SAGA FRONTIER
Review by Chi Phan
Saga Frontier is the first unique rpg coming from Squaresoft.
Instead of the usual one hero with one long story quest, you get many heroes with
each their own little mini stories thus making up Saga Frontier gameplay. Saga
Frontier was a huge success in Japan but the overrall game players in North America
rejected this new style of rpgs. Interesting enough, this didn't stop Squaresoft
from making a sequel.
STORY
In terms of story or stories, Saga Frontier doesn't offer alot.
Since the whole idea of Saga Frontier is base on mini stories, what you end up
getting is exactly that. The problem is that most, if not all the mini stories,
are badly develope and uninteresting to pointless. Some characters don't even
really have any real objective to their story quests at all. A good story is what
makes a good rpg. Unfortunately Saga Frontier doesn't even come close to that.
Score: 3/10
CHARACTERS
Saga Frontier certainly offers an abundance of characters to
play from. But quantity doesn't always equal quality. There might be one or two
characters that have background developement attach to them but pretty much all
the characters are very weak and uninteresting. Some are simply there as nothing
more than an extra party member.
Score: 3/10
GRAPHICS
The graphics in Saga Frontier is a little better than average.
Basically you have a 3-D background featuring sprites for characters. Some of
the scenery graphics are good and the sprites are adequate but for a Squaresoft
game, it's pretty disappointing. The colors however are nice though. FMV or CG
are too few to make any impact.
Score: 7/10
MUSIC
The music is probably the only really good thing to this game.
While the tunes aren't on the same level of say an FF game, they are pretty decent.
One can get to enjoy the music pretty quickly.
Score: 8/10
GAMEPLAY
The game is fairly easy but not straight forward. Sometimes you
have no idea as to where to go next or what to do next. This can be very frustrating.
The battle system is your basic turn base one. A few things should be pointed
out though. The game doesn't have random encounter. You can see the monsters roaming
about. This is very good for those who hate having to fight every 3 steps. Next
is the use of special attacks and combo attacks. Now each fighters can equip with
any weapons all the way down to having only bare fists to use. Each weapon including
bare fists has their own special attack to be learn. The more time you use a particular
weapon, the better the chances of learning one. Now combo attacks consists of
combining special attacks with other fighters special attacks called a combo link.
Obtaining a combo link depends on the order of the special attacks and the special
attack being used itself. The best of the gameplay is from the linking of combo
attacks. Another note is that since all the story quest are so short, you have
to spend time on side quests simply to get the needed level up to fight bosses
that a regular quest can't provide. In the end, the gameplay is unsatisfying,
too short, and not enough to do to keep gamers interested.
Score: 5/10
EXTRAS/REPLAY
Extras come from the sidequests. Actually the side quest is pretty
much a requirement since you don't have enough time to level up. After going through
the same side quests for different characters, it becomes boring and a pain in
the butt. Replay of course comes from the many mini story quests. Too bad all
the quests are unimaginative, too short, and uninteresting.
Score: 6/10
I enjoyed Saga Frontier for what it gave me, the chance to try
something new. After saying that, I wouldn't want another rpg like it. It's the
kind of game that you want to play and complete but never want to touch it again.
Final Score: 6/10
~Chi
