History VideoGame / SagaFrontier

* BackAlleyDoctor: Dr. Nukusan, literally - as in he operates out of Koorong's "Back Alley" district. He's only useful in one character's quest: [[spoiler:in Riki's quest, he knows how to save the mayor of Yorkland's daughter.]]

** The areas do not work on mechs, since all of the enemies above are organic, so you're out of luck if you're playing as T260G and has an all-mech party.

* PeninsulaOfPowerLeveling: Bio Research Lab. The enemy's power level will usually be significantly higher than yours, making it the best place to quickly learn new skills and gain stat boosts a lot. Yorkland Swamp serves the same role once you're done with the Grail quest, but it only features reptilian enemies, which cannot be found in Bio Research Labs.

** Some characters can only be recruited in only one route and not appearing elsewhere. These include Doll, Rabbit and BJ&K (for Red), Leonard (for [=T260G=]), Ildon and Rei (for Asellus) and Capt. Hamilton (for Lute). Doll and Rabbit lose this status in the Remastered version, however, because as an IRPO agent, Doll is available in Fuse's scenario and so is Rabbit (despite his IRPO agency being ambiguous).

* Emelia: A beautiful woman [[ClearMyName accused]] of murdering her fiancé, and wrongly imprisoned for it, she becomes a member of Gradius, a secret organization, in order to track down the real killer.

* TheAlcatraz: Despair. While no one's ever escaped, the warden gives the inmates the chance for freedom, if they can touch the Freedom rune located within the prison. Only '''one'' person's ever done it before Emelia, Annie and Liza.
** It's implied that the person who did before Emelia and company was [[spoiler: Roufas]].

* BigBadEnsemble: Each story has its own BigBad, and they mostly aren't related. ''[[AllThereInTheManual Essence]]'' indicates that [[spoiler: Mondo]] is TheManBehindTheMan to most of the others, but in the game proper there's no indication of any links between them, [[spoiler: except that Emelia's quest is tied in with fighting another Trinity commander]], and the majority of the {{Big Bad}}s logically ''couldn't'' be [[spoiler:Mondo]]'s subordinates.

** [[spoiler: In Emelia's bad ending, she kills Joker, her quest's goal, and prevented the Cube from being misused by either him or anyone else, but what is there left after? Ren is still dead, and unbeknownst to her, it was her who did it. Emelia leaves Gradius to figure out what to do with her life. Even Roufas thinks that this is too much for her, so he ordered her to forget about Gradius, her friendship with him, Annie and Liza, and tell her to live on without any more fighting. And she did, but wherever she goes afterwards, it's unknown.]]

* BlondeBrunetteRedhead: Emelia (blonde), Liza (brunette), and Annie (redhead).

* BuxomIsBetter: Emelia [[DefiedTrope doesn't think so]]. When she reads the porno mag, she's disgusted by the star's disproportionate assets. Red, on the other hand, is quite thrilled, and [[StraightGay Asellus]] is more attracted than she wants to be. [=T260G=] simply calculates the model's measurements, then nearly crashes when trying to calculate her IQ level. Riki innocently mentions to Meiling that the model is not wearing clothes and asks if she's hot or something. Blue/Rouge [[NotDistractedByTheSexy just finds the book useless to him]]. Lute looks really thrilled at first, but then remarks that he'd rather see the real thing than just looking at the mag.

* ClearMyName: Emelia is jailed for the murder of her boyfriend, because she was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

* TheCorpseStopsHere: Emelia walks in just after her boyfriend's murder, shortly after her come the police.
* CuttingOffTheBranches: Some of the recruitable characters can be bought to your party the same way (for example, you can always have Emelia join your party in the other scenarios after you complete one of the Arcane quests) in several scenarios, with some only changing if you play as a certain character (some of the mystics that can be sought after in other scenarios are recruited automatically during Asellus's scenario). On the other hand, Red and Blue are mutually exclusive to their scenarios, and cannot be recruited in any of the others.
** ''Entire races'' cannot be found in some scenarios; for example, both Asellus and Emelia cannot recruit any Mecs.

* EarnYourBadEnding: Emelia's bad ending is achieved by [[spoiler:going further within Baccarat's underground cave and fighting Gargantu, instead of [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere just getting the hell out, ending the scenario.]]]]

** Diva, the FinalBoss of [[spoiler: Emelia's]] arc. She has absolutely nothing to do with the BigBad or the rest of the plot, and exists to give that storyline a final fight.

* GirlsBehindBars: Emelia’s story starts out in Despair prison where she meets Annie and Liza.

* GrandTheftMe: If one manages it, it is revealed [[spoiler: in Emelia's good ending, Ren wasn't dead, his body was actually taken over by Joker via a cursed mask. He begs Emelia to free him by shooting the mask off.]]

* GreatEscape: At the start of Emelia's game.

* HeroOfAnotherStory: Most of the protagonists (and their supporting casts) can be found and/or recruited in every campaign in some fashion. Liza in Red's scenario even [[LampshadeHanging points out]] that he's the hero while she and the rest of Gradius (who play a central role in Emelia's story) are "just extras."

* HubCity: Koorong. It's the only Region which allows you to take a ship to nearly all others, has the greatest concentration of shops in the game, and doubles as a HubLevel in Riki and Emelia's quests.

* InevitableTournament: Shingrow holds a masked martial arts tournament every year. This fact is mentioned just before Emelia gets entered. Red can enter as Alkaiser, though it's not necessary.

* TheLostLenore: Ren for Emelia. Even after killing Joker, Emelia is still haunted by the death of her fiance. [[spoiler: At least in the bad ending.]]

* MultipleEndings: Asellus has three, Emelia has two. Asellus's depend on [[spoiler:whether you had her learn all three Mystic abilities, and whether you saved Gina from the Griffin]], while Emelia's depends on [[spoiler:whether you fought Gargantu in Baccarat]]. There are also two endings for [[spoiler:Blue's route, defined if you're playing as Blue or Rouge after their duel.]]

* OneNationUnderCopyright: Trinity is a corporation that became a corrupt version of TheFederation. They're involved in some pretty shady stuff, too, though they're only significantly involved in two characters' plots (Emelia and Lute). [[spoiler: One of their most powerful leaders is the BigBad, according to [[AllThereInTheManual the supplementary material]].]]

* PermanentlyMissableContent: You can only enter Despair once. If you miss anything, you don't get another chance. This means that in Emelia's quest, only Emelia, Annie, and Liza can learn Rune Magic (because they're the only ones present to get the Freedom Rune), and Riki can't finish the Rune quest at all because his quest takes him to Despair for a different purpose.

* PlayboyBunny: Emelia in her bunnygirl costume. She'll also appear in this when you recruit her in other characters' quests.

* PointOfNoReturn: Hell in Blue's game, Mondo's base in Lute's, the Black Ray in Red's, the Yorkland mountains in Emelia's, and [[spoiler:the [=RB3 ship=]]] in [=T260G's=]. Saving in any of these places before you're trained well enough can make the game {{Unwinnable}}.

* PrisonEpisode: The first part of Emelia's game, and a part of the quest for the gift for Rune magic.

** Emelia’s can be seen as one to Charlie’s Angels as she forms a female PowerTrio with Annie and Liza, who get sent on missions around the Regions under Roufas.

* UniqueProtagonistAsset: Excepting Lute who's instead [[StandardizedLeader being the most]] [[TheGenericGuy basic character for a leader]], each protagonist has something ''special'' that makes them stand out or being very powerful than other characters. Riki has the Rings, Emelia has her ability to switch costumes to manipulate her learning tree, [=T260G=] can change bodies and get the ultimate body form that no other Mecs can access, Blue can obtain ALL magic gifts in the game at once except Mystic, Evil or Mirage Magic [[spoiler:but only after he beats or is beaten by Rouge]], Asellus is a Half-Mystic thus can combine Human growth and skills with Mystic's buffs and Red can turn into Alkaiser and gain Alkaiser-only techs.

* WhatTheHellHero: Annie and Liza get angry at Roufas when he drugged Emelia and sold her off as a sex slave to a Trinity official in order to have her infiltrate the place.

* YouAllMeetInACell: Emelia begins her quest imprisoned in Despair, and meets Liza and Annie there.

* NewGamePlus: At the start of the game, the player creates 'system data.' Using the same data every time you start with a new character makes their games a bit easier. For example, Red can start with as much as 180 HP and already know the move Chop, or secondary characters may start with better equipment.

* DynamicDifficulty: Enemy encounters increase as you improve your characters' stats.

[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYnCp7_fh7M A Remaster has been announced for PS4, Switch, Steam, and iOS]] that not only updates the visuals, but reinserts large amounts of cut content, including an entire scenario that was originally scrapped.

* WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway: Space Magic in general. Of its six spells, two can only affect monsters with either Deathsynthesis or Photosynthesis, one also stops ''your'' status effects, and two are weaker than other spells of similar cost. The instant death spell, Vanish, is decent, but there are still other spells that can do the same thing.

* ShipTease: Gina and Ildon get a bit in [[spoiler: Asellus's Half-Mystic ending. Taken out of context, Ildon would appear to be "the love of Gina's life," but only if you hadn't been paying attention to the story up till then. The ambiguity is probably there to [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar confuse the censors]].]]

So reads the back of the case for ''[=SaGa=] Frontier'', the first ''VideoGame/{{SaGa|RPG}}'' game released in North America since ''VideoGame/{{SaGa 3}}'' (aka ''Final Fantasy Legend III'') and the first one on the UsefulNotes/PlayStation. It came out March 25 1998, (July 11 '97 in Japan) and was produced by Creator/{{Square|Enix}}soft's Production Team 2 (referred to as "2nd Division" in-game.) The 75 song soundtrack was composed and arranged by Creator/KenjiIto, who also did the soundtracks for previous ''[=SaGa=]'' titles.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar:
** At the time the game was launched, Asellus's homosexuality was ''extremely'' daring, and required massive amounts of disguise, [[HideYourLesbians ambiguity]] and [[DiscountLesbians phlebotinum]] to make it across.
** Mesarthim is naked. However, BarbieDollAnatomy and a sprite that's too small to have any real detail put into it allowed them to get away with it. The Remastered version averts this, [[https://imgur.com/a/cXBVbiu they gave Mesarthim's sprite a cross swimsuit/bra.]]

** Some characters can only be recruited in only one route and not appearing elsewhere. These include Doll (for Red), Leonard (for [=T260G=]), Ildon and Rei (for Asellus) and Capt. Hamilton (for Lute).

* FaceHeelTurn: [[spoiler:At the end of Riki's quest, Mei-Ling is corrupted by the Master Ring and becomes the final boss. Hopefully she wasn't part of your "final five".]]

* ChickMagnet: Asellus- Having the Charm Lord's blood gave her the power of seduction and attraction to females.
* TheChosenOne: Blue is told he is the superior of the two Chosen Ones, and that it his destiny to kill the other--his brother. Presumably Rouge was told the same thing at ''his'' graduation ceremony.

* CombinationAttack: If you do it right, all 5 members of your party will jump in..

* OffscreenInertia- It is implied that Blue never actually ''kills'' [[spoiler: Hell's Lord,]] but fights him eternally.

* WarpWhistle: Blue's Region Map.

* MultipleEndings: Asellus has three, Emelia has two. [[spoiler: There are also two endings for Blue's route, defined if you're playing as Blue or Rouge after their duel.]]

* NoStatAtrophy

* YouKillItYouBoughtIt: Only one being in the entire ''universe'' can possess the Gifts for Time or Space magic. In order to master it, you must kill the one that has it.

*** The Half-Mystic Asellus is the best of both worlds- She can learn techniques as a human ''or'' a mystic, depending on if she uses her Mystic Gloves, Mystic Sword, and/or Mystic Boots, allowing her to go into battle with 7-10 human abilities as well as 0-3 Mystic ones.

* ApologizesALot: Mesarthim frequently apologizes for perceived insults to higher ranked Mystics- It's actually the reason she won't join while [[TheVoiceless Silence]] is in the party.

* IOweYouMyLife: Mesarthim to Asellus.

* DiscOneNuke: The Asura in Asellus's game-- sure, you need to give up 3 LP to get it, but it's of the strongest three swords in the game, has an instant death effect, ''and'' a counter attack on it that works even if the user is killed by the attack. And can be obtained in about the first ten to fifteen minutes of her story.

* RubberBandAI: The enemies that appear in a given fight are based on a "class" of enemy (mech, water monster, etc) compounded by a rank system, which is determined on your stat totals and the location the fight occurs.

* LateCharacterSyndrome: Recruited characters are not affected by the RubberBandAI, so they start out weak while the enemy has become so powerful that [[CantCatchUp they'll have troubles catching up when you recruit them so late]] (or you will require A LOT more babysitting for them). Many mandatory recruits (and some) can become like this if you have been gathering allies and doing quests that empowered you to get through the quests that barred you.[[labelnote:Example 1]]To recruit Mesarthim, you need a Mystic, but if you're playing as either Red or Lute, your earliest available Mystic would be Silence, who instead scares Mesarthim away. So your only option is to go through either the Arcane/Rune quest and powering up for those to get to Time Lord, THEN you can get Mesarthim after you get through the Devil Squid and its Maelstorm attack. By the time you get her, you'd already have a well established party to power through the game.[[/labelnote]][[labelnote:Example 2]]To recruit Princess Rei, you need to do one thing early in Asellus' quest... and then proceeded so far away in Asellus quest, having to deal with multiple powerful bosses that cannot be beaten unless you actually trained, losing White Rose and gaining Zozma, and THEN get to Rei, to which there's only the final dungeon to tackle and Rei would have been severely underleveled compared to your other team.[[/labelnote]]

** Zozma bears an uncanny resemblance to [[StreetFighter Street Fighter's]] Akuma- He's even able to use Evil magic.

** Mesarthim is naked. However, BarbieDollAnatomy and a sprite that's too small to have any real detail put into it allowed them to get away with it.