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[RevenantKioku]

A sexy Kawazu shot for the new page!

 

[eyeball_kid]

I think the scenario in terms of scope and depth has the potential to surpass all the previous SaGa games. Who knows how interesting it will actually be in the end, but the proposition is very promising. Instead of a Free Scenario System, Scarlet Grace uses what they call the Free World System. Since the entire game takes place on a large world map divided into many territorial areas, Kawazu seems to have gone all out to make it as large and dense a world as possible. There are supposed to be over a thousand events scattered throughout the game, and the player's decisions in various events will have an impact on the world both big and small. Every single NPC you encounter in the game is a possible party member, although I believe not every NPC is available for every protagonist. In total there are over 70 party members in the game. You can freely The protagonist you select to play determines where you start the game and the focus of the story. The story and events are supposed to be very different depending on the character, and even similar events that intersect play out very differently.

It sounds pretty crazy tbh.

Wow...that sounds pretty insane. May turn out to be a Millennium Falcon kind of game.
I don't own a Vita, nor can I read Japanese, but I'm looking forward to your impressions.

 

[randomkid]

It is the second coming! After the glorious SaGa DS2 thread, I assumed that RK had ascended to Valhalla and that our Madman's Cafe crew was the only circle in the English-speaking internet left to profess our undying love for Kawazu's Bizarre Adventures. Your friendly SaGa proselytizing counterpart Iggy has summarized the Dengeki conversation, in case you doubt the supreme seriousness of the cult's convictions.

Play some SaGa, kids. I doesn't matter if it's "fun" or even "any good." There is great value in playing a video game operated by the equivalent of a sadistic D&D dungeon master.

from the MMCafe writeup:

"Anyone who complains about the loading clearly hasn't played the game seriously. Not because they aren't long (they are) but because you have so much to keep in mind about that this "time to think" is actually pretty useful."

this is hilarious!

Edit:

Top 3 NeoGAF Official Threads 3) Scarlet Grace 2) Legend of Legacy 1) Langrisser Re:Incarnation -Tensei-

 

[ATXAlchemy]

this is hilarious!

You clearly haven't played Scarlet Grace.

 

[randomkid]

You clearly haven't played Scarlet Grace.

you been doing a lot of deep thinking then?

very eager to hear all impressions!

 

[RevenantKioku]

https://twitter.com/revenantkioku/status/809296542108512256/photo/1

Is this real life?

 

[RevenantKioku]

The game told me to be Urpina, so since I was going to pick her anyway, hey.

Load times: yikes
Battle: interesting
World map: weird shit already happened so I'm intrigued hard.

 

[Faustek]

Weird Shit or just SaGa Shit?


Anyway, EMS says ill have it in 2-5 days... Will come next Friday and then whatever bullshit happens at Christmas will happen.

 

[MilkBeard]

Is... is this a serious thread? I have a hard time believing Kawazu has fans.

SaGa Frontier is one of my most played games.

Yes, he has (a few) fans.

 

[Darkstorne]

A new SaGa game! Any word on International releases?

I loved Frontier 2 (don't think we got the first one in the UK), and even though I had no idea what the hell was going on, in relation to either the story or the gameplay, I still loved Unlimited for the art direction and the board game design. I think I just love seeing games that throw established mechanics out the window and try something completely refreshing, regardless of whether it works or not.

 

[Labadal]

A new SaGa game! Any word on International releases?

I loved Frontier 2 (don't think we got the first one in the UK), and even though I had no idea what the hell was going on, in relation to either the story or the gameplay, I still loved Unlimited for the art direction and the board game design. I think I just love seeing games that throw established mechanics out the window and try something completely refreshing, regardless of whether it works or not.

No word of an international release.

 

[RevenantKioku]

Weird Shit or just SaGa Shit?

Spoiler

As soon as I leave the first town this person in black just runs across the world map. Going to the place they went to gave no answers. I'm curious now.

 

[Prime crotch]

For a second I thought this was a thread for an english release or smth. But gaddamn this looks insane, the npc system sounds like a mess but I'd rather have them go down swinging than make a new SaGa that isn't ambitious.

 

[neoemonk]

I don't read Japanese, and I haven't played a SaGa game since Final Fantasy Legend on the Game Boy, and I didn't even know that was a SaGa game until this year, so I just came in here to say that I think RK should do the Four Job Fiesta twice a year.

 

[RevenantKioku]

Oh, Vita. You mean life, but your load times.

Digging the battle system so hard. Selecting who acts and using BP wisely but also attack order is so cool.

I freaked because Urpina quickly lost two LP, but a character restores one for every two battles they do not participate in.

These don't have to be consecutive battles, either!

 

[Kid Marin]

A new SaGa game! Any word on International releases?

Maybe: https://www.tmdn.org/tmview/get-detail?st13=US500000086779567

 

[IvorB]

Is this a real OT or an OT that got hacked and defaced?

 

[duckroll]

I think my SaGa is headed towards Hong Kong now. I might actually get it tomorrow!

 

[RyougaSaotome]

I'm enjoying the impressions as much as I'm enjoying people coming in here and being confused by the traditional OT.

 

[Labadal]

I think my SaGa is headed towards Hong Kong now. I might actually get it tomorrow!

I'm enjoying the impressions as much as I'm enjoying people coming in here and being confused by the traditional OT.

Duckroll's impression is the best so far.

 

[RevenantKioku]

I got a missed delivery slip in my mailbox, but I didn't order anything.

Could it be duckroll's game?!?!?!?!

Played a bit more on the train yesterday and 1) omg the music really gets you into the mood, especially allowing you to endure FUCKING LOAD TIMES 2) FUCKING LOAD TIMES 3) really, though, learning new skills mid-battle is so SaGa-y, but then you get things like Nessa learned this sleep-sword move which, since she is fast, lets me try to disrupt the enemies while letting slower characters take care of other enemies later in the battle order.

So thinking everything through and then hoping (because it is a video game after all, and attacks will miss or enemies will have resistances you are unsure of) that it plays out well is exciting.

Also, each battle will tell you prior if it is "Easy", "Normal" or "Hard" (Who knows if there are other levels later on. I imagine these are all relative?)

Anyway. I did my first Hard battle.

Spoiler

I fought in a swamp, and afterwards the enemy asked me to do some thing which opened up a hole in the ground where there was this Hard battle fighting this lava-centipede like thing. Round 1 I'm like, pft, 5 on 1 who cares and then it summons two little dipshits to aid it. Urpina is using the Ice Sword bonus item that came with the game, which takes two stars, meaning she might eat up a lot of my early turns, but instead she was defending while the other characters whacked away the weaklings and inflicted poison and shit on the boss. Then when I got to turn 5 with a full bar, I had her use the Blizzard attack on the boss which was real good damage and then unleashed again with everyone, taking it out. Thing is I really needed her to be defending some turns because the enemies were fucking everyone up pretty good. (Anyone who does not take an action will be defending. Not much, of course, but it is something.)

Whew. Anyway, I am having fun and am only really angry about the load times being pretty annoying.

 

[duckroll]

Welp, odds are DHL is going to deliver SaGa when no one is at home! RIP! Kawazu continues to beat up his fans!

 

[ATXAlchemy]

Also, each battle will tell you prior if it is "Easy", "Normal" or "Hard" (Who knows if there are other levels later on. I imagine these are all relative?)

Anyway. I did my first Hard battle.

Spoiler

I fought in a swamp, and afterwards the enemy asked me to do some thing which opened up a hole in the ground where there was this Hard battle fighting this lava-centipede like thing. Round 1 I'm like, pft, 5 on 1 who cares and then it summons two little dipshits to aid it. Urpina is using the Ice Sword bonus item that came with the game, which takes two stars, meaning she might eat up a lot of my early turns, but instead she was defending while the other characters whacked away the weaklings and inflicted poison and shit on the boss. Then when I got to turn 5 with a full bar, I had her use the Blizzard attack on the boss which was real good damage and then unleashed again with everyone, taking it out. Thing is I really needed her to be defending some turns because the enemies were fucking everyone up pretty good. (Anyone who does not take an action will be defending. Not much, of course, but it is something.)

It's most likely relative, though to what is I am not sure off. I beat that enemy you were talking about real easy. But I'm dying over "Normal" grunts that block my way from Urpina's Silmium to that nearby fort. There might be some hidden progression related to how many event you went or something.

I've only been to around ~15 battles and I really hope that turn order becomes more predictable (or easier to manipulate). I'm not even sure if Bump had an effect or it was just some bonus formation/defend thing. >___>

 

[RevenantKioku]

It's most likely relative, though to what is I am not sure off. I beat that enemy you were talking about real easy. But I'm dying over "Normal" grunts that block my way from Urpina's Silmium to that nearby fort. There might be some hidden progression related to how many event you went or something.

I've only been to around ~15 battles and I really hope that turn order becomes more predictable (or easier to manipulate). I'm not even sure if Bump had an effect or it was just some bonus formation/defend thing. >___>

I

Spoiler

took a boat

and am in

Spoiler

an entirely different area

. There was some event at Silmium

Spoiler

(the place was on fire)

but I

Spoiler

took a boat

before I went there and I either missed it or who knows. But it is interesting.

 

[Aeana]

Welp, odds are DHL is going to deliver SaGa when no one is at home! RIP! Kawazu continues to beat up his fans!

Do they not have signature release in Singapore?

I'm able to instruct them to leave it at the door with their "on demand delivery" page.

 

[Toth]

I have all the Saga games post Saga Frontier and played all the game boy ones. I hope this comes to the west as I really dig the art style. I always had trouble healing HP in past versions. Any tips on this for Romancing Saga PS3 or Unlimited Saga?

Also how is HP damage in the game do far: ridiculous or manageable?

 

[duckroll]

Do they not have signature release in Singapore?

I'm able to instruct them to leave it at the door with their "on demand delivery" page.

I guess that depends on whether they call me at all if they fail to deliver!

 

[RevenantKioku]

I have all the Saga games post Saga Frontier and played all the game boy ones. I hope this comes to the west as I really dig the art style. I always had trouble healing HP in past versions. Any tips on this for Romancing Saga PS3 or Unlimited Saga?

Also how is HP damage in the game do far: ridiculous or manageable?

So far I have had some characters die during battle, but I have not yet wiped. Like I said above, taking a character out for two battles (And Urpina started with a party of seven, and you use five in battle. I imagine the other characters are similar?) will restore one LP. So, at least LP seems to not be really hard to restore like in RoSa 1 and I think 2 has an item but it was really expensive? (I haven't finished RoSa 2 yet.)

 

[Aeana]

I guess that depends on whether they call me at all if they fail to deliver!

Well you can also reschedule delivery from there.

https://ondemand.dhl.com

 

[Zippedpinhead]

Where is everyone getting theirs from? I'm going to assume that there will not be a US release... as much as I would want one

 

[Aeana]

Where is everyone getting theirs from? I'm going to assume that there will not be a US release... as much as I would want one

Amazon Japan.

 

[duckroll]

Well you can also reschedule delivery from there.

https://ondemand.dhl.com

Doesn't even accept my tracking number there, not in their system!

 

[RevenantKioku]

Where is everyone getting theirs from? I'm going to assume that there will not be a US release... as much as I would want one

ヤマダ電機！

Spoiler

Yes. I am one of those assholes who lives in Japan. Sorry. ;-;

 

[Lord of Ostia]

Where is everyone getting theirs from? I'm going to assume that there will not be a US release... as much as I would want one

Too early to say, though I wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't get localized. You could buy it from Play-Asia, no idea how long it'll take to get to you though.

 

[Aeana]

ヤマダ電機！

Spoiler

Yes. I am one of those assholes who lives in Japan. Sorry. ;-;

When I was younger, they used to play this on the base: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5SlIjECKxw

 

[hongcha]

This is getting a lot of glowing reviews on Amazon JP. I haven't bought it yet because my backlog is so full, but it's definitely on my want list now.

 

[malboroking]

SaGa Frontier is one of my most played games.

Yes, he has (a few) fans.

I love Saga Frontiet. There are dozens of us!

 

[ATXAlchemy]

I

Spoiler

took a boat

and am in

Spoiler

an entirely different area

. There was some event at Silmium

Spoiler

(the place was on fire)

but I

Spoiler

took a boat

before I went there and I either missed it or who knows. But it is interesting.

There seems to be some trigger and prerequisites on certain events.

Spoiler

Ibex forest and that animal - cave thing; I was only able to see the cave after the attack on Silmium.

Also how is HP damage in the game do far: ridiculous or manageable?

Never played any SaGa before so can't compare.

But enemy rengeki is pretty deadly early on.
___________________

Just a heads up for everybody playing. The DLCs are currently "one-time" use. By one time use, I do mean one time use.

1. I used it, never manually saved after that, quit the game. (Game auto-saves pre-battles, BTW)
2. Loaded an older/manual save" instead (right after the prologue - aka I literally haven't done anything). I go to DLC option, both DLC were already used.
3. Going New Game will not allow you to use the DLC either. LOL

This means that if you restarted and had already claimed the DLCs, you won't be able to claim it again. It also means that if you try to do two MCs on parallel, you'll only be able to use it on one. Same goes for second playthrough, I guess.

I'm guess that there's a system data somewhere. I'll try deleting that later on PC and see if I can get the DLC work again.

Bleh, I'll guess it's more experimenting round two.

 

[SporeCrawler]

I shall buy this

Is this being localized?

 

[Faustek]

I shall buy this

Is this being localized?

I seriously doubt it, no matter what SE Europe honcho has said.
But there is this... Which means nothing.

Maybe: https://www.tmdn.org/tmview/get-detail?st13=US500000086779567

Spoiler

As soon as I leave the first town this person in black just runs across the world map. Going to the place they went to gave no answers. I'm curious now.

No no, you always go to the place they left from. To see the mayhem they have caused, are running from or something.

 

[bobbytkc]

I seriously doubt it, no matter what SE Europe honcho has said.
But there is this... Which means nothing.





No no, you always go to the place they left from. To see the mayhem they have caused, are running from or something.

A translation will depend entirely on the japanese reception. But I am quite sure it will bomb in japan, so tough luck for us english only speakers.

 

[duckroll]

A translation will depend entirely on the japanese reception. But I am quite sure it will bomb in japan, so tough luck for us english only speakers.

Disagree. I don't think anything Square Enix does as a company depends at all on Japan or Japanese reception these days.

 

[NandoGip]

I hope I get to play this game in English one day...

I'm still holding out on a SaGa Frontier remake

 

[Maou]

A translation will depend entirely on the japanese reception. But I am quite sure it will bomb in japan, so tough luck for us english only speakers.

Disagree. I don't think anything Square Enix does as a company depends at all on Japan or Japanese reception these days.

And SaGa sells quite well in Japan anyway, believe it or not. Except for the DS ones, oddly enough, but whatever. Like, nearly half a million Minstrel Song, and even the widely disliked Frontier 1-2-U chain didn't have that high an attrition rate. To wit: even after 1.1 million people were disappointed by Frontier, probably the worst in the series, 670,000 still bought Frontier 2! And nearly half a million people bought Unlimited (!?!?!).

I have high hopes for Scarlet Grace's sales.

 

[RevenantKioku]

No no, you always go to the place they left from. To see the mayhem they have caused, are running from or something.

Ah! Well, I can't. At least for now. But interesting.

 

[eyeball_kid]

Disagree. I don't think anything Square Enix does as a company depends at all on Japan or Japanese reception these days.

I suppose the fact that they ported Romancing SaGa 2 to iOS recently means they might be more interested in releasing Scarlet Grace here; or at least, they see the potential for interest in the series in the west. I have no idea what kind of numbers RS2 did though, or if that port even has any bearing on what they might release on Vita here.

 

[Faustek]

Disagree. I don't think anything Square Enix does as a company depends at all on Japan or Japanese reception these days.

As I see it it all depends on their pipeline. What resources they have available.. But something struck me a few years back, didn't Square Enix have their own in house localisation team? Because from what I gather they have outsourced a lot of that since 2011. Is the majority of their in house team with FFXIV these days? Or have I just missed something? Anyway, the team that does FFXIV are doing it really well.

And SaGa sells quite well in Japan anyway, believe it or not. Except for the DS ones, oddly enough, but whatever. Like, nearly half a million Minstrel Song, and even the widely disliked Frontier 1-2-U chain didn't have that high an attrition rate. To wit: even after 1.1 million people were disappointed by Frontier, probably the worst in the series, 670,000 still bought Frontier 2! And nearly half a million people bought Unlimited (!?!?!).

I have high hopes for Scarlet Grace's sales.

I'm still saying Unlimited was good and no I ain't budging ^_^

Ah! Well, I can't. At least for now. But interesting.

Yepp, even though 99% of the times it does nothing I just have this feeling that one day I'll be rewarded for not doing the logical game thing

I suppose the fact that they ported Romancing SaGa 2 to iOS recently means they might be more interested in releasing Scarlet Grace here; or at least, they see the potential for interest in the series in the west. I have no idea what kind of numbers RS2 did though, or if that port even has any bearing on what they might release on Vita here.

Kinda weird that Rom2 is still coming to Vita. Don't get me wrong, I really like that it's happening and will support it when it does but I didn't expect it at all.

BTW Squares premium games are on both Android and iOS. I think a few are on Windows mobile as well.

 

[Labadal]

So the DLC is Deus Ex: MD situation all over again. Smh.

 

[duckroll]

SaGaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

 

[Faustek]

Oh DHL kept the time limit. Nice