Just when you might have been excused for thinking Square had forgotten about its non-Final Fantasy properties, they return with another entry in one of their longest running series. Unlimited SaGa marks the fourth platform that the SaGa series has appeared on since its inception on the original Game Boy, and yet it looks to keep 2D elements even in its latest incarnation.
Several elements of Unlimited SaGa will be familiar to series fans. While playing as Laura, a widowed pirate, you'll travel the world with your son Henry and meet a variety of characters inhabiting their own countries. Some will join you in your quest to rediscover the seven artifacts of the golden age and some won't, making for a dynamic party similar to the optional members seen in Romancing SaGa or SaGa Frontier. Shown in the initial artwork are several silhouetted characters, some of whom are sure to be playable party members, but not much is known about them yet.
The battle system is new to the game, and revolves around something called the Reel system. No matter how many active party members in battle, you get only five commands per turn. Once they're all selected, the reel (similar to a slot machine) will begin to spin, and affect combat for that round.
The graphical style is a strange mix of 2D and 3D, which will hopefully work better than SaGa Frontier's similar attempt at such a blending. The actual overworld screen is sparse and largely monochrome, but when you near a landmark or explorable area on the map, an artistic representation of it will appear in the upper left corner of the screen. Battles appear to be in 3D environments with hand-drawn character sprites, and the two forms seem to mesh well in the stills seen to date. As for the sound, no composer has been named yet but the music will be beefed up with Dolby Prologic II compatibility throughout the game, in both cinematics and regular play.
Currently known staff on the project are longtime series producer Akitoshi Kawazu and ex-Final Fantasy art director Yusuke Naora, who's handling character design and art coordination on Unlimited SaGa. The game's due for a December 2002 release in Japan with no American release announced yet, but given the paucity of Square's upcoming schedule in both territories, it's almost certainly coming here sometime in 2003.
