When looking at Square Enix’s long list of classic RPGs, Romancing SaGa 2 wasn’t the first one I’d think of for a huge ambitious remake — but I’m now extremely glad we’re getting one. After getting to play through a roughly two-hour demo of the remake Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven, it’s clear this isn’t just some simple update, but a completely rebuilt and astoundingly gorgeous remaining of the classic RPG. Square Enix has gone all out for this one, and it should be on any RPG lover's radar.
Romancing Saga 2 was originally released on the Super Famicom in 1993 and didn’t officially make its way West until a port on mobile phones in 2016. It’s gained something of a cult classic notoriety over the years, largely because of its extremely open-ended formula that has players going through a story that spans generations, using the Inheritance System to pick successors that carry on your story. So much of that game’s experience hinges on exploring its world, piecing together its mechanics, and finding dozens of diverging plotlines that truly makes each playthrough feel unique.
At its core, Romancing SaGa 2 is a Final Fantasy-like turn-based RPG, but the brilliance of the game lies in how it constantly subverts tropes and expectations. At every turn the story goes unexpected places — and the game demands that you learn and master its complex systems and combat. SaGa has never been the easiest series to get into, largely because of its absurd complexity, but it feels like this remake might change all that. This could be SaGa’s big chance to break into the mainstream, but there’s another reason Square Enix chose this game to remake specifically.
“Romancing Saga 2 was unique when it was released in 1993, and is still unique by today’s standards. We felt a remake would be an effective way to communicate this idea to a modern audience,” producer Shinichi Tatsuke tells Inverse, “We’re aiming to bring in new fans with this game. To achieve this, we’ve completely redesigned and modernized the game system starting with graphics and battles, making the entire game much more intuitive to understand.”
That idea of reviving Romancing Saga 2 is clearly something the team took to heart, as this remake almost feels bold and fresh in nearly every way. The most obvious way that’s happening is with the game’s aesthetic, a bold new visual style that’s genuinely jaw-droppingly gorgeous. I have no hesitations saying this is one of the best-looking games of the year — sporting a highly stylized anime aesthetic that’s dripping with color and personality.
This visual style gives the remake a uniquely distinct flavor that, somehow, still manages to feel in line with the original game. Full voice acting and good cutscene camera work also help instill the beginning of this story with much more weight and emotion. It feels similar to what Square Enix did with Trials of Mana, and interestingly, the same development team from that remake is working on Romancing Saga 2.
“Trials of Mana was another project where a 2D-pixel game for the Super Famicom was made into 3D, and we used that as a base,” Tatsuke says, “However, because the atmosphere of the worlds feature in Mana and SaGa are different, we made some adjustments, like making the character proportions taller and the background more realistic.”
Using Trials of Mana as a base was clearly a smart move, as Romancing SaGa 2’s new visual style leans heavily into medieval architecture and high fantasy. That jump to 3D alone makes the game feel drastically more modern, but Square Enix has also layered in a handful of smart gameplay changes.
The jump to three dimensions, of course, fundamentally changes how you interact with the environment and exploration, and at least early on, the areas you visit feel much more expansive and dynamic, with some light platforming elements weaved in between. The world feels rich in detail, from foliage swaying in the wind, to citizens bustling about their daily business in towns. Exploration is obviously still key to the overall experience, but to make the game more approachable, the remake adds waypoint markers to provide more guidance.
Perhaps the most impressive change, however, lies in the game’s phenomenal turn-based combat. Tatsuke directly references 2018’s RPG hit Octopath Traveler as an inspiration for some of the changes, with each battle now using a timeline-based system for turns. Battles are quick and intuitive, giving you a party of characters that you can outfit with different weapons and skills. Taking advantage of enemy weaknesses is key, but the remake still retains the novel leveling system of the SaGa series.
Instead of gaining general experience, your characters level up based directly on what they use in battle. Using a sword will grant you sword experience making that character more adept with the weapon, taking damage will boost your health (HP), and using skills can help boost your battle points (BP).
It’s a smart system that’s been made even more easy to grasp in this remake, and combat in general has a nice sense of challenge — you constantly need to manage your character’s BP, discover enemy weaknesses, and take advantage of status effects. There are also extra elements, like Ley Lines that can strengthen specific categories of spells, or formations that gives your party stat boosts. Even just two hours in there’s already a lot of depth, and considering the original game’s fantastic combat, I have every expectation it will only get even better.
Two hours is a paltry amount of time to test out everything that’s in a massive RPG like Romancing SaGa 2, but I’m undeniably enamored with this remake after just a small snippet. The sheer level of quality and care put into this experience is astounding — so much so that it practically feels like an entirely new game. But making what’s old feel new again might be the entire point.
“This is an RPG that allows you to experience drama that spans thousands of years, beyond the life of a single person,” Tatsuke says, “While it is, of course, necessary to create completely new games, I believe it’s also important to revive classic games.”
