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SaGa SCARLET GRACE |OT| Vita means Life, and Life is Good™

Bladelaw

Member
So this isn't like SaGa Frontier?

If it gets localized and isn't a total shit show I'm in I guess though I'd rather have a Frontier remake where they were actually able to finish the game.
 
What happened to everyone else playing the game? :(

I'm experimenting with the events a bit with it while sucking a lot.

Urpina Azhuacan spoilers:
You can miss both recruitable characters in initial Azhuacan visit.
Eliseth will come if you either
1. try to invite her then say you understand. She'll come after you if you go via the official boaters, but she won't if you go via Youman's.
2. be insistent that she comes with you.
Youman, if you use his boat on the way back, will reveal that his ancestors served Uranius family as boatmen and he wants to come with you.

You can get both if you went insistent, then go with Youman's boat. Hopefully, with no consequences, lol.

I'm also betting that the goddamn
sunglass guy will be recruitable if you did NOT fight the monsters around him
. I did before and after Azhuacan and nothing happened. I hate his face. >__>

It seems that each party member will give you a formation that will usually benefit that person (or his initial setup at least).
Urpina's initial formation is Royal Hearts, which gives power boost to two frontliners - fits with her himekenshi Role.
Magical Shower - reduces BP cost of two casters (
comes from Eliseth, a caster
)
Club Noswats? - reduces BP cost of one Club user (
from Youman, a club user
)
Brave Rise - 5 starting BP + 2 BP per enemy kill + very high max BP limit but no BP increase per turn. (
from Ogniana, an axe user with a Role of damage boost
)

So far, most useful party members for me are Ogniana, Nessa, Beatrice. Going Axe with Urpina after I learned all current Long Sword skills haven't rewarded me with a Role yet. >___>

The battle design reflects the same philosophy the world/story design embraces - it emphasizes certain core elements by removing elements which people expect. There are no battle items in the game, there is no healing, the battle menu is super streamlined, but even so I feel like there is a ton of strategy and options. The battles really shine when you realize that you are encouraged to experiment with the party construction, swap characters in and out depending on what you expect from a battle, and try to really understand how to best abuse the turn order, the rengeki attacks, status ailments, and so on.

System-wise, I think this is actually on par with SRW in terms of battle system richness. inb4 "what? SRW????"

Personally, one thing I'm just really annoyed with is the TIPs/helps. You basically get one or two per battle. They are usually given as they occur, which is generally fine, but I wish things like what each stats do was given from the start.

Another thing is that I wish they also allowed viewing of TIPs in-battle so you can check stuff (especially enemy weakness).
 
The battles really shine when you realize that you are encouraged to experiment with the party construction, swap characters in and out depending on what you expect from a battle, and try to really understand how to best abuse the turn order, the rengeki attacks, status ailments, and so on.

This sounds cool. I really liked the ability in Suikoden to pick from such a diverse group of NPCs for my party, but the combat system didn't really provide much reason to do that.
 

duckroll

Member
Sounds like I'm much further than you are. >_<

I missed the second party member you mentioned because I returned by the other route, but I got the first one (duh, I'm not letting her get away!). She's actually super strong in terms of raw damage especially with the right enemies because magic is fucking OP. The catch is that you have to invest early into the strategy since it takes a couple of turns to trigger.

Aside from that, Ogniana has been a huge part of my party strategy since I got her. I only remove her from the party when I need to recharge her LP. Speaking of which, I love the way LP works here, because instead of feeling really punishing, it creates a good excuse for you to rotate your party and try different stuff. It also highlights my weaknesses to me, like when I was forced to swap Urpina out recently, and ended up barely winning a battle with 3 of the party dead because I had become too reliant on Urpina being able to shift enemy positions on the Timeline. I have Chichi, who seems like a good backup for her, but I haven't really used her much so she was much weaker.

Brave Rise is a really good formation when you're facing a bunch of weaker enemies, or enemies who are especially weak to raw physical attacks.

Since you've finished Azhuacan... some questions about the stuff before that:
- In the province before the one you sail to Azhuacan, the Earth Serpent appeared again. I actually completely ignored it. Does anything special happen if you defeat it there?

- Have you made any progress in the ghost subquest at all? Early in the game in the starting province, there are ghosts in the swamp who can't rest in peace. I picked the option to discover the fate of their king so they can rest in peace. Haven't found anything yet...

As for Urpina's role....
When you get a little further, there will be a point where she talks about dualwielding. DO NOT PASS UP THIS CHANCE. :)
 

RevenantKioku

PEINS PEINS PEINS PEINS PEINS PEINS PEINS PEINS PEINS PEINS PEINS PEINS oh god i am drowning in them
What happened to everyone else playing the game? :(

Got sick, slept for most of Sunday. Slowly proceeding, but enjoying it. Agree with what you're saying.
I've played it on both the Vita and VitaTV and it's exactly the same.
Well, that's a shame. Although I suppose that means I could do these evil hackings and stream the game.
 
There doesn't seem to be any events related to that oversized
centipede
in that map.

Regarding the
ghosts in Ronichum
, no, I haven't seen anything related to it. I went
through Tveak Tower
early in the game, though. You can go to
south of Nekwa via a boat
, but I haven't tried that. (
Jusitania is connected to it, but I can't go to it even after the return to Ronichum
.) If it's not there, it's probably farther ahead.

Yeah, I'm actually at that part with
dualwield
, though still fucking around, LOL.

I'm having a hard time making use of Brave Rise because whenever I try to use it, the game does something to prevent me (lol, the enemy with low HP somehow gets between two other enemy, so killing it = rengeki on me = dead party member). That or I prioritize something else to get the battle rewards.
 

duckroll

Member
Fffffffffffffffuuuuuuuuuuuccccccccccccccccccckkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk.

I just got blueballed HARD by Kawazu and it hurts. So I'm doing the pilgrimage of the 12 shrines stuff in Yakxalt (or however it's spelled, I should probably be taking notes of the English names of the regions when they appear but fuck it), and.....

I GET TO FIGHT THE GODDESS MACHA (shouldn't it be Wacha instead? That's what it sounds like when it's read....but the English title on the Shrine says Macha...) OMG OMG OMG! RAINBOW HARD difficulty! Am I going to get TOASTED!? Wait no, I can actually win this! I'm really close to finishing her off! And.... she escapes instead and I don't even get the battle reward items or the trophy for beating her... :/

KAWAZUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU! Also I finished the pilgrimage event after beating ANOTHER hard boss and losing more LP in the process (poor Leonard taking all those hits, lucky he has 10 LP total lol) and.......... and........... it looks like I get jack shit for it? I'm sure it triggered something somewhere, but ~it's a mystery to everybody~.

Thanks Kawazu! Hit me more! I like it! :(
 
I'm actually still at Marchia Ria.

Ria stuff below.
I like the stuff here, but how Urpina obtains dual wielding is kinda weird. On the other hand, those expressions from Mondo were gold.

I laughed at how Urpina thought Griffin was the fairy. That's one of the more unique looking fairy I have seen if he is. That or it's actually true and he's the "true form" of fairies that noone has ever seen. But god, it makes me question if I really am fighting too many Enemy Events too much (without farming?) or if this is just normal SaGa difficulty since beating him was partially luck. There was not evem a half-decent material farming area in Ria, too.

On his battle:
He only has two attacks: a normal one and an interrupt one. Urpina has Onsokuken/&#38899;&#36895;&#21091;/Sonic Speed Sword(?), which is an indirect attack to cancel that - assuming Urpina's fast enough. The other should be taken care of by the long sword counter skill. Urpina doesn't have that yet on mine. T__T

Substitute is that Stun skill, which again requires Urpina to be faster. That or pray Griffin keeps using his interrupt skill. I was banking on Stun, and that bastard keep going his interrupt skill 90% of the time. Bleh. I love/hate him.

I also liked the BGM that plays when Urpina duels him.

Marchia Ria is kinda weird. It's a map that has 'known' days, which can be seen in the Water Mirror. I wonder if other maps also had days or it's only exclusive to Ria.

I'm still trying to catch myself some fairy for that fishing miko girl.

P.S. It seems the seal is only there for story purpose? I let it die initially (which reveals some lore), but the "following week", I shooed it and nothing happened?

How the fuck do you even learn Counter skills? It seems like it either takes a shit ton of luck or a shit ton of fighting. I tried 1v5 battles with only Urpina multiple times and she didn't hirameki the fucking thing. Whyyyyy. 16 recorded hours and I still haven't a counter skill be hirameki'd. (Only have pre-learned ones when party members joined lel).
 

Arzehn

Member
Don't know where else to ask this but, this thread made me want to play other SaGa games that I haven't yet. Is there really no translation patch for Romancing SaGa 2 for SNES to this day? Want to play it on a SD2SNES but i didn't realize it wasn't available... I thought it was supposed to be the best one, the scene let me down. :p
 

Maou

Member
Don't know where else to ask this but, this thread made me want to play other SaGa games that I haven't yet. Is there really no translation patch for Romancing SaGa 2 for SNES to this day? Want to play it on a SD2SNES but i didn't realize it wasn't available... I thought it was supposed to be the best one, the scene let me down. :p
I mean, there is a glorious re-release of RomaSaga 2 in multiple languages for Vita, iphone, Android? This is not a bad way to go.
 

Arzehn

Member
I mean, there is a glorious re-release of RomaSaga 2 in multiple languages for Vita, iphone, Android? This is not a bad way to go.

Since I'm the anti-duckroll when it comes to mobile i'm still waiting on the Vita version.
There's something special about playing on the OG on snes+tube though.
 
D

Deleted member 20920

Unconfirmed Member
Got a copy from Amazon Japan and have been playing as Urpina for a while. My Japanese isn't good so the story is mostly going past my head, at least the nuances anyway. It's hard to pin point why and how but this game just screams Saga. Even though they've changed parts of the battle system. The battles are just fun and challenging enough, especially if you want to get the battle bonuses.

Hopefully this gets localised somehow. The amount of text will be a problem though.
 

Faustek

Member
Finally came yesterday



Never did have time to start it until now. Did answer everything trollishly and got Leo... Nope. Answered normally and got Urpina.... Nope. Going with Bal


And damn is that theme music beautifull.
 

Faustek

Member
it really is, the thickness and quality of the paper in the art book is exquisite.
The cds, just the print and color scheme is bold and beautiful yet basfull in it's type choice. I am in love with this specific item indeed.

Not going through the art book in full, yet. Spoilers and such.
EDIT: I have yet to open the cards as well, I have to procure something thin to hold them in place if I chose to take them out that is. Pretty sure I can fashion something that doesn't draw away attention or is to ugly.

This really reminds me how starved I was for SaGa as Legend of Legacy came and went.
 

Faustek

Member
Ok so different start with Bal, I have seen nothing of what Rev saw instead as I set out for my quarry nothing exciting has happened


Some idiot was posing as my quarry
I'm pretty sure I fucked up as I
killed ghosts in the ancient forest, they'll cut it down now, ghosts we better not know the identity of.
Killed divine beasts
Edit: it's just because I want to see the outcome if I go against common sense and allow the tower to be built quicker.

I'm basically killing everything that I shouldn't as soon as I get the chance.
 

Faustek

Member
meh, everyone and their holiday thingies. It's over people! We civilised folks do that party thing the 24 in the middle of the day so the kids can have fun then we go back to our grey dreary lives on the 25....also checked the Japanese game strategy site and boy was my hunch right. No one is playing Balmaint :D
 

Waji

Member
No one is playing Balmaint :D
Because people don't cheat at the beginning and take what the answers give : P.
Since Urpina and Leonard get a higher rate for the first playthrough, they're probably played a little more.

It's certainly not the only reason but it probably has an effect. It does on the guides.
 

Faustek

Member
Because people don't cheat at the beginning and take what the answers give : P.
Since Urpina and Leonard get a higher rate for the first playthrough, they're probably played a little more.

It's certainly not the only reason but it probably has an effect. It does on the guides.

Cheat? dear sir are you truly calling me a cheater in a Kawazu game? A Kawazu game that gives me the choice to chose? tsk tsk tsk, I am horrible hurt by the name calling....XD

Well Those two seemed as the obvious choices from the beginning that people would pick, I could also see Talia being more popular than Bal. So yes, I did ignore whatever trick Kawazu was trying to pull over me ^^
 

duckroll

Member
How's everyone progressing with the game? I'm at the tail end of the second part of Urpina's scenario now. I decided to go with the Phoenix quest in the second part. Just got the world traveller trophy for entering every region in the game the other day. Now I'm at the South corner of the world watching a silly birdman crash his glider over and over. Smh. Battles seem to be getting much harder too, so I'm struggling to swap in secondary filler members into Normal difficulty battles now to recover LP for my mains. Or maybe I just suck. :(
 
I'm... I dunno... still at the first part with Urpina.
About to make the Emperor's Great Saw
.

Enemy got too strong so I had to farm for equips. I couldn't go back to area north of
Trachini after I freed the Lochness Monster or whatever monster that was
. >__>

I'm currently at NE gaikai,
doing the mines
.
Doing the mines
is kinda making the mess again... then I remember that
I also made a huge ass mess with the volcano
in Trachini. WHY IS THE
EMPRESS NOT PANICKING WITH ALL THE LAVA AND ALL
?!?!?!?
 

Faustek

Member
I'm kinda saving and reloading to see if my actions have any direct impact that I can notice straight away. I have seen some. How suddenly a quest isn't longer there or vice versa. So stopped with it after the third area.
But now I'm going straight for my usual messed up routine. If it was a SMT game it could be likened to going for the best ending
bad ending where everything is dead
. I do have to hunt down Sigfrey, for story reasons but each
"incarnation" of his 7 lives
have a certain goal and after my work is done with them I don't even try to stop it. Going to do another play through with Balmaint after this just to see if there really is a difference when I do make my choices.

I'm... I dunno... still at the first part with Urpina.
About to make the Emperor's Great Saw
.

Enemy got too strong so I had to farm for equips. I couldn't go back to area north of
Trachini after I freed the Lochness Monster or whatever monster that was
. >__>

I'm currently at NE gaikai,
doing the mines
.
Doing the mines
is kinda making the mess again... then I remember that
I also made a huge ass mess with the volcano
in Trachini. WHY IS THE
EMPRESS NOT PANICKING WITH ALL THE LAVA AND ALL
?!?!?!?


I'm kinda worried about the farming. Wasn't that supposed to make everything harder? You know.... Like Usual :|
 

duckroll

Member
I'm kinda worried about the farming. Wasn't that supposed to make everything harder? You know.... Like Usual :|

The game is sooooort of balanced in the sense that if you farm you get to upgrade more equipment, and you need to upgrade equipment to level up the unified upgrade store level, which makes more upgrades available. So in theory, if you keep fighting battles, your party increases their HP and combat abilities, you should be sparking new skills, and you should be getting stronger equipment which can unlock even more skills, etc.

That is in theory. The flip side is that this game has a gazillion party members. Right now late in the game I probably have almost 20 characters in my party. Earlier in the game, having a lot of characters was a good thing because when my mains are down on LP I could swap out new recruits and do "Easy" battles to recover the LP of my mains before swapping them back in if there are "Hard" battles. Now I'm experiencing the problem where there aren't enough resources to really spread upgrades evenly at all, and there are too many characters to realistically use them enough such that they even gain enough skills and HP to be useful. Battles are also getting harder and harder, even "Normal" ones, so swapping a scrub party in will usually mean a wipe especially if I'm unlucky or not careful.

Enemies hit harder now and seem to have more devious strategies. I think the game expects that I have enough options and experience in the combat to be able to counter stuff on the fly, but I'm the sort of player who can be a bit stubborn with a strategy if it has worked before, so I'm struggling a bit now.
 
LOL, that's pretty much what happened to me. Was already having a hard time in Eflie, drudged through Trachini, but by the time I was at North East World Border(? or something; &#21271;&#26481;&#30028;&#22806;), some enemies were almost OHKOing my party members and two-shotting even with Weapon Guard. On top of that, my weapons were also not as updated. I was forced to go back to towns with elemental discounts and farm a few battles.

I try to maintain only 6 armors, and only one 'main' weapon for each type. I try to keep other weapons to learn techs. I just switch around their equips.

Party member wise, I have around 10 people I use and I feel it's already too big to manage. I don't even have a single waza/jutsu at Level II yet, not even Urpina. >___>

I tried leveling Chichi all the way from Bow 0 to her current level and it was not fun. And that's with Griffin. The fact that damage is also based on Weapon Skill Level kinda hinders they usability quite heavily. More so if you're using lower weapons since you want them to learn from those first.
______________________________________________________

What are you guys' enemy strength?

The only good way I know to see it is looking at Enemy Event rewards, particularly solo Normal battles. Easy is too inaccurate, while Hard ones either disappear or rare. I think Easy is 1/3 of Normal reward.

But damn, I'm not even finished with NE kaigai, but I just saw my enemy jump from 12 crystals to 16.

I'd actually pay to see the minute details on how leveling is handled (is this in guidebooks?).
 

Shizuka

Member
Masanori Ichikawa, Producer at Square Enix

Known for: SaGa: Scarlet Grace, Emperor’s SaGa, Romancing SaGa 2 remastered version
Favorite title of 2016: Pokemon GO

“We were finally able to release a new SaGa title in 2016… While I can’t make an announcement yet, I think everyone will be able to enjoy the SaGa series next year, too.”

Source: Gematsu.
 

Faustek

Member
I'm actually stupid Duckroll... I'm so stupid I haven't touched any upgrades because for dumb reason I assumed that the mobs would also follow my path and become stronger. I'm stupid *shame o shame and more shame*



I was wondering whether they would localize the vita version or make a PS4 port, and you just snapped me right back into reality.


I'm already playing it now and enjoying it immensely but a proper localisation on dedicated hardware would be delicious. Even with the trademark in Europe, I think US one as well? I'm not even fancying the thought of it making it over until Rom2 is on vita and the mobile version of SSG is out...and that's just me assuming it'll get a mobile port.

But damn, I'm not even finished with NE kaigai, but I just saw my enemy jump from 12 crystals to 16.

I'd actually pay to see the minute details on how leveling is handled (is this in guidebooks?).

Doing the bonus stuff for each battle? Also http://kamikouryaku.com/saga_sg/ nothing really super detailed yet but I assume it'll be up there as soon as people have worked it all out.
 

duckroll

Member
I don't really see how this will work as a mobile port so soon after the Vita release. Selling it for 20-30 bucks would be an insult to the fans who bought it if it's released less than a year later. They could sell it for 20 bucks and include just Urpina, with the other characters being 10 buck DLCs each, but I dunno if that would sell at all. Lol.
 

Faustek

Member
I don't really see how this will work as a mobile port so soon after the Vita release. Selling it for 20-30 bucks would be an insult to the fans who bought it if it's released less than a year later. They could sell it for 20 bucks and include just Urpina, with the other characters being 10 buck DLCs each, but I dunno if that would sell at all. Lol.

eggo the "not ready yet". Then again it's a valid question to ask "why even mention anything now if it's not ready until late next year".

Not having any hopes, I can also see it being more than just about this particular game. The quote was

While I can’t make an announcement yet, I think everyone will be able to enjoy the SaGa series next year, too

Meaning it can be anything related to SaGa.
After a bit of thought to it can be something as Arzehn said, Rom3. Meh, I'm to excited anytime something smells delicious. Should stand down and enjoy what I have now instead.
 

Faustek

Member
One thing I do dislike is those damn interruptions. Really like my caster but damn.. Arthur is just not worth the hassle atm.


It's Romancing SaGa 3 for mobile and Scarlet Grace Extend on PS4. Believe.


That I can dig actually. Anyone know how it's selling now? Because I don't see the PS4 adding anything in Japan.
 

duckroll

Member
One thing I do dislike is those damn interruptions. Really like my caster but damn.. Arthur is just not worth the hassle atm.

You know you can cancel interrupts right? Enemies with ???? on their turn order on the timeline are using a reserve skill. This could be an interrupt, or it could be a counter attack. You can use indirect attacks (&#38291;&#25509;&#25915;&#25731;) to cancel these reserve skills. I've found the best weapon skills for this are bow skills. Once a reserve skill is cancelled for that turn they are no long effective, so make sure the cancel character acts before the other attacks though, otherwise the interrupt will trigger before it is cancelled.
 

Faustek

Member
So I've been reading everyone's impressions but I'm not sure if you guys like the game or not (lol)

How is the game? Is it good?

Haha, I like it. I really do, music is top notch, combat is fun and the menu driven game play isn't hindering at all. Check Duckrolls post about it. Explains it well imo.

You know you can cancel interrupts right? Enemies with ???? on their turn order on the timeline are using a reserve skill. This could be an interrupt, or it could be a counter attack. You can use indirect attacks (&#38291;&#25509;&#25915;&#25731;) to cancel these reserve skills. I've found the best weapon skills for this are bow skills. Once a reserve skill is cancelled for that turn they are no long effective, so make sure the cancel character acts before the other attacks though, otherwise the interrupt will trigger before it is cancelled.

I missed that totally, assumed that it was them powering up.... That's what I get for not really reading those battle tips :| Well its good, forcing me to use Isaac more. I have this stubborn notion that I must use a certain team... And i Base that on their designs ONLY ^_^
 
Just beat
Saunokku
. I really thought I would lose (lol, casted Summon Lightning which somehow made it in time before he could wipe me out), but combination of Urpina and her almighty oneesama is unbeatable.

Funny thing is that
Antonius
is generally easy because he doesn't use Long Sword skills, and you know the details of all his moves.

Doing the bonus stuff for each battle?

Nah, I'm talking about the normal reward, not the bonus ones. Rewards (at least the crystal ones) increase easily in proportion to enemy strength.

I don't really see how this will work as a mobile port so soon after the Vita release. Selling it for 20-30 bucks would be an insult to the fans who bought it if it's released less than a year later. They could sell it for 20 bucks and include just Urpina, with the other characters being 10 buck DLCs each, but I dunno if that would sell at all. Lol.

No, no, no, no. They shouldn't give Urpina as starter. They should give someone harder lel. They'd end up buying other characters DLC!

Seriously, though, Urpina is really strong and she can easily mitigate some of her weakness due to the nature of
Dual Wielding
and Long Swords. Somehow, the game mechanics aligned for her. Biggest downside of course is the need to maintain two Long Swords.

You know you can cancel interrupts right? Enemies with ???? on their turn order on the timeline are using a reserve skill. This could be an interrupt, or it could be a counter attack. You can use indirect attacks (&#38291;&#25509;&#25915;&#25731;) to cancel these reserve skills. I've found the best weapon skills for this are bow skills. Once a reserve skill is cancelled for that turn they are no long effective, so make sure the cancel character acts before the other attacks though, otherwise the interrupt will trigger before it is cancelled.

Also, to add:

Interrupt actually has a higher priority than Indirect attacks. i.e. if you try to cancel a pierce interrupt with a bow tech, the interrupt will go off before the bow user performs the attack (jutsu can be interrupted as well if it fits the criteria). So far, the only non-pierce indirect attack I know is Great Sword's &#22320;&#36208;&#12426;.
 
Guys, guys, guys, which characters are hermaphrodite?????

B6bHGD2.jpg
 

duckroll

Member
Holy fuck I'm getting destroyed by the phoenix boss at this story arc. Arghhhhhh. Not even going to retry the battle. I need to be better prepared for the entire thing. Someone send help!
 
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