SaGa Emerald Beyond Reviews
SaGa Emerald Beyond provides an engaging RPG that takes you through five different stories and a complex battle system. By replaying stories and carrying over your experience, you can overcome previously insurmountable obstacles and view different endings. However, the emphasis on repetition and lack of information make this a hard game to master. You'll need to enjoy replaying stories multiple times and learning on the job to get real enjoyment out of the experience.
This is a game that wants you to tinker and fail, before you “get it”. It’s also a game explicitly designed to be different every time you pick it up. With its disregard for convention and disinterest in “quality of life” guidelines, you could have a rough start. But there’s so much going on under the hood, so much charm in its presentation and fearlessness in its design, it’s easy to recommend even to folks who might be looking at me like a weirdo right now. SaGa Emerald Beyond comes with caveats like any other JRPG that isn’t the usual Final Fantasy or Persona blockbuster, but those caveats are in service of an experience you won’t find anywhere else.
It's hard not to suspect that deciding to put SaGa Emerald Beyond onto mobile gaming platforms hurt the game in many ways. From its lackluster art style, to a bevy of mostly un-engaging characters, the few hints of that Square Enix touch can't be found anywhere except within the cinematic combat moments and the length of the story overall. While interesting combat can carry a game a long way, there isn't enough of it to satisfy the majority of users. There will be some players who don't mind the pages and pages of dialogue, and won't care about the seemingly made-for-mobile art styles, but it's hard not to see these dragging SaGa Emerald Beyond down towards mediocrity and below.
SaGa Emerald Beyond is a fun experience with new mechanics and many ways to play. With five different characters with their own stories, it's a fun time to run around fighting a flurry of monsters, demons, and more. While things might get a bit repetitive at times, many will find it a blast trying out the different formations, United Attacks, and more.
All in all, SaGa Emerald Beyond is a conversation between the player and the worlds it contains. Its presentation is far from perfect, but I’d rather something flawed and interesting than perfect and boring. And SaGa Emerald Beyond is certainly not boring.
SaGa Emerald Beyond has a deep and satisfying combat system that gets its hooks into you from the jump. There's a lot of narrative content across its five adventures, as well as a diverse collection of characters, but very little that truly grips the attention.
There really isn’t anything else like a SaGa game, and you will get your SaGa fix with SaGa Emerald Beyond.
SaGa Emerald Beyond is a bold celebration of the series' past and present, warts and all.
SaGa: Emerald Beyond is a strong entry in Square Enix’s most bizarre franchise. It may not be the best introduction to the series, but it’s filled with wacky characters, fascinating stories, and an incredible combat system.
SaGa Emerald Beyond is a little bit of a mess because it is so ambitious, but at the same time it didn't receive the love and attention of other Square Enix IP. That makes it reuse a lot of content and being repetitive. Luckily, the combat it's so amazing that you will have played for hours without noticing.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
SaGa Emerald Beyond is another good step for the series, evolving the ideas seen in its predecessor and delivering a fun RPG based on freedom and challenge. A few stumbles prevent it from being even more memorable, but it's a game that will please both fans of the series and curious newcomers.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
I wish I was more engaged in the story, because the potential of bouncing between 17 worlds and criss-crossing replayed stories sounds cool. It just doesn't coalesce into something all that fun. Maybe the SaGa series is something best left to ports and remakes.
SaGa Emerald Beyond is a wonderful RPG for anyone who loves experiencing multiple worlds and stories while partaking in incredibly gratifying encounters against imaginative enemies. This is the sort of game that we need more of. 💎
SaGa Emerald Beyond is a curious beast of a game. The global release, demo, and marketing would have you believe this is going to be an ideal game for newcomers. It's not. Making this your first SaGa title could easily put you off the franchise for life. It’s a quirky and obscure adventure where many of its mechanics are hidden. It feels completely random at times and you’ll be hours deep into it before you feel semi-competent at the battle system. As much of a “JRPG” as this is, it's not what most gamers would expect from a game of this genre at all. The game requires a lot of attention, experimentation, and tolerance for confusion. It’s tough for me to suggest to anyone who isn’t familiar with SaGa Scarlet Grace, even for those of you coming from Romancing SaGa or SaGa Frontier might not click with this one. Like most of the franchise, this is one you’ll either love or hate, and the fact that there's a demo will be invaluable here to many players.
SaGa: Emerald Beyond is the most easily accessible SaGa game while still having nigh impenetrable barriers surrounding its appeal. There are many prospective players who won't dig the presentation or take the time to understand the beauty found in the design. Those who give Emerald Beyond the time of day and devote themselves to understanding the game will most certainly walk away with something truly special. The Free-Form Scenario system urges players to progress the main plot in any way they so choose. Your choices will alter your progression path. Even your mid-battle decisions matter. The battle system relies on turn order and manipulation of said turns. Arranging your party to create combos while breaking your enemies apart is addictive. Enjoyment of this game hinges on whether or not you enjoy the battle system and multi-world conceit.
SaGa: Emerald Beyond is another RPG in the series that offers a very different experience compared to what we commonly find within the genre. With diverse narrative branches, several distinct worlds and a variety of mechanics that make combat dynamic and challenging, we have another excellent title from Square Enix.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
SaGa Emerald Beyond is a unique and curious RPG that rewards the player who understands and abuses its intricate battle mechanics. With a thought-provoking futuristic universe and great visual appeal, the game is an accessible entry into the franchise; however, world exploration leaves something to be desired, with large environments that could offer richer interactions than simply walking from side to side looking for areas to activate flags.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
SaGa: Emerald Beyond fascinates (for better and for worse) from start to finish. The multiple protagonists, bizarre presentation, and straightforward mechanics make for a rather easy but wholly unique JRPG.
Square Enix’s addition to the SaGa series is a bit of a mixed bag. On one hand, you’ve got its storytelling and exploration mechanics—both of which feel strangely placed, and neither of which gives the proper amount of freedom that you’d expect from a SaGa title. Its masterful approach to combat, however, ensures that you’ll never have a dull moment when it comes to duking it out with the baddies—or even when setting up your own team! SaGa Emerald Beyond isn’t “middle-of-the-road” by any means. It’s a mixture of good and not-so-good. However, as long as you go into things knowing that, you’ll probably still have a pretty good time.
SaGa: Emerald Beyond stands tall with its superb battle mechanics, which are just as addictive as they are enjoyable.