Just finished Secret Of Mana...

[Cauterize]

...I know im a good decade and a half too late to the scene, but never the less ive really enjoyed it :)
The music was fantastic, infact might I say incredible for its time. And the visuals are lovely on the eye.

I decided recently to go for it and finish it. Im trying to do this with alot of Battery Backed Save carts as we havent a clue when they will run out!

Anyways, I must say, there were some disapointments...
In preparation for the final boss, I raised myself to around level 70 with all my magics to level 8, but I must say, it felt like a bit of a waste of effort really. Secret of Mana, for myself was quite an easy game.

Once you know a boss's weakness, chain casting seemed to make you unstopable and removing the challenge.
Getting magics to level 8 wasnt much of a feat either, give it about 15 minutes outside Matango going back and forth between the field and Inn, done! Level 8!
And the Mana Beast, once you have a rhythm casting cure to prevent the unavoidable attacks from hitting you, there isnt much of a challenge left.

Dont get me wrong though, I loved it and ill be looking into Seiken Densetsu 3 fan translation next. (Considering ive finished Seiken 1 (aka Mystic Quest GB/Final Fantasy Adventure) only 3 is left).

Any thoughts?

[TonyTheTiger]

Don't walk into Seiken Densetsu 3 expecting Secret of Mana 2, even if that is the unofficial fan name for it. Don't get me wrong, there are lots of similarities but there are enough differences that might make it more or less entertaining depending on your tastes. For instance, it's far longer and harder than Mana which can put some people off. There isn't that attack bar like Mana so you can hack away but it's entirely possible to walk into a random room and get wrecked by ordinary enemies.

[kupomogli]

Play Secret of Evermore. A Square USA developed game that is much better than the game they copied(Secret of Mana.) Graphically it's not as good though similar, but the gameplay is quite a bit better. It's not two player though either.

[Xander]

I thought the musics in SoM were ridiculously bad most of the time. I played the whole thing with 2 other friends (3 players co-op) and the music was driving us insane.

The story is a huge joke too, maybe it's in part due to a bad translation, but it was really bad.

And yeah, chain casting is more or less the key to cheesy victories. I still love the game and I do not regret having played it mostly because the gameplay and the graphics are very good. For a 3-player co-op ARPG, this game was a very solid experience.

[Chainclaw]

I would avoid Secret of Evermore. It has no multiplayer, and multiplayer is the key feature in Secret of Mana.

[tkusina]

Im trying to do this with alot of Battery Backed Save carts as we havent a clue when they will run out!



You can always replace the battery in them so slow down and enjoy! :dance:

[Aussie2B]

Indeed, Kikuta's music is gorgeous. It was one of the first soundtracks I knew I had to own.

Yeah, Secret of Evermore is a good recommendation. I wouldn't say it's better, but I don't know why it gets trashed so much. Nice music in that one too, but very different, since it has the Western composer Jeremy Soule.

[kupomogli]

There are a few reasons I think SoE is better. First off they remove the ability to spam magic so only two spells can be cast at once rather than multiple spell castings. Another thing is the fact that after every hit made in SoM, the enemy has 2-4 seconds of invincibility before able to receive damage again, which really sucks when an ally uses a much weaker attack and your level 1-8 attack takes time to hit the enemy, rendering it useless.

[MegaDrive20XX]

Congrats Cauterize. This happens to be one of my all time favorite SNES RPG's. Yet I do agree, the Mana Beast wasn't much of a challenge. Since I had the girl cast the special sword attack on the Boy and have the Sprite either heal the party or cast defend on the party.

[natinh0]

I know it is not about the game but today i was playing sword of mana on my gba and i quite do not understand the hole system about weapon on the game,when i finished some monsters today and out of the blue a new weapon appeared from NOWHERE!:confused:

[Haoie]

I think Mana is decidedly overrated.

Agree with points noted about terrible translation and lacklustre music.

SD3 is just a whole lot more amusing in all ways.

[badinsults]

Heh, I was near the end of the game, and I accidentally saved over it! I don't know if I ever will get back to going through and passing it. The charge meter still bothers me.

[RASK1904]

Probably gonna get canned for this but.... how do you play multi player. Do you need a multi tap to play 2 players? For 3 I'm sure you would?...right? But any way how do you actualy do it. Do you meen you just take turns with the one controller? Lol! You could do this with any game. I never see a 2 player or 3 player option? Confused.

[Blitzwing256]

Probably gonna get canned for this but.... how do you play multi player. Do you need a multi tap to play 2 players? For 3 I'm sure you would?...right? But any way how do you actualy do it. Do you meen you just take turns with the one controller? Lol! You could do this with any game. I never see a 2 player or 3 player option? Confused.

once you get the second and third party member in the game you can just press start on controller 2 or 3 to control them.

[RASK1904]

Wow thanx that was easy! hmm..... now I just need some friends....

[Cryomancer]

There is a two-player patch for Evermore, by the way. I like both games quite a bit myself. Evermore really doesn't derserve it's bad reputation.

[Haoie]

Evermore is quirkier than Mana, and surprisingly enough, more fun.

[VG_Maniac]

I thought the musics in SoM were ridiculously bad most of the time. I played the whole thing with 2 other friends (3 players co-op) and the music was driving us insane.

Wow, Secret of Mana had some of my favorite music of all time. To each his own I guess.