SaGa Emerald Beyond Review – Beyond Understanding

Diving into Chaos: SaGa Emerald Beyond’s Identity Crisis

I have always turned to the SaGa series when I needed a palate cleanser of JRPG norms and play-it-by-the-books narrative design. Each entry instills a sense of discovery and adventure you can’t get anywhere else. I do believe that its reputation proceeds it, though. Until now, I have found comfort in the unique systems of a SaGa game, but the newest entry, SaGa Emerald Beyond, pushes player patience to the breaking point. If you want to enjoy SaGa Emerald Beyond, you will have to work for it.

Character Development: Shallow Depths and Missed Opportunities

SaGa Emerald Beyond features six playable characters, two of which have been combined into one campaign, so you have five to choose from. Each opening boils down to a single word: confusion. There’s no preamble narrative that introduces you to the world, what plagues it, or any context about the character you chose. Their personalities boil down to their design, and they lean heavily into that across every scene. I’m not one to criticize localization, but I do believe the writing could have eased off a bit on these outwardly portrayed characters. The country girl, who is also a cop, doesn’t need to constantly say yeehaw and partner-like verbiage in every line of dialogue.

There’s little to no characterization outside of this. You’re simply left to accept that everyone is a caricature of their design and try to keep up with the story that never goes anywhere outside of surface-level issues. You can try to keep up, and I really did, but even after beating the game, I honestly have no idea what I just experienced. So, for whatever reason, these characters can travel to different worlds. Trust me, it doesn’t matter. You see, the game isn’t really about these characters as it is about the worlds you visit. You’ll likely continue playing if only to get through the haphazard nature of the campaign. That said, it’s really up to you to connect the dots and try your best to follow the events. There are 17 different worlds to tackle, but you won’t necessarily play through all of them. Further, depending on the order you visit each world, you can encounter similar scenarios, even if you play as a different character. While I’ll touch on various aspects of shared campaigns, this review story discussion will focus on Bonnie and Formina’s narrative.

While the battle system showcases strategic depth, the lack of impactful storytelling and character involvement leaves players feeling disconnected from the adventure.

Playing as the dual protags was immediately messy when the campaign opened, as the two characters just happened to bump into each other when following a suspect. This leads them to a strange world where a dude accuses the president of something and then gets eaten. Now, they must collect these triangles to solve the case because it’s the only lead they have. When they return home, it’s not really explained how they know how to travel between worlds; they are enlisted into the police force and made partners to explore these worlds and collect more triangle pieces. You have a few choices as to which world you travel to. Still, no matter which you choose, expect to solve some insane problem that the inhabitants have, whether that requires you to collect an item, fight a monster, defrost citizens, or assist in a war; the possibilities seem endless.

Here’s the problem: as the player, it’s tough to care about any of these situations when the story doesn’t care enough to provide context as to what the hell is going on. For example, there are four nations that each represent an element. When you arrive, they all dismiss you, but then you travel to each of the four locations, and they’ll ask for your help. However, none of the nations disclose why you should help them over the others or what benefits it will bring; it’s simply, “Will you help these people?” Yes or No. I don’t know them. I don’t know their cause and lack the context to make these game-altering choices. This is the chaos of this particular SaGa game. It’s a blend of chance and choices. You will never know the effect of your options because you will never be given the proper context needed to make those choices.

Sure, one could argue that this makes the story more goofy, and it is; if you play through this game, you will have some of the most insane JRPG stories to tell your friends, but you will likely find it difficult to stay invested. It also hurts that the worlds themselves don’t leave an impact. I mentioned it before, but there is a world where you have to defrost frozen citizens but only have several matches, so not everyone can be saved. As you likely guessed, you’re given no information about the frozen characters and are just expected to pick a few to defrost; it’s all a gamble. Still, there’s fun in that zaniness, but it becomes exhausting when every world plays out similarly and nothing is grounded.

Mission Ambiguity: Navigating Confusing Objectives

SaGa Emerald Beyond pushes the boundaries of patience with weak character development, confusing missions, and frustrating difficulty spikes.

If you’re wondering why I’m focused so much on the story, it’s because that’s all this game really is. The gameflow is dialogue; run to a glowing blue door, more dialogue, run to another door, and more dialog, until you leave the world. Oh, and sure, there are some battles here and there, but we’ll get into that later. You can also do things like trade items, but I would wait until brighter minds create guides on this system because it is pretty confusing but almost necessary. Trading items provide access to upgraded gear, but depending on what you offer, there’s a chance you’ll receive low trading offers, so it’s best to test with low quantities.

The entire game is voice-acted, but after the first 10 minutes, I switched to the Japanese voice-over, which downplays the exaggerated character personalities that the English dub leans even more heavily into. However, I believe the Steam release is the only platform with the dual option at this time. While there is a nice build-up to the conclusion, I think this story is way too ambitious, even by SaGa standards. This is unfortunate because the game focuses on the idea of these ties to worlds that guide the characters to the mission destination, and yet, nothing feels connected here. While one can argue that we need chances like this to be taken in an industry that seems to deliver overly similar experiences, I think SaGa should have restrained itself, at least to get the attention of a wider audience. I’ve been a fan of this series for over 20 years, and even I feel like it’s a mess.

Battling Through Friction: The Strategic Depths of Combat

The battle system does add breaks to the long-winded dialog, as monsters randomly attack during scenes. You can also train at red door areas, which is suitable for item farming, but I’m getting ahead of myself. Combat boils down to timeline manipulation. You have a pool of action points that grow each turn, which allows you to command units and choose abilities. Depending on the weapons you are equipped with, you’re expected to connect units on the timeline to create a combo that can lead to follow-up attacks. This is the fastest and most efficient way to win battles, so it’s essential to understand. Now, nuanced issues creep up that make this not as easy as it sounds. For starters, interrupt attacks are usually powerful moves caused by taking an action. You will die by these attacks many, many times. In fact, if you see a ‘?’ during a boss fight, either don’t make a move or just try to buff your characters. Unless you have an interrupt that can interrupt the enemy’s interrupt, you should throw the turn.

As a longtime fan of the SaGa series, I struggled to find enjoyment in Emerald Beyond’s chaotic narrative and inconsistent gameplay, longing for a return to the series’ roots.

You encounter plenty of easy battles throughout the game, sometimes detailed before the event. However, taking on batches of easy fights comes with the side effect of facing off against a formidable enemy and not being nearly powerful enough to take them on. Retrying a fight provides an increased combo meter, which is nice, but the frustration of getting 10 minutes into a fight and getting one-shotted is painful. That will happen until you get lucky and a character randomly learns a skill that the enemy is weak again. Further, you’re allowed follow-up attacks as you raise your combo percentage. However, you’ll eventually need to dip your toes into magic attacks, which come with multiple rounds of casting. Most of the time, the caster is dead, or the battle is over by the time the magic is ready. And yes, you eventually learn that you should taunt the enemies using a defense-heavy party member and then cast, but using the same strategy over and weighs on the action.

Visuals and Design: A Clash of Boldness and Repetition

Alternatively, the joys of the SaGa battle system are still present. The victory of completing tough battle trials or getting through a challenging boss fight with one unit left, and the high strategy needed to get through challenging encounters are awesome displays of JRPG combat design that force players out of their comfort zone to push their understanding of battle strategy. That said, most party members feel expendable due to their lack of impact on the story or events. I mean, your initial party in Bonnie’s campaign are cats, who become pretty strong, but they just feel like lifeless units in the end.

Bold character designs and flashy combat animations breathe life into SaGa Emerald Beyond, but static illustrations and mobile-centric design detract from the overall experience.

When it comes to the graphics, I like the character designs. They are bold and striking, causing you to take a second glance. The combat animations are also fun, but I can see how players might feel fatigued reading through the various scenes with static illustrations of the characters on screen. This game is also clearly designed for mobile use, with large UI boxes and a specific screen size. So, to experience the game how it was likely meant to be experienced, I mainly played using the ROG Alley, and nope, it’s still not fun.

Final Verdict: Assessing SaGa Emerald Beyond’s Place in the Series

SaGa Emerald Beyond doesn’t do the series any favors in delivering a more straightforward SaGa experience. Still, you’ll never be confused about how to progress; you’ll only be confused about everything else. Through the weak character introductions, lack of context missions, and difficulty spikes, I couldn’t get into this adventure. As a fan of the series, I don’t know who this is catering to. While I found some glimmer of fun in the strategical depth of the battle system, I doubt enough players will stick around to discover it or even care enough to play longer than the first hour. I want more SaGa, but this isn’t the direction the series should take. If you’re looking for an accessible and modern SaGa, stick to Romancing SaGa Re: Universe.