RPG Maker Dungeon #11: Hat World New Testament
Link: https://mega.nz/folder/09FRHYSR#VKxBWy9oTNffPNJlnvsEBA
Originally published on September 21, 2023
The SaGa series is a trailblazer in so many ways. The first three entries, localized in the United States as "Final Fantasy Legend," proved that complex roleplaying games could work on a handheld. Romancing Saga 2 for the SNES told the story of a royal family over several generations, predicting "roguelike" games like Rogue Legacy. SaGa Frontier for the PlayStation mixed science fiction, romance and tokusatsu drama into a deeply weird brew. Unlimited Saga for the Playstation 2 looked to 1980s computer RPGs like Phantasie for inspiration, in defiance of every other RPG series at the time. Its "slot" mechanic (really an attempt to surface tabletop dice rolls in the language of a console game) is reminiscent of dice-based computer RPGs like Disco Elysium, Citizen Sleeper and Baldur's Gate III today.
Unlimited Saga was such a flop that the series was nearly put out of commission. These days it survives on the strength of a popular phone game, as well as an extensive series of remakes and remasters for modern consoles that put Final Fantasy's own preservation efforts to shame. The most recent of these, a port of Vita cult classic SaGa Scarlet Grace, did well enough that the sequel SaGa Emerald Beyond was promoted at the last Nintendo Direct. Yet despite its devoted fanbase, the SaGa series has always been a love-it-or-hate-it proposition outside Japan. It's not just that folks dismiss them for being "retro" or "too anime," like they do for so many other Japanese RPGs. Something about SaGa and its children makes even hardcore RPG players angry.
If I was to guess why, I would say that SaGa flies directly in the face of every Japanese RPG made since Dragon Quest. Dragon Quest was made to be beaten. Even in the first game, dying in battle halved your funds but kept your experience intact. Steadily gaining levels let you outpace even monsters that gave you a hard time. Most blockbuster games made these days share these values. The SaGa series, on the other hand, has never given a shit whether players could finish the game or not. You can't just breeze to the end of the game by mashing the "Attack" command. In fact, many SaGa games are designed so that the enemies scale with you. Your only hope is to exploit their weaknesses via your party's particular strengths.
For my part, the aspect of SaGa that bothers me most is a lack of control. Characters gain new abilities and stat increases seemingly at random. In earlier titles, the sheer number of encounters ramped up the enemy scaling faster than some players could handle. Entries like Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song removed quests and changed the world state based on the number of battles fought. Meanwhile, talking to the right person at the right time, or choosing a specific dialogue option, could abruptly shift the direction of the story without warning. It's the kind of thing that makes players read guides, which inevitably alters the magic of these games.
So what would happen if you made a SaGa game that allowed the player to control the changing world state in granular detail? You'd have Hat World, first made by Enu in 2013 and then remade as Hat World New Testament in 2019. Enu is best known abroad for developing the Takentai Sideview Battle System, a plugin developed for RPG Maker VX and VX Ace. Hat World is as great a technical accomplishment as you'd expect from somebody of their reputation. It's also a feast of big-picture ideas.
Hat World begins by having the player choose from one of six heroines. Each has a magical hat that grants them power over things like toys, battle and time. No matter their motivation, the objective remains the same: to invade the worlds of the other heroines, beat them up and take their hats. This is easier said than done, because these worlds are packed with guardians called Decoys that must be defeated in combat.
Multiple protagonists are a long-running SaGa tradition. So are the battles, which are faithfully replicated in Hat World. Characters "spark" abilities and increase their stats in the middle of combat. The party's abilities "combo" with each other if used correctly. Formations let you reposition on the fly in response to enemy tactics. Meanwhile, while random encounters in the field are quite easy, bosses demand that you learn their tricks in order to succeed.
In other respects, though, Hat World diverges from SaGa completely. Enemies only scale in power when you move to the next stage. There are countless ways to make characters stronger without relying on random chance. Character builds derive from mixing and matching equippable gems that, which can be strengthened with crystals. Weapons can be "tempered" for extra power with no downside, or equipped with O-Parts for bonuses. Equipment is made via crafting rather than bought from shops; both require crystals as well.
What this means is that "grinding" in Hat World is much more viable than it is in SaGa. Longtime series fans might grumble that this entirely misses the point. SaGa games are about going with the flow, they say, not repetitive action! But no matter how much Hat World lets the player "grind," it never lets them off the hook. Building characters requires choices: which gems to strengthen, which to equip, which items to craft and which to steal from enemies. Anything beyond that requires travelling to the next stage in order to become stronger.
Hat World doesn't just let the player control the escalation of difficulty. It also lets them determine which systems they have access to at any given time by collecting hats. Obtain the Hat of Time to see and manipulate turn order. Steal the Hat of Law to learn enemy weaknesses. You can beeline towards your favorite hats, or instead follow a different order to shake things up. Not to mention other, hidden systems, such as how you increase everybody's maximum stats...
Of course, there are other influences in the Hat World mix. The cast navigate the world in 2D rather than top-down or isometric perspective, much like Valkyrie Profile. The cast of cute hat-wearing girls are reminiscent of the Touhou series, although there's a seediness to some interactions that are more in line with Nippon Ichi's titles. Hat World has much more dialogue than you'd expect from a SaGa-inspired title, with a full range of characters sporting their own personalities and secrets. There's a bit of Madoka Magica, too, in the slowly unfolding puzzle of Hat World's inner workings.
Hat World New Testament is a big, exciting and idiosyncratic passion project by a coding wizard of the RPG Maker scene. It captures much of SaGa's magic while sanding away its polarizing aspects. There's one big drawback, which is just how much of the experience is taken up by battles. Characters in Hat World are fighting all the time: navigating menus, learning skills, overcoming impossible odds. It's repetitive enough that I've had to take breaks from the game to stave off frustration.
On the other hand, Hat World has so many unexpected moments: game shows, party doppelgangers, cooking, even a dramatic train ride. Like Ruina: Fairy Tale of the Forgotten Ruins, it's a game packed with everything its creator found fun or interesting, regardless of its commercial appeal. What else are indie RPGs for?