Unlimited Saga

I just couldn't sink my teeth into the game, mostly because of the seven-character-based non-linear play, which left me a bit disinterested. I guess I like my games more straighforward. [June 2003, p.57]

There's a lot of game to be had if you can get past the game's quirks.

I could do without fancy-schmancy visuals and professional voice-acting, all I require in my RPG is good solid gameplay and satisfying plot progression. Neither of which are present in this game.

Every aspect of the game, from the combat mechanics to the movement to the technical execution of the graphics, is lacking in some regard, and when you add these elements together, you get a game that's simply unpleasant to play.

It also suffers some stultifying strikes: excruciating difficulty, obtuse mechanics, a stifling lack of freedom, and a brutal mission structure that punishes you as often as it rewards you. [July 2003, p.94]

Having every move consume HP is somewhat unbalancing when enemies already do so much damage, and the reworked HP/LP setup can be bafflingly random. [July 2003, p.72]

The gameplay experience never becomes even remotely fun... An excruciating bore. I've never had less fun playing a videogame. [July 2003, p.55]

This game's reputation sometimes makes me sad, especially since it is so incredibly obvious that the vast majority of people haven't even bothered to give it a fair try or were simply unable to admit that this particular niche does not appeal to them without blaming the game.

Not a single other RPG comes even close to its mechanical depth combined with fun dungeon design and absolutely stunningly good character-building system. It's a very good game.

The negative reviews are truly terribly written and deliberately disingenuous to this game. So what if it plays like a board game? Are games not allowed to be different from each other? What are you even insinuating? Go give this game a shot. Not everyone likes it, but a 3.9/10 is far too low for what it is.

Contrary to the negative reviews here, Unlimited SaGa isn't a bad game. It's a horribly average one brought to us by the same guy who made FINAL FANTASY 2, not 3, not 6, not 7, not 10. 2. Final Fantasy 2 had a system where you didn't gain experience by killing enemies but simply by using skills and attacks. Want more HP? Take hits. Want more attack? Attack more. There's a really deep system involved with skills in U SaGa that is just poorly explained and leads to people scratching their heads minutes into the game. Combined with a lackluster story and a high difficulty curve and people will be turned off immediately. My first several HOURS of the game were spent in two or three towns, progress inching forward as I would need to spend more time battling to increase stats instead of trying to further the story. When I would finally make headway with the story a boss would inevitably pop up and slam me back into grinding mobs for stats until I was strong enough to fight the boss. This sounds like a very typical RPG set up, but realize that if I don't get hit my defense doesn't go up. So a fight could be me standing there guarding to take hits for several minutes, and then not getting a stat up because RNG decided not to give it to me. This can be mitigated and abused at times, but it also means that the average gamer becomes frustrated and gives up. In the end, the game doesn't innovate anything, it borrows from old ideas the designer of Final Fantasy 2 had, slaps them on a new art style, and is honestly a very mediocre game in the SaGa series. Yes, series. This isn't the only SaGa game, it wasn't even the first, and it wasn't the last. And quite a few of those are better than this one. It seems like the man behind FF2 is doomed to always fall when Square pushes his titles West.

Without a shadow of doubt the worst RPG I have ever had the unfortunate experience of "playing". This takes linear RPG's to a completely new level, gameplay and movement are so restrictive it would make chess seem more appealing. Any positive reviews would only be from Square employees. Avoid at all costs even if it was being given away for free, please don't waste even a single hour of your life on this.