vudu would try anything to avoid hearing about Secret of Mana.
It's not that I dislike the game. It's just that it came out on VC five months ago and everybody on the Internet was discussing it. Forgive me for being cynical, but I just don't think anyone on RFN is going to have anything to say about the game that hasn't already been discussed at great length.
This is the thread to discuss our fourth RetroActive feature title, Secret of Mana, the 1993 Super NES Action-RPG by Square.
Oh right. Back to the point of this thread ...
I have played Secret of Mana twice--once when it originally was released in in 1993 and again when it came out on the Virtual Console in October. Both times I played it solo, which by all accounts is the wrong way to play it. While I enjoy the game enough to have played through it twice in its entirety it has a good deal of problems, especially as a single-player game.
Leveling up all eight weapons for each of the three characters is a chore. Attempting to max out all eight Elementals for both the Girl and the Sprite borders on insanity. The game is a grind-fest throughout, and unlike most RPGs grinding doesn't necessarily help you because the game mechanics aren't based solely on stats. With enough skill, patience and luck you can get through almost any battle.
I enjoy exploring the world of Mana; unfortunately, there is almost never a good reason to do so. Most towns are desolate places with no reason to visit except to visit the shop or recharge at the inn. Once you purchase the new equipment there's certainly no reason to ever visit again. Dungeons are even worse--the branching hallways that lead to nothing but dead ends leave me feeling unsatisfied. (And yet I can't NOT explore each one for fear that "maybe just this once there will be a treasure chest at the end...".)
Combat is a buggy mess, and I would never bother charging my attack past level 4 because more often than not the attack would miss even if I appeared to hit the enemy right between the eyes. My computer controlled companions were generally worthless. They would get stuck on winding roads and staircases so often it was laughable. And while I never experienced the problem myself, I have often heard about game-breaking glitches that would cause the Sprite to disappear from the party, forcing you to finish the game without him.
While playing it on the Virtual Console last year I came across a bug that nearly caused me to have to replay the entire Mana Fortress (which would have taken well over an hour). During the final boss fight, my opponent got stuck in an endless loop where he circled the screen continuously. After 20 minutes he eventually snapped out of it and returned to his normal attack pattern.
And yet for all its problems, I can't help but really like the game. It's bright and colorful. The character and enemy design is unlike anything else. And once you have Flammie at your disposal you realize just how large the world is and how much is out there to explore (even if it's totally not worth it). It's a shame that Square-Enix seems to have given up on the series, because I would really like to see a sequel on DS that fixes all the flaws of the original game.