History VideoGame / The7thSaga

This game is notorious for the nasty tricks it pulls on the player, most of which were exacerbated by Nintendo's bean-counting localization team. In an effort to pad out the length, Nintendo had a habit of jacking up the damage output and random encounters in their games, rendering some of them unplayable. The US version of ''7th Saga'' is one of the biggest casualties of this approach. Blessedly, it was also one of the last.

* {{AI Is A Crapshoot}}: New rule: You do not power a giant supercomputer with pure evil.

* DifficultyByRegion: Due to developer carelessness in the US and EU versions]], you get smaller bonuses upon levelup, and the game was not rebalanced accordingly. (Naturally there are fan-created patches that fix this.) It's entirely possible for some characters to die on the very first monster they encounter. The amount of level grinding} [[ForcedLevelGrinding needed to get anywhere]] borders on the obscene with certain characters. But the game {{cap}}s your level just a little too soon so you're never quite the level you need to be. Equipment is also overpriced and underpowered. Monsters regularly thrown nasty status effects and instant death attacks at you. It's the hardest RPG on the SNES without question.

* CataclysmicBackstory: Half an eon later and the world is still limping away from Gorsia's destruction.

-->'''[[http://lparchive.org/The-7th-Saga/Update%2031/ Nakar]]'''''': This isn't a photoshop. The project leader is named Dr. Fail...Foma is not evil per se, but '''runs''' on evil. I guess they're siphoning the Dark World, you know the place where all the monsters and GORSIA come from, to power a computer. This is quite possibly the most idiotic thing anyone in any RPG has ever tried.

''The 7th Saga'' (known as ''Elnard'' in Japan) is an {{R|olePlayingGame}}PG for the {{S|uperNintendoEntertainmentSystem}}NES, released in 1993. It is known for one thing, and that is [[NintendoHard difficulty]].

You choose your main character from one of seven apprentices- a [[JackOfAllStats fighter]], a [[BadassGrandpa dwarf]], an [[BlackMagicianGirl elf]], an [[HumanoidAliens alien]], a [[strike: robot]] [[CyberCyclops Tetujin]], a [[TheMedic priest]], and a [[OurDemonsAreDifferent demon]]. Trained by the wise King Lemele, you must venture out into the [[CataclysmBackstory oddly desolate world]] in search of [[PlotCoupon seven Runes]]. What follows is a [[ClicheStorm rather rote adventure, going through all the expected elements of contemporary [=JRPG=]s]]. To be honest, though, [[ExcusePlot nobody's ever played it for its story]].

This game is notorious for the nasty tricks it pulls on the player. It's entirely possible for some characters to die on the very first monster they encounter. The amount of {{level grinding}} [[ForcedLevelGrinding needed to get anywhere]] is very great, bordering on obscene with certain characters, but the game {{cap}}s your level just a little too soon so you're never quite the level you need to be. Equipment is overpriced and underpowered. Monsters regularly thrown nasty [[StandardStatusEffects status effects and instant death attacks]] at you, when they're not [[DemonicSpiders one-shotting you with physical attacks and magic]]. [[DifficultyByRegion Due to developer carelessness in the US and EU versions]], you get smaller bonuses upon levelup, and [[GameBreakingBug the game was not rebalanced accordingly]].[[note]]There are fan-created patches that fix this.[[/note]] [[NoGearLevel You lose your magic at one point]], and immediately after you get it back, [[spoiler: you lose the runes you've been depending on the whole game]]. To add insult to injury, you lose access to B. Protects, the only other way besides magic that you could've buffed your Defense.

And they expect you to like it.

''The 7th Saga'' is [[PlatformHell JRPG hell]]. Enjoy your stay.

* {{AI Is A Crapshoot}}: You do not power a giant demon-slaying supercomputer with [[spoiler: pure evil]].

* DifficultyByRegion

* {{Meaningful Name}}: Dr. Fail. Yes, that's his name.

* MasterOfNone: Kamil. Intended as a JackOfAllTrades, the stat growths bug leaves him worse than everybody at almost everything. Literally the ONLY two people he beats at ANYTHING are Lux and Wilme in MP and Valsu and Esuna in Power. Lejes or Olvan are better jack of all trades than Kamil is, due to having better growths and a better spell selection.

* FailOSuckyname: Dr. '''Fail'''.

* BlindIdiotTranslation: The game's translation is usually pretty solid, if dull. But the part where Pison later takes the name Red Pison makes much more sense if his Japanese name "Paison", were translated as "Python".

This game is notorious for the nasty tricks it pulls on the player. It's entirely possible for some characters to die on the very first monster they encounter. The amount of {{level grinding}} [[ForcedLevelGrinding needed to get anywhere]] is very great, bordering on obscene with certain characters, but the game {{cap}}s your level just a little too soon so you're never quite the level you need to be. Equipment is overpriced and underpowered. Monsters regularly thrown nasty [[StandardStatusEffects status effects and instant death attacks]] at you, when they're not [[DemonicSpiders one-shotting you with physical attacks and magic]]. [[DifficultyByRegion Due to developer carelessness in the US and EU versions]], you get smaller bonuses upon levelup, and [[GameBreakingBug the game was not rebalanced accordingly]]. [[NoGearLevel You lose your magic at one point]], and immediately after you get it back, [[spoiler: you lose the runes you've been depending on the whole game]]. To add insult to injury, you lose access to B. Protects, the only other way besides magic that you could've buffed your Defense.

''The 7th Saga'' is [[PlatformHell JRPG hell]]. Enjoy your stay. At the very least, there are patches to restore the game to its original Japanese state while retaining the English text, which makes life easier.

''The 7th Saga'' is [[PlatformHell JRPG hell]]. Enjoy your stay.

''The 7th Saga'' (known as ''Elnard'' in Japan) is an {{RPG}} for the SNES, released in 1993. It is known for one thing, and that is [[NintendoHard difficulty]].

A [[SpiritualSuccessor somewhat-sequel]], ''MysticArk'', was released in Japan. Through the magic of console emulation it has recently been made available to Western audiences via a fan-made English translation patch.

* {{Chest Monster}}: These also qualify as ParanoiaFuel. You never know when a chest in a dungeon is going to yield a nice item, or a monster that will kill you outright in 1-3 rounds. The first one you meet ''will'' kill you unless you know exactly how to handle it (and you will need a defense-up item just to stand a chance). So will the second, and the third... oh, yes, and after you've become strong enough to handle them, they will introduce [[UndergroundMonkeys red ones]], then once you can stand up to those, blue ones. These last ones actually use boss music. Oddly enough, the blue ones still come early enough in the game that you will eventually become strong enough to eat them for breakfast, and there are no stronger varieties.

** They're also unaffected by the stat gains bug.

** Also, the rest of the game, if you don't apply a fanmade patch to restore the correct stat growth and difficulty.

* {{Boss Dissonance}}: You're far more likely to die to a random encounter than to most bosses. Two reasons:
** After running into [[ThatOneBoss Pison]] for the first time, you start ''building the heck up'' before ''touching'' any other bosses.
** You run into a hell of a lot of random encounters, some of which are potentially fatal even to a high-level team.

You choose your main character from one of seven apprentices- a [[JackOfAllStats fighter]], a [[BadassGrandpa dwarf]], an [[BlackMagicianGirl elf]], an [[HumanoidAliens alien]], a [[strike: robot]] [[CyberCyclops Tetujin]], a [[TheMedic priest]], and a [[OurDemonsAreDifferent demon]]. Trained by the wise King Lemele, you must venture out into the [[CataclysmBackstory oddly desolate world]] in search of [[PlotCoupon seven Runes]]. What follows is a [[ClicheStorm rather rote adventure, going through all the expected elements of contemporary JRPGs]]. To be honest, though, [[ExcusePlot nobody's ever played it for its story]].

* UndergroundMonkey: As in nearly all RPGs of the era, many enemies are just palette swaps of earlier enemies with higher stats and maybe new powers. This even happens with a boss: Pison becomes Red-Pison (seriously, that's his name) and finally Metal-Pison.

* UndergroundMonkey: As in nearly all RPGs of the era, many enemies are just palette swaps of earlier enemies with higher stats and maybe new powers.

* DemonicSpiders: Literal ones. Well, they might not literally be demonic, but they're literally spiders, and they're certainly a big enough pest to make one think they came from hell. They appear right when the game's FakeDifficulty starts going through the roof. The game is full of them, though... practically every [[{{Mooks}} mook]] becomes a DemonicSpider after the first few areas of the game.

* {{Fake Difficulty}}: If you chose Esuna or Lux as your main character, you'll have to take a ferry to the northern continent. You get dropped in an area with monsters 7-8 levels above where you're supposed to be. Hope you can outrun them.

* {{Chest Monster}}
** These also qualify as ParanoiaFuel. You never know when a chest in a dungeon is going to yield a nice item, or a monster that will kill you outright in 1-3 rounds. The first one you meet ''will'' kill you unless you know exactly how to handle it (and you will need a defense-up item just to stand a chance). So will the second, and the third... oh, yes, and after you've become strong enough to handle them, they will introduce [[UndergroundMonkeys red ones]], then once you can stand up to those, blue ones. These last ones actually use boss music. Oddly enough, the blue ones still come early enough in the game that you will eventually become strong enough to eat them for breakfast, and there are no stronger varieties.

** These also qualify as ParanoiaFuel. You never know when a chest in a dungeon is going to yield a nice item, or a monster that will kill you outright in 1-3 rounds. [[ChestMonster Mimics]] in the first few dungeons suck a little. In later dungeons, their stronger cousins are [[NintendoHard ludicrously strong]].

* NintendoHard: Taken BeyondTheImpossible, almost literally.