The Mana series

[Cid]

Edit: I've got the night free for once! I think I'll be able to write something about this series now. One that isn't a copy of someone else's homework with just a few changes, haha.

Real talk: I've only played Final Fantasy Adventure, Secret of Mana, Seiken Densetsu 3, Sword of Mana, and Heroes of Mana. Of those titles, I've only beaten SD3. And yet I still love this series to bits. Idk why but there's just something about it that gets me. Nostalgia perhaps, having played SoM and SD3 at a young age with my older brother. I distinctly remember listening to Ready Steady Go while using fast travel via cannons, and whenever I hear that song I remember this series instead of FMA. I remember visiting these small websites called shrines as a kid, dedicated to SD3 and the small fan following it got. All of those detailed pages with a boatload of information about the game, I just took it all in. Even when I got older I still revisited SD3, using GameFAQs that time. Experiencing the emotional beats of the six main characters' backstories in SD3; playing and replaying that game with its multiple endgame story paths and class changes-- it just never got old. Idk how well it'll hold up when I pick up a physical copy of Trials of Mana inside Collection of Mana at the end of August, but all I know is that that game, and the series by extension, has a special place in my heart.

I hope the remake of Trials of Mana next year does well. And that they fixed some of the bugs in SD3's battle system!

Old version of this post:

Spoiler:

(Shamelessly stealing Cici's original post from the EarthBound thread. 😂 All credit goes to Cici! ❤️)

The Mana series is one of my favorite game franchises of all time. The series is so beautiful, so touching and moving. Trials of Mana, which I played as Seiken Densetsu 3 as a kid, is one of the few things that can get me emotional. Secret of Mana is so nostalgic for me as well. It's epic, it's quirky, it's fun, it's cute, it's deep, and it's absolutely insane.

So who else here is in love with this series?

 

[colours]

I actually haven't played these games yet and I feel really bad for not doing so!! ;___;

I shall fix this ASAP. When I have more free time I intend to buy the Mana series and try it out. I'm excited to try another RPG and I'm hoping the Mana series delivers.

 

[hotsushi-kun]

new Mana game sure is nice, but i am hoping the remaster will have Legend of Mana being release worldwide, since the game was only released in Japan and North American and the European release never came out.

 

[Sheep]

I actually really want to buy the Collection of Mana but the price tag ($40 USD) is a little too high for a set of three very old ported games, even if one was never release outside of Japan. If it's ever on sale in the future I'll definitely consider it! The games look so nice, and I'm loving Trials of Mana from what I've seen at E3! Will definitely consider buying when it's out. ❤

 

[Arcaneum]

Going to be the downer here - the first game (in which I mean Seiken Densetsu 2) was generally very poor, the story was really great and the characters/graphics/etc amazing...however when it comes to the actual guts of the game, it was not up to par with RPGs and even games as a whole really of its time.

The magic system both for player and enemy was extremely broken, to a point where either the enemies could cheese you to death or once you got to a certain point you could melt bosses with little to no effort. The UI was.......adventurous but wonky.

However it does have Flammie which makes everything better.

 

[Cid]

Going to be the downer here - the first game (in which I mean Seiken Densetsu 2) was generally very poor, the story was really great and the characters/graphics/etc amazing...however when it comes to the actual guts of the game, it was not up to par with RPGs and even games as a whole really of its time.

The magic system both for player and enemy was extremely broken, to a point where either the enemies could cheese you to death or once you got to a certain point you could melt bosses with little to no effort. The UI was.......adventurous but wonky.

However it does have Flammie which makes everything better.

I haven't beaten Secret of Mana but I think I agree with most of the qualms you had with it. I hope replaying it wouldn't be too bad of an experience for me! I was hoping to finally beat it once I pick up the collection.

I hope you do get the chance to play Trials of Mana, though! That game has bugs as well, and I doubt that they fixed it completely for the collection, but I love that game wayy more than Secret of Mana. I also hope that the 3D remake holds up by today's standards, and that they make the necessary quality of life changes.

 

[Sydian]

not sure if i'll get the collection, however secret of mana is highly acclaimed and it's on the snes mini that i own, if i'm not mistaken. soooo i suppose whenever i get around to playing that and seeing how that goes, that'll determine if i get the collection. not that i should tho lol like. i have a big enough backlog as it is and it doesn't help i just keep wanting to replay other games. rest in pieces me.

 

[CrimsonMajestic]

With the ports being released overseas, and Trials of Mana being remade for the modern era, this will give me an opportunity to get into this series. Though, I will be waiting for the physical release of Collection of Mana, since I have other priorities at the moment, and I don't feel like taking up space on my SD card for digital releases that have (or will have) physical releases.

 

[Firebolt]

I loaded up my PS Vita for the first time in ages today and realised that I still haven't touched the Adventures of Mana game I have on it. With the series getting some fresh life breathed into it, I believe it's time to finally get started.

 

[colours]

For anyone who's bought the collection and played a bit if it -- how is it so far, and would you recommend it to someone who hasn't experienced it yet like myself?

 

[Cid]

I will only be able to play the collection come August 27 with the release of the physical copy, but here's what I remember from previously playing all three of the titles in it.

Final Fantasy Adventure is Squaresoft attempting to make their own Zelda-style gameplay mixed with some semblance of Final Fantasy's RPG aspects, i.e. an Action RPG. It is a very old handheld game, released for the Game Boy, so I wouldn't expect an experience more robust than something like The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening. By TLoZ:LA though, Zelda's had more time to fine-tune itself than FFA, so expect the latter to be worse. It's a charming enough game to start the Mana series with, though, and it garnered enough love to get a remake for the GBA called Sword of Mana. I personally didn't play enough of it to give a good summary, and I'm hoping to change that in two months' time.

Secret of Mana was released in the US and got very good reception for its time. I think kids that owned the SNES appreciated the two-player co-op, the fact that it has a slightly more fleshed out story than FFA, and that you don't have to go through the usual turn-based combat to whack those Rabites. I personally haven't beaten FFA or SoM, but I have fond memories of playing SoM with my brother as his Player 2. Very excited to revisit this game just to finally beat it. However, a word of caution, SoM may not have aged well. As Corviknight pointed out, it's clunky and can cheese you out in the worst possible ways, while you can also be super overpowered and thereby make the game not fun. Don't expect a masterpiece; it's probably only that for those with rose-colored glasses.

Trials of Mana is a little gem of a game that never got the light of worldwide release, and it's a real shame. It is by far the best of the three games that the collection has to offer, in my opinion. There are some bugs in it like a wonky critical hit stat, if I remember correctly, as well as some abilities being completely useless, its plot being too simple and JRPG trope-y for this day and age, and the party dialogue being lacking, especially if you don't choose the right pair of characters (Duran-Angela, Kevin-Charlotte, Hawkeye-Riesz) to build up the emotional core of your three-person party. Still, it's a great game with a ton of replayability. The game completely changes at the late-game through one of three possible paths, with each path differing in both plot and difficulty, depending on who your main character is (K-C is easy, D-A is moderately challenging, and H-R is difficult). Mixing and matching the right three characters also changes how you play the game. But yeah it's definitely the meat of the collection. Super excited to see its official translation after all these years of fanmade names.