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SaGa Series Goes To Smartphones With Emperors Saga

By Spencer . December 6, 2011 . 12:58am

SaGa Series Goes To Smartphones With Emperors SagaAfter Unlimited SaGa boggled fans with its board game meets slot machine system, Square Enix briefly revived the SaGa series with a bunch of remakes. Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song kicked off the SaGa renaissance followed by two Game Boy to Nintendo DS conversions.

 

The next game in the series will be released almost a decade after Unlimited Saga. Square Enix has Emperors SaGa for GREE slated for a summer 2012 release. This mobile phone game will be a freemium title, meaning it’s free to play, but some items will cost money.

 

SaGa Series Goes To Smartphones With Emperors Saga

 

Square Enix says the game’s genre is RPG (surprise!), but no other details about Emperors SaGa have been revealed.


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  • Andrew Austin

    “The next game in the series will be released almost a decade after Unlimited Saga.”

    Goddamn I feel old now

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1443425328 Manuel Antony Marcano

    I’m an immense SaGa fan, been playing since we got Final Fantasy Legend and absolutely love the series. This boils my butter, seeing one of my favorite series ever relegated to social gaming and may never see another localized title.

    Not a happy turnip, not a happy turnip at all.

  • http://twitter.com/katamariTo Juliano Cuomo

    Why S-E? WHY!!!!!!

  • http://twitter.com/FaithlessMr Bruno Silva

    That piece of artwork….nostalgia. It does take me back to the olde SaGa times. I really wish SE considers this one up for localization sometime in the future.

    I don’t understand though. SE is all over westernalization, making games for the west etc…the SaGa series is perhaps one of the most “westernized” jrpg series (not counting the Demon Souls, Dark Souls and other From Software Rpgs ofc), in a way that the SaGa games always blended in both jrpg and wrpg archetypes so seaminglessly.

    So it would be the perfect way to cater to the western rpgs crowd :P SE, you should start bringing over the SaGa games to the west. And we’ll all forget that Unlimited Saga ever existed, k? :3

  • Raidou

    So it was ten years ago that I spent all my money on unlimited saga limited edition just to see the ffX-2 prologue..? Was and still is the only thing that made that game worth buying back then in my opinion!

  • WizardoftheBlueOrder

    I really wouldn’t call Unlimited Saga a “board game”. It’s more like moving D&D miniatures across the terrain the game master has created.

    And @Raidou:disqus @twitter-255766266:disqus : Unlimited Saga is a fairly deep game with some good mechanics and systems. If the steep learning curve prevented you from enjoying it, that’s a shame, but if you can actually learn the mechanics, it’s pretty good. Story’s kind of hit or miss depending on the character, but can’t have everything. (And yes, the game doesn’t teach you the mechanics, and the instruction manual for the US version is borderline useless. Sit down with the youtube tutorials by im_biggy or Joewoof’s FAQ on GameFAQs if you have the time and drive to give the game another shot.)

    And…well, I’m going to agree with @facebook-1443425328:disqus . Not a happy turnip here, as we simply don’t get GREE games.

    Is Kawazu even working on this? I mean, it’s HIS series.

    • http://twitter.com/FaithlessMr Bruno Silva

      I believe that we’re getting GREE games on iOS/android soon? At least that’s what I read in andriasang. So that would mean we could perhaps be getting a chance to play this one here.

      I understand that once you fully understand the mechanics of Unlimited Saga, you feel rewarded, but….the fact that it relies mostly on luck other than actual strategy annoys me. I’d prefer knowing that what happens in battle is mostly dependent on my strategic skills (or the lack of the aforementioned skills in some situations :P) rather than pure luck. It was meant to play like a board game where luck is what keeps you moving, yes, but I don’t think that works fine on a rpg.

      • WizardoftheBlueOrder

        I don’t understand what you’re talking about. Whether the RNG is hidden or made visible, there’s always luck. The reels that spin once you’ve sparked a skill will always be the same, and you can get the timing down pretty solidly.

        Your “strategic skills” in any other RPG still have a distinct luck factor. U.Saga’s about as much “pure luck” as most RPGs, as there are dedicated and obvious techniques and tactics to use. You just get to see the reels spinning opposed to it being a hidden system. Luck isn’t what keeps you moving, that’s a misunderstanding of the game, and this is why I’m saying you should learn the mechanics. But again, it’s up to you.

        The learning curve is steep, but when you sit down and take a look at it, you’ll realize that you can take the reins and be in control and that the system isn’t as complicated as it looks at first glance. There’s a lot to learn, but if we look at something like…say, Pokemon, mechanically, there’s a lot to learn there too.

        Matter of drive and time. Worth it? That’s up to you, but most people I know who really took the time to sit down and understand how to play the game found playing the game to be rewarding. It wasn’t just understanding the mechanics, but actually playing and enjoying the game.

        I recall that you’re right, we’re getting some GREE games. Guess I should just be hopeful then, eh?

    • Raidou

      Yeah I think I will actually! It was a beautifully designed game overall and I did actually like some of the characters so perhaps I’ll give it another shot. Admittedly it was the odd battle system that turned me off before but maybe now that I’m getting relatively sick of the mundane, run of the mill battle systems we’re subjected to these days I’ll find it refreshing?? We shall see!

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=594742092 Robert M Fenner

    …oh :(

  • leadintea

    According to andriasang, the game is supposed to have you play as an Emperor or Empress to create a city. It reminds me a bit of Romancing SaGa 2 in that sense…

    • http://twitter.com/FaithlessMr Bruno Silva

      My thoughts exactly, it instantly took me back to Romancing SaGa 2 as well.

  • Solomon_Kano

    That artwork. Incredible stuff. With the news that GREE games are set to become available on iOS and Android “internationally” (still waiting on them to clarify how far that goes), I find myself actually interested in them now.

  • http://twitter.com/FaithlessMr Bruno Silva

    What I don’t understand about the fans of this game is that they always assume we “did not understand” the games mechanics and that is the reason why we like ‘em. I’m sorry, but that is not a valid assumption. Even if you think that the wheels are easy to control, that still doesn’t mean you would always do in battle what you wanted to do.

    Also, while there is always luck involved in anything, in “regular rpgs” you at least know what commands you’re choosing and you therefore have to deal with the consequences of said commands. If your commands work effectively or not? That’s luck yes, but in U Saga everything had a wheelspin to it, and I think that ended up hurting the game. I would prefer a more traditional, non “board game based” gameplay. But that is not to say I do not understood the game mechanics, I simply think their idea did not worked as well on game format, even if it sounded amazing on paper.

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