sho's The 7th Saga review

Every time I tell myself I'm finally going to start this game, someone like Sho comes along and tells me just how awful it is. Nice review, Sho! I have now put off playing this game for another two years.

I didn't realize that Elnard reduced the impossible-ness of the game. Maybe I'll download it and check it out, since my SNES cart has about 15 years of dust on it.

You liked this game marginally less than I did!!!

It was disgustingly hard. When you have to grind a bit to beat the first boss (ghost dog)...you're like, "WTF?!?!? Is this the original NES Final Fantasy?" It is amazing how little you improve from level to level.

And you have to have the perfect storm of teammates. My hero was Lux the robot. That sucked because he clanked obnoxiously while walking. My first sidekick was the dwarf. I found myself really struggling hardcore, which worried me as the healer chick was the apprentice you have to kill in my game. I finally switched out the dwarf for the knight. The last parts of the game were (comparatively) easy because of one key element: speed. With the knight, I attacked quicker than the dwarf and, because I picked him up reasonably late in the game, for some reason, he came equipped with about the best end-game sword you could buy. That in itself made it easier for some time.

I have tried a few times, getting to various points in the game, but knowing it will only get worse. Not by design, but by localization. I will, at some point in the future, play it one more time, this time to beat it - but I will do so with the fan patch that restores the original Japanese balancing.

An unexpected treat of a review! Thanks for clearing up the misconception that this is a lost classic.

I must be the only person on this site who really enjoyed The 7th Saga. I agree that the referenced flaws are all there, but they didn't bother me anything even remotely close to as much as they seem to have bothered everyone else. The game worked for me, and it worked well enough that I tracked it down and bought it after renting it several times.

It also came out far enough ahead of Dragon Quest V, which essentially was localized and ready to go before Enix unexpectedly closed its doors in North America for several years, that I don't see it as an either/or thing where Enix chose this over Dragon Quest V (a decision that the company would have had no reason to make at the time, since Dragon Quest enjoyed decent popularity at the time compared to its diminished role now in the shadow of Final Fantasy).

So this is a good review that nicely sums up what seems to be a common response to the game. I just don't happen to agree with that rather common sentiment. I wish the sequel had been localized...

Thank you for all the kind feedback! Please look forward to the next review.

Venter: Dragon Quest V came out in September of 1992, Elnard a little more than six months later in April '93. So while Enix America was busy ruining the latter, they could have published a new DQ game instead. Obviously I can't compare the US sales of The 7th Saga to a game that was never released, but personally I suspect concentrating on Heavenly Bride would have been a better use of their resources.

All of this is pretty much correct, so yes, good review. I remember, years ago when I played it, chose some elf looking thing in a purple robe as a main character. Levelled my arse off to not get slaughtered, got to some prince-emperor thing who killed my entire party in a single turn, gave up. Good times.