[Disclaimer: I received a review key for Romancing SaGa -Minstrel Song- Remastered International through Keymailer, a third-party website/company that connects publishers and developers with content creators. The game was given without promise or expectation of a positive review, only that the game be played, and content be created through the playing of the game and the experience. Unless otherwise noted, all content in the following article is from my own playthrough of this game.]
Romancing SaGa - Minstrel Song - Remastered International
Systems: PlayStation 4/5, iOS, Android, Windows, Nintendo Switch 1/2
Release Date: December 9, 2025
Publisher: Square Enix, Red Art Games
Developer: Square Enix, Bullets Co., Ltd.
Time Spent: ~ 5 Hours
Highlight Videos on YouTube
Some brief context. I've not played many games in the SaGa series, only Final Fantasy II, which I'm told is often considered to be the progenitor of the SaGa series since FFII designers Akitoshi Kawazu, Hiromichi Tanaka, and Koichi Ishi all worked on/directed several SaGa games, and The Final Fantasy Legend. I did have some assumptions about this game, such as maintaining the mechanic of usage-based leveling that existed in both FF II and TFFL, but I wasn't expecting so many hidden mechanics that feel integral to both sucessfully progressing and enjoying the game.
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When I started the game, I decided to choose Albert out of the eight possible characters, mainly because all the characters are numbered, and Albert is number one. From what I read online after selecting Albert, this seemed like the best choice since it sounded like you learn a lot of the early game mechanics with Albert's story, so I wasn't too worried about not picking up the game or not being able to follow any mechanics. That ended up being a huge mistake, as I've since found out that with Albert in the third area, Valhalland, that I never picked up or learned Jump before leaving for Yeoville, I never picked up Smoke Bombs, I've never heard about ER (Event Rank, and if you know, then you know that it's a key quest tracking and progression mechanic), and I had the Minstrel join Albert in Bruelle because I didn't know that he's likely gone for good in Albert's story which means I don't have any spell casters in Valhalland which is inundated with SaGa's versions of Final Fantasy's Slimes/Jellies/Mousse/Flans.
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From this alone, I feel like I'm playing a game where I should have already read an instruction manual, or that I'm coming into a game that's already steeped in mildly obscure mechanics that you're already supposed to have known ahead of time. Should I have taken a course beforehand? At worst, it feels like I'm playing a game that's meant only for people who already know what they're doing. That this Remastered Romancing SaGa is meant for people who have either already played the original Romancing SaGa or want to learn key game mechanics from outside the game. It's not a great feeling to have going into an established JRPG series from a developer that I, for the most part, love.
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But then you ask yourself, now that I know all this information, where is the problem with either starting a new game file or creating a new character? And I could, lord knows I've restarted many a game in the past (Dark Souls glowering from the darkened recesses of my brain), but there's no drive behind that desire. There's no desire, right now at least, to either restart Albert's campaign or choose to start as Claudia or Hawke. And that's a pretty bad feeling to have.
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Sadly, this is where I'm at with Romancing SaGa - Minstrel Song - Remastered International. Albert is stuck in Valhalland with Sif and a random Valhallan Warrior, somewhat underpowered and feeling like I'm digging myself into a progression hole. I'm not completely turned off to the entire Romancing SaGa series, though, and looking at screenshots of the original Super Famicom version does make me want to play that. Who knows? Maybe Square Enix having seen such a positive reception towards the Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster collection, they might put out a pixel remaster collection of the first three Romancing SaGa games, or at least, something similar to their Collection of SaGa. That would get me excited to play this series, because we all know that I love a good old retro JRPG.
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