History VideoGame / The7thSaga

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: More precisely, [[spoiler: what happens to the other allied apprentice after Gorsia [[TakingYouWithMe kills the main character at the moment of his defeat?]] They're just left standing there, if still alive. It's especially a headscratcher if the ally character is Lux, since Tetujin can apparently survive for thousands of years anyway....]]
** [[spoiler: Tetujin forget their oldest memories in order to store new ones. There's nothing that prevents Lux from surviving the battle with Gorsia and taking TheSlowPath through the intervening thousands of years to one day become an apprentice to King Lemele...]]

[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cast7saga.jpg]]

--->'''It's more expensive than what you have to sell. You must also give # G to make up the difference.'''

* Sidequest: None at all!

* ThematicSeries: The first, followed by Mystic Ark for SNES and Mystic Ark 2 (very obscure) for PS1

* RandomEvent: The allied apprentice has a chance to betray you, with a minimum of 1/256 up to a maximum of 1/8 (it changes in relation to the apprentice you are sided with, and only at very important events or when you are deciding to swap the apprentice you sided with for another)

''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]].

* UnwinnableByMistake: Once you are back to the past, if you are way too low level (level 25-30), you are done for as enemies are WAY too strong.
** Downplayed- barely. Did that apprentice you fought just one-shot you and take your runes? Do you not have enough restoratives to fight them? Out of bottle items? The town doesn't have the things you need? The town that does is continents away? Forgot to pack a [[NotCompletelyUseless Wind Ball]]? Don't want to walk for a straight 30 minutes to a town that does sell what you need? Too bad. Either find a way to beat them, walk, or reset.

* {{Unwinnable}}: Don't fight Valsu after level 40. Also, make sure your levels are in the high thirties before fighting Gariso, and that you're well stocked on B Protects. [[NothingIsTheSameAnymore Trust us on this one]].

* UniversalPoison: Enemies-only status effect to boot! And it is always afflicted by a strong physical attack.
* UnwinnableByDesign: Once you are back to the past, if you are way too low level (level 25-30), you are done for as enemies are WAY too strong.
** Downplayed- barely. Did that apprentice you fought just one-shot you and take your runes? Do you not have enough restoratives to fight them? Out of bottle items? The town doesn't have the things you need? The town that does is continents away? Forgot to pack a [[NotCompletelyUseless Wind Ball]]? Don't want to walk for a straight 30 minutes to a town that does sell what you need? Too bad. Either find a way to beat them, walk, or reset.

* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: When you get certain Runes, there's a chance that your ally will betray you and try to take the Runes from you by force. Lejes is the ally which is most likely to betray you, while Esuna and Lux never will.

* GiveMeYourInventoryItem: Don't give the Topaz to the lady with a secret. You need the 500G.

* ScratchDamage: 1 is the minimum amount of HP you will lose by any attack..

* UniversalPoison: Enemies-only status effect to boot! And it is always afflicted by a strong physical attack
* UnwinnableByDesign: Once you are back to the past, if you are way too low level (level 25-30), you are done for as enemies are WAY too strong

* ExperienceBooster: By going solo, you will level up twice faster, so you can just go solo until you are very high in level and then ask an apprentice that has not became an enemy of yours to join (him\her having stronger stats compared to you when you are at the same level, as the US version of the game decreases the stat gains a character YOU use obtains after a fight, while leaving the apprentice you ask help from intact)

* FakeBalance: Enemies have skills you cannot use; enemies have chances to resist\dodge status effects you can acquire only via very obscure to be found equipment garments; enemies will one-shot you often if unprepared\not defending.

* StandardRPGItems: Pretty much, with the added utility of some items that imitate buffing\debuffing spells.

* DiscOneFinalDungeon: The cave where you fight Present!Gorsia

* GameFavoredGender: the only female character, Esuna the magician elf, is the worst to add as an end-game party, as magic-attacks are extremely weak by then (subversion for buffs and debuffs, being always useful regardless the situation); in comparison, the meelee fighters and only hybrid spell caster are way stronger, with the hybrid mage\fighter reaching the pick at the end of his training, obtaining utility spells unattainable by any other character

This game is notorious for the nasty tricks it pulls on the player, most of which were exacerbated by {{Creator/Enix}}'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 English version of ''7th Saga'' is one of the biggest casualties of this approach. Blessedly, it was also one of the last.

* BeatThemAtTheirOwnGame: Most of the enemies that abuse deadly status effects are subsceptible to them: use them yourself (if you have a magician\hybrid character) or hoard on "Magic Mirrors", them being pretty much "Reflect" from Final Fantasy for such kind of spells (do not reflect instant death)
* BilingualBonus: "Tetujin", referring to the robots in the game, is actually a mis-transliteration of the Japanese "Tetsujin" meaning "iron person".

* {{Give Me Your Inventory Item}}: Don't give the Topaz to the lady with a secret. You need the 500G.
* GuideDangIt: The apprentice you fight for the Star Rune is pre-determined as soon as you show the Wind Rune to the sage at Eygus. Whoever you fight for the Star Rune is LostForever. If you want that person to be your ally in the rest of the game, they '''must''' be in your group ''before'' you exit the Melenam Ruins. The game makes absolutely no hint of this whatsoever.

* LostForever: Any apprentice you get in a fight with can never join your party from that point on. If you want them in your party, you really should make them your partner in Bonro or Zellis (the third and fourth towns in the game), since they are far more likely to pick a fight without asking in later towns, and the one who gets the Star Rune ''will'' fight you no matter what.
* {{Lost Technology}}

* {{Mechanical Lifeforms}}: The Tetujin. They employ {{robo speak}}.

* OneStatToRuleThemAll: Speed: it regulates chance to hit, chance to dodge, chance to escape, which pretty much guarantee the protagonists survival (Lejes + Esuna have the Highest Speed Combined, making them a very evasive and escapist team, but very, very weak to physical attacks)

* Game-FavoredGender: the only female character, Esuna the magician elf, is the worst to add as an end-game party, as magic-attacks are extremely weak by then (subversion for buffs and debuffs, being always useful regardless the situation); in comparison, the meelee fighters and only hybrid spell caster are way stronger, with the hybrid mage\fighter reaching the pick at the end of his training, obtaining utility spells unattainable by any other character

* AllinaRow: The apprentice and the occasional non-fighting NPC guest will follow you thoroughly through the adventure

* ArmorandMagicDon'tMix: Esuna and Lejes, the two magic caster characters, cannot wear armor at all, being very frail to physical attacks
* BattleThemeMusic: Quite the memorable tunes
* BeatThematTheirOwnGame: Most of the enemies that abuse deadly status effects are subsceptible to them: use them yourself (if you have a magician\hybrid character) or hoard on "Magic Mirrors", them being pretty much "Reflect" from Final Fantasy for such kind of spells (do not reflect instant death)
* BlackandWhiteMagic: Most of the characters can use either one, either the other, or a mix of both, or rather a unique set of spells

* CameraLock-On: While fighting, you have to select an enemy and the camera locks on him

* CrueltyIstheOnlyOption: You are forced to kill a witch that just kidnapped kids to make them play happily together, because she lost her own child unfarly, to receive a required plot-advancing contrivance

* 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 [[{{UsefulNotes/Emulation}} 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.

* EarlyGameHell: Under-equipped, poor, against lethal crows
* Enemy-DetectingRadar: The first RPG to have one, making random encounters only semi-random, has one, if flaired enough, can skip them by zig-zagging through them

* FakeBalance: Enemies have skills you cannot use; enemies have chances to resist\dodge status effects you can acquire only via very obscure to be found equiment garments; enemies will one-shot you often if unprepared\not defending
* '''''ForcedLevelGrinding'''''

* GetontheBoat: If you are playing as Esuna the female sorcercer or friendly clanky cluttery robot Lux, you will sail on a boat to reach a far-end area the other side of the continent, where enemies are MUCH stronger... this two characters are clearly the "hard mode" representative to an already difficult game (US Version only, JP version is piss easy)

* HellIsThatNoise: Whenever Vacuum2 is used, a high pitched screech is played.

* LevelGrinding: Required to just beat the second weakest enemy in the game

* [[spoiler:MacGuffinDeliveryService: Once you obtain all of the runes, Gorsia steals their power and breaks them into pieces.]]

* 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; he's got more magic than the non-magic classes, and more combat ability than the non-combat ones. Whoopee. Lejes or Olvan are better jack of all trades than Kamil is, due to having better growths and a better spell selection.

* One-Hit-PointWonder: The player character for a long time when facing unfair mobs of overpowered enemies, Esuna busy the mage girl all the time against heavy-hitting enemies, IF they it her
* OneStattoRuleThemAll: Speed: it regulates chance to hit, chance to dodge, chance to escape, which pretty much guarantee the protagonists survival (Lejes + Esuna have the Highest Speed Combined, making them a very evasive and escapist team, but very, very weak to physical attacks)

* PointofNoReturn: Once the past it is reached, you cannot fight easier enemies anymore

* ScratchDamage: 1 is the minimum amount of HP you will lose by any attack
* Secret A.I.Moves: Poisoning Touch, inflicting "Poison", an enemy-only status effect
* Self-ImposedChallenge: Beating the game with very bad pairings (Wilme + Lux for example) is a well known challenge
* ShapedLikeItself: An enemy called the sword has a chance of dropping a weapon called Sword (famous for being Wilme's only equip-able weapon) when it's defeated. Except 7th Saga equipment is automatically suffixed with the type of item, so the item's full name is "Sword Sword".

* StandardRPGItems: Pretty much, with the added utility of some items that imitate buffing\debuffing spells

* [[spoiler: TakingYouWithMe: The final boss fight.]]

* {{Useless Useful Spell}}: Averted. Petrify, Defense2, Vacuum1, and Vacuum2 are all very useful, due to how hard normal enemies are.

* UnwinnablebyDesign: Once you are back to the past, if you are way too low level (level 25-30), you are done for as enemies are WAY too strong
* VillainForgottoLevelGrind: The only mandatory fight against an apprentice has the apprentice being set at +5 levels in relation to when you exited from an early-game cave after beating Bounty-Hunter Pison

* YouALLLookFamiliar: The water sage being identical to other sages around the world: children being carbon-copies of each other and much more on
----

* FakeDifficulty: The game (or at least the American version) practically ''is'' this, since the difficulty largely comes from insufficient stat boosts when you level up. Also, 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.

'''''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]].

->''This is one of the stories that will be known for generations to come.''

-->'''[[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.

This game is notorious for the nasty tricks it pulls on the player, most of which were exacerbated by Enix'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.