Interview: Akitoshi Kawazu Talks About Old and New SaGa Games

The SaGa series has blossomed over the years, turning into one in which we’re assured new games will always appear worldwide and additional entries will continue the series’ legacy. Following the recent release of SaGa Emerald Beyond, Siliconera got to ask series creator Akitoshi Kawazu about past entries in the series like SaGa 2: Hihou Densetsu, SaGa 3: Jikuu no Hasha 3D, and Unlimited SaGa, currently running ones, and the future of SaGa games as a whole.

Jenni Lada: In Japan, SaGa 2: Hihou Densetsu and SaGa 3: Jikuu no Hasha 3D remakes both appeared on the DS. How would you feel about a Collection of SaGa style worldwide release of those titles?

Akitoshi Kawazu: The DS versions would need to be redesigned, but it would be nice to release them if possible. No concrete plans are in progress at this time.

Unlimited SaGa is one of the more experimental games in the series. Looking back on it, what did you learn from that installment?

Akitoshi Kawazu: I learned that players can be surprisingly conservative.

If you would get a chance to remaster Unlimited SaGa and get it a second chance worldwide, what additional features or elements might you want to include in it?

Akitoshi Kawazu: There are many ways to go about this, from putting it out as-is to completely revamping it, so I don’t have anything in mind yet. The battle system would probably go through an overhaul.

Romancing SaGa Re;univerSe is coming up on its sixth anniversary. What would you like to do next in the game?

Akitoshi Kawazu: The most important thing is to continue the service, so there are no plans to make any major, drastic changes. We’ve provided many characters and styles, so it would be great if we could do something that utilizes them. However, since implementing anything is never a simple matter, I’m hoping to take my time and proceed with intention.

You’ve teased a SaGa Frontier 2 remaster as a follow up to SaGa Frontier Remastered. What would you most like to do in such a project, and is there anything you didn’t get to achieve in SaGa Frontier Remastered that you’d like to try in a return to the sequel?

Akitoshi Kawazu: It’s important to deliver to fans who loved the past works, so we want to continue to do so. On the other hand, making it possible for new users to play refined versions of past works is another area where we would like to take on more challenges.

What would you like to do next with the SaGa series and new games?

Akitoshi Kawazu: Experimentation is a mainstay for SaGa, so I’d like to continue this with whatever comes next. Perhaps I’ll experiment with something a bit more “conventional” next.