Romancing SaGa: Re;univerSe Has the Traditional SaGa Spark

SaGa is an series that eschews many staples other JRPGs have relied upon. For example, many installments have an open-world sort of format where elements are open ended. There also aren’t the same sorts of restrictions on building characters where people have to fill a certain sort of “role,” though they might be better at or known for a certain kind of job. While Romancing SaGa: Re;univerSe is a mobile gacha RPG with all that entails, it also attempts to preserve some core elements as best it can.

The styles are a good place to start. As you would expect from a gacha game, there are banners with Romancing SaGa: Re;univerSe characters that pull from all sorts of installments. There are also variants of existing characters. However, Each character will have different Style variants at different levels, which change their art, growth rates, and skills. They call to mind the idea that in any SaGa game, the party members are flexible. The player decides who they are based on what would best serve their needs at the time and, the Style system behaves in a similar fashion. You can still use the character you want or like, but could alter their Style to better suit your current needs. (You can also alter the character portrait and skin if you own another Style, but not have it change their Style and skillset.)

Now, you might have also noticed I mentioned growth rates up there. That’s because Romancing SaGa Re;univerSe doesn’t have characters grow in a traditional fashion where you get a certain amount of experience from a fight, get enough to level up, then see all stats increase at once as a result. Rather, it is more like real SaGa games. Yes, Styles do have levels that influence the stat bonuses. However, when you fight enemies with battle ranks similar to or higher than your own, you can get a stat increased for a character after a fight. So you’re encouraged to take on stronger challenges, think about the Styles more before heading into fights, and choose accordingly.

As for the skill sets, there is actually a Romancing SaGa Re;univerSe sparking system. As a reminder, in the SaGa series characters will get new abilities by using different weapons or related skills in fights. While your Style does have skills, they will be “sparked” in battle. So if you’re using a standard attack for SS Urpina, eventually she will learn Gale Slash in the middle of a fight and then have it as a permanent part of her moveset.

Now, remember before how I mentioned that customization is a key element for SaGa as a series? Well, Romancing SaGa Re;univerSe preserves that ideal with skills too. An inheritance system is in place that makes owning multiple variants of your favorite or most useful character a positive. Both the A and SS Urpina are sword-users. If I had SS Urpina learn the aforementioned Gale Slash, but for some reason you wanted to use the A style, you could have the A version of her inherit that skill and have it as part of that Style’s moveset because they are the same character, she already knows it, and they have the same weapon type. This could be exceptionally useful for a character who relies on magic for attacks, as it could provide a different sort of spell. (Maybe you’d even be able to give someone who’s a healer an offensive spell or vice versa.)

If you’re not a fan of mobile RPGs with gacha elements, Romancing SaGa Re;universe likely isn’t going to be the one to change your mind. (At times, I found myself appreciating it in the same way I did Final Fantasy Brave Exvius.) But what’s nice about it is the commitment that is there to make it feel like it is connected to the SaGa series. The way characters can have different Styles and inherited skills is reminiscent of how players in the main series can shape their parties, and the stat growth system reminds me of how people would become stronger through actual experiences. It feels like it commits to the bit.

Romancing SaGa: Re;univerSe will be released on Android and Apple iOS devices worldwide in Summer 2020. It is immediately available in Japan and has been since December 2018.