SaGa 2015 & Imperial SaGa, for PS Vita & PC, respectively, have been announced by Square Enix for Japan, as the latest titles in the long-running SaGa JRPG series. No word on a Western release (date or platform), but we may get one at the upcoming E3 2015 convention in June.
Check out this trailer for the new Imperial Saga.
Imperial Saga is not a core game in the series and is a browser-based PC game. The gameplay will remind fans of Final Fantasy: Record Keeper.
It will feature an all-new SaGa story and is being developed by Tomotaka Shiroichi, the Lead Battle Designer for the PSP’s “The 3rd Birthday” (the third game in the Parasite Eve series); he was also a main Game Designer for the recent Final Fantasy Type-0 HD, and has previously worked on the Monster Rancher franchise for Tecmo.
Next check out this Japanese video, which offers a look back at the entire SaGa franchise and a tease of the upcoming SaGa 2015 for PS Vita, the next CORE game in the series.
SaGa 2015, still without a proper title or release date, is the first core game in the SaGa franchise in over a decade (the last title being the Japan-only “Emperors SaGa”, a 2012 card-based title for Japanese Smartphones).
The SaGa franchise, for those unfamiliar, started with the black & white Game Boy trilogy, known in the west as “The Final Fantasy Legend” (1990), “Final Fantasy Legend II” (1991) and “Final Fantasy Legend III” (1993); the Final Fantasy name simply being tacked on to try and appeal the JRPG trilogy to Western RPG fans who were familiar with the Final Fantasy brandname; but in reality they were an entirely new franchise (known in Japan as “SaGa”).
Those games were followed by the “Romancing Saga trilogy” for the 16bit Super NES, only released in Japan (until the US got a 2005 PS2 remake, called “Romancing Saga”, of the 1992 Super Famicom original). “Romancing Saga 2” (1993) & “Romancing Saga 3” (1995) were never released outside of Japan.
The series became more recognizable to RPG fans of the 32bit era with “SaGa Frontier” (1998) and “Saga Frontier 2” (2000), both of which were released in the U.S. and represented the 7th & 8th games in the franchise. This was most Western gamers introduction to the franchise.
The most modern core game in the series, which also got an international release and will be remembered by PS2 gamers, was the widely panned “Unlimited SaGa” for PS2 (2003). Which was the 9th core game in the franchise.
SaGa 2015 will represent game #10 of the series, just in time for the 25th Anniversary of this JRPG staple.
Here’s the Imperial Saga image gallery.
Click on any of these image thumbnails to see the full-size photos:
Imperial Saga features some absolutely GORGEOUS artwork.
Sadly the gameplay looks to be lacking, but still looks like a fun, typical JRPG.
Which is exactly what I love!
Are you familiar with the long-running SaGa franchise? Do you consider yourself a fan?