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This is going to be a long rant, but I need to tell you why the Romancing SaGa 2 remake is really hype and why you should play it. This is so long, it cannot fit in a single Steam Review, so I will be continuing it in the comments.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tj_cfyPw9tU
For a bit of background for why you have never heard of this game before, it was because it was originally a Japan-only Super Famicom game that did not release in the west. Fan-made translations do exist, but they are not the greatest quality. There was a rerelease of the game a few years ago that did arrive in the west. It was made with smartphones in mind and later ported to modern systems, so the graphics and controls are a bit awkward if you play it on PC or console.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/606370/Romancing_SaGa_2/
Despite remaining relatively unknown in the West, Romancing SaGa 2 (along with 3) have become cult classics in Japan, and their influence is seen in modern games with turn-based/roguelike elements and very open-ended gameplay. If you have ever played games like Darkest Dungeon, Breath of the Wild, or Pokémon’s Battle Factory, it will be clear how these games were influenced by the mechanics of RS2.
Firstly, the plot is unique and has a fun twist on the king under the mountain trope. The premise is that many hundreds of years ago, seven heroes banded together and saved the world from a great evil. What exactly the evil was is never stated in the game, but it was something that the whole world was grateful for (their history is actually expanded on in this remake, I'll let you be the judge on if this is a good change or not). It was prophesied that the heroes would one day emerge again when the kingdom of Avalon was in great need. As the centuries went by, tales became legends, and legends became myths. The kingdom of Avalon is now a small regional power and under constant monster attacks. One day, Leon, the king of Avalon learns that his son, Victor, was attacked and was killed by Kzinssie, one of the seven heroes. Leon attempts to kill Kzinssie but is also killed. As it turns out, the seven heroes have become angry demons bent on revenge for reasons I don't want to spoil. The prophecy said the seven heroes would return when Avalon was in great danger but did not reveal the great danger was the heroes themselves. On his deathbed, Leon teaches his other son Gerard a secret succession spell that will allow future rulers of Avalon to give their skills to their descendants each generation.
The game follows the generations of future emperors of Avalon in their quest to expand their empire and defeat the seven heroes. The game is open ended, and the player is free to challenge the heroes in any order they wish. One of the more interesting features is that the heroes have their own methods about how they want to get their revenge. One wants to create a narcotics empire, one of them is seeking to merge with an ocean deity to become more powerful, one is not as evil but is only fighting because he wants to become stronger. What is cool about this system is that whichever one you fight last will have completed their goal and will be at their most powerful in the endgame. Even in battle, the seven heroes have their own signature styles. One specializes in confusing only male party members, one specializes in debuffing the party, one specializes in heavy physical attacks, etc. Preparing a team to get around these strategies is key to an easy battle against them.
As for the gameplay, the main gimmick is how characters can die and will have to be replaced periodically. Characters regain all their HP between battles, but if they fall to zero HP during battle, they become incapacitated and lose one LP. They can no longer attack until the battle is over or somebody revives them. If a character loses all their LP, they are dead and cannot be brought back; the player will have to recruit somebody else to take their place. Each character also has a class that they belong to. In typical JRPG fashion, each class has certain proficiencies they tend to be better in, these patterns are also varied by gender and even by character. For example, male court mages are good at water magic, but female court mages are good at fire magic (except for the female court mage Sapphire, who is instead good with rapiers). This system makes it so that every recruitable party member is unique and can all have different base stats. It allows for unexpected synergies, but also in depth minmaxing if you are into that. The remake has made it a lot more clear on who is good at what.
Characters level up skills in different arms and armors the more they use them. So while you could go for an all-around character, it is better to have a team where each member is specialized in a few skills (think leveling in Skyrim or EVs in Pokémon). Unlocking new skills is a unique system. Whenever you use certain skills, there is a chance that the character will come up with a new skill and use that instead. What the unlocked skill is depends on what the character originally chose to do, as well as the enemy that it was being used on. This means that it is not always optimal to choose the same moves every battle, and experimenting with different attacks and skills will be rewarded in time.
Magic also has a unique system. Spells fall into six families: fire, water, earth, air, light, and dark. Each spell family and weapon type levels separately, so it is best to focus on a few magic schools and weapons at a time. With magic, spells from each family cannot be learned alongside spells of its ‘opposite’ family; a character with fire spells cannot learn water spells, a character with air spells cannot learn earth spells, a character with light spells cannot learn dark spells, and vice versa. There are some spells that take advantage of multiple elements, so it can be worthwhile to try and specialize in multiple families at once.
As mentioned before, there is a succession mechanic with the emperor. If the emperor ever runs out of LP, the entire party is incapacitated, or enough time has passed, the emperor will die. The player can choose a new emperor to succeed the previous from a small pool of potential heirs. This means that the main character is constantly changing, and the player will have to reconsider their team composition often. In the original game and in harder difficulties, this can happen often, but the remake lessens the amount of 'unwinnable' battles you may get thrown into. When fighting foes, the player will have to anticipate what weaknesses they may have. The emperor can inherit the skills from the previous emperor, meaning that they will become more and more powerful as the game goes on. Even if you play perfectly, you will be forced to select a new emperor at times; the game will tell you that the emperor is too old if you do too much in one generation and the game is infamous for sometimes causing encounters to be way too difficult to play around.
If you have ever played Final Fantasy, you may be familiar with the rank positioning system; characters in the front are more likely to take hits but deal more melee damage, while characters in the back can heal and do ranged attacks in relative safety. RS2 expands upon this by creating a menagerie of formations that your party can take. Each one has its own buffs and debuffs that come along with them. For example, the rising phoenix formation makes it so the one in front is much more likely to receive attacks, but raises their block and counter chance, while the other party members receive lower speed but increased melee damage and defend actions. The rapid stream formation makes it so that the player’s party always goes first at the start of the battle and in a predictable order, but removes their ability to block and counter hits. Many formations can only be unlocked when a certain class is emperor, so this again promotes a varied playstyle.