Sq. Enix has discovered a number of success in recent times revisiting the Nineties in quite a lot of methods, whether or not it’s the HD-2D remake 1994’s Live A Live again in 2022 or this yr’s diorama-inspired 3D remake, Dragon Quest 7 Reimagined. The corporate’s first providing on this vein for 2027 is a remake of a SNES recreation identified for its non-linear storytelling, a number of protagonists, and weird minigames — Romancing SaGa 3: Destinies United. Throughout a 30-minute preview occasion at New York Comedian Con, I used to be immediately pulled in by the sport’s charming visuals and its distinctive riff on turn-based fight.
Regardless of being a ‘90s RPG superfan, I truly haven’t performed Romancing SaGa 3 till now. (In typical Sq. Enix vogue, the collection has seen intermittent releases and re-releases outdoors Japan through the years, together with a 2019 pixel-art remaster of this recreation.) For my demo, I used to be in a position to decide on between an early, story-focused part or a mid-game slice with tougher fight. I selected the latter, and shortly discovered myself weaving down a verdant subterranean cave. Cute but imposing enemies trundled forward on the trail, leaving me the choice to scurry previous or slash at them as a way to kick off a turn-based battle.
The quick attraction of Romancing SaGa 3’s fight system is embarrassingly easy: massive quantity go brrrrr! Granted, this was a mid-game demo, however I used to be pleasantly stunned to seek out customary assaults and spells doled out 1000’s of factors in harm. After a pair fights, combos and charged team-up assaults tipped these numbers effectively into the five-figure area. What can I say? Doing 34,000 harm directly simply feels higher than 340. This can be a truth of life. Flashy interstitials and swelling numerals on-screen don’t damage both. There’s a whiff of Final Fantasy Resonance’s gacha-esque thrills to the battle presentation, although this emphatically isn’t a gacha recreation.
The SaGa video games don’t have a conventional expertise level system, so a personality’s well being and/or stat attributes will improve on the finish of a battle as a substitute. In that respect, a personality’s construct is formed by the actions you select repeatedly in battle — suppose the RPG model of “you’re what you eat.” You possibly can be taught new skills that construct upon your present loadout by the Glimmer system, which is able to present a light-bulb icon subsequent to sure expertise within the fight menu. You solely have so many ability slots, although, so that you’ll have to switch older, weaker ones with the extra highly effective stuff.
All that’s simple sufficient to understand, however the place Romancing SaGa 3 will get actually unconventional is in its HP and revival mechanics. Your well being robotically regenerates after a battle, however not your Battle Factors (BP), that are used for expertise and magic. In case your HP falls to zero, you might be “revived” with an odd therapeutic merchandise, however you’ll lose a Life Level (LP). Every character has a set variety of LP, and when you lose all of them earlier than getting again to an inn or restoration level, they’ll completely disappear out of your roster.
You possibly can have as much as 5 social gathering members at a time: one in all eight primary characters and 4 optionally available recruits. For this preview, my social gathering consisted of Khalid, a sleek swordsman with an extended, swooping ponytail, the Zorro-esque Robin, and a snowman referred to as Flurry. (Apologies to the opposite two I can not bear in mind; I’m fairly certain one in all them was a lady?) Anyway, Flurry is actually two plain-white spheres stacked atop each other with massive frowny eyebrows, and I really like him. I respect that Sq. Enix (and co-developer Xeen Inc.) saved this pointedly fundamental design even amid an in any other case splashy revamp. Apparently Romancing SaGa 3 has a ton of oddball optionally available recruits similar to this, together with a lobster-person and an obese Robin impersonator referred to as — await it! — Fats Robin. Take into account me offered.
I didn’t have large expectations round Romancing SaGa 3, however I got here away delighted by the delightfully chaotic fight and weird solid of characters. What’s extra, the visuals have an interesting, candy-colored sheen that’s just like Dragon Quest 11. This positively seems like an enormous step up from the 2019 remaster, and I’m excited to spend extra time with this one in a couple of months.
Romancing SaGa 3: Destinies United will probably be launched for Nintendo Swap, Swap 2, PlayStation 5, Home windows PC, and Xbox Collection X on Feb. 16, 2027.