I have been playing Saga Frontier since it has come to Vizzed and I must say it brings back so many memories of my youth. Back when the ps1 was the most amazing system made and brand new. The Playstation didn't have the feel of the other systems of it's time. Not sure how to explain the feeling.
Anyway, back to Saga Frontier, my favorite character has always been Asellus. My favorite sub character is Rogue. As a people, I love the mystics, because they are pretty much like vampires, but without the whole blood drinking thing.
The chapter structure of the game are strange to me, considering certain events might not occur in the same places twice.
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Chapter one
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The path of Asellus is more like a story being told. And the narrator is a white haired girl by the name of Gina whom lives in Rootville, a small village in the region of Facinaturu, which is ruled by Orlouge.
When you first start out, you are in a creepy room with a strong gothic feel to it, yeah I love it.
You are met by a dark figure by the name of Ildon. He states it is merely his job to report to Orlouge that you are awake, then he vanishes. AS you exit your bed chamber, you enter a room with a bunch of coffins. Now it is time to explore a little bit. All dazed and confused, you wonder around the castle, Chateau Aiguille, considering they never really give you much direction in this game. As you exit the coffin room, you run into a bunch of stairs, one leading left, and one to the right. The path to the right, leads to what appears to be some kind of treasure room. I wouldn't bother picking up anything here because as you go to leave, you will get a message saying your body feels heavy and you will lose all the items you got in this room. So down the left path will take you to the main map of Chateau Aiguille which is divided in to seven parts. The lower left, upper left, lower center, middle center, upper center, bottom right, and upper right. The upper center is pretty much off limits due to the fact that the path to get their is infested by strong monsters so I will not be mentioning this area, yet. So for now the castle is in six parts as mentioned before. The four main towers are resting places for the arch-princesses with the exception being the Upper left, which houses a teleporter. The Upper right tower is the resting place of Princess White Rose. The Lower left tower belongs to Princess Lion. The lower left belongs to Princess Rei.
At this point, you need to go to the Upper left tower to progress the story. This is the tower with the teleporter in it. When you step on the teleporter, it will send you to another part of the castle. The following room as a bunch of white flowers all over the place. Asellus will then walk down to the flowers and another mystic by the name of Ciato will appear behind you brandishing a sword. He then drives it into the back of Asellus and shortly after he vanishes.As she lays on the bed of flowers, her purple blood spills out onto the flower bed. Above the room on a terrace is Lord Orlouge himself and he notices the purple blood. There is nothing more you can do in this area so head back to the Teleporter.
This time you need to go to the Lower center of the castle to progress the story. The large metal gates are now wide open, as if to invite Asellus in.
As you enter, you are met by Ildon, Ciato, another mystic named Rastaban, and Lord Orlouge at the throne.
Here it is a lot of talking back and fourth and where Asellus finds out she is half-mystic. Also Ildon is put in charge of looking after you. At this point he joins the party for the purpose of training you. For now, he tells you to go to Rootville where you get your red outfit and meet Gina (the narrator) for the first time. From the throne room, merely keep going south out the room, through the gates, and out of the castle. Here you will find Rootville.
There are a few random house in the village, some are empty for now. One locked door to be used later on. The very bottom is your destination. This is a clothing shop where Gina works.
She gets you dressed, there is some dialog, and you are to return to the castle to begin your training.
This is a good time to get in some free experience as you will be unable to actually die. If you lose at least one battle, you will be able to repeat the training as much as you want. But if you get all the way to the end, you will no longer be able to train. The battle count is either 6 or 7 battles. As previously stated, as long as you lose once, you can keep training with Ildon till your hearts content.
With Ildon in the party, go to the Upper right tower, and wake up Princess White Rose. After a small amount of dialog, she will also join the party. Now when you go to each tower, White Rose will tell you about the sleeping arch-princesses. Afterward just return to your room and both Ildon and White rose will part company. Ildon can be found at the training ground and Princess White Rose will be in here sleeping chambers. Unless you want to do more training, I see no need to get Ildon as you really only need White Rose at this point.
Return to the Upper Right tower, this time you will run into a mystic named Zozma, assuming you didn't meet him before while exploring, which seems to be a bit of a rogue of the castle. After a bit of small talk, he disappears and his pursuers appear. He will only be there when Asellus is alone.
After you pick up White Rose, I recommend going to Rootville and talk to the green shop keeper in the middle house. At first he is temperamental towards Asellus, but White Rose steps in and changes his tone. After the small dialog, you can now purchase one of the best weapons in the game, the Asura. The shop keeper doesn't except money only life points or LP. 3 LP for Asura. He has a few other items, nothing worth losing the LP for, except maybe the Sandvessel which is needed to get another character down the road. Starting out in the game, the Asura is almost too effective and I recommend not using it until you at least have acquired Stun Slash because unlike a lot of weapons that you can use their basic attack for 0 WP, the Asura requires 4WP. With so low of WP starting out, you wouldn't be able to use it very much. Where as if you have other abilities that require 0 WP, the Asura is almost a godly weapon.
For the next progression of story, head back to the training grounds, I know what I said before, disregard that, and get Ildon and do some training, if you as still able to do so, when you have both Ildon and White Rose in the party, exit the bottom of the screen and Rastaban will be waiting to see you. After some dialog, he runs off the screen. Ildon makes note of this and then you continue on. Head back up to your room to depart company from Ildon and White Rose. Head into your room where Zozma is waiting. After some more Dialog, he again vanishes. This time, head to Rootville alone. When you return, you will find Ciato standing by the steps. He has a message for you about a pilot in Rootville that can take you out of Facinaturu. Return to Rootville and go into the bar. Just go up the steps right next to the locked door at the bottom left of the map. When you talk to the pilot, he will give you a key after he asks for money. Now you need to go talk to White Rose to get said money. White Rose than accompanies you. Go to the once locked door in Rootville. Once inside, talk to the slime which opens up a passage. Go through the passage and proceed through the caves. Be careful for there are a lot of decent monsters in here.
I don't know how others play the game, but personally, I fight everything I come across unless I can't (due to reasons like no WP, all other members but Asellus are dead and she is close to it, stuff like that).
When you finally make it to the end of the caves, you find no plane, and your pursuers have caught up to you. In a panic of not wanting to be caught, Asellus jumps off the cliff and is caught by the plane as it arrives just in time. White Rose joins you on the plane and you are now free of Facinaturu. Good job.
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Chapter 2
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Following the end of chapter screen, The narrator speaks and a cut scene shows Orlouge talking to Ciato. Following some dialog, the screen returns to Asellus who is standing in an airport next to the pilot in OWMI. The pilot says he is sorry for being late and offers you a free ride. He then suggests that you see the town while he gets ready.
As you enter the town, you see a bridge crossing a lake and there are pink flowers in the water. White Rose sees the flowers pattern as a message from the water mystics. They are missing one of their own and they want her back.
Walk around town and talk to the villagers to find out that the mystic is being kept at the Mayor's manor up the road.
He seems like a nice guy, and lets you talk to the mystic. Make your way upstairs and to the last door at the end of the hall on the left. There you will find a mermaid. She tells you her name is Mesarthim and was caught in a fisherman's net. You agree to help her get home. When you go to leave the mansion, you find the front door has been locked. Now the only way out is through the basement which is to the right of the front door. At the end of the stairs, you will find a door that is padlocked on the right, and a room at the end of the hall. In this room there are two items, don't forget to get them. The rubber suit is a very good armor piece for early game gear. Now make your way back to the padlocked door, and Asellus will bust it open. Welcome to the basement. It is filled with lots of monsters and treasures galore. While down in the basement, I recommend getting as many skill ups as possible, because blocking your path to the ocean is a giant squid, just chilling on the stairs. If unprepared, he can be a real nasty piece of work.
When you see him on the stairs, I say save it before you engage the fight. If you lose, you can load it back up and go fight some more. Once you have him beaten, beware of the treasure on the alter next to the where the squid was. It is a trap. A giant hole opens up and swallows you, sending you to the very bottom of the basement and you will have to fight your way back up to the squid room. To the left of the stairs with the squid is the doorway to the ocean where you set Mesarthim free.
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Chapter 3
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We come back to the throne room where Orlouge calls on Ciato. He orders Ciato to go get White Rose, by any means necessary. Ciato then conjures 3 specters in his image and orders them to go get White Rose, by any means necessary, kill all who interfere. As the specters vanish, the screen fades to black and once again, Asellus is in OWMI.
Return to the airport and talk to the pilot who is ready to go. Asellus wishes to go to her aunts house in Shrike.
When you go to your Aunts house, she kind of gets freaked out that you haven't aged in 12 years and runs off. After some short dialog, you encounter the first of the Specters also known as Fire Knight. A few hits from Asura should make quick work of him.
-Fire Sage-
5,000hp Really not much of a boss. No real strategy needed for this weakling.
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Chapter 4
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At this point, you are free to travel around and do side quests, skill up, acquire gear and other characters. From here on, the storyline boss encounters will can seem random, but can be just bad luck on your part. As you enter certain rooms the attack is triggered. I am not a hundred percent on these places but from my time playing, these are what I would call hot spots.
-Koorong-
In the Backstreet leading to Dr. Nusakan's office.
-Shrike-
Mu's Tomb, in a door left of the entrance, and in Sei's tomb in the room where you find the Shield artifact.
-Luminous-
Right outside the port.
-Devin-
The Shrine where Princess Rei is (if you don't know who Rei is, she's the girl in other scenarios that you can ask about Space Magic, if that helps)
-Yorkland-
The swamp area.
-Kyo-
The Garden
-Owmi-
In the first room of the basement dungeon *got lucky on this one, I normally do not go back for Mesarthim*
-Baccarat-
In The Parking Lot with all the cars
-Shingrow-
Entrance to the ruins in the upper-right. *Ran into him while I was looking for good level up places.
-Wakatu-
In front of the wrecked house.
*If there is anymore encounter spots, send me a message and I will add it and I will give you credit for finding it, Thanks.
Now for a little info on the pursuing bosses.
-Water Sage-
8,000hp Like Fire, this is an easy battle, not really needing a lot of strategy. Just attack and heal as needed.
-Green Sage-
9,000-11,000 This one can be a bit of a challenge but easy if you do it right. He an ability that when you hit him, it does "Counter Fear" which basically makes the character Berserk. He will attack the enemy and attack your party. Best way to deal with this is using Gale slash, 2Gale slash, and Magic attacks. Heal as needed and it shouldn't be too much of a problem for you.
-Princess Lion-
20,000hp She can be a tough one. She hits hard and blocks a lot. I recommend using Asura itself. The counterattack Asurasrevenge will prove most helpful in this fight. I say keep hitting hard and healing when needed and you should pull through this just fine. If not try again after reloading the game.
-Ciato-
30,000hp I found myself a little disappointed in how easy this one was. With all the hype of him becoming so powerful after taking Rastaban's powers. The only bad thing he really does is he turns your people against you with Fascination. Simple fix is to just let them die and prey that it is not the one with Asura equipped. That is assuming you got it in the beginning. Asura + 2Gale slash can easily wipe out the whole party.
-Dark Labyrinth-
Now this place just sucks. It is like an alternate dimension filled with random doors going to other random places. I will admit, I had a hard time figuring this place out but eventually I got it. From the first room, go to the upper right and make your way through the green door. When you come through there will be another green door with stairs connecting it, this is the next right door. The next green door is the far upper left. You will know you are in the right place when you see a pink creepy looking Turnip. This is a monster character that you get "if" you talk to it. The exit is the big red door right smack in the middle of the room. Unfortunately this means the end of Princess White Rose as she has to stay behind so that you may go free. Don;t worry though, as you will now recruit Zozma and the Turnip assuming that you talked to it.
Guess what? More bad news. Your entire team is no longer with you. They are lost in oblivion.
Never fear, as there is a way to get them back, just have to travel to Devin and go to the temple to the far right of the screen. Ildon will appear and everyone will rejoin you at this point.
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Now if all your side questing is fulfilled to your satisfaction, head on over to Owmi where a familiar face is waiting for you. Yup, it's the pilot that took you from Facinaturu. And guess what? He will take you right back there to the very same cave and the cliff that you jumped from so long ago. Make your way through the cave and dealing with the monsters in the fashion that you choose to do so.
Now that you are in Rootville why not stop in and say hello to Gina? Oh no, you find out that she has been kidnapped.
Now it is time to return to Chateau Aiguille and meet your maker, Lord Orlouge. I would say not to forget the items that are in the treasure room, but the gear you have now should be better than what is in there, but you can get it anyway. Enter the middle center room of the castle and go down the right side of the stairs. Here you will find a Silvermoon sword, a Powerbelt tunic, a Harmonium Earring accessory, and Light rifle. As you will surely find out, the teleporter in the Upper right tower no longer works, I suppose he is afraid of us?
Well, time to take the path that Ildon once told us we could not go because we were not ready for real combat. Yup the monster infest section of the castle is now our path.
As usual, deal with the monsters as you see fit, but this might be the last chance you get to get stronger for the final encounter with Ciato,Princess Lion, Rastaban and Lord Orlouge.
About half way up the tower, you will find a room with a large window and 2 doors. The one on the left is locked and the one to the right is wide open. When you go through the open door, it will lead you up another path that leads to a fork in the road. The path to the left is a crystal filled room that appears to heal the party, LP WP and JP. To the right you will find a monster that is just standing there. This is of course an optional boss. If you choose to engage this beast, you will go up against a Giant.
-Giant-
I am not sure how much hp this guy has, I know I did about 50,000ish of damage to him before he fell.Was an easy fight for me, I just kept using the DSV ability on him. A fighting ability that appears when you have Sliding, Suplex, GiantSwing, and Babelrumble. This is a most lethal ability but a pain to get because you have to learn all 4 abilities. But I find it was worth the effort.
Anyway, once you beat him, he reveals that he was blocking a large window. Remember that other room with the locked door? Open the window and do not forget to make a quick stop in the healing room. Make your way back to the room below if you choose to do so. Once you enter, what you see appears to be a dragon, but once you enter the battle, it is really a Griffin.
-Griffin-
34,000-35,000hp If you went through the effort in getting the DSC ability, this boss fight wont even phase you. 3 rounds and it will be over. He doesnt hit very hard so as long as you can keep everyone alive, there is no reason it should give you any trouble, even without DSC.
When the fight is over, you find out that the Griffon was actually Gina, sealed inside the monster by Rastaban.
Well time to climb the mountain again and do not forget to stop in at the healing room.
As you finally reach the top, you will find yourself in a familiar room. It is the room with the white flowers. And yes the teleporter is working on this end of the castle. You can use it now, but you will have to make the climb again but I wouldn't dismiss it all together especially with a couple bosses waiting around the corner.
-Bat Knight-
40,000hp Once again Ciato is acting all bad and needs to be smacked down. He wants your blood to make himself whoe again. In a final effort to gain power, he transforms into the Bat Knight, and yes he is still pretty weak. He has two bats fighting along side him in this fight, but they have mearly 4,000hp each, no real threat. Like always, keep everyone alive, and this should be an easy fight.
If you go backwards to try and go back to the healing room, you find that the door is a one way and is locked. So if you feel you need to do so, use the teleporter and make the climb again and head to the great healing room. Luckily the bosses don't come back so all you have to deal with are the usual monsters on the way back up. When you get back to the stair case where you fought Ciato, one tier up you will find Princess Lion.
-Princess Lion-
28,000hp At this point in the game, Princess Lion should seem like a push over compared to Ciato. Just keep everyone alive with Cures and what not and you will breeze through this fight.
Next tier up, we see Rastaban just standing there in the way also.
-Rastaban-
70,000-80,000hp He is pretty fierce with a lot of health points.Using your best abilites and curing as needed,just widdle him down and eventually you will be victorious.
Head on to the next screen to face the big guy Orlouge himself.
-Orlouge-
75,000hp I have fought Orlouge many times. It seems kinda random how he fights. Some times he is hard to beat, other times he is a push over. When you fight him, I hope for an easy battle. Unless you enjoy a challenge, then I hope it is the fight of your life. No matter how hard or easy, this is the last fight my friend. Enjoy the victory, soak it in. YOu win. And no I am not gonna spoil the experience by telling you the ending. That is the prize of putting up with such tyranny.
How ever I will tell you that there are multiple ways the ending can go depending on how you played. Be it if you embraced the mystic life, human life, or both. And if you saved Gina from the Griffon. Play through the game as many times as you want. See all the endings. The replay of this game is very good in my opinion.
Thank you for reading my Simple walk through. I hope to have more in the future.