Vestaria Saga II started as a free hobby project
If you wish modern Fire Emblem was more focused on strategy RPG battles and less focused on perfect teatimes, then Vestaria Saga 2: The Sacred Sword Of Silvanister might be for you. It’s a fantasy turn-based strategy game designed by original Fire Emblem creator Shouzou Kaga with a team of volunteers, and it was released on Steam today with a full English translation.
Here’s the release date trailer from last month:
Publisher Dangen Entertainment have then taken that free game, translated it into English, and are selling iton Steamfor £15.50/€16.80/$20. Still, the underlying game remains a free hobby project, and despite the professional pedigree of its designer and many of its volunteers, it has the production values of a free project. Creator Shouzou Kaga wrote about his intent to keep the series a hobby projectin a blog post last year(in Japanese).
Vestaria Saga 2 continues the story from the first game, with the same main character, Zade. It’s a strategy RPG, which means you’ll be moving units around a grid-based map and making decisions about weapons, armour and attack moves, but also that chats with allies confer “stat boosts and other advantages” that help you out during battles.
Vestaria Saga 2 is out nowon Steam. I don’t think I’ve got the patience for it, but it’s cool that this old, influential game designer is still making games now just for the fun of it.
