Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven

Genre: Turn-Based JRPG

Players: 1

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Review:

The SaGa series is one of Square Enix’s longest-running series of JRPGs, although it doesn’t get the same level of recognition as the likes of Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy. This is likely in part because the series has only sporadically been localized to Western territories – while the earliest games in the series were released in the West on the original Game Boy as the Final Fantasy Legend series, entire console generations would pass with SaGa games staying exclusive to Japan. Romancing SaGa 2, originally released on the Super Famicom in 1992, is one of those games, not getting a release in the West until a remaster of the original game first made for mobile devices and PlayStation Vita in 2016 and ported to the Nintendo Switch a year later in 2017. And then remade again in 2024 on PC, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch.

Yeah, I just lifted the majority of that first paragraph from my first review of Romancing SaGa 2 on the Nintendo Switch, with this release marking the second time the game has been released on this platform. Now, to its credit, this is a far more extensive remake of the Romancing SaGa 2, recreating the game from the ground up in 3D. And it has been eight years since the prior version of Romancing SaGa 2 first came out. However, I will admit to being frustrated that Square Enix has now released this game twice on Nintendo Switch, while other Square and Enix classics from that generation still aren’t available on Nintendo Switch. Yes, I’m frustrated that I haven’t gotten my modern port of Chrono Trigger, but there’s also Quintet’s back catalog (presumably owned by Square Enix).

Having vented that frustration, none of that really says anything about whether or not this game is good, so let’s talk about that.

The presentation is the most noticeable change in this remake, and the 3D visuals here have some nice anime-style character designs and some stylistically nice-looking environments. However, these environments are somewhat sparsely-populated and often seem a bit empty, and overall there’s nothing here that would seem out-of-place in an early PlayStation 3 game. This is backed by an orchestral arrangement of the original game’s music, and while this is well-done, I can’t say I found any of this music to be especially memorable.

Surprisingly, while the visuals and music are the changes that stand out the most, I think that the changes to the story and gameplay are far more important. Starting with the story… this time it isn’t absolutely terrible! Where the prior release had an abysmal localization, this time it’s received a lot of care to make its characters and story actually work. It’s still not a particularly inspired or interesting story (the seven legendary heroes have come back to the world, but now they’re eeeeevil!), the game still keeps the original game’s unique multi-generational plot where the quest is handed down from father to son multiple times through the course of the story.

Also retained is the original game’s mechanic of developing the skills you choose to use, letting you develop your characters through their actions in battle rather than solely through menu choices. It is thankfully better-explained this time around, and in fact the gameplay is overall much more user-friendly than prior versions.

So there you have it! Everything is better in this release and… this is still a pretty pedestrian, uninteresting JRPG. Sorry, I can appreciate how much work has been put into updating Romancing SaGa 2, but the plot is still pretty dull, the characters don’t stand out, and while some of the gameplay mechanics here are decent, they are hardly revolutionary in 2024.

Just to be clear, Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven is not a bad JRPG, and in fact I think it’s a pretty good one, but the fresh layer of paint here isn’t quite as extensive as it would have to be to hide that the game at its core is pretty dated by today’s standards, and I don’t think that even back in its day it was ever on par with the greats of the era. Still, fans of classic RPGs and particularly fans of the SaGa series will want to give this game a look, as it is unquestionably the best that Romancing SaGa 2 has ever been.

tl;dr – Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven is the second time a remake of this 1992 Turn-Based JRPG has come to Nintendo Switch, but this remake is far more extensive, giving an overhaul to the graphics and soundtrack, as well as brushing up the localization and making the game more user-friendly. The result is a much better, much more well-rounded game… but one that’s still pretty dated. Fans of the SaGa series will definitely want to give this a look, but I think most players are better off playing other JRPGs.

Grade: C+

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