A few questions, not entirely sure I understand how the game will work.

[Grumple Stiltskin]

Is the game meant for multiple playthroughs? How long is an individual playthrough? Who would be the best character in order to see and do as much as possible in one playthrough?

Is the game vastly different for each character, or just the same game with a slightly different flavor?

Does the game simply end if the character you choose runs out of Life Points?

[InsanityForce]

The game is not really meant for multiple playthrough, especially not simultaneously. the New Game + features lets you keep HP SP MP, mastered abilities, money and items (they go to storage), however.
The game is not very different for each character, they are all free to go anywhere after their intro.

Mikhail gets two extra minigames, which lets him get items from the Workshop without spending any rare material. The governing one is boring but the wars are pretty fun. I'd say he's the one who gets the most UNIQUE content. To access those, sit on his throne if the doppelganger is hidden. talk to his doppelganger to make him hide. (go to Mikhail 's room and summon him to leave the castle). Khalid is a good choice too.

Julian,Thomas,Ellen,Sarah and Monica may visit Podorui Cave, but beside a Staff of Vivacity tthere's nothing remarkable. Mikhail starts with one anyway, and Khalid and Katarina are free to take it.

Here's what you get by chosing each :

Julian : Long intro. If you accept to guard Monika you can get her early, however if you accompany her in the ship she dies FOR GOOD. Eloping lets you keep her, refusing the job lets you play normally. If you accept the job, you can recruit Mikhail and Monika simultaneously (other characters can't).
Thomas : Slightly longer intro leads to a sidequest anyone else can do.
Mikhail : See above. Starts with nice extra equipment in storage but nothing unique.
Khalid : Exclusive access to a dungeon with some nice loot and the best curved sword (not the best sword). Can only equip a curved sword in his first weapon slot, not a big deal at all. The dungeon is the only spot where you can find the strongest normal monster (best for trainign and getting techs) beside one in a dungeon that disappears after you beat the boss.

Ellen : Absolutely nothing special !
Sarah : You can't use her for the final boss fight, instead you get an improved "Commander mode" that lets you control all team members. Recommended for a Commander Mode playthrough even though Mikhail has better Commander stats (to get in Commander mode, go to your formation menu and set your main character in the non-battle position at the very back).
Monika : Similar to Julian, you may lose him for good in the shipwreck if you don't elope. May not participate in the Zweig Tournament, and thus can't recruit Leonid.
Katarina : Banned from Loanne until you find a certain item. Then, you can speak to Mikhail with a full party to change clothes and hair !. Also, other characters can't recruit her anywhere.

Also, each character gerts a different town music.

If your main character runs out of life points, it's Game Over even if other characters are still alive. If another one runs out, they become unusable until you close an Abyss gate (I actually never tried that, I reset if anyone dies). There are exception, like in the Dream World.

[Null]

Originally posted by Grumple Stiltskin:

How long is an individual playthrough?

If you know roughly what you're doing, about 10 hours, outside of that it depends how good you are at nonlinear RPGs

[InsanityForce]

If you try to get every evade tech...Much more.

[archmag]

Originally posted by InsanityForce:

If your main character runs out of life points, it's Game Over even if other characters are still alive. If another one runs out, they become unusable until you close an Abyss gate (I actually never tried that, I reset if anyone dies). There are exception, like in the Dream World.

I think it is important to mention that you can recover LP by resting in an Inn. I worried about them too much and had to reload almost after every battle because I though that LP loss was permanent. It was very annoying as many enemies just one-shot characters or randomly focus single character in several rounds.

[Null]

Originally posted by archmag:

I worried about them too much and had to reload almost after every battle because I though that LP loss was permanent. It was very annoying as many enemies just one-shot characters or randomly focus single character in several rounds.

Oh ho ho ho you would HATE Romancing SaGa 2. The way to restore LP is through a witch through a short but crowded dungeon who sells a potion that costs 10,000, which is the money limit. Sure, you have near-infinite funds because you're the freakin' Emperor but you have to make that trek every single time to restore a single LP.

[archmag]

Originally posted by Persephone:

Oh ho ho ho you would HATE Romancing SaGa 2. The way to restore LP is through a witch through a short but crowded dungeon who sells a potion that costs 10,000, which is the money limit. Sure, you have near-infinite funds because you're the freakin' Emperor but you have to make that trek every single time to restore a single LP.

Yeah, I hated it. Not the game, but losing LP permanently. So I never made far there. I think first cave after tutorial, that's where I stopped because every battle someone was one-shotting one of my characters. Almost stopped playing this game too before I read that LP can be restored in an inn.

Btw, didn't know that there was a way to restore them through a witch in 2nd game. Maybe I will try it again. It does not matter how much it costs, just having some way to do it is great.

[dogrobot]

Originally posted by archmag:

Originally posted by Persephone:

Oh ho ho ho you would HATE Romancing SaGa 2. The way to restore LP is through a witch through a short but crowded dungeon who sells a potion that costs 10,000, which is the money limit. Sure, you have near-infinite funds because you're the freakin' Emperor but you have to make that trek every single time to restore a single LP.

Yeah, I hated it. Not the game, but losing LP permanently. So I never made far there. I think first cave after tutorial, that's where I stopped because every battle someone was one-shotting one of my characters. Almost stopped playing this game too before I read that LP can be restored in an inn.

Btw, didn't know that there was a way to restore them through a witch in 2nd game. Maybe I will try it again. It does not matter how much it costs, just having some way to do it is great.

there's a limited amount of potions iirc and they only restock after a certain amount of time, so it's kind of pointless to use them on anyone besides the final emperor since everyone else is expendable or replaceable.

[Brave Sir Robin]

Originally posted by InsanityForce:

The game is not really meant for multiple playthrough,

While it's true most of the main characters don't get drastically different experiences beyond their prologues, the large roster of characters does encourage playing with completely different party comps and tactics.

[scythewielder]

You can also easily miss side quests on the initial playthrough, so replaying (with or without New Game+) isn't a bad idea if you want to check out the other quests.

[archmag]

Originally posted by InsanityForce:

the New Game + features lets you keep HP SP MP, mastered abilities, money and items (they go to storage), however.

Can you start NG+ with different character or only with the same one? Do all characters keep their HP SP MP or only the main one?

[InsanityForce]

You can start NG+ with any character, and even load data from save that have not completed the game.
I genuinely accidently duplicated Mikhail's armor and life cane when I started a Khalid game this way !

[Grumple Stiltskin]

Originally posted by InsanityForce:

You can start NG+ with any character, and even load data from save that have not completed the game.
I genuinely accidently duplicated Mikhail's armor and life cane when I started a Khalid game this way !

Yeah, I had been checking the various character's intros and using the old characters data because why not, and now I suddenly have 2k gold instead of 100. A nice tiny head start.