LttP: Sword of Mana - A Legitimately Good Game and Much Better than the Secret of Mana Remake, Anyway

[SolVanderlyn]

I played this game very briefly back in the day, but had forgotten most things about it.

As far as I know, this is a loose remake of Seiken Densetsu, the first one, updated to have the presentation of the later games in the series. And it sure feels like it! The art, world, and music all have that trademark Mana whimsy, and it plays as smoothly as any Mana/Seiken game does. In fact, the combat feels smoother due to being made much later than the others.

This game is never talked about, or even derided, it seems. But this is a legit Mana game through and through. The story, map design, combat and magic all feel much better than even the most lauded game in the series, Seiken Densetsu 3. There's no spell pauses, you can do light combos, and the charge system doesn't feel slow or clunky at all. You can jump and sit to recover MP. You can choose which stats to level up. It's got old school charm and feels like the first legit Mana sequel since SD3, since Legend was so different in design, and since its additions and revamps make it so different from its original incarnation.

Why is this game never talked about? I personally really like it so far. I just finished the "haunted manor" segment. As a pretty big fan of the classic Mana games, this is hitting all the right notes, and is pretty good looking for a GBA game, to boot.

 

[Tygerjaw]

Another forgotten GBA gem, I wish I could play this and Drill Dozer again

 

[fireflame]

I have the original gaùmeboy game, i love the original game so much? Never tried this one though.

 

[DimitriLH]

Used to own this as a kid back then. Remember being angry at your second party member/partner being 100% useless because the game gave it potato A.I. to the point it would mostly just shuffle back and forth doing nothing, until they decided to cast a magic shot which was rare AF.

Story, art style and character designs seemed great from what I remember, could not beat it cause friend accidently saved over my file.

 

[Deleted member 24907]

Gonna chalk it up to people not knowing how far off a cliff the series would later jump

 

[Munch Pokeballs]

Just finishd up Seiken Densetsu 3 a few weeks back. Took me years to finally do a full run through. But Sword of Mana is what got me interested in this series to begin with, so it'll always have a spot in my heart.

 

[Mejilan]

It's way, way better than the semi-recent remake, Adventure of Mana.

 

[Sgt. Demblant]

I really enjoyed it back in the day but I think hearing the retronauts crew trash it repeatedly over the years negatively impacted those memories, hah.
I did revisit it briefly a few years ago and the opening felt a bit...overwritten?
The sprite work is immaculate though. Especially when compared to what they've done recently. Maybe I'll give it another shot once I'm done with the playthrough of Legend of Mana I just started today. Another game that is a bit contentious but that I've grown to love.

 

[BassForever]

It's okay but worse the the game boy original which had a vasly superior remake in adventure of mana on mobile.

 

[Deleted member 10549]

I played it back in the day on my GBA, and while I don't remember much, because it was long time ago, I remember that I had a blast playing this. Definitely one of my favorite games on the system

 

[citrusred]

Never played it but I remember the main criticism being it overcomplicated what was a simple experience.

 

[DonFreecs]

Loved playing this as a kid. I remember being so disappointed with the combat of secret of mana after playing this. Really want to replay this, is there any other option than the GBA original?

 

[SolVanderlyn]

It's way, way better than the semi-recent remake, Adventure of Mana.

Click to shrink...

Definitely agreed.

It's okay but worse the the game boy original which had a vasly superior remake in adventure of mana on mobile.

Click to shrink...

Well... suffice to say, I disagree.

 

[No Depth]

Haven't played it in ages, but outside the nice visuals, the pacing I recall being exceptionally sluggish. Overblown text sequences drove the early game more than I desired.

Admittedly I quit a few hours in and sold the game after missing the simplicity of the GB original. I do wonder if I'd feel similarly on a revisit?

 

[AuthenticM]

I have this game. Never finished it as I thought it was pretty boring.

I have never played the original.

 

[Diego Renault]

 

[ArmadilloGame]

Not as good as the SNES Mana games, and the Game Boy roots of the game can absolutely be felt, but it's a solid game still. It's probably the best game to look to next if you've already played SoM, SD3, and SoE, and are looking for another with a similar playstyle.

On a similar note, I think Children of Mana (the DS one) was really ahead of its time in retrospect. It's one of the more arena-y combat focused games in the series and more of a dungeon crawler than sprawling RPG, so it got dismissed fast by the Mana core fanbase, but on its own merits it's absolutely worth the time with an interesting combat and magic system and procedural level and loot generation a good decade before indies of similar scope jumped on that bandwagon.

 

[Deleted member 5621]

It's certainly way better than the SNES game, and it's GORGEOUS, but I think it's pretty bad. Much prefer the GB game or Seiken 3.

On a similar note, I think Children of Mana (the DS one) was really ahead of its time in retrospect. It's one of the more arena-y combat focused games in the series and more of a dungeon crawler than sprawling RPG, so it got dismissed fast by the Mana core fanbase, but on its own merits it's absolutely worth the time with an interesting combat and magic system and procedural level and loot generation a good decade before indies of similar scope jumped on that bandwagon.

Click to shrink...

The annoying menus alone kill Children of Mana IMO. It takes forever to do buy/sell things, to deliver quests, there's loadings everywhere, and the dungeons are extremely boring and not challenging. The combat doesn't have enough depth to sustain the lacking level design and there's basically no encounter design outside of bosses.

 

[ArmadilloGame]

It's certainly way better than the SNES game, and it's GORGEOUS, but I think it's pretty bad. Much prefer the GB game or Seiken 3.


The annoying menus alone kill Children of Mana IMO. It takes forever to do buy/sell things, to deliver quests, there's loadings everywhere, and the dungeons are extremely boring and not challenging. The combat doesn't have enough depth to sustain the lacking level design and there's basically no encounter design outside of bosses.

Click to shrink...

That could very well be. This thread just caused me to think about it for the first time in a decade and the things that made it weird back then would be trendy today. Don't remember the annoying parts, but it being a late Mana game, I absolutely believe they were there.

 

[Dekuman]

Looks beautiful. I'd love for Nintendo and SE to fund something that look like that on the Switch and not add to the Octopath team's workload. I mean you could have more than one sprite art RPG/ARPG right?

 

[mael]

This game is fantastic!
It has 2 glaring flaws :
- Companion AI is absurdly bad, like you have no idea.
It's probably the worst it has ever been in a Seiken game and yes that includes the OGB game where the AI companion moves randomly.

- In a normal playthrough the game is so easy to border on the mindless.
It cannot be overstated at how badly the game is balanced to the point that regular enemies pose a much MUCH bigger threat than even the hardest bosses by an order of magnitude that it's like going from Dark Souls 2 on ps4 to Kirby Dreamland when transitioning from dungeon crawling to bosses.
It's a goddamn shame as well because the bosses are really well designed and have complex patterns YOU WILL NEVER SEE because they die so quickly.

This game needs a difficulty patch or needs to be played while NEVER raising your level past level 1.

The game also has a lot of ways to dispatch foes, ranging from good ole smashy buttons melee to arcane invocations that requires connecting to 100 different saves.

It has a lot of underlying mechanics that are great but utterly pointless because the game will rarely block your path with a room full of enemies and the mandatory bosses will die VERY quickly.
It also has an annoying black monster mechanic if you're into minmaxing everything that WILL make you drop the game.

I'd say it's my 4th/5th fav Seiken game, it never actually reaches the height of a Seiken 3 or even a Legend of Mana but it's far better than literally everything about World of Mana.

 

[StarCreator]

Literally my only memory of the game, besides knowing I completed it, was once executing a charged attack against an enemy that reflects damage when blinking, and one hit KO-ing myself as a result. Lost hours of progress.

 

[Mejilan]

I have... less than fond memories of Children of Mana.

 

[Hieroph]

The only way somebody could think Sword Of Mana is a good remake is by not playing the original. This game is just a tedious slog, completely opposite to what the original was, a fun adventure.

Also the Secret Of Mana remake is great.

 

[SolVanderlyn]

The only way somebody could think Sword Of Mana is a good remake is by not playing the original. This game is just a tedious slog, completely opposite to what the original was, a fun adventure.

Also the Secret Of Mana remake is great.

Click to shrink...

I played the original and its more recent remake. I enjoy them, but I much prefer the art style change, focus on story, and combat system in Sword of Mana. Not only does it feel more consistent with later games in the series, but it feels like a much more substantial experience.

The original was too simple for me.