I haven’t played a lot of SaGa: Scarlet Grace due to work (and being dead yesterday from my flu shot), but I really like what I’ve played. This may be the one major localization project I ever work on, so I’m happy it was not only a series I like, but a genuinely great entry, too
(I don’t get royalties on the game, btw. There is nothing ulterior at work here.)
What impresses me most about S:SG is the way it creatively turns a clearly modest budget into a strength. The super streamlined interface emphasizes freedom and all kinds of alternate story events.
What impresses me most about S:SG is the way it creatively turns a clearly modest budget into a strength. The super streamlined interface emphasizes freedom and all kinds of alternate story events.
Those story threads were a lot to keep track of during localization. I’d have been lost at sea without my fellow @84play editors and their eagerness to help a dumb newbie who saw THIS complex project and said, “Hmm, yes, this would be a good starting point for a new discipline”
Anyway! Streamlining the game into just menus, conversations, and battles gives it an abstract quality you don’t see often in modern RPGs. It’s low-friction and encourages experimentation, because if you don’t like the outcome you can just reload and try again without much fuss.
And the combat system is incredible. It keeps all the opaque SaGa traditions, like glimmers and Absolutely No Experience Levels, but it also provides tons of UI info that gives them context. It’s SaGa combat, but now it makes total sense. Maybe for the first time ever?
