Battling monsters will also advance in-game time as well with weaker monsters not so much but more difficult monsters advancing by a fair bit.
Some quests are exclusive to certain party members, while others can only be completed within certain time windows within the game.
Completing quests will advance the time of the game unlocking new quests and tallying up Karma points by your actions to determine which of the two final scenarios you unlock. The Event Scenario System is a hub of different quests lines the player can choose to partake in to advance the game. Romancing SaGa begins a staple of the SaGa series, both gameplay and story are largely open-ended, giving the player the ability to play through scenarios in a number of different orders, with some areas and portions of the narrative only becoming available once they have spoken to specific characters or performed certain tasks. In addition, the player must select the profession of the character's parents from a list of eight choices each, which go towards determining their stat growth and roles in combat. At the start of the game, the player is given the option of assuming the role of one of eight main characters, each with their own strengths, weaknesses, and starting points throughout the game's world. Romancing SaGa is a non-linear RPG more in line with Western RPGs than Final Fantasy. It is also the first entry that Tomomi Kobayashi did character designs for, and established her as the main character designer for the franchise.
The game serves as the basis for most of the series that comes after, featuring the ability to choose between eight different characters to play as, a non-linear adventure with free access to the whole world, dozens of quests to embark on, and a unique leveling system. In 2009, the original Super Famicom version was ported to mobile phones and the Wii Virtual Console service in Japan. In April 2005, an enhanced remake of the title for the PlayStation 2 called Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song was released in April 2005 in Japan, and in English for the first time in North America the following October simply under the title Romancing SaGa. The game was later ported to the WonderSwan Color handheld system in December 2002, being exclusive to Japanese players. The original Super Famicom version sold over a million copies worldwide and was voted by readers of Japanese Famitsu magazine as the 53rd greatest game of all time in a 2006 poll. The game was designed by Akitoshi Kawazu who had served as head developer for the previous SaGa titles, with fellow series veteran Kenji Ito providing the game's soundtrack.