Secret of Mana pics

[Great Rumbler]

You know you wanna see them...














Looks pretty good!

[Dark Jaguar]

That's not Secret of Mana(Seiken Densetsu 2), that's Final Fantasy Adventure (Seiken Densetsu 1)! Looks great though. I recognize that amazing tiger battle. This seems to be a remake in the vein of Square's recent remakes (FF1&2), only now it's even more so, with even more gameplay changes. I just hope that an original mode is added.

What WILL it be named though? Secret of Mana 0 just sounds stupid (naming ANY prequal "series name 0" is stupid if you ask me though, so maybe that will be what it's called). Maybe they will do what they should have done and just translate the Japanese name. Legend of the Holy Sword 1 sounds fine by me.

[A Black Falcon]

Yeah, I recognize that first shot since its the first thing you do in the game... but the rest? No way. The game has just changed way too mcuh... its supposedly a remake, but I'd say that its really a redoing of the game... remake implies that the core gameplay is intact -- and that does not look to be the case here. Its changed too much for that... maybe for the better, but it's changed dramatically.

The graphics are great... they look a LOT like Secret of Mana and SD3...

As for its name, I'll be interested to see what they call it. Somethingorother of Mana? Maybe. Secret of Mana 0 is lame... and calling it Final Fantasy Adventure wouldn't make sense if they remove the FF stuff...

[OB1]

I bet it'll be "something" of Mana. And let's hope that they bring out more Seiken Densetsu games for the GBA! This game can't come out soon enough (when is that, BTW?)!

[Great Rumbler]

The Magic Box says that it is based in Final Fantasy Adventure, whatever that means.

[Dark Jaguar]

Remove what FF stuff? The only thing they did was rename the game when it came to America. The chocobos were already in there.

Well it's a remake on the scale of Rebirth. It does seem they may be chaning the gameplay though. Still, the core is there. The standard combat with the various computer controlled allies, with the same charge meter for super attacks. The special abilities, the mulitple weapons. At the core, it's all there. However, everything has been remapped (not totally, but enough that you can easily tell), and the menu has been redone (big deal, the ring system is nicer than the other menu). I'd still like an original mode to be added though, with all gameplay restored to it's original state.

Oh, based on Final Fantasy Adventure means exactly what they said. This is a remake of Final Fantasy Adventure. Final Fantasy Adventure is nothing more than the US name of Seiken Densetsu 1. They renamed it so it would sell on name recognition in America.

[A Black Falcon]

But I thought they'd changed the helper system dramatically... I mean, in FFA you've got those unkillable helpers without their own health bars or anything and they change all the time... I thought this one changed it somewhat. But we don't exactly know all that much, so we'll see.

Oh, and the Japanese one had Chocobos and a guy named Cid too? Huh... didn't know that.

[Dark Jaguar]

I remember reading they added a multiplayer mode where someone else could control the second character, but that's an addition. Single player is the same. As you can see, not a one of those pics has the second character's health bar.

Anyway, yes the Chocobos were already there. Do you realize how much gameplay would be altered just to fit them in? I mean, they had Chocobo based abilities, and had a nice storyline explanation for why it was upgraded and everything. As for Cid, that I can't be sure of. It would be easy enough to rename pretty much anyone Cid in the translation. In any case, this was the first in the series, and likely never intended to have a sequal, so adding FF related stuff likely wasn't anything big at all. Also note that Secret of Mana, the sequal, had moogles.

I think I'm looking forward to this, though I would have preferred Seiken Densetsu 3. That should be the next one anyway. It's likely that the two SNES game ports won't see such massive redoing, and in fact are likely not to see any. Remember, SNES graphics are deemed "good enough", which is why it took porting NES games for Square to start actually redoing the graphics and sound of the FF ports.

[A Black Falcon]

What is that 'HP 23 MP 3' thing in the top corner of the last screenshot, then? :)

And yes, a multiplay mode with 2-player mode, and a choice between playing a male or female character (I'm pretty sure) are additions.

Oh, and I didn't mean that the Chocobo would be gone... I just meant that I thought they changed some other transport creature into a Chocobo to make it work in the FF universe...

Oh, and SD2 and 3 would be harder since they're SNES games... and this one is a brand new version of a game that was on a smaller screen so they can optimize it for the GB's screen.

Also, did you play this game much? There are Moogles. Or, at least, I thought I remembered one of the 'status ailments' being turned into a (weaponless) Moogle...

Also, I wonder if in the Japanese version people "fell" instead of dying... I doubt it. I wonder if they'll call if "falling" in this version too...

Though even calling it "falling" couldn't disguise how depressing the story of this game is...

[Dark Jaguar]

Did I play it much? You can't even remember the details :D and you decide to mock me about not noticing the moogles? I don't really recall that ailment or appearence specifically, but I do most certainly remember that Secret of Mana had just that ailment, as well as a belt that would turn you to and back from that form (though it's main use is just for antidote since being a moogle is useless, though that didn't stop me from purposly moogling and midgeting my whole party just for the fun of it). Besides, I don't remember even once saying this game DIDN'T have moogles. I just said SK2 DID have them. Don't read between the lines. That's empty space!

Didn't notice that up the corner :D. I was looking at the bottom... Oh well, I suppose that's showing off two player mode.

Why exactly would they need to add any chocobos? Final Fantasy 1 had not a single chocobo, moogle, or guy named Cid in the entire game. No summons, steal command (yes, the thiefs (upgradeble to ninjas) are completely without the ability to steal. Instead, thiefs are able to run away more succesfully than any other class (except ninja).

Would it be harder? I've seen what they have done with other RPGs. The characters are actually BIGGER in SOM than in other RPGs, so it's not a problem.

[A Black Falcon]

The art looks like SD3 or Legend of Mana... very nice. I like it... FFA was great, but graphics weren't one of its best points.

Oh, and I thought every FF game had a guy named Cid...

And FFA definitely has 'Moogle' mode. Not that it helps you any...

Also, what do you mean it'd be less of a problem? Those are SNES games so I'd certainly think that getting rid of the bigger screen would be one... like all SNES ports...

Though, this is a harder project for the simple reason that in those projects they wouldn't have to redraw all the art in the game... :)

[OB1]

Alright guys, Square has announced the official title for their GBA FFA remake in the states. From now on it shall be known as The Sword of Mana. Sounds good, huh? They took part of the original Japanese name and mixed it with the U.S.. So all three of us were right. I like it.

[Great Rumbler]

Sounds like a good name to me.

[Dark Jaguar]

Yeah that does the trick nicely.

Now then, what's SD3 going to be named? We have Sword, Secret, and Legend... Hmm...

[A Black Falcon]

Secret of Mana 2? But that doesn't really work when its a prequel... :)

Oh, and Sword of Mana is a good name.

[OB1]

So when's it coming out? I hope it comes out before FF Tactics. That won't be out until this fall/winter.

[Dark Jaguar]

Seiken Densetsu 3, the third in the series, is already numbered. How is it a prequal if it's third anyway? The stories as far as I know are totally seperate with only certain story elements and the gameplay making them the same series. It's like Final Fantasy that way.

[Darunia]

Too bad we'll never see a nice old-fashioned 2D RPG on the GC...just like we never did in the N64.

[OB1]

That would be nice.

[Sacred Jellybean]

Wasn't Camelot or some other company supposed to make a 2D RPG for GameCube?

[OB1]

I never heard anything about it being 2D.

[Sacred Jellybean]

I was under the impression that they were going to do a 2D Golden Sun rendition or something on GameCube... 'guess not.

[Darunia]

:(

[Dark Jaguar]

Well while it can do 2D very well of course, 2D is now the portable market's speciality. You want a nice old fasioned 2D RPG on your TV? Get the GB player.

[big guy]

i heard about the golden sun game they were apparently making on GC, but never heard anything about 2d...in fact, i always assumed it to be a 3d GC entry into the series.

hey, maybe they'll show it off at e3?

and speaking of golden sun...has golden sun 2 come out yet?

[A Black Falcon]

Seiken Densetsu 3 is set before the occurances of SD2. How do we know this? While the main characters chainge from one game to the next, the overall story does have a clear progression... and SD3 fits in that story before SD2.

Unlike FF there IS a overall story in the series. While the characters change, each game clearly builds on what happened before...

[Dark Jaguar]

Hmm... To be honest I remember hearing from others that while the story is similar, there are too many plot holes for it to be anything but just alternate tellings of a similar story. I think I'd rather go with that. Though the end of FFA does tie in well enough for it to be a prequal to SOM, there are just too many other problems once you dig into it for it to work.

Oh well, no matter. To each their own.

And yes, Golden Sun: The Lost Age is out now.

[A Black Falcon]

Uhh.... I honestly can't think of such huge problems... first, note that there is nothing saying how long is betwen each game... well except for SD3 which clearly sets itsself right before SD2. But between SD1 and 2 and 2 and 4 there's nothing... ie it could be as long as you want...

Uh, saying "there are plot holes!" and not explaining is NOT a good way to refute what is a pretty clear thing if you play the games -- that they clearly connect...

Uh, do you want me to say more? It'd spoil stuff from several of the games... and I don't want to do that...

"to each his own"? Huh? You don't make sense... you say 'i think they aren't a series' when it has clear connectors and just say that its opinion? I mean... that just doesn't make sense!

[Dark Jaguar]

It's almost as though you want to actually debate this, when all I was doing was pointing out that other opinions exist. I myself don't claim any plot holes in anything other than SDI & SD2. I haven't played any of the others. say CURRENTLY I happen to have one, and no, I don't want you to say anything to change my mind. That'll happen after I play SD3. Stop being so ready to fight all the time, you saiyan... Just let it be okay? You say you don't understand why I said "to each their own"? Obviously you don't. The idea of just letting other people disagree without any intterference seems foreign to you.

[A Black Falcon]

All I want is to understand why you say there are plot holes.