Reviewed on:
Playstation 2The Good:
Catchy background music, high replay value, and the randomness of non-linear gameplay.The Bad:
Unnecessarily complicated gameplay, restrictive camera angles, sloppy dungeon controls, and outdated storytelling.The Verdict:
There are better games for hardcore role-players to spend their time on.
REVIEW:
Artwork for the SaGa series always has an unmistakable otherworldly touch. Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song's instruction book depicts timeless watercolor works by Tomomi Kobayashi. So where is all that beautiful art in the game?
Since this is a 3D remake of a 2D game, the characters received new designs to fit new limitations. The characters of Minstrel Song appear 'super deformed' (with a large head and small body) in proportion but they lack the cuteness that such designs normally have. In an ironic twist, the visual presentation falls flat because of the graphical upgrades.
Players select from eight characters of differing backgrounds and base classes. As in SaGa tradition, each character's replayable game is the same story from another point of view. Character strengths and classes can change or develop however you like but the start of the game has a bias towards parties with strong melee characters and designated healers.
Being someone who enjoys the rare chance to play as a Dancer in any RPG, I began my first game as Barbara the Entertainer. Barbara has an event scene rendered in Sketch-Motion Animation (the same technique seen in Unlimited: SaGa), showing off her captivating flamenco performance. Finding event scenes like these turns out to be one of the motivating factors for replaying.
The challenge with Barbara's short game is the need to build her up before taking on some bosses. Building characters up early in the game is a very easy task. The game encourages players to try their luck against hard monsters, rewards them accordingly, and adjusts the difficulty afterwards. A Quicksave function makes reset needy situations risk free. As with other RPGs that use a difficulty scaling system, raising character strength outside of boss battle preparation is not recommended.
Voices accompany every line of dialogue in the game, building the expectation for a meaningful script. Unfortunately, Barbara's personality and story is non-existent. All the character games focus on completing several unrelated tasks. When your character is strong enough, the final task is offered. Barbara's story is shorter than the rest of the cast, while the other characters are only marginally better. Having not played the original game, I can only guess that the minimalist script is untouched. The world story — usually told through a narrative complete with artwork stills — unfolds similarly for all characters but has little to do with their actual progress. Players who need direction won't appreciate the lack of a greater objective.
Figuring out what to do can be done by revisiting towns and talking to everyone. All towns serve the same basic functions such as resting, talking, recruiting, or shopping. By listening to generic NPC stories about dungeons, wilderness areas, and other towns, the game unlocks the menu option to travel there. Traveling between known locations occurs somewhat like a lame Street Fighter pre-battle screen — where an airplane represents the challenger supposedly moving across the map — except that an arrow represents your party supposedly traveling to the destination. It's also possible to find new areas by walking into them from marked exits found in some areas. Aside from that, there's no real exploration needing to be done. Towns are rarely more than a few screens in size and most buildings cannot be entered.
The highlight of visiting a new area is the possibility of finding another character to add to your party. Getting a new character usually results in opening more possible quests for progression. There are over a dozen possible characters to meet and finding each is a quest in itself. With the disappointing lack in personality amongst the main and sub characters, the only way to differentiate between anyone is by battle strength or costume color. There are a few unique designs but just about all of them reuse animations, making each character a lot less special.
