Interview: On revitalising Square Enix's classic SaGa series

Interview by Matt S. 

For many years now, the SaGa series has sat quietly behind Square Enix's giant JRPG properties - Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, Mana, and even Star Ocean. And yet while those properties seem to get all the attention, SaGa has been kicking along in the background, slowly building up a niche audience of people who realise that there is a lot of merit to this series.

The end of 2019 is a big time for the series, too. Just a couple of weeks ago Romancing SaGa 3 was remastered and released in English for the first time (officially). It hasn't turned too many heads among critics, or generated too many reviews, but those who have actually played it have found it to be quite remarkable. Then, next month, a new chapter of the SaGa series arrives with a port of the PlayStation Vita original SaGa Scarlet Grace: Ambitions... and that game looks really, really good.

I recently had the chance to sit down with Ichikawa Masanori (SaGa series producer) and Kawazu Akitoshi (Saga series director) to discuss the vision they have for the series, the value of bringing Romancing SaGa 3 to English for the first time, and why the series has never quite achieved the profile of its brethren, despite being of an equivalent standard.

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