The 7th Saga has Beautiful Graphics and Frustrating Gameplay

The 7^th Saga is one of the many video games I tried to get into when looking for ROMs in the 1990s. Much like Paladin’s Quest, I would try to play the game, not understand it, and play something else. This time, I’m going to give it a serious try.

There are some great things in the game. It looks fantastic, has unique monsters, and has good gameplay. You need to grind for levels quite a bit in this game, which can take a long time, depending on the character you choose.

The 7^th Saga is one of the games I wanted to like. It has some problems and a steep learning curve. Completing the relatively simple task at the center of the game can also take a while. It has a lot going for it, but it is very hard to get into.

TLDR: A Great Looking Game With an Excellent but Convoluted Story.

Narrative

5,000 years before the start of the game, a divine being named Saro defeated the evil Gorsia. 100 years before the start of the game, the king Lemele defeated Gariso. I have no idea why these two evil beings have similar names.

You play as one of seven characters who has been training under Lemele. The seven heroes are sent on a quest to find the runes. The one who collects all seven will be named Lemele’s heir. Of course, shenanigans happen!

You’re trying to collect a bunch of runes to defeat some bad guy. There is more to it, but that is a basic synopsis. Here are some of the finer points:

• There are seven heroes
• One of them is a traitor/rival to your character
• An assassin is after you
• Things aren’t as they seem
• There is a little time travel that happens

There are some side quests you can go on. They offer items that will help you throughout the game. You can learn more about the other characters in the game, specifically the other heroes you were training with.

The main goal is to gather the seven runes. You can form a group with some of the other heroes if you have enough experience. This is a way to balance things out.

This is where one of the best parts of the story comes in! There is a traitor! One of the heroes wants to gather the runes for selfish reasons, and they hire an assassin to kill you. Throughout the game, you run into this assassin from time to time.

Some time travel nonsense happens, and eventually, the player fights Gorsia. It is a convoluted path to get here, and the game ends in a time loop. I’m not sure if all of this solves anything or if the time loop is broken.

The 7^th Saga has an enjoyable story with a few interesting twists. I was most likely overanalyzing the ending and creating a time loop. It felt like the game made an endless cycle of death and rebirth by having your character reincarnated as Lemele, and it would’ve been nice to know if the events of the game would play out the same way again. This was probably explained in the sequel, but that wasn’t released in North America.

Gameplay

The gameplay is hit-and-miss for me. I like the turn-based combat and the characters you can choose from. I wouldn’t say I like the one to two party members you have in the game. It would’ve been nice if you could create a party of three or more.

There are seven characters to choose from. We’re given the character’s first and last names for some reason. Here are the characters:

• Wilme Pelin – An alien who doesn’t use weapons or armor. He has high attack and HP.
• LUX TIZER – A 5,000-year-old robot from the extinct Tetsujin civilization. It has high defense but a limited selection of magic and equipment.
• Olvan Jaess – A Dwarf Warrior. He has high HP and Defense but low MP.
• Kamil Dwonna – A Human Knight. He is the most average character in the game.
• Lejes Rimul – A power-hungry Demon. He can learn most of the attack spells in the game, has strong attack, and never learns healing magic.
• Valsu Saizer – A human Cleric. He has strong healing and ice magic but weak physical attacks.
• Esuna Busy – An elf magic user.

Two of the five characters cannot be the traitor apprentice. The other five characters can be the one who is after you. In the game, the traitor hired a mercenary to kill you.

I find it odd when enemies run away from you in the game. Encounters with enemies are less random than in other games. You can see them on your mini-map, and you can wait for them to run into you.

So, the game wants you to think that the enemies run into your character and then run away when they realize their mistake. Okay, I guess I’ll buy that. It just seems rather odd when one of them runs up to you, only to piss themselves and run away.

There is one good thing about the enemies in the game. When you need to grind for levels, you can stand in place and wait for the enemies to stumble into you, which is great if you’re worried about overworking your thumbs. You can also wander around.

This is a good time to discuss dying and jewelry. I know it is strange to bring it up, but it is important for the 7^th Saga. When you die in this game, you lose a lot of money. The way to avoid this is to buy jewelry from the item shop.

For some reason, you can sell the jewelry back for the amount you bought it for. I’m seriously confused by the economy in this game. Here is a list of the jewels you can buy:

• Opal – 100 gold
• Pearl – 200 gold
• Topaz – 500 gold
• Ruby – 1000 gold
• Saphire – 2500 gold

The monsters won’t steal the gems from you. It doesn’t make much sense to me because they want your gold, but they don’t want to sell your jewelry to get gold. Everyone but the monsters know that your jewels are worth money. It is very strange.

The economy in this world confuses the hell out of me. I can buy a Saphire for 2500 gold and sell it for the same amount. What is the point of that? Why would anyone agree to that? It is so strange to me.

Speaking of buying and selling things. You can trade in the older equipment when you upgrade your weapons and armor. This cuts down the cost of the new equipment. For example, the price says 100, but the shopkeeper says you can buy it for 80 if you trade in your old weapon.

For some bizarre reason, you don’t have to do this. I have no idea why you would do that, and this makes me think I’m missing something. It’s an odd thing in the game.

I want to discuss the magic system in the game a bit. Every character has some magical attack and support magic. I like this, but I have one big issue with it.

There is a huge jump in the MP needed to cast spells. For example, Heal 1 costs 4 MP, and Heal 2 costs 18 MPs. This is a considerable increase; your character’s MP doesn’t increase enough with each level to make this workout.

With how quickly and dramatically the difficulty can spike in this game, this makes The 7^th Saga much harder. If you play as a magic user, you almost need to have a party member with you. Stuff like this made the game much harder than it needed to be.

Much like the magic, your weapons and armor feel underpowered for the task. When I got new weapons and armor, it didn’t feel like I was doing any more damage. I was tempted to go back to the old stuff because that seemed to work better.

To make things worse, enemies have a health bar to show you how close to winning you are. It is like the game is teasing you at times. The enemies can also resurrect and heal each other during battle. This doesn’t always happen, but you might not expect something like that when you get into a random encounter.

I like the gameplay, but this is a challenging game. If you’re new to RPGs, I would avoid this one. It is a difficult game because of how tedious it is to grind for levels, and it can be too frustrating when you keep dying during battles.  

There is a walkthrough on RPGClassics.com. It is very basic and reflects how difficult the game is. Even though the plot is relatively simple, it can be a time-consuming game to get through.

Visuals

I love the way this game looks! The graphics are excellent and well-detailed. The character sprites look fantastic, and the enemies are unique.

The character and enemy sprites look fantastic! This is one of the best-looking SNES RPGs I’ve played so far, and it reminds me of Phantasy Star IV in some ways. The characters look different from the other RPGs I’ve played, which helps it to stand out from a crowded field.

The animations on the combat screen are great. I love that you can see when your attacks and magic hit their target or see when you miss. It is a wonderful touch. I also love how the magic looks. It isn’t nothing special but looks much better than the other RPGs from the late 1980s and early 1990s.

The world map looks good but feels enormous as you wander around. Thankfully, you get a crystal ball that acts as a radar at the beginning of the game. This lets you know where the enemies, towns, and runes are. You can get a map, but I found it to be mostly worthless when compared to the crystal ball.

The graphics in The 7^th Saga are amazing. It is a wonderful-looking game that does a decent job of compensating for the tedious gameplay. This is one of the better-looking SNES RPGs I’ve played since I started playing them for my blog and YouTube Channel.

7.5/10. This is a very good game, but it can take a long time to complete because of the need to grind for levels. The story is good, and the graphics are great. A steep learning curve might make the game tough for new players.

Pros

• Fantastic Graphics
• Good Gameplay
• Great Story

Cons

• A lot of Grinding for Levels
• Steep Learning Curve
• Overpowered Enemies

Conclusion

Thank you for reading this. This was an interesting game to go back and play, especially since I have a lot of memories of trying to learn how to play this game. My feelings about this game are similar to those of Paladin’s Quest.

Both are games I tried playing when I was a kid, and at times, I’ve returned to them only to give up. I like The 7^th Saga more than Paladin’s Quest. While both games have issues, I enjoy the gameplay in The 7^th Saga more. I don’t have a better comparison for this game.

The 7^th Saga is a good game, but it can be frustrating as you spend a lot of time grinding for levels. It is hard to know if you are ready to fight an enemy; at times, you can feel underpowered. It also doesn’t help that you don’t play with the standard three or four-party members.

If you liked this, check out my review of Paladin’s Quest or My Favorite RPGs So Far list.