I have been a fan of the SaGa series for years, for SaGa Frontier’s Remaster being my favourite in the series. Romancing SaGa – Minstrel Song was never one I was a massive fan of, but it had that charm that made the series so enjoyable, even if it did not live up to the rest of the series. Romancing SaGa – Minstrel Song received a remaster recently, and now a new version has been released with Romancing SaGa -Minstrel Song- Remastered International, an update that brings additional language and voice acting options for the game.
I wanted to give the game another chance and try to like Romancing SaGa -Minstrel Song- Remastered International, but the issue is that this is a game for a very specific audience. Other SaGa games have a bit more to them to get players into the experience, including the remake of Romancing SaGa 2, which was a great experience, which helps make clear why the games are great. Romancing SaGa -Minstrel Song- Remastered International on the other hand, just feels very overwhelming from the very start and while it can still be enjoyable, the issue is that the complexity is way too overwhelming and gets in the way of the game.
Don’t get me wrong, this is still a fun game and there are many classes to choose from, who all have a unique start to their story and do feel unique. Once you start recruiting more characters though, Romancing SaGa -Minstrel Song- Remastered International starts to be bogged down with its many systems. As with other games in the series, Romancing SaGa -Minstrel Song- Remastered International has a massive world to explore, but the issue is that the game doesn’t make things clear and you can really get confused on what to do.
This world design can be a bad thing, but it does give you the opportunity to find a number of quests by stumbling into them, finding new hints and encountering a wide variety of characters. The characters in Romancing SaGa -Minstrel Song- Remastered International all feel unique, both NPCs and playable characters, with a real personality to them. So there is still a lot for fans to like.
Another issue with Romancing SaGa -Minstrel Song- Remastered International is that even the combat systems feel very over-complicated and overwhelming. They should be simple matters, befitting a turn based game, but everything here has a lot of customization involved and you will end up getting annoyed until you find a way to build a strategy for your characters. With all these matters, Romancing SaGa -Minstrel Song- Remastered International feels very old school in how complex it can be and how little it tells you about the game, and to be honest, I am not sure that is what many are looking for. For all the talk of players wanting less hand-holding in a game, there can be the opposite problem as well and Romancing SaGa -Minstrel Song- Remastered International has this issue.
So what is new in the International version? Well, new translations and voice acting for players who speak Italian, German, French, or Spanish. This is very welcome for those wanting to play the game in a release that they can understand, and the translations seem to be done well, but this feels a bit baffling to be honest. This could have been an update to Romancing SaGa -Minstrel Song- Remastered and not a new version, but I suppose this is due to the International version having a different publisher. This is even more confusing when you consider that Romancing SaGa -Minstrel Song- Remastered is still fully available on all systems and I just find the entire situation bizarre.
Honestly, Romancing SaGa -Minstrel Song- Remastered International is not a game I particularly recommend for those coming into the SaGa series, and I would instead go with Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven, which is a very good first experience for the SaGa games. No matter how many times I try to get into it, Romancing SaGa -Minstrel Song just remains an entry in the SaGa series I cannot enjoy. If you are an English speaker, there is no reason to get Romancing SaGa -Minstrel Song- Remastered International, as Romancing SaGa -Minstrel Song- Remastered is a cheaper option and if you are a French, German, Italian or Spanish speaking player, this is really only a game for those wanting every game in the SaGa series ( along with a couple of other entries that are also lacking), so my recommendation is again to go for Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven, unless you absolutely need to play every SaGa game.
Romancing SaGa -Minstrel Song- Remastered International is an open world game that lets you create your own adventure, but it does so in an overwhelming way that takes a lot of fun out of the experience. This is not a SaGa game for anyone but hardcore fanatics.
Disclaimer: A review key was provided
