Last night, I posted a tool-assisted speedrun for Square's Final Fantasy Legend, the first game in what would eventually become the SaGa series. Like I mentioned last night, I know virtually nothing about Square's early exploits on the Gameboy or SaGa. When reader Gen Eric Gui mentioned that Square was remaking SaGa 2 for the DS (known as Final Fantasy Legend II in North America), I was intrigued: I had no idea Square was doing another remake (although I shouldn't be surprised), and it seems like the game had slipped right under Destructoid's radar.
Imagine my delight, then, when some new images from the DS version of Final Fantasy Legend II popped up in Weekly Famitsu. I can't decipher Japanese, so I have no idea what's actually going on in these pictures, except that seem to focus primarily on the game's enemies. However, I can give you some general information about the game.
It was announced in 2009 and is being directed by Akitoshi Kawazu, the same guy who designed the original. The game has been in the planning process since 2002, when Kawazu and his team finished re-making the original SaGa (Final Fantasy Legend) for the WonderSwan Color. The game will sport full-3D, cel-shaded sprites, designed by Gen Kobayashi (of The World Ends With You fame).
While the game will keep the original's story and ten-hour playtime (!!), there have been a few changes. Battles are no longer random, but have been re-designed to fall more in line with later SaGa games. Now, enemies appear in the field and battles are triggered on contact. Character growth has also been re-vamped, but I hope they haven't taken out the whole cannibalize-your-enemies-and-gain-their-strength mechanic.
The DS remake of SaGa 2: Goddess of Destinywill also get a snazzy DSi bundle, and will be released on the 17th of September, to coincide with the 20 year anniversary of the SaGa series.
I've also emedded the trailer after the fold. If it tickles your fancy, don't hold your breath: the game hasn't been announced for North American release yet.
Joseph Leray is a founding Destructoid editor and has better hair than you. He speaks French and needs to send us his updated bio in English, preferably.
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I actually own Final Fantasy Legend for the gameboy, but I can't seem to remember what the hell it's about. I guess I'll replay it so I can judge whether or not I'll be wanting this game.
10 hour? What the hell version were THEY playing? Or maybe I was just a lot worse at FFL2 than I remember; after all, the last time I played it I was probably 9 or 10, if that.
I think I remember reading that the character-building changes they're implementing are just to make character growth easier to understand and less random. Humans and Mutants gain stats at different rates through battle, Robots gain stats through equipping better items, and monsters eat their foes.
I swear to God, this had better get a US release. In S-E can release EVERY damn Dragon Quest remake here, we can get this too.
@Joseph Leray: Then either they toned the difficult way the hell down, or something else. The world right after the one where you kill Venus, the one that's nothing but a giant encounter-filled cave of doom, was an enormous pain in the ass. Zeus wasn't exactly easysauce either.
Again, though, this may just be whatever the opposite of retrose tinting is: I may be remembering it as a lot harder than it really is.
The game's length really depended on how much you understood how the game's levelling system worked. If you focused your characters on what they were already good at(Male Humans with STR, Female Humans with AGI, Robots with KICKING ASS, etc) and ignored a lot of the pointless money-wasters like the Martial Arts moves and magic tomes, you could finish the game in very short order.
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6:00 AM on 07.09.2009
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Also, Ohdontmindme... wuh oh....
I swear to God, this had better get a US release. In S-E can release EVERY damn Dragon Quest remake here, we can get this too.
Second bullet point, Kawazu talks about the game lasting "ten-odd hours" on your frist playthrough.
Again, though, this may just be whatever the opposite of retrose tinting is: I may be remembering it as a lot harder than it really is.
For the WonderSwan.