I’ll be the first to admit I know next to nothing about the series, but that mystery is what makes Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven all the more interesting to me. Why? Well, it might be the best RPG we’re getting all year, based on my playtime with it during an off-site PAX West 2024 event.
That’s high praise, considering I’ve devoured most of the other big-name JRPGs of 2024. That includes the likes of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Persona 3 Reload, and Unicorn Overlord. Square Enix isn’t messing around this this one, folks.
Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven‘s Generational Knowledge
There’s one main concept in Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven I am absolutely enamored about. I want to learn more about it, and I only got a small taste of it in this demo. That is the idea that the knowledge and abilities from your characters are passed down to the next generation, all in effort to vanquish a great enemy.
Just as Romancing SaGa 2‘s Steam page says, this fight will last for thousands of years. Your aim is to destroy the Seven Heroes — rest assured, they are now quite evil and deserve what’s coming to them. But to deliver them their just deserts, it will be a long and arduous conflict, indeed.
You play as a ruler, and you will head the conflict to vanquish your foes. My demo begins near what is presumably the start of this journey, with the empire’s capital falling under attack by a bunch of goblins. These goblins are no match for your party of heroes — heroes that will pave the way to victory, no matter how many years it may take.
I’m getting a little carried away with my descriptions here, but that’s just because I’m so excited to see how passing along generation to generation plays out. I loved this very concept in various Fire Emblem games, and Romancing SaGa 2 seems to take this a step further. Though, let’s not forget, this is a remake of a very old title!
Some Good ol’ Fashioned Turn-based Combat in Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven
Of course, you’ll only gain the knowledge to defeat the Seven Heroes by engaging in various conflicts, so these goblins serve as a good start. While Romancing SaGa 2‘s combat is relatively straightforward to begin with, you soon get a feeling that this it’s building to something greater.
Early on, this “building to something greater” element is most prevalent in the Glimmer system. This is a way in which units learn new abilities. A lightbulb icon is noted next to certain abilities, and if you keep using them, you might “Glimmer” and learn a brand new ability. It’s a nice little dose of dopamine to learn a new, more powerful attack in the middle of combat.
We dispatch the goblins in the capital easily enough, but the next part of the demo takes us to a cave full of goblins and other creatures. Dungeon-crawling is one aspect to Romancing SaGa 2, and it plays out like Persona 3 Reload or Persona 5, for example. Enemies are in the overworld, you can sneak attack them for an advantage, and turn-based battle ensues.
Combat flows smooth and fast, meaning no conflict should last too long. Your characters have various weapon types and elemental spells, which exploit the weaknesses of enemies. Again, it’s standard JRPG mechanics with turn orders, the ability to defend and more, but it’s all very polished.
It’s worth a mention, the ability to build your characters seem pretty versatile, as were my choices of companions. Building your party is going to be a lot of fun, especially considering the various formations you can use. These pre-made formations put party members in a certain position in order to gain the upper hand.
Some formations give you a strong frontline and protect a weaker party member in the back, while others put one strong member at the front. You’ll get stat increases or decreases to stats like speed, depending on your formation. Use what’s proper for the situation at hand. As a tactics nerd, I can’t wait to see how these play out.
We eventually conquer the dungeon, but not without a bit of struggle. Again, exploiting the weakness of enemies is key, and that’s something that will most definitely be important later on if the later dungeon I played is any indication.
Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven and the Next Generation
The second dungeon skips a generation. The main character of the first part of the demo is now a young woman, rather than a man. I have a party full of unfamiliar heroes, and all of them are much more powerful than the last party. Generational knowledge truly is powerful!
This second dungeon takes place within an underwater, sunken area. There’s a shipwreck, various sea creatures, and waiting at the end of it all is one of the Seven Heroes. By this point in the demo, one of the Heroes has been vanquished, but six more remain.
Fighting past skeletons and other creatures in a gorgeous and colorful underwater environment, I reach the boss at the end. I was clearly in over my head, as this tentacled monstrosity of a man named Subier emerges from the depths. This is one of the Seven Heroes!
And he gives my party a right proper thrashing. Either I wasn’t exploiting his weaknesses well enough, or this was the end of the road for one generation of characters. After all, Romancing SaGa 2 will span many year and battles, and not all of it will be successful.
I’m itching to get back into the fight. I want to put an end to Subier, but more than anything else, I want to see just how far this generation system can go. The tight turn-based gameplay and excellent visuals are also nice to have. Like me, this will likely be the first SaGa game for many players, and what an impression it’s made so far.
Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven was previewed at an offsite event during PAX West 2024.
