As with nearly every game in the series,Romancing Saga: Minstrel Songallows characters to learn techniques in weapon-centric skill trees by triggering what is called a “Glimmer”. While Glimmers occur at random, there are plenty of things you can do to influence the chances that a Glimmer will happen, as well as increase the likelihood of what particular skill might be triggered by that Glimmer.
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With 15 weapon types available in the game, and the fact that grinding out Glimmers can be a very time-consuming process, one might worry that there are far too many directions to go in terms of character growth, and that can be quite overwhelming.
15Katanas
Yeah, we know—this one hurts. Katanas are cool. In Romancing Saga: Minstrel Song, however, katanas are more specialized weapons and not great all-rounders.
A lot of katana techniques are engineered to focus on specific enemy weaknesses or to cause debuffs, which can be highly beneficial in certain encounters. But this speciality focus comes at the cost of overall attack power, where katanas tend to come in last.
14Bows
Bows are similar to katanas in that they are primarily speciality weapons. But while katanas focus on debuffs, bow techniques tend to highlight status ailments.
There are a few really useful status ailments, especially in some long-haul boss fights, but, overall, bows not only lack oomph when it comes to damage, but bow techniques also tend to be slow, with only one fast tech in its skillset.
13Hand Axes
Hand axes are pretty average all-around weapons. They’re versatile in that they share some techniques from the sword skillset and the two-handed axe skillset, so you get a decent sampling of some good attacks.
That said, hand axes just don’t excel in any particular area. They’re just there. There’s no hook to them or any of their techniques, and most of their best techs are available in other skill sets. The best hand axes are about on par with mid-range swords or two-handed axes.
12Long Swords
Long Swords are very similar to scimitars, short swords, great swords, and two-handed swords. They end up a nice compromise between the speed of scimitars and short swords and the power of great swords and two-handed swords. They are average, and don’t slip too far in any direction.
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Unfortunately, long swords suffer a little bit in their skill pool. Because they are in the middle of the sword spectrum, they miss out on some really great skills like Kaleidoscope and V-Impact. Even balance comes with a price, it seems.
11Scimitars
Scimitars are like a marriage between katanas and more standard swords, taking benefits and detriments from both camps. In Defense Mode, they play more like katanas, with skills that debuff, and in Trick Mode, they focus on exploiting particular enemy weaknesses.
Sadly, scimitars don’t have any real heavy hitters when it comes to truly damaging attacks, even with mastery. The best skills scimitars have, like Kaleidoscope and Doppelgangers, are available on other sword skill sets, and those other sword types also tend to have even better attacks, like Upper Smash or Eulogy.
10Great Swords
Now we’ve left behind the more bottom-tier weapons and have moved into the “decent” category—andgreatswords happen to be agreatplace to start. Great swords might evoke images of big, sluggish wedges of metallike something out of Berserk, but most of their attacks come out at normal speed, with a few slower attacks here and there.
Great swords also have access to Upper Smash, which is one of the most powerful single attacks in the game. The only problem is, two other weapon types also have Upper Smash in their skillset, and both of those other types have additional benefits that make great swords more or less obsolete.
9Two-Handed Axes
Two-handed axes have a very similar skillset to great swords with some extra perks. The vast majority of their techniques come out at pretty average speed, and they do decent damage.
Playing in Defense Mode is the way to go for two-handed axes, as that skillset will cause enemy debuffs—particularly for Agility, which can be a game-changer in a boss fight with a particularly fast opponent. In short, you can’t go wrong with two-handed axes.
8Two-Handed Swords
Yet another weapon that has access to Upper Smash, and of the three, this one is the most valuable. Even aside from Upper Smash, two-handed swords have access to Vandalize—another great tech with A-rank growth, and V-Impact.
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Where two-handed swords really shine, though, is in battles against the undead, which makes them really valuable for places like Estamir Sewers and the Vampire Den. Both Attack Mode and Defense Mode have techs that specifically target undead enemies for huge damage bonuses.
7Clubs
Nothing’s more satisfying than giving an enemy a good bonk—and to make that experience even better, clubs are actually pretty solid weapons. Both Attack Mode and Defense Mode give you access to some decent attacks that cause debuffs and target oddly-specific enemies (like turtles, for example), and one of those techniques is the amazing Aqua Luna.
The biggest downside to clubs is their Trick Mode skills. While Trick Mode tends to house most of the best techniques in any weapon’s skillset, clubs have one of the worst Trick Modes in the game.
6Pole Arms
Pole arms have an extremely high damage potential, but they are very tricky to use well, as a lot of their attacks build on one another, while more straightforward attacks tend not to produce as much damage. With some practice, however, you’ll have access to some really devastating skills, like Triumvirate and Discord.
The best part about Pole Arms, however, is their Defense Mode technique: Aqua Luna. Aqua Luna hits pretty hard—but it also does LP damage, which can decimate some bosses and stronger normal enemies.
