Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven is a role-playing game I was formally introduced to during PAX West 2024. Described as a full 3D HD remake of the 1993 classic, Revenge of the Seven aims to offer players non-linear exploration, a detailed succession system, and unique gameplay mechanics.
After spending over 40+ hours in this world, I can confirm that I’m blown away by how incredible this game is. Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven is a perfect remake and one of Square Enix’s best RPGs released this year. Here are more of my thoughts on why you should try it out.
An Emotionally Impactful Storyline
Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven Heroes tells the epic story of seven legendary heroes who were banished to another dimension because the ancients feared their powers. Thousands of years later, the forgotten heroes return as fiendish villains alongside legions of other creatures hellbent on getting revenge and taking over the world. As the Emperor of Avalon across various generations, it’s your job to define your legacy by saving the world, expanding your realm, and defeating the Seven one by one.
While this story may sound familiar to those who played the original game, the developers have worked effortlessly to add new backstory moments about the Seven heroes. As you play through the campaign, you find these memories intricately hidden in various parts of the world. Once you find and interact with these objects, you’re presented with cutscenes that show the heroes working with each other and the moments that lead up to their tragic fall from grace. It was a brilliant decision to add these backstories because it makes these characters more three-dimensional by fully displaying their personalities, motivations, and shortcomings.
The concept of the main story revolving around fighting these battles over successive generations is what sold me on Romancing SaGa 2. While you start the game as Emperor Leon and eventually play as his son Gerald, you inherit the knowledge and skills from whoever came before you. Once Gerald’s story arc ends, you can choose the next successor from a handful of options across varying classes that expand as you dive deeper into the storyline.
The narrative takes many exciting twists and turns and remains captivating throughout. The continuous fiend battles can feel a little repetitive sometimes but the intense boss battles more than make up for this in every way possible. You’ll be challenged by the Seven encounters especially if you and your allies aren’t properly equipped for battle but it’s a ton of fun going at them and very rewarding once you win. There is currently a demo of this game that you can try out to get a feel for the overall experience and your progress carries over to the full game.
Dissecting The Inheritance System
Romancing SaGa 2‘s inheritance system is a brilliant concept with one noticeable drawback. While I love that you can inherit traits from the previous Emperor, it is a little annoying that some of the same characters you interact with are still around 80-100+ years later. For example, the guards, trainers, and blacksmiths I worked with are still the same and don’t age or change over time.
I understand this might sound silly to complain about but it’s a valid point since you as the Emperor and your crew change each generation. Each class has a character that fundamentally looks the same but all of the unlocked abilities can carry over to some of them too. As I will describe later when developing and expanding Avalon’s infrastructure, many of these things change too. To sum it up, parts of the world and characters evolve in time so it would have been nice if this carried over to the people you do day-to-day business with but it doesn’t completely diminish the value and uniqueness of this feature.
Incredible Visuals
When the original Romancing SaGa 2 was released 31 years ago, it was a 2D-pixel art-stylized game. The Trials of Mana team stepped in as the developers for this remake and successfully created a beautiful 3D HD world. The animations are fluid and character movements flow perfectly between cutscenes and gameplay. The character models look phenomenal and languages have been fully localized into French, German, and Spanish.
With the PlayStation 5 version, I didn’t encounter any performance issues. One bug I experienced came later in the game on a quest mission where I had to meet a character at an inn. Once I moved on to the next generation, my newly appointed Emperor was able to complete the quest. I’m not sure if this was a bug or part of the game as it takes time for certain events to play out. Regardless, the game never crashed for me even after long gameplay sessions. I’ll be curious to see what PS5 Pro features could be added to this title to enhance things further.
Addictive And Deeply Ambitious Gameplay
Romancing SaGa 2 gameplay is best described as a meticulously satisfying immersive experience. The three central pillars fall under combat, exploration, and development. Shortly after choosing your emperor, it’s recommended that you visit the pub where you can pick 4 battle party members.
These characters are generated across various classes and you have full control over their weapons, magical powers, armor, and equipment they can carry while on the battlefield. You can unlock new class types after helping certain characters tied to that class type. There are 30 different classes to explore as you progress further in the storyline.
When choosing battle party members, I recommend paying close attention to their level ranking as well as their Life Points (LP), Health Points (HP), and Battle Points (BP). Health Points and Battle Points are self-exclamatory as both can be depleted during fights and replenished with balms and spirit liquors that you find stashed with loot throughout each location.
Life Points are crucial because once a party member goes down one life is deducted from their points. You can choose to revive them but when all of their LP has been exhausted, they are gone for good. This is an important tip in boss battles because your eagerness to defeat the enemy may lead to other teammates dying permanently including yourself.
As you navigate through the areas infested with monsters, you can run past some of them even though they are alerted of your presence. If you come into direct contact with them, then the battle sequence is initiated. Once the fight starts, you’ll see the screen pictured below which displays a combat order timeline for both sides.
You’ll experience in real-time how certain attacks can weaken an opponent. As your characters continue to level up, they can unlock new tech and spell abilities that can be used immediately. Once you have done enough damage and built up your attack gauge, you can pull off a devasting United Attack with two or three teammates. Every battle isn’t the same as you’ll be tested with certain encounters but the journey of these uncertain moments adds to the overall excitement.
One final thing worth mentioning about combat is the importance of formations. While at your home base in Avalon, you can visit a training hall where you’ll learn evasive tech maneuvers and new formations. Avoiding devasting magical attacks from enemies is crucial to your survival. Placing your warriors in the right formation can help or hurt your strategy. Seeing the board makes you feel like you are playing a game of chess and thinking about strategy only makes you better prepared for every battle. You’ll continue to unlock more formations as you progress through the storyline.
Outside of combat, Romancing SaGa 2 is a game about exploring all the territories outside of Avalon. While 13 territories can be conquered, smaller surrounding communities on the map can be explored. Some of these same districts are tied to new classes and storylines. If you’re a fan of collectibles, you’ll be happy to know that many treasure chests and secrets are scattered in almost every area. There is also a side character named Mr. S that you can spot in different places to earn additional perks.
After you explore an area, you can use fast travel to visit again at any given time. Mark the area you want to go to on the map and you’ll see an option to travel there immediately. This isn’t an open-world game which is great because exploration is more straightforward and fun. Having the freedom to go to previously unlocked places on the map makes completing new quests in these areas fast and easy.
The final pillar of the gameplay experience revolves around building up Avalon over time as the designated administrator. Completing story missions, discovering loot, acquiring new territory, and defeating bosses are the keys to getting the capital and tools needed to develop Avalon’s infrastructure. Here’s a list of a few things that can be created and leveled up over the generations:
- Smithy – Blacksmith base where upgraded weapons and armor can be developed
- Imperial University – School where students can learn how to become leaders of tomorrow
- Incantations – Establishment where new spells can be learned and upgraded
- Avalon Garden – Garden area where a tree is built and agriculture can grow
Need a break from the battlefield? Why not stop by the Imperial University and take exams to earn rewards? These fun exams are based on events in the story and test your knowledge of key events. The Incantations base is ideal for learning more about honing your magical abilities. Adding these other activities to the game gives you a sense of community growth and allows you to experience different things besides combat.
An Outstanding Soundtrack
Romancing SaGa 2 has a stellar soundtrack thanks to the return of the original composer Kenji Ito. He has created new arrangements for this remake. Players can also switch between the original and new soundtrack in the options menu.
The music succeeds in evoking the emotional highs and lows shared by key characters throughout the game. Even after playing Romancing SaGa 2, I remember key moments in the game and the music that aligned perfectly with these events. I expect many of these memorable songs to stay stuck in my head for a while and I’ll get the soundtrack one of these days.
Final Verdict
If you can’t tell by now, I enjoyed every minute of playing through Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven and I don’t plan on stopping anytime soon. It’s a flagship example of how a remake should be made and one of the best RPGs that Square Enix has released this year.
This review was written based on a digital review copy of Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven for PlayStation 5 provided by Square Enix.
