Received: June 15th, 2013 / Written: July 7th-11th, 2013
Alternate Title: Secret of Mana 2 [INT]
Year: 1995 | Developed and Published by: SquareSoft | [|O|]
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| This game will forever remain a classic, but how does the "sequel" fare in comparison? |
When you think about it, it's very amazing how far SquareSoft (currently known as Square-Enix since Enix merged with them in 2003) has gone since its halcyon days. Since their breakthrough hit Final Fantasy way back on the Famicom/NES, which is the very title that saved them from extinction after an unfortunate series of poorly received titles, this company has been for the most part dominating the world as far as turn-based RPGs were concerned. That title did well enough to garner a full-fledged series, but it wasn't the only series that they have been working on since then. Among the Final Fantasy games they have also crafted the SaGa... um, saga (with entries such as The Final Fantasy Legend, Romancing SaGa, and SaGa Frontier to name a few) and as for the other series, they are none other than the video game series known as Mana. =)
Mana began life on the original Game Boy as Seiken Densetsu: Final Fantasy Gaiden in 1991, which eventually got released in the West as Final Fantasy Adventure and Mystic Quest in America and Europe respectively. Naturally it did well enough and got positive praise, so SquareSoft decided to take it to the next level by releasing it for the Super Famicom/Super NES in 1993. That sequel was Seiken Densetsu 2, or as many like to refer it to by, Secret of Mana, which is the title that picked up traction for the series (which coincidentally is likened to the equivalent of an action-oriented version of Final Fantasy, minus the ATB system of course). Secret of Mana did incredibly well and received the most positive of acclaim, and for good reason. The storyline was enriching (despite a month's worth of translation by Ted Woolsey), the gameplay was great, the game could be played up to three players, the level of atmosphere was fantastic, Hiroki Kikuta's soundtrack simply rocked, the final boss fight was epic, and it introduced the ring menu system which would be used throughout the series as a result. It was re-released for the Nintendo Wii Virtual Console in 2008 and even remade for the iPhone in 2010; I'm not even certain how a touch screen version of the game would even work, but it sounds oddly fascinating. Unfortunately it's one of those titles that falls in the trope where it's enamored by critics but has left the gaming audience polarized (sort of like Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars and Kirby's Epic Yarn). Eh, go figure, I really like it and it's one of my top favorite A-RPGs of all time, so I guess that makes me a critic. ...wait. =/
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| This battle was truly dramatic! |
Once SquareSoft saw that it did well, they figured that Nintendo's 16-bit power machine could handle at least one more Mana game, so a sequel was in the works! And the sequel was released a couple years later... in Japan, that is. =( Due to various issues and reasons, the sequel that many call Secret of Mana 2 was never released in the West officially, which meant that for most gamers they either played it via emulation or landed themselves a repro cart with a full translation. Since I don't do either--although the latter does sound nice its fairly expensive for my tastes--it wouldn't be until the Summer of 2013 that I would import the Japanese cart of Seiken Densetsu 3 (thank you, Retro Duo, you've made it all possible). So, how does the third Mana title fare both by comparison and as a standalone? You'd be quite surprised. =D
I only ordered the cart, so I don't own the manual and the box. Wow, look at the title's structure, look at that great-looking kanji, look at that generically blue background in the cart art. It really makes you wonder; granted, I looked up the cover and there's more occurring on there, but you get the idea. All right, time to share my impressions for my sixteenth Super Famicom cart! =)
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| Choose your characters! |
The first thing I've noticed is that once you press Start you're brought to a screen with six characters to select from. Unlike Secret of Mana where the three characters were pre-chosen for you every single time, you have the option to personally choose which of the three out of the six key characters you want in your party. Okay, already this follow-up has an edge over its predecessor, so what else is there? Well, I looked up that depending on which character (same column characters have equal paths; i.e. Duran and Angela) you pick first you may find yourself heading to a different route later on than if you were to choose a different character. Also, you may bout against a different set of three final bosses depending on who you choose; so basically who you choose will send you on one of three possible paths. Oh so it's a "choose your adventure" kind of game? Nice! =D Already it's sounding like it's a better title than the previous Mana. I've only played through Seiken Densetsu 3 once, so I can only comment from what I've experienced. For my first playthrough I've chosen in the order of my choice Kevin, Duran, and Angela; I've yet to play as Charlotte, Reisz, and Hawkeye.
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| What a beautiful misty forest this is |
Like the last game, Seiken Densetsu 3 is an action-oriented RPG with a party of three. For the most part the gameplay structure is similar, though I have noticed that it's really more polished this time around. Maneuverability is really good, and you can run simply by holding down the B button; great touch. What's very nice is how even if your allies get stuck behind a rock or other item, you can still move about even though they are offscreen; thank you, SquareSoft! To choose between the characters just press the Select button to select which character you personally wish to take control as, and this time the power gauge is different. No longer do you have to hold down the attack button until it fills up and flashes wildly; for this iteration all that is required is to attack enemies. For each hit that you land on them each bar in the gauge will fill up, and once it flashes (by the end of the game there will be three different portion lengths) you can hold or press down the B button to do a tech or combo attack to use it up. Once you use it up, you'll have to start the process over again should you want to try again. The bigger the gauge the more potent the special attack will be. =)
But you must be wondering: is the ring menu system here? Yes, it is, and it's put to good use. With the X button you can access this wonderfully inventive and intuitive system, and to shift over to any of the other two allies' ring menus just press either of the shoulder buttons. =) Each character, while carrying the same amount of items, all have a different set of magic which they can use to either heal themselves, cure diseases or curses, use it to make themselves stronger, or even conjure them to attack the enemies (most can attack all at once). That's pretty sweet, but as is the case with most games in the genre using the magic will decrease your MP, so only use them when you have to.
The best part about this game? You can now carry up to nine of each item for your menu! Thank you, SquareSoft, you have no idea how helpful that is. As much as I love Secret of Mana, I have to confess that the four-per-item policy felt a little restricted, so it's nice to see that you can carry more here. Not impressive enough, well how's this then? If you manage to collect more than nine of the same item, they'll be going to the storage system. That's right, a storage system, where you can put items that you no longer require and can store up to ninety-nine of the same item in the pack. How sweet is that? =D You can access the storage with the Start button, and at this point you can either trade the item you don't need for something you do need or you can fill up the items you do have in the ring up to nine. You only have room for ten kinds of items which you can carry at a quantity of nine, so bear this in mind.
On a visual level Seiken Densetsu 3 is absolutely beautiful to look at. =) The areas are more detailed this time around, the colors are well-chosen, and most of the areas have a unique look and feel to them. Every area looks atmospheric, and I enjoy the little touches like flowers or grass gently being blown by the breeze of the wind, and they're well-designed areas too; like grasslands, cliffs, mountains, misty forests, forests with a series of flowers that shine brightly at night, snowfields, deserts, castles, and more. Another neat touch is how many of these areas (mostly outside) have some shade into them, and what's cool is how if a character or enemy steps in that spot they'll blend to that surrounding and become darker. That's awesome! =D I like how it lends the game a really good sense of atmosphere, kind of in a similar way that Natsume's first Pocky & Rocky did it. The areas are wonderful to look at, and they must be seen to believed.
Oh, but you know what's even better? Day and night! Yes, as time passes by the day will gradually turn to night and vice versa, with the sunsets and sunrises in-between. In the inns you can even decide to sleep 'til day or 'til night, and the great thing about it all is how the characters and enemies blend well with the surroundings, especially when it comes to the transportation sequences. You know, I really love that touch; it was done very nicely in games like Drakkhen and the first two Breath of Fire RPGs, but I really love how SquareSoft went the extra mile with this game! Kudos! =) The characters have got very good profiles that are well-drawn that will change in the course of the game, even though I couldn't help but feel that they were a little bright in certain spots.
Speaking of the characters, they've been rendered very well. Each of them has got their own character traits and personality, plus all of them have really fluid walking and brisk running animations. =) Also, as was the case in Secret of Mana, they do express their emotions from time to time. The NPC look and animate nicely, the enemies look lighthearted yet intimidating as usual (with regulars like the rabites, fish with harpoons, and little devils alongside newcomers like the desert rhinocerous/turtle amalgam and mysterious magical spheres with eyeballs), and the Mana spirits look very exceptional this time around.
The overall highlight, however, are the bosses. As great as Secret of Mana was, one of my complaints was that many of its bosses looked the same; not the case here. =) Each boss looks different than the last, and their various designs range from great to spectacular; some designs might be cartoony, but most designs try to look as realistic yet colorful at the same time. Take for example a giant monster practically made solely by flames, another being a wall boss that constantly summons two Zero enemies to try to take you down, or how about a towering behemoth trying to pummel you whilst holding on to the very top of a tower? There's more than that, but they look and animate wonderfully well, and some of them look effectively creepy and might make you feel nervous. <=O
Secret of Mana had a decent enough amount of challenge, but it's not a game I considered to be hard like some claim it to be. Seiken Densetsu 3 ups the difficulty by a few notches, while at the same time trying not to be too difficult right away and waiting at least until the last third to provide the most challenge. SquareSoft tries to maintain a balance all throughout, especially when your characters level up as you progress and the enemies get tougher as you go. There are many amenities that this game benefits from in terms of challenge. For starters, any time you enter a battlefield the enemies will appear with their level information (i.e. Level 7, Level 24) and name briefly popping up on the screen. That's great, since you'll be told how strong the enemies are without having to second-guess as you go, also when they're down for the count you'll be shown how many experience points you've earned! =) As for the bosses, just make sure you're leveled up just enough and properly equip yourself, then you'll be just fine. You can save in this game as well, either in inns or in front of statues; there are two kinds of statues, the silver ones just let you save and the gold ones refill both your HP and MP and after it will let you save.
The capacity to carry nine of each item really helps, and the storage system proves to be a real lifesaver if you've got plenty in stock and you've run out of them in your ring. The only time you can access your character menu [ Y ] or the storage menu [ Start ] is when there are no enemies in sight, so if your item count in your ring is low bring it back to nine and if you really need to use it use it while you have a chance. Especially if the next part of the area leads to a boss fight, you never know; also, save often. If a boss or series of enemies is too tough for the moment, level up just a bit until you feel you can take them on with no problem.
Another asset for the difficulty: the class changes. You've likely heard of this even if you haven't played it, but basically each of your characters can change classes two times, once when you reach Level 18 and the next after reaching Level 38. The first change will require that you stand in front of a Mana stone, and as for the latter change you'll need a special item. The reason this is important to know is because your characters' stats will slightly increase and they may do techs and magic that they could not do before the fact. The first time you're given the option to choose Light and Dark, while the second time the item you present will be your character's new defining moment. The final class combination will be ranging from Light Light, Light Dark, Dark Light, and Dark Dark. It won't affect the ending or anything, but whatever destiny you choose for your character is up to you.
What's pretty nice this time around is how there are different modes of transportation. You travel on foot, you travel by boat, you travel by cannonball; the third of which sounds just as implausible as it did in the last game, I mean seriously wouldn't that hurt just a bit? =/ Oh, but there are a couple extra ways of getting around, which I'll happily go over in brief detail. =)
The first of which is a fun method of transportation, and it usually gets summoned in the beach. And once you're there use the flute in the ring menu as your character shows off their flute-playing skills that surpass even those from Illusion of Gaia. You better watch your back, Will, 'cause you've got some real competition up against you!
After that happens you'll be given a ride by a big, cuddly, round giant turtle called Booskaboo (as far as I looked up), and riding on the water has never been more fun. =)
Interestingly enough this turtle in particular has a duckbill and a pair of flippers as opposed to feet. Huh! Must be some species of animal I've never heard of.
But of course what's a Mana game without a chance to ride the greatest mode of transportation of all time Flammie?
That's right! That wonderful white-coated, yellow-haired, four-winged creature of awesome has returned once again, and he's a lot better than ever! =D Once summoned via the Roll Drum/Wind Drum (whatever you wish to name it) he'll come pick you up and let you soar to great heights. But it doesn't end there! You can fly as high up as you can or you can soar while very close to the planet's surface, and boy can he fly! Try flying very close to the ground, it's an amazing experience and you can almost feel the breeze as you whoosh throughout Mana. =) It's even possible to view from third-person or from a bird's eye view with the shoulder buttons, but the best part about it all? The total inability to get lost!!! It's true, and Seiken Densetsu 3 really benefits from that.
Now as much as loved flying on Flammie back in Secret of Mana, I often had a tendency to get lost while I was airborne, so as a result I had to rely on looking at a map in another screen or hope that I land in my proper destination. It is much more accessible here, but what's great about this game is how any time you're in transportation mode (save for the Holyland) there are couple maps in the upper corners of the screen, with the left one showing the whole world while the right one gives you a closer look at which portion of the world you're at. They're very helpful and serve you very well. On top of that, to make things even better, there are flashing dots that signal where you're supposed to be headed next, which is great, since it reduces all possibilities of getting hopelessly lost, and as a result it's largely easy to follow, even if it is all in Japanese. Once again, kudos, Square! =)
There is even a single battle as you fly on top of Flammie's head, it is so awesome in so many ways than one. It's even viewed in two different perspectives, and it was so great that I wish I got screen captures of that while I had the chance. It's just incredible!
There are various songs that I like though, like the introduction theme, I think it really sets the tone for what's going to come. Also, the piano sounds absolutely brilliant whenever it's used, particularly in this one charmingly jolly piano-driven melody taking place in the forest lit up by glowing flowers. The theme for when you ride on Booskaboo is decent and is largely a fun number with the calypso and flutes playing in the background. As ecstatic as Flammie's theme sounds, I love listening to it as I fly in the air, it really gets you in an adventurous mood even though there's this one great part that doesn't come out until after the third phase. =) And that's something that I've noticed with a lot of this game's songs, the first two phases sound exactly the same but once the third phase comes then it all sounds very different and gives a different edge until it loops back to phase one; and usually it takes around two to four minutes to get to phase three. That's crazy! There are many different boss themes throughout, which is great, since it lends the boss fights a big variety in the aural sense, and many of them don't sound too shabby. And the individual town themes are nice to listen to as well. The ending suite is good and the victory fanfare for after you defeat a boss is cute and can work as a fun number to dance to.
The reason it's hard to get invested in this game's music? Well, the melodies are there, the instrumentation is good, the instrumentation is there, it just doesn't come up quite as strong due to how soft they sound. Granted, they can work if you want to listen to music that isn't loud or rambunctious, but if you're in the mood for exciting action-packed music? Yeah, you won't find a lot of that here, I'm afraid. =( The character select/file select theme is a weak song, and one of the castle themes sounds majestic but comes across as okay, to name two. One of the boss themes that's heard during the last third I thought was a very odd choice, as I felt it to be a little out of place. The obligatory sad theme, which doesn't sound too bad, I didn't find to be that effective; and it's probably due its low, subtle understated quality. I feel bad for talking like this, considering the music is usually one of video games in general's highest quality and usually I feel highly for it. For Seiken Densetsu 3's case, I felt about medium towards it. A lot of what's there is good, there's no doubt that Hiroki Kikuta tried to outdo himself, but due to its quality it turned out to be a step down, but not too much of a step down as I initially thought. The sound effects are very good, for many of them sound like they were lifted from the previous game or in some cases some from Chrono Trigger. The healing sound is great, the individual magic spells emit great sound, and what's neat is that depending on the ground the characters walk on you'll hear different-sounding footsteps (i.e. in the snow you'll hear sloshing and in the desert you'll hear soft trudging). I love that, it gives it personality. =)
A lot of the bugs that were present in Secret of Mana were rectified and addressed, and what's nice is that despite one or two of its characters being stuck in a certain spot due to their low AI you can still roam around while they're offscreen, so it alleviates a lot of frustration in this regard; though you can still delegate control to one of the allies with the Select button. The great thing about the allies though, is that they can automatically execute their techs when their gauge is up, so there's some fun to be had; they also attack the enemies too. However, SquareSoft didn't make a bug-free game per se. There are a few instances where characters, enemies, magic, and/or portions of the menu are behind an invisible foreground due to clipping issues, and it usually lasts until everyone is scattered or until all the enemies are gone. Here's an example:
Thankfully there are only a few instances of it occurring, so luckily it's not something you have to worry about often.
When it comes to obtaining very important items, you have to make absolutely sure that there's an available space in the ring, for otherwise you won't get it and it won't automatically be placed in the storage. I learned that the hard way with one of the earlier vital items. >_< Like its predecessor after a certain enemy has been vanquished they'll leave behind a chest, which may contain an item that you desire or an item that goes back to storage. Some of them will just have the items to grab hold of, but Square decided to do something different. There are chests that when opened will randomly ignite the wheel of traps, and unless the marker lands on "OK" the character that opened it will be hit with a trap that will have portions of damage sustained. As a result of that I was very hesitant to open a lot of the chests so I could avoid the traps... except it turns out that items that may be very important for later on are placed inside chests, certain ones which are required for the last class change; thank goodness I realized that and thought of looking it up before it was too late (I knew I needed something, I just didn't realize what it was at the moment).
As you level up and progress your game the enemies do get tougher, and of course, that's to be expected in this genre. There are some enemies I don't like though, like the werewolves near the end of the game that sometimes use a special attack that will wipe out most of your party members' HP, leaving you to heal your party as you combat it. I thought their "cheap mandatory hits your character takes despite being stunned when it happens" tactic in the last game was total BS (thank God they don't use that here), but this is just worse and unacceptable! >=( I thought I hated the werewolf enemies before, but this has made me hate them even more; and that's surprising considering the only werewolf I actually do like is Kevin, who fights as a human by day but fights as a werewolf by night.
The main characters aren't the only ones that use tech attacks and cast magic, for the enemies and bosses can also do the same. And speaking of the bosses, all of them require a certain pattern or powerful magic to be cast on them; make sure not to use a kind of magic that benefits for them, otherwise you'll be healing them by accident, so use the ones that don't do them good. You'll also be dealing lots of damage to them should you execute plenty of high level tech attacks. Here's the thing about the majority of the bosses: the amount of time it takes to beat them. I don't know know if it's because you haven't reached the highest of levels yet, because the bosses have a crapload of HP (ranging from thousands to tens of thousands), or because the highest amount of damage your characters can deal to them are in the mid-to-late hundreds, but a lot of them take a very long time to vanquish. Even when you're properly equipped, stocked, and leveled up it seems to be the case. There were boss fights that lasted between fifteen and thirty minutes, if not even longer. That's ridiculous! C'mon, Alcahest as a whole never took this long to defeat in Alcahest! I mean, it doesn't necessarily make it a bad thing or reduce the game's quality exponentially or anything, but it's just unusual and somewhat distracting. =|
But those are just minor issues and nitpicks of mine in what is otherwise an outstanding successor. =) I thought it was gripping and largely atmospheric, housing perhaps some of the most beautiful of non-prerendered visuals seen in Nintendo's 16-bit console. The animations were improved, and I loved how most of what made Secret of Mana great was transitioned here with no problems, and in some cases even improves upon said classic. The ring menu system is great as usual; even if it's only used when accessing your items, getting ready to cast magic, buying or selling items, and when you have to summon a Mana spirit to open a way (the menu for when you equip your characters is far different). I liked that you could carry more items, in the ring and in the storage, I thought it was a great implementation. The bosses looked great, and riding on Flammie and Booskaboo were very enjoyable while they lasted. =) Yeah, I'll admit that I was a tad disappointed in the soundtrack at first, but as I progressed a lot of what was there I began to appreciate; it's not quite the marvel that Secret of Mana's music was, but Seiken Densetsu 3 is mostly fun to listen to (but mostly in context to the game).
Remember how the anthropomorphic cat merchant Neko often wandered around and managed to show up in various places, often beating you to the punch? Well,...
now his kin and/or brethren are at it. Once the last third of the game starts these two will conveniently show up, one selling the armor while the other sells weapons. These cat merchants must have psychic abilities to know exactly where you're going to show up. =<
Even though a lot of its bosses take a long time to beat, they're fun to battle, and I have to say that I loved the day/night system, it really lends the Mana world some atmosphere. =) I think it's great how each character has their own strengths that make up for their weaknesses, as well as having character and personality that define their own charm. Also, the emotional expressions look great. Speaking of atmosphere, there was plenty of it around, and I liked how you could never get lost while riding on Flammie or Booskaboo, it really makes the experience fresh and rarely frustrating; another plus was that despite it being all in Japanese it was mostly easy to follow. I beat the game with all my characters at Level 57, beat it in three weeks with the time of over forty-two hours (hooray, the magic Hitchcock number). And I had a blast playing it, despite its few issues, and I like how it has got a lot of replay value due to how it's structured. The final boss was intense yet it made me feel quite nervous, and I beat it on my first try; though I heard that since I chose the Kevin/Charlotte storyline I looked up that it's the easiest out of the final bosses in the different storylines. I thought it was a really good battle, though I can't imagine how much more difficult the other two will be. I guess I'll find out one of these days. =)
Is it a perfect RPG? No; that award goes to Tenchi Sōzō (Terranigma), in my humble opinion. =) As far as I'm concerned, Seiken Densetsu 3 is one of the top three best RPGs that America never played, next to the aforementioned Tenchi Sōzō and Ys IV: Mask of the Sun. Sometimes I wish these games were released outside Japan during their heyday, because they're all such great and enjoyable RPGs. Do I recommend it? Hell yeah! If you want to see the best the Mana series has got to offer, or for that matter, the best that SquareSoft has got to offer during the 16-bit days, then I recommend you import it (or, if you can afford it, purchase a repro cart). Out of the three Mana titles that I played (one of them being Children of Mana), this is my overall favorite. But if you want to hear my honest opinion, I think you'll find much more appreciation for this game if you've played Secret of Mana beforehand. Enjoy! =D
Even though I admit to not being a big SquareSoft fan (I'm more of a Quintet/Enix kind of person), I found their games (that I played) to be fun. Having finished this game, it makes want to try another SquareSoft title! It really excites me the possibilities that I could choose from. *pulls out a list* =D In fact, I wonder which one I should tackle next? Lord knows there are many good games to choose from! *looks at list*
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| Fighting familiar Mana baddies on the yellow brick road to Oz |
The best part about this game? You can now carry up to nine of each item for your menu! Thank you, SquareSoft, you have no idea how helpful that is. As much as I love Secret of Mana, I have to confess that the four-per-item policy felt a little restricted, so it's nice to see that you can carry more here. Not impressive enough, well how's this then? If you manage to collect more than nine of the same item, they'll be going to the storage system. That's right, a storage system, where you can put items that you no longer require and can store up to ninety-nine of the same item in the pack. How sweet is that? =D You can access the storage with the Start button, and at this point you can either trade the item you don't need for something you do need or you can fill up the items you do have in the ring up to nine. You only have room for ten kinds of items which you can carry at a quantity of nine, so bear this in mind.
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| Enemies can be fought at night as well as day |
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| That giant ghoul sure looks happy {=| |
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| Such an unusual creature has never been witnessed before |
The overall highlight, however, are the bosses. As great as Secret of Mana was, one of my complaints was that many of its bosses looked the same; not the case here. =) Each boss looks different than the last, and their various designs range from great to spectacular; some designs might be cartoony, but most designs try to look as realistic yet colorful at the same time. Take for example a giant monster practically made solely by flames, another being a wall boss that constantly summons two Zero enemies to try to take you down, or how about a towering behemoth trying to pummel you whilst holding on to the very top of a tower? There's more than that, but they look and animate wonderfully well, and some of them look effectively creepy and might make you feel nervous. <=O
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| Normally I like ninjas but these two I could not stand! >=( |
The capacity to carry nine of each item really helps, and the storage system proves to be a real lifesaver if you've got plenty in stock and you've run out of them in your ring. The only time you can access your character menu [ Y ] or the storage menu [ Start ] is when there are no enemies in sight, so if your item count in your ring is low bring it back to nine and if you really need to use it use it while you have a chance. Especially if the next part of the area leads to a boss fight, you never know; also, save often. If a boss or series of enemies is too tough for the moment, level up just a bit until you feel you can take them on with no problem.
Another asset for the difficulty: the class changes. You've likely heard of this even if you haven't played it, but basically each of your characters can change classes two times, once when you reach Level 18 and the next after reaching Level 38. The first change will require that you stand in front of a Mana stone, and as for the latter change you'll need a special item. The reason this is important to know is because your characters' stats will slightly increase and they may do techs and magic that they could not do before the fact. The first time you're given the option to choose Light and Dark, while the second time the item you present will be your character's new defining moment. The final class combination will be ranging from Light Light, Light Dark, Dark Light, and Dark Dark. It won't affect the ending or anything, but whatever destiny you choose for your character is up to you.
What's pretty nice this time around is how there are different modes of transportation. You travel on foot, you travel by boat, you travel by cannonball; the third of which sounds just as implausible as it did in the last game, I mean seriously wouldn't that hurt just a bit? =/ Oh, but there are a couple extra ways of getting around, which I'll happily go over in brief detail. =)
But of course what's a Mana game without a chance to ride the greatest mode of transportation of all time Flammie?
Now as much as loved flying on Flammie back in Secret of Mana, I often had a tendency to get lost while I was airborne, so as a result I had to rely on looking at a map in another screen or hope that I land in my proper destination. It is much more accessible here, but what's great about this game is how any time you're in transportation mode (save for the Holyland) there are couple maps in the upper corners of the screen, with the left one showing the whole world while the right one gives you a closer look at which portion of the world you're at. They're very helpful and serve you very well. On top of that, to make things even better, there are flashing dots that signal where you're supposed to be headed next, which is great, since it reduces all possibilities of getting hopelessly lost, and as a result it's largely easy to follow, even if it is all in Japanese. Once again, kudos, Square! =)
There is even a single battle as you fly on top of Flammie's head, it is so awesome in so many ways than one. It's even viewed in two different perspectives, and it was so great that I wish I got screen captures of that while I had the chance. It's just incredible!
In the Manaverse, everything's better with Flammie! =D
So right now it sounds like SquareSoft has made a flawless sequel to a very great game, and it also sounds like they fixed every grievance that was found in Secret of Mana, right? Of all the things that this iteration improved upon, I find it disappointing that the soundtrack wasn't one of them. If you haven't heard that game's music, I recommend you give it a listen, as it's really quite good. Once more the soundtrack was composed Hiroki Kikuta, and the music from this game suffers from a similar issue that was evident in ActRaiser 2's score. Both were done by the same composer, they tried to improve upon the predecessor's music, they tried to add some more orchestration to it all, they tried to make it as atmospheric as much as they could, but ultimately all they ended up doing is make the previous title's soundtrack superior in and out of comparison. Though that's not to say that Seiken Densetsu 3's music is bad (for the most part), and unlike ActRaiser 2's case, it's actually decently good. Unlike Secret of Mana's music, the majority of the songs I feel work best when heard in context. Due to the fact that it's not as easy to feel invested in the game's music (even though it's easy to get invested in the game itself), at first I thought "Okay, it's a big step down, even for SquareSoft standards" but the more I played the more I got to appreciate what was here (the good stuff at least) and many of the songs grew on me.
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| You better hope it doesn't get all angry once he comes back to the upper surface! D= |
The reason it's hard to get invested in this game's music? Well, the melodies are there, the instrumentation is good, the instrumentation is there, it just doesn't come up quite as strong due to how soft they sound. Granted, they can work if you want to listen to music that isn't loud or rambunctious, but if you're in the mood for exciting action-packed music? Yeah, you won't find a lot of that here, I'm afraid. =( The character select/file select theme is a weak song, and one of the castle themes sounds majestic but comes across as okay, to name two. One of the boss themes that's heard during the last third I thought was a very odd choice, as I felt it to be a little out of place. The obligatory sad theme, which doesn't sound too bad, I didn't find to be that effective; and it's probably due its low, subtle understated quality. I feel bad for talking like this, considering the music is usually one of video games in general's highest quality and usually I feel highly for it. For Seiken Densetsu 3's case, I felt about medium towards it. A lot of what's there is good, there's no doubt that Hiroki Kikuta tried to outdo himself, but due to its quality it turned out to be a step down, but not too much of a step down as I initially thought. The sound effects are very good, for many of them sound like they were lifted from the previous game or in some cases some from Chrono Trigger. The healing sound is great, the individual magic spells emit great sound, and what's neat is that depending on the ground the characters walk on you'll hear different-sounding footsteps (i.e. in the snow you'll hear sloshing and in the desert you'll hear soft trudging). I love that, it gives it personality. =)
A lot of the bugs that were present in Secret of Mana were rectified and addressed, and what's nice is that despite one or two of its characters being stuck in a certain spot due to their low AI you can still roam around while they're offscreen, so it alleviates a lot of frustration in this regard; though you can still delegate control to one of the allies with the Select button. The great thing about the allies though, is that they can automatically execute their techs when their gauge is up, so there's some fun to be had; they also attack the enemies too. However, SquareSoft didn't make a bug-free game per se. There are a few instances where characters, enemies, magic, and/or portions of the menu are behind an invisible foreground due to clipping issues, and it usually lasts until everyone is scattered or until all the enemies are gone. Here's an example:
When it comes to obtaining very important items, you have to make absolutely sure that there's an available space in the ring, for otherwise you won't get it and it won't automatically be placed in the storage. I learned that the hard way with one of the earlier vital items. >_< Like its predecessor after a certain enemy has been vanquished they'll leave behind a chest, which may contain an item that you desire or an item that goes back to storage. Some of them will just have the items to grab hold of, but Square decided to do something different. There are chests that when opened will randomly ignite the wheel of traps, and unless the marker lands on "OK" the character that opened it will be hit with a trap that will have portions of damage sustained. As a result of that I was very hesitant to open a lot of the chests so I could avoid the traps... except it turns out that items that may be very important for later on are placed inside chests, certain ones which are required for the last class change; thank goodness I realized that and thought of looking it up before it was too late (I knew I needed something, I just didn't realize what it was at the moment).
As you level up and progress your game the enemies do get tougher, and of course, that's to be expected in this genre. There are some enemies I don't like though, like the werewolves near the end of the game that sometimes use a special attack that will wipe out most of your party members' HP, leaving you to heal your party as you combat it. I thought their "cheap mandatory hits your character takes despite being stunned when it happens" tactic in the last game was total BS (thank God they don't use that here), but this is just worse and unacceptable! >=( I thought I hated the werewolf enemies before, but this has made me hate them even more; and that's surprising considering the only werewolf I actually do like is Kevin, who fights as a human by day but fights as a werewolf by night.
The main characters aren't the only ones that use tech attacks and cast magic, for the enemies and bosses can also do the same. And speaking of the bosses, all of them require a certain pattern or powerful magic to be cast on them; make sure not to use a kind of magic that benefits for them, otherwise you'll be healing them by accident, so use the ones that don't do them good. You'll also be dealing lots of damage to them should you execute plenty of high level tech attacks. Here's the thing about the majority of the bosses: the amount of time it takes to beat them. I don't know know if it's because you haven't reached the highest of levels yet, because the bosses have a crapload of HP (ranging from thousands to tens of thousands), or because the highest amount of damage your characters can deal to them are in the mid-to-late hundreds, but a lot of them take a very long time to vanquish. Even when you're properly equipped, stocked, and leveled up it seems to be the case. There were boss fights that lasted between fifteen and thirty minutes, if not even longer. That's ridiculous! C'mon, Alcahest as a whole never took this long to defeat in Alcahest! I mean, it doesn't necessarily make it a bad thing or reduce the game's quality exponentially or anything, but it's just unusual and somewhat distracting. =|
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| Nothing special here, I just wanted to show off my party members' new duds =) |
Remember how the anthropomorphic cat merchant Neko often wandered around and managed to show up in various places, often beating you to the punch? Well,...
Even though a lot of its bosses take a long time to beat, they're fun to battle, and I have to say that I loved the day/night system, it really lends the Mana world some atmosphere. =) I think it's great how each character has their own strengths that make up for their weaknesses, as well as having character and personality that define their own charm. Also, the emotional expressions look great. Speaking of atmosphere, there was plenty of it around, and I liked how you could never get lost while riding on Flammie or Booskaboo, it really makes the experience fresh and rarely frustrating; another plus was that despite it being all in Japanese it was mostly easy to follow. I beat the game with all my characters at Level 57, beat it in three weeks with the time of over forty-two hours (hooray, the magic Hitchcock number). And I had a blast playing it, despite its few issues, and I like how it has got a lot of replay value due to how it's structured. The final boss was intense yet it made me feel quite nervous, and I beat it on my first try; though I heard that since I chose the Kevin/Charlotte storyline I looked up that it's the easiest out of the final bosses in the different storylines. I thought it was a really good battle, though I can't imagine how much more difficult the other two will be. I guess I'll find out one of these days. =)
Is it a perfect RPG? No; that award goes to Tenchi Sōzō (Terranigma), in my humble opinion. =) As far as I'm concerned, Seiken Densetsu 3 is one of the top three best RPGs that America never played, next to the aforementioned Tenchi Sōzō and Ys IV: Mask of the Sun. Sometimes I wish these games were released outside Japan during their heyday, because they're all such great and enjoyable RPGs. Do I recommend it? Hell yeah! If you want to see the best the Mana series has got to offer, or for that matter, the best that SquareSoft has got to offer during the 16-bit days, then I recommend you import it (or, if you can afford it, purchase a repro cart). Out of the three Mana titles that I played (one of them being Children of Mana), this is my overall favorite. But if you want to hear my honest opinion, I think you'll find much more appreciation for this game if you've played Secret of Mana beforehand. Enjoy! =D
Even though I admit to not being a big SquareSoft fan (I'm more of a Quintet/Enix kind of person), I found their games (that I played) to be fun. Having finished this game, it makes want to try another SquareSoft title! It really excites me the possibilities that I could choose from. *pulls out a list* =D In fact, I wonder which one I should tackle next? Lord knows there are many good games to choose from! *looks at list*
Uhhhhhhh *puts list away*, we'll see which one I pick in the future. =|
My Impressions: 9.5/10
P.S.: In case anyone's wondering: yes, the Moogles do make an appearance here. Santa and Rudolph don't make a cameo this time around. =(
P.S. 2: Since I brought Children of Mana up, I figured I may as well share my basic feelings towards it in a nutshell: Expostion-Exposition-Exposition, Story-Story-Story, Dialogue-Dialogue-Dialogue, Action-Action-Action, rinse and repeat. Any time your character swings a hammer towards an enemy they slide back and then ricochet off walls, and if they hit you then you'll be sliding back and ricocheting off walls. I swear they should've called that one Pinball of Mana, it would've been much more appropriate. I honestly thought it was repetitive and tedious. Don't play Children of Mana unless you're a real Mana enthusiast. =(
P.S. 3: Oh, my God, I own sixteen Super Famicom carts! =O I wonder if there's any more room in my video game cartridge drawers...
P.S. 4: I really need to review Illusion of Gaia one of these days.
P.S. 5: Did I mention how awesome Flammie is? =)
P.S. 6: Since I own the Super Famicom cart, I experimented to see if it could be played with two players, and it can. The second player controls the one whose profile is shown in the upper left corner. However, I looked up that it can only be played up to two players, so no third player is required, unlike Secret of Mana.
Thank you for reading my review, please leave a comment and I hope you have a great summer! Take care! =D
