The SaGa games always make it hard to give an easy thumbs up or thumbs down. Square's commitment over the years to a franchise with constant mechanical experimentation, obfuscated information and systems, and difficult combat is admirable, but also mean that they're not games for everyone. Emerald Beyond falls into that tradition, while being somewhat of a funhouse mirror version of Scarlet Grace.

The combat system is incredibly strategic and in-depth; positioning, turn order, status effects, timeline manipulation, damage types and formations all play into a deep and satisfying combat system, where you can pull a victory out of a hat at the last possible moment. In a lot of ways it's a refinement to the system from Scarlet Grace, but has some wrinkles, like a complete inability to heal within combat meaning that defensive techniques and smart strategies are mandatory. The downside is that there's no such thing as a short battle in Emerald Beyond, so even if you're outmatching your opponents, you can't just mash through the fight. There's also comparatively little overall variety in enemies, so you'll see most of them and learn their combat capabilities in relatively short order

In contrast to Scarlet Grace's extensive and branching story campaign, Emerald Beyond is more of a Choose Your Own Adventure RPG. Each of the five campaigns (and six protagonists) have an overarching story and plot, but you'll spend a majority of your time going through a grab-bag of themed worlds; if you go through multiple campaigns you'll see some of them multiple times, though they won't necessarily play out identically (due to inherent RNG and/or different choices you may make yourself). It's nice to have variety as you go along, though the stand-alone nature of each one means that the whole game tends to take on an episodic feeling and you might get tired of some worlds if they keep showing up in your runs. It all lends itself to a very story-light and casual RPG feel, though the protagonists are varied and amusing both mechanically and in terms of personality. The game even has the different campaigns potentially play out differently on a replay, with some characters potentially not even fighting their final boss on the first run.

I can't recommend Emerald Beyond to folks not already onboard with SaGa titles, but if you've played some of the other titles in the franchise and want something that feels more bite-sized instead of a 40+ hour campaign, EB is worth a look.