The SaGa Frontier Remastered is finally here 24 years later and is out now on the PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, PC, iOS, Android. If you’ve never played SaGa Frontier I would definitely recommend picking up the Remaster if you love classic JRPGs, story-rich games and turn-based combat. What made SaGa Frontier stand out ahead of its time back in 1997 was its differentiation in how you could play and how they presented each story.
In SaGa Frontier Remastered there are eight main protagonists for you to choose from. That’s one additional character from the previous iteration. So even if you’ve played the game before there’s another reason for you to pick up the remaster! Each unique storyline is played non-linearly and allows you to freely travel, explore and choose the story for each of your characters. All the while keeping them interlinked. As you’ll play each of your main characters can make a cameo and be recruited in another storyline. You might even find some characters’ stories help explain things about others.
Now for the big question, which character should you start with first? There’s no right answer for this but there are definitely characters that are more ‘beginner friendly’ to start off with. Or if you want to play them in more of a storyline order we’ve got that too. Let’s begin.
Storyline Order
There are 8 main protagonists for you to choose from in SaGa Frontier Remastered. You’ll encounter all of them with the exception of Blue and Red who are only present in their respective scenarios. I don’t want to give away too much here but if you’re interested in the stories all culminating together then you might want to play it like this.
- T260G – The Last Automaton
- Asellus – The Half-Mystic
- Emelia – Top Model Turned Convict
- Red – Hero of Justice
- Riki – The Ring Seeker
- Lute – The Carefree Wastrel
- Blue – Fated Sorcerer
- Fuse – The Shrewd Detective
Beginner Guide Character Order
Again there’s no right way to play SaGa Frontier Remastered but if I was going to advise some people who have never played before it might be in this order. Red and T260 – These two characters have very straightforward and somewhat beginner-friendly campaigns.
Emelia, Riki and Lute– Riki still tends to be a bit beginner-friendly, though you have to get used to how monsters “level up”.
Blue – Blue’s adventure is all about mastering different forms of magic. It’s also a run that helps you understand the different schools of magic in the game. His ending is an almost closure to the game so you could choose to play his route towards the end.
Asellus – Asellus is, unfortunately, one of the hardest characters for beginners who are going in blind. She does have a great story however but you could be overwhelmed playing her early on. Her main quest has multiple parts that require you to go to specific areas to encounter bosses. Unfortunately, even with a quest/story log, you wouldn’t know which areas you’d have to visit, so it’s easy to feel lost.
Fuse – Fuse is a new playable character in SaGa Frontier Remastered. Both Fuse and the New Game+ feature are unlocked once you’ve beaten any default character’s campaign. If you’ve played the original and you’re familiar with the story, you can pick Fuse for your second playthrough. For beginners, though, I would advise saving him for last since the narrative here “fuses” together (pun intended) what you’ve learned from the default characters.
T260G
Is an ancient Mec, a model constructed from junk parts, awakened in modern times. Originally part of a combat ship with a secret mission against the RB3 (Region Buster 3), it lost its memory when it crashed into Junk.
T260G is a short scenario where your party is more mech-based with the exception of Gen. Though you can still recruit some human characters part-way into his route. Mechs do not gain stats/skills in the same way Humans do, instead of relying on equipment and parts. This can lead the scenario to being rather easy (most of the way through), especially on New Game+. If you already have a lot of mech items. T260G will also get the option to switch into different types of Mechs, there is even one exclusive mech form that you can only use for this scenario.
The largest singular issue with T260G’s scenario mainly lies with its last boss compared to the other routes. It might be the most difficult final boss in the game for a variety of reasons, such as a unique battle gimmick and that Mechs don’t have as many healing tools as non-mech characters.
Red
Is a teenage boy whose family is destroyed by the criminal syndicate called Black X. After being rescued from the same fate by the superhero named Alkarl, he is granted the superhero powers of Alkaiser.
Besides T260G playing Red is a great way to start the game and get accustomed to how things work in SaGa Frontier Remastered. He has probably the largest scenario in the game with a lot of story. Red’s ‘power’ is the ability to transform into the superhero, Alkaiser, in combat. While transformed, you get to use abilities that are exclusive to Alkaiser. There are some downsides of being transformed, as Red will receive zero stat growths when winning the battle as Alkaiser.
The largest potential issue with playing Red is that if you follow the story too closely at the beginning of the game – without battling and gaining stats and skills – you might put your characters in a bad spot when locked to story missions and underpowered. Some of his early missions, particularly on the Cygnus airship, can be difficult early on. We recommend keeping multiple saves just in case. The game difficulty lightens up a bit when Red can freely explore the world.
Emelia
A blond ex-con and secret agent formerly working as a model. Her story began when her fiancé Ren was murdered by a mysterious villain known as the “Joker”. Wrongfully accused of the crime, she was sentenced to imprisonment in Despair, where she met Annie and Liza. With their help, they complete a competition the warden created to receive a full pardon for their crimes. After their escape, Emelia was recruited by the two to join the secret organization Gradius, which was also hunting for the “Joker”.
Welcome to the first story quest that has multiple endings. Prior to that Red and T260G had straightforward storylines for their characters. I’m not going to spoil too much here but I will make a spoiler story and character lore article later on. So watch out for that if you’d like to know more.
The general gist of Emilia’s route is that her scenario is broken down into mission segments. Emilia doesn’t specialize in combat like some of the other characters instead she has guns. She’s actually recruitable in every other character’s route as long as you participate in the Arcane Quest. What is unique about playing her own route is that she can change into a variety of different outfits based on the mission. These costumes add hidden attributes on glimmering certain skills quicker. Emilia is the only character that can get the Angel Brooch accessory near the end of her story. This is one of the best accessories for resisting status ailments and might be an incentive for New Game+ players looking to collect certain powerful tools.
There are two ways for you to end Emelia’s scenario.