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TIGSource ForumsHiddenThe DromeValley of the DeadGame ClubRomancing Saga 3
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Author Topic: Romancing Saga 3  (Read 12066 times)
crowe
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« on: June 26, 2012, 01:04:38 PM »


This game has won the vote, so here's your post about it.

 Romancing Saga 3 is a Japanese role-playing game for the Super Nintendo which, like many of the other Saga games,  emphasizes non-linearity over the usual straight-as-an-arrow style of JRPGs. You pick a character and customize them slightly... and, after a short introduction, you're let loose to explore the world and build your party. Eventually, of course, you save the world. It's a Japanese-only game, so you will need to patch the game (which you, of course, legally own) with this patch, which I believe is agreed to be the best one available.



Though the game starts focused on the fate of Monica and Mikhail, in the end the story is really about the Death Eclipse, which threatens everyone. As such, who you pick as your main character doesn't affect the main story of the game -- they all have the same goal in the end. However, it may make certain events or characters inaccessible or merely harder. Still, in the end if you just pick the character who seems most interesting to you you'll probably be alright; none of the main characters are particularly underpowered compared to any of the others. So, let's talk about the possible protagonists. Note that you can choose another weapon specialty for them if you pick them as your main character, but they will still have some proficiency with their default weapon regardless.




Julian Naul is a swordsman from a small village, who becomes involved in the plot when he helps escort Monica back home. He learns skills quicker than most of the other heroes.



Thomas Bed is a merchant, and as such has access to the Stock Market, which is less interesting than it sounds. He's good with spears, and also always starts with Water Magic.



Mikhail is the Marquis of Loanne, which means he can help develop his township through investment and can also participate in large-scale warfare (though don't expect anything so complex as, say, a proper strategy RPG). He's rather arrogant, which affects some events in the story, and he's good with Epees and Sun Magic.



Harid is a mercenary from the Naj Desert, and is one of the better fighters in the game, especially with a sword. However, because of his status as a mercenary, people tend to dislike him, which makes some story scenarios harder or impossible to complete.



Sara Carson is from the same small town as Julian and several other characters, and is good with a bow. Her part of the main story is somewhat different from everyone else's, but she's not particularly remarkable skill or stat-wise.



Ellen Carson is Sara's sister, and unlike her sister is quite good at fighting, both with an axe and with martial arts, and so is quite useful as a main character even if she is otherwise unremarkable. She's supposed to be close friends with Julian and Thomas.



Monica is the princess of Loanne, and Mikhail's sister. She's the focus of the introduction scenario, and, because she has no specialty, can be set up to be any kind of build you want for a protagonist, though she's never quite as good at it as people who specialize.



Lastly, Katrina Rawn is Monica's bodyguard. She loses a royal relic and is exiled from Loanne until she finds it, which locks her out of the city for an appreciable amount of time depending on how you progress through the game. Still, she's very good at almost everything except magic, especially B.Swords and Epees.



And there are plenty of other recruit-able characters, as well, some of whom are fairly well hidden. Think of the game as sort of a combination of Western and Japanese RPGs; go to the tavern and do some sidequests. The game keeps track of events you're participating in, so don't worry about it.
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« Reply #1 on: June 26, 2012, 01:17:35 PM »

Thanks for making the thread.  Welp, for these kind of replayable things, I usually like to start with the more "standard" type of character(s), so I think I'm gonna start out with Julian.
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Kramlack
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« Reply #2 on: June 26, 2012, 01:19:09 PM »

I've had a massive interest in playing JPN only Squaresoft games for the past couple months (Treasure Hunter G, Seiken Densetsu 3, Romancing Sa-Ga 3, etc), so this is the perfect chance to actually buckle down and play all the way through this bad boy. Count me in!
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Nix
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« Reply #3 on: June 26, 2012, 01:25:01 PM »

I picked Mikael (the blonde one) and am a Noble. Some of the translations are screwy, but it seems fine for the most part.
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« Reply #4 on: June 26, 2012, 01:31:46 PM »

Don't check the GameFAQs on how the battle system works if you want to retain your will in playing. It's...complicated.
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brettchalupa
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« Reply #5 on: June 26, 2012, 01:32:50 PM »

I'm in.  Smiley
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ink.inc
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« Reply #6 on: June 26, 2012, 01:35:52 PM »

 Well, hello there!
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Yougiedeggs
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« Reply #7 on: June 26, 2012, 01:35:59 PM »

Cool, I haven't played this in years, and now I can play it on my PSP!

Which character should I go with if I want them to fight unarmed? I tried this with Julian once, but got stomped by octopi who were strong against unarmed. Didn't have much time to train the skill because Julian doesn't start with the kind of freedom someone like Thomas does.
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crowe
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« Reply #8 on: June 26, 2012, 01:48:33 PM »

If you want to do Unarmed, you probably want Ellen, because she's the only one with enough initial proficiency in it to be viable. Monica could also work, since she's basically a blank slate.



I'm going with Katrina, though. I first played this game a little under a decade ago, so I have forgotten most of what actually happens, but I remember thinking she was pretty cool Wink




The adventure begins!
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Nix
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« Reply #9 on: June 26, 2012, 01:53:28 PM »

If anyone has trouble with the fonts not being readable in the menus in zsnes, it seems to be fine in snes9x.
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SirNiko
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« Reply #10 on: June 26, 2012, 03:26:07 PM »

I'm in this.

I decided to buck my usual trend and went with Sara, the female character in green. I went with the "Fighter" class, and chose Epee specialization, but now that my party has three epee specialists I'm thinking of building up bows for a while.

I got to the first town, and decided to stop there.

The monster graphics are lovely, and the backgrounds are neat. I also really like how the dungeons have attempted to give the player the choice of high or low roads to skip some battles, but it doesn't seem to matter since I'm going to kill everything. The lack of treasure to find is disappointing, but maybe it's just because I'm still early.

This translation is pretty rough, but at least it is serviceable.
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crowe
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« Reply #11 on: June 27, 2012, 01:09:09 AM »

Katrina's got quite a nice little party going at the moment. So far I've gone inside a woman's dreams to fight the devil, captured rabbits for a mad scientist, and saved a child from the DEMON PALACE; I met someone who I think gave me some tips on the main storyline, but I can't access those places yet.
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SirNiko
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« Reply #12 on: June 27, 2012, 06:06:40 PM »

After journeying to a distant castle, I was informed that I should just chill and go loot some treasure from a cave for no reason. Then the war ended and I was thanked for my contribution of doing nothing. Hooray!

I am now itching to see what is below the castle in the dungeon filled with instantly lethal enemies.

I guess when I agreed to go with the first NPC I met, the rest of the party decided not to go with me? Oh well, guess I'm going North with Harid now and leaving being Mr. Rude Sword and Mr. Spear master, which is disappointing because they were both pretty powerful.

I think I have the hang of mastering techniques and swapping out techniques. It looks and feels a lot like Saga Frontier, so at least I've got a head start on the learning curve.
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Nix
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« Reply #13 on: June 28, 2012, 06:07:18 AM »

I guess when I agreed to go with the first NPC I met, the rest of the party decided not to go with me?

I think you have to make a new party from scratch for all the characters, but I'm not sure. I did, at least, but I never had a party at the beginning anyway.
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SirNiko
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« Reply #14 on: June 28, 2012, 02:34:24 PM »

I was more surprised that it seems like what appeared to simply be accepting a side-quest turned out to be a permanent decision that decided who I could and could not recruit. I would have anticipated it being played up a bit more so I wouldn't be locked into the first NPC I met.

Because seriously, what kind of gamer turns down a sidequest the first time it is offered?

If the game asked you to sever your own hand, 90% of players would say 'yes' just to see what happens.

It's probably not a big deal, though, just a surprise to me.
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crowe
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« Reply #15 on: June 28, 2012, 03:51:37 PM »

Yeah, just remember that once you master a skill it's unlocked for everyone, so even if someone's not learning skills quickly they can still be effective if you've got someone else working on the same weapon. That also means having several people working on the same weapon can actually result in more skills learned overall, since they won't invent a skill that's already been mastered by someone.


I hit a bit of a wall in the story, because I forgot to actually get anyone with proper long-range skills to target the back row, so I'm doing some side-quests to try and get a good bow user or something.
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SirNiko
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« Reply #16 on: June 28, 2012, 05:19:19 PM »

Oh, that shared skills thing is really handy. So mastering a skill for one dude means everyone gets it? convenient!

I'm getting the feeling that this might turn out like Saga Frontier where I get one party and stick with it to the end. This idea where I might leave people behind in pubs seems iffy at the moment.

After exploring several towns, I finally found somebody who needed help and went to the sacrificial cave.

The boss actually freaks me out quite a bit. Then it killed my party. Looks like I will need a new strategy to succeed here.
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Nix
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« Reply #17 on: June 28, 2012, 06:38:43 PM »

Woo! I found the fire gate. I lost to the boss at it, but was dropped outside after dying without losing the game (which is interesting). But that's cool.
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SirNiko
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« Reply #18 on: June 29, 2012, 03:32:04 PM »

Spoiler for a sidequest

http://nikozone.webs.com/rats.jpg

This isn't nearly as frightening without the soundtrack.

Turns out they were invincible and I had to run away. It would have been nice if the game had given me a hint that this was the case!
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Nix
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« Reply #19 on: June 29, 2012, 03:33:23 PM »

Yea, I got really frustrated with that quest. I tried killing him at least 10 times before breaking down and finding a walkthrough.
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