Best SaGa Games Of All Time – Switch And Nintendo Systems

Makai Toushi Sa?Ga, given the Final Fantasy label in the West, is the very first game in the SaGa series. It’s an incredibly complex game for its time, but often obtuse by today’s standards. While its two sequels improve upon the template laid down here, RPG traditionalists will still find much to like in the original game. Although it was designed to be a shorter experience more suited to a portable machine, it’s a tough little game and still worth a look all these years later.

Romancing SaGa 2 is a really intriguing JRPG. The combat system has a great sense of depth thanks to its distinctive take on levelling, the inclusion of formations and how the player is held accountable for each party member. The kingdom management aspects also provide a greater sense of player agency and helps set it apart from conventional role-playing games. Due to this design, the story and character development – including the dialogue throughout – aren’t quite as refined as other Square Enix titles. Regardless, the entire concept has aged surprisingly well – even by modern standards.

Is Collection of SaGa Final Fantasy Legend for you? Well, that really depends on one huge factor. Did you play these games as a kid? If so, then this compilation may be worth the punt for a nice trip down memory lane. If you don’t fall into that camp, however, it’s difficult to recommend picking this up. These three games are simply okay when at their best, and rather disappointing when at their worst. The hard truth is that both your time and money are much better spent on the mountain of new or old RPGs you can buy for the Switch. There are worse games out there, but there are much better ones, too, and Collection of SaGa Final Fantasy Legend really only has value as a curiosity or nostalgic piece.

Final Fantasy Legend III is a fitting end for the trilogy of Game Boy games; a very solid RPG experience that features a surprising degree of depth. If you like your quests long and your combat systems very basic and traditional in design, you’ll find much to like in this release, although you might find it a little tedious if you’ve got used to more modern RPG trappings. However, RPG enthusiasts are old hands when it comes for flirting with tedium in classic titles, and there’s still plenty to enjoy in this game – the final in the SaGa series to carry the ‘Final Fantasy’ moniker in the west.

Romancing SaGa – Minstrel Song – Remastered‘s ambitions and achievements still feel fresh today. The open-world system is remarkably well-implemented and the multiple-protagonist approach feels modern even in a game that has been on the market for decades, but control issues, the vague nature of the game, and a slow progression system drag it down. Unfortunately, this is a cult classic JRPG that is less than the sum of its parts.

SaGa Emerald Beyond has a deep and satisfying combat system that gets its hooks into you from the jump. There’s a lot of narrative content across its five adventures, as well as a diverse collection of characters, but very little that truly grips the attention. Still, if you’re a fan of the series, you’re bound to love this one, and the combat is so rewarding that if you love tinkering, you might just fall for this one.

Final Fantasy Legend II improves on every single aspect compared to its predecessor. A brand new playable race — robots — has been added, it’s now easier to get spells on mutant characters, and humans now need to gain stats and not just buy them. This is also the most clearly-defined story of the first three SaGa games and of the trilogy — all available via the Collection on Switch — this is probably the easiest to get into.

SaGa Frontier Remastered sees Square Enix’s cult classic JRPG looking and playing better than ever, with a lovely HD lick of paint and lots of restored content and quality of life improvements providing hardcore fans with an experience they’ll doubtless enjoy. However, this is still a game that’s aged quite poorly in many respects; an idiosyncratic, eccentric and infuriating experience that refuses to guide you or help you in any way, and one that, in the end, is quite hard to recommend to anyone who isn’t already a fan.

It’s both easy and difficult to recommend Romancing SaGa 3 as it’s a title that you’ll either love or hate with very little room for a middling response. If you’re a newcomer to the RPG genre, we would recommend you pass on it and circle back later on, as this is a game that assumes a certain baseline knowledge of RPGs and it seldom explains mechanics to you in a satisfactory fashion. If you’re more experienced with RPGs, we’d give it more of a recommendation, but with the caveat that this is a game that will demand patience and careful study to fully enjoy. Either way, Square’s did a great job of prettying up this delightfully obscure RPG for western audiences.

As the first brand new SaGa game since 2002’s PS2 exclusive Unlimited SaGa, SaGa Scarlet Grace: Ambitions absolutely delivers. The combat is thrilling, the music is fantastic, and it still has all of those SaGa quirks you know and love — or don’t love. The story could be better, but overall, this is the most-approachable SaGa game to date and the easiest recommendation we can give in this series.