Welcome to Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song Remastered International, the latest version of the PlayStation 2 remake of a classic Super Nintendo RPG. Romancing SaGa is a Square Enix property that rarely gets the spotlight compared to its siblings like Dragon Quest or Final Fantasy. That’s a shame, as there’s a lot to love about it.
Will your SaGa be full of song and romance?
Get your adventuring gear ready, there’s much to see
The story of Romancing SaGa is not your typical affair. It focuses on eight characters, each with their own narrative and motives, who are ultimately drawn into a quest to recover the Fatestones and defeat the evil god Saruin. Each is observed by the Minstrel, a figure intrigued by the heroes.
The story beats follow a quest to recover the aforementioned McGuffins to defeat and seal away the big bad, but the way that quest is carried out will be very different. Romancing Saga itself is extremely non-linear, meaning that even if you play the same hero, you may not end up following the same path. Different side quests are available that you can choose to pursue or ignore, and random events may occur (such as one where my town got invaded by monsters, and I lost access to all its functions).
What to expect when you’re setting out on your journey
The core gameplay is turn-based combat, where you select skills for each encounter. A unique aspect is weapon durability: each weapon has a meter that decreases when used. Some skills don’t affect durability (indicated by a zero or yellow number), while others consume more durability (shown by a red number). These values depend on your character’s proficiency with the weapon and any modifications made at blacksmiths.
The Weapons and Armour themselves can be bought from stores, found in chests, or even dropped by enemies. All of them can be altered at the blacksmith, ranging from extra durability at the cost of power to weapons, and with armour, you can choose to power up physical defence at the cost of magical defence.
The levelling system is a peculiar one. You need to use gems (which are found after battles) to level up your class and proficiencies, giving you the freedom to change your character’s classes, which in turn makes weapon choices with associated skills stronger, on top of passive powers in the likes of searching for traps, treasures, and even climbing.
It’s Character Development
Actual character levels, however, don’t really exist; the levelling is closer to Final Fantasy 2. After combat, you will be granted attribute levels such as strength, vitality, etc, which appear to be tied to an unseeable meter.
Maps are an interesting thing to come by and a tool you will want for your journey. While in towns/villages/cities, you will meet a small boy who, when you speak to him, will give you hints and advice. He acts like a tutorial, giving information about the game’s various mechanics and functions, and providing you with a map of the town IF you ask for it. Dungeons and world maps, however, you will be expected to explore and find what is hidden within their areas.
Party members are naturally a thing you are going to find in an RPG, and Romancing SaGa also does this differently, too. There are no set party members (outside your starting hero). As you travel the lands, there will be a multitude of recruitable heroes, some of which are the other starting characters, while others add to the non-linearity of the game.
You’ve read how it plays, so how does it look and sound?
The character models and art have a baffling harm to them, somewhere between Chibi and that PlayStation 2 realism. It makes sense, since it’s a remaster of that particular version, stuffed to the brim with quality-of-life additions and far superior load times.
The environments, enemies, and models are in that beautiful, crisp HD, while some environments have an odd haze that many remasters seem to have. The soundtrack and general sound design appear to be upscaled while retaining that early 2000s Square Enix musical styling. Nearly everything is voice-acted, from the main characters to shopkeepers, and NPCs you find across the world, the full works.
So what new additions have been added in the International edition?
For fans of Romancing SaGa, we were told back in 2024 that a new release of Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song would be coming, with a new price tag, yet the details seemed a little confusing and conflicting. On the various store pages, it boasts new game plus, new scenarios, HD textures, and new localisations.
Out of the above, only one of those is new to the international edition, which is the new languages in text form, and these are French, German, Italian and Spanish. However, outside of that, the only other big difference I’ve seen or found compared to the 2022 digital release is that the game will now have a physical version.
So, is Romancing Saga worth purchasing?
Romancing SaGa is still an RPG that I wholeheartedly enjoy, from the non-linear world to the party and gear management, it all strikes a particular chord that I love in a game. Understandably, this may not be the same for everyone.
If you are fresh to the series and come into it expecting it to be in the vein of Final Fantasy, you will be in for culture shock. Yet if you are a fan of games with a non-linear plot, and enjoy the freedom a game allows you to lose yourself in them, this may be the game for you.
Being a re-master of a remake, it certainly has charm in spades, along with the need for quality-of-life changes from its PS2 remake. Personally, I will be giving it 8/10 mainly due to the fact it’s a higher price than its 2022 release with the main feature being four new text languages, which is great for people who couldn’t play it due to language barrier but for those who could then it seems an almost unnecessary purchase digitally and would be best of going for the physical.
Platforms: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, iOS, Android, Microsoft Windows
Genres: Role-playing Video Game, Adventure game
Developers: Square Enix, Square Enix Co., Ltd., Bullets Co., Ltd., Bullets
Publishers: Square Enix, Square Enix Co., Ltd., Square Enix Inc.
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