SaGa Emerald Beyond

Big fan of the SaGa games, and much like other weaker entries this one still has it's plusses. Unfortunately a ton of repetition weighs this one down a little too much for me to give it a thumbs up. It plays very similarly to Scarlet Grace, and a lot of the pros from that one carry over here. Even so, for all the good it inherits it seemed to add a few extra problems. +Very fun and strategic battle system +Great music, as always +Story and writing are strong -Expect to play the same parts with a lot of the same story beats multiple times over the different story lines -Unlike the world map from Scarlet Grace, exploration is severely limited to the point it might as well have been clicking icons rather than running from waypoint to waypoint -Individual character stories are short, and by the time you complete a run and have satisfyingly powered up it's time to start another -Glimmers feel hopelessly low percentage; I felt like i learned very few moves over the course of normal play Like SaGa:SG before, your mileage may vary compared to mine. You could wring a hundred hours easily out of this if you wanted to continuously play through the game for some slight scene changes. I felt like I saw everything I needed to see after two playthroughs. I may return at some point in the future, but with better SaGa options availalbe it's unlikely.

This turned based RPG is worth your time if you can accept what it is trying to do. First and foremost this game is all about its incredible combat system and subsystems that support it. I might go as far to say it is the best turn based JRPG combat you will find due to its depth, customization, and speed of action that provides a fun experience throughout many hours of play (see my play time for example). Perhaps as important as the gameplay, going in you must understand that REPLAYS ARE EXPECTED AND PART OF THE EXPERIENCE. You should expect to play through the game with the different protagonists, some multiple times, to see the whole story. The good thing is the gameplay keeps it interesting throughout that span. If you are going for secret hidden bosses and endings, the additional time spent might get to be a bit much. The caveat here is with the focus on combat being so high, some other aspects of your traditional JRPG experience get compressed and streamlined, which may not be appreciated by all. Critically, I think you will have the most fun leveraging the only existing guide on GameFAQs for this one, mostly to help understand how learning techniques work and understanding why multiple laps through a protagonist's story or a given 'world' changes so much. I have 150+ hours on this game and enjoyed it throughout. It started to drag as I worked toward the hidden bosses, as I had to dig into some combat mechanics I had not invested as much time in. Still, making it through this many hours of a JRPG is a highlight for me. The combat is so good and it will be hard playing a more traditional game afterwards. This game's mechanics are an extension of SaGa: Scarlet Grace's, as far as I understand, though I have not played that one. I suspect it is the only other game that will satisfy the same way for such fast, frenetic, and deep turn-based combat.

I can understand, with how things are these days, how people could dislike this game. Its story telling approach is a bit barebones, it has a low budget feel, etc. However, none of that really matters if you really dig into what the game has to offer. The combat system is incredibly fun, the world design is very intricate, and the overall experience is fantastic if you take the time to understand it. As an aside, the way the narrative is given I think actually gives the game more freedom than if everything was fully animated and voice acted. If you can get past the fact that it's not Red Dead Redemption 2 or whatever people are comparing things to these days, what you are left with is something that I wish more games did. Gameplay and depth over high fidelity presentation for me any day. And the battles look good still, so it's not that the game doesn't have good looking graphics. Anyways, I whole-heartedly encourage people to give this game a shot, and they may actually enjoy themselves.