Romancing SaGa 3 - Review @ RPG Site

Romancing SaGa 3 Review

Romancing SaGa 3 is a classic JRPG that originally released on the Super Famicom back in 1995. Like its predecessor in Romancing SaGa 2, against the odds, the game has now been remastered and is making its first official release in the west. To begin describing the nature of this series is somewhat difficult, as SaGa games often utilize rather obtuse gameplay systems that break the conventions that other traditional RPGs tend to have.

The story of Romancing SaGa 3 starts with the presence of the Morastrum, a death eclipse that will wipe out all lifeforms every 300 years. In each Morastrum, there will be a lone survivor that will end up as the child of destiny that will either save the world or bring it to destruction.

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Along with the graphics, the soundtrack is also superb, with Kenji Ito's composition ranging from intense battle themes to soothing themes, transitioning effortlessly to match the atmosphere of each environment. Needless to say, the soundtrack hasn't aged one bit.

Although Romancing SaGa 3 is a wonderful game, I hesitate to recommend playing this game without any prior knowledge of the series or knowing what to expect. The obtuse nature of the game is very different from many other traditional RPGs, and I advise interested new players to go into the game with an open mind. Veterans of the series, on the other hand, will know what they're getting into, which is essentially the definitive version of Romancing SaGa 3: a port that improves aspects of the game without ruining the appeal of the original. Hopefully, Square Enix can give some of their other retro titles the same treatment they gave for this game.

Score: 8/10

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JFarrell71 said:

Those games were all well below 8 out of 10 when they were new releases. Games aren't wine.

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JFarrell71 said:

Those games were all well below 8 out of 10 when they were new releases. Games aren't wine.

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duerer said:

SaGa games are notorious for being reviewed objectively. Was the case back then and
more so today.
In fact, they are so original (even to this day), that most of their unique features are considered as bugs or design errors for some.

For the uninitiated:
Surprisingly for a jRPG, SaGa games are modeled after the Western D&D games of old:
- non-linear, exploration based gameplay, so this is not a narrative heavy jRPG
- complex, nuanced gameplay poorly explained, so this is not a simple-to-understand jRPG
- heavy on RNG and demands effective improvisation, so this is a "hard" game and you cannot play it on autopilot like so many jRPGs.

Intrigued? Try it out!
Tried out and enraged? I can understand.

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Carnifex said:

I'm curious about this game but I've not played either of the earlier ones, so perhaps I'll start with those first.

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