SaGa Frontier Remastered brings in a lot of new features, including the brand new eighth hero Fuse. There are also many incentives to play through multiple times for more equipment and storylines. Even with the new addition, a bulk of the game will still be with the same classic team members.
Even after choosing a solid team, it can be a bit confusing how to train them. Some characters are better suited for magic, while others are clearly swordsmen, snipers, or brawlers. Depending on a party member’s race, they may even learn arts directly from fallen enemies.
Battle Arts in SaGa Frontier Remastered
Humans use the Glimmer system which allows them to learn arts during combat. There is a higher chance to gain techniques when fighting tougher enemies, especially bosses. For sword/katana/martial/dodge moves characters need to have an empty art slot; this is not necessary for guns and magic. Glimmering will sometimes have increased rates when at least six physical arts and no magic are allocated, yielding a Mastery crown.
Sword Arts
Each sword swing has a chance of teaching a new skill (some require wielding two swords). Early and cheap skills like Double Vertical and Knee Split have a wide variety of skills they can unlock (even if the odds are low). Conversely, expensive WP attacks will only grant a small list of other powerful sword arts. Most importantly, certain characters have different probabilities of learning specific attacks. For example, Gen is an undisputed swordmaster, while Lute will always have a tough time.
Katana Arts
Katanas can use all swords arts, but to find specific katana arts a character must be wielding one. There are only six katana moves; at first learned by making a basic attack (sword arts with a katana will only grant other sword arts). Katana attacks themselves can teach some sword arts, so it may be helpful to first master swords before moving into katanas. Gen and Roufas have the highest probability to learn katana attacks.
Martial Arts
Martial Arts are learned in the same way as sword and katana: use simpler attacks to get the most verity, or high-end attacks to get only some specific powerful moves. Good candidate moves include Kick, Chop, Slide, and Tumble. Fei-On, Liza, and Red have the best odds of quickly improving on most martial arts.
Alkaiser Arts
When Red transforms into Alkaiser he can start learning superhero attacks by wielding his Ray Sword. While this weapon can teach any sword art, it will also eventually grant Bright Fist and Shining Kick. These two attacks are key to advancing other Alkaiser specific moves. Red can only turn into Alkaiser when alone, using just mecs, or when all human/mystic/monster party members have negative effects like blind or sleep. This means it can take time to learn new arts, and all of them will waste space when not transformed.
Dodge Arts
Dodge arts will completely negate the damage of incoming attacks. These are all very specific to each attack, ranging from missiles, gaze, touch, gale, and more. To learn a dodge, characters will have to fight certain enemies that use said attack type. Because dodge arts still take up space, they are best used for specific tough bosses rather than exploring.
Gun Arts
New gun attacks are learned after a battle is concluded. The user must have attempted at least one gun attack during battle (even if it didn’t proc). The chance of learning new gun techniques is linked to intelligence, meaning dedicated mages like Blue will become fantastic gunners. This also results in characters that start with guns - like Emilia and Captain Hamilton - may become stagnated if they are also poor casters.
Magic Arts
Most magic is typically learned from shops; however, those characters (both humans and mystics) that have mastered magical gifts can learn spells after battle. Like guns, players must use a specific magic school to advance within it. The process will also go faster if they already know everything available from stores.
Each magic type is directly opposed to one another, meaning a character can’t know anything from say Light magic until they forget Shadow. However, now with New Game Plus certain characters will always start with magical gifts and spells learned, allowing them to have conflicting schools in the next scenario. A good example is Mesarthim, who can forget Rune spells, study and learn everything from Arcane, and in the next storyline start Rune gifted.
Absorbing Abilities in SaGa Frontier Remastered
Instead of naturally learning skills, mystics, monsters, and mecs copy abilities from fallen enemies.
Mystic Equipment
Mystics (and Asellus) have access to three pieces of mystic gear: Faeblade, Mystic Gloves, and Mystic Boots. By landing the killing blow on a monster, the character will absorb it into their gear. This grants stats and monster specific skills. Because the three sets of gear deal such low damage, it can be difficult to time absorption, especially against bosses. Dragons tend to give great skills like Titas Wave (Mystic Boots) and Gryphon Scratch (Faeblade), while still providing nice stat boosts.
Monster Skills
When a monster is defeated (and wasn’t absorbed by a mystic) it can be consumed by monster party members. This even includes monster bosses. Each different monster enemy can teach a list of 2-4 arts, but there is no guarantee that each attempt will succeed. Some good monsters to hunt down include Living Mirror (Magical Heal, Death Gaze), Cockatrice (Windblast, Petrify), and Rock Scout (Da-Dum, Bolt Blast).
Skills are divided into six categories: head, body, arms, legs, breath, and magic. These collective aspects are scanned to determine a monster character’s current form. This means while hunting for powerful abilities monsters may morph into weak beings. Conversely, seemingly useless abilities may create a devastatingly strong monster. As a consolation, every newly learned skill will add 4 HP. Also, be aware that King Sei and Kylin have unique skills in the form of Kusanagi and Kylin’s Song. Once overwritten these can never be relearned, so be careful when removing old skills.
Mec Downloads
Like monsters, mec party members can download data from defeated enemy mecs. This includes bosses, namely ones found in T260G and Red’s stories. Many skills are passive, like increasing combat power or evasion. Certain powerful skills (typically those mimicking monsters) also require equipping circuit boards like Secret Board or Octopus Board. These are typically found in story dungeons or side quests.
In addition to glimmer and absorption, any character can use arts from special equipment. This includes swords like Phantasm or Rune Sword. Ones that contain magic can even teach spells to the magically gifted. This can bring more versatility to any party, especially ones with mystics and mecs.
SaGa Frontier Remastered is available on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PC, Android, and iOS.