When SaGa Frontier is constrained, it’s at its weakest. But mastering the various mechanics in battle is fun when you can tinker and craft characters to become powerhouses, particularly with the vast array of potential builds at your disposal. Not that there is a lot of balance in SaGa Frontier, as bosses will routinely catch you unprepared and demolish you. With the right knowledge, you can make party combinations that laugh in the face of the game’s attempt at balance. Which is why learning how it functions is exhilarating. Human, robot, and monster party members all feature different mechanics to get used to. Skills, to answer my earlier anecdote, are earned randomly mid-battle when facing tougher enemies and fulfilling unexplained conditions. There is no traditional experience or level up system, as stats and abilities are improved by repeatedly performing certain actions. Combat is turn-based, with a variety of attacks and spells to choose from. Nowhere is that better demonstrated than in the battle system. There is a story section in the menu that summarizes what is going on but following it too closely will leave you unprepared for new areas because it ignores the element that makes SaGa Frontier Remastered shine - exploration. Often, you’ll be wondering what exactly you have to do next. Dialogue is short and clipped all around, with few interactions between characters. While I found most of the stories interesting, they are told with a surprising amount of brevity that frequently left me wanting more. Some characters’ stories are linear, others more open in design, but each has the freedom to explore the entire world after a short introduction, allowing you to uncover new party members, quests, and occasionally new endings. T260 is a robot that must recover its memory and complete its secret mission. Blue is a young mage who searches for magic while preparing for a future fight against his twin, the winner of whom will receive sacred magic. Emilia is a former model who was wrongfully imprisoned for the murder of her fiancé and is now searching for the real culprit. The protagonists are a diverse bunch, each with wildly different stories to follow.

Saga frontier remastered review