Square unveils Unlimited SaGa for the PlayStation 2

According to the latest issue of the Japanese publication Famitsu, Square plans to release a new PlayStation 2 title called Unlimited SaGa. The game's development team will be led by Akitoshi Kawazu (best known for his work in the Final Fantasy and SaGa series), and Final Fantasy X artist Yusuke Naora will serve as the character design artist and SaGa series artist Tomomi Kobayashi will return as the concept artist. The music composition will be handled by Masashi Hamauzu, who previously worked on Final Fantasy X and SaGa Frontier 2.

The game's story focuses on the search for the mystical seven wonders. When the wonders are unleashed, the gods will appear once again, bringing about a golden age for humankind. Players will be able to select from several different playable characters. So far, only a widowed ex-pirate named Laura has been revealed as one of the selectable characters.

Unlike in other RPGs, where each character has his or her own command options during battles, in Unlimited Saga, there will be five command options for the entire party. For example, all five command options can be used on one party member in one turn, or they can be divided among all the characters in the party. After players select a command, a slot-machine-style reel will appear that provides different properties to the character's attack. Characters can execute double slashes or quadruple slashes if players hit the right slot in the reel, or the attack can be saved and then unleashed later in a combination attack with other characters in the party. Instead of using individual points for special attacks and spells, the characters' HP will be consumed when using these powers. Characters can also learn new ones when a light bulb lights up on top of a character's head--just like in previous SaGa titles.

The field map is quite different from those of other RPGs, since it only shows a simple drawing of a map of the location you are currently in. On the other hand, the battles will feature an animation technology developed with the help of Adobe Systems that Naora describes as "neither dot-pixilated 2D graphics nor cel-shaded 3D polygon graphics." The sound will feature Dolby Pro Logic II support. For the first time in the series, the game will feature CG movies.

Unlimited SaGa for the PlayStation 2 is scheduled for a December release in Japan.