Romancing SaGa Minstrel Song -Remastered- Review

The Serie Romancing SaGa, it is a curious case. It is an unconventional RPG series in which they do not have a linear story, or the leading role is not located in a single character. Since a time ago, Square Enix has gradually brought us several games from the franchise. First Romancing SaGa 2 in 2017 and Romancing SaGa 3 in 2019, and many of us wonder, what about the first game?

In May of this year, Square announced Romancing SaGa Minstrel Song -Remastered- the remake of the first game that was released for PS2, now for current consoles. It is the recreation of the first game, when the company was Squaresoft. It is therefore the last game of the SaGa project that the company is relaunching on the market.

One world 8 destinations

The Minstrel Song story takes us to the world called Mardias. According to local lore, about a thousand years ago, three evil brother gods (Saruin, Death, and his sister Schirach) plunged Mardias into chaos. With the help of the Fatestone, until the god Elore defeated them and sealed them. And since there can be no story without an antagonist, there is a threat that they will create havoc again.

As in previous SaGa installments, Minstrel Song dispenses with the chosen hero and instead includes eight playable characters with their own stories and motivations. Each one starts in a different place, so each start will not be the same and having many forks depending on what we do, our decisions will affect the rest of the adventure. The election system is so unique that we can choose a powerful character for the first hours of the game.

We will meet a huge number of characters, including other heroes that we have not chosen and many of whom can join our group on the adventure. Likewise, we can do without them whenever we want.

The game allows you to play with everyone to get to know the story better, and all the points of view, although not all the plots are equally developed. However, since there is no single direction, there will be things that can be lost along the way, and we will have a vague idea of ​​what happens. It is not the best way to tell a story, since many times we will be lost without knowing what to do.

Many options

Playable, the game is going to make a great focus on exploration and its battle system. It can be overwhelming with so many options that it is made up of, but fans of the franchise will know what they are up against. Basically, the game is made up of side quests and these are given to us by people we talk to in towns. Once accepted, we can go immediately or leave it for later at the risk of losing the opportunity to do it if the story goes too far. The problem is that sometimes we are offered vague information on how to do it, while others require specific skills. In fact, the weight affects the gameplay, the heavier our equipment, the slower a character will react in a fight.

The fights take place in dungeons and in open fields where we will see the enemies wandering around, being able to avoid or not the encounters. The combat system is like any other turn-based RPG, that is, we choose the action commands in a menu for each member of the group. So far so good, but there are certain rules that we must take into account, such as the type of weapon to use, the types of spells and abilities. All these actions have a number of battle points, they will be consumed as we take sides in battle and if they run out we will not be able to perform certain actions.

Also, we will have life points (LP), which are consumed after a party member has fallen in battle. Not to be confused with normal hit points, which regenerate after winning a battle, if a character’s LP drops to zero, they cannot be revived and will literally disappear from your party. This can be extremely annoying, because the only way to revive LP is to run to the nearest inn, which is usually quite far away.

It does not have a leveling system or skill trees, however, our statistics are improved by making use of them, that is. The Glimmer and Combo mechanics are back where we can use an ability and have a chance to receive a new and better derived ability. Also, our defenses and strength are enhanced by getting better equipment.

Also don’t think that you are completely free to do what you want in battle, because each option is covered with quite a few rules. For example, a character who uses fire-based spells cannot use ice-based spells. And you can’t use the same weapon in battle repeatedly, since weapons have a set number of durability points, which if fully depleted will render the weapon useless. And unless you activate certain commands before the battle, you won’t be able to use them.

An unusual JRPG

The game has several options that make it unique in its own way. For example, the inns not only offer rest, for a reasonable price they offer several categories of service that restore several of our stats, the more expensive the better.

Another mechanic is Proficiency: a set of passive techniques that grant abilities like finding treasure or picking locks. They are very important, since with them we can even solve missions.

There is a system of Classes in which you can train by battling or visiting the Mentors who, for a number of gems, can level up a class. They also allow you to change classes and have variations of the same class. Finally, there are the martial artists that allow us to change our style in martial arts combat for those who do not use weapons.

The trading system is also unique, there are three vendors who control trade in the world of Mardias, doing business with one or the other raises the trade level and this affects what they can sell to us. Also, visiting a blacksmith allows us to modify our weapons and armor, in addition to changing their attributes and attack modes. To modify we can take materials or those that the blacksmith has in stock. The more we use a weapon, the more skilled we will be with it.

remastered version

Obviously, the game had to have certain additions that make the game worth acquiring. Starting with graphical improvements, such as screen adjustments to 16:9 and texture smoothing. Other tweaks include improvements to menus, autosave, movement speed, etc.

A gallery was included where we can enjoy great illustrations by Tomomi Kobayashi, a music player to listen to a total of 102 songs. The player is shown as if it were an application with buttons for Play, Pause, Next and Previous Song, among other options.

Another remaster with an old flavor

Although graphical improvements were implemented as I mentioned before, the truth is that the game has aged poorly. In fact, the character models looked strange for their time and here they retain that boxy look. It could well have made an adjustment in the polygons as in Final fantasy XII The Zodiac Age. Fortunately, load times, texture smoothing, and a general facelift have been improved.

However, its sound section is another story, since it has a better quality of music. From the hand of the composer Kenji Ito, it has different themes from different genres, highlighting the intro song, “Menutte”, which is quite evocative. Another of my favorites is Pirate!, for its mysticism and those background voices. The voices come in English and Japanese, with the use of different accents, although it comes with texts in English, a shame.

Verdict

Romancing SaGa Minstrel Song -Remastered- is a game focused for fans of the SaGa series. Although it is still a good option for JRPG lovers. It is another opportunity to get to know an atypical rop game in almost all its sections. Starting with the open story that lets us choose one of eight heroes with their origins. The battle system is complex, but once you get used to it it’s a great game. As a remaster, it is somewhat weak, starting with the character models that remained on PS2, it was not translated into Spanish and certain of its mechanics were not improved.

Note: This review was made on PS5 and the code was provided thanks to Square Enix.