On Steam, Dragon Age: The Veilguard is a major and controversial topic. Almost unnoticed, at least here in the West, the new role-playing game Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven (Steam, PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch) was released a week earlier. It currently holds an outstanding 96% positive reviews on Steam and comes without any controversies. Even on Metacritic, players rate the new JRPG even better than critics.
What kind of game is Romancing Saga 2: Revenge of the Seven?
The game was released on October 24, a week before the release of Dragon Age: The Veilguard. It is a classic tactical role-playing game from Japan that focuses on combat and the development of heroes.
The special feature of the battles:
- You control 5 characters that attack in turn-based combat.
- After each battle, you regain full health points.
- However, you consume “mana points” during a run. Whenever you heal, cast spells, or use special abilities, you use this resource. However, there is a reset before boss fights.
Each character also has a certain number of health points, one of which is consumed when they drop to 0 HP. If they lose all health points, they are permanently dead.
Focus on combat and hero development
What do you do outside of battles? The game is heavily focused on combat. When you are not fighting, you do light running and story work, maybe searching for hidden collectible chests in side quests, crafting some preset items, or expanding your kingdom.
These are all things that you don’t need a guide for, but can play through on intuition – at least in the “normal difficulty mode.” There are also two alternatives: “Easy” and “Classic (Hard).”
The game’s focus is clearly on the combat system and the development of your heroes.
This is what makes the game special: The role-playing game is divided into several chapters, with over 100 years between each in the game.
Since it would be unrealistic to play with the same characters, the playable characters change from chapter to chapter – but remain as “archetypes.” The new archer in your team that you can take on missions has the same stats as the old one.
Your character undergoes a special evolution, as you can choose between different classes with each generation, slowly building your superhero that combines the traits of various classes.
Where does the game come from? The game is actually a 31-year-old classic: It was released in 1993 for the Super Nintendo, back then as a 2D game. It is the fifth part of the “Saga Series.”
The game is now a 3D remake announced by Square Enix at the Nintendo Direct.
96% positive reviews – especially the Japanese love the role-playing game
How is the game received? On Steam, the game is being discussed enthusiastically: It has 96% positive reviews, with the vast majority coming from Japan (41.27% of the reviews on Steam are in Japanese, with 98% positive ratings).
In German, the game has only received 9 reviews, but they are all positive.
Players say: This is the best remake they have ever played. Although the shallow story is criticized, the clever combat system and motivating monster design are praised.
Free demo on Steam helps you make the purchase decision
How does MeinMMO editorial director Schuhmann like it? I discovered the game over the weekend and spent about 13 hours on it, so I am around level 20. I initially downloaded the free demo (via Steam), but realized after 20 minutes that it is a game I want to play seriously.
I find it very varied and enjoyable to play so far. For me, it is crucial for tactical RPGs that the battles are quick and satisfying without major interruptions and fiddling around. The JRPG does this wonderfully – and I find the development of the characters and the presentation of the game excellent.
“The anti-Dragon Age”
Even though it is highly rated, the game is currently flying completely under the radar while all attention is focused on the polarizing Dragon Age: The Veilguard. On Steam, it peaked at 16,419 players.
Also interesting: While critics rate the game as good but not outstanding (scores range between 79 and 81%), users on Metacritic give it a top score of 8.9. This is exactly the opposite of Dragon Age, where the game is punished by users: Users rate Dragon Age: The Veilguard much worse on Metacritic than on Steam – how can this be?
