REVIEW: ‘SaGa Frontier 2 Remastered’ Brings a Classic to the Modern Era

It has been over 25 years since SaGa Frontier 2 was initially released, and now the beloved classic is being brought back to modern audiences with SaGa Frontier 2 Remastered. Square Enix has added some quality-of-life tweaks to this entertaining role-playing game, including new content that adds to the story for fans of the original game and newcomers to the series.

SaGa Frontier 2 Remastered takes place in the fictional world of Sandail, a medieval Europe-inspired world. The story follows two main characters whose stories intertwine as the adventure progresses. Gustave XIII, the exiled heir to the throne, works to reclaim his rightful place as ruler.

William Knights is a young man investigating the deaths of his parents, but his search brings him into a larger plot that encompasses more than he expects. There are friends and enemies to be made along the way, oh and the world-threatening Egg which is just a hilarious name for an overarching antagonist and I laughed every time the name pops up.

The way SaGa Frontier 2 Remastered follows these two storylines is quite unique. Story missions can be chosen non-linearly, allowing players to take slightly different paths to the same end result. This can be confusing at first, especially since it is easy to skip over parts of the storylines accidentally, but once you get the hang of the menus, it is an enjoyable mechanic to spend time with.

Being able to see the timeline physically makes it easier to understand the growth of both the characters and the world of Sandail. Long and expansive RPGs can sometimes be hard to follow, so the decision to have quests labelled by year and map location makes it easier to make sense of. It gives the appearance of playing through a history book, a very unique approach to storytelling.

SaGa Frontier 2 Remastered’s approach to storytelling sets it apart.

The characters met along the way that add to the story as well. Each has their own individual introduction that, while they might not all be too deep, makes them more than just pixels on a screen. Some new story beats are added that give even more context to their stories as well. These new scenarios are great and do a wondergul job of further enhancing the world of Sandail.

In order to encourage players to use these new characters in battle, there is a new mechanic called parameter inheritance that carries over weapons and skills between characters. This means you won’t be at a disadvantage using new characters if you spend time grinding with the characters in the party early on, and it allows them to seamlessly join the action.

Speaking of action, SaGa Frontier 2 Remastered is as classic turn-based RPG as it gets. Every character unlocks new types of attack that utilize LP, SP, and WP. Managing which type of attack or skill to use means keeping a close eye on their related bars, making it important to keep track of what you are doing instead of just mashing buttons. Each attack also has a preferred attack range, adding more complexity to the battles.

The only real issue here is that SaGa Frontier 2 Remastered does not do a great job of teaching these mechanics to players. There are plenty of helpful hints buried in the menus or under additional button presses, but players have to dig to find all of that. A better tutorial section that really dives into the complexities of the battle system would make it easier to approach. Instead, it keeps the old-school feeling of having to dive in and learn through trial and error. That isn’t to say combat is incredibly difficult, but there is certainly a learning curve.

It is also mildly frustrating that enemies don’t have health bars or indicators, while playable characters do. Seeing an attack take down half of your HP but not knowing how much damage you are really doing to enemies can be really annoying. It makes strategizing battles more difficult because you might be only one hit away from killing a boss, but instead of using a weaker attack, you waste a more powerful one.

Healing also cannot be done outside of combat during the early stages of SaGa Frontier 2 Remastered. There were moments when I desperately needed to heal and went digging through the menus to figure out how to do it before giving up and trying to do it in battle. Healing during combat doesn’t waste a turn, which is great, but it would be nice to have healing outside of battle be a little less complicated. Ways to do it do become available later on, but the obscurity of how to do it at first is a tad disappointing.

Action shines in SaGa Frontier 2 Remastered, even with its hiccups.

Despite those minor annoyances, the action is still very fun. There is a rhythm to be found in the fights that, once you get the hang of it, is incredibly satisfying. SaGa Frontier 2 Remastered doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but the combat does hold up after so long. The added ability to speed up battles is a minor tweak that makes grinding so much faster, another much-appreciated addition to this remaster.

Visually, SaGa Frontier 2 Remastered is a little hit-or-miss. The pixilated characters set against hand-drawn backgrounds is typically great, but the use of minor AI upscaling leads to backgrounds looking off at times. When it looks great, SaGa Frontier 2 Remastered is visually stunning. But in the moments where it doesn’t look so hot, the visual environment can be distracting. Thankfully, those moments are much less frequent, but it doesn’t mean they don’t exist.

Where SaGa Frontier 2 Remastered doesn’t miss at all is the incredible soundtrack. Music can really enhance the quality of a game and it absolutely does here. The remastered version of Masashi Hamauzu’s score adds so much to every single moment of the game, from the quiet reflective scenes to the more intense battles. It’s easy to find yourself just sitting around listening to the music in different locations, enjoying everything Hamauzu has to offer.

SaGa Frontier 2 Remastered brings the classic RPG to modern audiences with minor tweaks that make it much more approachable and enjoyable. There are a few things that don’t age as well, and it certainly requires a bit of patience to figure out, but there is so much to enjoy in the world of Sandail that makes it all worth it.

SaGa Frontier 2 Remastered is out now on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, PC, iOS, and Android.