Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven | Beginner's Guide - Tips & Tricks

Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven is one of those RPGs that is deeply set in the systems it presents. A unique experience, it has an even more unique take on the genre. Safe to say, the game is hard, and as the emperor, your path is cut out for you from the beginning. This guide will go over some of the tips & tricks that might help you in your path of expansion of the Varennes Empire and clown on the Seven Heroes that dare stand against you.

The Art of Save-Scumming

So, the first thing you should know about Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven is that it’s pretty difficult. Along with that difficulty comes one of the game’s core mechanics, where your character, the emperor, can permanently die.

One of the core systems of the game is that it’s a multi-generational struggle where newer and newer characters succeed the Emperor. This succession system is a fundamental part of the game’s progression, and with each succession, you’ll carry over certain abilities and powers. A good chunk will be lost, along with the character itself.

If the Emperor dies in battle, none of the Techs, Spells, and Evasions from the Imperial Retinue will pass on. You probably don’t want to lose out on these things, especially when it's avoidable. Numerous boss battles where you ‘die’ can just be avoided by switching out reskilling or swapping out items. Even more times, you can edge out a battle just by changing formations or line-ups. 

In these cases, where you lose a battle and die, it’s worthwhile to reload and change things up. Look, Save-Scumming is frowned upon by many, and it's generally pretty, not very immersive. However, starting over with a new emperor because of something trivial is pretty frustrating, so make sure to use saves and reload when you can.

Dying is Second Nature

Every death matters and is a pretty hard pill to swallow, and despite what was said in the previous section, you should totally be fine with it- when it's good for you. See, the game is a multi-generational affair, so you really have no choice between skipping and not skipping.

Skipping comes along when your character dies. Death comes when your character loses all their LP. These deaths are permanent. That part should probably be underlined because, usually, in these games, there’s no real permanent death. Even in the hardest cases, you can probably revive them or get them back somehow. 

In Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven, your character will die and pass on. Either from the battles or via a time-skip, their stories will come to an end. Usually, the latter option is better as it saves all their abilities, spells, and all that jazz.  This is also the same for other characters.

LP is pretty limited, and you’d rather not be a party member short when it comes to far more important situations. In these cases, you might consider letting them go at earlier points. As for the Emperor, it might be better to skip a time than die mid-battle.

Succession & Inheritance

Now, you’ll often find yourself at heads with your current build as the Emperor, so don’t be afraid to switch it up a little and abdicate. Abdicating saves all your skills and lets you basically create a new character. You can only do it once in a row, but it gives you a lot of options and versatility when defining your builds. 

Retinue

When you do so, remember that you should get yourself a new retinue and get them kitted out at the Training Hall. Remember to commit these according to your new build. Other than that, you’ll have to keep track of the strengths and weaknesses of the enemies.

You should adapt to situations and change your formation, even the characters in your retinue, depending on the situation. There’s no restriction or limit here, so there’s no reason why you shouldn’t exploit this.

One of the most important roles to fill is that of a healer. In a game with permanent death, it should be obvious that you need a dedicated healer around. The earlier you get a healer, the more levels you can get in their skills to make them stronger.

Problems can stack

As you progress through the game, you will encounter a number of events that will give you negative effects. These effects will stem from your strength and ability to play the game, so you should deal with them as soon as possible. Usually, as soon as these problems pop up, you’ll get a mission pertaining to them. You might be inclined to ignore them as you don’t need to tackle them immediately, but you should definitely do the latter.

Fortune Favors the Cowardly

Right, so, at the start of the game, it's pretty sensible not to engage in every battle. Grinding is not one of the ways to win the game. This is especially true during the early game, where the encounters you face don’t offer much of anything.

The game has a stacked progression system where enemies get stronger on the same scale as you do. The main method for measuring this is by how many encounters you have fought. So, enemies scale with the number of encounters you have under your belt. This naturally means that if you do something like grinding, you’ll have extremely strong enemies that start to pop up.

This also means that you should not flee, as that also adds to your encounter number. Fleeing is the worst-case scenario as you not only make enemies stronger but also lose out on any Technique Points.

New Regions

Except for the main objective of defeating the seven, you have the opportunity to try and conquer all the other regions and bring them into the fold of the empire. Doing so will give you rewards and unlock many different things that will ultimately aid you in your journey to defeating the heroes.

The game is not Linear

An important thing to note is that the game is definitely not linear. This means that if your emperor dies or time shifts, you will fail a few certain quests. These could even be very important quests that give you access to classes. There usually aren’t too many quests that are limited like this; they usually pertain to specific characters.

Development

Now, you will have the ability to upgrade the capital and add new parts to it. This includes the smithy, university, and a few more things. These are called facilities, and you should always upgrade them as soon as possible. These upgrades cost quite the coin, but it's all worth it. 

The Smithy is your first facility, and you should use it all the time. Seriously, a good chunk of your materials and money should go to the Smithy to create new weapons or reforge current ones. Better gear is always good, right?

The Incantations Lab is another such integral facility. The Glimmer System gives you access to spells, but to assign them or create spells that combine different elements into the spells, you will need to upgrade the Incantations Lab

No money? No problem!

See, all of these things cost money, and if you’re running low, a great way to earn some quick cash is to take the various exams available at the University. Of course, you need to build it first, but you should already have done that as soon as you could. Remember that, just like in real life, taking the exam will mean very little, and you just need to get a passing mark.

Check out our review and other guides on Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven:

• Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of The Seven Review
• Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven Guide | How to Pass the Entrance Exam
• Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven | Regional Exams Guide - All Answers
• Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven | Combat Tips & Tricks
• Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven | Formations Guide
• Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven | Abilities Guide