SaGa 1-3 were pretty awesome, 2 being my personal favorite.
Frontier 1-2 were both good, but definitely had some issues.
Unlimited was a mess. Too complicated and deep for its own good.
Minstrel Song was good, but they could have made it so much better.
I haven't played any of the Romancing series.

I'm surprised it took SQEX this long to get back into the series. They were pretty popular in Japan. SaGa 2 remake in a nice way to return, too bad its for the DS.

Um, I think we've already established they're NOT getting back into the series.

Even though this turned out not to be Saga 4, I still think they will make another Saga game this gen. I needs me some Ito tunes (although SD4 kinda sucked).

Yeah, I'm pretty sure you have no idea what you're talking about. As other posters have commented, the GameBoy SaGa series (FF Legend) is pretty rad, with 2 being the best (hence why it's getting a DS remake).

I'll also argue in favor of Romancing SaGa 3 and SaGa Frontier 2. Not just the music, but the games themselves, are lots of fun.

Ramza

I didn't like SaGa 2 or 3 for GB when I played them back in the day.  Unlimited SaGa was terrible.  Minstrel Song was bad.  SaGa Frontier was not so hot.  SaGa Frontier 2 was the most interesting of the bunch that I played, but it was still ridiculously flawed.  I never have played the others.  Still, that's more than half of them, and that's enough for me to say aside from some of the soundtracks, the series doesn't make me think "quality".

1. Final Fantasy Legend 3 isn't really a SaGa game (it's the Final Fantasy Mystic Quest team)
2. I'd be interested to know how much time you put into Unlimited SaGa and Minstrel Song.

To answer the question of the last traditional turn-based Square RPG I've played, I don't think there's been one since FFX that I've played (have there been any, other than the aforementioned Last Remnant? [I haven't gotten around to that one]).

Anyway, I've not really touched the Gameboy SaGa games (I think I may have dabbled a bit in one of them, but way too long ago to remember).  The Romancing SaGa games were what broke my foolish thought that all of Square's games that didn't get Western releases were robbed from us and were actually probably amazing things - I got fan translations of 1 and 3 and didn't like the games at all.  SaGa Frontier did nothing for me and Unlimited SaGa just seemed to encapsulate a whole lot of things that I can't stand in games.  I can't blame anyone for liking the series (everyone has different tastes... I can't stand TRPGs and lots of people love them), but I, for one, am happy to see Square trying a totally normal classically styled RPG since they've not done one in so long.  Completely ignoring the name, I'm far more excited about this (graphics be damned) than if they'd done another entry in my least favorite series in their lineup.

What didn't you like about them?

(aside from the fact the translations are hardly complete)

Combat, mostly.  Then again, I'm sometimes kind of picky and random when it comes to that.

I think what puts a lot of people off the SaGa series is the random levelling element.
Not being bound by a set amount of experience points but instead levelling up stats at random is something a lot of people could have trouble coming to terms with, especially if it means enemies will become a lot stronger quite rapidly.

Though I do love the games, I think that's my main problem with them, is that you can't really level up to compensate easily, because you need to get lucky in the way you do.

well, the games have usually tried to make the battles less a matter of overpowering your enemies and more a matter of outsmarting them, as you might surmise from the large amount of party formations in RS3 and the necessity of combination attacks in some battles in SaGa Frontier (not to mention the latter's different stat gain systems for different character types).

Unfortunately, as with an unfortunate number of games worked on by Kawazu and his close associates, this design philosophy usually ends up causing major playability problems when mixed with other major gameplay features, like non-linear gameplay (or "free scenario", as it's known in Japan).

It's less problematic than, say, Oblivion, the game where I had to wonder why we ever needed leveling.

well, in defense of Bethesda, they're well aware that no matter how badly some part of a game they make is designed, the desperate fan base will rush to fix it as soon as they can with patches and mods

okay, maybe that's not in defense of Bethesda

I like to see this FF Gaiden game somewhat parody the FF games with a little bit of cheeky humor mixed in with old school gameplay.

It seems like a cousin to Mystic Quest which was literally FF 101 made for the USA.

Go check the teaser page again, it links to the official site. Music is upgraded, but the retro GameBoy synth still makes in appearance in the "full" version of the song. Definitely a catchy tune.

Composer still not revealed.

First video:

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/japan … 0?type=wmv

I saw that a few hours ago as two sound-less, separate videos (one the characters running around, one the eight seconds of combat at the end) on youtube.

Looking to see if there were more, I stumbled across several horrible fan-made "trailers" for Final Fantasy VIII Gaiden, one of the greatest April Fool's jokes ever. Now there's a game I'd actually like. RIP GIA...

I totally bought into that joke too. TheGIA was so awesome. FFVIII Gaiden plz!

Not impressed

I actually sort of like the Wind Waker-style scenery, the Super Mario RPG-like blank backgrounds less so. Still, it's a poor video to form an opinion from, as it was nearly all 'look at all this scenery, LOOK AT IT'. Battles appeared faster though, that's a good sign.

I love that the GameBoy/NES chiptunes are still worked into the main theme. Still waiting to find out who the composer is. I suspect I will like the OST, and dislike the game.

Only thing that didn't impress me on that video was the drawing distance, which probably can't be helped, otherwise it looked nice on it's own different color scheme what I've gotten used.

Would be fun to notice if the composer would be Ishimoto. Oh the hate on this thread after that.

I'm going to venture to guess Kenji Ito.  If it IS Ishimoto, I'm not sure what the "hate" comment was about - I would be pleasantly surprised if he produced something that I really liked.

Well, knowing how some people just loathe everything he has so far done, I wouldn't be suprised if they would just hate his work on this also. (And so far, he's only beein disappointment in Dissidia for me.)

.

After all that speculation, it's been confirmed that Mizuta and Suzuki will handle the score. More info here.

Finally we know! That's exciting news, thank you Chris!