A look back at: Seiken Densetsu 3

I often wonder just how did the Mana series become such a cult classic? The gameplay for action RPG-style stuff is more unique than others before and after it, and the games are usually pretty good in terms of how much you have to endure before you decide to go on a grinding segment or so.

Wouldn't say the same thing for Seiken Densetsu 3, now known as Trials of Mana. Before that remake of Sword of Mana came by Seiken Densetsu 3 gave us the utilization of class changes, and even said it was a mechanic in-game. The battle system was more in-line, allowing for actual waiting periods. Although sometimes in the heat of battle my controlled character gets into it and somehow waits longer. The controls do need some work. There were quite a lot of grinding moments too, but thankfully enemy experience is done well. Still, the way some characters gain new spells, plus the maximum stat gains, and perhaps the worst of all, the enemy item drops (because you need specific ??? seeds in order to get the final class change and you want to get a very specific item for a very specific class) make this one way more trouble than it could be worth. Getting the right classes at the end game made the bosses a cinch though.

The enemy AI is surprisingly smart, making this game one of the harder ones I've actually played. It's enticing to smash enemies with your special moves and magic, but hitting them hard enough will cause them to attack with their own specials, and many can do loads of damage. This makes some areas a pain to grind, especially the full-screen attacks that stop all the action (to be fair, the character's special attacks offer that kinda thing too). Also you can't stop a caster unless you kill it outright, casting is uninterruptible here. Sometimes the game's delayed reactions to things also causes enemies to use their special right upon death. Frustrating moments were had in spades.

With the way the game is set up, they tried for replayability and all, but the grinding wore me out and I'll only play the game once. I can tell they wanted to go for six differing stories, although two characters will inevitably share similar plots and final bosses, not to mention arch-nemeses at times. The game definitely throws curveballs with how specific villains get screwed over depending on who your main character is, while plot-wise, they basically let you do all the hard work then screw you over. Some typical, some not typical. Seiken Densetsu 3 was a game that tried, but mostly managed to be around the same level Secret of Mana was.

A look back at: Secret of Mana

Welcome back to my look backs. Often it's been way too long before I make one of these, obviously due to me doing other things or being caught inside an RPG myself. Though Secret of Mana isn't entirely that long of a game. Plus it's super easy to play through. Surely enough, a lot of what Sword of Mana takes came from here, chest traps, enemies on field, ring menus, spell and weapon levels, AI controlled partners, and a mostly simple storyline. Secret of Mana surprisingly was more linear than I expected, which I sort of am getting tired of at this point.

The game's overall plot ends up being pretty interesting at first, although the part about "finding a weapon and getting monsters released then getting banished from home" was something I saw in Wild ARMs before this, I know this game had that first. The girl's plot of finding her preferred lover was a nice tie-in that manages to combine well enough with the boy's plot of being a chosen one and finding the mana seeds. The sprite's plot is a little less so, but has the somewhat typical amnesia plot, yet the sprite still stays with the group long enough to make things more fun.

Really if there's anything to really take away from Secret of Mana, it's that the game is perhaps one of the few early tries at making a cooperative RPG, one that can have extra players join in and control a character, making the usually frantic action a lot more interesting in ways. The ways characters and enemies flinch ends up being strange and awkward, especially if reactions are delayed in some ways. There's a lot of time I spent grinding weapon and magic levels, then I stopped altogether when I found out the last few weapon orbs end up being random drops in the end dungeon. These kinds of things aren't worth busting your butt over getting, the game is already easy enough at that point where you can beat the final boss in several 999 damage hits. Oh and speaking of hits? Evasion is something I don't understand about this, some enemies just flat out don't get hit at all here, which is because of their evasion stat, but it doesn't make sense often how it occurs. Same with characters at times. Secret of Mana really is a strange game and while I had my fun I'm not sure if I want to relive it again.

A look back at: Final Fantasy Adventure

Finally another Mana game oh wait no hahahaha. Well, it's definitely the first in the series, odd how the more famous Secret of Mana came after this one, and technically after Sword of Mana since this game is the original version of that one. With Zelda-like navigation it was like playing Link's Awakening except I wasn't playing Link's Awakening. I sure wasn't going on a dungeon-fused fetch quest, just playing the story of Sword of Mana more primitively. No need to worry about allies, since they just sort of wander around without any harm to them. The Chocobo in particular was quite helpful.

Needless to say, loads of grinding in one particular spot got me to level 60 long before I fought even Medusa, which tells me quite a lot. I could've gone further, but then I noticed where the gold caps out at, not that it really matters. I made this game really easy. And to be honest, as primitive as it is, I kinda needed to because of how clunky it played. Having to find which particular weapon or spell that defeats some enemies is certainly a hassle and a complaint I have about this game, having to continuously switch weapons, since the morning star is better than the flail for instance on some enemies, or having to switch between items and magic often. Oh, and some of these dungeons don't have a lot of clues where to go, and keys and mattocks are often needed to get around, and those are expendables necessary. In some cases, it's possible to make the game unwinnable. Plenty of bosses, predictable in most cases but I found those dragons a lot tougher than Julius for example due to their head being the only weakpoint and them constantly moving it. The statuses aren't all that debilitating, you can get Stone but that only prevents movement, you can still attack and cast spells, while Dark doesn't really hinder anything at all. Moogle however is pretty nasty.

A look back at: Sword of Mana

Whenever I try to play some of these games, I do my best to actually play the first game in the series. That doesn't usually come to fruition with certain series such as Growlanser or Dual Orb which have no reliable translation available for their first release. Sword of Mana is a game I accidentally played, in a sense that is. In other words, for those that are not aware, Secret of Mana, the most famous game in the series, is NOT the first game in the series, but rather Final Fantasy Adventure for the Game Boy. Sword of Mana is essentially an enhanced remake of Final Fantasy Adventure.

Looking back on it and remembering just recently what I was talking about with sidequests and Breath of Fire 3 being so bad at them, this game had tons of actual sidequests, and tons of optional content that the completionist in me just beckoned to check out. The day changes upon screen changes, there's log entries to make for a certain location that repeatedly pops up, there's the idea of filling up the beastiary. There's also a distinct character class system when you level up certain traits in the game, where you can be of a certain class, although it becomes permanent which boosts you get after a while. Oh yes, and lots of leveling up of weapons and magic contributing to an overall long experience. Put simply, this game has a TON of stuff.

I didn't care that much for this game's plot though. It's pretty meh overall. There's this obviously villainous dude with the unoriginal name Dark Lord, and he naturally isn't the main enemy of the game. There's the characters that join up with you and act as AI commands them to on the quest. There's also vampires, which are okay overall. And naturally, the quest for the title item is pretty straightforward. Notably though, only the male hero can use the swords in this game, the female can only use the staves. There's more of that ancient technology thing that is common in JRPGs too. It's pretty bland for a main plot, and here's an example of a game in which I'm happy with the sidequests, because there's a lot more interesting stuff there than there was with the game as a whole.