is a series of
science fantasy role-playing video games by
Square Enix. The series originated on the
Game Boy
The is an 8-bit fourth generation handheld game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on April 21, 1989, in North America later the same year, and in Europe in late 1990. It was designed by the same t ...
in 1989 as the creation of
Akitoshi Kawazu
is a Japanese game designer, director, producer and writer. After joining Square (later Square Enix) in 1985, he went on to become a central developer for the first two ''Final Fantasy'' titles, then acted as creator and lead developer for the ...
at
Square
In Euclidean geometry, a square is a regular quadrilateral, which means that it has four equal sides and four equal angles (90- degree angles, π/2 radian angles, or right angles). It can also be defined as a rectangle with two equal-length a ...
. It has since continued across multiple platforms, from the
Super NES
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), commonly shortened to Super NES or Super Nintendo, is a 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan and South Korea, 1991 in North America, 1992 in ...
to the
PlayStation 2. The series is notable for its emphasis on
open world exploration,
non-linear branching plots, and occasionally unconventional gameplay. This distinguishes the games from most of Square's other franchises.
Development
The ''SaGa'' series was created by game designer
Akitoshi Kawazu
is a Japanese game designer, director, producer and writer. After joining Square (later Square Enix) in 1985, he went on to become a central developer for the first two ''Final Fantasy'' titles, then acted as creator and lead developer for the ...
, whose contributions prior to the franchise's introduction include ''
Final Fantasy
is a Japanese video game, Japanese science fantasy anthology media franchise created by Hironobu Sakaguchi and developed and owned by Square Enix (formerly Square (video game company), Square). The franchise centers on a series of fantasy and ...
'' and ''
Final Fantasy II
*
is a fantasy role-playing video game developed and published by Square in 1988 for the Family Computer as the second installment of the ''Final Fantasy'' series. The game has received numerous enhanced remakes for the WonderSwan Color, the ...
''. At a time when
Nintendo's
Game Boy
The is an 8-bit fourth generation handheld game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on April 21, 1989, in North America later the same year, and in Europe in late 1990. It was designed by the same t ...
was becoming popular worldwide due to the puzzle game ''
Tetris
''Tetris'' (russian: link=no, Тетрис) is a puzzle video game created by Soviet software engineer Alexey Pajitnov in 1984. It has been published by several companies for multiple platforms, most prominently during a dispute over the appro ...
'', then-Square president
Masashi Miyamoto requested that a development team create a game for the handheld console. Kawazu and fellow designer
Koichi Ishii
, sometimes credited as Kouichi Ishii, is a video game designer perhaps best known for creating the ''Mana'' series (known as ''Seiken Densetsu'' in Japan). He joined Square (now Square Enix) in 1987, where he has directed or produced every game r ...
suggested that the company develop a
role-playing video game, thus making ''Makai Toushi Sa·Ga'', later released in North America as ''
The Final Fantasy Legend
''The Final Fantasy Legend'', known in Japan as ''Makai Toushi SaGa'', is a video game released for the Game Boy in December 1989 by Square Co. It is the first game in the ''SaGa'' series and the first role-playing video game for the system. S ...
'', the company's first handheld title. The gameplay was designed to be difficult, described by Kawazu as the main difference between the ''SaGa'' and ''Final Fantasy'' series. The character illustrations in all the games in the ''SaGa'' series were done by Tomomi Kobayashi, who has also done the illustrations for the
MMORPG ''
Granado Espada
''Granado Espada'' is a Korean fantasy MMORPG developed by IMC Games Co.,Ltd. Originally released in South Korea in February 2006, the English localizations were launched in the summer of 2007 in North America and Southeast Asia. ''Granado Espad ...
''. Although it has been a long-running series, as of 2008, none of the ten
production teams at Square Enix is assigned to the franchise. Akitoshi Kawazu and Production Team 2 are devoted to the ''
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles
''Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles'' is a series of video games within the ''Final Fantasy'' franchise developed by Square Enix. Beginning in 2003 with the game for the GameCube, the series has predominantly been released on Nintendo gaming ha ...
'' series.
Common elements
The ''SaGa'' series emphasizes
nonlinear gameplay
A video game with nonlinear gameplay presents players with challenges that can be completed in a number of different sequences. Each player may take on (or even encounter) only some of the challenges possible, and the same challenges may be played ...
and
open world exploration, with its open-ended branching plot and free style of character development separating it from the more linear ''Final Fantasy'' series, which was ahead of its time
[ Like the ''Final Fantasy'' series, however, the story in each ''SaGa'' share little to no continuity to one another.
The ''SaGa'' series is also considered a successor to '']Final Fantasy II
*
is a fantasy role-playing video game developed and published by Square in 1988 for the Family Computer as the second installment of the ''Final Fantasy'' series. The game has received numerous enhanced remakes for the WonderSwan Color, the ...
'', which introduced a more open-ended activity-based progression system that was abandoned by later ''Final Fantasy'' games but embraced by '' Makai Toushi SaGa'' (''The Final Fantasy Legend''), which expanded it with weapons that shatter with repeated use and added new ideas such as a race of monsters that mutate depending on which fallen foes they consume.
The early games in the series also feature some common gameplay elements and themes first established in ''Final Fantasy'', such as random enemy encounters, but most of these disappear with the ''Romancing SaGa'' games, providing a unique gameplay experience. It also features a similar turn-based
In video and other games, the passage of time must be handled in a way that players find fair and easy to understand. This is usually done in one of the two ways: real-time and turn-based.
Real-time
Real-time games have game time progress cont ...
battle system, where a character's prowess is driven by numerical values called " statistics" which, in turn, increase with combat experience. Given the open-ended aspect of gameplay and the ability to play through multiple character scenarios, heavy emphasis is placed upon the replay value of ''SaGa'' games.
Since the original ''Makai Toushi SaGa'', much of the series has relied on loosely connected stories and sidequest
A quest, or mission, is a task in video games that a player-controlled character, party, or group of characters may complete in order to gain a reward. Quests are most commonly seen in role-playing games and massively multiplayer online games. ...
s rather than an epic narrative. ''Makai Toushi SaGa'' allowed players to travel through different worlds. ''Romancing SaGa
''Romancing SaGa'' is a 1992 role-playing video game developed and published by Square for the Super Famicom. It is the fourth entry in the ''SaGa'' series. It was subsequently released for the WonderSwan Color in 2001 and mobile phones in 2009. ...
'' expanded the open-endedness by offering many choices and allowing players to complete quests
A quest is a journey toward a specific mission or a goal. The word serves as a plot device in mythology and fiction: a difficult journey towards a goal, often symbolic or allegorical. Tales of quests figure prominently in the folklore of ev ...
in any order, with the decision of whether or not to participate in any particular quest affecting the outcome of the storyline. The game also allowed players to choose from eight different characters, each with their own stories that start in different places and offer different outcomes. ''Romancing SaGa'' thus succeeded in providing a very different experience during each run through the game, something that later non-linear RPGs such as ''SaGa Frontier'' and ''Fable
Fable is a literary genre: a succinct fictional story, in prose or verse (poetry), verse, that features animals, legendary creatures, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature that are Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphized, and that illustrat ...
'' had promised but were unable to live up to. It also introduced a combo system where up to five party members can perform a combined special attack,[ and required characters to pay mentors to teach them abilities, whether it is using certain weapons or certain proficiencies like opening a chest or dismantling a trap.][
While in the original ''Romancing SaGa'', scenarios were changed according to dialogue choices during conversations, '']Romancing SaGa 2
''Romancing SaGa 2'' is a 1993 role-playing video game developed and published by Square for the Super Famicom. It is the fifth entry in the ''SaGa'' series. It received an expanded port for Japanese mobile devices from Square Enix in 2011. This ...
'' further expanded the open-endedness by having unique storylines for each character that can change depending on the player's actions, including who is chosen, what is said in conversation, what events have occurred, and who is present in the party. ''Romancing SaGa 3
''Romancing SaGa 3'' is a 1995 role-playing video game developed and published by Square for the Super Famicom. The sixth entry in the '' SaGa'' series, it was also the last developed for the platform. Originally released on the Super Famicom sys ...
'' featured a storyline that could be told differently from the perspectives of up to eight different characters and introduced a level-scaling system where the enemies get stronger as the characters do,[Romancing SaGa 3]
, RPG Fan a mechanic that was later used in '' Final Fantasy VIII'', '' The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion'', '' Silverfall'', '' Dragon Age: Origins'', ''Fallout 3
''Fallout 3'' is a 2008 action role-playing game developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. The third major installment in the ''Fallout'' series, it is the first game to be developed by Bethesda after acquiring ...
'', and '' The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim''. ''SaGa Frontier
is a role-playing video game developed by Square for the PlayStation and released in Japan on July 11, 1997. The game was later published by Sony Computer Entertainment (SCEA) in North America on March 25, 1998. It is the seventh game in the ...
'' further expanded on the non-linear gameplay of its ''Romancing SaGa'' predecessors, with a setting that spans multiple planets and an overarching plot that becomes apparent after playing through each of the different characters' quests that tie together at certain places.
Games
Music
Music in the ''SaGa'' series have been composed by a number of people, the most prominent of which is Kenji Ito
, also known by the nickname , is a Japanese video game composer and musician. He is best known for his work on the ''Mana'' and '' SaGa'' series, though he has worked on over 30 video games throughout his career as well as composed or arranged ...
, who also composed some soundtracks for the ''Mana
According to Melanesian and Polynesian mythology, ''mana'' is a supernatural force that permeates the universe. Anyone or anything can have ''mana''. They believed it to be a cultivation or possession of energy and power, rather than being ...
'' series. Nobuo Uematsu
is a Japanese composer and keyboardist best known for his contributions to the ''Final Fantasy'' video game series by Square Enix. A self-taught musician, he began playing the piano at the age of twelve, with English singer-songwriter Elton ...
, responsible for a large portion of the music of the ''Final Fantasy'' series, solely composed ''The Final Fantasy Legend'' and co-composed ''Final Fantasy Legend II'' with Ito. Ryuji Sasai
is a Japanese video game composer and bass guitarist. He is best known for his work on ''Xak'', ''Final Fantasy Legend III'' and '' Final Fantasy Mystic Quest''. His musical career came about when he was 15 years old, and he formed a band. Befo ...
and Chihiro Fujioka
is a video game designer and video game music, composer, as well as rock drummer. He has worked at Xtalsoft, Square (video game company), Square, and AlphaDream where he is primarily known for directing ''Super Mario RPG'' as well as his involve ...
worked on ''Final Fantasy Legend III'' together. ''SaGa Frontier 2'' and ''Unlimited Saga'' are credited to Masashi Hamauzu
is a Japanese composer, pianist, and lyricist. Hamauzu, who was employed at Square Enix from 1996 to 2010, was best known during that time for his work on the ''Final Fantasy'' and ''SaGa'' video game series. Born into a musical family in German ...
.
Reception
Games in the ''SaGa'' series have been popular in Japan, with many of them selling over 1 million units. As of March 2011, the series has sold over 9.9 million units. In 2006, ''Famitsu
formerly ''Famicom Tsūshin'', is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage (previously known as Gzbrain), a subsidiary of Kadokawa. ''Famitsu'' is published in both weekly and monthly formats as well as in the f ...
'' readers voted ''Romancing SaGa'' as the 53rd best game of all time, and ''SaGa 2'' as the 94th best game of all time. Games in the series also received generally positive reviews from Japanese publications such as ''Famitsu'' and '' Dengeki''. As of 2019, the series has sold over 10 million units.
However, the series has remained decidedly less popular in North America, many of the games receiving mixed reviews from printed and online publications. It has been suggested that this is due to the series' seemingly experimental gameplay and allowing the player to freely roam with little direction or narrative, atypical of what many North American gamers usually expect from Japanese role-playing games. In their September 2004 "Overrated/Underrated" article, ''Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine
''Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine'' (often abbreviated to ''OPM'') was a monthly video game magazine, published by Ziff Davis Media. It was a sister publication of ''Electronic Gaming Monthly''. The magazine focused exclusively on PlayStation ...
'' cited the ''SaGa'' series as one ruined in the transition to the PlayStation 2, citing primarily ''Unlimited SaGa''.[OPM staff (September 2004). "Overrated/Underrated"]
SWF transcript
). ''Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine
''Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine'' (often abbreviated to ''OPM'') was a monthly video game magazine, published by Ziff Davis Media. It was a sister publication of ''Electronic Gaming Monthly''. The magazine focused exclusively on PlayStation ...
''
See also
*''The Legend of Legacy
''The Legend of Legacy'' is a turn-based role-playing video game for the Nintendo 3DS handheld video game console, developed by Cattle Call. The game was first published for Japan by FuRyu in January 2015, then localized by Atlus USA to be publis ...
'' - a spiritual sequel
A spiritual successor (sometimes called a spiritual sequel) is a product or fictional work that is similar to, or directly inspired by, another previous work, but (unlike a traditional prequel or sequel) does not explicitly continue the product lin ...
made by some of the past ''SaGa'' staff.
**''The Alliance Alive
''The Alliance Alive'' is a role-playing video game developed by Cattle Call for the Nintendo 3DS. The game was released in Japan by FuRyu in 2017, and was released worldwide by Atlus USA in 2018. The story follows a group of characters as they m ...
'' - a second game made by some of the past ''SaGa'' staff.
* List of Square Enix video game franchises
This is a list of video game franchises by Square Enix, a Japanese video game development and publishing company formed from the merger of Enix and Square on April 1, 2003. Square Enix acquired Taito in September 2005, which continues to publish ...
* List of Japanese role-playing game franchises
This is a list of best-selling Japanese role-playing game (JRPG) franchises. For inclusion on the list, a franchise must have sold or shipped at least one million copies. For the purpose of this article, a JRPG is defined as a franchise which: (1 ...
References
External links
Official website
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saga
Role-playing video games
Square Enix franchises
Square Enix games
Video game franchises introduced in 1989