Interesting quirks when replaying stories

[Tuskai]

I was replaying Tsunanori's story, and the start was completely different, the attendant knew him at the start, and his Mother left a message in the Kugutsu instead of his Grandfather.

But even more interesting then that was the first area i went to ended up being Union States, and the Reporter was Lita, who did not join me after I cleared the zone.

But then I ran into LIta AGAIN in Witchdom, where she took the place of Ameya during the fight against the corruption, which was in full swing this time and neither recognized the other.

Seems like there might be a degree of randomization going on when replaying stories, and it draws different characters to fill in specific roles.

[ChickenStrip]

Yes, the game is meant for replaying, Mido's campaign is basically a sequel on NG+, but the available zones will often be different, or the plot within the zones will be a 100% different plot arc, or you are forced into other branches. Cinq will block the choices you did on a previous run. Delta Base has different sets of quests per Faction you will rotate through. The Crystal Calamity in Pulchra has different options and the other non-crystal version. Siugnas has unique versions of his first and final zones. And so on, and so on.

in Scarlet Grace, each zone, in addition to the generic layout for questing (which had differences per Protag) had 2 totally distinct setups for the 4 main quest chains that could appear there. This is similar with zones being design to have multiple vastly different quest chains. That was the main strength of going with this storybook look: they could actual scale the game out to absurd variety.

Across my three campaigns, the only repeat content I've genuinely done was the first Red Devision quest chain in Delta Base (Biochip and the red gates). Every other non-red battle node I've done has been different (well, I did Necronomicon on all three characters).

[Smurf]

I'm only on my second playthrough with a different character. Mido was the first I played as and the differences showed up immediately when I went to Grelon with Ameya on this second playthrough. The people who were frozen have now given completely different accounts of their dream with the Final Emperor compared to my first playthrough.

For example, I think Gabriel up at the top near the palace originally said he was having a wonderful dream. This time he said he was having a nightmarish one. Instead of admiring the Final Emperor for his character by not eating as much food as his subjects it changed to the Final Emperor destroying works of art Gabriel admired.

This game really was meant for replaying!

[Power_Bert]

Still not sure if i should go with the recommended settings for new game plus or not...

[ChickenStrip]

Originally posted by Power_Bert:

Still not sure if i should go with the recommended settings for new game plus or not...

Do you like late-game SaGa, or early-game SaGa gameplay? That's ultimately the difference. You can do any combination of settings for the most part. Just make sure to carry over Trade and Trials, but everything else is optional.

SaGa developers have been ramping up the default NG+ settings after decades of resisting. People love carrying ♥♥♥♥ over, even if the game itself has other mechanics in place for multi-playthrough progression. I had an incredible second run with all of the major things OFF.

[Aldath]

I love the New Game + elements, but I wish there was more to it than simply narrative changes. You still fight the same big animal bosses and their pallete swaps, and everyone still fights the same final boss. If playing New Game + eventually unlocked some sort of ultimate fight or true final boss it would be more worthwhile.

[Paladin]

Originally posted by Aldath:

I love the New Game + elements, but I wish there was more to it than simply narrative changes. You still fight the same big animal bosses and their pallete swaps, and everyone still fights the same final boss. If playing New Game + eventually unlocked some sort of ultimate fight or true final boss it would be more worthwhile.

We still don't know. There are rumors saying that Ameya's last boss requires the Pulchra world to be completed in all the ways it can.

Since at the moment, he doesn't fight the final boss no matter what. Could be copium but it could be true that there is a true hidden final boss that we haven't discovered.

[ChickenStrip]

In the game code, Ameya has two different possible final bosses. So the Pulchra stuff that Japanese Wiki players might be only one of her main routes, and the precise trigger may be more complicated or simpler than currently thought.

Originally posted by Aldath:

I love the New Game + elements, but I wish there was more to it than simply narrative changes. You still fight the same big animal bosses and their pallete swaps, and everyone still fights the same final boss. If playing New Game + eventually unlocked some sort of ultimate fight or true final boss it would be more worthwhile.

There's three general final boss encounters, but the game code looks like there's BEYOND versions of all three that are still to be determined how to find.

I think Mido, Ameya, and Siugnas are all really interesting ideas for how to replay and get different endings (Mido is a series of sequels, Ameya is a trial with various outcomes, Siugnas depends on whether you make Thralls at all). I don't know what determines what determines Diva's final boss encounters yet, or B&Fs.

[hardmanbow]

Originally posted by ChickenStrip:

I don't know what determines what determines Diva's final boss encounters yet, or B&Fs.

Diva's is simply whether or not it's first playthrough or New Game+. She has the least number of variations.

[Taisetsu na Miko]

I played 20+ hours with Ameya in my second playthrough, including a bit of savescumming to get the best results. Still no end bosses. Also, I could not tell how things had changed, but I could have likely collected two more cats to get the best possible ending of the route. Ameya has gold highlighting on her name and completions on the New Game screen. I think that was not true when I cleared with Grelon. I have only been playing as Ameya so Ithink I should be able to solve her route.

My biggest mistake was probably skipping Delta Base because it had no mana. I think the most important character is sealed there.

[Joerpg84]

Yeah I wonder if opening the Cryo chamber as Ameya affects the ending?

I guess we will have to wait for someone to have done all the Pulchra events as every character to see if that also has an effect.

Plus; has anyone beaten all of Mr S’s challenges?

[Taisetsu na Miko]

Yeah, I really wanted to open the cell at Delta Base, but things were very different there compared to the Steam demo. Instead, I ended up with a weird writer person who even though she was hidden, was clearly identified as female and likely a squire from Pulchra. I have been solely playing Ameya from the start so I think I am going to finish other characters before I try again to get the true ending if there is one.