Romancing SaGa 3

Romancing SaGa 3 is a classical Japanese role-playing game of 1995 that is now remastered and translated into English. In this mystical story, you are one of the eight heroes that form a team in the world waiting for the newborn influencer. Will it be a savior or a destroyer? And what can you do? Download Romancing SaGa 3 for PC and Nintendo Switch and find the answer!

Graphics 5/5

The 16-bit original game was released in 1995 and looked fresh for that era. The remastered game retains the flavor of those retro 2D experience (sometimes pretending to be 3D), and at the same time it looks revamped (and offers perfect compatibility with modern hardware). The manner of drawing, colorful and expressive, with locations bright and characters recognizable, remains.

Gameplay 5/5

First, you are told the story of the Rise of Morastrum, the year once in 300 years that no creature born that year cannot survive, except for one child with mystical abilities. The last one was a girl that became the Matriarch and served the mankind good; before her, there was the Archfiend whose time was evil and dark. What will this Morastrum year bring? We are to know that. 

Then you select your character out of the eight options. Be a swordsman or an archer, a princess, a marquis, a mercenary, or a bodyguard, with special skills and abilities. Your choice affects the gameplay rather than the story: anyway, all the characters will team up. And then the most unexpected story starts.

It’s more fun to play it from scratch, with no expectation. It doesn’t resemble any modern PRG (despite its influence), and it offers a very, very brief tutorial, telling almost nothing. Are there many games so fun to explore now?

Replay Value 5/5

First of all, it’s one of those games with permanent death. Starting over means really starting over, and this will add you some gameplay hours. Still, if you want to figure out your upgrades and progress, your interaction in combats and the very system, it will take lots of time. It’s a special case if you have been missing this game since its SNES release.

Controls 5/5

There aren’t any questions if this game is of purely nostalgic interest for you. But there are millions of younger players also interested. Well, there are different characters, unusual turn-based combat system, and almost nothing explored in the beginning. Isn’t it great to have such a terra incognita to discover?

The Bottom Line

It’s a great tendency of remaking old games, so they are playable and better looking on today’s devices. Romancing SaGa 3 is one of those almost-forgotten jewels that needed to be discovered again and shaken the dust off. Square Enix did a great job, so its masterpiece (released even by just Square) is available again. For the first time localized for English-speaking players.

It’s been about time to release Romancing SaGa 3 for PC. If you are a JRPG fan, or just curious about unusual gaming, download Romancing SaGa 3, as finally you can!

• Graphics 5
• Gameplay 5
• Controls 5
• Replay Value 5

Pros

Retro-style updated in 2019;
Unusual storyline;
Not-so-traditional combat system;
Non-linear story with various twists;
Finally, in English!

Cons

The style is still meant for old school fans;
The storyline is a bit twisted;
The tutorial is too brief and leaves a lot untold.