Square Enix invited us to take a look at a preview build of Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge Of The Seven. It was a much better game than I anticipated. I love the SaGa series but sometimes the older titles can be a bit of a butt to get through. Not because of the story or pacing, but because it can be directionless. One of my big problems with Minstrel Song was if you didn’t know where you were supposed to go, you had to fumble your way through the game.
The Premise
Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven has the same premise as the original Romancing SaGa 2. The Seven Heroes have essentially strong-armed the world to be under their control. Initially, the Seven Heroes were praised as the saviors of mankind, but the civilians of these towns were scared of their power and banished them. As the prophecies of old have foretold, the Seven Heroes have come back. However, these Heroes were tainted from the other dimension. They have come back to pay this world back for banishing them. It is now your family’s goal to take down these heroes and bring peace back to the land. You play as the emperor of Avalon as you keep passing the goal down to your kids. There are a bunch of time skips that place the focus on another kid down the bloodline that takes on one of the Seven Heroes.
Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven is a complete remake of the game in terms of design and mechanics. The mechanics of SaGa Beyond is in the battle system that shows the flow of time in combat. The focus of the game is not only on just taking down the Heroes but also on the Kingdom of Avalon. Glimmers make a comeback in this game. When you do an attack or skill that has a lightbulb next to it, your character has a chance to learn a new ability.
Playing The Game
When we started the game, the father of the main protagonist was killed. Gerard was now the emperor. You play as Gerard and his entourage. As the goblins learn about the death of the emperor, they stage an assault on the Kingdom. It is up to Gerard now to protect the kingdom and show the Kingdom of Avalon that he is ready to take on this new responsibility. The models look a lot more polished than I initially thought they looked like in the trailers. I also really liked having a large variety of classes and characters to look through. After grabbing a party of characters, I took to the kingdom and defeated all the goblins in combat. Gerard and Therese were the standouts in combat for me. Therese could do a giant ability that would hit all the characters on the enemy team. She was an archer and could also learn different volleys and elemental strikes with different arrows. You have to rely on RNG to learn new abilities but the more you use a skill with a lightbulb on it, the better the chance you have to learn a new ability for that weapon. Each character has a proficiency with two different weapons. The more you use a weapon the more skill points you earn from that battle for that weapon.
Once all the goblins are defeated in the Kingdom, Gerard is met with a choice, go straight to the goblin camp and destroy the goblin king for attempting the assault, or fight one of the Seven Heroes. We were recommended to attack the goblin camp as the Heroes were tough right out the gate. I found using the shortsword to be a bit annoying. Gerard can use a normal sword and a short sword. Some characters that had a weakness to shortswords were still not dealt a lot of damage. I am guessing the skills you learn might help later down the road but I decided to keep Gerard focused on normal swords to deal more damage in general. Getting a higher skill in a particular weapon allows you to have a higher shot at learning new abilities from using those skills.
You also had characters that learned magic like mages. They generally gained magic skill points in their main element if they used it in combat. Gerard had magic fireballs and light balls. With each attack, you also added points to the overdrive gauge. When that was filled you could use United Front. A massive string of attacks that allows all the characters next in line to help combo with whoever initiates the United Front.
I lost myself a bit to grinding in the dungeon and barely made it to the goblin king before we had to turn the preview build off. That is one regret I have for the preview is I did not get to slay the Goblin King. A regret I hope to rectify once the full game comes out!
Overall my time with Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven felt like a drop in the pond and instantly coming out. However, I felt very satisfied with my time with the game and I hope to be able to get more time in it once it comes out. Plus they talked about adding more elements to building up the Kingdom of Avalon and I am here for more city-building aspects.
Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven releases on October 24th, 2024 for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, and PC.
