The further you get, the more tolerable the game seems, unfortunately, that doesn't make it good.
User Rating: 4.6 | Unlimited Saga (Collector's Edition) PS2
The SaGa series is largely hit-or-miss in how well its games play. Games like the old Romancing SaGas were highly enjoyable, and great RPGs in their own right. Sadly, Unlimited SaGa is one of the "miss" games of the series. Gameplay: Unlimited SaGa makes an attempt to appeal to "hardcore" gamers by calling itself a challenge, and using various gameplay elements that aren't in many, if any, other games. Oddly enough, you won't mind the fact that the game features of Unlimited SaGa are exclusive to it. The exploration consists of what looks like a pewter figure of your character moving across the map one step at a time, randomly running into traps, enemies, or nothing. This is a highly annoying system as one of the best parts of RPGs are the exploration, and putting you on a board game like set up is extremely annoying, and takes away from the game. Everything in the game is random as well, from avoiding traps, to attacks in battle, everything is governed by various spinning wheels. You can improve your skill with these, but it really isn't worth it... at all. The battle system is just about the only good point of the game.. for a few battles. It has some very interesting elements in it, allowing for a large amount of characters to engage in battle, but the spinning wheels are present here as well, reducing your attacks to randomness. It would have been nice if there was some consistancy in the game that you could depend on. The storyline is a highly important element of an RPG, and this one is forgettable at best. You can play from the perspectives of many different characters, but their backgrounds are mysteries, their motivations unclear, and just about everything you want to know is left untold. Graphics: The cut scenes of this game are gorgeous. The cel chaded style is spectacular. Unfortunately the only time you will see this is in the cut scenes. In battles you see some good effects and nice water colored creatures, but the main gameplay is still on that bland game board type set up, which makes it a trial to even play the game. Sound: Musically, there is nothing stunning, nothing I can remember in the slightest. A few sound effects are pretty good, but all of it is too forgettable. Value: It's not worth 10$. Please, do not buy it. Tilt: It saddens me to see how this potentially great title came out. It was an incredible idea, but terribly executed. It is depressing to see a game that could have been so awesome be wasted on such a bad mix of seemingly random oddities. Romancing Saga comes out next month (October), and it looks promising as well. Hopefully with the next iteration of the series, the potential will not be wasted on horrible gameplay and mechanics.
