Ah, Unlimited Sa Ga, one of the first RPGs I played on my new PS 2, and one of the worst purchases of my life. Just throwing this the money it cost in the trash would've been a net gain for my free time. Instead, since I was poor, I had to "play" this one to get my money's worth. Ergh...
The board game style gameplay doesn't work, because unlike a real board game RPG, you can't see the whole board and there's a constant deadline, so exploration is punished. Level grinding is punished. Trying anything in this game is punished by making it that more impossible to win. So on the third retry, when I finally got all the way to the final boss...it killed me. Because, oh yes, the balance in this game is also completely broken. If you don't know EXACTLY how to build a max skilled and max equipped character and EXACTLY how to get the resources necessary to even try, the final boss will kill you. The damn thing has multiple forms on TOP OF the climax boss for each character, which itself may have multiple forms. I have never beaten the final boss in less than forty minutes, and never without going the entire fight with zero HP. Oh yeah, HP - it's broken. LP is all that matters, and whether you'll lose LP, lose a lot of LP, or keep all your LP from an attack is just as random as the dang blasted reels. Having HP should keep you safe from losing LP, but in practice you'll lose precious LP regardless whenever the game feels like you're getting too close to enjoying yourself.
Remember those dungeon dives in the really old RPGs for the NES and such, like the Swamp Cave in good old Final Fantasy? Turns out EVERY dungeon is that in Unlimited Sa Ga. There's exactly 1 save point in the game, and it's right outside the final boss encounter, which, as mentioned, you'll have no chance at unless you've already mastered this game. Mastering this game is like steering a wreck across a rope bridge stretched across the grand canyon. A herculean task with certain failure always looming overhead, and not really worth the effort once you succeed.
That's Unlimited Sa Ga, an RPG that's determined to prevent you from enjoying it and does a spectacular job of reaching that lofty goal. Because, as I said at the start, my life would've been improved by never having played this game, it cannot recieve a positive score. I rate this game -1 out of 10.
This is a bad game. A very bad game.
Ah, Unlimited Sa Ga, one of the first RPGs I played on my new PS 2, and one of the worst purchases of my life. Just throwing this the money it cost in the trash would've been a net gain for my free time. Instead, since I was poor, I had to "play" this one to get my money's worth. Ergh...
The board game style gameplay doesn't work, because unlike a real board game RPG, you can't see the whole board and there's a constant deadline, so exploration is punished. Level grinding is punished. Trying anything in this game is punished by making it that more impossible to win. So on the third retry, when I finally got all the way to the final boss...it killed me. Because, oh yes, the balance in this game is also completely broken. If you don't know EXACTLY how to build a max skilled and max equipped character and EXACTLY how to get the resources necessary to even try, the final boss will kill you. The damn thing has multiple forms on TOP OF the climax boss for each character, which itself may have multiple forms. I have never beaten the final boss in less than forty minutes, and never without going the entire fight with zero HP. Oh yeah, HP - it's broken. LP is all that matters, and whether you'll lose LP, lose a lot of LP, or keep all your LP from an attack is just as random as the dang blasted reels. Having HP should keep you safe from losing LP, but in practice you'll lose precious LP regardless whenever the game feels like you're getting too close to enjoying yourself.
Remember those dungeon dives in the really old RPGs for the NES and such, like the Swamp Cave in good old Final Fantasy? Turns out EVERY dungeon is that in Unlimited Sa Ga. There's exactly 1 save point in the game, and it's right outside the final boss encounter, which, as mentioned, you'll have no chance at unless you've already mastered this game. Mastering this game is like steering a wreck across a rope bridge stretched across the grand canyon. A herculean task with certain failure always looming overhead, and not really worth the effort once you succeed.
That's Unlimited Sa Ga, an RPG that's determined to prevent you from enjoying it and does a spectacular job of reaching that lofty goal. Because, as I said at the start, my life would've been improved by never having played this game, it cannot recieve a positive score. I rate this game -1 out of 10.