Secret of Mana

[FFNut]

So last night I decided to replay Secret of Mana for the first time in years. I always hated the game, and thought it very over rated. A thread bye Loony BoB made me think that maybe I judged it a little to harshly and so after a 20 year hiatus I plugged it in.

I have never beat the game due to a lack of interest in it, but I now have found what I hated on the game. Knowing what I hate about it allowed me to look at it a little differently.

The he thing I hate about the game is... The main character. The boy who pulled the sword. The "Secret of Mana" as it were. Yes I hate him! He would work a lot better a silent protagonist. Every time he opens his mouth to talk I just ignore it and the game works a lot better. I am enjoying it more bye ignoring what he says and enjoying the story without him as anything more then a silent protagonist.

There are other little things, but translation and what not isn't a big deal.

What at are your thoughts on it?

[Wolf Kanno]

Never had an issue with Randi, especially since SoM was my gateway game that got me into RPGs full time back in the day, so it has quite the special place in my heart along with the franchise.

[FFNut]

I just find he works better as a silent character. The rest of them are fine for me though. It just seems when he opens his mouth it takes away from the story.

[Wolf Kanno]

I can't really imagine why though. I'm not trying to troll here, I just can't really find anything offensive about what little personality he has that could make it a deal breaker.

[Pumpkin]

I've tried to start it a few times but end up giving up super early on. Still going to try again eventually

[maybee]

I picked up this game for the first time a few days ago, about a fortnight ago, and have been loving it since. The soundtrack feels like classic FF, and the story is cool as well.

It's not Chrono Trigger amazing, but it's fun.

[FFNut]

So far I have just finished the underground palace, sealed the second mana sead with the Mana sword, and got gnome magic. About level 16 all around. About to go and help the villagers who are in a trance. Gnome Magic kicks butt btw. Also found I like using the whip for a weapon and then changing to the sword in close.

[Bubba]

I got into Secret of Mana quite late but it is an excellent game. I actually really enjoyed levelling up of weapons and magic by using them. It was a bit of a grind but actually a really enjoyable one. It's weird, because FFII has the same mechanic and I absolutely hated it.

The ring menu was great too and I'm surprised I've not seen that used more often. The fact that it's multi-player as well is great. I still have my SNES copy and when my son is old enough it'll be great to play through this as a team :D

I also thought Kikuta's soundtrack was fabulous.

[FFNut]

Played a little more today. Defeated the wall that freed the Pandora Villagers, fought a few other bosses too. Saved the mana seed at the water palace, and am about to head to the highlands. This is the farthest I've ever gone in the game. Level is at 19 at the moment, pretending the main guy can't speak makes things a little better. Don't know if he has a changing moment or not that makes his speech worth listening to, but still hasn't added to any stroy yet.

[FFNut]

Just made it to Montinagro (Spelling?) the mushroom kingdom. And have the air magic now. Still think Gnome Magic is better though. Level 22 the whole team.

[FFNut]

So in Montego I went Norh and rescued the baby white dragon Flammie. Leaving him in the Mushroom Kingdom to be raised while I now take the cannon travel to the desert. I'm Level 24 at the moment.

[Wolf Kanno]

You are not far from where I left off on my last playthrough actually. I should get back to that.

[FFNut]

Enjoying it a little more now that I'm getting farther into it.

[FFNut]

So I went to the desert, spent a while figuring out the patern for it to stop looping, and was taken on a sand ship. After escaping and finding my teammates, the Empire attacked and I was able to defeat them. I was allowed to leave the ship and head to the town. In the town they told me where to find the fire seed, so away we go to look for that.

The fire palace when making my way through I wasn't able to continue. Needed fire magic, so I got a hint in the town hat there is a place in Ice land that is tropical. Since I haven't been to ice land yet, we hope in the cannon and get shot to it.

We we land in Toto which is a town of talking Walruses and not much else. We walk out and find Rodolph the reindeer outside saying how his master (aka Santa) has been taken bye A monster in the ice palace. Well lets head that way.

On our our way we find a town that has no snow on the ground, and is warm. We take our turn watching the furnace and when we open it we find the flame magic Salamando.

On on to the ice palace we walked and after finding our way through we find the Frost Gigas. It was a tough fight as he makes most weapons weak against him, but with the fire magic he goes down.

He is accually Santa, and he has the fire seed with him. He gives us the fire seed, and now we are back off to the fire palace to continue our journey. I am level 27 (Just about 28)

[Psychotic]

Yeah the Santa thing was kind of nuts.

[FFNut]

It was yes. Don't understand why they would make Santa a villian, but then be good again. But going through this without a walkthrough has been kinda fun since I've never been this far into the game. Still wouldn't say it is in my top 10 like everyone says it is, but I am enjoying it now.