Saga Frontier

by Sony

Product Features

• 140 hours of gamelay.
• 30 regions of time and space to explore.
• Deep battle and magic system.
• Features the free scenario system for highly open-ended gaming.
• Only on playstation

Product Details

• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B00002STPF
• Media: Video Game
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (41 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,937 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)

Product Description

GameSpot Review

In theory, SaGa Frontier seems to offer more bang for the buck than any RPG ever created. After all, this newest installment in the Japanese Romancing SaGa series gives you seven separate adventures for seven different characters (whom you choose at the quest's outset). For the most part, this seven-games-for-the-price-of-one approach works fairly well - as long as you don't go into SaGa Frontier expecting to play seven Final Fantasy VIIs.

Although Square claims SaGa Frontier packs more than 140 hours of gameplay, each of the seven adventures lasts no more than 15 hours in length. These separate plots are surprisingly different from each other, thanks mainly to the game's enormous world (which packs everything from castles to cyberspace). Yet the quality of the individual stories ranges from gripping to so-so (the robot and superhero characters have particularly good plots). Unfortunately, the huge world needed to contain all these stories is the big culprit here, giving rise to gameplay that's too nonlinear and plots that are sometimes unfocused. I got sidetracked a few times when I battled through a dungeon that turned out to be only useful to another character's story. The difficulty varies wildly between characters, too.

Although Saga Frontier's combat system may be nothing special to look at (except for plenty of obligatory flashy spell effects), it is refreshingly novel for an otherwise traditional RPG. As in a few ancient role-playing games such as Earthbound and Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest, you can see enemy parties scurry about in the dungeons, thus letting you avoid them and dodge a time-consuming bout of turn-based combat. (Nevertheless, some enemy parties spring from nowhere and engage your party before you can escape.) You don't have to worry as much about hit points during combat, either, since they recharge automatically between battles. Instead, you must conserve weapon points, which you spend to unleash powerful attacks. You can also chain the attacks of your party members together to unleash spectacular and devastating combination strikes. Learning these will take some trial and error, though, and you'll hit on many combos by simply experimenting and mixing up your attack strategies.

Graphically, SaGa Frontier is a mixed bag. It packs plenty of well-done pre-rendered backgrounds, their quality approaching those in Final Fantasy VII. At the same time, the sprite-based characters don't mesh well with their environments and could definitely use a few more frames of animation during combat. You'll also run into the where-the-hell's-the-exit problem occasionally encountered in Final Fantasy VII, in which it was sometimes hard to discern a path through the background clutter.

All in all, SaGa Frontier is a solid, if not exactly stellar, RPG that'll certainly keep you busy for a while - or at least until you tire of its occasional lack of focus. With more-engrossing role-playing titles like Breath of Fire III on the way, however, you can certainly live without this latest from Square, or at least keep it and its seven quests as standby mini-RPGs between the major releases. --Crispin Boyer EGM
--Copyright ©1999 GameSpot Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of GameSpot is prohibited. GameSpot and the GameSpot logo are trademarks of GameSpot Inc.

Product Description

Enter a vast frontier where seven quests are taken one hero at a time. A wizard's dark destiny a woman's revenge even a robot's search for his soul. Seven amazing adventures that weave into one - yours.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not your Average Game, February 15, 2006

By 

ArtemisDream "ArtemisDream" (Duluth, MN USA) - See all my reviews

= Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Saga Frontier (Video Game)

I must say, when I first picked up Saga Frontier years ago I wasn't all that impressed.

It was later that this game impressed me, mayhap cause I was caught, like everyone else in the hype of Final Fantasy 7, and the game showed its real colors and style.

Yes, you get lost in some of the rich background art and landscapes, but honestly what games don't you? Ever since the PSX came out the rich graphics, the touches of detail, even the shading has foiled us old skool gamers who were used to a rich storyline while making due with little to no real graphics. Saga Frontier goes above that though. Some call the stories dumb, some call them retarded. There are a few storylines I wasn't all that fascinated with, but most of the time, this game has and still snares me in its web, where i'm willing to play it over and over again, even if i've achieved all the characters endings.

Theres always something new you can do, some way to achieve a newer, stronger combo, or even just get a skill you never knew existed before now. I never used a strategy guide for this game, though there was times I really wish I had had one, and I always found it enjoyable.

On to the technical aspects and gameplay.

1) The 2d sprited characters in a rich background. Thats a long time played thing, and always successful. The sprited characters look good overall in the game, though there could have been a few better animations for it.

2) Gameplay: I found, overall, that the gameplay of Saga Frontier was quite unique. It combined a lot of elements from various different games I enjoyed. The learning of new skills based on what weapon/moves you do reminds me of the secret of mana series. The combo system reminds me of the much beloved Chrono Trigger. You have the stylized turn-based combat system that was popular before, during and after this game's time. You also have the unique stat leveling system, where your stats were gained by what you did, like if you used magic a lot, the stats that influenced magic damage and more got higher whereas if you used specific combat skills/weapons those related stats grew.

3) Storyline: Some say that the storylines for it are pretty dumb, or downright stupid. I tend to disagree. There are some not so good spots in the story line, but you run into that all the time in many RPG's Overall, the storylines for the seven characters were all unique and if you played your game right, you could even get others in your party and see how their storylines intersected your own story.

4) Music: To be honest with you, I loved the music for this game. The songs are catchy, the paces, tones, rhythyms are all nice. I must say that I think they didn't use the full power of the soundcard in the Sony Playstation and it could have been better. The music was good enough for me to purchase the 3 disc soundtrack for Saga Frontier. I think the music is well done and the songs suit the areas for which they are made very appropriately(specifically the music that is played in Facinaturu for Asellus).

Downsides:

1) Graphics: The lush backgrounds are just too lush at times, dragging down the gameplay cause you have to spend so long finding a zone out spot you need.

2) Gameplay: The combo system and the skill learning system can be downright confusing. If you don't use the right skills you might never pull off the combo you want, making it hard to do. This adds a good dimension of challenge to the game, but can get frustrating.

3) Storyline: It does seem a bit repetitive when you have to do some things over and over again for each character and at times, the story seems a bit too childish.

4)Music: My only complaint here is that Square did NOT use the full capability of the Sony Playstation for its music. The music was wonderfully done, but Square poorly put it in game, diminishing the overall strength of the music.

Overall: 4.5 stars(can't do 4.5 in the ratings) This game was a lot of fun for me for a very very long time and still is. To this day I continue to enjoy this game and the music. I think that square could have done a few tweaks in the game to make it a 5 star game, but overall, one of the best games I ever played on Sony Playstation.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars saga frontier, July 16, 2003

By 

dave - See all my reviews

This review is from: Saga Frontier (Video Game)

this game is truly awesome.some people dislike it because of the reptitiveness but how many RPG's have you played where things dont eventually repetitive.at least you get to be repetitive with seven different characters!

the game has a lot to offer for the player who is willing to take the time and effort to build their characters.
the main downfall in this game is that some of the characters have unbelievably boring story lines.(Lute!!!!)
so if you do purchase this game chose the characters you use wisely.

good(in order of my favourite)
asellus
red
t26og

average
emelia
blue(apart from the ending)

poor
riki
lute(!!!!!!)

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not bad, but a long game, September 12, 2001

By 

Katharine Mott (Wichita, Kansas USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Saga Frontier (Video Game)

Another one of square softs RPG but certainly not one of there best. On the other hand it is quite challenging and most certainly long.

You have your choice of 7 differn't characters with 7 differn't stories. Red, Blue, Asellus, Riki, Tz60G, Lute and Emelia. Varying from mage, to robot and even a couple of just plain fighters. Each one has its own storyline and missions, with its own ending.

PROS: Graphics and music go together nicely, Challenging and interesting storylines. One of its strongest points is the combo's your characters can do. As you select which tactic of battle you want each member of your party to do it can create combos that can inflict serious amounts of damage. Saving anyplace is one of the best things about this game!

CONS: With over 140 hours of game play it gets very repeditive. Granted each character has differn't story lines, most end up taking the same quests. A bit on the dull side after you have beat a few of the heros.

In a nutshell this is a good game. Certainly one that I recomend you beat one character or even two, then put it away for a while so you don't become sick of it.