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Tag: role-playing

  • ‘Adventure to Fate Lost Island’ Review – Get Lost For Hours In This Great RPG – TouchArcade

    ‘Adventure to Fate Lost Island’ Review – Get Lost For Hours In This Great RPG – TouchArcade

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    Ten years. Ten danged years. That’s how long it has been, minus a couple of months, since I reviewed the very first Adventure to Fate game, Quest to the Core. It was a game with a humble scope, but what it did it did well. While not without its share of rough edges, it was a compelling little turn-based RPG. When the time came for a full-on follow-up, Adventure to Fate: Quest to the Future cleaned up most of the issues I had with the original game. It’s been around eight years since that game came out, and while the series hasn’t been in the deep freeze the entire time (Adventure to Fate: Future Arena came out a few years back), we’re finally seeing another full-blown follow-up in the form of Adventure to Fate Lost Island ($4.99).

    So what has changed? You know, not as much as you might think. We’ve got a whole new quest here, of course. Lots of new enemies to battle, lots of places to explore, lots of new loot to find, and plenty of interesting combinations of races, classes, and abilities to tinker around with. A big box of new toys, and new reasons to play with those toys. For many of us, that’s more than enough. Particularly given we don’t really see many games of this nature anymore. A single, reasonable, upfront price. No IAP. No ads. Pay your five bucks, enjoy your game. Ten years ago that was only a little uncommon. Today it feels as rare as hen’s teeth, especially for a mobile-exclusive release.

    The story of the game, such as it is, is that you’ve crashed on some kind of weird island. You need to find four goobers to get off the island, and each of those goobers is located in a different location. You can’t just Uber over to them, either. Each of them is waiting at the end of a veritable dungeon’s worth of exploration and battling, and if that isn’t enough, they’re also protected by a bunch of dorks who won’t hand them over without a fight. Luckily, fighting is the one thing you’re really good at. Well, I hope you are, anyway. You’re going to be doing a lot of it.

    Like in previous games, the exploration part of Adventure to Fate Lost Island is relatively trivial. There are secrets to find and objects to interact with, but the path to your goal is generally linear and merely requires you to move from bite-sized screen to bite-sized screen until you reach it. It’s not boring or anything, but you won’t need to worry about mapping things out or anything like that. Finding treasure is always a good time, and running into NPCs and objects like Weapon Forges keep things from getting too monotonous. Still, the meat of this game lies elsewhere and I think it’s well aware of that.

    Battles! Turn-based battles! That’s what Adventure to Fate has always been about at its core, and that’s where all the magic happens. Broadly speaking, the appealing aspects of this series and this game come from three components. You’ll need to learn the ropes of all of them if you want to have a smoother ride through the game, though you can to an extent brute force your way through a good chunk of the game by grinding if you’re pig-headed about it. I strongly recommend not being pig-headed. The first Dragon Quest game is right over there if you’re looking for that kind of battle system. There are a lot of random encounters in this game, but there are also a lot of fixed ones and it’s those that will give you serious trouble if you try to power through. Anyway, those three bits you need to manage.

    First, your character build. Each installment of the series has given the player different kinds of options to build their character with. Lost Island essentially gives you the kitchen sink experience. You get ten races, twelve classes, six crafting specialties, a couple dozen pets, plenty of gear slots and tons of cool gear to fill them with, and a massive number of skills that you’ll earn as you gain levels. It goes without saying when you have this many variables at play, balance goes out the window to an extent. But finding those broken builds is a big part of the fun, and there’s always something new to challenge yourself with if you’re seeking more thrills. You have lots of character slots you can make use of, and I recommend experimenting to see which ones fit your needs best.

    Next, preparation. This has been a major part of Adventure to Fate right from the start, and it’s no less vital here. You can only use items and skills that you have equipped, and you’re generally tightly limited as to how many of each you can have available to you in combat. Items are mainly consumable, too. If you forget to refill your pockets after using what was in them before your next fight, you can easily get caught out. Bringing the right mix of skills to take on a tough battle can make a seemingly impossible situation more than manageable. You’ll also want to keep on eye on what gear you have equipped. Pure defense and attack might be the order of the day in most fights, but you’ll also want to take advantage of various special effects and resistances for certain encounters. You’ll also want to keep on top of your shopping, and of course manage your health and ability points as you make your way through each area.

    Finally, execution. The battles in Adventure to Fate are turn-based affairs, with you and your pet on one side and up to three enemies on the other. You’ll have a limited amount of stamina points you can make use of on each turn to take actions with, and so will your pet. You take your turn, then the enemies take theirs. Continue until either they’re all dead or you are. And that does mean your character. Your pet can’t keep the fight going on its own. Do not let your health drop to zero or you’ll fall unconscious and wake up back at the start of the area. In a straight blow for blow fight, you will generally be at a disadvantage. You have to make a plan, use your skills as best as you can, and gain the upper hand with your strategy. Basic battles don’t drag on too long, but you’ll have to watch your ability points carefully when things go on longer.

    Frankly, this game is incredibly deep in these respects. I’m probably making it sound like it’s complicated, but the reality is that it’s pretty easy to get started in this game. It doesn’t give you too many options at the start, allowing you to get used to the proverbial water before it starts gradually turning up the heat. The UI makes a lot of sense and is perfectly suited to mobile, too. Want something you can play one-handed in portrait mode? This game has you more than covered. Since it’s all about besting each battle, one by one, it’s easy to dip in and out of. Those linear dungeon designs mean that even if you have to take a long break between sessions, you won’t be lost. And the blessed game auto-saves constantly, so if you need to pop out at a moment’s notice you won’t lose much, if anything at all.

    Presentation-wise, it’s all quite familiar. The Oryx sprites make a return, but they’re not only quite scarce these days but actually pretty nostalgic. The UI does its job and give you all the information you need while making it very easy to do what you want to do. The game also sports full VoiceOver support so that visually-impaired players can have just as much fun as everyone else. No, it’s not going to challenge Final Fantasy XVI in terms of its production values. But it gets across what it needs to, and there’s certainly a charm to its no-nonsense approach to the RPG genre.

    If you’re an RPG fan who likes a good battle system or character customization systems, you’ll find a wealth of enjoyment in Adventure to Fate Lost Island. If you’re looking for an intricate story, hot graphics, or a fancy world to explore, this might not be your cup of tea. You could certainly levy the accusation at Lost Island that it perhaps doesn’t push its design in new directions enough when compared to its predecessor, but what might have felt like going to the well one too many times in 2018 instead comes across as rather refreshing in 2024. Easily worth the asking price, and a game that will do a nice job of filling the RPG lover’s time for hours upon end.

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    Shaun Musgrave

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  • NASA Really Made Its Own Tabletop RPG for You to Play

    NASA Really Made Its Own Tabletop RPG for You to Play

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    NASA still has plenty of cool projects afoot in the real world—did you hear about that asteroid-redirecting test? Or those space-friendly cameras?—but it’s also trying to stir imaginations in fantastically creative ways, too. Enter The Lost Universe, the agency’s first-ever tabletop roleplaying game.

    What Will VR Solve, Anyway?

    Its first what now? Yes, a TTRPG crafted at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, with a gameplay instructional booklet currently available for free download here (plus a Tolkien-esque map); it’s for 4-7 level 7-10 characters, and is touted as being compatible which whichever game system you prefer for gathering parties and venturing forth. Here’s the pitch: “A dark mystery has settled over the city of Aldastron on the rogue planet of Exlaris. Researchers dedicated to studying the cosmos have disappeared, and the Hubble Space Telescope has vanished from Earth’s timeline. Only an ambitious crew of adventurers can uncover what was lost. Are you up to the challenge?”

    There’s an educational element lurking here—“take on a classic villain (while also using and learning science skills!) as you overcome challenges and embark on an exciting quest to unlock more knowledge about our universe”—which feels both obvious as well as something that cleverly exploits the Venn diagram encompassing “TTRPG fans” and “science lovers.” Which is to say, a lot of folks!

    NASA shared a video for added excitement, which you can see below. Will you be blasting off to The Lost Universe?

    Welcome to The Lost Universe: NASA’s First Tabletop Role-playing Game

    Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

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    Cheryl Eddy

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  • ‘Bright Reappear’ Review – A Bright Spin on the Match-3 RPG – TouchArcade

    ‘Bright Reappear’ Review – A Bright Spin on the Match-3 RPG – TouchArcade

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    The first game developer who decided to stick a match-3 game and an RPG in a blender sure came up with a tasty juice. Mobile and handheld gamers in particular have enjoyed that concoction for well over a decade at this point, and although we don’t see quite as many of them as we did in their heyday, there’s a certain appeal to them that sees many of us at least trying out anything new that pops up. That said, it’s rare for one to really stand out these days. Like Jared, I initially thought Bright Reappear ($1.99) was just another paint-by-numbers entry into the genre. I was wrong.

    I don’t think we’re alone in that, though. The screenshots look like any other game of this sort. The description’s English is a bit spotty. The price is quite low. Even when you start playing, it’s not immediately obvious that there’s anything especially cool about it. I’ll be direct here and say the game is absolutely terrible at teaching the player how to play. You just go in and start playing it like it’s a normal duck, matching swords and coins and watching the enemy health go down. But there are mysterious elements in the UI, and unless someone tells you what everything is about you might well play several stages without knowing even about the game’s main hook.

    You see, Bright Reappear has one especially compelling mechanic. One that actually gives the genre a good hard shake. You’ll see some little dots in the window with your character and their foe. These are action points. You can make one match per dot on each turn. By default you’ll usually have one dot, so you make one match. But depending on your chosen character and other circumstances, you might have more. Tap the pieces you want to move corresponding to how many dots you have, then move them all with one mighty swipe. They have to move in the same direction, but other than that you can do whatever you like. Building up a bunch of action points and then letting it rain on the enemy is very satisfying. If you’re careful, you can also use these multiple matches to set up big combos. They’re also useful for managing the status ailments that enemies toss at your tiles.

    They toss a lot of them, too. There are tons of ways they can mess with your field of tiles, and even defeating an enemy won’t remove the mess they’ve made. You’ll either have to clear them yourself or finish off the boss of the stage. It is really easy for things to get way out of hand, so making careful use of your action points is a must. Matching multiples of pieces works like most other games of this sort, creating pieces that will clear out rows or columns, explode the immediate area around them, or even take out every matching piece on the board. You’ll want to save as many of the big ones as you can for the boss of each level.

    The tiles come in four types. The attack tiles look like your chosen character’s weapon and deal damage when you make a match. Green potion tiles restore some of your health when you match them. Coin tiles give you coins, naturally. I’ll explain about those soon, but they work like you would expect. Finally, there are books. Matching them will give you experience points, filling a little bar that sits under your health bar. When it tops off, your health will be refilled and your stats will go up. A well-timed level-up can be the key to getting past some bosses that are giving you trouble, so even managing your experience points gain is part of the strategy.

    Leveling up isn’t the only way to improve your character, though. I suppose this is as good a time as any to go into the more RPG-focused bits of the game. First up, you can choose from six different heroes, though only four are initially available. This of course changes your appearance and your starting stats, but the main thing this decision affects is your suite of special moves and abilities. For example, the Thief can hide in the shadows so long as he doesn’t attack, allowing you to rack up matches of the other three tiles practically unscathed. He is absolutely broken. The Archer gets an extra action point every second turn, which is also quite useful. Don’t stress too much about it, you can change whenever and start leveling up a new class if you don’t like your current one, and then switch back later if you prefer.

    When you level up you’ll earn points that can be assigned to your three stats. By default the game will do this automatically, but you can override it and do it yourself if you like. I advise doing so. Beyond your stats, you can also equip gear. You’ll find that gear when enemies drop it, but there’s also a shop back at your base that will sell a selection of goodies if you have the gold. There is also a blacksmith there who will upgrade your existing gear if you have the gems to fuse to them and the necessary coins. This can fail, but I’m not sure if it’s a bug or a feature. That is not the only part of the game I can say that for, but I suppose more on that later. Anyway, better gear helps. And you’re going to need it.

    Bright Reappear doesn’t have a difficulty curve so much as a difficulty mountain range. A very craggy one, at that. Expect to hit certain bosses that can feel almost impossible, depending on your character and build. The levels of the game are broken up into worlds, with five levels per. The final boss of each world is usually a real nasty piece of work. Thieves keep winning, is all I will say. Otherwise I recommend redistributing your stats and trying to get a level up at the right moment. Tenacity will eventually see you through, even if only by pure luck, but it can take a really long time with some of them. I think it was the fourth world where I was just about ready to throw my device out the window. Well, the first time. It gets a lot worse from there.

    Anyway, it’s a neat game. Very fun. The action point gimmick is fantastic, and I find myself trying to come up with really wild chains that simply wouldn’t be possible in other games. It’s hard as an old boot, but that’s fine. I’m in no hurry. The dialogue is goofy because of some iffy localization, but it’s not like other games in the genre don’t suffer from a similar issue. The game looks alright. It could use more music, but I suppose there’s only so much you’re going to commission or compose when most people are going to have the mute switch on. The biggest problem in Bright Reappear, in my opinion, comes from the bugs.

    There are times where elements of the UI won’t disappear when they are supposed to. Sometimes fusions will fail and as I mentioned I am not sure if that is intended or not. Once while I was playing the game glitched out and my shop for the Archer turned into the one for the Dwarf, with Chinese language descriptions instead of English ones. I restarted the game and it corrected itself. Sometimes you can still keep playing after your character dies. Just a lot of weird little glitches and bugs all around. Nothing fully show-stopping as far as I’ve found, and I’m very far into the game, but they all add up to make the experience feel a lot less polished than you might hope.

    Still, none of that really keeps Bright Reappear down. The action point system adds a whole new dimension to a genre that frankly has gotten a bit stale of late, and I’m happy to be having to use my brain in a new way for a puzzle RPG again. If you enjoy match-3 RPGs and can forgive a healthy sack full of rough edges, I strongly encourage you to check out Bright Reappear. It’s good stuff.

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    Shaun Musgrave

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  • ‘Tomes and Quests – A Word RPG’ Review – Tossed Letters and Scrabbled Fae – TouchArcade

    ‘Tomes and Quests – A Word RPG’ Review – Tossed Letters and Scrabbled Fae – TouchArcade

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    What awakens Shaun from his mobile gaming review slumber? I mean, besides NEOGEO games and the occasional Shovel Knight game. There are two pieces of cheese that might work. He loves word games, and he loves RPGs. What if we were to combine the two? Delightfully devilish, Trailblazer Games. Sure, this isn’t a combination we haven’t seen before. Letter Quest – Grimm’s Journey was a great one, for example. But I’m always keen for a new one, so let’s take a look at Tomes and Quests – A Word RPG ($4.99) today.

    Right off the hop I’ll say that despite some obvious effort going into the game’s story, I found myself getting tired of it pretty quickly. Three friends get sucked into a book, and they’ll have to battle their way through an RPG style adventure to get out. There’s dialogue between events to help flesh out the story or just crack some jokes, and while it’s decently written I just found it all to be fairly banal. At the same time, I’m not really expecting much in the story department in a game like this. It would have been nice, though.

    The game is broken down into quests, which themselves involve a series of events. An event might be a battle, but it could also be a brief story scene, NPC encounter, escape sequence, and so on. Most (but not all) of these events will involve playing a word game of some sort. I’ll give the game credit here for finding a lot of interesting ways to mix up the gameplay. The standard battles are like playing Scrabble (complete with matching letter point values) on a small board. As you play, more gimmicks come into play even in these matches. There are double score squares, coins to pick up, bombs to defuse, and so on. Each word you play will deal proportional damage to the enemies, and you can match elemental types to deal extra damage. The enemies will hit back after every word you play, and you need to kill them before they kill you. Experience collected, levels gained, treasure looted, moving on. Boss battles work the same way, but they’re a bit harder.

    Sometimes you do something different, though. Like sometimes you need to put down words within a set number of turns to extend the line horizontally a specific amount. Maybe you need to place words to reveal shadowed squares on the board, again with a turn limit. Sometimes the board will be divided into two different colors and you need to score a certain number of points in the areas of one specific color. You might be given a jumble of letters and have to drop single tiles to try to make as many words as possible. These word minigames are a nice diversion from the main gameplay mechanics while still using your vocabulary skills.

    As you win battles, you’ll level up and even get some new equipment. Eventually you’ll be able to class change, which is something Shaun likes. If you’re feeling underleveled you can go back and re-fight earlier battles. They’ll get harder each time you win, so there is only so much grinding you’ll likely be able to do. It might make the difference, though. Individual levels don’t tip the scale too much, though. Indeed, sheer luck in which letters you’re given is probably more important than a level or two. Better equipment also helps, but nothing matches up with being able to make a word with Q or Z right out of the gate.

    Not too shabby on the whole, and it’s one of those games where you can just dip in and play for a bit and then dip out as needed. I do have some problems with the game, though. The biggest problem for me is in how the actual process of playing letters works. They’re in a tray near the bottom of the screen and it is actually surprisingly tough to grab them without closing out to the home menu if you’re not careful. Similarly, it can be a bit fussy about placing them on the board. You have to drop them just so for them to stick. Luckily, placing them in the wrong space doesn’t cause any issues. You confirm once your word is in place and anything you do up until then is your business. I’d like it if the letter tiles were a bit bigger in the tray or if the tray itself was moved up a bit.

    I’m not sure which dictionary the game is using for its words, but there were cases where it wouldn’t accept words I know were valid. It was rare, but it happened now and then. I’m also of two minds about the size of the board. On the one hand I can appreciate that its size forces you to play smarter, since it can be easy to clutter things up into a mess with one bad play. On the other hand, its relatively small size limits your freedom in making words to the point that you end up using a lot of smaller ones to get through without messing up the board. I have similarly split feelings about the difficulty curve. As I said, a level doesn’t really tip the scales much. If a player gets stuck, what little grinding the game allows likely won’t help much. They’ll have to just keep trying until they get lucky, and that’s not very enjoyable.

    That said, even with all my little gripes, I can’t say I didn’t have fun with Tomes and Quests. I won’t say you can’t screw up a word game, because you certainly can. But there is a certain joy to flexing the old spelling bee muscles and getting a virtual pat on the head for being a smart boy like it’s elementary school again. This game builds its bones around that pleasing feeling, and while some of it could probably be done a little better, there are some things here I really appreciate. The various minigames were interesting and gave a little extra challenge. I kind of enjoyed the way the quests were set up, like little mini-episodes in a long campaign.

    While Tomes and Quests isn’t up to my long-time favorite RPG/word game hybrid Letter Quest, it’s a decent spin on the concept that could be a lot better with some usability fixes and slight balance tweaking. If you love word games the way I do, you’ll likely get your money’s worth out of it. That said, it’s not quite up to the level where I’m going to shove it in everyone’s face, which is a thing I totally do sometimes. Oh, I should have used a ‘spell’ pun somewhere. Wait, my word count is up? I guess that’s it then.

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    Shaun Musgrave

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  • Silver Star Story Touch’ Receives Massive 3.0 Update With New Options, Music, and More – TouchArcade

    Silver Star Story Touch’ Receives Massive 3.0 Update With New Options, Music, and More – TouchArcade

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    It’s been a little while since the last update to SoMoGa’s fine port of Lunar, Lunar: Silver Star Story Touch ($9.99). It’s been a longer while since its last major update, version 2.0. Four years and eight years, respectively. Well, late last week SoMoGa suddenly dropped an astounding update to the game, bringing it up to a spiffy 3.0 with a ton of great features. Let’s go through all of it, shall we?

    So, Lunar: Silver Star Story Touch. The only way to buy the English version of Lunar in any form these days shy of diving into the second-hand stores or picking up that PSP remake. Even SEGA couldn’t swing a deal to bring the English version of the SEGA-CD original to its Genesis Mini 2.  That makes this a rather important app, and one that I certainly wouldn’t want to see disappear. Publisher SoMoGa isn’t exactly active on the App Store, with just this game and Vay ($0.99) in its catalog.  With literal presidential terms passing between updates at times, it wouldn’t be weird to expect them to throw in the towel and head home.

    But no! Glorious update! Amazing update! In the category of graphics, the game now runs at 60 fps on all compatible devices. Excellent. Widescreen support has been improved, and a number of effects that haven’t been working right since the original Saturn version are now properly implemented. The audio quality has been improved, and you can now choose between the PSP and Saturn versions of the soundtrack. You can also adjust audio levels separately for various components in case you want the music to be quieter than the voices or something.

    Tons of new Bluetooth controllers are supported now, and the settings can actually be accessed in-app rather than having to go through your device’s Settings app. Yes, this app is that old. You can now speed up gameplay in both battles and exploration, allowing you to move through the game more quickly. You can now hide the touch controls and switch to the classic UI in case you’re playing with a controller and want a more vintage feel, and you can switch between two different difficulty settings. The easier one lines up with the Japanese Saturn version, while the harder one matches the American PlayStation version done by Working Designs.

    In essence, you can pretty much Saturn this port up or down as you prefer. And that is awesome. The only casualty here seems to be the ability to play the game in Portrait mode. If the feature is still there, I must have missed it. If it is gone, that is somewhat unfortunate. Sometimes I just like to play Lunar with one hand while I’m sword-fighting with Mikhail with my other hand.  But it’s a small price to pay for all of these fine improvements. The app has been completely rejuvenated, giving me renewed hope that if I nag SoMoGa enough we will get a port of Lunar: Eternal Blue someday.  You have given a Nall a cookie here, my friends.

    You’ll need a device that uses an A10 CPU or better to use this new version of the game. That means an iPhone 7 or up, or an Apple TV 4K, that sort of thing. Provided you do (and I hope you do), you can update your game or go ahead and buy it if you haven’t before and dig into a fancy-pants version of one of the finest RPGs of the 16-bit era. Seriously, though. Lunar: Eternal Blue. Conk whoever you have to on the head to make it happen.

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    Shaun Musgrave

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  • ‘Romancing SaGa -Minstrel Song-‘ Review – Toss a Coin to Your Minstrel – TouchArcade

    ‘Romancing SaGa -Minstrel Song-‘ Review – Toss a Coin to Your Minstrel – TouchArcade

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    If you’ve been keeping up with Square Enix’s mobile releases, you probably have SaGa opinions by now. The series, which had always had a spotty localization record, went dormant in the West for a long time following the 2005 release of Romancing Saga: Minstrel Song on the PlayStation 2. I can only assume the Western release of Romancing SaGa 2 ($17.99) did better than expected, as we’ve received a veritable flood of SaGa releases since. All of those games have seen global releases regardless of their original localization status, meaning that we have just about the entire series available on mobile. And now fate has brought us here, back to Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song ($24.99).

    This is a remaster of the PlayStation 2 game, which was itself a remake of the Super Famicom title Romancing SaGa. You never quite know how extensive the changes will be when a game from that era makes a reappearance, but in this case the changes are many and fairly significant. They range from new content (characters, story) to quality of life improvements, and the end result is a game that so greatly outclasses its previous incarnation that it renders it nearly irrelevant. I think it’s frankly as good as it can be without actually ripping the whole thing up and starting from scratch. If for some reason you are trying to decide between the PlayStation 2 version or this one, it’s an easy choice.

    While I’m sure not many readers played the previous release (the franchise went dormant for a reason after all), I’ll quickly detail the additions and improvements. Most obviously, the graphics have been enhanced and upscaled. I have mixed feelings about the art direction of this game, but it’s never looked better than it does here. The UI and menus have been redone, which they would obviously need to be for mobile users. It looks good and is as functional as you are going to get when applying touch controls to a game originally designed for a controller. There are some nice quality of life improvements like a high-speed mode, extremely useful mini maps, and a highly welcome New Game + option that fits this game like a glove.

    As for new content, there’s actually quite a bit to see. Like with SaGa Frontier‘s remaster, we’ve got a new playable character with their own episode. Aldora the Sorceress, who those familiar with the original will remember as Mirsa’s ally, is now selectable and has her own story about her travels with the Legendary Hero. There are also a handful of new recruitable characters, with Schiele being a highlight. There are some new classes to tinker with, which is always a nice thing to see in remakes and remasters of games with job systems. Additionally, there are a bunch of new super bosses. They’re… something. For those players who found the original game didn’t satisfy their desire for challenging encounters, eat up.

    Curiously, part of the intention behind the original Minstrel Song was to go back to a more traditional and approachable format after the decidedly mixed response to Unlimited SaGa. Yes, this is the SaGa team (circa 2005) trying to make an easily digestible game. Does it work? Yes and no. At the end of the day, this is still a SaGa game. It has all the quirky systems you would expect from the series, has a tendency to be opaque and offer few clues about what to do, and focuses more on mechanics than story elements. It revels in its unorthodox nature, though it is rather orthodox in its unorthodoxy if you’re familiar with the series.

    That last bit is perhaps the key to it. If you’re looking to get into the SaGa series, this is a decent enough starting point. It will teach you a lot about how the series works, and you may well find yourself able to appreciate the other games more having played through this one. I’m not sure it’s the best starting point anymore, but it’s a good one. But in the grand scheme of RPGs, this is still a game that requires a bit more work on the player’s part. While the original Romancing SaGa was the fourth part of the SaGa series, it was the third game in the series made by the same team. If you’ve played the Game Boy games, the original game followed on from Final Fantasy Legend II, bringing the ideas and philosophy of the series to the 16-bit world. With, you know, all that implies.

    I won’t spend too much more time talking about the original 16-bit game though, because the PlayStation 2 game was already a significant remake and this remaster takes it even further. You’ll start this game by choosing from eight different characters at the start, and once you’ve gotten through the first bit for each, you’re more or less on your own to make your way in the world. It’s full of things to do and people to meet, though how much of that you find on any given playthrough is up to you. It wants you to replay it, and if you enjoy what it offers you almost certainly will do so.

    That open approach is the calling card of this game, and it demonstrates how in a lot of ways this was a title far ahead of its time. But it can also be daunting to players used to a more guided approach. I recommend taking advantage of all of the tutorials and instructions the game offers, mostly through kids hanging around in the towns. It will leave you better equipped to enjoy what the game has to offer. If you’re feeling uncertain or anxious, I recommend starting with Albert. It will hold your hand as much as this game is willing to. Those who just want to dive into the open scenario goodness should pick Barbara, who is more or less tossed into the fray immediately.

    I’m not going to talk too much about the story. Stories? It’s all engaging enough with some truly interesting twists and world-building, but it’s far from the main reason to play the game. No, it’s the mechanics that are the highlight here. The Glimmer (SPARKING) system returns, allowing you to learn new techniques pretty much any time just by using other ones. In true SaGa fashion, your stats will upgrade based on your actions. There are no traditional level-ups here. The class system also requires you to have certain skills leveled among other requirements. In general, tough battles in this game are best dealt with by rethinking your party build and tactics. Grinding is an option, but it’s a very bad idea due to a core part of the mechanics: event rank.

    Basically, time passes in the world of Minstrel Song. At certain points enemies will get stronger, new quests will open up, and old quests will disappear. The thing that determines how the time passes is the number of battles you’ve fought, which feeds into something called your event rank. Grind too much and you’ll miss out on a lot and only end up making the enemies stronger. At the same time, you’ll want to move time (and fight battles) at a decent pace lest you reach the end before some quests have a chance to open. Your relationship with your event rank will largely determine what you can and can’t see in this world, and is one of the things that makes this game so replayable.

    It’s worth taking your time going through, because completing sub-quests not only adds to the narrative texture of the game but also helps you power up in various ways. You’ll find new characters and other things that are frankly worth seeing. And that’s really who this game is for, I think. While the Final Fantasy games are roller coasters, taking you on a fairly straightforward route with pre-planned surprises and turns, the SaGa games tend to be more for the explorers. The people who like to experiment. The ones who like to poke around and see if they can put one over on the game. If that is you, you’ll find an absolute ton of value in this game.

    If you have played any SaGa games in the past and had a good time with them, you’ll almost certainly like Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song. Its presentation is a little odd but the game itself is a fairly safe entry in the oddball brand. On the other side, if you haven’t been able to get into past games like SaGa Scarlet Grace ($29.99) or SaGa Frontier ($24.99), nothing in here is going to change your mind. If you’re somehow fully new to this whole business, this isn’t the worst place to dip your foot in. Those tired of the same old JRPG mechanics or those who generally have an open mind may want to give this one a go.

    As for this mobile version in particular, it’s excellent. The aspect ratio means you’re getting bars on the side if you’re playing on iPhone, but the visuals look fantastic and the UI is both functional and attractive. You’ve got full controller support here, thankfully. One never knows with Square Enix releases. Even if you aren’t using a controller, you’ll find the touch controls are more than up to the task. Sure, it’s a little expensive relative to other mobile games, but it’s cheaper than the console versions and every bit as good.

    Overall, Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song is a fantastic re-do of a game that had lots of room for improvement, and this mobile port is top-shelf. SaGa fans will eat it up, and even if you’ve played the original you may want to check this out for its new content and additions. There are certainly some awkward carry-overs from its PlayStation 2 origins, like the lack of a player-controlled camera, and that may chafe some. It’s also a SaGa game through and through, and that’s either going to have you jumping with joy or running for the hills. I leave it up to you to make that final decision, but I know which side of the line I’m standing on.

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    Shaun Musgrave

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