Romancing SaGa 2 is now widely available outside of Japan. A variety of platforms are now able to play this unique game. But, the nature of it might through folks who are new to the series. It does not behave like other Square Soft JRPGs from its time period, after all. People are following a kingdom over generations, developing it and each era’s ruler in the hopes of building to something greater. It can be intimidating if you’re coming at this open-ended adventure for the first time and don’t know quite what to do. Fortunately, it is its unique tendencies that make it so special.
In Romancing SaGa 2, you begin by choosing an avatar for yourself, then not getting to play as him or her for a very long time. This is because before you can be that character, you have to develop the kingdom of Avalon and fight the Seven Heroes. That might be a little confusing, because you would expect a group of people known as the Seven Heroes to be good guys. And they were, once upon a time! But things happened and now they are all demons assaulting the innocent. You start out with Emperor Leon and his son, Prince Gerard, but eventually go through various rulers you choose as you go through various generations. As a new successor takes the throne, the Dynasty Inheritance passes skills and learned knowledge to the new king or queen.
Which makes Romancing SaGa 2 a bit of a rogue-like, since death is never the end. Your characters will have LP, life points that determine if they are 100% dead after a certain number of fights. You can get LP Potions, which can keep someone alive longer, but these should never be used during the course of normal play. Any LP Potions should be saved until you are at the very end of the game and in a party that contains that ruler you made in the very beginning. That character is the only one that will cause a game over if they die, so it is critical to save LP to use on them if the situation is dire.
Your motivating factors in each Romancing SaGa 2 generation are to try and make Avalon’s situation a little better than before. This happens via a number of ways. One is by Glimmers. By giving characters equipment or having them use martial arts, they may occasionally experience a Glimmer in battle. This will allow them to learn a new skill. Which is helpful, because every battle you participate in makes subsequent battles against both standard enemies and the Seven Heroes more difficult. (Grinding is not necessary in this game.) Winning in battle, losing in battle, or even running from a battle increases the difficulty of the next one.
Having multiple battle formations is important, as placement of characters can make it possible to better protect people and prepare for enemy attacks. You earn more by naming people who aren’t Avalonian as rulers, then going to the castle’s Formation Room and speaking with the guard to unlock new ones. Going around and talking to people whenever you find them will tip you off to new locations and events, which will give you access to new things to do in the game.
New classes are important too, as it increases the diversity of your party. There are over 20 available. Many of them appear as a result of completing quests in new areas or discovering them as you play. The two newly added classes, which only appear if you chose to have new content appear in your game and from what I can see are in the new Maze of Memories that has additional equipment, items, and money. (I have only found the Ninja in the Red Maze, not the Exorcist yet.)
Finally, there is investing. Investing in the kingdom is probably the best way to improve yourself in Romancing SaGa 2. You can head to your throne to begin investing in various elements of the kingdom to benefit your actions and activities later on. The one thing you should absolutely fund as soon as possible is the Magic Research Facility. Magic is hugely beneficial both in the short term and long term, as spells can capitalize on weaknesses and you can use the facility to see if folks are suited to dark magic by checking if their logic is high. Setting up an Orchard early on, when it is proposed, will give you a means of earning additional cash for future investments. It is also important to keep an eye out for Avalon University, so new sorts of equipment will be discovered as you participate in battles.
Romancing SaGa 2 takes a lot of effort and experimentation. Especially since the game itself has some issues when it comes to telling you what to do, in that it does not really bother to explain much. But as long as you are willing to sacrifice some of your time, a lot of your in-game money, and multiple generations of characters in the name of incremental advancements, you can march forward and make significant progress. You can find more places to go, learn more skills and spells, and uncover new formations. It takes time, but could be worth the effort.
Romancing SaGa 2 is available for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Xbox One, PC, and both Android and Apple iOS devices.
