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1 Rating: 1, Useful: 34 / 41
Date: December 13, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I bought this game a while ago, when it was at list price, played it after playing several other RPG's, and was stunned,,, but not in a good way. I gave up after about 4 hours of play and decided I wasn't getting it. I tried again a month later and lasted 10 hours, still thought that there might be something that I didn't understand. My last try was about 15 hours, and I can state unequivocally that there is nothing to get. This is not a good game, not even a mediocre one, for that matter.

Perhaps the single most glaring flaw is the non-existent animation. Outside of some cut scenes and so-so battle action this is in what Square Enix calls "sketch motion" which means - no motion at all. So help me, one character's sketch appears with a balloon of text, then another, then... Throw in a barebones mapping facility that does the travel and you have the entire art effort. This isn't a game, it's a prototype for one.

The battle system is almost as bad. You have to set up all your characters' moves ahead of time, one painstaking button press at a time. Then, when the action actually starts you have to hit a button while a battle wheel spins. Most of your opponents actually die of boredom.

The story line is doled out in bite-sized bits but what I've seen is pretty run of the mill. Playing Unlimited Saga is actually painful, as you follow a set of meaningless actions using a game structure that was out of style in 1995. the best I can say about is that Square Enix must have cancelled the game before the animation, and has published it to try to recoup their investment.

Unless you collect total failures, pass this one by.

The Perfect RPG? (By my standards, perhaps...)

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 13 / 15
Date: August 19, 2005
Author: Amazon User

First and foremost, I understand that this game has recieved a lot of negative attention -- and with good reason. It does not follow true to the traditional RPG style of Square-Enix, and so the fans have been setup for a disappointment. However, this isn't to say that the game isn't good, by other standards. In my personal opinion, I think this game is quite perfect, as is introduces a style of gameplay not normally found on a console RPG, which is very similarly laid-out like the 'pen-and-paper' edition of 'Dungeons & Dragons.'

The game features very, very detailed art, which is gorgeously rendered. The style is a mixture of cel-shading and matte paintings. Most of it consists of 2-D static images, whereas the only time you see an animated sequence is during battle, or cinematics.

The music is also a good department. It fits the game very well, and easily manages to reflect the feeling and emotion of each sequence. The voice-acting, however, is borderline terrible. (Though not as bad as the voice-acting in Final Fantasy X.)

As far as gameplay is concerned, I must be honest in saying that it is definitely not suitable for everybody. Not only can it become frustrating and difficult, but most everything is menu-based, and will not appeal to those seeking constant action, or real-time control. However, I generally perfer menu-based gameplay, so this is a plus, to me. The gameplay flows like that of a board game. However, it is like a very vivid boardgame, with detailed characters and roles. The map screen actually functions like a tiled board, whereas your character is a playing peice, and you move him / her across each tile while trying to avoid traps and enemy encounters. All of this adds a more strategic element to the game, and can, at times, greatly affect the difficulty. It is very easy to become discouraged when trying to simply traverse across the map, as you may find yourself in a fatal situation, only escapable by pure luck.

The game's system revolves around the use of a 'reel.' This is basically the equivelant of dice in a pen-and-paper RPG. Whenever you encounter a trap, prepare to execute an attack or skill, or attempt to open a treasure chest, the reel will begin to rotate. There are a number of panels on the reel, which are either good, bad, really good, really bad, etc. The objective is to stop the reel and hopefully land on a desired panel. It can become frustrating, at times, though it is not as unfair as some people make it out to be.

Character development, as you can expect, is similar to that of previous installments in the 'SaGa' series -- the level-up system traditionally used in console RPG's is abolished, and replaced with a more accurate growth system. It should be noted, however, that growth / experience is not achieved after battle, rather it is achieved after accomplishing a mission / clearing an area. This, also, can seem unfair, at times... though it is to be thought that character growth is a reward given after completing a mission, rather than something that progressively occurs along the adventure.

I decided to rate the gameplay at 3 stars. Though, on a personal basis, I enjoy it much more than this, I want to take into consideration that not everybody will find this as suitable as I do. And, perhaps, I may be one of the few people who can appreciate the unique approach that this game has taken...

A confusing production of an RPG game

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 15 / 19
Date: October 30, 2003
Author: Amazon User

As much as Squaresoft's Final Fantasy X was quite possibly the best RPG title ever released in recent memory, Unlimited Saga left me scratching my head and wondering what happened to the production and planning committee that put this game together. Lets look at the graphics. There are limited cut sceens and FMVs and little if any, character animation. If I didn't know it was for a PS2 machine, I would have sworn that the game was produced for the PS1. The graphics aren't bad, but considering the power of the PS2, these graphics are way under par with present day standards. All the art is two-dimensional in nature. Basic game play centers on moving your character from place to place on a world map. You and your party do not walk anywhere, you merely jump from map location to map location. When arriving at a destination, you are presented with another map where you also , move from place to place.

Typical of all RPGs, your chracters gain skills and abilities as you continue through the game. The battle system is pretty straight forward with an element of chance. Upon the start of a battle, spining circles appear and you have the chance to bring mulitple attacks on the enemy, depending on where you stop the wheels. Your characters do not accumulate experience points as with standard RPGs but instead, you try to protect your characters from losing their LP, or Life Points. You finish each adventure by completing an assignment without losing all your LP.
There are seven characters in the game and each one has his or her specific adventure. So in reality, you have seven games in one. Each character has their own story line and specific powers. The weapons for each character have a specific usable lifespan. The more points the weapons have, the longer it will last. The weapons stop working when their durability is all used up. While the weapons are powerful, they do not last forever. You have to make sure that the weapons are only used for the really difficult monsters. During the other times, you can usually defeat the other baddies by using kicks, punches and throws.

How fun is this game? Speaking personally, I do not think the game is that entertaining. There is a lot of repetition in the battles and the story lines are very weak. Basically the game can be broken down in these steps: Move, fight or stop, find new place, move, fight or stop, upgrade weapons/abilities. There is not very much to do outside of these steps. In summary, a pretty disappointing game. With all the great games that SquareSoft has produced over the years, I guess they are allowed a mistake every so often. I believe that Unlimited Saga is one of them.

give it a chance, you wont be disappointed

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 10 / 13
Date: January 25, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This game gets awful reviews. I won't even deny that they make wonderful arguements. This game is not flawed; this is a misconception. U-Saga is exactly what the creator wanted it to be. And if you surrender your expectations and the vapid conventions of modern gaming, you're in for an experience.

Most games these days promise an adventure. U-Saga is the one of the only games I have played to fulfill this promise. This game is truly epic in scope, in style; its mercilessness and steep, harshly realistic learning curve only add to the fact that you are truly an explorer going into the unknown parts of the world, that are very reluctant to be explored. I cant tell you how satisfying it is, even the smallest achievement in this game makes you pleased with yourself.

I'm not going to write an entire review about this game, but the one thing I'll tell you is that this game is really a visionary's Dungeons & Dragons, set in a more macabre and unique fantasy world. The reel functions like dice; it affects each of your attacks and also determines your success at disarming traps, repairing weapons, opening doors, crossing obstacles, and so on and so forth. This sounds weird, yes. It is. But you must play it to believe exactly how AMAZING it is go through the beautifully-illustrated island of Avalon (one of the longer missions in the game)and not only fight enemies, but be forced to conquer a true maze with traps, hidden chests, water obstructions, and more.

In short, do try this game, if you are or were ever interested. It is a work of art. Many games have called themselves 'experiences,' but mainly in their immersive storyline. UNLIMITED: SaGa is perhaps the only game that has ever been an immersive experience of pure, bare-faced gameplay.

I love it.

A Wonderful Game That Seemed To Be Cut Short

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 8 / 10
Date: February 16, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I have to admitt, I was very nervous about trying out this game because of how much people seemed to hate it with a passion. This game is NOT garbage, but still is a piece of art that perhaps needed more work done to it.

First of all, I thought the music was gorgeous and the watercolor type graphics were amazing. I couldn't help but drop my jaw when I saw some of the movie sequences when the bright colors filled the screen. Character expressions were grand and the voices were done quite well. However, most of the game was not done like this. You saw only a picture, (still beautiful) of the towns and characters. You got little to no choices of where to move. When you entered the a town, you never explored it, talked to random NPCs, instead you looked at a picture of the place and selected areas of the town to enter.

The battles were quite fun, but I wish I could've been able to cure myself. The monsters and battle animations were done well also. However, you can't escape from battle which makes me almost irrate at times when I get into too many battles.
You get to choose which character you are, and the story is different for each. This is a great quality.

When you move around a dungeon, your character looks like a silver chest piece and you lift the piece to move onward on a single colored maze. In the corner of the screen is a drawn picture of what the place "would look like"

I say that it seemed to be cut short, because every intention of the game was wonderful. The ability to choose your hero, the graphics, music, and even some aspects of the battle system were good. However, I felt trapped in the game world, (not in a good way) because I was unable to explore the world more, and save myself from battles by escaping or curing. I don't want this to sound too harsh, but it was like being in a large prison. You couldn't explore beyond the maze of prison bars, despite how nice it seemed inside. I wanted so much more from this game, but it just didn't have it.

I do respect the attempt, and what it really does have to offer. Rent before buying. But still, give it a look.

Don't believe "professional" reviews!!!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 11 / 17
Date: June 20, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This game is nowhere near the piece of trash it is being made out to be. In fact, it is quite the opposite. Unlimited Saga has wonderful, vibrant graphics, and, although you can't move in the traditional sense, the type of exploration used is better suited for this game; without its simplicity, things could get needlessly hard or frustrating. The battle system, although disorienting at first, is well thought out and fun, and it does not take long to get used to the mechanics of it, even if the reel spins a little too fast.

All in all, this is a great game that has gotten an unfair amount of negative criticism. It is the kind of game that needs to be made every once in a while, to remind RPGers where we come from, and why we do what we do. I give this game four stars, because although I am having a great time with it so far, I am only 3:22 into it, with a claimed 100 hours total, and it would be unfair of me to judge the rest of the game when I am at such an early point.

Not even worth renting

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 7 / 9
Date: September 01, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I love Squaresoft (or Square-Enix now) so I tried to be open-minded and give this game a chance. To be on the safe side, I rented it from Blockbuster just in case I didn't like it. I am so glad that I didn't waste the money to buy this as it is by -far- the WORST rpg I have ever attempted to play. This game doesn't even merit the one star rating that I gave it.

You won't find Squaresoft's signature stunning graphics or addicting gameplay here. The characters appear to be rough sketches, quickly cut out and thrown onto the screen with speech balloons, similar to reading a comic book.

Within the first five minutes, you are thrown into what appears to be a set-up or configuration menu. However, I discovered that this is how you "navigate" through the world. Your character is merely a shadow on the so-called map (also crudely drawn). To manuever through this non-existent world, you must wrestle with the analog stick and choose one of the tiny boxes that pops up. It's extremely tedious and monotonous.

I personally dislike first person perspective shooter games since they only create environments and maybe a few animations of loading a gun or lights reflecting off a weapon. Sadly, those games involved a lot more effort from the development team. I don't know what Square was thinking on this one.

My advice, this game is only worth renting if you want to see a long preview for Final Fantasy X-2. If you're looking for a high quality rpg, you won't find it here. Hold out for Final Fantasy X-2 or Star Ocean: Till The End Of Time.

Unlimited Challenge

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: August 06, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I really can't blame reviewers for the games low scores. They're trying to look for games they think will be fun and entertaining for people, but this game is not very entertaining, it's more of a challenge, just like the back of the box says.

First of all, if you're trying to get a game that can keep you hanging on it for hours without stop, you might as well forget about it. Unlimited Saga is all mazes and puzzles for you to solve, harder than almost any puzzle for most. The only thing you really do is battle fiends and monsters and complete adventures and quests.

I got past and finished each quest and adventure I've tried, maybe because I have a high amount of patience and I'm good for these games, but I almost always had to redo them at least twice. There's no complete guides or faqs to help you all the way through these games, because almost everyone is clueless of what to do in the game. I usually do one quest and turn it off for a while. Believe me, almost all are really hard. However, this game can also sharpen your awarness, common sense, and use of strategy. The graphics are 2D animated artwork, but you'll be way to busy trying to complete quests and adventures to worry about graphics.

I didn't listen to reviews and got it. Although I must admit the game is hard and challenging, it has great stories and stories does have to be plural, because there's more than one story, there's seven! So after you finish one you can choose another one of the seven, which makes this game have a good replay value, but many complain and whine about how hard it is and don't want to go through the same braincrushing process. Although it's hard and maybe not one of the best games, Unlimited Saga is something different and new than most games. And the story is based on the Seven Wonders, not the usual beat the bad guy or enemy before they destroy living things or the world.

A return to the earliest types of RPG

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: September 03, 2005
Author: Amazon User

One of the reviews I read said about this game exactly what I think: This game is very faithful to the Dungeons and Dragons formula of RPGs. You roam around dungeons with specific skills that can ensure your survival, or seal your doom. There is also a "reels" system that is much like a role of the dice.

I have mixed feelings because on one hand, I believe this game should have more animation; yet on the other I feel that what it lacks in "eye-candy" it compensates for in strategical depth. The main reason I gave it a three for overall is because I think that beyond my own opinion (4) many gamers who enjoy the graphics of other Square games will be disappointed, and will see the disparity of effort between the development of a Final Fantasy game and this one.

Basically the game is very two-dimensional graphically. You control a figure who you move around in the dungeon one room at a time with the Analog stick. The only real animation (moving drawings and sequences) are in battle and very few and far between otherwise.

Developing a character involves choosing a "development path" for them. Do you want a person who can disarm traps and unlock treasure chests? How about an expert axe user? Or you could go with magic; however, you typically pick which skills define each character, much like in the other "Saga" games.

I do think Square could have done better graphically on this in some places. Also I dislike the idea of equipped weapons breaking. Square kept some of the things in Saga 2 that I disliked, and I still enjoy the original "Saga Frontier" the most.

If you want a good RPG that has a lot of free-roaming, more animation, and a unique battle system, check out the first "Saga Frontier."

Ehhh...

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: June 25, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I was originally appealed by this game by the vibrant graphics and illustrations, but was a bit afraid to buy it because of the horrible reviews.

Needless to say, I sided with the reviews.

Unlimited Saga is a challenging game, the gameplay is a bit hard to understand, and most of it stands by luck. Once you have chosen an attack, a roulette will appear. Depending on what you land on, it will determine what attack/move you will be performing. These attacks differ from each other by power...So the bottom line is: you need a lot of luck while facing bosses.

Another failing aspect of Unlimited is the ability of heal. Even having the game for a several months, I don't think there is a way to heal yourself during battle. What you can do though, is take a rest on the battlefield. Unfortunately, you can still encounter random battles while you rest...And as another quirk, you cannot escape from these battles. Overall, the gameplay is very weak.

What I originally found charming is the fact you could choose up to seven different characters, and each had open ended stories. These stories ended up quite dull, despite the convincing voice acting, the beautiful graphics, and the music...which was amazingly not annoying at all (I enjoyed it, actually). The problem is, I completely missed the point of continuing a main plot in one area, and continued going on to another - so I ended up doing only the subplots and ignoring the storyline. I had to restart and erase that file. It was absolutely frustrating.

If you're an easy going gamer who likes to get barely acquainted with RPG's, then this game is definitely NOT FOR YOU. Even though the graphics are great, and the characters seem compelling, the gameplay is frustrating and will make you throw your controller. This game was worth getting when in had the FFX-2 trailer. Since the game's released now, the trailer pretty much is eye candy for those boys who drool over Yuna and co.

I think Unlimited Saga would attract an audience of hardcore RPG Players because of its challenging and tedious gameplay. I still haven't beaten it yet, and I am relieved that I only spent about 10 dollars on this game.

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