SaGa Frontier Remastered - Review @ We Got This Covered

We Got This Covered reviewed SaGa Frontier Remastered:

SaGa Frontier Remastered Review

Square Enix’s mid-to-late 1990’s output is one of the strongest runs by a single publisher I can remember. From the iconic Final Fantasy releases to cult hits such as Parasite Eve and Brave Fencer Musashi, it seemed like top-notch titles were dropping every few months. Smack dab in the middle of that was the PSX debut of the SaGa franchise. Akitoshia Kawazu’s cult series flourished in Japan but has struggled to find an audience here in North America. Perhaps sensing there was still untapped potential, the series is being born anew with the release of SaGa Frontier Remastered.

Originally released after Final Fantasy VII blew up the charts, SaGa Frontier must have been quite the surprise for those unaware of its origins. Square chose to follow up its mega-smash with an esoteric, brutally uncompromising RPG that was unlike anything else on the market. It’s a game that refuses to hold your hand, hardly explains any of the complicated systems in it, and can be soul-crushingly tough if the wrong decisions are made. I avoided it when it first came out, due to both my young age and the mediocre reviews it garnered. Having now played through it, I can safely say that its unique take on the genre is still worth experiencing today.

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20 years later, and SaGa Frontier Remastered is just as off-beat and original as it was upon release. The combat engine is convoluted and difficult to understand, but incredibly enjoyable once you put the work into it, and the open-world design is remarkably well done. To top it off, Square Enix has done an excellent job of bringing the title into the modern era. From the beautiful sprite work to the added extra content, the studio has added plenty of content to an already cherished game. There are still issues to be had — particularly how poorly explained some of the mechanics can be — but it’s still a great release that newcomers and veterans alike should be able to enjoy. We can only hope this will lead to later installments in the series getting the same excellent treatment.

Score: 4/5