Publisher and developer Square Enix has revealed more details and media for SaGa Emerald Beyond, their new SaGa franchise sequel.
The glut of new information covers two of the game’s six protagonists: Bonnie and Formina, as well as various supporting characters, gameplay mechanics, and more.
Here’s a rundown on the new details, plus new screenshots, art, and a trailer:
Bonnie and Formina’s Story
Two new recruits on the police force, investigating an assassination attempt
Former marine Bonnie Blair and renowned sharpshooter Formina Franklyn are two police officers working together to find the truth behind the assassination attempt on the President of Capitol City, a world studded with skyscrapers.
With the claim of a key person of interest in the case that the president is a traitor and a mysterious triangle piece as their only clues, they set off on a journey through other worlds to uncover the hidden truth behind the incident.
A Mysterious Group of… Cats? Encountered During the Investigation
A group of large feline beasts from The Great Tree. It isn’t clear if these cats are siblings or completely unrelated. It’s also unclear what gender they are, or if they even have genders to begin with. Each of the three cats has their own distinctive
personality: Purr is good at playing cute to get their own way; Hiss is very wary and always prickly; and Meow is something of an all-rounder.
Characters Who Can Join the Party
Emily Bryant – An artist who came up through the local underground scene before her vocal house music launched her into the mainstream. Now she performs at famous clubs in the city. She has become hugely popular for her distinctive musical style and fashion sense.
Administrator Gold – A member of the Delta Base’s Administrative Division. Administrator Gold has served in their middle-management role for a long time, but their heart isn’t really in it.
BX10-EX – The 10th model in the BX series of mechs that Dr. Alessa Sitrix used in her research on applying triangle theory to machine evolution. Following Alessa’s death, this BX10 unit decided to add “EX” to the end of its name as an indication that it had achieved self-driven evolution. Although its body has evolved to become tough and rugged, capable of handling a variety of different assignments, BX10-EX considers its greatest strength to be data analysis.
Final Emperor – The last Emperor of Grelon. His real name is not known. He garnered many different reputations – a great king, a foolhardy monarch or a tyrannical despot. However, no one truly knows was he was like as a person.
Byaku – A young Cleric of the Kosmos. Byaku is surprisingly hard-headed for someone with such a soft body, but he takes great pride in his role as a Cleric.
Erytheia – A carrier in the Kosmos. Erytheia distributes everything from physical items to information across all four corners of the Kosmos. Erytheia is a realist, and can be quite sarcastic.
The Worlds of SaGa EMERALD BEYOND
Capitol City, A World Studded with Skyscrapers – A city that sparkles like a jewel. The sight is enough to make you forget that this is the beating heart of the world. In spite of this, or perhaps precisely because of this, Capitol City finds some entirely unexpected visitors drawn into its orbit.
Vermiglio, A World Driven Forwards by Triangle Theory – Triangle theory has brought about rapid progress in Vermiglio. The day-to-day lives of its inhabitants have become easier, richer and more fast-paced. But there is no such thing as progress without cost.
Kosmos, World of Mystery – The Kosmos is a tiny microcosm. In this world, a countless number of cells, systems and organs work together to create harmony. However, no matter the scale of the world, there are always those who seek to destroy balance.
A Combat System That Includes a Wide Variety of Races, Weapons, Techs and Spells
A Wide Variety of Races: Ephemerals – As ephemerals fight in more and more battles, they change from juvenile to young to mature, and finally to elder. Their stats increase as they grow older, but their maximum LP decreases. When an ephemeral runs out of LP, they are reborn again, passing down techs and spells to the next generation. This means that the more generations pass, the more techs and spells can be inherited. Some ephemerals can glimmer new techs like humans, while others can learn techs from fallen foes, like monsters.
Weapon type: Two-Handed Guns – Two-handed guns are divided into machine guns, flamethrowers, zappers, boomers and catalyzers. All of these gun types can invoke general two-handed gun techs, but each type has its own associated techs as well. Two-handed guns feature a lot of antiair-property techs that are effective against airborne enemies. However, players should note that since a lot of two-handed gun techs raise enmity as well, the wielder is more likely to be attacked by enemies. Flamethrowers, zappers and catalyzers also have their own associated techs that inflict elemental damage and status ailments, and boomers feature a lot of techs that delay the user’s order of action in the Timeline.
Martial Arts – Martial arts can be used when no weapons are equipped. Punch techs make it easier to evade attacks that come your way after you have taken an action, and kick techs tend to appear more quickly in the Action Order. Tackles, on the other hand, delay the user’s order of action in the Timeline. There are also lots of techs that delay the enemy’s actions in the Timeline. Overall, this means that Martial arts techs can be used to handle a wide variety of different situations.
Conditional Techs
Techs that are used in response to enemy or ally abilities or spells are called conditional techs. There are five different types of conditional tech: Interrupts, Counterattacks, Protects, Chains, and Pursuits.
Conditional techs readied by enemies appear in the timeline as three question marks: “???”. When an enemy displays the three-question-mark symbol, watch out for conditional techs. Enemy conditional techs can be stymied by using techs with the “quell” characteristic, allowing you to fight without hindrance.
Chains – Chains are a type of conditional tech that follow on from an ally’s action earlier in Action Order. Even if this first action would otherwise be the last in a sequence, Chains will move to appear in the Action Order directly after this initial action. If a Chain action connects to the combo range, it presents an opportunity to deal even more damage. But beware: Chain actions can also break the flow of a United Attack.
Pursuits – While Chain actions take place right after an ally’s action, Pursuits slot into the Action Order after an enemy action. Since they allow you to jump in to take action directly after an enemy action, Pursuits make it easy to disrupt enemy United Attacks.
