much preferred unlocking them with global levels in the original. Luckily, there's a tool you get by finding Mr. S a couple of times that tells you the locations of unopened chests in areas so I didn't miss any tomes. And on the bright side, fusion spells don't take a full generation to research, so you won't be locked out of them like you could in the original.

I don't like how tanky both your characters and the enemies are. One thing I really like about SaGa is how fast paced it is. It gets better as you unlock more techs and spells, but I feel everything is much tankier than the original. It's so time consuming sometimes. Speaking of which, I know it can't be helped but the load times piss me off so bad.

The balancing for BP usage makes me mad cause they increased how much BP everyone has usually, but it's no longer split between techs and magic. Both use the same resource. Furthermore, everything costs sooo much more BP than it did TP in the original. I also don't like how combos are told to you before you use them. I like watching my combos happen with RNG involved. And I don't like how there's always a higher class version of techs and spells it feels kind of a waste considering how simple SaGa usually is (ex. life water 2 and 3) when higher level versions of spells usually just happened with higher spell levels.

I didn't enjoy exploring dungeons much in this version because I really hate jumping around. Not too big of an issue but I don't like platforming in JRPGs. I didn't really like that the game tells you where to go to finish certain quests and the like. If it bothers you to have the game tell you where to go, you can rest assured knowing you can turn it off. It bothered me immensely though because exploration didn't feel like exploration. It felt like a chore. Even though it could easily be not given to the player by just having NPCs be interactable and not have them be passive.

I also just really didn't like the memories of the seven heroes bit cause it felt like a waste of time....sure it's nice to know about them but it wasn't super interesting and in my opinion doesn't warrant having a full cutscene section. Could've been done in NPC dialogue and gotten the idea across better, as they'd be more mysterious that way and encourage players to use their imagination to fill in the blanks, which is what every other SaGa excels at. Especially since the original imo provided a lot of info in the hidden town.

I did enjoy a few things though! The music for example was really nice, really good new versions of the original compositions. The voice acting is a nice touch cause voice acting always adds to the experience for me.

It's also very player friendly for newer SaGa fans, making a lot of information available to the player such as what can spark new techs, enemy weaknesses, telling you the combos available before you use them, and the newly added class skills. Additionally it's basically impossible to permanently miss any of the facilities if you're paying attention, which I find is very helpful for people just starting SaGa, a series where missing things is incredibly commonplace. (although much more of a problem to miss things in the original romasaga 2 than 3 or 1) If I wanted someone who hasn't played many JRPGs to get into SaGa, I can easily recommend this version.

Finally, I love how much more challenging some of Seven Heroes are in this version. Bokhohn and the first winnable Kzinssie fight are actually a little tricky. Dantarg was hard but about the same as the original from what I remember. The rest were easy. Additionally, the final boss was actually difficult, it felt satisfying to win! It felt perfectly balanced around the new changes (not being able to cheese it with hasten time for example) and required you to make use of all your tools so far. Genuinely one of the most fun final bosses I've done in a while.

All in all, pretty good game but not a great remake for people who really really love the obtuse-ness of the original. Doesn't replace the original at all for me. I think it trades too many typical SaGa mechanics for the sake of being more approachable. Even if some QoL changes are definitely for the better. But I'm glad I played it anyways, I really ended up enjoying it more near endgame cause it got challenging. I hope it gets more people into SaGa and to try out the other games.