Romancing SaGa 2 interview: “I’m proud to be working on such a prestigious title”

Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven is a beloved title, and after playing the demo build of the game, it pretty much blew me away. Ahead of the October 24th release date (across PS4, PlayStation 5, PC, and Nintendo Switch), I was keen to chat to the developers behind the title, and see how things are going.

We spoke to Shinichi Tatsuke, Producer on the game about how much pressure the team feels, the challenges of adapting a 2D game to 3D, and a bit more about the inheritance system that we get a glimpse of in the demo.

The SaGa series has been with us for 35 years now. What does the series mean to you?

Shinichi Tatsuke: Personally, this is the first time that I’ve been involved in the development of a SaGa game, so I’m proud to be working on such a prestigious title.

Romancing SaGa 2 is a highly regarded game in the SaGa series, have you felt the pressure remaking a game with so many fans?

Shinichi Tatsuke: I didn’t feel any pressure; I was just excited that we were going to get the chance to remake it.

What challenges have you faced in adapting a 2D classic into 3D for the first time? Obviously RPGs have changed massively in the 31 years since Romancing SaGa 2 released.

When you convert something from 2D to 3D, there’s always going to be certain things that don’t feel right, so we had to tweak those things. For example, cutscenes in a 2D game tend to involve pixel-style characters looking cutesy and talking to each other using speech bubbles. However, if you try that in 3D the dialogue tends to feel a bit lacking, and the animations can feel a little simplistic. When we play a 2D game like this, we unconsciously fill in the gaps in our own minds, so when we convert this to 3D, it’s really important that we fill in those same gaps with the writing and the visuals. For this remake, we have added dialogue, animations and even entire scenes to reconstruct story beats from the original in a way that I think will feel authentic to what players remember.

What have you done to ensure Revenge of the Seven feels fresh in the modern era?

The turn-based battles of the original game have been revised into a timeline-based system, similar to the one used for Octopath Traveler. Also, exploiting enemy weaknesses charges up the Overdrive Gauge. Once the gauge is full, the party can unleash a United Attack.

The growth system features a new “ability” mechanic. Each class has its own set of associated abilities that can be learnt after a certain number of victories in battle has been attained. And once a certain number of victories is reached after this point, those abilities can be learnt by other characters as well.

The original game was known for being a nonlinear experience. We weren’t able to see much of that in the opening two hours, is that still the case in Revenge of the Seven?

The first two hours of the game have been set up in a linear fashion as a way of introducing the player to the game’s lore and helping them to learn the game’s mechanics and combat system. This is true for both the original and the remake.

Are there any particular new features in Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven that returning fans will appreciate?

There’s some extra story content that looks at the Seven Heroes in their heyday. It sheds some light on why they were once called heroes, and why they want to take revenge on

In the demo we only really get a tiny look at how the inheritance system works. What can you tell us about how it works in the full game?

With the Inheritance system, each Emperor’s abilities and memories are passed on to the next generation of emperor. In the demo, the role of Emperor is passed on to a specific character, but from that point onwards, players get to choose for themselves which character inherits the throne. The role of Emperor is passed on when the current Emperor dies, when a large amount of time has passed, or when the current Emperor voluntarily steps down. The more this process is repeated, the stronger the next Emperor becomes. This goes on for thousands of years until the Seven Heroes are finally defeated.

Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven is coming to Nintendo Switch, PS4, PlayStation 5, and PC on October 24th.