EDIT: This review is in need of an update since the game has received a number of patches since release. For now please refer to more recent reviews.

The great dilemma: should you support this subpar release of one of the biggest titles the west missed out on two decades ago?
Why is it even a question when there are so many flaws here? Allow me to explain.

Sadly, it is another Squeenix hatchet job of a port, straight up from the android/IOS release with little to no improvements, but I imagine this one wont get away with reaching a "mostly positive" rating like FFV/VI.
The internal resolution is set by default in the likes of the vita screen and there are no options to change it in the menu, you will have to use Alt+Enter and F11 for proper fullscreen or stretch the window to your desired resolution, controller is limited to Ximput or Steam Controller, so you might have problems depending on your setup. Big Picture is your friend here, try it if you controller refuses to work. [UPDATE: Seems like they fixed it at the time of this edit.]
Graphics wise the improvements are not stellar: Some of the backgrounds look like they came from an RPG Maker game and the new animation in some of the bosses is jarring, but at least they kept the sprites, those burned by the steam ports of FFV/VI will find some solace here.
The translation itself is pretty dry and awkward in places, it gets the job done, but it seems they didnt revise it from the smartphone version, which is a pity.
Some users report crashes, so far I have not experienced any.

But what about the gameplay? Almost untouched from the original Super Famicom release, along with bugfixes to polish up some of the problems present in the old days, there is even some optional extra content and New Game+, which is a nice addition.
That being said, SaGa games are a tricky sell, the best way I can describe it is that these games are the furthest you can get away from classic JRPG standards while still remaining a JRPG at its core, there is nothing quite like this series out there.
There are no levels, no random battles, character growth is determined by the actions you take during combat and by the gear you have . Enemy encounters are represented by sprites roaming the maps and scale in power according to several factors, and they are not afraid of surpassing your party with several steamrollers hiding in a seemingly harmless little dog colliding with your party.
Theres also no world map, well, at least not in the traditional sense, you can fast travel anywhere on the map but you cant roam around in a big overworld like in other titles, just roll with it its SaGa.
Your Characters can gain access to special commands in the middle of battle at seemingly random times, one moment you are attacking with your meager sword and the next your little guy briefly unravels the secrets of the universe and pulls some sick moves out of his arse that then get added to your repertoire for later use. These also depend on the weapons and abilities you are using, if you want to get the best you cant be a jack of all trades.
The health system is divided in two: your normal health and Life Points, if a character is down you dont need to revive them with a special item, you just pop up a potion and they are good to go, they also go back to full health once the battle is over. the catch? every time they die they lose LP, and those are fixed with few ways to recover them, if they run out, thats it, they are gone Fire Emblem style.
There is also an inheritance system, you wont make it with your original party to the end of the game, by that point you will be controlling their descendants, how cool is that? and its a lot less linear than you might think considering its a JRPG, with tons of replayability and plenty of challenge. (and by plenty I do mean plenty)
Speaking of cool: the music is what you should expect from any great JRPG of the SNES/SFC era, the SaGa series has managed to have great music even in the Gameboy days and this is no exception, there are no rearranges or remixes here, but honestly the original music is pretty great in its original form.


If any of this sounds interesting you should know there are many systems working under the hood, part of the fun is peeling away at the layers and understanding them, if that sounds like your cup of tea or you are seeking something different, you should totally give this game a shot.
You are going to hit your head against the wall big time, its a tough journey, but you know what? you can save anywhere, BIG plus right there, not enough JRPGs do this even to this day.
Just remember: sometimes its better to let it go, after all there is always someone ready to take up the mantle, let them have their revenge.

Now for the great question, should you support this release?
If you have a console maybe get it for your PS4/Switch/Xbone/Vita, the steam version is not the end of the world, its fine as a means to play such a wonderful little piece of lost JRPG history, but it is a big, BIG wasted opportunity and should be counted as one of the biggest crimes against PC gaming since the steam release of FFVI.
Well, Im exaggerating, but lets say Im not happy with how SE treats some of its biggest classics with ports like this, somebody should slap some sense on the higher ups.
If you dont have an alternative, then by all means support this game on steam, Its still one of the greats along with Chrono Trigger and FFVI, and until recently perhaps the holy grail of classic untranslated JRPGs, and the series director, Akitoshi Kawazu, has expressed his desire to bring Romancing SaGa 3 to the west, along with Scarlet Grace, the most recent entry on the series. Lets pray to the fickle localization gods that the next port has some more effort put into it, and lets pray tenfold for the slim chance of a western release of Scarlet Grace.
EDIT: Hey, seems like there will be an english translation of the Scarlet Grace Port on Steam, here's hoping they don't mess that one up.


FAQ:
+Do you need to play anything before this game?
No, SaGa games, like FF and DQ, are mostly self contained.

+What are some good SaGa games for begginers?
People tend to recommend SaGa Frontier for the PS1 (dont start with Lute), along with the fan translation of SaGa 2 on the Nintendo DS.

+Woah, I actually really dig this, what should I play next?
Right Here on steam? check out The Last Renmant, apparently Scarlet Grace has some cameos connecting the two games.

You also have the original SaGa games localized as Final Fantasy Legend for the GB
SaGa 1 has a remake on the Wonderswan Color, a fan translated one at that, SaGa 2 and 3 got remakes on the DS, also fan translated. (please support the official releases and all that stuff)

You have the Romancing SaGa trilogy on the SNES, RS1 is fan translated but it also has a remake that came out in the west for the PS2, RS3 is also fan translated, (Spanish speakers rejoice! you also have a fan translation of RS3!).
If luck will have it, RS3 will also come to steam some time in the future.

Then you got the Frontier Games, 1 and 2 for the the PS1, both released in the west.

And Finally Unlimited SaGa for the PS2, also released in the west, its actually not a bad game as people would have you believe, if you are looking for something really out there you should totally check it out, but it does have its quirks.

+More please
Im told Legend Of Legacy and Alliance Alive for the 3DS take inspiration from SaGa games, I think they share some staff, but dont quote me on that.
And if you just want a more sandboxy JRPG but not as complicated, you can always go for Metal Max Returns, that game is amazing and there is an english patch for it. Have fun.

Press F11 for fullscreen mode.

Go into Big Picture and check the boxes next to Xbox Controller, PS4 Controller, Generic Controller, and "Home opens up Steam" in the controller options (Thanks Oretachi for that!)

Now go and enjoy this fun little JRPG that we English speakers missed out on 24 years ago!

As for the game itself, the plot is not bad, and has some unique quirks, but it also seems mostly like an excuse to delve into dungeons and fight baddies. And given the SaGa series' excellent combat system, that's totally ok with me.

This game seems like it might deviate a bit from other SaGas though... there's no seven characters at the start to choose from, the world so far is just a town, a menu, and dungeons. And then, once you get through the initial portion of the game, it opens up and you can do some side-quests and, unexpectedly, a lot of X-Com style base-building. Given that I prefer traditional RPG style gameplay over a strategy game... I actually consider this kinda cool. It lets me experience some of those strategy game elements without being a full-blown strategy game.

But I am absolutely having fun with this game and recommend it if you can get over it being a barebones port without a lot of the bells and whistles that come standard on most PC games these days. The actual gameplay is great and IMHO that's what matters.

I came into this game with an open mind and it ended up being one of the best games I've played. To really enjoy this game you have to approach it with the intention to learn to play the game by its own rules instead of trying to impose what you've learned from previous, perhaps more generic jRPGs, as this game is anything but. Reading the manual that is supplied with the game is highly recommended.

In many ways Romancing Saga 2 is the anti JRPG. It subverts expectations and does many things that you, perhaps, as a younger kid might have thought was weird in a game (I know me and my friends did). Things like why don't people give you the items for free from item shops if you're so important (they do in Saga 2 because you're the Emperor!) or why the game world waits for the players input before breathing, for example why is the player allowed to go have a nice rest in the local Inn after they've been told that a castle needs to be stormed immediately (the attack on the castle will have happened without the player if you do this!). These are only a few examples and the player can expect there to be many other cases such as these.

Also, I wish to resolve one of the big boogeymen of this game that I see get thrown a lot, which is how there's level scaling and that the player could somehow over grind themselves into a situation where they cannot win. This is simply untrue.

1) The game doesn't have level scaling. It has encounter scaling, which is quite different. That means that enemy encounters get changed into higher level enemies after a certain amount of fights, though the game does pit you against weaker enemies as well. Basically it just increases the pool of enemies that you can encounter, so you needn't worry about only fighting against hard enemies.

2) Boss stats don't have scaling based on your Encounter Rate (how many times you've fought in combat, which is what determines the encounter scaling). They all have default, flat values set in stone. So you'll never be able to grind yourself into a situation where you can't win. Some of the Seven Heroes do have different forms with different values of power that they might turn into based on your Encounter Rate, but there's a limit to this power, and most importantly their power curve isn't as high as yours is once you bring equipment to the equation. Some bosses also might power up based on choices, but they can never scale up to values that are impossible to beat as, forgive the repetition, their stat values are set in stone.

It really is important for the players to know that the Seven Heroes' power curve is much lower than the players is once you bring equipment and magic (especially fusion magic) into the equation. Having powerful armor and weapons could be the difference between a boss one shotting you and a boss becoming utterly trivial. Even though some of them could become even twice as powerful, stat wise, their final forms might be much easier than the earlier ones simply because of the powerful items and spells you'll have available to you at the time when you take them on.

Basically you don't need to worry about getting yourself into a no-win scenario due to over grinding. In fact you shouldn't avoid fighting either (which I did at first) because, as I said, bosses have their stats set in stone and not getting up to their level will just make it harder for you.

Anyway,

Pros:

-An open world to explore with several quests that can take different twists and turns based on what you do or don't do.
-A highly strategic combat system where thinking smart will lead you to victory. It'll be very hard to simply brute force your way through this game.
-Awesome combat music.
-A good feeling of accomplishment each time you manage to take down one of the Seven Heroes.

Cons:

Pretty much all the cons for this game have to do with a lack of Quality of Life stuff in some areas.

-The biggest issue is that your main equipment menu is useless for information. You can check what items your characters have equipped and what skills and spells they know, but the menu won't tell you what any of them do or what the item values are (for example if a weapon is enchanted or what an accessory does). Some of them are self explanatory, but some aren't. To know what the skills or spells do you'll just have to go into combat as the game will tell you there. To know what an item is you'll have to visit your castles' storage area and deposit / withdraw the item you wish to know more about.

-Another issue that some players might find is that when you equip armor the defensive stat you see in the equipment menu isn't universal for all attacks. The value shown in numbers is for Slash defense. There are several different hidden armor values that are presen't for all items and you'll have to consult an online guide for exact values, though the game is somewhat intuitive in that it's not really mandatory to do this. It's pretty easy for anyone to understand that items, like Helmets, will provide you with a large boost in Bludgeoning defense. It's mostly based on common sense, really.

-I found it annoying that once a character was recruited into your party they couldn't be kicked out if you wanted to swap them for someone else. Only way to get a new replacement character is to try and get the character you want out killed.


In conclusion: if you can put up with some of the odd choices of obscuring data from the player in the basic menus, which, to be honest, is more of a inconvinience, and if you are willing to put forth a total amount of 10 minutes to flip through the manual that is supplied with the game, you'll have a fun game to explore. If you're looking for a more usual jRPG that falls along the lines of, say, Final Fantasy, then this is probably not the game you're looking for.
But if you want something more unusual and a game that's more about exploring the gameplay systems as much as it is exploring the world rather than following a specific storyline with developed characters, then this might be one of the best things you'll ever play.

The game itself is great but it was badly ported from the mobile version. Fortunately, they started to fix some problems here and there. It still needs more improvements over iOS/Android to justify its higher price though.

tl;dr SaGa games were flawed, epic, open ended, obscure gems way ahead of their time that few westerners got to play back in the days and that you should absolutely try if you're into (J)RPGs.

My first encounter with them was in the mid nineties with Romancing SaGa 3. Coming from the likes of Chrono Trigger or Final Fantasy VI, I was hella confused by it. Most of the world was freely accessible from the start and I kept going from villages to towns and from ships to islands into dark caves and dungeons which inevitably led to what seemed like invincible mighty opponents.

Still, despite missing most of the complex mechanics behind the game and unable to even read the few hints the game throws at you, I fell in love. The world seemed so vast and mysterious. The very distinctive music and graphics were very appealing, the dark yet epic atmosphere ... It was actually the first thing I ever checked for on the internet, back in the early days of gamefaqs. I didn't beat it until years after, in it's unofficial english translation. I went on to play and love SaGa Frontier on the PS1 as well, but never got to play Romancing SaGa 2 until this Steam release.

SaGa games, or at the very least Romancing SaGa 1, 2, 3 and SaGa Frontier 1, share very distinctive, coherent design choices both in gameplay and art direction. From the mind of Final Fantasy co-creator Akitoshi Kawazu, and transcended by the grandiose artwork of Tomomi Kobayashi and the epic compositions of Kenji Ito, you could say they are a little bit to Final Fantasy what the Silmarillion is to The Lord of the Rings. In the sense that while they're less concentrated on their protagonists and the development of a set storyline, they give you a sense of archaic legendary tale where anything can happen.

Romancing SaGa 2 has all the qualities I just described, and yet is different from the others in many ways. Where the others give you a choice of several characters to start with to experience a world set in time, RS2 makes you play as a successive legacy of emperors that span several centuries, all tied to the same storyline. Your achievements get carried over each generation, and your emperor inherit the powers of its predecessors. The story is linked by the fight against the Seven Heroes, once heroic humans who saved the world, turned into malevolent superior beings by the power that corrupted them.

So you're the emperor of a small northern kingdom, vowed to uniting the world under his banner and rid the world of the Seven Heroes after experiencing their evil deeds first hand. Several classes of warriors are recruitable from the start to accompany you, and you will unlock more as you explore the world. Your castle will grow from your achievements, and the levels of yourself and the classes of your comrades will carry out from generation to generation. Generation skips occur semi-randomly at the end of certain quests. 160 years will pass in a screen. Your emperor and your comrades will be long gone, and your new emperor will raise and inherit the powers of it's predecessors, ready to take on their task. Things your ancestors have done will sometimes have changed the world in some way, which will be yours to discover.

This and semi-permadeath gives a very interesting depth to the game. Something dark yet hopeful. Time passes, yet the determination of your legacy does not weaken.

On permadeath. SaGa games have a Life Point system. Each playable character in the game have a set amount of them. In RS2, running out of LPs means your character is gone for good. If it happens to your emperor, it's generation skip time. Unless it's your last ... There are ways to get some back, but they are also very limited.

As I said, the game is "open-ended". Open world, you could almost say. In the sense that you get access to most of it straight way, and can choose to explore it as you like. You will be given few directions here and there on where to go or what to do, but they can be pretty vague, and it's up to you to do your own thing. The world is very varied, from medieval strongholds to jungles, desert and mountains. The sense of traveling is strongly conveyed.

Characters don't get levels per-se. HP will raise the more enemies you defeat. MP the more magic you use. Weapon skills are "sparked". As you raise your level in one of the 8 weapon classes available by using them in battle, your characters will "spark" skills semi randomly while using said weapon in battle. The unlocked skills will be available to your future generations. Remember to leave room for sparking new ones. Not knowing you could only have a limited amount of them active on a character at a time was one of my original downfalls in RS3 ...

I won't go any further about game mechanics. This is the kind of game you will have to research a bit about if you get enough into it to feel so inclined.

If you do, you will find that the game rewards you with a highly satisfying mix of fast, brutal, epic, technical battles. Despite their age, few games give you a sense of power the way SaGa games do. Unlocking new powerful skills and magic and finding new weapons can be game changing and bosses that seemed unbeatable suddenly fall to your new mighty strikes. Everything is overplayed, from the stances of your characters to the epic battle soundtracks.

Smart tactics will pay off as well. Changing battle formations, unlocking and using spells in clever ways. Equipment can also play a huge role and it's a shame this remaster didn't fix the fact the game doesn't tell you enough about it.

Which leads me to the "flawed" aspect, which applies more or less to the entire SaGa series as well. While a lot of the appeal of the games does come from the freedom and lack of set directions, there are times where the game straight out hide things from you, or permanently closes scenaristic doors you didn't even know were opened. You are sometimes given choice of action without being aware of it, which can have dramatic repercussions on occasions. Some core mechanics are completely hidden from you, as are special equipment resistances in RS2. Some armors will for example have strong resistances to certain elements, but the game doesn't tell you. Something that could have easily been fixed in this remake but sadly wasn't.

Thankfully, while small, the SaGa community is full of very dedicated people who have relentlessly written guides and information gathered from what i can only imagine must be thousands of hours of testing. There are in depth guides available on gamefaqs, and while I do recommend going semi-blind, you should at the very least read up on core mechanics like skill sparking and magic development. The game lets you save anywhere, anytime, which helps a lot on that aspect. But nonetheless, it is still possible to run into dead-ends far into the game if you're not a little bit prepared. Something that the remake's New Game Plus feature fixes in a way.

On the remake, I would say that's the way I wish became standard for Square. They kept the sprites. They kept the soundtrack. Some boss sprites are now animated while retaining their pixel art style and it looks pretty cool. All the backgrounds have been remade, and while they can look pretty bland at times, they're not bad, and I understand why they did it given the original RS2 wasn't the most appealing in that aspect. I do wish they keep the original ones for the much better looking RS3. There are a number of added features, like New Game Plus, new dungeons and 2 classes, all great additions that blend well with everything else.

All in all, again, highly recommended to (J)RPGs enthusiasts. If you can get over the initial shock of the unconventional gameplay, you're in for a grand time.

I really hope for the game to do well here on Steam, so Square keeps releasing it's sequels and prequel and, who knows, maybe new installments one day. It's been a while and the love certainly hasn't died in Japan.

The original game is a classic but this port doesn't offer enough as a PC port to justify its price tag.

In addition to that, which would have been enough to justify my refund, this port crashes, has no configuration settings in the program itself or in a separate program. I had to enable some steam controller settings to get it to even recognize my controller (360 controller) and after having to do that, I was still facing strange issues with certain button presses. There's also no documentation and no support threads from staff. I don't expect these issues to get fixed anytime shortly.

It sucks to have to refund this, but it's really just a matter of it not delivering in any area. Other mobile ports of Square titles like Final Fantasy IV-VI were very playable and had a lot to offer even though they have their crititcs. This is just a lazy mess of a mobile port with very little consideration given.

I gave this one a go despite the poor reviews, as it was a game I always wanted to try having played several of the other Saga games and enjoying them. And it's as a bad a port as everyone is saying. No settings at all, mobile control UI, poor controller detection. Which is a crime, because it's a good game if extremely unusual as typical jrpgs go.

The game makes you THINK there's actual characters, but in reality there's just classes. Even the main character. Like other Saga games there's potential permadeath. Unlike later games, you can't avoid it. Some enemies will attack LP directly no matter how careful you are, and you will simply run out of LP at some point. You will then recieve an heir character with similar stats and a different look. There isn't much of a plot, basically you're dungeon crawling to build up loot and stats until you're strong enough to start knocking off the Big Bads. And that's all fine, not every RPG has to have deep writing; it's fun and it's actually challenging.

The sticking point is the pricetage for such a relatively simple and old game with a shoddy port. And Square does NOT have a good reputation for supporting these mobile ports after release. This is in no way worth the current asking price on Steam when it's cheaper on other platforms for the exact same port, or can buy some excellent modern RPGs with far more depth for similar prices. If it were $10, maybe even $15, I'd say it's worth a go. As it is I will be refunding this as I cannot support this lazy effort. Hopefully Square learns their lesson when it comes the eventual port of RS3.

THIS IS NOT A FINAL FANTASY CLONE

If you try to play it like most other JRPGs, you're gonna have a bad time. Characters revive/fully heal between battles, potions have to be equipped (1 per character per battle) and can revive someone who is down, the party leader is the only one who can order the party to flee and all characters have perma-death.

Grinding is difficult and there are no random battles. Once you beat the boss of a dungeon, it is empty. So if you have to start over with a new party (and you will have to), they will have to grind where the last party died.

It has been a lot of fun so far but you have to come at it with a completely different mindset than FF/Chrono Trigger/Etc

A lot of the negative reviews are about how bad the port was a long time ago, that is not the case anymore. There are some minor issues, but not enough to detract from the game, I'll go over them.
1. No volume slider, I had to manually open my volume mixer in Windows to set the volume every time I started the game. Easily the biggest problem I had.
2. No way to enter fullscreen, easily solvable by hitting alt+enter, pretty much a non-issue.
3. To go back to the main menu (if you need to load a save), you can't use your mouse like the rest of the game, you have to select it with WASD then hit enter.

Now that that's out of the way..

This game is fantastic. This is my first Romancing Saga game and I was blown away. So much variety in the way you can do things from the classes, to the weapons/spells, to the formation and skills you can use for your party. The game can be a LITTLE obtuse at times in telling you what to do. I'd say like 80% of the time they give you a good enough direction in what to do, the other 20% I did not feel bad about glancing online. And you should definitely glance at the Steam guides to figure out what armors actually do.

So the gameplay is great. But what about the story? Going in I was told that Romancing Saga isn't very story focused, and it's mostly about the gameplay. I'm here to say I don't agree with that. This game has some outstanding scenarios in it that are super creative. The overarching story isn't bad, but it's the individual little stories in different towns that I love.

If you don't mind doing a little learning on how this game works, you'll have an awesome time.

Bad port, no options AGAIN. No fullscreen settings, can't resize the window and no controller support when I force fullscreen with Alt+Enter. Good job Square Enix, this sets a great precedent for the upcoming FFXV port.

Edit: granted, Alt+Enter, I am a silly person on occasion