Open ended gameplay! Engrishy translations! Spiky hair! Let's play SaGa Frontier!

SQUEEEEEEEEEE MERSARTHIM TOO KYOOOT

Hey guys, just a heads up, with the death of the Fire Sage, we've reached a rather infamous section of Asellus's quest that I've seen some fans refer to as 'the Wandering'.

Basically, as I've made reference to before, SaGa Frontier is infamous for having a ridiculous amount of cut content. Unfortunately, a lot of cut content comes from Asellus's quest (to be fair, even with all the cut content, she still has one of the longest and most robust stories in the game, so you can imagine how disproportionate it would have been if they didn't cut anything).

Originally, Asellus was meant to spend this portion of her quest visiting various people and places to discover and reconcile wih her identity as a half mystic (Mersarthim's quest was the one such example). Unfortunately, as this was all cut, what is left is a lot of directionless wandering while waiting for the next assassin to show up.

On the plus side however, it seems that the decision to cut Asellus's quest came late in development and thus a lot of the dungeons and locations that were cut from her story are still in the game, but simply have no relevance to the tale.

This brings me to my two main points:

1. There is supplementary material that was published that details exactly what story was cut and where. If you guys want, I can visit these places that were cut and write my own interpretation of what story was meant to occur. The stuff I'll write will be as faithful to the source material as possible, and will all be based on notes and supplementary material that was published.

2. At this point in the game, we're free to wonder around and recruit non-essential party members. Unlike characters like White Rose who never shuts up, these characters might have a scene or two and then never speak again. If you guys want, I could write a bit of dialogue for them. Nothing out of character or in important story sequences, but just bits and pieces, especially in side quests and stuff that isn't directly related to Asellus's main story, just to flesh them out more and so we won't forget they're in the party.

So yeah, that's where we stand. What I'm proposing is to try flesh out the story and characters more. However, I acknowledge that this turns what was once a war for word transcription of the script into a semi fanfic, and I understand that not everyone likes that. So if you guys have comments or concerns, please do share them.

Ultimately, I want to make this LP enjoyable for you guys, so do tell me how to best achieve that! Even if you hate my idea, do tell so that we can come up with something that works for all of us.

Also, if you feel uncomfortable with posting your thoughts on the thread, feel free to PM me :)

I say go for both 1 and 2 if you want to, Snark. You obviously love this game so I trust you with interpreting the source material in a fun and faithful way. :)

I agree with the banana with the star on its face.

Snark, from my experience, most LPers put a lot of their own 'translation' into how they present a game. That's what makes it fun, and also encourages the reader to play for themselves if they want word-for-word context and experience. For my two cents, I have no problem with you doing both these things, especially since I'd be fascinated to learn all the context fo Asellus's character that got cut.

I like your LPing and I like you and your mustached face.

Forgot to comment on this earlier, but this is absolutely exquisite art. Just. Exquisite. If I were the art collecting type this would be hanging on my bedroom wall right now. I mean, just look at those dark, luscious eyelashes, those sculpted features, the detail on the hair and ornaments... I COULD DO NOTHING BUT STARE AT THIS ALL DAY /dreamy sigh

I am all for both those things. More content! More dialogue! More implication that Asellus is being trailed around by an entire parade of party members quietly crushing on her and/or trying to drag her back to a coffin!

It is quite amazing, isn't it? =D

I have to admit though, as beautiful as it is, something about the picture makes me feel uneasy. Maybe it's the prominent thorns wrapped round her head or maybe it's the greenish hue that the artist uses, but I feel that it's unsettlingly beautiful. Which, coincidentally enough, is how the game implies that the other races view the Mystics!

Anyway, given what I'm proposing regarding the direction we take this LP, I wanna give it a little more time before the next update for anyone to comment on what they think.

So instead of our regularly scheduled update, here's some lovely fanart of all the main characters of the game!

*cannot hit the LIKE button hard enough on all that fan art*

I especially like the Asellus/White Rose one. It seems to capture the vibe of Confident Proactive Asellus with Slightly Creepy Yet Doting White Rose really well. Which is impressive all the more for Asellus just sitting down, there. But she looks like a woman who gets things done.

*hoards beautiful fanartses*

My god. This fandom has some of the best artists evah.

I like this guy...

Aww, thanks guys! I'll do my best not to betray your expectations =D

Also, Ana, sorry to single you out, but I'm very pleased that you're ok with the direction I'm taking this LP. I specifically recall reading a post you wrote about how you generally don't like it when people add their own stuff to the game's script, which was partly what made me do put this suggestion up for consideration first!

Lute and Thunder are super cool. It's just such a shame that their actual quest is such a let down... :(

---

Anyway, back to our regularly scheduled LP!

With the first of Ciato's assassins down, our heroes consider their options...

What now, White Rose...?

Lord Orlouge never let's go of what is his. Unless we give oursel-

No!

Then...we must prepare. More of Lord Orlouge's men will come.

Thank you, White Rose.

To disobey my Lord...



If we're going to stand a chance, we're going to need both power and allies. Let's travel to Luminous, the realm of light and shadows. Many powerful wizards gather there to learn the secrets of magic, maybe we can seek their help.



Luminous is home to both the Labyrinth of Light and Omble, the Region of Shadows. Powerful wizards seek to overcome their trails in order to obtain the 'Gift'.

What's the Gift?

Any human or mystic can learn magic. However, to master higher order spells, we need to obtain the 'Gift' of magic.

That would help us fight Orlouge's henchmen.



I’m Rouge from the Magic Kingdom. I’m travelling the regions studying various magic. Are you also searching the gift?

Keep in mind, this is the Luminous Airport. I like to think Rouge just hangs out at the arrival hall and asks this to every single person he sees.

Yes.

Then, let me join you.

One of the things I've never been able to get over is how party members are perfectly happy to drop everything their doing and join you at the drop of a hat. Lute in particular, joins you because he's bored.

Wait. Just like that?

I'm on a quest to obtain the Gift of all schools of magic. So long as you seek the Gift as well, I am happy to travel with you.

...if you say so...
---
By the way, this is the first post in which I added some of my own dialogue to the game's script. How is it, guys? Does everything flow smoothly, or is it pretty obvious which is the stuff that was originally in the game, and which is the stuff I added?

As always, criticism and comments are most welcome!

I can't tell what is and what isn't, and I remember actually being anxious about doing it in Dragon Age II when Joyce's narration mentioned events that weren't in the game (primarily what the companions did to nurse her through crises behind the scenes, but...) because it always stood out to me CLEARLY when it was the game and when I was making shit up for cohesion and building character interaction a little. I never went against what was written in the game, though, and I think people liked it well enough.

It's often needed in more minimalistic RPGs, too, because party members have a lot of potential character and aren't always fleshed out which just gets a bit weird. "So, Sogg, you joined me because you were drunk. Any thoughts now you're so... you're still drunk. Okay. Any thoughts? No. I see. Any thoughts at all, ever? No. No..."

What I am trying to say is I think fleshing them out is a good idea and I can't tell what you've added in and what you haven't which is a good sign.

It's flowing pretty smoothly to me.

Also, I am full of little starry eyed <3 symbols for Princess White Rose, who is slowly breaking out of the Stepford Princess model to follow the woman she loves. Eee!

What's creepy is that there's a guy who joins that's pretty much exactly like that =P

And maybe one day, I'll be able to stop thinking of White Rose as irreparably psychologically damaged xD
And yes, as creepy as I now find her, I still think Ase/White Rose is kinda cute!

Same here!

I'm really interested in seeing what you come up with for the next few sections, Snark. Also, hi Rouge! Your hair is looking fabulous as always. :D

ILU bby.

We get to recruit them on Asellus's quest, right? Best of both worlds.

No really, I like this guy.

Asellus is so snarky and rational anyway, I didn't notice anything until you pointed it out. xD Seem in character so far.

Grantaire sure gets around, doesn't he?

No.

Rouge was one of my favorites back when I was young. I used to almost always have him and his fabulous hair in my party.

Also, Ase/Rouge seems to be fairly popular pairing on pixiv

TOO CUTE
TOO GODDAMN CUTE

He's definitely the brother with the prettiest hair.

So uh, should we go get your Gift now?

Attempting to attain the Gift of any magic involves overcoming great trails which will devour all but the strongest. We should seek help from other likeminded individuals beforehand.

Nothing's ever simple with you wizards, huh?



Welcome to Scrap, the junkyard region. It's a wonderful combination of the Wild West and steampunk, only good, unlike the Wild Wild West.



So why are we here? Because there's a bar, which is well...basically this.

And like any good space bar filled with shady characters and non-humans, it's teaming with fellow heroes/potential party members!



Abnormal amount of lifeforce detected from subject!!

Even a Mec knows I’m inhuman.

...oh well, looks like T260G won't be joining us.



What’s wrong? Are you hurt?

I love how Riki's first interaction with Asellus is to show concern for her.

Riki is <3

No, I’m all right. But thanks for asking.

What!? Asellus! There are like no good men in your life (except Rouge)! Get this guy! Grab him and never let go!
I’m Riki.

My name is Asellus. Aren’t you afraid of me?

I know White Rose/Gina/Mersarthim/Cactus-chan is your true love, but still! Riki's pretty to look at!

No, not at all.

I’m a mystic! I might suck your blood.

I don’t want that. But you wouldn’t do that.

WHY WON'T YOU LOVE JOIN ME YOU WONDERFUL BASTARD



Green hair, how exotic. Opps, hope I didn’t offend you.

Oh, also, Riki's friend Mei Ling thinks Asellus is exotic.

It’s all right.

Randomly touching her hair is preferable to randomly needling her face.

You seem to have a problem. That’s ok, no need to explain.

One thing I really like is that Asellus feels isolated thanks to her half mystic nature, and nothing better emphasizes this than her utter failure in recruiting the characters who hang around in Scrap. T260G, Riki and Mei Ling join nearly everyone except Asellus, which kinda helps show how different and alien she is.

D'aww, poor Asellus. IMMA GIVE YOU HUGSIES

Riki, you little cutie. <3 I was so disappointed when Asellus couldn't recruit him.

Yeah, it's a bit of a shame. Asellus gets a lot of unique party members, but at the price of being unable to recruit quite a few others who generally join most the other main characters. I do like it though, as mentioned earlier, it helps emphasize how isolated Asellus feels from most the world.

I really like the concept of playing different characters whose story only overlap a bit. It's not something I often see in games I play. Is that typical of Japanese RPGS, or specific to this firm or game?

It's basically one of the distinctive features of the SaGa series. The first to do it was Romancing SaGa on the Snes, which featured multiple main characters who inhabited the same world and whose stories occasionally intersected.

Romancing SaGa 2 didn't feature that. Instead, each main character was actually the son or daughter of the previous main character, but Romancing SaGa 3 went back to the multiple main characters with intersecting stories.

SaGa Frontier continued that system, and made the stories even more interconnected. In fact, you can learn certain things about a main character only by encountering them as someone else. For instance, Asellus used to babysit Red before she was hit by Orlouge's carriage, but you only ever learn this in Red's playthrough, as Asellus never encounters Red in her own story.

Also, remember when I said a lot of Asellus's content got cut? Both Red and Emilia meet her in events that never happen in Asellus's own story, suggesting that these adventures were all cut from Asellus's quest.

Anyway, just to wrap up the history lesson, SaGa Frontier 2 took the intersecting storylines to a whole new level by featuring families whose lives and stories would intersect across generations. Of the SaGa games, SaGa Frontier 2 is considered to have the best story, but had many controversial gameplay elements. For instance, due to the generational nature of the tale, most characters die in either combat or old age, meaning that of the many characters in the game, only a few are available by the end of the game.

Finally, there's Unlimited Saga, which went back to the intersecting storylines. However, it featured an overly complex and unforgiving board game mechanic for exploration and combat, and is largely seen as the black sheep of the franchise.

Oh! Thanks for the answer! It's definitely a very cool design idea.

Haa, sounds like you really know your stuff, Snark~

typing on my tablet is such a pain

Now that we've met a few more characters, let's have a little more official art!

Anyway, since we're on the topic of art, let's have some fanart as well!

Oh my goodness. Asellus in that suit in the third image is just...just...

*gestures, gibbers, fans self*

(CRAVATS, PEOPLE. CRAVATS FOREVER. Join me in the cravat appreciation society yesssssss jooooooin meeeeee)

Everything is Suikoden for me eventually. I've told you this.

So, Suikoden 3 tried this. Three main characters plus like.. Two? Two other controllable stories at different points in the game. All but one merge into one.. Group thing. I'm sure there's argument over this, but it didn't turn out very well. It's frustrating.

Part of that game thoguh was that it so heavily referenced both the previous game, and a series of... I don't want to say spinoffs, but maybe companion games that were only released in Japan, so you didn't understand a lot fo the bonds between characters. And the actual mechanic was that is was all the same story experienced from three people's perspectives. At the same time. So you switch at inoportune moments. One story tells you something you can't act on with the next party.

My point is, I don't think a lot of games do this becuase it's easy to screw up. I've only seen it from my experience in Suikoden 3, and Unlimited SaGa, which I think is in the same series as this game. It suffered the same confusingness as Sui 3, but.. Worse. Geezus. I can't even figure out how to play the game, is so fucking convoluted and poorly thought out.

<3

And aww, you're making poor Princess Stockholm sad =P

It's actually the wallpaper for my iPhone now!

And yes, we need more cravats in both real life and videogames! Especially on classy bisfauxnen.

Hey! I remember Suikoden 3! And yeah, I agree, the constantly changing perspective got annoying after a while. I think I prefer the SaGa method where you stick with one point of view character the whole way through. Thomas was awesome though, I kinda wish he could have become the Flame Champion.

And yeah, Unlimited Saga is a convoluted mess. As much as the SaGa series prides itself on being experimental and unconventional, Unlimited simply can't excuse itself by saying its novel when the results are objectively bad. Funny thing though, it's the only game in the series with name spelt as 'Saga' as opposed to 'SaGa', almost as it the developers are acknowledging it's black sheep status.

I- You- You've played Sui-

Oh Snark, c'mere and let me hug you bby! Tell me you've played the newer ones! No one knows them around here! ;_;

Yikes, Thomas as Flame Champion would have been unfortunate for him, and his life was already unfortunate. I agree he was really enjoyable to play as though. I wish the later games addressed what happened to him. I wish the games addressed a lot of things. They're so unsatisfying.

Now I'mma go check my game box. Seriously though, I tried so hard to like that game. But after you get through the intro, you have no idea wtf you're doing, then you're dead. All stories. And several of the characters were extremely uninteresting. The ones who seemed neat were usually the hardest to play. Jeepers.

One thing that weirded me out too, was that the characters when you encountered them outside their own route sometimes seemed really out fo character. I can't remember since it's been a long time since I played, but the green outfit delicery boy is the one that stuck otu to me. In every story, he acts differently. I can't figure him out as a character.

I loved Suikoden when I was young! Suikoden II is one of my favourite games of all time! And yes, I've played the new ones! Suikoden V was fantastic and probably the only one to match II!

Tierkreis however...was less good. I mean, it was nice to have another Suikoden after so long, but the story and politics were disappointingly simplistic compared to the older Suikodens. And god, did the main character and his whole "You won't know until you try!" catchphrase annoy me >_< Also, the fact that the game kept teasing us with the infinitely cooler alternate world Marica did not help matters!

And yeah, I really wish we got more of Thomas in III. He and Cecilia were so cute...

---

Unfortunately, her interactions with the various bar patrons seems to have put Asellus in a bit of a downer.

Even mechs and monsters can tell I'm not human...

I'm sorry, Lady Asellus.

White Rose, do you know anything, anyone that can undo this!?

There isn't anything that can reve-

Please!!

...there is a Mystic doctor who might know. His name is Dr. Nasukan, and his clinic is located in the city of Kowloon. But Lady Asellus, please...he is not a man to be trusted...

As long as there's a chance to get my life back, I'll take it!



Kowloon is one of the largest and most active cities in SaGa Frontier. As the name suggest, it's very obviously based on Kowloon, in Hong Kong. It also serves as a major transportation hub, and is home to people from all over the world, both the law abiding and the...less so.



One of my favourite things in SaGa Frontier is the fact that monsters are fully sentient members of society and not just mindless random encounter fodder.



Despite the bright neon lights, Kowloon hides a darker side. The backstreets are home to monsters, thugs and illegal weapons merchants.



Not to mention clinics owned by amoral mystic doctors.

We can still reconsider this, Lady Asellus...

I won't sit idly by while my humanity slips away!



Ok, this is creepy.



...and seemingly the one patient waiting here is already dead.



Oh no, he's actually a sentient skeleton. THAT MAKES THINGS SO MUCH BETTER



Which then disappeared. I don't know if that makes things more or less terrifying.



Asellus however, is not so yellow belied! She's survived carriages, backstabs and most importantly, cacti!



Excellent, you are here. Please lie down on the opera- hmm...? You're not the expected one...what have we here... a transformed patient.

Geez, what has Asellus gotten herself into this time?

I can't believe I am saying this, but I agree with White Rose. That man's credentials are even more dubious than those of a certain apocalypse survivor/surgeon/engineer/commander/helicopter pilot.

I have no idea who you're talking about... =P

Are those skull-headed parrots flying around over the clinic? Because that's pretty cool.

(Now someone should go make me an entire adventure game of bifauxnen in stylish cravats. Hurry! You have at least one customer ready and waiting!)

Yup! Because having a fucking skeleton sitting in the waiting room apparently wasn't creepy enough for our good Dr.Nasukan.

And goddamn, while I would buy it regardless, I would buy multiple copies of that game if it was literally called 'Bifauxnen in Stylish Cravats'!