ZRofel wrote:Ack wrote:No, it just means the rest of you are not worthy of WeaponLord and 7th Saga.
So, 7th Saga gets a lot of hate, and I'll admit, I played it a lot when I was much younger and didn't really care for it. But, if I was going to try and have a good time with it, what would I need to do? Kind of like another series of SNES/Super Famicom jRPGs with Saga in the title, I feel like it's very easy to break 7th Saga so that it becomes a miserable slog, like by picking the wrong starting character, picking the wrong partner, collecting the the runes out of order, etc. When I first played I picked the robot, swapped my partner with impunity, spent forever leveling up, and randomly killed the alien character in a bar fight, all of which I feel totally messed up the RNG. So if I was going to play it in a way that minimizes frustration, how should I approach it? Even with all of its weird quirks, it is a strangely intriguing game, and I've wanted to find a way to enjoy it.
That is completely understandable why you bounced off the game so hard, because you basically did as many things you could do to give yourself the most difficult playthrough.
The robot isn't actually the most difficult starting character, but he lacks the gear and general utility to go very far. I'd recommend starting with your more generic tanks, the knight Kamil being the easiest starting character. You can beat the game with all of them, but Kamil offers some healing as well as tanking ability and decent enough damage output. If you prefer a little bit more tanking with a little less utility, the dwarf is also a strong contender for first choice. The priest Valsu is tough to get going but has the best healing and becomes effectively invincible at level 30, while the elf offers some strong magic options at the expense of defense and is more of a glass cannon. The alien and the demon are probably the two hardest choices because they are gimped on gear, healing capabilities, and in some cases stat growth, and they have a tougher time getting folks to team up with them.
Then there is the partner. Of all the partners, Valsu the priest is the best. Why? Because he offers the best healing to support the party, he gets a spell at level 30 that basically makes you unbeatable, and he can be the villain, so having him as a partner removes the problem of having to fight a character that can make himself basically indestructible. Beyond that, it's best to choose someone who compliments the party, so if you're using someone like the dwarf, having the elf come in with healing and offensive ice magic works well. The other thing to keep in mind is that the robot and the elf are never the villains, so though you may fight them at times, you don't have to worry about them opposing you later.
Next up, don't bother fighting other characters when it's avoidable. If you need to get a rune off them, then ok, you have to fight; otherwise there is no benefit to taking them on. Save before you talk to one of the main characters, just to be safe. Also, you can level up too much. This is specifically about the rival characters, because they level up as you do. So if you're a level 10 demon, you'll fight a much weaker version of the alien than you would if you were a level 15 demon. Note again why it's good to have Valsu be your partner, because at level 30 as an enemy, he gets his big spell and will use it and any runes in his possession religiously to keep himself going. Note however that all the characters have their negatives, so if you're going up against the demon, prepare to be nuked from orbit but chip away because he lacks any healing magic.
It's pretty easy to figure out things like turn order in 7th Saga, which will only change based on specific stat changes, so once you know the order of a fight, you can plan for how every round will go down accordingly and consistently whenever you face that particular monster. This means you have a better chance for setting up combos and knowing when to pull off healing, stat boosts, or other abilities. Also, it's a game where defending is crucial, because you do more damage the turn after you defended.
Also, if you absolutely, positively cannot get into the game, note that the difficulty was cranked up for the NTSC-U release; the localization reduced player character stat gains while cranking them up for enemies, so they are always tougher. If you want an easier time, play Elnard, the NTSC-J version of the game. It's more forgiving...but you won't have beaten The 7th Saga if you want the challenge.