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Secret of Mana 20th Anniversary Thread
- Thread starter ElectricKaibutsu
- Start date
OdinDemonZero
Member
I knew there was a reason why started I replaying this game last week. I finished it yesterday morning.
One of my top 3 favorite games of all-time.
It definitely has one of the best soundtracks as well.
Plus my Smartphone background is the Mana Tree illustration in the OP.
My cell phone wallpaper is too!
Great thread, OP! This game holds a very special place in my heart. I still consider it my favorite game of all time. I played through it solo (multiple times), and marathoned it once with my best friend, and once with my little brother. Of all the series for Square to COMPLETELY fuck up...
DualShadow
Member
I always assumed the spirit was a girl, oops.
Blackage
Member
I don't know what the heck happened to Seiken Densetsu after 3, but I always loved the first 3 for the simple yet fun hack/slash gameplay. Legend killed the series for me, the plot was almost nonexistent, and while it looked great and had great music I feel it forced a bunch of rules on the player that quite frankly weren't needed.
Did the full story ever get revealed as to what content was cut out so the game could fit onto a standard SNES cart? Didn't development start out with intentions to release the game for the SNES-CD?
Also, this cutting and pasting of said content is what constituted many of the game's famous bugs?
Also, this cutting and pasting of said content is what constituted many of the game's famous bugs?
This thread just made me decide that I will finally get back to this game when im finished beating Uncharted 3 (yeah I dont know why I play it either), but I have some questions:
1. I hated how the computer played the two other characters, is there a way around the AI doing stupid shit with the two characters he controls (and always getting killed at once during boss fights), or is this just supposed to be part of the charm?
2. I dont really like multiplayer in games like this, but my irritation towards the AI-controlled characters made me consider it for this game. Should I try to find someone to play with, or is it just as good to play it alone?
I also didnt like how slow the battles felt when you always had to wait for your power to fill up, but I guess it also makes manoveuring more important, which is probably nice. The music and graphics are amazing and reason enough t play it though, really looking forward to it!
1. I hated how the computer played the two other characters, is there a way around the AI doing stupid shit with the two characters he controls (and always getting killed at once during boss fights), or is this just supposed to be part of the charm?
2. I dont really like multiplayer in games like this, but my irritation towards the AI-controlled characters made me consider it for this game. Should I try to find someone to play with, or is it just as good to play it alone?
I also didnt like how slow the battles felt when you always had to wait for your power to fill up, but I guess it also makes manoveuring more important, which is probably nice. The music and graphics are amazing and reason enough t play it though, really looking forward to it!
Correctomundo
Member
Just finished my 15th or so replay a couple months ago. Easily one of my favorites.
Who else got the centerfold to show up?
Who else got the centerfold to show up?
Devilgunman
Member
Great game. It fucking sucked that Seiken Densetsu 3 never came out in the west and more sucked when the series went downhill afterward.
BigJonsson
Member
Definitely in my top 10 all-time
Played this game over and over and over again with my friends
Played this game over and over and over again with my friends
You know you can set the AI in the menu, right?
In any case, though, playing with friends is always better.
haha no. no no nooooooo
i understand alot of people prefer it though. i find it kind of baffling, but i respect that.
to its credit its one of the most beautiful games ever. the soundtrack is godly, and the concept in and of itself was great. but there was virtually no gameplay to tie it down... whatever gameplay there was had zero challenge. battle system had more in common with final fight than secret of mana.
i respect it for what it tried to do, and i like the story book take on the world. i consider it to be the true sieken densetsu 4 over that... thing ... we got instead. but i could never go back to it
Dirk Benedict
Gold Member
The nostalgia is powerful.
Phat Michael
Banned
As far as im concerned, its the best game ever made. That era was GOLDEN for SNES RPGs.
1) Secret of Mana
2) Chronotrigger
3) FF VI
4) Seiken 3
5) Illusion of Time/Gaia
6) Shadowrun
Such incredible games. Mana was the best of all. I must have finished it over 10 times at least.,
1) Secret of Mana
2) Chronotrigger
3) FF VI
4) Seiken 3
5) Illusion of Time/Gaia
6) Shadowrun
Such incredible games. Mana was the best of all. I must have finished it over 10 times at least.,
Dirk Benedict
Gold Member
I just tried Higan today. The importing of my library was tedious. You can use different shaders?
Conor_Fool
Banned
Happy birthday, fantastic game
Had a blast beating this. But I can't help but remember how fucking terrible finding places on that god damn dragon was
Had a blast beating this. But I can't help but remember how fucking terrible finding places on that god damn dragon was
Glass Rebel
Member
Well, I don't know about that but it's at least the second best of the games released in English (haven't played SD3). And the music, oh god the music!
It's a shame that there was never a good SD again after that.
This is the only game I played and beat more than 3 times. I just couldn't get enough of Mana when I was young. Rented it by accident and bugged my mom to buy it for me until she couldn't say "no". What a great, great game.
One of my biggest regrets is selling it on Ebay for $100 many moons ago. Maybe I need to get on ebay and buy another copy!
One of my biggest regrets is selling it on Ebay for $100 many moons ago. Maybe I need to get on ebay and buy another copy!
I am Christina Aguilera
Member
Absolutely, yes. Now, what's less discussed is that Secret of Mana, Final Fantasy IV, and Chrono Trigger were all originally planned to be the same game. That's right, two decades before Final Fantasy XV, Secret of Mana was originally going to be the first main-series Final Fantasy game to become an action RPG:
http://legendsoflocalization.com/final-fantasy-iv-secret-of-mana-and-chrono-trigger-had-a-connection/
Hiromichi Tanaka/Legends of Localization said:
This might explain why Square-recruited American Apple II programming guru Nasir Gebelli ("PROGRAMMED BY NASIR," you know what I'm talking about) programmed the bulk of the mathy parts of Famicom Final Fantasys I-III and Secret of Mana, but not the released Final Fantasy IV. It also goes without saying that Randi and Primm look and act a helluva lot like Crono and Marle.
I'll vouch for the Wii Virtual Console release -- aside from it being a lot easier to get a three-person game going on a Wii (to clarify, Wiimotes alone won't work -- you either need a Wiimote with Classic Controller attached or GameCube controller per player), playing this game on a GameCube controller with A assigned to attack, B to run, and Y and X to pull up your menus feels glorious, better than the SNES controller or CC Pro.
I also really need to check my saved game and ask you guys about the weapon orbs while SOM is on people's minds -- I'm at the end of the game, and there are one or two orbs that I swear are just flat-out missing for me from both my inventory and locations where they were supposed to have been, and it's been driving me nuts.
That's normal. Due to glitches, some orbs just flat out did not appear.
You may be able to make up for this with extremely low odd random drops in the mana fortress, but to be quite honest you may find it faster to replay the entire game than grind for 20 hours.
state_vector_collapse
Member
This game was a revelation for me. Up until I saw a second hand copy in a local video rental store (I'm in the U.K but luckily this independent store imported and rented out U.S games) I had never played an RPG.
I couldn't believe the beauty of it when I started playing. But what amazed me the most, is that the game manual had a walk through for the first few hours of the game - but which I actually thought, was for the whole game!. I'd been playing simple games up until this point, and didn't realise games existed that had such long play times.
For the life of me I couldn't understand why the manual would have a walk through for the whole game. Boy were my eyes opened up once the walk through section ended in the manual and I had this massive world still to explore.
I was hooked on Squaresoft games from the day I rented (and then bought) this game. What a shame that they never managed to capture the magic in any of the sequels - save 3 which of course never saw the light of day here.
I couldn't believe the beauty of it when I started playing. But what amazed me the most, is that the game manual had a walk through for the first few hours of the game - but which I actually thought, was for the whole game!. I'd been playing simple games up until this point, and didn't realise games existed that had such long play times.
For the life of me I couldn't understand why the manual would have a walk through for the whole game. Boy were my eyes opened up once the walk through section ended in the manual and I had this massive world still to explore.
I was hooked on Squaresoft games from the day I rented (and then bought) this game. What a shame that they never managed to capture the magic in any of the sequels - save 3 which of course never saw the light of day here.
I am Christina Aguilera
Member
Thank you, as much as I love this game, I certainly don't doubt its glitchiness! Believe me, I've done some grinding in the Mana Fortress. So if I've missed something, are the specific enemies for sure going to eventttttuualllllyyyy keep dropping orbs until each of the non-sword weapons hit level 8, or, for example, is the Tsunami only designated to ever drop one spear orb, regardless of if the spear is at level 6?
I've also read rumors that the later-released European version fixed some of the game's glitchiness, can anyone confirm?
My mother gifted me this game for having good grades, I was like 11 y.o., best gift EVER.
I have never played a better RPG since then, even Chrono Trigger doesn't compare to it, imo.
The tears flowed massively when I finished the game...
Replay value is so fucking high though, I must've finished the game like 10 times, be it solo or with a friend / sibling.
Secret of Mana for life !
I have never played a better RPG since then, even Chrono Trigger doesn't compare to it, imo.
The tears flowed massively when I finished the game...
Replay value is so fucking high though, I must've finished the game like 10 times, be it solo or with a friend / sibling.
Secret of Mana for life !
I've never tested it, but I suppose you could grind forever and the RNG will drop another orb eventually. That's the general fan consensus, that site you linked even suggests grinding glove orbs from wolf lords.
TheFLYINGManga_Ka
Member
Was Dawn of Mana really that bad?
Also, I know it's a pretty good series but I never liked the art style like the characters. The backgrounds and everything was beautiful though.
Also, I know it's a pretty good series but I never liked the art style like the characters. The backgrounds and everything was beautiful though.
DualShadow
Member
All I remember is the season section taking forever and being a major pain in the ass.
there are much worse games out there, but it's an action platformer that has nothing in common with SD gameplay. the lore is there and all fan servicey, but it's has no business being sieken densetsu 4... it really makes you wonder what they were smoking
and even if it was a spinoff the game is still pretty mediocre
The game is pretty limited in general for dialogue. Randi does talk but since it's mostly NPCs and villains explaining plot, he doesn't have a need to have many lines.
the game was great and i really love the music of this game but I enjoyed this sucker a bit more
Quoted because I agree. That is the Secret of Mana game I like the most
Ok, thanks. I was trying to remember.
But about the game, one of the top Super Nintendo games for sure.
I must say, I did like Secret of Mana 2 more though.
At the time, being able to choose your own party, the order of your party, and having everyone's stories intertwined really blew me away, not even to speak of gameplay.
Tizoc
Member
ElectricKaibutsu
Member
Hey, thanks for the links! I added 2 of them to the OP. I didn't add the composer interview since I already had that under the "Interesting Extras" section
.
Notorious_Roy
Member
I will buy this the minute releases it on Wii U VC. Playing Earthbound for the first time ever that way is magical.
Wii U could be the ultimate throw back machine <3
Wii U could be the ultimate throw back machine <3
NowCutThatOut
Member
Missed out on the whole SNES generation as a kid; tempted for this to be the first 16-bit RPG I make a proper stab at.
KiteGr
Member
Let's not forget the game that started it all.
Sword of Mana (this is the GBA REMAKE since the true original is to old to be shown)
Sword of Mana (this is the GBA REMAKE since the true original is to old to be shown)
WHAT?
Oh god.... I feel old ;_;
Fuck me I am old.
Oh well. Amazing games, amazing music, love the art style.
"Final Fantasy Adventure" & Secret of Mana & Legend of Mana remain my favourite games on their respective consoles. I think. Well, with this being the 20th anniversary thread, let's just say they are. Not that far from the truth.
*shakes angry fist in vague direction of SquEnix HQ*
Also: RIP Hirō Isono
Oh well. Amazing games, amazing music, love the art style.
"Final Fantasy Adventure" & Secret of Mana & Legend of Mana remain my favourite games on their respective consoles. I think. Well, with this being the 20th anniversary thread, let's just say they are. Not that far from the truth.
*shakes angry fist in vague direction of SquEnix HQ*
Also: RIP Hirō Isono
MarkMclovin
Member
Amazing game and it's up there in my top 5. Probably top 3. Dat music!
It needs to come out on the WiiU eShop.
It needs to come out on the WiiU eShop.
Seiken Densetsu 3 is awesome, I've been cooping it with friends.
Man, I am so glad it's not a broken shitty game like Secret of Mana, what with its palette swap bosses, horrible hit detection, incoherent story, terrible magic leveling system and all. At least the game looked good, but now that I'm 10 hours into SD3 with coop I see the light.
Man, I am so glad it's not a broken shitty game like Secret of Mana, what with its palette swap bosses, horrible hit detection, incoherent story, terrible magic leveling system and all. At least the game looked good, but now that I'm 10 hours into SD3 with coop I see the light.