Secret of Mana 2 (SD3) Review for Great Justice

[Flake]

So it's the early 90's and you're loving life with your Super Nintendo. You scoff at those Sega folk as they huddle around their Phantasy Stars and Shining What-nots. You're high on the hog with Square-mother f'ing-Soft and nothing can go wrong. The steady stream of RPG classics hits an epoch with Secret of Mana in 1994, and you know that Nintendo really is the Go-To brand for RPG perfection (/ironic foreshadowing).

And then the sequel never came...Supposedly, this game was planned for a proper release in the states but was passed over when Square began developing for the Playstations. This decision was truly a crime because this is a swell game.

The Hook:

What more hook could you need? This is THE sequel to Secret of Mana. A purist would insist that you call it by its proper, unpronounceable moonspeak title...but forget those guys, right? This is the last Mana game before the series jumped the shark...over the edge of a cliff...into a pit of rabid lions...with laser beams...powered by suck.

Basically, if three player Zelda-esque game play that doesn't require you to buy ten Gameboy advances interests you, keep reading.

The Touch:

The game controls quite well. All action happens on a 2D plane from an overhead perspective. You move your character(s) in 8 directions and attack in 4. Almost all attacking or interacting with NPCs or the background is handled with one button. Oddly enough, there are no less than 3 buttons that bring up some kind of menu.

You control 3 characters at once but the game offers drop in co-op for one other player (down from 3 total players in Secret of Mana...officially), which is really recommended as the AI is...suicidal.

The Look:

The game is bright and gorgeous, showcasing Square's mastery of the hardware. Sprites are incredibly detailed, with multiple frames of animation and the back-grounds are intensely colored, with a variety of pallets that swap automatically to simulate the transition of day to night in all outdoor settings.

The only flaw the game has in the looks department is that sometimes the background is TOO well drawn and it can be difficult to keep track of your own character in battle.

The Sound:

Years of developing for the Super Nintendo paid off on this one as it stands head and shoulders above its immediate predecessor and other greats such as Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy III in the sound department. The music is presented in rich stereo. Songs are catchy without being repetitive and the soundtrack is robust, including several remixed classics from the first Secret of Mana. Sound effects are a little underwhelming but this hasn't been a problem for me.

The Feel:

An ancient and forgotten evil returns to destabilize the kingdoms of the world and distract any would-be heroes while it hatches a world-ending scheme. Your heroes (whomever they might be) will have to return peace to their own homelands and acquire the only power that can heal the world: The Sword of Mana.

Let's get one thing straight: If you liked Secret of Mana, you WILL like this game. Everything Mana did, this game does more. The story is more epic. There are twice as many characters. The game is twice as long. You have much more control over your characters development and can adapt your team (over time) to cover for each others weaknesses.

But the game is also twice as shallow. With a variety of characters to choose from, the programmers didn't create any points where the heroes interact with one another in any kind of genuine way. Randy, The Girl, and The Sprite weren't the most fleshed out heroes but at least they felt like a cohesive team. You won't get much of that in this game.

The Result

I love this game and playing it has felt like the realization of a 13 year wish. When I power this game up, I forget all my problems and issues. I go back to feeling the way about gaming that I did 12 years ago, when games were fun, simple, and made you feel like you were doing something epic and grand. This game should have been released here in the United States. This game is a forgotten classic and stands out as a reason why I still play 16-bit games.

Again, to play this game you'll more than likely have to 'acquire' it. There are several avenues to do that, emulation being your best candidate. This game is also very popular with the reproduction scene, if you want an authentic feel while playing it. Just make sure you do not pay more than $60 for it and opt to have it hacked for three players. It's just the right thing to do.

If you haven't tried Secret of Mana 2 / Seiken Densetsu 3, I recommend you do. Just clear your calendar first.

[AppleQueso]

This is the last Mana game before the series jumped the shark...over the edge of a cliff...into a pit of rabid lions...with laser beams...powered by suck.

but but but but but but I really liked Legend of Mana

[Flake]

but but but but but but I really liked Legend of Mana

I did too. But in the post-PS1 era, that game is a practically unplayable mess thanks to load times, glitches, and lack of direction.

It's a pretty mess, but a mess none-the-less. Still, it's worlds better than anything that came out as part of the 'World of Mana' project, codenamed 'Destroya Fanchise mk II'.

[KillemallCFH]

Legend of Mana is a great game, and still perfectly playable today.

Anyways, I'm also playing SD3 right now and I'm loving it. It has probably the most impressive graphics I've seen on SNES, and the gameplay is of course superb.

Nevertheless, I think I still prefer SoM by a bit. Secret of Mana matches SD3's new customizability options with the ability to choose and level up your weapon, and to level up your magic, which were both dropped for the sequel. Also, maybe this is just me, but the fighting in SD3 just seems a but more... hectic. I'm not sure how to explain it, but there just seems to be more going on and with all the numbers and text flying around on the screen it becomes hard to differentiate who's hitting who and how much damage is being done.

Also, there's some issues with pricing. Even at the way beginning of the game, the 5 Luc that Round Drops cost is completely insignificant. If it was like SoM and you could only hold 4, I wouldn't have that much of a problem with it, but in SD3 you can hold up to 9 of a single item, as well as 99 in storage that you can access anytime you're not fighting. Chocolate only costs 40 (I think), and while that can kinda add up, it's still really low, and you'll have more than enough money to stock up on them. This means that for every fight you'll have access to 9 Round Drops and 9 Chocolate (and 9 of whatever else you need, as everything expect weapons and armor is pretty underpriced) without having to ever fear running out, except for the duration of the battle.

Finally, I like the battle system of SoM a bit more. Secret of Mana is more Zelda-esque in that you just walk around and if you find an enemy, you can attack it or just be on your merry way. In SD3 you actually kinda "get into battles." It's still an action RPG obviously, and you still move around and attack, but when you get into a battle and your guys draw their weapons, they move much more slowly, and they stay facing an enemy. You can still avoid the battle by walking past the enemies onto the next screen but you'll be moving much more slowly. This can also get a bit annoying if, for example, you're surrounded by 2 enemies, and it has you facing the one on the left. If you go to attack the one on the right it'll sometimes just move to to the right but still facing the one on the left. This is pretty minor, but still a mild annoyance.

Don't get me wrong, though, I'm loving this game, and I could've written 10 times as much if I were to talk about everything the game did right. Also, I'll readily admit that I look at Secret of Mana through a pretty thick pair of nostalgia goggles, so that certainly influences my opinion.

P.S. Secret of Mana also has my favorite video game soundtrack of all time, and while SD3's is great, it doesn't quite match up.

P.P.S. A slight bit of caution - the 3-player hack (or at least the one I have) is really buggy if you're trying to play with 3 players (though this is obviously the fault of the hackers, not Squaresoft). Things get really screwed up when 1st player dies or is petrified, and it usually results in no one being able to control the character. There's also some other minor things that just usually result in having to do some controller swapping.

[MrPopo]

Also, there's some issues with pricing. Even at the way beginning of the game, the 5 Luc that Round Drops cost is completely insignificant. If it was like SoM and you could only hold 4, I wouldn't have that much of a problem with it, but in SD3 you can hold up to 9 of a single item, as well as 99 in storage that you can access anytime you're not fighting. Chocolate only costs 40 (I think), and while that can kinda add up, it's still really low, and you'll have more than enough money to stock up on them. This means that for every fight you'll have access to 9 Round Drops and 9 Chocolate (and 9 of whatever else you need, as everything expect weapons and armor is pretty underpriced) without having to ever fear running out, except for the duration of the battle.

The reason they did that is because there is only one character who can heal for the first 18 levels, and then past that you need to make specific class decisions in order to gain some healing. And you have to make even more specific choices to get multi-target healing. With SoM you got multi-target healing the moment you got the first magic, and had it through the game.

And I forgot to quote it, but your complaint about the weapon and spell leveling. That was the grindiest part of SoM and the problem was that it really felt necessary in order to succeed. They basically devalued your stat points (to the point that no one ever looked at the status screen) in favor of pumping up your weapon and spell levels. And the weapon charges, while interesting, suffered do the the high amounts of hit recovery invincibility. How many times have you charged up level 4 or higher to smack a boss, only to have it turn out that the Sprite nailed him with a weak attack and so your attack completely misses. With SD3 they shifted the focus of your abiltiies back to your stats in a big way. The difference of a single point has a very noticable change to your effectiveness.

I think the best part about SD3 over SoM (discounting translation quality) was the class system combined with the 6 PCs to choose from. It gives you a lot of party customization and adds replay by letting you try other parties for the different MCs and the different party synergies you can get.

[KillemallCFH]

The reason they did that is because there is only one character who can heal for the first 18 levels, and then past that you need to make specific class decisions in order to gain some healing. And you have to make even more specific choices to get multi-target healing. With SoM you got multi-target healing the moment you got the first magic, and had it through the game.

Yeah, I get that, but I just wish buying healing items made a bit of a dent in my wallet. If they were a bit less plentiful, there would be more of an incentive to conserve your health and play more strategically instead of just waltzing into danger knowing that you have nigh-unlimited healing.

And I forgot to quote it, but your complaint about the weapon and spell leveling. That was the grindiest part of SoM and the problem was that it really felt necessary in order to succeed.

Meh, the only thing that was really necessary to grind was the girl's Undine, which I'll admit was annoying. Weapon levels go up pretty naturally as long as you're not running past every enemy, and heavily grinding Sprite's magic, while it did make the game easier (too easy in fact; my biggest qualm with SoM is the fact that Sprite is grossly overpowered if you take the time to grind Shade), wasn't that necessary as long as you use them often enough and spend a few minutes getting a level or two every now and then. I don't know; aside from sitting in an inn casting Remedy 100 times to get Undine up, I never minded the grinding.

They basically devalued your stat points (to the point that no one ever looked at the status screen) in favor of pumping up your weapon and spell levels... With SD3 they shifted the focus of your abiltiies back to your stats in a big way. The difference of a single point has a very noticable change to your effectiveness.

Yeah, I guess you're right. I really don't remember ever looking closely at my stats, while I always kept a close eye on weapon/magic levels. But is that really that much of a bad thing? Not many RPGs let you level up weapons/magic, while virtually every one has character stats. SoM just shifted the focus from something familiar to something different.

And the weapon charges, while interesting, suffered do the the high amounts of hit recovery invincibility. How many times have you charged up level 4 or higher to smack a boss, only to have it turn out that the Sprite nailed him with a weak attack and so your attack completely misses.

I guess I can't relate to this, as every time I've played SoM it's been with 2 other people, so not attacking when someone is about to let go of a charge just falls under teamwork.

I think the best part about SD3 over SoM (discounting translation quality) was the class system combined with the 6 PCs to choose from. It gives you a lot of party customization and adds replay by letting you try other parties for the different MCs and the different party synergies you can get.

I definitely love the chose of 6 characters and the class system, and it certainly was an improvement. I just also happen to like the weapon/magic leveling system, and was a bit sad to see it go.

[Flake]

Meh, the only thing that was really necessary to grind was the girl's Undine, which I'll admit was annoying.

AND Lumina, Shade, and both the Girl and the Sprites Dryad magic which you don't even get until the last section of the game.

I love Secret of Mana but I NEVER want to spend another minute grinding in the Icy Forest.