Review: SaGa Scarlet Grace: Ambitions

At long last, here's my review of SaGa Scarlet Grace. Most of the footage is mine, but I used some clips from videos of these 2 people. Many thanks for your help!
Special thanks for some of the Video Footage to:
Timodus:
www.youtube.co...
Mm Mm:
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[@gwelengu]

Great review! You really nailed exactly what I felt playing the game and I think we play SaGa games very similarly(with spreadsheets haha). I have put down this game multiple times partway but always think about coming back to it. I think the gameplay in theory is REALLY good. However, I agree with everything you said - it’s too complicated and it’s so hard to keep track of all the things you need to do or NOT do, and I get a headache thinking about cross referencing spreadsheets to decide on what to do next, what weapons to use, where to get materials, etc. I already do this with Romancing SaGa Minstrel Song and I think the reason I find it tolerable is because it’s a bit simpler and more flexible and I know the game better. But also, not having dungeons or towns means I don’t get a break to relax and walk through town or enjoy the scenery. Once you are done with a battle it’s on to the next battle, and that just gets a bit tiresome pacing-wise. It’s an amazing game. Also an absolute nightmare for me because I am a bit of a perfectionist and hate missing out on things or being unprepared.

[@FarelTheGiraffe]

I'm relieved to hear that, heh. I was worried my opinion would be deemed controversial, and I'd get in trouble for criticizing a "perfect game".

[@killerb255]

Given the amount of decision flags this game has, it's a perfectionist's nightmare. Writing the Bicyniro rumor sections of the GameFAQs guides took A LOT of resets and quite a few save files. :D

[@Iyasenu]

I decided to get this game thanks to this review. Unsurprisingly, I got Urpina from the quiz questions at the start, so she's also my first playthrough. So far, I've just repaired the Saw and fought the Earth Serpent, so now I've got access to the world at large. I feel like I'm kinda bad at the combat. It's so easy to get knocked out and lose LP. Which adds up over time. Maybe I should look for "Easy" rated engagements to try and get some other party members to glimmer useful moves so I have some people to switch out to let my main group recuperate LP. I'm having fun, all things said. Oh, I saw your guide on the Product Development thing, too. It's very helpful! Thanks for making that!

[@FarelTheGiraffe]

You're welcome pal. I want to give some warning: - that's the impression I got from the combat. Easy encounters can be deceptive. Sometimes it's hard, but you simply fight 5 monsters that qualify as "easy" - glimmering techniques increases in difficulty based on how many you already learned for said weapon, if you switch to another weapon, it'll be easier. Of course your weapon skill level will be lower, but using different weapons has the benefit of teaching you more ROLEs, and a few of them are valuable

[@Iyasenu]

Oh, on the issue of LP, I've at least found a convenient solution. Strawberries. Over in... Provincia Kai I think? (All the names are hard to remember atm lol) Seems to have 2 fakes and 1 real plant. Turns out the fake -1 LP ones have the top leaf facing left, with the real +1 LP one facing left. So even though auto-save could save you if you picked the bad one, there was actually a way to tell them apart! And since they all immediately respawn when you travel back and forth between provinces, it seems my LP issues are over, unless someone gets totally LP killed. Makes me wonder about Hot Springs. They heal multiple LP but I'm not sure if/how those respawn. Also did you see recruit that one character who has literally 1 Max LP? Yiiiikes. Sucks to be her with how easy it is to die during this game's battles.

[@FarelTheGiraffe]

@@Iyasenu I do know about it, which is why in my video, when talking about how later on you find ways around the issue, I do show the Strawberries on screen. I did read about the hotspring not respawning, so it's likely the case. I did recruit her, never used her, but was glad I did, cause she came with a great Battle Formation for archers. Granted, I ended up not using bows that much in the end, but it'll help in the future if I get back to the game, I'm sure.

[@littleNorwegians]

Nice, I've been looking forward to this review of MonDo Mondlet Grondo: Mondbition :P Seems like a real spreadsheet game, complicated, but rewarding for those who like that sorta thing. (Maybe still a little flawed, but still good)

[@FarelTheGiraffe]

Yes indeed. As much as it was a relief to move onto other things, I can't deny that I'm none the less in a part of my head debating whenever or not to return to the game at some point and see some of the content for people who do multiple playthroughs... but this'll have to wait.

[@killerb255]

@@FarelTheGiraffe If you return to the game, play as Balmaint next. I usually recommend Urpina-Balmaint-Taria-Leonard in that order (or for some people that prefer Leonard's freedom, Leonard-Taria-Balmaint-Urpina). Balmaint's seven-part, two-intermission setup is different enough from Urpina and Taria's three-chapter setup that it doesn't feel as "same-y". However, his scenario does feel constricting...almost like you're playing SaGa Frontier 2.

[@FarelTheGiraffe]

@@killerb255 Huh, that's quite a neat piece of advise. Thank you. I'll consider it :)

[@Iyasenu]

Hey, neat the review is already here! I'm one of the new-ish players to the series, having started with SaGa Frontier Remastered and then moved on to the remaster of Minstrel Song here recently. I think I'll give this one a go and make it my third. I might've missed it, but how's the progression in this entry? Like MS had the Event Rank to determine when you're at the endgame, while Frontier had each character with their own main questline, but still had Battle Rank in the background determining the general strength of combat encounters. What's it like here?

[@gwelengu]

It has a battle rank, which increases more if you fight a battle for the first time. If you search on gamefaqs’ message board you will see people have detailed the mechanics of it. It affects new recruits HP and weapon levels also. I am unsure if it affects quests like the event rank in Romancing SaGa but I don’t think so. I could be wrong of course this game has many mysteries

[@FarelTheGiraffe]

As far as I can tell, quests are only impacted by the CHAPTER that you find yourself in, and that will not move on ahead against your will.

[@killerb255]

SaGa Scarlet Grace progresses by Chapter/Part. Urpina and Taria have a three-chapter setup where their main quest is Chapter 1 and the remaining two Chapters can be used to play two out of the remaining three Common Quests. Balmaint has a seven-part, two-intermission setup where Parts 1 thru 7 cover his main quest while there are two intermissions that allow him to play two out of the remaining three Common Quests. Leonard just has bits and pieces of all four Common Quests rolled into his entire playthrough. He only has three required objectives with everything else optional. Encounter strength is still governed by Battle Rank in the background. However, Battle Rank only progresses if you go from one Region to another after fighting at least one encounter in a Region. Encounters in the same Region don't progress Battle Rank. There is no Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song-like Event Rank in Scarlet Grace.

[@justinferreira5780]

Just ordered a physical copy, hopefully I can beat this game before the new one comes out.

[@FarelTheGiraffe]

Best of luck! Hoping to clear it a second time myself. Definitely in the second half already, so we'll see how it'll go....

[@yama6767]

Nice to see you posting again Farrrel you were missed.

[@FarelTheGiraffe]

Oh emm.... heh... this video is all the way from January of this year. I have released 2 different reviews since, and have been posting Romancing SaGa videos all the time, heh. It's not exactly new.. But emm, I'm glad you like it, heh

[@ALostExplorer]

Heyyy I remembered watching you stream this game a few years ago!

[@FarelTheGiraffe]

Hey pal, can't stop thinking about you (....... while I work on my script for YuGiOh GX, hehe)! I tried to try something new, but this game didn't work out too well for that, heh.

[@Iyasenu]

Haha, talking about United Attacks reminded me, I watched your Phoenix battle video and was wondering how you were supposed to fulfill that goal. I thought it was like "so just randomly hope the boss does that one move multiple times??" Taking all those fire attacks was still rough!

[@FarelTheGiraffe]

It was rough. I originally failed, backed out, and came back when I had sooo much more HP. I entered the fight and ... I kind of got stuck in a loop. The enemy couldn't kill me, but I also couldn't cause it to use United Attacks. It was about getting 3 enemies to be on the timeline together, and me killing the middle one that did the job. I did put timestamps in the video description, so you can easily go to where it worked and learn from it :)

[@killerb255]

General rule of thumb when it comes to United Attacks: remove the thing that's different in the middle of the timeline. So with a timeline of Ally - Ally - Enemy - Ally - Ally If the Enemy in the middle gets killed, then all the Allies that were on both sides of the Enemy get a United Attack. With Enemy - Enemy - Ally - Enemy - Enemy, if your Ally in the middle gets killed, the Enemies that were on both sides of the now-dead Ally get a United Attack.

[@forbidden6543]

Question.. can I be evil.. at least Anti-hero? Seeking a game where I can just be a modern Robin Hood

[@FarelForever]

Sorry, this game doesn't give you that much freedom , or ability to express yourself.

[@user-yd1wy3jn2s]

Surprised anyone gave this ported phone game a chance.

[@FarelTheGiraffe]

It was the first new SaGa game in the west since forever, I kind of had to....... but as said in the review, it wasn't what I hoped for.

[@karamarakamarama]

Its a Vita game

[@user-yd1wy3jn2s]

@@karamarakamarama It's a phone game ported to the vita.

[@karamarakamarama]

@@user-yd1wy3jn2s delusional

[@Jrdotan]

​@@user-yd1wy3jn2sits originally a vita game.