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• gamedeal user

  Nov 2, 2021

  SaGa: Scarlet Grace is a shy beast. Open it's shell and you'll find the best turn-based battle system in any JRPG ever!! Period. This is as much fun as Final Fantasy Tactics, but Scarlet Grace's system runs deeper. I wish I could get my friends into playing this game. But it's a hard sell. Still, the fact remains I'm 100+ hours into it and I stil feel there's so much that I want to discover! Yes, I'm not into it's visual novel presentation. I know, it's probably not your thing either (if it is, go for it!). Also, I miss the old school JRPG dungeon and town exploration. Everything here happens on the world map, and cities are basically a menu with a background. But each region in the world map works like a puzzle, and there's more than one way to solve it - or fail in solving it, which often happens. Take the SaGa approach and relax. You'll have four different scenarios to tinker with the puzzles. Don't spoil yourself with a walkthrough in the first run. Just go into the wilderness and allow the world to breath... A couple notes about the setting: it's very intrincate. But you'll find about it slowly, only if you actively search for it - by conversing in cities, listening to ministrel songs, and helping rebuild the collapsed trade network of the past empire. This latter part is an optional minigame. The setting is a mix of post-roman empire collapse with a bunch of medieval chinese fantasy; I like it's colorful ancient gaulish aesthetics with striped trousers and pink, flowery shirts. Characters have a lot of visual personality: you'll recruit bandit queens, pirates, lighthouse-keeper-martial-artists, knights, witches and witch hunters, mercenaries, nobles and thiefs - and even a churros vendor. At the late game your retinue will rank at a dozen and a half people, though you can recruit even more if you know the movements. But it'll not be like the regular JRPG where you have a main party and everyone else rots in the backstage; you can put everyone to work, either sending them to missions or rotating them in your battles. You really wish to have a rotation, for characters lose life points (LP) when they collapse in battle, and that will happen a lot; they can recover LP by sitting on the bench for a few battles. Lose all your LP and the character is forcibly benched for even more time. I never allow it to happen though. So there's 8 or 10 chars I'm actively using, and the rest is doing errands elsewhere so I can get materials to improve my gear. As with much of SaGa, there isn't *that* much of dialogue. At least not upfront; chars join your party and will often not utter a word again.It doesn't feels dry, though, because each scenario has a couple protagonists with contrasting personalities who are always commenting everything that happens.. As far as Urpina's and Taria's scenario goes (I've not played the others yet), the lines are decently written and when I reached end game, I had feels for most of my chars - even the silent ones (though they aren't silent in battle, there's always a voiced comment by some of them about the current battle situation.) And now, for the battle system. You'll spend 70% or more of your time in battles. This game is really about the battle system, the jewel in the crown of Kawazu's SaGa experimentation. It's simultaneously very tactical but yet unpredictable. You WILL lose a bunch of battles - the game even expects you to do so, and rewards you for not giving up, allowing you to try again a battle with a couple bonuses (and at a little cost). All the SaGa hallmarks are here: many different weapon types, different formations, customizable units, glimmering new techs during the action, combos, etc. But the system isn't as opaque as previous SaGa; you're expected to study it a bit and put everything you can into use. EVERYTHING, including status effects, which are indeed VERY useful here (in contrast to basically every other JRPG). This is not your usual JRPG mechanic - where you grind through b o r i n g regular mobs, managing your resources, then you unleash everything you have on the boss and is finally allowed to have fun. There's no inocuous battle in Scarlet Grace. Yes you can grind (be aware monsters will level up as you do so). But if you don't pay attention, even easy battles can end badly. Any tech can be used without worrying about MP or potions. Everything's full again at the end of the fight (except for LP, as previously explained). There's a very sactisfatory feel of escalation to battles. BP (battle points) can be alloted every turn among the crew as you feel fit; but unused BP disapears on the end of the turn. Stronger skills cost more BP. Every turn you'll accrue a bit more of BP, so you can do more with your party during the turn - but the enemies will also do so. As battles starts, it's usually better to give a BP or 2 to each character so they can use the cheaper skills; but as some characters fall unconscious and you get more BP per turn, you can allot easilly the stronger attacks, up to the point where there may be just one or two character standing, and they'll be rocking their strongest moves every turn for they have all the BP for them. And the same goes for the enemies! There's also a lot of strategy in manipulating turn order. Combos depend of this, and also disables are crucial to avoid the strongest hitting techs from the enemies. There are counter-attacks, interrupts, blocks, delay effects and much more which can change the turn order - some attacks are faster, for an example. You can (and should!) keep track of turn order, which is clearly displayed. Some weapons specialize in manipulating turn order, such as spears; shortswords are excelent to interrupt; clubs are good for interrupts and blocking; axes are good for damage but often miss; bows have a decent equilibrium between damage and utiliy, etc. Also, each kind of damage has a individual defense stat for it, and each enemy is vulnerable to different kinds of damage and status. Oof! And I did not even mentioned magic yet. There's so much to explore (specially given that you can put any weapon in the hands of any character! - and you're rewarded for training chars in more than one weapon). But most importantly, if you do some reading (the game has an internal guide full of tips) it'll not feel random or overwhelming. You'll have plenty of time to learn everything. As I said, I beat the first scenario in about 70 hours, and just now, on the second scenario, I feel it's really getting under my grasp. But you can get significantly far by mastering just the basics. The first 10 hours will be the hardest, though. I said this game is a hard sell!! You have the option to change the game's difficulty at any point, but I didn't even bother. I enjoy the challenge. The game plot is not it's strongest point - just good enough to get by. As for the soundtrack, it's Kenji Ito. It sounds very SaGa and this is satisfying. There are some musical low points (I find Urpina's theme - which plays a lot during her playthrough - irritatingly upbeat) but the boss themes are amazing! It's such a high to face a hard battle, doing everything you can to survive it while the music is just ROCKING on the background. Battle animations are very stylish and the storybook feel of the world map exploration is simple but charming. Ok, so this is a very, very lenghty review for an extremely lenghty game. In sum: play this game if you like tactical turn battles with a lot of customization and stylish, SaGa-style movements. Really, get over the visual novel shock, don't get disenheartened by losing the first battles and keep pushing. Read some tips and maybe read some forums. Do the side quests, do the trade network minigame, pay attention to the scenario and recruit everyone. Try different weapons and see how they feel. Rotate - your - party!! If you expect Final Fantasy, or even some kind of past SaGa
• gamedeal user

  Dec 1, 2021

  If I had to recommend just one JRPG to a C/WRPG fan, SaGa Scarlet Grace: Ambitions is it. A complex game in both narrative and mechanics, Scarlet Grace will test your strategic and tactical capabilities until the end and after, when you may be tempted to take on particularly difficult foes, named "Scarlet Fiends," without the help of a guide.
• gamedeal user

  Jan 29, 2022

  I went into this game not knowing what to expect and this has quickly become one of the best JRPGs I have played. There isn't a single thing I dislike about this game. The combat is balls to walls amazing and every single battle feels rewarding. I love the visuals, the soundtrack, the non-linear structure with a light central narrative and just going from one province to another taking in the lore. This game is a masterpiece and I can't recommend it enough.
• gamedeal user

  Feb 27, 2022

  This game uses a difficulty scaling where the enemies grow stronger based on the number of battles you fight. This defeats the entire purpose of leveling up (as in growing more powerful to overcome stronger opponents) as enemies get more powerful from every battle you fight at a faster rate than you can grow more powerful from defeating them. Definitely the absolute worst form of RPG difficulty scaling.
• gamedeal user

  Oct 16, 2022

  I felt nostalgic over Saga Frontier 1 & 2 so I thought I would get into Saga Scarlet Grace. I liked the combat, it's very fluid and strategic. Unfortunately, I hated just about everything else. It was, to me, a shallow, grating and boring experience. I wanted it to be over after 2 hours of playing. It was torturous trying to get to the end while completing as many side events as I can. I played as Leonard and I can say with absolute certainty that his dialogue with Lissa was the most annoying and cringe-inducing out of all the games I played.  PROS + Fluid, strategic combat + Nice battle effects + Feels polished, no lag, no bugs CONS - Art direction is like rainbow vomit - Characters all look like circus performers - World map is ugly and uninspired - Game lore is discombobulated and uninspired - The script/dialogue is badly written and weird - Unengaging armory upgrade - Character builds didn't feel unique or special - Just a handful of music scores I usually like Square Enix rpgs but this is a no for me. 3 out of 10, do not recommend.
• gamedeal user

  Nov 15, 2018

  [h1] SaGa Scarlet Grace[/h1] This is the last release of the SaGa series, a series where the experimentation in the mechanics are pretty normal and it's difficulty is challenge for all the RPG players (that typical series not for everyone). SaGaSca is the second SaGa game that comes to steam and we are gonna see how good it is. ... and here comes my first impressions of the game: [u] [b] The Good: [/b] [/u] +Fun, deep and complex battle system that evolved really well from the previous games +Good story that really deserves to be explored +Surprisingly, the explorable cities and dungeons are not necesary to enjoy it. +Amazing soundtrack from Kenji Ito +The designs for the characters are beautiful +The port for PC is decent. +Extremely good replayability +Added voice acting. +The framerate is way more better +More characters and story. [u] [b] The Okay: [/b] [/u] *The backgrounds in the battles could be better [u] [b] The Bad: [/b] [/u] -Some characters are just re-skins -There could be more voice acting.
• gamedeal user

  Dec 4, 2019

  This game via steam key is $15.99 ($8 cheaper) on the Square Enix store. Buy it here cheaper: https://store.na.square-enix-games.com/en_US/product/571957/saga-scarlet-grace-ambitions-steam EDIT: Price on Square Enix is now fixed, but still cheaper on Green Man Gaming etc. Don't be dumb like me. Otherwise, great game.
• gamedeal user

  Dec 4, 2019

  I am mostly familiar with the early SaGa games such as Final Fantasy Legend 1-3 which I grew up playing. The first Final Fantasy Legend (Makai Tōshi Sa·Ga ) is still one my most favorite games of all time. I also played a bit of Romancing SaGa 2 since it was released for Steam. I enjoyed what I have played so far. Anyways, I heard of SaGa: Scarlet Grace a while ago and always wanted to play it. So, when I first heard about it back when they first announced it, I was pretty damn excited. I have put neary two hours into the game at the time of this review, and I have to say I am really liking where this game is going. Although it's quite different compared to the other SaGa games I played, I like the changes. Combat is strategic and fun. In a way the combat reminds me of the old PSP game Grand Knights. That was a really good game. Besides the awesome combat and strategy, some of the other aspects of the game that I like include how it's a free world where you make your own story. I like how traveling on the world map works. I like the artwork, especially Urpina, she's cute! The music is good, and I like how the towns/events are set up. It kind of reminds me of Wizardry In a way. Rather than walking to building to building, you get choice boxes aka smithy etc. One thing that I don't like about the game is that we are not able to create our own characters (we were able to in FFL). I think being able to create our own characters would have been really great especially based on the way this game was created. Make your own adventure, choices matter, strategic combat with several characters to choose from, etc... Custom characters would have been really great. However, that didn't stop me! With a little bit of editing, I was able to rename the characters which worked out fine. So, I still get to play the game with my own characters! In conclusion, I am really loving SaGa Scarlet Grace: Ambitions. Although I am very early into the game, I know that I am gonna get a lot of good fun out of this. It's a nice change as compared to the traditional SaGa games I have played in the past. I totally recommend SaGa Scarlet Grace: Ambitions to anyone who is a fan of the SaGa series and for those who like strategic RPGs. I give the game a rating of 9/10. I would have given it a 10/10 if they would have given us an option to create our own characters or at least rename the ones in the game without having to do all of the tedious editing. Oh well, it's still a pretty damn good game, and it's worth every dollar spent. As a side note, I would like to say that I have not experienced any performance issues or any crashes. The game runs smooth and stable for me.
• gamedeal user

  Dec 4, 2019

  So after finishing the story for SaGa Scarlet Grace AMBITIONS. Here's my final review. First of all, this game isn't that easy. So make sure you already something like Romancing SaGa on the PS2. Since it's kinda like it. In terms of how hard the game will be and how it plays out. BUT! It can be good for the 1st timer. Since you can control how the game goes. Pros: Amazing battle system. It's easily one of the greatest battle systems that the SaGa ever did. Characters very likable, and they have they're on straight o play in battles. Pros: Instead of money or selling stuff, you have materials that you can use as your currency. The weapons/armors are weak? You can make them even better via using your materials. Kinda a throwback to older JRPG. Pros: Boss fights are nothing but fun and heavy hitters that you want more to come or go against just to have a fun battle with them. Cons: This kinda hurts me, but the music isn't that strong. It's probably the weakest in the SaGa series. I mean, when you think of the SaGa game, you automatically gonna think the music of course. Cons: Lack of towns to talk to. You just pick up the 4 options to do your work for you. No talking to people, no see boats or ships. Just shops for your weapons. Overall, this game is my GOTY, and you should pick it up. It's good for first-timers (If you can enjoy newer JRPG that doesn't hold your hand) and great for SaGa fans all around. Easily 9/10.
• gamedeal user

  Dec 5, 2019

  -Initial Impressions- Got a good 6 hours in today. I'm about 4 hours into Leonard's story and feeling pretty hooked so far. I feel like the Marchiam Megdasse region (second region you go to as Leonard) is a great showcase of how nice the questing and overworld exploration can be in the game. Sure, I miss dungeon and town exploration, but the more holistic approach presented with the overworld exploration is a nice change of pace, and surprisingly engaging. Even the magic system has grown on me quite a bit, and I very much so look forward to returning to the Tania playthrough someday. Four element casting would be amazing now that I'm more comfortable with the system. On that note, I'm very much so enjoying the BP and timeline system. It's a nice variation on the SaGa combat formula, and really challenges you to test your options and manipulate the battlefield. I thought the lack of things like gold and equipment shops would be more bothersome to me, but overall the equipment progression through blacksmiths, found/received armaments and crafting element acquisition is a fun and fresh approach. Particularly when you start trying to hit every reward challenge you can in any given battle. -16 Hours In- My initial impressions have held true and have even been surpassed in a lot of ways. It's quickly becoming one of my favorite SaGa games in the series. The battle system in particular: I like that you have to play defensively in a lot of situations, plan ahead, and really utilize skills that disable and interrupt. It makes a lot of Normal to Hard battles play out a lot more like your standard boss fight in an earlier SaGa game. Each battle keeps me engaged, and can easily crush me into dust if I'm not paying enough attention. Very little to no trash combat in the game. I think my biggest complaint with the system so far would be that the characters base stats don't grow and can only be augmented by roles and equipment. This becomes a minor complaint when I start thinking about it, because of the sheer abundance of characters in your retinue. The game is very much so about swapping characters between battle, picking the best choices for any particular upcoming battle, and planning ahead with formation accordingly. It occurs organically though, through your replenishment of character LP. There are ways on the map to replenish LP, such as hot springs and wild plants you might come across, but mainly you gain it back by having characters sit out of 2-3 encounters. The variety in strategy this encourages is welcome to me, and tends to keep the combat even more interesting for me, because this is where resource management ties into exploration. It gives you the feeling of amassing a caravan of adventurers and eccentrics. And again, I must emphasize how impressed I am with world exploration, world building, and questing. Quests are long, sometimes stretching over several provinces. If you're not paying enough attention, it can become very possible to unintentionally walk away from a quest midway through it. A lot of it boils down to classic SaGa questing: talking to the right people, encountering the right events this can trigger, bringing someone a particular item, etc. But the way it's executed with the overworld-based exploration makes it some of the most intuitive and fun questing in the series. As for the writing, the localization has been stellar, the characters enjoyable, and the emphasis on the world's mythology impressively in-depth and a joy to take in. It's surpassed my expectations by quite a lot. I was excited to try out a new SaGa game, but I didn't expect for it to endear itself to me as much as Scarlet Grace has. It makes me kind of sad to see how little it's been selling, particularly on Steam.