History on this game:
Considering this is a Remake of the old school Romancing Saga a role-playing video game originally developed and published by Square Co. Initially made available in January 1992 for the Super Famicom, the game was later ported to the WonderSwan Color handheld system in December 2002, with both releases being exclusive to Japanese players. In April 2005, an enhanced remake of the title for the PlayStation 2 called Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song( Romanshingu Sa Ga -Minsutoreru Songu-?) was released in April 2005 in Japan, and in English for the first time in North America the following October simply under the title Romancing SaGa.
Gameplay Differences/New Stuff added/altered:
Main Difference between the oldschool Snes and the PS2 game is the eight original characters now assume the role of 38 different classes themselves, which give access to differing statistics and special abilities. In addition, the current weapons held by a character now determine which of their randomly increased stats will have a greater chance of increasing after battle. Combat has been expanded to include a new "Spell Sythesis" system, where specific magics can be fused together to create a modified version of a spell with greater power, or even create a new spell altogether. Additional story scenarios and areas have been added for the remake, including a new script and expanded narrative with new content.
Overall/Conclusion:
The SaGa series has always been known to be overly difficult and extremely non-linear. It's no big surprise that they were never localized for release in America due to these reasons. SaGa Frontier (another SaGa game)has a lot of similar gameplay to this game and its predecessors and the fact that it never became overly popular seems to prove this. However, the SaGa series was second only to Final Fantasy in Japan that being said this game requires alot of would lack appeal to a casual role-playing gamer, but would "please those gamers who want a very long game" and favored exploration and freedom over a tightly-defined story to end my opinion on this game i would recommend this game to only those who have a true appreciation for Rpg's and the patience to play a game such as this.
