SaGa Emerald Beyond Reviews
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 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.
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.
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 is a niche series and Emerald Beyond does nothing to prove otherwise: the combat system deepens those JRPG mechanics that had already emerged in previous chapters and that are consolidated here, thanks to a strategic component that makes the clashes more fascinating.
Review in Italian | Read full review
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 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.
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.
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.
I’d be doing everyone a disservice if I sat here and said that Emerald Beyond was for everyone. It isn’t. It isn’t even close to everyone. It’s a JRPG made for the most hardcore, veteran JRPG fans. Specifically, it has been designed for a very specific kind of JRPG fan who, firstly, loves things that are genuinely different. Secondly, its for JRPG fans that like complex, textured and nuanced combat systems that reward people who are willing to tinker and learn them, and punish those who don’t. For a niche within a niche within a niche, SaGa Emerald Beyond is the kind of game that the new, “improved” blockbuster Square Enix hates, but if this really is the end of this series, at least it’s gone out having delivered the full promise of what SaGa has always stood for.
SaGa: Emerald Beyond is easily one of the most accessible and easy-to-play SaGa games ever released, making it a solid evolution over SaGa: Scarlet Graces with an improved combat system and more focused area design. At heart, it's still a SaGa game, and that means it is frequently obscure, often confusing, and is unashamed of making you miss content without explaining why. Combine that with the low-budget visuals, and it seems like it's destined to be a love-it-or-hate-it game. Despite that, if you're curious about SaGa, Emerald Beyond is probably the best place to start to see if the eccentric series is right for you.
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 peculiar game. It aimed to streamline a lot of Scarlet Grace, but they might have maybe gone a bit too far. At the same time, I wouldn’t call it safe either. The cast and setting are wonderfully bizarre, reminding me of SaGa Frontier in the best of ways. I had hoped this would have strived to be more of an evolution, and in reality, it’s more of an iteration. I say all of this and acknowledge all these complaints, but I still genuinely love this latest take on SaGa. It is iterating on gold, and there’s so much I either haven’t been able to figure out yet or just didn’t have time to delve into. These systems with a higher budget in presentation? You’d have an all-timer. I adore this series and think this is a great entry point for anyone looking for a systems-driven RPG that strives to be different. It’s ironic that the upcoming Romancing SaGa 2 remake is looking to be a step forward in what this series is capable of, but for all we know Emerald Beyond is a final hurrah for this style of SaGa game. I’m not going to complain about two SaGa games in one year, either.
SaGa Emerald Beyond is an interesting option for newcomers and veterans of the SaGa franchise or anyone who enjoys JRPGs and is looking for something new in the genre. Its highlight is definitely its gameplay, which offers a vast customization system and a lot of mechanics that interconnect to offer something that encourages the player's creativity and strategy in each duel.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
SaGa Emerald Beyond is a rollercoaster of feelings, despite the many problems I've had with it, it's a game I respect a lot and it has some very valuable things in it.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
At the end of the day, SaGa Emerald Beyond takes what worked in its predecessor and improves upon it, while bringing in touches of classic SaGa at the same time. With one of the best and most engaging battle systems out there, even the most seasoned RPGamers will find their skills tested.