Since last year, it’s been relatively quiet on the Vestaria front. A few days ago, the Twitter account for the Vestaria series revealed that the official English translation of Vestaria Saga I is planning to release this Summer.

The tentative title screen for Zeid’s Gaiden. It’s quite popular already!

Note: All images belong to S_Kaga and Vestaria Project.

In addition, progress towards the two Gaiden games is going smoothly. Originally, Zeid’s Gaiden, “Silverbirch’s Sacred Sword”, was also planned for a Summer release. However, there has been a lot more work than anticipated, so it’s expected to slip into 2019.

While we’re waiting, here’s some information related to Zeid’s Gaiden that S_Kaga shared with us around late 2017.

Karajan is one of many disposable characters.

Firstly, there will be “disposable characters” introduced into the game. Previously, many SRPGs (including Vestaria) have a heavy focus on characters, which can make them awkward to play as players are often forced to reset when a valuable character dies.

This time, playable characters will be divided into normal characters (the returning characters from Vestaria Saga I + new important characters) and disposable characters. Disposable characters can be identified by a personal skill (seemingly an exclamation mark).

Apparently there will be many disposable characters. They can reach a maximum Level of 30 and generally cannot promote. Instead, they gain experience at a 150% rate. They do not have personal weapons and have limited interactions and are not required to recruit other characters.

By adding these characters, the gameplay should become a lot more flexible and no-reset playthroughs should be much easier. Although these characters start off weak, it may be possible for them to surpass the main characters if properly raised.

You can view many of the early-game disposable characters (and some important characters) in this blog post.

Up to Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Regarding Jonathan, he’s a new playable character that joins Zeid together with his granddaughter, Sena. Because he’s a merchant, you can buy weapons from him during battle preparations. He also has a personal skill that makes him retreat when at 0 HP.

Meanwhile, Sena specialises in herbs and presumably sells you healing items. Because of Jonathan’s addition, Zeid no longer has the “stock” ability to access the convoy during battle. Instead, you can access the convoy by going next to Jonathan, like Merlinus in the Elibe games.

Next up, you may have noticed Baselhen, who’s a dubious recruit in every sense… But as it happens, he’s not actually that bad of a guy. Each time he levels up, he gives you 600 Dena from his… side jobs. But beware of his stink that causes -30% accuracy for allies within 3 tiles.

From dubious to unexpected, Vertoria is a wyvern who resides in a nearby mountain. It’s hard to tell, but she’s a tomboyish girl who’s around 14 in human years. She has three types of breath attacks, can fly and has the Adept skill. However, such power comes with a cost: 20 Dena per turn if deployed.

Sujatha is a Dagger Fighter who joins in the early-game. She has the Mother’s Prayer skill that prevents fatal attacks with a Luck x5% rate. When equipped with her Raijin Dagger, she basically can’t die. But note her other skill, Wounded Heart, which can lower her HP to 1 and cause confusion.

Aside from characters, some maps will feature taverns that you can visit. There, you can pay 200 Dena for a meal, which provides a beneficial effect such as HP +4, Def +3, HP regeneration and Movement +1. Which can be useful for raising characters or if a chapter is proving challenging.

The above screenshots appear to come from Chapter 1. This is where Sujatha and Ashram (Swordmaster) join. Apparently, the two are siblings. Ashram also has an incurable illness, which may affect his battle ability.

This next screenshot seems to be from Chapter 3. The highlighted character is Drake, the Master Thief. Apparently Baymonk and the pirate duo, Polluck and Castor, can also be recruited in this chapter.

Next up are Chapters 4 and 5. In the former, a bunch of Laurec’s men make their appearance: most notably Benette, Phoebe, Lott and Lance.

Meanwhile, Chapter 5 looks like a defence map. You must divide your army into four groups situated towards the north, east, south and west. In the center is the city that Laurec is guarding.

Chapter 6x is a dialogue-only chapter similar to Chapter 12x in the original Vestaria Saga. There’s at least 30 minutes’ worth of dialogue, so make sure to have your popcorn ready! Note that Ashram has a new portrait in the above screenshot.

We skip to Chapters 8 and 11. In the first, Ophelia finally joins as a playable character (she was a NPC in the original). From what I can tell, she’s a flying unit that can dismount. Dismounting can be useful for avoiding the bonus damage from bows.

Finally, Chapter 11 seems to focus on Zayed and a new playable character, Penelope (a High Hunter). As you can probably see, this appears to be a hostage rescue mission.

Last we heard, Zeid’s Gaiden will have 10~15 chapters, so it’s clear that good progress is being made!