Unlimited Saga

For many, they wasted perfectly good art indeed.

Ah, Unlimited Saga. A tale of seven heroes, each with their own unique Backstories and with their own grand quest that drives them to explore a vast, lush fantasy world. A tale of the Seven Wonders of the world, and a prophecy that proclaims that when the power of all seven is released, the gods will appear and usher in a Golden Age. A game boasting an innovative battle system meant to engage the player, engrossing them in this complex realm and drawing them into the tales that they themselves must guide to completion however they see fit.

...Too bad the Reel System is hopelessly crippled.

Our seven adventurers are as follows:

  • Laura -- Once a member of the notorious "Sea Wolf" Pirates, she retired when she married Pablo, a kindly schoolteacher, and settled down in the tiny hamlet of Nivacolina. A deeply passionate woman, her fearsome skills have not faded over the years... all for the better, as on the day of her husband's funeral, she crosses paths with Prince Henri of Escata, on the run from assassins. Taking the boy under her wing, she sets out to learn exactly what happened to his country, and why...
  • Mythe -- A talented inventor of Longshank who unfortunately knows he's damn good at what he does, and loves going through women like bottles of ale. However, his cold exterior shatters upon glimpsing a photograph of a mysterious, silver-haired woman...
  • Judy -- A ten-year-old Witch-in-Training, and the youngest member of a family of wizards who run the Magick Emporium in Savados. Unfortunately, a powerful family has powerful enemies, and when one of them attacks, her grandfather Josef gets sealed into a mirror, and the rest of the family gets scattered, leaving little Judy to track everyone down and break the spell.
  • Kurt -- The estranged eldest son of Lord Burgundy, head of the Gaderia Knighthood. A strange cursed gauntlet has grafted itself onto his right arm, and frequently draws Kurt into literal mental struggles while he searches for answers and some manner of solution to his predicament.
  • Armic -- A laidback member of the squirrel-like Chapa tribe who finds himself recruited to help save the village, which is suffering from a drought. In order to perform a rainmaking ritual, several rare items must be collected...
  • Ventus -- An energetic nineteen-year-old who just joined the Carriers' Guild. Five years ago, his older brother Briza was brutally murdered, and Ventus hopes that by following in his footsteps, he'll be able to find out who was responsible, and why... and bring them to justice.
  • Ruby -- An optimistic gypsy girl. Her older sister Sapphire is a famous fortuneteller, but Ruby doesn't share her talent... not that that little detail stops her from trying. She just ensures her predictions come true the old-fashioned way. Her quest takes her to all Seven Wonders, to conquer each one and uncover its secrets...

The game proper uses a distinctive 'boardgame-style' setup: you move the piece representing your party across the map, fighting monsters, dodging traps, and searching for treasure, all using the game's Reel System. In theory, it sounds simple: spin the reel, then press X to stop it at the right moment and determine whether you succeed or fail (or, in battle, do a special move instead of the basic attack, or cast the right elemental for whatever spell you're using). In practice... The game loves screwing you over by not putting enough "Good panels" to hit, and getting the timing down is more a matter of luck than skill.

Oh, and that's not getting into the Sidequests that limit the amount of moves you get to make on the massive maps, the complex Character Customization system that frequently forces you to take a hit to your stats even if you figure out how to make it work... and, once again, relies on getting lucky with the possible upgrades above everything else, not to mention that the characters have natural strengths and weaknesses that aren't always complimented by what's available...

...Yeah. There are reasons the game isn't exactly considered one of the greatest RPGs around.

Tropes used in Unlimited Saga include:
  • Acrofatic: For some weird reason, Roy is the character with the lightest weight in the game, allowing to use light martial arts easily even when equipped with heavy gears.
  • Adam Smith Hates Your Guts: Averted. What is sold through the game is not related to location, but instead of what material the item is made of.
  • After Boss Recovery: You get a free HP and LP refill once in the game. If some of your characters lost all they LP, they get revived and get one. The catch? You have to fight the final boss, and it's tougher than anything you had to face before.
  • Artificial Human: The Silver Haired Girl.
  • Badass Family: Judy and her family. Her entire quest revolves around gathering everyone up to take out the guy responsible for scattering them in the first place.
  • Badass Grandpa: Josef, Judy's grandfather. He may be sealed in a mirror for most of her quest, but gets to join just in time for her final battle.
  • Battle in the Center of the Mind: The Gauntlet battles. Subverted as you eventually learn that instead, you get teleported and fight in a moment so short that about no one notice.
  • Blessed with Suck: Kurt's gauntlet makes him even stronger, but it's constantly dragging him into battles... Roughly every twenty minutes, in fact. In actual play time, mind.
  • Bonus Boss: The Rainbow Gucky which randomly appear in a New Game+. While it looks like a regular Gucky on the map, it is quite a deal stronger than one and will randomly morph into different type of Guckies, using different attacks based on them. Thankfully, that monster won't go actively after your character and will even run away from it if you're too weak, although some times the game geography will not allow it. It's also the only monster dropping Forbidden Magic Tablets.
  • Boring Yet Practical: The Sinker attack. While it won't do much damage, it lowers your opponent Strength, making it a must at the beginning of long battles. Also, being a Level 2 kick skill available on all type of martial arts, it's easily available on several levels and don't cost any weapon durability either.
  • Boss in Mook Clothing: Rainbow Guckies. Also, the Level 10 mooks might qualify as well.
  • Breakable Weapons: All weapons but one (including shields and accessories allowing to cast spells) have durability points. If it reach 0, it can still be used in the current battle (merciful against bosses), but not the next one. The Quick Fix panel allow you to restore the durability of unequipped weapons up to 20, but if you mess up, it lower it instead. The Recycle spell will raise the durability of equipped weapons up to 30. And finally, for a more durable option, you can forge weapons's durability up to 99 if you have access to the proper blacksmith. To put things in perspective, you use 5 attacks in a battle round, most attacks cost 1 durability, some cost 2 although they are worth the extra cost... usually.
  • Character Customization: And how!
  • Combos: Players and opponents alike can chain any attack to deal big damage. However, if an opponent break your combo, you will only use a Level 1 attack.
    • However, if you start a combo off with a spell, you can usually perform 5 person combo, as spells have the slowest start time, and usually all the enemies will have taken a turn by then.
    • On the other end, ending a string of physical attacks with a spell allows you to line up surprisingly easily high level attacks.
  • Courier: There is the Carriers' Guild, which Ventus joins at the start of his scenario. Parts of his quest involve him making deliveries; in addition, he can take several optional Side Quests of this nature. While other characters can recruit him during their stories, they still can't access these special quests themselves.
  • Cursed with Awesome: Seriously, you don't have any excuse to not spark any Level 4 arts with Kurt with all the gauntlet battles thrown at him. Especially since the last one is against the monster with the highest spark rank in the game.
  • Cute Witch: Judy.
  • Dark-Skinned Blond: Mythe. The Silver Girl combines this with White-Haired Pretty Girl.
  • Determinator: Ventus and Ruby.
  • Disk One Nuke: Guns and magic. Early in the game, they'll easily one shot most opponents. In the case of guns, all you need is a gun and a gun panel on your character, no tech are needed to be spaked. As for magic, it's not that it is bad in the end of the game, but it will require more efforts than for physical attacks. But done well the result can be surprising.
  • Evolving Attack: Sometimes when using a basic physical attack, your character will "spark" a improved version of that attack which can be used again if you time the reel right to land on a higher level attack. For example, by using the Random Arrowshot which shoot a volley of arrow at the enemy group, you might eventually spark the Rain of Arrows attack or the Parashots attack which shoot homing energy shot at every opponent. To make it happen more easily, you fight stronger monsters which have an higher spark rank and equip weapon panels which make it easier to spark those attack and then much, much easier to land on a high level attack on the reel.
    • The same can be done with some spell if you have the Magic Blender Panel by using a specific spell as a base and then adding up other spells you know in the hope of getting something new. For example, Boulder can be upgraded into Pellet which is Boulder on steroids.
  • Fetch Quest: Armic's entire story is one big fetch quest. Poor little guy...
  • Final Death: It's a SaGa game. HP isn't important; lose all your LP, and you lose that ally for good.
  • Flower Motifs: Concept art of the characters depict them standing next to reliefs of various species of flowers, which ostensibly is some form of clue to their basic personality. These flower motifs also appear as the backgrounds on the maps they move on.
  • Fortune Teller: Sapphire and Ruby, though Ruby doesn't have her sister's talent for the art.
  • The Four Gods: Actually, the Five Gods in this game. The bosses in Leith Torle's tower are based on them and among them the Black Turtle is a big pain.
    • Black Turtle's more of a Boss in Mook Clothing than anything else, actually. If you have Deflecting weapons, your'e good to go. Some Level 4 techs certainly don't hurt either.
  • Genki Girl: Ruby.
  • Giant Mook: Among them is a giant version of the Level 1 beast monster and the giant version of the pirahna monster.
  • Giant Space Flea From Nowhere: The Final Boss. His existence is never properly explained, nor is it ever spoken of during any of the endings. It simply appears. However, it is hinted through battle dialougue that it's either the ultimate form of the power of the Seven Wonders, (which is the most likely answer) or a physical manifestation of the universe itself. The fact that the batte takes place on the Twin Moons In Space certainly supports that theory.
  • Global Currency Exception: Some places in the game like the Chappa village do not accept money and only barter items. Did a Dragonscale armor appeared in a shop in one of those place? Time to go do some shopping in others towns buying the most expensive stuff you can get your hands on to barter.
  • Guide Dang It: Forget finding everyone you can recruit during a given quest, or even just finishing one (though those usually require help too), just try muddling through the Character Customization without having a clue what you're doing! Or, y'know, don't.
  • Handsome Lech: Mythe, before getting a gander at the Silver Girl's photo and switching to Single-Target Sexuality.
  • Homage: To Tabletop RPGs.
  • Insufferable Genius: Mythe.
  • Ki Attacks: The Level 3 and 4 medium weight punch attack fire an energy beam at the enemy.
  • Laser-Guided Amnesia: Thomas.
  • Let's Play: imbiggy have made several of them here.
  • Luck-Based Mission: Again: The Reel System. And because reels are used for almost every aspect of the game, including levelling up, it's fair to say the entire game is this trope.
  • Luck Manipulation Mechanic: Whenever a Tabletop RPG player would have to roll a die, instead you press a button to stop a spinning reel, giving the player a greater degree of control over the outcome. Unfortunately, this also means that when you get a bad result, which will happen fairly often, it's now your own fault, which makes things even more frustrating.
  • Marathon Boss: The final battle. Also, the fight against the Knights of the Round Table. Taken Up to Eleven in the scenario of Mythe as he has then to take on the final boss afterward. Also, the Rainbow Gucky and to some extend Tagut.
  • Masashi Hamauzu: His music was exceptionally good in places. Not that it could save this game from practically being a Franchise Killer.
  • Obvious Beta: The game wasn't playtested, which is obvious from all the new, innovative, and ridiculously clunky and awkward systems, the manual was not proofread at all, and the game gives off a general lack of polish in all areas
  • One-Hit Kill: Some of the bow, dagger and sword attacks do this, as well as a few rare spells. They work on a lot more enemies than you could imagine. And when such attacks are used against you... you only end up unable to act for a few turns.
  • Our Vampires Are Different
  • Petting Zoo People: The Chapa.
  • Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Because the main requirement for using light martial arts is weight and that light martial art is extremely powerful, small characters who by extension also have smaller weight have an easier time to use it and become this.
  • Plant Person: Platyphyllum. Bonus points for having a high Wood stat growth and starting with lot of wood spells.
  • The Reveal: At the end of Armic scenario, we learn that he is actually a father. That fact makes the encounter with Rebecca a bit funny.
  • Sequential Boss: In Laura's scenario, at some point, you have to fight a bunch of mooks, then a dragon and finally Basil Ghaleos. In Ventus's scenario, you have to fight the Knight of the Round Table one by one and then their leader, although you get a special item to help you get through it. Also, the final battle in everyone scenario involves their antagonist and then the four forms of Chaos. Mythe's quest take it Up to Eleven by having you having to fight the Knight of the Round Table, their leader and then Chaos.
  • Sibling Yin-Yang: Sapphire is serene and serious while younger sister Ruby is a energetic Plucky Girl.
  • Stuck Items: Once put, negative panels (Phobia, Pacifism and Seal) cannot be removed, only replaced by other negative panels. Some people use them anyway because of their stat boost. Kurt and Michelle have a Gauntlet Panel that can't be removed. In Mythe's scenario, Michelle get ridden of it.
  • Supporting Protagonist: Laura's story is told through the eyes of young Prince Henri.
  • Sword of Plot Advancement: In Laura's quest, you have at some point to collect the elemental gears, some of the best equipment you'll ever get in the game. Too bad that you don't get to keep them for the end of the game. Also, in Ventus's quest, at some point, you eventually get Dragonheart which can be forged into a weapon that, while not that strong attack wise, have the effect of restoring your HPs even if you're not in the back row.
  • Theme Naming: Ruby and Sapphire are obvious examples; Ventus and Briza are wind-based...
  • Timey-Wimey Ball: It is never exactly stated which of the seven stories are canon, and which are "What If" stories, which is annoying, as you can recruit other main characters in other stories. The developers recommend using Laura as your first character, so her's is most likely the main one.
    • On that note, they never gave the game a timeline either.
    • The only thing closest to Canon would be that manga of Ruby's story that was made as promo material for the game in Japan.
  • We Cannot Go on Without You: Sometimes though, letting your main character hidden in the back row is an option.
  • White-Haired Pretty Girl: The Silver Girl.
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