Info
ROMANCING SAGA 2 ORIGINAL SUPER FAMICOM VERSION
RELEASE INFO
Romancing SaGa 2 (ロマンシング サ·ガ2) is a Super Famicom (SFC) 1P turn-based RPG game
developed by Square (スクウェア) and released on Dec. 10, 1993.
It was never released on SNES and only very partial fan-translations were made.
The game was re-released with minor changes on Wii and 3DS (2010, 2014, 2017).
CONTROLS
Start - Pause
Select - Select Menu
A - Talk / Check / Accept
B - Cancel / Refuse
X - Region Map: Go to World Map / Map: Get out of a building or a town / Battle: Check party HP
Y - World/Region Map: Move cursor faster / Map: Run (Dash) / Battle: Show enemies' name
L - Select Menu: Previous character / Battle (Emperor): Flee
R - Select Menu: Next character / Battle: Defend
L+R = Map: Show World Map
L+Select = Reset to Title
STORY
Your adventure starts here!
CONTEMPORARY TRANSLITERATIONS
Several of the guidebooks released at the time transliterate various names of the game from Katakana into Latin alphabet. All these books were approved by Squaresoft. There are a few discrepancies and a few spelling mistakes; but they are interesting reads.
ROMANCING SAGA 2 REMASTER EDITION
Developed by ArtePiazza, released in 2016-2017
for iOS, Android, PS Vita, PS4, XBoxOne, Steam, Windows 10, Nintendo Switch.
Physical edition: Dec. 2021
Official Square Enix RS2 Site: http://www.jp.square-enix.com/romasaga2/en/
with download links for the game manuals.
(By the way, scroll down the main page from the top: a great presentation idea finely implemented!)
NOVELTIES AND NEW CONTENT
While this Remaster is not a Remake, it is not a mere porting and besides (dubious) UI changes and (beautiful) reworked area & battle backgrounds, techs & spells visuals, and animations for bosses and selected enemies, there are new features and some new content.
AUTO-SAVE
There is now a very convenient Auto-Save that does just that after a battle or after entering a new room.
NEW GAME +
You can start a new game using an existing Savestate.
Will carry over: Master LVs, money (Treasury + pocket money), most items (quest items excepted), all recorded techs and researched spells.
This evidently makes the game considerably easier.
IMPERIAL LOG
Accessible from the Menu (bottom-left button), the Imperial Log records some of your actions, quests, achievements, sorted by regions.
STAT DISCLOSURE
Several previously hidden stats are now available. You can check:
- your Battle Count in Avalon Castle 2F S-E (NPC).
- your characters' (item) weight in the Warehouse (Avalon Castle 2F N-E room, scale).
- your characters' Logic (LOG), an important magic-related stat, in all rooms of the Magic Research Facility in Avalon (Avalon town top W exit, device on room table).
NEW CONTENT
- The Maze of Memory is an additional dungeon, located in South Longit.
There you can unlock the additional (brand new or previously discarded) classes, formation and items.
- There are two new Character Classes: Ninja and Diviner.
- There is one additional Formation: Goblin Offense.
- There is one additional building in Avalon: the Orchard.
- There are several additional items.
- There is one additional Event: Victor's Ghost.
Note that when you start a new game, you can choose to play with or without the new content.
DIFFERENCES
- The RNG calculation system is radically different (similar to RS3).
- The cursed Elven Skin is now a regular Elven Shawl.
- Halberd can now use Axe techs too.
- Holy Wall has now a def bonus; Power Raise bonus seems to concern all spell dmg (not just Status).
- The Finance and Information Officials in Avalon Castle 2F are now static.
- You can now learn Fire / Water spells even if your party is not full.
- New and additional backgrounds: see the Remaster Backgrounds section!
- UI and info display changes, some good, some not so good.
- In battle, MaxHP and MaxLP are not displayed anymore (which is very stupid).
- In the Select Menu: Attributes: Character, it is no longer possible to access that Character's Equipment, Spells or Skills directly.
- Minor text changes: mostly hints to help the player (Canal Fortress, Avalon, Dragon Hole, Teretuva, Tsukijima, Zemio, Child & Mu Calf..).
- When Dashing, your view is not obstructed out anymore.
- Most semi-hidden doors, switches and items are now easier to spot.
- Some local map visual changes (mostly rocks becoming water or holes, like in Tsukijima or South Oubliette).
- Besides the moving/twisting of some enemies, there are some sprite alterations or changes.
- The moving elephant statues do not move anymore.
- When a character is Silenced/Maddened, their Skills used to be greyed out and un-select-able: now they remain in white letters, are select-able but cannot be validated.
BUGS & GLITCHES
CORRECTED
A good number of bugs have been corrected.
- Item displayed values and effects are now correct (including Wonder Bangle).
- Infinite money bug.
- Battle Fire magic atmosphere bug.
- Various tech bugs: Mirage Blade, Fire Dragon Flood.
- Save/Reload does not move NPCs anymore (used on SFC to exploit event NPCs).
- Haphazard Arrow derivation bug.
- The Counter for Throne Events cannot be overwritten by the R&D Counter anymore.
- Nighthead does not appear in the early Sealed Cave.
- Map Change bugs.
- Early access to Sunken Tower thanks to enemy.
AS THEY WERE
- Underground Cemetery / Avalon Termite Den entrance Save bug.
- Built-in tech Evades (Final Strike, Staff Strike, Hell Claw) and the Berserk tech still do not register in the Dojo after being sparked, and further sparking is still impossible.
- Suits R&D bug.
And see the Trivia section.
NEW BUGS
- Can learn Soulsteal (among others) through a tap/menu bug --> kill the Last Boss in two turns.. With this bug you can actually tweak techs, items and formations.
- Throne Event Counter resets to 15 if a new contruction is ordered while the previous is not finished yet.
- Child & Mu Calf not present in the eponymous dungeon when Saigos are south of Nazelle; you can still hear Mu Calf cries even though it is not there.
NOTES ABOUT THE OFFICIAL TRANSLATION
Unlike RS3, this game never had the chance to get a complete fan translation patch.
Here are a few notes concerning the Official Translation.
General Note about Translating: A translator must always have in mind and at heart the respect of the original text, and so keep away the thought of making the text better or otherwise (a translator is not an author per say although they are special kinds of authors as creation, originality and resourcefulness are capital in translation; but if a translator embellishes or adds to the text, they should just quit being a translator and write their own book or whatever)(that is what the main official translators of Romancing SaGa 3 should have done, for instance).
As a rule, a good translation can always bear a translation back in the original language.
Also, whenever transliteration would have made sense it should have probably been used.
Techs
The mowing down of なぎ払い doesn't necessarily split knees.. - 短冊斬り, みじん斬り, 線斬り are all cooking terms (with 'kill with blade' instead of simply 'cut' - what a great idea): how about Julienne, Brunoise, Batonnet? but Fillet, Mince, Slice are along these lines. - For 音速剣, Mach is erroneous: Sonic Blade. - 光速剣 not Prism but Light Speed Blade. - 切り落とし: Sever? instead of Vertical Strike. - ツバメ返し, 'Returning Swallow', Swallow Reversal / Return / Flip, is a famous tech traditionally linked to Sasaki Kojirou (Miyamoto Musashi's adversary). - 無明剣 is a tough one, 無明 being Buddhist 'Avidya' (ignorance): Impermanent Blade? - 乱れ雪月花 is another tricky one, 雪月花 (snow moon flower) meaning a beautiful natural scenery, here troubled or deranged: Clouded Beauty? - 雷殺斬: Lightning Strike? - 月影 is simply Moonlight. - 一刀両断: Decisive Strike? - 一人時間差 is a tough one, meaning a volleyball solo feint. - 高速ナブラ High Speed Nabla - マキ割りスペシャル Woodchop Special? - 電光ブーメラン: Where did the Lightning part go? - 幻体戦士法: simply Phantom Soldier? - ダブルヒット: simple Double Hit. - Nutcracker for かめごうら割り (turtle shell split) is a good idea. - ウェアバスター is Were Buster (not Hunter's Fury). - スペルエンハンス is Spell Enhance. - Disambiguating シャッタースタッフ with Staff Strike / Shatter Staff was an excellent idea. - 活殺獣神衝: Divine Beast Killer Thrust? (活殺 is, in general, 'mortal', i.e. the capacity and possibility to end life). - 無双三段: Peerless Triple Strike. - サンダーボルト is evidently Thunderbolt, not Thunder Volt.. - サイコバインド: Psycho Bind. - 乱れ突き: Chaos Stabs? - ファイナルレター is Final Letter (Z like Zorro, obviously), nothing to do with a eulogy (which is not necessarily about a dead person..). - 影ぬい sews the enemy's shadow. - アローレイン: why not simply Arrow Rain? - 影矢: Shadow Arrow. - イヅナ probably the deity Izuna Gongen and the wind created by its manifestation (権現の慈風). - 皆死ね矢: Massacre Arrows? - ソバット: Savate, obviously. - ネコだまし: Surprise Clap? - 集気法: Focus? - カポエラキック (Capoeira Kick), for unknown and unrelevant reasons, becomes Mei Lua Compasso (the correct capoeira name being Mei-Lua de Compasso). - マシンガンジャブ: Machine Gun Jabs. - クワドラブル: simply Quadruple? - 千手観音: Kannon? - ふみつけ: Trample.
Enemy Techs: ぶちかまし is more Ramming than an Open Fist. - フリーズバリア = Freeze Barrier, not Frigid Veil. - ファングクラッシュ is Fang Crash or Crush, not Feral Pounce. - 'Lightning' is used to dub two very different attacks: the enemy-only horizontal attack 'Lightning' (BF 電撃 Electric Shock or Lightning Attack) and the Fusion Spell (also used by some enemies) 'Lightning' (EE 召雷 Call Lightning) that hits hard one enemy with splash damage to all the rest. What a blunder. For disambiguation purpose, I mention the horizontal attack BF 電撃 as 'Lightning (H)' and leave the other one as-is. See in the Boss Page for example.
Magic & Spells
The idea of -logy for the magic school is interesting but erroneous of course. There are just Fire / Water / Earth / Wind / Heavenly (Divine ? Light? to match:) / Dark magics. Besides, Terrology and Umbrology mix Latin and Greek roots (which is a no-go), but of course using Geology would have been ridiculous (and point to the inadequacy and error of this translation set).
セルフバーニング Self-Burning would have made sense. - リヴァイヴァ is Reviver. - 元気の水 is certainly not Physic Water; something closer would have been Restoration Water or Vigor/Reinvigorating Water (which is precisely in English a medical Cordial). - クイックタイム is Quicktime. - Gilden for 金剛力 and 金剛盾 is good, but idea of sturdiness (superlative) disappears in the translation. - ウインドカッター is Windcutter. - ミサイルガード is Missile Guard. - There is no notion of HP in 体力吸収 (Stamina Absorption) but it describes the effect of the spell accurately. - Since no regular player understands what Fujin means, 風神剣 = Wind God('s) Blade. The effect of 風神剣 is literally to equip a 風神剣, which was translated as 'Windgod Blade' in the Remaster: it would have made sense to accord the two. The coordination of the translators must have been havoc or inexistant if the translator(s) of the spell names didn't know what the translator(s) of the item names were doing.. - 太陽光線 is more accurately Sun Ray (otherwise it would have been 太陽光). - ギャラクシィ is Galaxy. - ペイン is Pain (no clue as to where Wracking comes from). - 炎の壁 is Flame Wall. - サイクロンスクィーズ is Cyclone Squeeze. - アークサンダー is Arc Thunder. - 妖精光 is Faerie/Spirit Light. - ダークスフィア is Dark Sphere (where does that Wash come from? mystery..).
Items
Weapons: ウインクキラー is Wink Killer (that kills with a wink), not Fail-Not.. - No clue about ロブオーメン, translated as Lob Omen. - Entite Ring for 精霊の指輪 must mean Entite is the French 'entité' (entity).. (Dead) Spirit Ring would be closer.
Armor: とんがり帽子 is not a Tricorne but a Pointy Hat. - マジックハット is not a Magician's Cap but a Magic Hat. - 'Healing Sandals' for ヒールのサンダル (Heeled Sandals, with the Heel Stomp tech) could have been funny if it had not been so sad.. - 水鏡の盾 is more precisely the Watermirror Shield. - アースガード is Earth Guard.
Other: Where does the Mistral part come for フレッシュハーブ, a Fresh Herb? - This リラックスハーブ Herb is more Relaxing than Aromatic..
Monsters
Skeletons: フライアー is not a Flyer but a Fryer (as hinted by a high Fire Def too). - Side note: アドバード (Ad Bird) is a novel by SHIINA Makoto.
Beastman: ゲットー is certainly not Beastman, it should be Ghetto but what can that be? - ビーストメア is Beastmare (being most probably a mix between Beastman and Nightmare). - ロビンハット is Robin('s) Hat. - ラルヴァクィーン is Larva Queen.
Flying: ソニック is Sonic, not Sonica. - スポイラー is Spoiler. - Maggot Ball for フライマンバ (Fly Mamba) is perplexing. - So is Sundancer for クレイジーサン (Crazy Sun). - ウィズゴブリン is not Weiss Goblin, but originally 'With Goblin' (so something along Goblin & Mount? should be more faithful to the original).
Demon: 青鬼 and 赤鬼 are simply the Blue and Red Ogres / Demons from the Japanese folklore. - Why go complicated with ウイングメア? Just as there is Beastmare, there is Wingmare. - カルト is Cult.
Beast: キマイラ is Chimera, not Chymera. - レイバーホーン Labor / Raver Horn? - バク (Baku) is not a Bug, but a Chinese mythical creature (and more prosaically a tapirus / tapir). - トウテツ is To(u)tetsu or Taotie. - ワンプス is Wampus. - リンクス could be Links, Linx, Rinks, Rinx, since it doesn't look like a Lynx?
Insect: Why not Crab-Lobster for クラブロブスター? - Termitator for マンターム is evidently unacceptable: Weretermite or Termiteman would go along the names of the other Were-/-man monsters; even better may be something like Termite Footman, considering the other Termite enemies' names (Soldier, Battler). - Termite Battler is on point (transliteration); but then if this is acceptable, why change the original Ogre Battler (オーガバトラー Beastman 9) into Battle Ogre? - アンワーム is not Ahnworm but Un-Worm. - マンティスゴッド is Mantis God.
Fish: All the compounds 咬魚 竜金 牙魚 are difficult and the respective solutions reasonable compromises. - ヘクトアイ is Hecto-eye. - This 人食いザメ is not only carnivorous, but a Man-Eating Shark. - Given its color, クロイドン can possibly be transliterated as Kuroidon, rather than spelled like the English town. Possible translation: Melanodon? - 人面ザメ rather (Man-)Face(d) Shark?
Plant: ウッドノイド is more likely Woodnoid. - トーチャー is not a Torturer but a Torcher.
Inorganic: サイケビースト is Psyche-Beast, so something like Mind Beast? - 毒液獣: Venomous Beast, as-is, instead of Poisan? - 溶解獣: Dissolve/er/ant Beast, as-is, instead of Fusion Slug? - 毒ヒル: Poison Leech, not Slug. - And along the same line, 大ヒル as Mega Leech? - Why not go all the way with ゼラチナスマター? Gelatinous Matter.
Ghost: ゴーメンガスト = Gormenghast, a likely tribute to Peake's trilogy. - ハロウィーン is not Allsoul but Halloween.. - The 'Soul' enemies (生魂 人魂 素魂 火魂) are difficult, only the second being an usual Japanese compound; they could be various stages of a soul in the reincarnation process: possibly Raw (or Bare?) / Human (or of the Dead, or Recent) / Origin(al) or Source / Fire or Fiery? Soul or Spirit.
Reptile: タータラ maybe Tartara? - ワニゲータ would be something like Crocogator. - Caecilian is in fact a good try for ケロリアン, but a caecilian is not a frog, so no. ケロリアン = Kerorian/lian, Kero = Croak, so something like Croakarian?
Other: 雷竜 is Thunder Dragon, not Storm Dragon. - This 黒竜 Dragon is Black, not Dark.
Incidentally, here is a commentary by a Japanese concerning the English translation and its variations.
QUICK LINKS
No-Spoiler Tips - Game Info - Gameplay - Characters - Techs - Sparking - Magic - Items - Monsters - Bosses - Maps - Trivia & Secrets
Walkthrough: Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4
ATTRIBUTIONS
Except where noted otherwise, everything here is my own work (including all screenshots, all maps, walkthroughs, translations & adaptations). The sources for all info & quotes are always mentioned. Please respect other people's work: kindly attribute to whomever. Thank you!
CONTACT
If you see a typo, an error or would like to make a suggestion, feel free to contact me: romancingsaga3fan@gmail.com
See also --> ROMANCING SAGA 3 BLOGSPOT
YOU ARE SPLENDID
This page was helpful? Feel free to show your support! It is possible via Paypal (here or directly to the e-mail address above). Thank you!