Another thing about SaGa Emerald Beyond is that it is designed for having a different experience when replaying the same protagonist's story for the second time. For example, you may get a different set of optional worlds to choose from with Diva or you may get a different set of **required** worlds to choose from with Mido or Ameya! Also if you play the same world with a different protagonist, events may play out differently than if you went there for the first time! This game is a BEAST to map out, and many of the communities on GameFAQs, Discord, Reddit, and even the Japanese wikis haven't figured it all out yet!
The game also had a worldwide release so Japan didn’t have a head start on us so we’re all kind of figuring everything out together, it’s very cool IMO.
The most divisive series in the history of video games. I do love that SaGa fans themselves often say "well I wouldn't suggest it to any of my friends" lmao
Well, it is hard to recommend to just anyone, same as Final Fantasy II really. Games are hard, barely any hand holding, actively discourages grinding, story and characters aren't usually the main focus of the games, etc. You really need to be ready for the franchise to get into it. Heck, it took me over twenty years to get into it myself, but now I'm hooked to the point I'm willing to give Unlimited a chance someday 😂 But it's hard to recommend a JRPG that really doesn't follow any conventions of traditional JRPGs.
Magic is a wonderful tool to learn, though it’s kinda tricky. The best ways I’ve found to get started is to find a Plumed Hairpin (some recruitable characters seem to start with one, and at higher trial ranks, you can get a 1-time mission that requires a spell with only two spells linking to get one). Once you get a Plumed Hairpin, you can enhance it to one of five different colored hairpins that can get you started on learning spells on characters, though the Silver one doesn’t seem to offer Metal Magic. As of now, only Ameya seems to get access to that element, which is strange when Tsunanori has natural affinity points towards Metal. Also, if you learned a spell from an item? Get the spell to rank 2 and its role will provide extra element levels, which can help raise the chance to learn new spells… but a major warning: if you have an item equipped that has the next spell you’re supposed to learn from that element? UNEQUIP IT. The game will consider that you’ve learned it, and wont let you learn it, let alone start getting the next spells after.
thankyou for covering this game so much. I dont have a lot of experience with saga games but your videos have turned me on to this game. love your content man. you and backlogs holding it down and get some more collabs in there! Good work :D
Great tips 👌🏻. I wish I knew about quell when I first played it…for some reason I must have overlooked it. The more I play this game, the more I learn, and realise things I didn’t know. They also have flashing slash/blunt/thrust icons if the enemy is weak against it before you attack them too. Currently playing Siugnas now and hopefully won’t be as rough as Diva’s final. Got an ultimate for achievement so might have been a super version.
Emerald Beyond is a game that really wants to make the New Game Plus option a central feature of the game, thus you shouldn't feel bad if your first few runs on a scenario are focused on story events and easy battles over the harder ones. Use these early outings to get a few stats boosts, spark new techs and get new equipment to upgrade. This is especially true for Diva since she's a Mech and can only gain stats through equipment, but her equipment slots are tied to her story, so doing optional scenario won't help her grow much and you could even end up soft locking yourself if you're not careful (like me in my current run, overconfidence is your enemy in this series) Also trading spirit stones is an easy 1 for 1 that gives you one trading experience point. It's not much, sure, but every little bit counts, and it's better than a losing trade. Plus they're easy to come across, so you shouldn't be afraid to run out of them forever.
Hello, thank you for this video. I think your voice volume needs to be a bit higher than the music volume. It's almost perfect but you're soft spoken in some parts and the music overpowers it.
I haven’t played a “Saga” game since the gameboy. But this one looks, complicated, and like it will be a lot of fun and I’ll need to get back into these games now.
I absolutely hated this game, almost died of boredom. But everything else I’ve played RPG or jrpg have been good this year. But this game was not for me.
The Ameya route is so strange, I’ve heard people say they’ve done it several times over and it’s different every time yet I don’t know if anyone has seen her final boss yet lol. I finished one run of her route so far and it feels like it just randomly ends. Probably wouldn’t recommend for someone totally new to the series if they’re expecting a more traditional jrpg. It is cute as hell collecting cats though :3
@@killerb255I have yet to complete her event as others. It’s never been a place I was ever able to visit so far…except initially with Mido and I did all side content. How interesting 🧐
You nailed the idea of the saga games either being a good saga and a wierd saga. Unfortunately I feel like we are on opposite boats when it comes to the saga games. The good ones for me would be the saga frontier and romancing saga series and the weird ones are the unlimited saga, scarlet and the emerald. I hope one day they bring good ones back with high budget
This game deserves its bad reviews. Mainly because its overpriced. The story is bad, the graphics are horrendous. The good thing it has is that its got fun combat but its freaking $50. Ain't no way someone would pay this for this game in 2024. They should have lowered the price quite a bit.
I'm on my third character playthrough and put 40 hours into the game and have a long way to go. Story is different every time. Gameplay is super satisfying and it's really well balanced, moreso than probably any SaGa game before in my experience. Visuals, while budgety, serve their purpose well and I find them stylistically appealing. It's $50, not even the standard full game price of a big game these days. Game is absolutely worth the price of admission.
