Jump to content

Romancing SaGa

This is a good article. Click here for more information.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Phillyphil99 (talk | contribs) at 21:29, 20 August 2022. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Romancing SaGa
Romancing SaGa Japanese SFC cover
Super Famicom box art
Developer(s)Square[a]
Publisher(s)Square (1992-2001)
Square Enix
Director(s)Akitoshi Kawazu
Producer(s)Masafumi Miyamoto
Designer(s)Akitoshi Kawazu
Artist(s)Tomomi Kobayashi
Writer(s)Akitoshi Kawazu
Composer(s)Kenji Ito
SeriesSaGa
Platform(s)
Release
January 28, 1992
  • Super Famicom
    • JP: January 28, 1992
    WonderSwan Color
    • JP: December 20, 2001
    i-Mode
    • JP: March 5, 2009
    SoftBank 3G
    • JP: March 18, 2009
    EZweb
    • JP: July 9, 2009
Genre(s)Role-playing
Mode(s)Single-player

Romancing SaGa[b] is a 1992 role-playing video game developed and published by Square for the Super Famicom. It is the fourth entry in the SaGa series. It was subsequently released for the WonderSwan Color in 2001 and mobile phones in 2009. A remake for the PlayStation 2, Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song, was released in both Japan and North America in 2005 by Square Enix.

The storyline follows eight different protagonists on quests through the world of Mardias, all culminating in a fight against the dark god Saruin. Gameplay features nonlinear exploration of the game world, with the turn-based battles featuring group formations. As with other SaGa titles, there are no experience points and character attributes and skills are dependent on actions taken in battle.

Production began in 1990, with Nintendo requesting Square develop a new SaGa entry for the in-production Super Famicom after the success of SaGa titles on the Game Boy. Series creator Akitoshi Kawazu acted as director, designer and scenario writer. The character designers were created by Tomomi Kobayashi in her first work for the series. The music was solely composed and arranged by Kenji Ito, who had previously co-composed music for Final Fantasy Legend II. The title "Romancing SaGa" was based on the adventure movie Romancing the Stone.

Later versions included cut content and features from later SaGa titles. The Super Famicom version sold over one million copies, and met with positive reception in the region. Two more Romancing SaGa titles were developed, and gameplay elements from Romancing SaGa would be used in subsequent SaGa titles.

Gameplay

A battle in the original Romancing SaGa.

Romancing SaGa is a role-playing video game where the player takes on the role of eight different protagonists, playing through their narratives and an overarching story in a nonlinear style.[2][3] After choosing a protagonist, the player explores the game's overworld freely, triggering narrative events, engaging in battles, and performing side activities. Over the course of the game a party of characters is built up, with some recruitable members being the unchosen protagonists.[3][4] Progression of the main narrative is based on the number of events the player completes, their current strength, and speaking to certain characters.[3] This free exploration is dubbed the Free Scenario System.[2]

Battles trigger when the player encounters enemy sprites in field and dungeon environments.[4] The party engages the enemy in a preset formation arranged on a 3x3 grid, which impacts both attack range and defence from enemies. Equipment for playable characters includes their current weapon and armour. Abilities use a pool of Battle Points (BP).[5] There are no experience points, with character statistics raising at random based on actions in battle. New abilities are unlocked by using weapons enough times in battle.[4][6] Winning the battle also grants the player money, used to buy items and equipment. If a party member falls, they will return to low health at the end of battle. If the entire party falls, the game ends.[5]

Synopsis

Note: The summary is based on the plot from the PlayStation 2 remake.

Romancing SaGa is set in the fictional world of Mardias. 1000 years before the game's opening, a war raged between three evil gods—Death, Saruin, and Schirach—and the benevolent deity Elore. By the end, Death and Schirach are stripped of their powers, while Saruin is imprisoned through the combined effort of ten Fatestones and the sacrifice of the hero Mirsa. The Fatestones become scattered through the world, and the powers of darkness gather themselves to free Saruin from his imprisonment.[7]

The game focuses on eight characters, each with their own narrative who are drawn into the quest to recover the Fatestones and defeat Saruin once more. They are Albert, heir to a noble lord in the region of Rosalia; Aisha, a peace-loving member of the nomadic Taralians; Jamil, a thief operating in the city of Estamir; Claudia, a woman raised by a witch in the land of Mazewood; Hawk, a notorious pirate; Sif, a warrior from the snow-covered region of Valhalland; Gray, a treasure-seeking adventurer; and Barbara, member of a travelling band of entertainers.[7]

While each character has their own personal quest, they are drawn into the quest for the Fatestones.[8] They are overseen in their quest by the Minstrel, a figure who is secretly an avatar of Elore.[9] Once enough Fatestones are collected, the chosen protagonist faces the reawakened Saruin, defeating him for good. If the game is cleared with all eight characters, a final scene shows them talking together, then setting out as a group watched over by the Minstrel.[8]

Development

Production of Romancing SaGa began in 1990, when Nintendo approached series developer Square about developing a new SaGa title for their in-development Super Famicom. The request was due to the success of the previous SaGa titles on the Game Boy. Series creator Akitoshi Kawazu was pleased at Nintendo's request, as he could make substantial improvements to his gameplay design on better hardware. There was also demand for a third Game Boy SaGa, so two projects began in parallel; Kawazu led a team on Romancing SaGa, while Square's new Osaka studio developed Final Fantasy Legend III (known in Japan as SaGa 3: Jikuu no Hasha).[10] During early production, Kawazu wanted to break away from the SaGa brand and call the game something different, but ultimately it retained the SaGa name.[11] The game's "Romancing" title was suggested by Nobuyuki Inoue, inspired by the adventure movie Romancing the Stone. Kawazu was a little mixed on the impression given by the title, but the illustrations and music helped make the game more in line with the "romantic" style implied by the title.[12] Kawazu acted as director, lead designer, and scenario writer.[13] The producer was Masafumi Miyamoto, founder and former president of Square.[13][14][15]

Production was difficult, as while Kawazu had a larger team to work with, they also faced new technical and design issues.[16] Kawazu's aim was to change the gameplay style of having a single path players had to travel, instead creating multiple stories for players to experience at their own pace, giving birth to the Free Scenario System.[17] The Free Scenario System was designed as a direct contrast to the linear story structure of Square's Final Fantasy series.[18] The eight protagonists, with their own stories within the same world, drew inspiration from taiga dramas, with the number referencing the Japanese novel Nansō Satomi Hakkenden. Albert's scenario was the first to be written. The number of characters was also due to Kawazu's wish for the formation system.[16] The narrative was difficult for Kawazu, as he needed to create a central plotline while crafting eight independent narratives.[10] Due to Nintendo's strict cart size limitations, several planned elements had to be cut from the final product.[19]

The characters were designed by artist Tomomi Kobayashi.[20] Kawazu had been looking for a suitable illustrator for some time, and when he saw samples of Kobayashi's work contacted her about working with him. Romancing SaGa was Kobayashi's first video game work, so she had to get used to the large amount of creative freedom she had compared to her previous projects. She was only ever sent a name and some elements from Kawazu, but otherwise left to her own devices.[14] Kawazu had a lot of input on what the characters were like, such as Albert being the only left-handed character, but could not have as much influence as he wanted due to other development needs.[16] Hawk's design was inspired by the character Blood from Princess Knight. Kobayashi's favorite characters were Hawk and main antagonist Saruin.[21] Kobayashi designed 40 unique characters, and at the height of her work was designing six per day.[20]

The sprites were designed by Kazuko Shibuya, who had worked for the company since the 1980s and designed character sprites for the Final Fantasy series. She created the character sprites based on Kobayashi's designs. Due to their deep narrative connections, Kawazu asked Kobayashi to design the characters before any sprite work was done.[22] An important part of the sprite design was keeping the "delicate" colours within the limited pixel art style of the game.[14] The game made extensive use of kanji characters, as hiragana writing would take up too much space, but Kawazu needed to make sure the kanji was legible, making them extra-large and going against standard 8x8 pixel limit for writing.[16] Yoshinori Kitase acted as the game's field map designer, creating the world map.[23] The graphic design staff included Inoue, Tetsuya Takahashi and Hiroshi Takai, the latter of whom would work as a designer on future SaGa titles.[13][14]

Release and versions

Romancing SaGa released on January 28, 1992.[24] It was the second Super Famicom title released by Square, following Final Fantasy IV in 1991.[25] Three guidebooks for the game were published by NTT Publishing under Square's supervision between February and May 1992.[26][27][28] A further guidebook, Romancing SaGa Destiny Guide, was published on December 20, 2001 by DigiCube.[29] The game received Virtual Console re-releases on the Wii in 2009, the Wii U in 2015, and the Nintendo 3DS in 2016.[24] Gaming magazine GamePro reported that Romancing SaGa was going to be localised in 1993, releasing under a different title.[30] Ultimately the Super Famicom version of Romancing SaGa went unreleased outside Japan, due to a combination of its potentially off-putting complexity and the amount of text needing translation.[31] An English fan translation, which required an official retail cartridge to run, was released online in 2015.[32]

In September 2000, Square announced it had begun development on an enhanced version of Romancing SaGa for the Bandai WonderSwan Color handheld system.[33] The game was ported to the platform by Kan Navi.[1] Square was one of the major supporters for the WonderSwan platform during its tenure.[34] Its non-appearance on the equivalent Game Boy Advance was due to Square and Nintendo's long-standing enmity over Square's break from them to develop for Sony's PlayStation.[10][35] According to the company, some of the original Super Famicom version's planned material was unable to be added during its original release due to memory restrictions, and that the new hardware would allow for a more "complete" version of the game.[19] The gameplay balance was identical, but they added the ability to dash, avoiding enemy encounters.[36] The newly added material includes an additional story scenario, as well as a side-quest that allows the player to gather all ten "Destiny Stone" items where previously only a few were accessible.[19] The game was released in Japan on December 20, 2001.[37] It formed part of a series dubbed "Square Masterpiece", a series of their classic titles for the WonderSwan platform.[36]

Romancing SaGa was also ported to mobile platforms by Square Enix.[24] This version was based on the WonderSwan port, with some of the graphics adjusted for mobile platforms.[38] It released on March 5, 2009 for i-mode models, March 18 for SoftBank, and July 9, 2009 for EZweb.[24] The mobile version closed in 2018, when the services for older mobile titles were shut down.[39][40]

Music

The music of Romancing SaGa was composed and arranged by Kenji Ito, who had previously worked as co-composer for Final Fantasy Legend II (known in Japan as SaGa 2: Hihō Densetsu) alongside Nobuo Uematsu.[10][41][42] Ito had helped with the sound design of Final Fantasy IV, and knew that much of the cartridge space had been taken up with the graphics, impacting the music's quality.[43] Kawazu gave no specific instructions about songs, but often requested rewrites. Ito delivered most of the score before the final four months of production, and then had more rewrite requests.[41] When creating the score, Ito broke away from the musical style of Final Fantasy IV, which had emulated fingerstyle playing, instead emulating slapping with help from sound designer Minoru Akao.[43] Compared to the "smooth" sound of Final Fantasy, Ito described the score of Romancing SaGa as "rough", using different instruments to Uematsu's work.[41] Ito was left completely burnt out after his work on the game.[44] Two soundtrack albums were released in by NTT Publishing; the original soundtrack, and an arrange album.[45][46] A remaster of the original album was reissued in 2019.[47]

Reception

Upon release, the game topped the Famitsu sales charts from February 1992[49][50][51] to March 1992.[52][53][54] By 2002, Romancing SaGa had sold 970,000 copies in Japan, ranking as the fifth best-selling SaGa title at the time.[55] As of 2004, the Super Famicom original has sold over 1.3 million copies worldwide; over 1.1 million were sold in Japan, with further overseas sales adding 150,000.[56]

Famitsu magazine's panel of four reviewers faulted the game's graphics as inferior to those of Final Fantasy, but lauded the freedom of choice given to players through its narrative and gameplay progression.[48] Super Famicom Magazine praised the game's Free Scenario System, which allowed players to repeatedly enjoy the game however they wished.[57] In March 2006, readers of Famitsu voted it the 53rd best video game of all time as part of the magazine's "All Time Top 100" poll.[58] Writing in a 2017 retrospective on the original game, Tristan Ettleman of Vice praised the game's ambitious open-ended structure compared to other titles of the time, but faulted its execution and confusing battle mechanics.[3]

Legacy

Romancing SaGa proved to be a popular and influential title within the series, popularising the SaGa series and introducing mechanics and a scenario structure which would be repeated by later entries.[16] Following the success of Romancing SaGa, two further titles were released for the Super Famicom: Romancing SaGa 2 in 1993, and Romancing SaGa 3 in 1995.[10] A manga series based on Romancing SaGa was released in two volumes by Tokuma Shoten in 1994 and 1995, written and illustrated by Saki Kaori.[59][60]

Notes

  1. ^ WonderSwan Color port developed by Kai Navi.[1]
  2. ^ Romanshingu Sa・Ga (Japanese: ロマンシング サ・ガ)

References

  1. ^ a b Kan Navi, Square (2001-12-20). Romancing SaGa (WonderSwan Color). Square Enix. Scene: Credits.
  2. ^ a b 【今日は何の日?】『ロマンシング サ・ガ』がSFCで発売された日 フリーシナリオシステムの自由度の高さに驚かされたいまなお人気のRPG. Famitsu (in Japanese). 2020-01-28. Archived from the original on 2020-06-28. Retrieved 2020-07-05.
  3. ^ a b c d Ettleman, Tristan (2017-02-03). "The Ambitious, but Flawed 'Romancing Saga' Just Turned 25". Vice. Archived from the original on 2020-07-05. Retrieved 2020-07-05.
  4. ^ a b c ロマンシング サ・ガ - System. Romancing SaGa Mobile Website (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 2011-08-10. Retrieved 2020-07-05.
  5. ^ a b ロマンシング サ・ガ 取扱説明書 [Romancing SaGa Instruction Booklet]. Square. 1992-01-28.
  6. ^ Wii Uバーチャルコンソール12月18日配信タイトル ― 『ロマンシング サ・ガ』『熱血高校ドッジボール部』の2本. Inside Games (in Japanese). 2013-12-11. Archived from the original on 2013-12-13. Retrieved 2020-07-05.
  7. ^ a b Romancing SaGa manual (PDF). Square Enix. 2005-10-11.
  8. ^ a b Square Enix (2005-10-11). Romancing SaGa (PlayStation 2). Square Enix.
  9. ^ "E3 Interview: Romancing SaGa". Play. No. 43. Fusion Publishing. 2005. p. 66.
  10. ^ a b c d e "The History of SaGa". Retro Gamer (180). Imagine Publishing: 80–85. 2018-04-19.
  11. ^ SaGa Serioes 20th Anniversary - SaGa Chronicle SaGa Series 20th Anniversary サガ クロニクル (in Japanese). Square Enix. 2009-09-17. p. 160. ISBN 978-4-7575-2646-4.
  12. ^ 『SAGA2015(仮題)』は“ふつうのロープレ”を目指して開発中! SQEX河津秋敏氏インタビュー【『サガ』シリーズ25周年記念企画】. Famitsu (in Japanese). 2015-01-21. Archived from the original on 2016-10-01. Retrieved 2017-12-24.
  13. ^ a b c "Romancing Sa-Ga". GameSpot. Archived from the original on April 30, 2009. Retrieved 2011-08-31.
  14. ^ a b c d 伊藤賢治氏によるスペシャルライブも! 「サガ20周年記念キャンペーンプレミアムファンイベント」をレポート. 4Gamer.net (in Japanese). 2009-11-02. Archived from the original on 2017-11-03. Retrieved 2020-07-04.
  15. ^ "Square Sells Stock Abroad". IGN. 2002-07-08. Archived from the original on 2017-02-05. Retrieved 2013-02-26.
  16. ^ a b c d e 新作『SAGA2015(仮称)』発表記念。河津秋敏氏が振り返る『サガ』シリーズ25年の思い出. Dengeki Online (in Japanese). 2015-01-22. Archived from the original on 2018-07-21. Retrieved 2018-09-12.
  17. ^ 「ロマンシング サガ2」のリマスターや,最新作「SaGa SCARLET GRACE」で盛り上がるサガシリーズ。その過去と未来を,河津秋敏氏と市川雅統氏に聞いた. 4Gamer.net (in Japanese). 2016-08-13. Archived from the original on 2016-08-21. Retrieved 2020-07-04.
  18. ^ ロマンシング サ・ガ. Famitsu (in Japanese) (October 1991). ASCII Media Works: 11. 1991-09-20.
  19. ^ a b c Witham, Joseph (November 5, 2001). "Romancing SaGa WonderSwan Color Details". RPGamer. Archived from the original on 2009-02-05. Retrieved 2008-12-13.
  20. ^ a b 色鮮やかな『サガ』のキャラクターたちはどのように生み出されるのか? 小林智美氏インタビュー【『サガ』シリーズ25周年記念企画】. Famitsu (in Japanese). 2015-01-20. Archived from the original on 2016-03-07. Retrieved 2017-12-24.
  21. ^ "Kazuma Kaneko x Tomomi Kobayashi – Designer Interview". Shmuplations. Archived from the original on 2020-06-15. Retrieved 2020-07-04.
  22. ^ 「最近目指しているのは,洗練された美しいドット絵,ですね」――FF誕生以前から,アルバム「FINAL FANTASY TRIBUTE ~THANKS~」までを,スクウェア・エニックスのデザイナー・渋谷員子氏に振り返ってもらった. 4Gamer.net (in Japanese). 2013-02-27. Archived from the original on 2013-03-16. Retrieved 2020-07-04.
  23. ^ "The Making Of Final Fantasy VI". Edge. No. 251. Future plc. 2013-02-14. p. 125.
  24. ^ a b c d ロマンシング サ・ガ. Square Enix (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 2020-01-06. Retrieved 2020-07-04.
  25. ^ "1995 ~ 1991 Square Enix". Square Enix (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 2015-06-29. Retrieved 2015-09-24.
  26. ^ ロマンシング サ・ガ 徹底攻略編. NTT Publishing (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 1998-02-08. Retrieved 2020-07-04.
  27. ^ ロマンシング サ・ガ 基礎知識編. NTT Publishing (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 1998-02-08. Retrieved 2020-07-04.
  28. ^ ロマンシング サ・ガ 完全解析編. NTT Publishing (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 1998-02-08. Retrieved 2020-07-04.
  29. ^ ロマンシング サ・ガ Destiny Guide. DigiCube (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 2003-01-03. Retrieved 2021-03-02.
  30. ^ "Pro News Report". GamePro (36). International Data Group: 108. 1992.
  31. ^ Lane, Gavin (2019-11-09). "Feature: SaGa Series Director On Romancing SaGa 3, The Super Famicom JRPG Heading Westwards After 24 Years". Nintendo Life. Archived from the original on 2020-06-03. Retrieved 2020-07-04.
  32. ^ Priestman, Chris (2015-07-06). "The Original 1992 Romancing SaGa Has Been Translated Into English At Long Last". Siliconera. Archived from the original on 2020-06-22. Retrieved 2020-07-04.
  33. ^ "First Look: Romancing SaGa for the WSC". GameSpot. 2000-09-08. Archived from the original on 2017-12-25. Retrieved 2008-12-13.
  34. ^ Parish, Jeremy (2014-05-08). "Exploring Game Boy's True Successor, Bandai WonderSwan". USGamer. Archived from the original on 2014-05-09. Retrieved 2014-05-12.
  35. ^ Yoshinoya, Bakudan (2002-03-11). "Nintendo and Square Settlement Details". Nintendo World Report. Archived from the original on 2011-07-14. Retrieved 2011-02-10.
  36. ^ a b 【INTERVIEW】スクウェア マスターピース 制作者対談のすべて!. Famitsu (in Japanese). 2001-09-27. Archived from the original on 2005-04-30. Retrieved 2020-07-04.
  37. ^ Witham, Joseph (2001-11-23). "Romancing SaGa WonderSwan Color Release Date Set". RPGamer. Archived from the original on 2009-06-21. Retrieved 2009-03-30.
  38. ^ ロマンシング サ・ガ - FAQ検索. Square Enix (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 2020-06-21. Retrieved 2020-07-04.
  39. ^ 「スクエニモバイル」サービス終了のお知らせ(3/31). Square Enix (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 2019-03-25. Retrieved 2020-07-04.
  40. ^ 重要なお知らせ. Square Enix (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 2020-06-21. Retrieved 2020-07-04.
  41. ^ a b c 『サガ』は自分にとっての学校。『SAGA2015(仮題)』は学びを経て挑む集大成――伊藤賢治氏インタビュー【『サガ』シリーズ25周年記念企画】. Famitsu (in Japanese). 2015-01-19. Archived from the original on 2016-05-17. Retrieved 2017-12-24.
  42. ^ "Kenji Ito's Official English Website – Discography". Cocoebiz.com. Archived from the original on 2012-02-26. Retrieved 2009-11-13.
  43. ^ a b 【ロマサガRS】サントラ発売記念インタビュー。大胆なアレンジの理由から、スーファミ時代の音へのこだわりまで……ゲーム音楽ファン必読の秘話が満載【プレゼント】. Famitsu (in Japanese). 2019-05-13. Archived from the original on 2019-09-15. Retrieved 2020-07-04.
  44. ^ 『サ・ガ2 秘宝伝説』いま振り返る、ゲームボーイ時代の音楽。河津秋敏氏&伊藤賢治氏インタビュー. Famitsu (in Japanese). 2018-09-22. Archived from the original on 2019-11-10. Retrieved 2020-07-04.
  45. ^ ロマンシング サ・ガ オリジナル・サウンド・ヴァージョン. NTT Publishing (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 1998-02-08. Retrieved 2020-07-04.
  46. ^ ロマンシング サ・ガ 「ラ・ロマンス」. NTT Publishing (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 1998-02-08. Retrieved 2020-07-04.
  47. ^ 「ロマンシング サ・ガ」の楽曲を名シーンとともに楽しめるサントラ「Romancing SaGa Original Soundtrack Revival Disc」が本日発売. 4Gamer.net (in Japanese). 2019-10-09. Archived from the original on 2019-12-10. Retrieved 2020-07-04.
  48. ^ a b (SFC) ロマンシング サ・ガ. Famitsu. Archived from the original on 2016-03-17. Retrieved 2016-03-17.
  49. ^ "Weekly Top 30 (2月14日)". Famicom Tsūshin (in Japanese). No. 167. 28 February 1992. pp. 14–5.
  50. ^ "Weekly Top 30 (2月21日)". Famicom Tsūshin (in Japanese). No. 168. 6 March 1992. pp. 14–5.
  51. ^ "Weekly Top 30 (2月28日)". Famicom Tsūshin (in Japanese). No. 169. 13 March 1992. pp. 14–5.
  52. ^ "Weekly Top 30 (3月6日)". Famicom Tsūshin (in Japanese). No. 170. 20 March 1992. pp. 14–5.
  53. ^ ファミコン通信 Weekly Top 30. Famitsu (in Japanese). No. 171. ASCII Media Works. 1992-03-27. pp. 14–15.
  54. ^ "Weekly Top 30 (3月20日)". Famicom Tsūshin (in Japanese). No. 172. 3 April 1992. pp. 14–7.
  55. ^ アンリミテッド:サガ. Dorimaga (in Japanese) (19). SoftBank Creative: 46–47. 2002-10-25.
  56. ^ "February 2, 2004 – February 4, 2004" (PDF). Square Enix. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 13, 2012. Retrieved 2008-12-13.
  57. ^ 8月情報号特別付録 スーパーファミコンオールカタログ'93. Super Famicom Magazine (August 1993). Tokuma Shoten: 45. 1993-08-01.
  58. ^ "Japan Votes on All Time Top 100". Edge Online. 2006-03-03. Archived from the original on 2008-07-23. Retrieved 2008-12-20.
  59. ^ ロマンシング サ・ガ 1 (in Japanese). 1994. Archived from the original on 2021-03-02. Retrieved 2021-03-02. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
  60. ^ ロマンシング サ・ガ 2 (in Japanese). 1995. Archived from the original on 2021-03-02. Retrieved 2021-03-02. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)