Even 5ch Users Are Stumped Over Why You’re Supposed to Kill the Four Magic Nobles in Romancing SaGa 3

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The story

On 5ch’s “Nandemo Jikkyo G” board, a thread about Romancing SaGa 3 took off after someone asked, “Why were the Four Magic Nobles even enemies you had to defeat in the first place?” Posters who had actually cleared the game chimed in one after another with “I don’t remember the reason,” and the discussion spread to cover the true identity of the Four Magic Nobles, their relationship to the previous Demon Lord, the long-running debate over how to pronounce their name (“yon-ma-kizoku” or “shi-ma-kizoku”), and even comparisons to the remake’s depiction and to newer entries in the series.

What people said

1AnonymousSep 10, 2026 12:13
These guys just quietly hide out after losing, that's all.
8AnonymousSep 10, 2026 12:18
Arakes is also partly to blame here, squatting in a tourist attraction without permission.
11AnonymousSep 10, 2026 12:20
Re: #8
Classic case of someone turning where he lives into a tourist spot without even asking him.
14AnonymousSep 10, 2026 12:21
[Proposition] 80% of people who cleared Romancing SaGa 3 don't actually know why they had a reason to fight the Four Magic Nobles
https://nova.5ch.io/test/read.cgi/livegalileo/1788944958/
17AnonymousSep 10, 2026 12:22
Re: #14
Forget 80%, it's more like 99% who have no clue.
15AnonymousSep 10, 2026 12:21
They're called the "Four Magic Nobles," but do these guys even know each other?
25AnonymousSep 10, 2026 12:23
Re: #15
They were all subordinates of the previous Demon Lord, so of course they know each other.
47AnonymousSep 10, 2026 12:31
Re: #15
They're basically like the Demon Lord's Four Heavenly Kings, so yeah, they'd know each other.
16AnonymousSep 10, 2026 12:21
The pronunciation is split to begin with, so the name never really sticks in your head.
20AnonymousSep 10, 2026 12:22
Re: #16
"Yon-ma-kizoku" has been confirmed as the official reading.
18AnonymousSep 10, 2026 12:22
Poor Dantarg — just one of the Seven Heroes minding his own business, and he still gets killed…
23AnonymousSep 10, 2026 12:23
Re: #18
If he'd just kept quiet we'd have let him go.
35AnonymousSep 10, 2026 12:28
Re: #18
There really was no need to kill this guy.
54AnonymousSep 10, 2026 12:32
Re: #18
He was just holed up at home doing strength training…
27AnonymousSep 10, 2026 12:24
What exactly is "the thing that destroys"? Does that mean the people sacrificed in the shishoku (death-eating) ritual?
30AnonymousSep 10, 2026 12:25
Re: #27
The power went out of control because there were two "Children of Destiny" when there was only ever supposed to be one.
32AnonymousSep 10, 2026 12:26
Re: #27
The lore is that a child who survives the shishoku ritual ends up with immense power, becoming either a Holy King or a Demon Lord.
So the idea is that having two of them this time is what created that massive destructive power.
33AnonymousSep 10, 2026 12:27
Why does Byunei's true form dress like an oiran (Edo-era courtesan)?
37AnonymousSep 10, 2026 12:28
Re: #33
Because she's sexy.
38AnonymousSep 10, 2026 12:28
Re: #33
Because she was a sexy woman.
41AnonymousSep 10, 2026 12:29
Re: #33
Theory: she got really into Eastern culture back while the Demon Lord was running rampant.
39AnonymousSep 10, 2026 12:28
There are still people out there saying "shi-makizoku," huh.
42AnonymousSep 10, 2026 12:29
Re: #39
In everyday spoken Japanese it really is split both ways.
There are also a few people who just don't want to admit it.
40AnonymousSep 10, 2026 12:28
They call the Demon Lord's Castle a beginner-friendly dungeon, so what's the deal with Arakes being in there?
44AnonymousSep 10, 2026 12:31
Re: #40
You can't reach that far in anyway, so it doesn't matter.
46AnonymousSep 10, 2026 12:31
Re: #40
Have you even played it? It's because you can't even reach floor 2, where Arakes is.
He's using the rookie adventurers as cover.
49AnonymousSep 10, 2026 12:32
Re: #40
Arakes is actually being kind — he locks the door specifically so tourists don't wander into the deepest area by accident.
45AnonymousSep 10, 2026 12:31
Re: #20
Wait, it wasn't even officially confirmed until this PV (promotional video) came out?
66AnonymousSep 10, 2026 12:43
Re: #45
Because the developers said, "call it whichever way you like."
48AnonymousSep 10, 2026 12:31
Doesn't "shi-makizoku" just sound better?
50AnonymousSep 10, 2026 12:32
Re: #48
No it doesn't.
It's felt off ever since I played it back on release.
56AnonymousSep 10, 2026 12:32
Re: #32
Then why does he use the power of the Four Magic Nobles?
62AnonymousSep 10, 2026 12:36
Re: #56
Well, from a meta standpoint it's probably just because he's the final boss……

If you force an in-universe explanation, maybe he absorbed it as part of the destructive power, but the game never really explains it.
58AnonymousSep 10, 2026 12:34
I wonder if the murder scene looks more realistic in the remake.
63AnonymousSep 10, 2026 12:37
Re: #58
With graphics like that, there's no "realistic" about it.
64AnonymousSep 10, 2026 12:37
Re: #58
You mean the "What, again?" scene?
75AnonymousSep 10, 2026 12:46
Looks like the debate over whether the Holy King is male or female is finally about to be settled.
80AnonymousSep 10, 2026 12:50
Re: #75
She's a woman in a super sexy, risqué outfit.
94AnonymousSep 10, 2026 13:00
Re: #75
It's already proven right there on the Super Famicom box art.
85AnonymousSep 10, 2026 12:54
I'm skipping the SaGa 3 remake.
Revenge of the Seven was fun, but I realized it wasn't a masterpiece — it just hit hard for nostalgia's sake.
I played Revenge of the Seven right after SaGa Emerald Beyond, and I was let down that you could win just by spamming Flash Fire over and over.
The depth of the combat is on a totally different level — SaGa Emerald Beyond is way more interesting.
90AnonymousSep 10, 2026 12:57
Re: #85
There can't be more than a handful of JRPGs with combat that beats SaGa Emerald Beyond.
Actually, I don't even know of any.

Background and Key Points of This Discussion

Romancing SaGa 3 is an RPG released by Square (as it was then known) for the Super Famicom in 1995. Many of its boss battles, including those against the Four Magic Nobles, are woven into a highly flexible, branching scenario structure, so players can often end up facing these fights without the reason ever being spelled out. That structural quirk is the backdrop for the repeated comments in this thread along the lines of “I cleared the game and still don’t know why.” The debate over how to pronounce the Four Magic Nobles’ name (“yon-ma-kizoku” vs. “shi-ma-kizoku”) stems from the fact that the original kanji was never given furigana, fueling a long-running argument among fans; posters in the thread noted that the recently released remake’s promotional video adopted the “yon-ma-kizoku” reading. The “Saga Eme” (SaGa Emerald Beyond) and “Ribe Saga” (Revenge of the Seven) mentioned later in the thread are recent entries in the SaGa series, and the thread also featured comparisons of their battle systems.

*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Nandemo Jikkyo G) thread “Romancing SaGa 3 — wait, why did we go kill the Four Magic Nobles again?

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