Romancing SaGa 3

"Death Eclipse"

"Every 300 years, the Star of Death blocks the sun and all newborn lives die."

"None of the people, animals, plants, or even monsters can escape from this fate."

"But one day, a baby survived. Escaping death's attraction, this child grew up, became the Devil King, and ruled the world."

"Also, the Devil King opened the Abyss Gate and released the devil lords within, until one day, he suddenly vanished."

"After that the world was ruled by the four devil lords. 300 years later, the Death Eclipse hit the world again. One baby survived. This child grew up and became the Holy King. Supported by many friends, he drove back the four demon lords back to the Abyss, and the Abyss Gate was closed."

"After another 300 years, the Death Eclipse hit the world again around 10 years ago."

"The whole world is watching closely for the new child of destiny, feeling both eager and uneasy. Will it be a devil king, or a holy king?"

Romancing SaGa 3 is the 6th game in the SaGa Series, released only in Japan by Squaresoft due to concerns that it would not do so well in America due to its highly nonlinear gameplay style.

The player can choose from eight different characters for their main character, with most of the others available as recruitable characters at various points in the game. These include:


 * Julian Naul: A Settler from the small village of Shinon. A freespirited, upstanding young man, he becomes Monica's guard if you accept Mikhail's offer.


 * Thomas Bent: A Fellow Settler of Shinon, skilled in many fields, from Cooking to Fighting.


 * Mikhail of Loanne: The Marquis of Loanne, he has been in control of Loanne ever since the previous Marquis died.


 * Harid "El Nool" Tornado: A traveler and highly skilled warrior that left the Naj Kingdom. Ever since then, he has worked as a mercenary.


 * Monica of Loanne: Mikhail's Sister, she escapes the castle after overhearing the Plot by Baron Godwin and Loanne's minister so that she may warn her brother of the plot.


 * Ellen Carson: The Elder sister of the Carson Family. Very shrewd at times, but is only is concerned for what is best for those around her.


 * Sarah Carson: The Younger sister of the Carson Family. A bit gullible and very kindhearted, she admires Thomas Bent quite a bit.


 * Katrina: The Guardian of Princess Monica and the Masquerade; A remnant of the Holy King that is in possession by the Loanne Family. Has the distinction of being the only one of the lead characters that is unrecruitable outside of her scenario.

This game provides examples of
 * Annoying Younger Sibling -
 * And Your Reward Is Clothes - Playing all the way through the main storyline of Katarina's scenario opens the option to change her back into her original outfit and hairstyle from the beginning of the game.
 * Another Dimension - The Abyss.
 * Apocalypse How:
 * Artifact of Doom -
 * Base on Wheels -
 * Battle Theme Music - Like nobody's business. Standard, regular boss, super boss, super boss rematch, and final boss varieties, of course, but of particular note when searching for the Professor's missing creations and.
 * Betting Minigame - Sort of. The minigame in question is Thomas's Business Game, which has elements of gambling to it but is actually very strategy based.
 * Bi the Way - The Professor is obviously female, but apparently has no problem giving out "a hot kiss" as a reward, even if your lead character is female.
 * Black Magician Girl - Undine, though theoretically any given female in the game could fall under this trope if the player should decide to make them focus on magic; Monica in particular is a blank slate.
 * Bloody Murder -
 * Can't Drop the Hero - Mostly played straight, but averted in Sarah's scenario:
 * Car Fu -
 * Character Customization - Loosely. Specifically, any character can use any weapon or magic, though some characters are better suited to some than others. And depending on what the character uses, some stats go up more than others. Monica, being a blank slate from the start, is the greatest example of this, with Muse a close second.
 * Corrupt Church -
 * Damsel in Distress - Monica.
 * Easter Egg -
 * Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors
 * End of the World Special -
 * Evil Eye - Stare attacks that induce Status Ailments.
 * Evil Minions -
 * Fantasy World Map - Actually quite accurate once you get to Limit Island.
 * Far East - Xuan City and Huang City.
 * Four Is Death - The 4 Devil Lords.
 * Friendly Neighborhood Vampire - Leonid.
 * Giant Space Flea From Nowhere -
 * Global Currency
 * Haunted Castle - Leonid's Castle.
 * Heir Club for Men - Mikhail chose to succeed to the throne anyway, so this point could be rendered moot.
 * Heroic Sacrifice -
 * High Altitude Battle -
 * High Speed Battle -
 * I Have Many Names -
 * Ill Girl - Muse.
 * Inevitable Tournament
 * Inn Security - Subverted.
 * Life Energy - In addition to HP, you also have Life Points, or LP. If a character runs out, they are removed from the party, but if your lead runs out it's game over. Leonid is the exception; he only has 1 LP, but will not be removed from the party if he is KOed. Rather, he will be removed from the battle, but will still be in your active party. Life Points can be lost in several ways: Losing all HP, Getting Attacked while KOed (Out of HP), or a Instant death attack.
 * Magic Knight - Sharl.
 * Non-Human Sidekick - This game has many:
 * No Name Given - Young boy.
 * One-Hit Kill - Death Sickle AKA Deathgod Stove
 * One-Winged Angel -
 * Parental Abandonment -
 * Power Limiter - Subverted.
 * Public Domain Artifact -
 * Rebellious Princess - Monica, if you choose to take her away from the palace.
 * Rodents of Unusual Size -
 * ROM Hack: In Spades, including characters from previous and future SaGa games
 * Also characters from various anime and games also are included, you have to dig around the net to find it though.
 * Ruins for Ruins Sake - Crystal Ruins in the Desert of Death and the Rotten Sea Ruins and.
 * Secret Identity -
 * Send in the Clones -
 * Shrines and Temples - The Holy King Temple in Lance.
 * So Long and Thanks For All the Gear - Any and all characters, since they can be kicked out/removed from the party at any time. Though there are a few particularly bad offenders:
 * Standard Status Effects - Charm, Stun, Petrify, Berserk, Blindness.
 * Superhero - Robin, a Captain Ersatz version of Zorro right down to the rapier.
 * The Chains of Commanding - A Special Commander Mode is used if your lead is not in your active party. You can use the formations your characters are in to unlock group techniques; in fact, some of the most powerful spells in the game can only be used in Commander mode. )
 * The Chosen One -
 * The Corruption -
 * The End of the World as We Know It -
 * The Little Shop That Wasn't There Yesterday - A travelling circus of oddities
 * Thief - Paul.
 * Thieves' Guild
 * Tourist Trap - Great Arc.
 * Unknown Phenomenon - The Aurora.
 * Virgin Sacrifice - Subverted; the people of town of Kidlanto will choose a person to be sacrificed to the monsters outside of town to prevent them from entering but they don't generally care WHO the sacrifice is, as long as there is one. That said, if your character escapes from the cave without killing the monster who's accepting the sacrifices first,  Also played straight with Leonid, who accepts girls from the village of Podol.
 * Walking the Earth
 * Walking the Earth