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The SaGa titles are part of a series that started life as Final Fantasy Legend, named to capitalise on Square’s blossoming juggernaut. Despite being separate creative endeavours, the two franchises have grown up together. While never achieving the superstar status of its sibling, SaGa has carved its own niche over the years. The franchise has healthy representation on Nintendo Switch, with the original Game Boy releases sitting alongside 2019's Scarlet Grace: Ambitions.
Mechanically similar to Scarlet Grace, Emerald Beyond is a comfortable experience for series veterans. It also sees series creator Akitoshi Kawazu return to writing and directing duties, which should delight fans.
Given agency over your destiny from the start, you are presented a choice between five protagonists. Each has their own origin, unique narrative, and core party members.
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After an initial tutorial chapter, they all find themselves in The Junction, a nexus between several themed worlds. No matter who you choose, this hub and its connecting environments will be the same, but story and character interactions are unique to the chosen hero. You can also tackle the worlds in any order, making multiple playthroughs feel fresh. Each plot and party composition offers interesting spins on a central story.
Some stories benefit from more coherent storytelling and better dialogue than others, however. Siugnas is a colourfully dressed but dour vampire lord whose tale starts off confusing and doesn't get much more accessible. Conversely, Bonnie and Formina’s is a simple tale of two cop buddies chasing a criminal into The Junction alongside a team of monster-summoning cats. Your mileage with the writing will depend on how much you engage with these traditional sci-fi fantasy tropes.
The general flow of the game doesn't really change across adventures, there’s a consistent loop of story progression and combat encounters. The odd puzzle and story-shifting player choice shake things up a bit.
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As you travel the worlds of The Junction, you will navigate semi-interactive overworld maps. The areas themselves are largely superficial, crisp but lifeless dioramas with distinct art styles. Moving across the map is rudimentary, with the occasional navigation quirk and brief text box to explain landmarks.
Each world has its semi-self-contained plot, tangentially linked to the machinations of a shadowy group of antagonists. In one, you’ll be tracking down experimental quantum felines, another sees you take sides in a religious turf war. Along the way you'll pick up new additions to your retinue from each dimension and further the overarching plot.
Unique and complex battle systems are usually where the SaGa franchise shines, and Emerald Beyond refines the satisfying turn order from previous titles. Reminiscent of Final Fantasy X’s queue system, party members and enemies are distributed across a timeline. Your characters utilise a formation that you can tweak before battle. Each action shifts allies' position on the timeline, putting them behind or ahead of an opposing attack. Actions that meet or overlap on the timeline will trigger a combo, which in turn fills an overdrive meter. Overdrive is often key in turning the tide of battle as it will chain a free combo to the one just executed, for massive potential damage. Additionally, characters can counter or defend adjacent allies, depending on their timeline position. You can always view the enemy actions prior to taking your turn, removing the frustration of unpredictability.
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Actions consume battle points (BP) that increase on each turn, so smart fights will see you chipping away at the enemy line, waiting to unleash a full squad of powerful attacks in a row. Organising a strategy for each turn is consistently engaging, and encounters are varied enough that your party tactics will frequently change. Some attacks need to be channelled across turns, status effects can change the order of action, and smart use of BP is paramount.
A full-team combo feels great to pull off (it’s also given a silly-sounding portmanteau combining the names of each attack), but distributing two or three combos across the timeline is an equally viable strategy. Characters left lagging apart from the group get an extra powerful salvo of attacks to compensate for being alone.
If all this sounds a bit complex, the stop-start nature of battles affords you the time to take stock and plan the next combination of abilities. You will find yourself delving into the hint glossary in the opening hours, but soon enough everything clicks.
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It’s unfortunate that Emerald Beyond only really excels in those combat encounters. The Junction and its connecting worlds are visually diverse but empty. Moving the plot forward consists of visiting each place, completing a series of combat encounters linked by static dialogue sequences, and working towards a resolution that usually nets you an extra party member and some upgrade materials. Rinse, repeat, move on. The TRON-like Quissatium group connects up the plot, but even they don’t have much of an impact on the story until the later stages.
Progression is no more complex than navigating menus and spending materials on upgrades. Cyclopic franchise mascot Mr. S offers trials and tutelage that reward specific combat milestones and boost core party abilities. This gets a bit interesting when you can teach party members to become tutors, adding versatility to party growth.
The lack of a Japanese audio track stings. Localisation is fine, but some of the voice acting can be jarring. Tsunanori and Ameya are particularly egregious examples of grating fantasy RPG archetypes. Diva Number 5’s mournful Scottish tones are by far the strongest, but it’s tough to shake the feeling that an original language track would improve the material.
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Despite some of the best SaGa adventures being built for home consoles, Emerald Beyond feels like an experience created for handheld devices. The gaps in presentation are less glaring when undocked, and there's a pick-up-and-play rhythm to its disparate storylines and quick battles. The combat itself looks flashy and runs smoothly, which is good because the battlefield is where you’ll be spending most of your time in The Junction.
Audio and presentation gripes aside, the many biomes of The Junction and the stories of our eclectic band of heroes offer a freedom of choice missing from most linear JRPGs. The writing, replete with callbacks to previous titles, will be embraced by fans of the series. For newcomers, as convoluted as the plotting can be, and as bland the characterisation of its protagonists, there is enough content here that something will pull you into SaGa's 30-year legacy.
Conclusion
SaGa Emerald Beyond has a deep and satisfying combat system that gets its hooks into you from the jump. There's a lot of narrative content across its five adventures, as well as a diverse collection of characters, but very little that truly grips the attention.
Comments 32
That’s a shame about no JP audio for those getting this, but I feel like few things sell me on a JRPG better than “excellent combat.” Looking forward to importing this.
I really wanted Japanese audio. That really sucks, that was the one thing I was scared of.
Other than that it seems amazing, really eager to learn the ins and outs of the combat.
So Bonnie is supposed to be a cop chasing a criminal, yet judging by the screenshots she's dressed more like she's about enter a bikini fitness contest. Is there some in-story explanation for her attire, or is it just your typical JRPG fanservice?
@TotalHenshin SaGa Scarlet Grace has one of the best combat system I've ever played in a JRPG, if not the best one. If Emerald Beyond uses the same system, yes, it's really an excellent combat system.
I would encourage anyone interested to play the demo. I really liked the story and art and general concept, but the combat really didn't do it for me personally; I was surprised to see the positive reaction in this review so it may be a love it or hate it type of thing.
@Athropos @TotalHenshin I really like the combat system in some Saga games but not in this one so I guess it definitely depends on what you like.
@Polvasti Maybe that's how all cops dress on her world. At least one of the characters appears to transform into ridiculous cosplay whenever she starts a battle, so it's hard to know.
@Polvasti She is on the clock when her story starts. Is she undercover? Where does she keep her service weapon? Is the stetson made of kevlar? These things are never explained.
@Polvasti Yeah, the only design I didn't like of the 6, mainly because of that reason.
The motif of a cowgirl cop could have gotten amazing designs.
I’m still holding out hope for a physical release with English on the cartridge.
While options are always nice I neither would use the JP audio track nor do I think the English voices are bad at all. Emerald Beyond has bigger problems than that.
TIL: cops must wear Mary Whitehouse-approved clothing at all times.
Exactly the impression I got from the trailers so not a priority for me and even less so considering the Japanese audio is missing, but eventually I could give it a try - definitely would give the demo a try at least.
Thanks for the review!
@JohnnyMind I come from the future. If you don't buy this game right away humanity is doomed.
Sure it's mostly thanks to the nukes, but still.
What I'm most confused by is the listed developer: Square-Enix. Did Square actually make something in-house that's not Final Fantasy or Kingdom Hearts for once?!
I have been on the fence about this one. I haven’t really played any saga games. At least to completion. But after reading this review and the fact there is no Japanese voice option which is bizarre coming from square, made it definite that I am not going to get this game. But I got too much to play for now anyway. Trying to get my backlog down. Lol
Timeline combat aka CTB= conditional turned based. (combat) Game sounds a lot better than was let on honestly. I'm apathetic to having Japanese audio, but to the merit of the review the combat sounds delightful. Final Fantasy X is one of my favorite games of all time, so that comparison has my attention. Game looks like a lot of fun, will definitely think about it.
No dual audio = no buy.
@Riku3456 «But after reading this review and the fact there is no Japanese voice option which is bizarre coming from square...»
Well, not really. Kingdom Hearts games still don't have dual audio option. That's why I haven't tried that Kingdom Hearts rhythm game on Switch.
No Japanese audio just means I’m buying the Japanese version.
@BodkinDQ Always hated how they didn't stick with the FFX queue system for at least a few games...but I also loved XII's combat...but then I hated XIII's combat. Sunrise, sunset...
Why no Japanese audio…? SE usually adds them to anything that isn’t KH. Thought we moved past the dark dub only days when Atlus stopped doing that crap.
@kendomustdie Same! I love the combat system of FFX and was always disappointed that it immediately got ditched, especially after having went over so well...
Interested in checking this out due to the praise of the combat system. Not to mention, the devs. here actually bothered to optimize their game. Unlike the studio behind Eiyuden.
@Arawn93 Well, KONAMI still don't know about «dual audio» thing. It annoys me that it's still not possible to play MGR games with Eng subs and JP voice-overs. Akio Ôtsuka and his performance as Snakes are awesome!
... Better luck with SaGa Sapphire...?
@Zeebor15 The SaGa series is actually one of Square-Enix's longer running series. It was originally brought over to the West as "Final Fantasy Legend" on the Game Boy and then the US didn't get another release until the PlayStation. It never really did super well in the West due to its obscurity so it's no wonder a lot of people are just now hearing about it.
@greatsabrecat No, I know what Saga is, but I also know how Square-Enix is set up. Ever since the PS3 they don't do practically anything in house anymore. It was a shock to the Japanese when they announced they were doing DQ12 internally, but otherwise the only things actually DEVELOPED BY Square-Enix programers and modelers is Final Fantast and Kingsom Hearts. Everything else is just producers and sometimes artists on Square's end. They're essentially the world's most prolific game contractor.
@Vyacheslav333 true. I forgot about that. But I am weird in that I still play the kingdom hearts games even though I can’t get the dual option in them. Kingdom hearts and resident evil are the only games I can tolerate in English even though a few resident evil games have the dual audio option. I am weird in that regard although I like Japanese voices the best. Back to your point, I should have said that lots of square games had dual audio. Still weird for them to not do it but considering what square is going through with games right now, I guess it’s not that surprising lol
@Riku3456 «Still weird for them to not do it but considering what square is going through with games right now, I guess it’s not that surprising lol»
Yeah. Also, it's weird how It's a Wonderful World Final Remix haven't received dual audio option, while It's a True Wonderful World got dual audio option, lol.
@Vyacheslav333 oh yeah lol! I forgot about that. It is weird. So glad the sequel had dual audio. But I heard the first game had an option for Japanese voices on the smart phone/mobile port in the English store. Hmm…
@Riku3456 Hmm... Well, I've read on the Wiki Fandom that the sequel was the first game to receive dual audio option, so... I dunno.
Looks great, though I need to give Scarlet Grace another go first. Though I loved and became used to the originals (Final Fantasy Legend), I'm not very good at the newer games.
I think I just need to find the time to sit down and really play Scarlet Grace; I'll eventually get the hang of it.
About 8h in and wow this game looks as bad as it feels good to play! The presentation is reaaally bad with cutscenes looking like a cheap visual novel. Dialogues are meh, voices are so bad they're good! BUT... The combat system is almost as good and deep than SMT V's press turn system (if not as good), the soundtrack has some amazing songs (especially in combat, where honestly you'll spend most of your time), characters, as the voices, are so bad they're good and lovable! Dropped Metaphor for that game, that must tell you something about how good this game can get if you get hooked. I would easily recommend this game to anyone who love J-RPG's that don't hold your hand, have deep combat system where mashing buttons isn't enough, who love some challenge and who don't pay too much attention to the presentation.
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