The latest in Square Enix’s badboy JRPG series, SaGa: Scarlet Grace, is set to launch this week across its home country of Japan. A new launch trailer and TV spot celebrate both the game’s release and 25th anniversary for the overall franchise.
A SaGa revival would be great timing
This revival of the SaGa series at just the same time its responsible older brother series, Final Fantasy, is once again finding its footing. Final Fantasy just can’t be itself without this nagging little offshoot looking to unfold every establishment and standard that it sets. SaGa was originally created as a side-project using the controversial decisions of Final Fantasy II, and here we are 25 years later with over ten games on its own.
No small feat to still be relevant after all these years.
Sadly, I doubt North Americans will get the chance to play along. SaGa has never enjoyed the same cultish-critical praise in the English-speaking world. RPGs didn’t become fashionable on the Game Boy until the late 90s, meaning the first three games made their way stateside way too early to catch on. We completely missed out on the peak of the series during the Super Nintendo days, and Square Enix seems like it wants to distance itself from SaGa Frontier and SaGa Frontier 2 in North America, neither of which got a PSOne Classics release.
Let’s not even start with the critical reception of Unlimited SaGa from back in the PlayStation 2 days.
If Square Enix continues its traditions, SaGa: Scarlet Grace will probably remain on Japanese shores as a unicorn English speaking fans will only get to play once it’s hacked and translated. Oh well.
It’s a shame, because Final Fantasy just found new footing in the North American market. Maybe SaGa should get a chance to, too. Ehh, Square Enix?
Leave a Reply
Leave a Reply
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
