SaGa SCARLET GRACE: AMBITIONS™

Every SaGa game feels like you've stumbled upon a really popular video game series from an alternate timeline. Somewhere in the multiverse is a dimension where these games became more popular than Final Fantasy, and I want to live in that world. It is maniacal, free-form exploration and turn-based combat in a pop-up world. There are no towns or dungeons at all, it is soul-crushingly low budget. The worst SaGa game, but it scratches a JRPG itch that nothing else out of Japan can.

At it's core, SaGa Scarlet Grace is four stories in one. At the outset, you get to pick one of four protagonists, either 'randomly' through the ingame quiz or directly by choice. Each protag has a main storyline, and while following it, each one also dabbles in two of the other three storylines, until they eventually come up against the end boss. Having not played previous SaGa games, I don't know if the Firebringer is a recurring villain, but in terms of the story, I'd be remiss not to mention that I was somewhat disappointed, since while he's alluded to during the main events, he largely just comes out nowhere as the big bad breaking free from his chains, while the stories largely focus on world elements working to release him. The gameplay mostly boils down to a continuous stream of fetch quests. You go from place to place, fight the enemies, move on to the next place, and so on and so forth. The world is pretty large, with 20 zones all of which have their own zonewide story as well as the elements of protag storyarcs. Where the game excels is that a lot of the locations within the zone evolve based on your actions. It's not uncommon for towns to be destroyed, others to pop up,…

One of the most overlooked RPGs of all time. It's hard to reccomend SaGa to most people but this is a must-play for any enthusists of the genre as it has an in-depth combat system to master and story events aren't TOO obtuse. (I'd reccomend running multiple save files of the same playthrough though, just in case an event doesn't play out the way you want it to and you need to go back.)

Great worldbuilding/lore. Pretty serviceable n minimal story. Really good combat. Not as hard as people say.

Fate weaves through every choice Four heroes walk different roads Ambition shapes the world

weird combat