SaGa Frontier Remastered was my very first SaGa experience. I had heard a variety of things about the franchise and found myself surprisingly really enjoying it. So, when Romancing SaGa -Minstrel Song- Remastered was announced, I knew I had to give it a try.

Romancing SaGa -Minstrel Song- Remastered is actually a remaster of Romancing SaGa Minstrel Song, which was a remake of the SNES version of Romancing SaGa. Yes, we’ve gone so far down the rabbit hole that we’re getting remastered versions of remakes. Romancing Saga was released in 1992, Minstrel Song was released in 2005, and now we have Minstrel Song Remastered in 2022.

With that mind-bending breakdown out of the way, Romancing SaGa -Minstrel Song- Remastered plays out like other entries in the SaGa series. You choose a protagonist and play through the game recruiting other characters and experiencing that protagonist’s story. Minstrel Song Remastered has a new playable character that wasn’t available in the original release, as well as new recruitable party members, so there is a lot more content in this version.

Additionally, since this game is ripe for replaying, new game plus options are available that allow things to carry over into subsequent playthroughs. Because each protagonist has their own storyline, I’m not going to really talk about the story much. This is an experience that is very personal, since progressing the main story happens based on how many in-game events, quests, etc you complete.

This “Free Scenario” system allows you to somewhat tailor your gameplay experience to whatever interests you most. You might want to recruit certain characters or follow certain quests more than others, and you’re able to do that for the most part. As in SaGa Frontier Remastered (and presumably other SaGa games) progression is tied to the actions you take in battle, rather than a traditional leveling system.

The strange thing is you won’t really get a majority of your leveling and progression from battle. Instead, you’ll get that from resolving quests. If you spend too much time in battle, fighting enemies, then your event rank will increase too high. Your event rank will increase plenty as you undergo quests, but if you let it get too high certain quests will become unavailable. It is strange to recommend that people do not grind in an RPG, but in Minstrel Song Remastered’s case, this seems to be a necessity.

A few things to note about combat though are the glimmer mechanic and the durability mechanic. Weapons have durability, but only certain weapon skills can cost durability points. If a weapon runs out of durability points, then it will need to be repaired before you can use it again. Weapon skills are learned in battle, via the glimmer mechanic. If you attack with a weapon you have proficiency in, you may glimmer a new skill for that weapon.

Unlike weapon skills, spells must be purchased and learned by party members. There are 8 schools of magic, but a character can only know spells from up to 4 at once, as they are paired off as opposing forces. For example, Pyrology and Hydrology are opposites, so you can only learn and use spells from one or the other at a time.

Now that progression is out of the way, let’s talk about death for a moment. If your party members’ HP goes to 0, they will be knocked down. However, they won’t officially “die” unless they are hit multiple times after that. Each character has a certain amount of LP, and if their LP goes to 0 they will be removed from your party permanently. Because of this, it is important that you have plenty of healing items, and that you have equipped your party with the best weapons and armor they can use.

It is also important that you train proficiencies in town and that you make sure each character has a class that will suit your needs. In this way, Romancing SaGa is a very customizable and open experience. You can pick the protagonist that speaks to you, pick party members that interest you, and somewhat make the experience your own.

There are a lot of mechanics involved with Romancing SaGa -Minstrel Song- Remastered that honestly make it intimidating even for an RPG veteran like myself. The more I played, the more I realized that while I was absolutely enjoying every minute, this was not an experience for beginners. Unlike SaGa Frontier Remastered, each protagonist’s story is the length of a full-scale RPG storyline, so roughly 30 hours or more depending on how deep you go into it.

For that reason alone, if you find yourself wanting to dive into Romancing SaGa -Minstrel Song- Remastered, you’ll get your money’s worth. I could see there being upwards of 300 hours or more of gameplay if you want to play through each protagonist’s story. At times I think the Free Scenario system is both too open and too restrictive at the same time though.

Tying progression to winning battles, causing you to possibly miss out on quests is a frustrating concept. At the same time, I love the freedom of being able to recruit characters I want, explore as much as I like, and tailor my characters to meet my needs. That limited problem of not being able to grind meant that I was never really in a position where I felt like I was satisfied with how much money I was making to outfit my party.

Overall I like Minstrel Song Remastered a lot. However, I think that despite being a remastered version of a remake, it still shows quite a bit of age. I would love an interpretation of this game where you could explore the depths of each questline without worrying about locking yourself out of other ones. Despite that, there is a lot to love about this remastered classic.

A Nintendo Switch review copy of Romancing SaGa -Minstrel Song- Remastered was provided by Square Enix for this review.

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Romancing Saga -Minstrel Song- Remastered

$24.99 USD

6.5

Score

6.5/10

Pros

• Lots of Party and Character Customization
• Tons of Content and Replay Value
• Unique Storylines for Each Character
• Enhancements from the Original Version

Cons

• Quest Progression Being Tied to Battles is Limiting
• Not for Beginners
• Certain Storylines Feel Aimless