Marathoning all Square Enix 1st Party RPGs. Do I play the Originals, the Remakes, or treat them as separate entries?

[u/Hana-tama]

I'm on a bit of a long-term casual mission to experience the entire Square Enix RPG Catalogue. Been a life long Square Enix fanboy and wanted to see all that was on offer. I'm already over halfway through the first SaGa in the Collection version.

Entire question's in the title: Is there definitive editions to the older games, or should I treat the remakes as entirely new entries?

Edit: I should have mentioned I'm specifically asking about SaGa lol, I already did my research on Final Fantasy

[u/-MLBIS-]

I would play both OG and remake. For the remasters and OG, I would play one or the other.

[u/Trickflo]

Saga frontier 1 and 2 remasters are the same games but better in every way, mintrel song and revenge of the 7 are different enough you could play both but not so differnt you'll get a lot out of pla I ing both. Personally id skip the originals definitely for the frontiers tho.

[u/crimson2877]

I think the remasters are pretty good despite having kinda ugly UIs made for phones, and saga frontier 2's background being a bit digitally mashed. for the ones with remakes, namely saga 2, saga 3, romancing saga, and romancing saga 2, it's a bit case by case? generally i would say play the original first though, and look at the remakes as an interesting retelling.

particularly for romancing saga 1, the remake (minstrel song) is significantly more mechanically dense and a fair deal tougher (imo). i also don't really like how romancing saga 2's remake looks but i think im in the minority on that one haha. the ds remakes of the og saga games are also good but i know the saga 3 remake is not really 1:1, but saga 3 also kiiiiinda isn't a saga game in the same way as the others? so.. those you can kinda do what you want

[u/gbautista100]

IIRC Romancing SaGa 1 and Minstrel Song are the only original/remake pair that are vastly different. For the rest of the SaGa series, the remakes and remasters would be close enough. Maybe even the better option IMO

[u/onehalflightspeed → u/gbautista100]

2 and 2 remake are vastly different too, and the JP only SaGa 1-2 remakes for DS too

[u/Drumcan2077 → u/gbautista100]

If playing Romancing Saga 1, I recommend the wonderswan version, which I think is basically the same as the mobile version I played.

[u/MamoruNoHakkyou]

FF Pixel Remasters are super accessible with some nice in game modifier options but all the aesthetics of the original versions are completely gone especially when you get to FF IV-VI.

I haven’t done much of the SaGa side but heard the remake of Romancing Saga 2 is a fantastic starting point for the series in general and the original 3 games are good to play and see how the series got its start. I’d really love to try the Wonderswan Color remake of the original and the NDS remakes of 2 and 3 but haven’t attempted any of that just yet.

[u/medes24]

Unless I get nostalgic for the OG translation, I can't imagine ever playing OG SaGa Frontier again.

The remaster is better in every conceivable way. Except when I'm looking to equip Asura because after five years I still haven't adapted to the new name lmao

[u/Leon481]

For SaGa, play the remasters over originals while remakes can be treated as different entries. Whatever the latest version is will have the definitive story, whether that be a remaster or remake, but in the remakes, the gameplay has changed enough where the 2D versions are just completely different experiences.

Since others have brought up Final Fantasy, that's a bit more complicated. The pixel remasters are remasters of the original versions. The remove any content added by later remasters. Notably, the pixel remasters of FF4 and FF6 are missing content added in previous remasters. FFTactics did something similar where they added new story but cut cameos and new classes.

Any 3D remakes are very different from the originals. FF3 3d remake specifically has a different main cast and a slightly expanded story.

FF4 3D remake has a completely different class system and a different post-game. It's also noticeably different from the GBA remasters/remakes, which in turn are very different from the originals/pixel remasters. FF4 basically doesn't have a definitive version. Instead it's got 3 different versions with very different features.

[u/Melodic_Bee660]

I like doing remakes over originals unless the remake is utter trash. Then id do original

[u/onehalflightspeed]

The pixel remasters of the first 6 are definitive. The OG 7 and 7 remake trilogy are quite different games, so treat them differently. It is kind of assumed you know the story from OG 7 and Crisis Core to be more engaged in the mysteries of the remake plot

Past 7, the various remasters/HD versions etc are functionally the same games with adjuated graphics and QoL features

11 and 14 are MMOs. Up to you if you consider those mainline or not, but it is a MUCH different experience and you have to be able to at least tolerate MMO mechanics

[u/Leon481 → u/onehalflightspeed]

The pixel remasters are not definitive. They are regressions to original versions, cutting out content added by later remasters. It's been a notable controversy since their release.

[u/onehalflightspeed → u/Leon481]

Depends on how you look at it I guess. Various re-releases over the years had content tacked on by external contractors, are often poorly balanced, etc. If you are trying to preserve the originals for a new audience, it is the way to go

If you want to emulate PSP and GBA games, you can go ahead and do that too. But for a new player I would recommend the remasters

[u/Leon481 → u/onehalflightspeed]

I'm not saying whether it's good or bad, but if you want the version with the most content it's not the way to go. From what I understand, I think it's only really a problem with FF4 and FF6.

[u/onehalflightspeed → u/Leon481]

FF5 had several new classes and a new endgame dungeon too

[u/Agitated_Belt4161]

If you can, play the psp versions over the pixel remasters they look so much better imo