Romancing Saga...is that related to Saga Frontier? Or Romance of the three Kingdoms? The web of Square's lies grows...
I need to do some research on these titles. I didnt really care for FF legend, though. Its like, the EPITOME of boring, besides PS III.
Okay, it seems like there's a bit of confusion regarding Square's goddamn convoluted naming scheme, so let me see if I recall all of this correctly: (BTW, Seiken Densetsu translates to "Legend Of The Holy Sword") Seiken Densetsu was originally planned to be released on the Famicom Disk System. For whatever reason, Square just wasn't able to complete it, and so in a last-ditch effort to stay afloat, they created their final fantasy. Everyone knows how that story goes. Seiken Densetsu was released on the Gameboy in Japan, and in the US it was released as Final Fantasy Adventure, to cash in on the popularity of the SNES/NES installments as well as the other three Gameboy games (more on those later.) The GBA game Sword Of Mana/Shinyaki Seiken Densetsu is a remake of this first installment. Oh, and the SD4 pics looks like ass. Seiken Densetsu 2 is what is known as Secret Of Mana here in the states. One of the best games of all ever, enough said. Seiken Densetsu 3 was one of the final releases on the SNES and an absolutely awesome game - for some reason Square didn't see fit to release it here, though. Now, the first three games actually DO follow a storyline seperated in thousand-or-so year intervals. I almost want to say that they're a bit out of order, like Seiken Densetsu 2 is supposed to be a prequel of SD1, but I'm not really sure. Legend Of Mana/No-idea-what-the-Japanese-title-is was released on the PSX. I think it's still supposed to fit somewhere in the chronology of the series, but I have no idea where. It was pretty bad. Secret Of Evermore is NOT an installment in the Seiken Densetsu series, it was merely an attempt to cash in on the Secret Of.. name and the battle system. While it's no Secret Of Mana, it's not a BAD game by any means. And 'World Of Mana' refers not to a single game, but to Square's current Seiken Densetsu project which includes Seiken Densetsu 4 and Children of Mana. I almost want to say there was another game announced for it as well, but I'm not sure. Children Of Mana looks cool, by the way. ------- Now for even MORE awesome Square confusion! Final Fantasy Legends I, II, and III on the GB were actually none other than the first three installments in the SaGa series. The series continued with Romancing Saga 1, 2, and 3 on the Super Famicom. Romancing SaGa also got a port to the handheld WonderSwan system. SaGa Frontiers 1 and 2 and Unlimited SaGa are also part of the SaGa universe. The latest Romancing SaGa installment, Minstrel Song, is actually a remake of the first Romancing SaGa. And Romance Of The Three Kingdoms is in absolutely no way related to the SaGa series. The ROT3K games are by Koei, the strategy fiends responsible for Nobunaga's Ambition and the Dynasty Warriors and Kessen series. ROT3K is a VERY complex historical action game based in Imperial China. So there you go. And you thought the Final Fantasy II/IV/III/VI crap was bad. Square should get an award for most ass-backwards naming conventions in localized titles.
Made a mistake, SaGa frontier is indeed part of the Romancing SaGa serie, but it's a bit different from the original games. Unlimited Saga Is indeed a remake of the first Saga game, but with some changes, gameplay count as one of those changes. The Unlimited serie was suposed to have a remake of SaGa 2 and 3 too, but i doubt square will, after the big success of the First Unlimited. (sarcasm /off) Thank you square, for all this nonsense.
Unlimited Saga - the one that came out a few years ago - is an entirely new installment in the series. However, the new Romancing SaGa that came out in Japan within the past two months, and that is on its way here - I think it carries the subtitle Minstrel Song - is the remake of the original Romancing SaGa. And the series never got the treatment it deserved here, but it was hugely popular in its heyday in Japan, even giving Final Fantasy a run for its money in the popularity department.
I wasnt going to get Unlimited Saga, but I guess I'll get it for the sake of collection. BTW, Thanks for uncovering the mystery of the names, GSL! I should put that info along with the FF misnamings, too, on my site. It should be enlightening to several gamers in relation to where my site will be located.
EDIT: Fixed up my original listing again. I had incorrectly listed the SFC Romancing SaGa series as a remake of the original Gameboy SaGa games; they are actually different installments within the series.
Yup, i know, own that too x_x, the game isnt that bad at all, only worser, heh, but i got it with walkthrough manual, so its a nice collections item after all.. EDIT : Scratch that for the sake of forgiveness xD
Oh yeah, and Final Fantasy Mystic Quest - at least here in the states - was an extremely watered-down Final Fantasy game made specifically for US audiences who 'wouldn't understand' the complexity of new release Final Fantasy IV. Naturally, audiences hated its watered-down, simplistic nature. Square eventually released Final Fantasy II on the SNES here, and realized the US audiences aren't the mindless, unappreciative brutes they assumined.
A mostly correct list (covering myself incase its not 100% correct lol) that I made for another website:
Yeah, I want to say that Mystic Quest got a different name in Japan, and was actually released well after it came out here, as well.
Final Fantasy USA, indeed. There's also the ffIV ''easy'' version and all... i think it would be better to say Famicom/Super Famicom on the left, And Nes/Super Nes on the right too (add a colum on the left), but that's only me.
Now the question is, do I give this series anotehr chance? I tried Shinyaku on the GBA when it came out, and really couldn't get into it. Too much dialogue for a handheld I thought. I will probably let it go.
