Bottom 1024 — Week 25 — Poll 13

[This Old Neon]

Welcome to the #BGE2020 Elimination Round Lower Bracket!

Each game in the lower bracket is still seeded based on its performance in the two opening rounds of pools! Every game in the lower bracket has already been defeated by another game in a 1-on-1 poll to get to this point. This is their chance to claw their way back into the main event... but the stakes are high. The games that lose in these polls are out of the tournament for good! The games that survive will face the next crop of upper bracket losers in the next round.

Polls are updated weekly, typically on Saturday... or Sunday or Monday. Check back throughout the week to make sure you don't miss a vote!

HOW TO VOTE

This is easy. You only get one vote per poll. The game with the most votes wins. In the event of a tie, the higher seed advances, so don't get complacent!

[Niahak]

I like the Legends / early SaGa games, but 3 is the weakest of the bunch IMO. While it's innovative in some ways (Talon shopkeepers, the weird transformation system, lots of optional content sprinkled throughout the game) it's a bit of a chore to play with frequent, slow battles. Experimenting with the transformation system usually results in disappointment. Even going back into it with the Collection recently with the fast-forward, the first two games hold up a lot better. Some of the guest characters / scenarios are kind of fun (mostly the later ones - Dion, Faye and Borgin), but the time travel is just trope after trope.

It was a "good enough" RPG on a system that didn't have many good ones... but that's about it.

I only played a little of Jazz Jackrabbit and it never really clicked, so I'll abstain here.

[Kong Wen]

I agree about FFL1-2 being better than 3. And I agree that the transformation system always felt like a trap lol! It kind of felt like they made 3 just because the first 2 were good and it was just like "eh, might as well do more". To be honest, I don't think I enjoyed *any* subsequent SaGa game as much as I enjoyed FFL1-2.

[Niahak]

I agree about FFL1-2 being better than 3. And I agree that the transformation system always felt like a trap lol! It kind of felt like they made 3 just because the first 2 were good and it was just like "eh, might as well do more". To be honest, I don't think I enjoyed *any* subsequent SaGa game as much as I enjoyed FFL1-2.

I've played Romancing SaGa2 (remake) and appreciated it for what it is (multigenerational imperial conquest), but it was very difficult for me to stick with past 10 hours. I've played SaGa Frontier multiple times, and did enjoy it, but there's no way I can play through it with all the characters. I think I had more fun with SF2, but it's been decades. I did really like The Last Remnant, but I think it's unofficially SaGa.

I feel like FFL and FFL2 are the sweet spot where they're unusual enough that they're fun to play, and they're short enough that the weirdness doesn't get old. They also have the multi-world / vignette-storytelling going for them, so if you don't like a theme it is typically only an hour or two until a switch. FFL2 has become gaming comfort food to me, so it's probably the nostalgia talking. FFL3 is long enough that most of its mechanics get boring, and its story is so trite and drip-fed that by the time the one twist comes - how the Talon was made - I just don't care.

I can appreciate that people enjoy Unlimited SaGa, and I've heard good things about Scarlet Grace... but FFL1/2 are my favorites too.

SaGa Re;Universe was my gacha addiction until recently (2 months clean!), and when they did a FFL 2 nostalgia fest it was some of my favorite gacha content.

[Kong Wen]

I had a strong adverse reaction to SaGa Frontier which kind of turned me off the rest of the series, which is probably why the older originals have stuck in their dominant positions for me.