SaGa Frontier II tells a story of the exiled prince Gustave XIII, who is banished from his home (along with his mother Sophie) by his father. This occurs after the prince Gustave failed to bond with the family sword, because he lacks 'Anima', or the ability to cast magic spells. You'll follow Gustave right from the beginning with his exile, and watch as he matures, learns how to fight without the aid of Anima, attempts a coup of his rightful kingdom and eventually dies. From Gustave XIII's death, the story spans several generations afterwards as you witness each character age right before your eyes. You will also follow the adventures of William Knights, a simple miner who is on a quest to find the mystery behind his mother and father's death. While early on in the game the two protagonists are nowhere near related, when you enter the latter stages of the game, you'll find that the two are closer intertwined than you think. Each character's journey is broken up into numerous episodes that you play out. Some of these are purely cinematic, in which you just need to watch the drama unfold, while some of them are all action, allowing you to battle to your hearts content, and then there are some that mix the two elements rather nicely. After each episode, you are given the choice to play out any other episodes that you may have missed along the way. You can be on Gustave's 4^th episode while you haven't even touched Wil Knight's 1^st episode. The overall effect is that one must keep up with both stories in order to fully understand all the twists and turns behind the game.

The first thing you'll notice about SaGa Frontier II is that it's all in 2D; yep, Square went 'back to its roots' and conjured up some absolutely gorgeous pieces of artwork to ever grace the PlayStation. Every background was painstakingly drawn and watercolored for a look that no 3D game could ever hope to match for a long time. This might be due to the game's medieval setting, as many of the scenes look like something straight out of a fantasy book. While they don't have the pizazz of a scene from one of the newer Final Fantasy games, there's something about SF II's graphics that draw you into its world more than any 3D game could. The characters themselves also look spectacular, as they will remind you of the characters seen in Final Fantasy Tatics. Of course, there are some 3D effects, but they are usually saved for the many spells that you can master in your journey.

The soundtrack is a masterpiece; it's perfectly suited for every scene, as the main instruments you'll hear throughout the game are groups of violins, flutes, pianos and whistles. They set a light and fair tone for a game that's has so many dark undertones to it, a perfect contrast.

The gameplay is similar to SaGa Frontier, as you are able to outfit your party with items and various weapons, such as bows, axes, swords and staffs. Just like in SaGa Frontier, your weapons lose their durability each time you use them, so expect to make plenty of visits to a blacksmith to refine them. Fortunately, Square rectified the problem of having martial arts moves lose durability (?!) and have certain weapons such as steel swords and punches have unlimited uses. Characters progress after a certain time, learning new moves in the heat of battle, as well as randomly earning levels after each battle, but only if you are equipping the right set of weapons and items on each character. If you don't, then your characters will learn slower than they usually would. Battles are turn-based, with a little hint of Chrono Trigger set on the side. When you have two of your party members executing certain moves one after another, they will combine their attacks for a combo. Although I'm not quite sure if there is a possibility of having a 3 or 4 hit combo, they aren't over the top as one would expect from a Square game; no, the combos in these games are just the characters attacks hitting in succession for a one lump sum of damage. Going more in-depth, you can assign each party member a certain job, such as the Intimidator, Diversion, and First strike. This allows you to fully customize your character without being restricted by that character's armor or stats or whatnot. The fights are divided up into three sections: Duel, Fight as a Team and Strategic. In Duel, you are allowed to choose one person from your party to go up against one monster. From here you are able to choose several inputs at a time, many of which are able to link together for a combo attack. Once you link the right moves together, you can unlock that character's Custom Arts for massive damage. If you choose Team instead of Duel, you will fight with your party members against the enemy's party. In Strategic, it resembles Ogre Battle somewhat, as you control several parties at once as you move from region to region on the map. For those who are expecting something as easy to use as FF8's Junction system, look elsewhere; this game isn't as user friendly as FF8, but it's much more rewarding.

If there was one (ultra small) problem with SaGa Frontier II, it would have to be the inclusion of the PocketStation games. Why must Square torture us like this?! There are several PocketStation mini-games hidden (and not so hidden) in the game, but alas... here's hoping that Sony releases this darn thing anytime.

While it probably won't break any records in sales, SaGa Frontier II will certainly have its share of critical acclaim. It mixes great gameplay, beautiful hand drawn art and a stunning soundtrack that will prove to many diehard Square fans that the magic that made FFIV and FFVI might not have been lost with the era of the Super Nintendo. For any RPG fan, this is a great game to purchase, and for those who were disgusted at the first SaGa Frontier, this is Square's redemption.

· · · Reno