Romancing SaGa Preview

The Saga series of RPGs from Square Enix hasn’t been considered the crown jewel for most gamers.  Gamers are often confused and just don’t get what a Saga game is trying to offer.  But this hasn’t stopped the Saga franchise where over in Japan the series is still very successful.  At E3 2005 Square Enix was showing off the newest Saga game, Romancing Saga.  But as everything old is new again, Romancing Saga for PS2 is a remake of the original game that was released years ago. 

The actual game on display at E3 2005 was the Japanese version that was released last year.  The first item of interest for the game is the unique visual style of the game.  The characters all have an over the top, extravagant look to them.  This isn’t an RPG that has a look out of the medieval times.  This game has a style all its own with characters that have to be seen to be believed.  The game will include a feature called “sketch motion” that Square Enix claims will cause “Events and side quests to come alive….” 

The game includes eight playable characters that each has their own adventures and goals.  The game will even include a mentor in the game (a minstrel - which is the main figure in the picture for the title of the game) that will guide you through parts of the game and even help protect you during other parts of the game.  The minstrel character will even force you to make specific choices in the game that will have an impact on the plot of the game.  With the 8 characters and different options available this could become an RPG with a ton of playing time.

As I mentioned earlier, the version on display at E3 2005 was the Japanese version.  I’m sorry loyal GameZone readers but I don’t know how to read Japanese so I really wasn’t sure what was happening on the demo.  The game looks great so far but will that look be enough to get the attention of today’s gamers?  The Saga series has been around for a while now but it hasn’t had the biggest impact on the U.S. market.  Hopefully Romancing Saga for PS2 will have a different outcome. 

For All E3 2005 Previews