Postby Bobtheduck » Wed Jan 07, 2004 5:16 pm
Ok...
Sword of Mana is a COMPLETE remake of "Seiken Densetsu" aka "Final Fantasy Adventure" (it only had the "final fantasy" title attatched to it to sell better) SD was followed up by 3 sequals. SD2 was released in the US, after FFA had aquired a small following, as "Secret of Mana" It was greatly improved over SD in story, gameplay, and graphics. This game earned a MASSIVE following. Despite that, because of the rift between Nintendo and Square, the third game, SD3, never got released in the US... I consider SD3 to be the best in the series. Some were annoyed by the seeming lack of control during battles, but I say you had MORE control and quickly acclimated (sp?) to the differences. It was improved in Gameplay and graphics, and I thought the story was just as good even though it was a tad more non-linear. The same could not be said for SD4 for the playstation, which was called "Legend of Mana" in the US. That brings us to the SD1 remake...
The Graphics are halfway between SD3 and SD4. That is quite impressive. They are very detailed, but the sickenenly cute visuals of SD4 are peeking through in this one, whereas in SD1-3 they weren't as obvious because they didn't put as much detail in them.
The gameplay is a modified version of the original game... Instead of charging by sitting still, you charge by attacking, ala SD3, but like the original, it takes a lot longer to charge. It's not as good of a fighting enging as Sd3, but it sure beats 4 (they only had left and right sprites, no up and down... that was annoying) In addition to that, they addded some features to this one, such as a bestiary that, once you defeat a monster for the first time, it tells you the best way to kill them... That was pretty cool.
Music: The music was improved over SD1 because they used better instruments than the gameboy could offer... It was great to hear Lester's theme, only the second song I ever played on the piano, in a more realistic instrument... The only problem I have is that the GBA sound always ends up sounding like a Genesis... They made the graphics better than the SNES, why couldn't they have fixed the sound?
Plot: It was essentially SD1, but they added a lot... Beefed up dialogue, expounded plot points, new character, and even the ability to play as either character, which opens up the girl's story, which you had to mostly guess in the original... The thing is, it doesn't look, sound, or play like the original game... That means for those of you who got your start on FFA, you wont find much that's familiar to give you that nostalgic feeling... It is not the same game...
Overall: I Still love this game, though it doesn't replace the original SD1. It's not as good as SD3, but it is interesting to continue the series when, in my opinion, SD4 didn't do that well...
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Legend of Crying Bronies: Twilight's a Princess