SaGa 2: Hihou Densetsu - Goddess of Destiny

Overview

SaGa 2: Hihou Densetsu - Goddess of Destiny is a remake of SaGa 2, known as Final Fantasy Legend II in the West, which was developed by Racjin for the Nintendo DS and published by Square Enix in 2009. The game featured a completely redone polygonal presentation, new character designs by Gen Kobayashi and several gameplay enhancements. Unfortunately SaGa 2 was never localized outside of Japan but an unofficial English translation patch was released by Crimson Nocturnal on January 23, 2011.

Gameplay

Goddess of Destiny shares the fundamental DNA of the original Gameboy releases, and is a story-driven Japanese-style guided role-playing game with a balanced mix of world map exploration and dungeons spread across various, themed worlds. You direct four party members who grow stronger in various ways, depending on a given character's class, and various single allies join and leave the party at certain points in the story. Combat is menu- and turn-based, with most character classes being able to equip multiple weapons, spells, and items. Character classes line up with the original as well, with the available choices including humans, espers (formerly known as "mutants"), robots, and monsters.

Character Stats

• Strength determines raw fighting power.
• Spirit was known as MANA in the original game, and determines magical prowess. The effectiveness of magical spells, staves, and tomes is based on this Spirit stat, but there are some weapons--like the Psychic Blade--that do damage based on the Spirit stat, as well.
• Agility is a speed stat, and determines when a party member will act during combat (in conjunction with the enemies' own Agility stats). However, Agility will also determine the damage that some weapons will do.
• Defense rates the character's resistance to damage. Generally, you can only temporarily increase a character's defense by equipping stronger pieces of armor or relics (see below), but as with the other stats, you can find consumable items that will raise defense permanently.
• Different classes gain strength, spirit, and agility in different ways--see "Character Classes" below.
• Any stat can be temporarily raised by equipping the appropriate relic onto the character.
• Specific items--such as the Hermes boots or the Giant's gloves--can also temporarily raise Strength, Spirit, and Agility until you unequip those items.
• In a change from the original game, the user interface in Goddess of Destiny will tell you which weapons will do damage based on strength, versus agility, or versus spirit.

Character Classes

• Each character class comes with a finite number of command slots that globally govern equipment, skills, and (in)vulnerabilities.
• Humans
  
  • Humans are limited to two genders to chose from, male vs. female. The male starts with higher strength by default, whereas the female starts with higher agility. Each gender has four character models from which to choose.
  • Humans can equip and use any weapon, armor, spellbookm and item available in the game.
  • Strength is raised by using specific specific weapons during battle, and occasionally by consumable items.
  • Spirit is raised by using spells during battle, and occasionally by consumable items.
  • Agility is raised by using specific weapons during battle, and occasionally by consumable items.
  • In general, Humans' main advantages in combat are strength and agility. Magic is not their strong suit. However, with enough effort, you can permanently increase their Spirit by forcing the use of magical tomes (and through certain equippable items and consumable potions).
• Espers
  • In a change from the original game, the class formerly known as "Mutants" is now known as "Espers". As with Humans, they are limited to two genders (male vs. female) which carry similar default statistical differences. Each gender has four character models from which to choose.
  • Espers can equip and use any weapon, armor, spellbook, and item available in the game.
  • Strength is raised by using specific specific weapons during battle, and occasionally by consumable items.
  • Spirit is raised by using spells during battle, and occasionally by consumable items.
  • Agility is raised by using specific weapons during battle, and occasionally by consumable items.
  • In general, Espers' main advantages in combat are magic. Strength increases are hard to come by, though not impossible. Agility seems to be more likely to raise than strength. With enough effort, you can permanently increase strength through the forced use of strength-based items.
  • Espers are unique in that they will learn innate skills throughout the course of the game. Some of these skills are magical spells, while other skills are various attacks, buffs, and debuffs that cannot be deliberately equipped by any character. Each skill takes up a command slot, and newly learned skills will consume an additional empty slot. If espers are left unequipped, it is certainly possible that all slots will be taken up by a skill, and thereafter the esper will be unable to equip any items. If there are no empty Command slots for a newly learned skill to occupy, the Esper will forget the last skill in the list and replace it with the newly-learned skills. Skills, like weapons, have a maximum number of uses associated with them, but the uses can be replenished to their theoretical maximums by recovering at an inn.
  • Espers can also develop vulnerabilities or invulnerabilities to certain status effects and spells. These are governed by the same rules as skills in terms of command menu slot behavior. However, Vulnerabilities and Invulnerabilities are characteristics and are not "used"; therefore, as with armor, there are no "uses" associated with them.
• Mecha
  
  • Formerly known as Robots in the original game, Mecha are available in four character models.
  • Mecha can equip and use any weapon, armor, spellbook, and item available in the game...
  • ...however, Mecha are stuck with 0 spirit, and thus, it is useless for a Mecha to attempt to utilize any magical item.
  • Mecha stats--including their hit points, and with the exception of Spirit--are all raised, temporarily only, by equipping items. Strength-based items will increase their strength; agility-based items will increase their agility. All items will add some bonus to a robot's hit point total. All increases, being temporarily, are only towards the robot's base value. So unequipping a strong sword and replacing it with a slightly weaker sword will result in a perceived decrease in that robot's strength and hit point total.
  • When equipping a Mecha with any multiple-use item, the number of uses of that item will be decrease by half. (Unequipping the item from a robot decreases it by half yet again.) However, the number of uses will be restored to half of its theoretical maximum when staying at an inn for recovery. For example, a human has equipped a Long Sword (50 maximum uses), and has used it 40 times, leaving 10 uses left. The human then unequips that Long Sword, and the Robot then equips it. At that moment, the Long Sword now only has 5 uses remaining. However, by staying at an inn, the Long Sword's uses will be replenished to 25.
  • Mecha, by default, have a permanent invulnerability to Paralyze and Poison. This means that they effectively have one fewer command slot to play with than the other classes.
• Monsters
  • Three monsters are available to choose from during the opening party formation.
  • Monsters come with skills and (in)vulnerabilities, and cannot equip or learn new ones.
  • Monsters come with base stats, and they can never be permanently increased. However, they can receive temporary stat increases by equipping relics.
  • Monsters evolve by eating meat dropped by other monsters that are defeated in combat by the party. This is the only way to permanently change a monster's stats and skills. Similar to the original game, there is a vast table and algorithm that governs what new form your monster will take when eating meat, and there are no guardrails preventing your monster from taking on a perceivably weaker form if you eat the "wrong" meat.
  • As with Espers, Monster skills all have a maximum number of uses that can be replenished by recovering at an inn.
  • In a change from the original game, a monster may recover hit points and skill uses by eating certain meat.
  • In a change from the original game, monsters may retain their (in)vulnerabilities when eating meat and taking on a new form.