SaGa Frontier Remastered beginner’s guide: Starting with the basics
Let’s talk about some of the basic concepts when it comes to SaGa Frontier Remastered.
Which main character should I choose? Is there a New Game+ mode?
These are probably the first few questions a newcomer would ask, especially since SaGa Frontier Remastered still has the seven default peeps for you to choose from. This is the gist based on personal preference and observations:
- Red and T260 – These two characters have very straightforward and somewhat beginner-friendly campaigns.
- Asellus – Asellus is my favorite character, and SaGa Frontier Remastered even adds more tidbits to her story. Unfortunately, it’s also one of the hardest for beginners who are going in blind. Her main quest has multiple parts that require you to go to specific areas to encounter bosses. Unfortunately, even with a quest/story log, you wouldn’t know which areas you’d have to visit, so it’s easy to feel lost.
- Blue – Blue’s adventure is all about mastering different forms of magic. It’s also a run that helps you understand the different schools of magic in the game.
- Emelia, Lute, and Riki – To be fair, these campaigns bored me in the original and not much has changed here. Riki still tends to be a bit beginner-friendly, though you have to get used to how monsters “level up” (more on this concept in a while).
- Fuse – Fuse is a new playable character in SaGa Frontier Remastered. Both Fuse and the New Game+ feature are unlocked once you’ve beaten any default character’s campaign. If you’ve played the original and you’re familiar with the story, you can pick Fuse for your second playthrough. For beginners, though, I would advise saving him for last since the narrative here “fuses” together (pun intended) what you’ve learned from the default characters.
Note: New Game+ allows you to carry over a lot of stuff from your previous run, including credits/cash, items, and character stats. For instance, if you played as Asellus and you greatly boosted Lute’s stats during that playthrough, Lute starts out a lot stronger if you pick him for your next run.
Speeding up the process
SaGa Frontier Remastered has several settings that you can tweak, including battle speed and map speed (up to a 3x modifier). You can then press the right thumbstick to adjust the in-game speed.
You’re actually better off just picking 3x battle speed to hasten combat, casting animations, and the entire grinding process. However, I think it’s best to stick to the normal map speed. If you increase map speed, enemies will also move faster which means they can rush up to you as soon as you enter a new area.
Still, you have the option of fleeing from these regular encounters (and the mob would disappear in that room). Just keep in mind that all regular monsters will respawn whenever you reenter the same spot.
Save often
Doing a quicksave (RT + Y if you’re using an Xbox-type controller) should be mandatory when you’re grinding levels or when you’re entering new areas. This helps a lot especially prior to boss battles (i.e., you made a mistake or you want to change your gear). You can press the four top buttons, plus start and select, to go back to the main menu. Then, when you pick “quickstart,” it loads your quicksave at blindingly fast speeds.
Anyway, since we’re already talking about battles in SaGa Frontier Remastered, let’s talk about character growth, leveling, and learning new abilities in the next section of our guide.
