Tips and tricks for Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven
The Seven Heroes may threaten your Empire, but we’ve put together some tips and tricks to help you overcome them!It’s not easy being the Emperor.
That’s definitely the case in Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven. Not only are you responsible for building the strength and influence of the Varennes Empire, you’re also trapped in a generations-spanning conflict with seven ultra-powerful Heroes of legend.
Fortunately, we’re here to act as your new Imperial Advisor. We’ve put together some tips and tricks to help you overcome the game’s many challenges.
Follow this advice, and even the Seven Heroes won’t stand a chance against you!
City development tips
First, let’s talk about developing Avalon. As administrator, it’s up to you to commission new facilities and features for the growing capital city. Here are some tips and tricks to think about as you do that:
Upgrade facilities as soon as you can
As well as building new facilities, focus on developing upgrades to them once built, including the Smithy and Incantations Lab.
These upgrades are expensive, but they also provide extremely significant boosts to the tools available to you in battle. What’s more, they also increase the amount of money you get from each battle.
You’ve got to spend money to make money!
Understand Enemy Strength
The Imperial Standing screen provides info on your combat prowess, broken down by weapon and spell type, the strength of enemies you’re currently facing and how much money you’re earning per each successful combat encounter.
Pay particular attention to the Enemy Strength level. The more enemies you beat in combat the more money you’ll earn per encounter and the more your stats will level up. But also, Enemy Strength will increase along the way.
Look for ways to get stronger without over-relying on grinding. For example…
Make liberal use of the Smithy
The Smithy is the first facility you’ll build in the game, and one of the most useful. By spending materials and money, you can develop new weapons and armors as well as reforge existing ones into a stronger form.
Equipment can make a big difference in the game - just as impactful as leveling up your stats and techs. Better gear means you’ll have stronger characters without also increasing enemy strength.
The Incantations Lab is one of your most powerful tools
The Incantations Lab is another pivotal development that you should commission as soon as the option comes up.
Spells that you have learned via the Glimmer system will be registered in the Incantations Lab, and it lets you assign them to different members of your retinue (the in-game term for your party). It’s a good way to ensure that everybody has access to a good range of spells.
You’ll also eventually be able to synthesize magic and create spells that combine two different element types into one. This is extremely useful against some of the game’s tougher bosses, including the Seven Heroes themselves.
Deal with problems the moment they arise
Progress doesn’t come cheap, but over the course of the narrative you might find that certain events have a negative impact on your earnings. That in turn undermines your facility upgrades and gear improvements.
You can usually undertake a mission to resolve these problems - for example, removing an infestation from a nearby mine - and game’s open-ended structure means you can tackle these missions as you see fit.
However, we recommend focusing on these missions as a priority, as solving treasury issues early will pay off enormously in the long term.
Need some cash and materials? Take an exam
If you need a bit of extra revenue, you can sit an Imperial Exam at the Imperial University (once built). Don’t worry - it’s less painful than it is in real life!
You’ll be tested on your knowledge of the world, its laws of nature and creatures, so pay attention as you play the game. Answers are multiple choice, and you don’t need a perfect score. A passing grade is all that’s needed to grab some valuable rewards very quickly, and you can always retake the exam should you fail to pass the first time around.
Inheritance tips
The Inheritance System is one of the coolest things about Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven. After the introduction sections, you get to choose successive Emperors from six playable character classes that are randomly selected each time of inheritance, and all the skills and experience of the previous ruler transfer over.
It’s always exciting to choose a new protagonist - but we do have a couple of tips to make the transition as smooth as possible.
Remember to set your retinue and skills when switching to a new Emperor
When your new Emperor takes the throne, your first destination should always be the Pub. Not just for a celebratory drink (though while you’re there…) but also to create a new retinue of followers.
Next, be sure to visit Training Hall. Here, you can set different techs for your retinue memberes, including your new Emperor. Be sure to equip techs that suit the current build. For example, there’s no point in keeping weapon techs equipped if you’re no longer going to use that weapon type. Don’t forget to equip Evasion while you’re there, too!
A little bit of prep at the start puts you in good stead for the challenges to come.
Don’t be afraid to abdicate if your current setup doesn’t suit a mission
Not feeling a particular character class as Emperor? Understandable - different missions will suit different classes, and some won’t even be accessible with certain classes as Emperor.
The Free-Form structure of the game means you can always go and do something else, but if you are commuted to that path, don’t be afraid to abdicate. The current ruler will step down and allow someone new to take the throne.
Be aware though - you can only abdicate once in a row. But if the story moves time on, or the current ruler falls in battle, abdication will become available once again.
Retinue tips
A leader is only as good as the people around them, so it’s important to have a good retinue with you as you take on battles. So, next up, we have some tips for how teamwork can make the dream work.
Change up your retinue and formation to suit the scenario
Revenge of the Seven contains significant threats that require a keen understanding of the different systems to overcome - particularly on harder difficulty levels. It can pay to structure your retinue for a particular encounter, which you can do at any of the world’s taverns.
Pay attention to any enemy’s weaknesses and be sure to have followers and techs or spells that exploit them.
Similarly, be sure to choose a formation that supports the strengths of that retinue. For example, if you have a lot of ranged characters, the Imperial Ray formation will let them do more damage, while a front line takes hits in their place.
There’s no limit to how much you can mix and match your retinue, and you can change it up any time outside of combat in the menu, so tailor it as you need.
Always have at least one healer in the team
Given that you have five slots available within a retinue, it can pay to assign one character to focus (almost) entirely on healing and protecting the others.
Raising characters after they die can be difficult and put a great drain on your battle resources. Better to keep them alive and avoid the problem entirely.
Try to use a healer from early on in the game, so that you can increase the healer’s spell level. And remember - once mastered, you’ll be able to assign spells to other characters, and spread the healing role around a bit.
Exploration tips
The world of Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven is beautiful, vibrant, and full of things to discover. Here’s some advice to help you do just that:
Don’t always follow the quest marker
It’s video games 101, but it’s as true today as it’s ever been. If your quest marker is sending you one way, go the other in search of secrets. Dungeons and towns are full of nooks and crannies that hide valuable loot, from money and materials to powerful new weapons, and going off the beaten path can lead to big rewards.
Consider when it’s best to restore BP
Almost every dungeon in the game will offer a BP restoration point - often placed just before a boss fight or climactic event. Using this completely replenishes your party’s reserve of BP - used to unleash powerful techs and spells.
Once used, this restoration point goes away, so think carefully about when to use it. If you’re not done exploring, it might be worth leaving it alone while you investigate the rest of the dungeon. Alternatively, if you’re about to face a boss, or just dangerously low on BP, take advantage there and then.
In emergencies, you can teleport out of a dungeon at any time
The fast travel options in Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven are great - you can instantly teleport to almost any location in the game.
That includes while you’re in a dungeon. If you find yourself overpowered, out of BP and generally struggling, don’t be ashamed to pull a tactical retreat and teleport yourself out of danger. Return to a town where you can rest up or change your retinue.
Yes, it does mean enemies will have respawned when you return, but that’s a small price to pay for survival.
Keep your eyes peeled for Mr. S!
This is Mr. S!
This big-eyed bro can be found hidden throughout the world’s towns, docks, villages, dungeons, open fields (such as the sprawling Savannah)… safe to say, this guy gets around. Seeking him out will provide you with various bonuses that can help you on your journey, such as revealing how many treasure chests are hiding in a particular area.
Each time you visit a new area take an eye out for his bright yellow body and say hello to him. You can track how many times you’ve found Mr. S in the Almanac.
Combat tips
Our final tips focus on the combat - something you’ll be doing a lot in Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven. It’s fast, it’s tactical and it’s really fun - especially if you follow this advice:
Try to ambush foes as much as possible
You’ll regularly have the opportunity to sneak up on an enemy from behind and launch a preemptive attack that allows you to act more quickly in battle. This effectively provides you with free turns when combat begins, sometimes giving you easy victories before the enemy has a chance to react.
Wherever possible, always launch surprise attacks.
One good tactic is to run away from enemies if they see you. Once they give up the chase, they’ll turn back, giving you the opportunity to ambush them from behind. Not terribly sporting perhaps, but fun all the same.
Use a range of weapons and spells to discover enemy weaknesses…
At beginning of your quest to defeat the Seven Heroes, we recommend you use a wide range of different weapons and spells during combat. This allows you to uncover enemy weaknesses quickly and makes sure you’re levelling up all weapon types and spells significantly.
Having high skill in all weapon/spell types is much more effective than focusing on specific types, as being overpowered in a weapon/spell type that an enemy is not weak against is less effective than having a solid skill level in one that they are.
Also, once learned, enemy weaknesses are shown in combat, even when you switch Emperors (memories are inherited, too!). The more you know, the better equipped you are to take a foe down.
…and then exploit these weaknesses as much as possible
Always try to unleash attacks that exploit enemy vulnerabilities. Not just because they do more damage, but also because they will fill your Overdrive gauge. When that’s full, you can launch a powerful United Attack, which can devastate your foes.
That also means…
Don’t hoard United Attacks
There’s no need to hold back your United Attacks for a special occasion. So long as you’re targeting weaknesses, that Overdrive gauge is going to fill fast, so feel free to unleash your best attacks even against common enemies.
United Attacks will help you finish fights faster - plus they’re really satisfying. You’ll also earn a Technique Point (TP) bonus when you end fights using a United Attack, so go ahead and let them rip!
Learn new skills through ‘Glimmering’
New techniques are learned in the heat of battle - a process known as ‘Glimmering.’ Once a character has discovered a new move, you can use it as much as you like (BP permitting, of course). Spells will glimmer after combat.
So, how do you know when a character is on the verge of learning something new? During battle will you often see a lightbulb icon next to some of your available actions. This informs you that you have a higher chance to Glimmer a new technique.
Sword-based actions will Glimmer new Sword actions, Water-based spells will Glimmer new Water spells and so on. It’s another reason to equip your Retinue with a range of weapon and spell types and gain as much future utility as possible.
You can check which skills you’re able to Glimmer from the Techs & Spells menu.
Change the difficulty mode to suit your preferences
If you’re really struggling with a particular section of the game, don’t forget that you can lower the difficulty. Alternatively, if you’re breezing through battles, you can increase the challenge to give yourself a more tactically-taxing time.
There’s no ‘right’ way to play and no gatekeeping - just play the game how you want to play it. The important thing is that you have fun.
We hope these tips and tricks help you take the Varennes Empire to new heights!
If you’re yet to experience this fantastic RPG for yourself, Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven is available now for Nintendo Switch, PS5, PS4 and PC via Steam.
- Get Romancing Saga 2: Revenge of the Seven on Nintendo Switch
- Get Romancing Saga 2: Revenge of the Seven on PS4 | PS4
- Get Romancing Saga 2: Revenge of the Seven on Steam
A free demo is also available. It lets you play through the opening sections of the story and carry your progress over to the full game:
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