There are some very obvious games to recommend for those just jumping into this franchise viaSaGa Frontier Remastered. Those would be more games in the series such as last year’sCollection of SaGawhich saw the first three Game Boy games released on Switch.
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The newest game in the series isSaGa: Scarlet Grace, also a good recommendation alongside the two Super Nintendo ports ofRomancing SaGa 2andRomancing SaGa 3. For those wishing to venture outside the walls of SaGa to games with familiar premises of multiple character scenarios and similar RPG combat, these ten are worth trying out.
10Trials Of Mana
One could go two ways on this. Players could relivethe SNES classicvia theManacollection on Switch, or they can choose to play the remake. The original has co-op while the remake doesn’t but the remake is a remake of course so it does have updated mechanics to make things more adaptable in 2021. Either way SaGa fans will dig it because it offers a plethora of characters to choose from at the start all of whom have their own branching narratives.
9Legend Of Mana
It might seem weird to recommend twoManagames, but each have their own unique play styles to differentiate one another. This game doesn’t have much of a story with the player character as the star.
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Instead it offers branching pathways depending on how one creates the map. Placing an icon in a certain location could alter events. Best of all it’s getting a remaster on PS4, Switch, and PC on June 24 so keep it in mind.
8Octopath Traveler
As the name might suggest, this game has players going between eight playable characters. All of them have their own stories, starting off in different places in the world. The graphics are a throwback to old school RPGs of the 90s like onthe Super Nintendobut with some HD visuals to boot. It’s a cool concept but some downsides are the excessive grinding and the narratives not coalescing into one grand adventure.
7The Legend Of Legacy
The Legend of Legacylaunched on the 3DS in 2015 and was seen as a spiritual successor to theSaGaseries. At that point the franchise had all but died off from Square Enix so the developer, FuRyu, took on the challenge. There are multiple characters to form a party with in the beginning of the game, but unlike some other picks, they don’t have their own stories. It’s kind of like thefirstFinal Fantasyin that is is mechanics first, story second which is more like background noise rather than an actual narrative.
6The Alliance Alive
The Alliance Aliveis a sequel to that game’s concept, also from FuRyu, but also technically is its own thing. This game has more of a narrative presence and party members are gained throughout the adventure. The combat of theSaGagames is still alive and well though with every action used being a catalyst to level that skill up. It wasa 3DS releasein 2018 in North America, but a year later it got an HD update for Switch and PS4, making it easier to pick up and play now.
5Final Fantasy VI
Of all the games in the series, the most obvious recommendation toSaGafans would beFinal Fantasy II. It was basically the prototype for the first game as it has the same combat. However, the game itself is just okay.Final Fantasy VIis argued as one of the best by fans and does have what manySaGafans may love. While the story will always be the same, the narrative often branches off of itself to look at different parties of characters to give the game a more narrative or film like approach to its storytelling. Plus the party in general is huge.
4Dragon Quest IV
BeforeFinal Fantasy VIcame out, Enix beat it to the punch with this idea in 1990 on the NES viaDragon Quest IV.It wouldn’t hit North America until 1992 though. The beginning of that game is like a bunch of prologues with players jumping into new situations with different characters all of whom eventually meet up. The game itself is a traditional RPG like the rest of the franchise but this character setup does set it apart from the others. The best way to play it would be the mobile version or the DS version although that’s hard to get now.
3Dragon Age: Origins
Getting away from the Japanese side of RPGs for a moment, let’s take a look at the West withDragon Age: Origins. Players not only can choose a class but their race will decide where they are placed in the world and how they are treated.
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It was, and still is, BioWare’s most ambitious game they ever made. The execution may not have been realized to its full potential but it was still a grand effort. It is backwards compatible on the Xbox consoles which adds a lot of functionality to it like better load times.
2Fire Emblem: Three Houses
This was the biggest departure for the series yet. It gave players three options of in-game Houses to follow, all of which had their own stories and characters. Going through it three times easily took hundreds of hours but for the diehard fans, it was worth it. It’s a tactical RPG so it is different from many of the others on here but variety is the spice of life as they say.
1Bravely Default II
Bravely Default IIdoes not have a lot in common with theSaGafranchise. The battle system is fairly simple except for the Brave and Default commands. There are no branching narratives and there are only four playable characters. The recommendation then is for those that want to play a modern game but one made in an old school way. That has been the guiding design behind all three of these games so it’s worth checking out on Switch.
NEXT:10 PS1 Games That Got Remakes (& What They Were Released For)
