dtgreene: I remember this not being the case. You *can* drop items, excluding certain important items, and there *is* a reason to, as inventory space is finite and smaller than one would like. It doesn't help that the game gives you a bunch of undroppable items, notably including elemental crystals that aren't useful until later in the game.
If the game ever gets a remake that *doesn't* completely redo the mechanics, they do need to add a way to store items; I would also like to see a way to return from Pureland once you enter it. (The DS remake, which completely revamped the game mechanics, included both those features and also greatly increased the amount of inventory space available, not to mention letting you carry 99 of each consumable rather than only 9. Yes, I have played that remake, on a legally bought cartridge, in Japanese.)
Darvond: Okay, I do remember it now. I just never used items very often aside from consumable parts for the robots, as Monsters tend to have healing game and spells, while Robots
are the weapon.
Well, there are Elixirs, which, unlike most RPGs with an item with that name, can revive fallen characters. Given that you don't get revive magic until rather late (in the original version, anyway; in the remake you can first get it in the Future IIRC), this does come in handy.
Incidentally, in the remake:
* Elixirs still revive (that's one of the few things that *didn't* change).
* Robot parts that boost stats don't exist; instead, their stats are handled more like SaGa 2 robots, so they absolutely need good equipment to be useful. (They're not as good as SaGa 2 robots, however.)
* Monsters are like SaGa 1 monsters; they can no longuer use spellbooks (but can use consumable items), but it is possible to get powerful monsters early. Many of the most powerful monsters get powerful healing abilities (but no revival), and there's the Grave Tackle attack (hits an entire group and can instant kill) that is quite common among higher tier monsters.
* Until Lost Magic shows up, Beasts tend to be the most powerful characters. Agility is easier to increase than other stats (particularly when factoring equipment), and martial arts attacks are now AGI based; they feel a lot like SaGa 2 AGI robots, except for their growth mechanic. You can even give one spells (though note that you need to be an Esper to learn non-basic spells, but at least you can use them in other races).
* Lost Magic is *really* good: Flare is the *basic* spell (as in, you don't need to learn it and it only uses up 1 of the book's 30 (refillable) charges), and it's possible to get it to the point where it can one-hit kill any non-boss enemy in the game, even on hard mode (which you have to beat the game to unlock, unfortunately). In this game, Flare > Crimson Flare (yes, both spells exist).
* There is a spell that revives the entire party, restoring over 50% of everyone's HP, but it's painful to learn (I think you need to have an Esper use the basic revive spell something like 150 times during battle; don't remember the exact amount).
