10 weeks since last entry!? "Sword of Mana" mini-review
It's official: LJ is dead (duh), but it can still be used for these silly game reviews I like to do on occasion for my own amusement. Only because it updates Facebook too :)
Noah tells me that Sword of Mana (GBA, 2003) was the remake of Final Fantasy Adventure (US)/Seiken Densetsu (Japan). Since it's a big influence art-direction wise for the game we (sometimes) work on, it made sense to try it. I played Secret of Mana/ Seiken Densetsu 2 back in the day and enjoyed it enough. Of course, I loved the cute Flammy dragon.
Maybe coming off of a failed Chrono Cross attempt made me less receptive to another long-ass, involved RPG, even though this was was an action RPG and, OK, really wasn't all that similar at all. The story seemed charming enough, the art was lovely, and the music was full of character. The menu wasn't very obtrusive at all, which is great since they can often be big ole clunkers, esp. in "old" "REAL" Final Fantasy games.
There were minor annoyances that kept adding up.
Why did someone have to teach you how to jump? "There are these meaty appendages attached to my torso - I move with them regularly, but how do I lift myself from the confines of the ground below?!" The jump was essentially useless to anything but getting to formerly inaccessible areas. It should have been employed as part of the battle system. The enemies are so stupid with their random behavior that they will essentially shoot/claw/etc anywhere. Is it sad that this makes it more likely that they'd hit me than if they had adhered to aiming? Regardless, this lack of good enemy AI was probably the #1 fun-killer. #2 - The spirit powers went above and beyond confusing me. Holding for half a second did a power-up thing; holding for some other period of time did the attack. Either way, I was draining MP. Not being able to figure out how to aim said mysterious attack (which I'm not saying is anyone's fault but my own) led to my defeat at the hand of werewolf dude in that scary mansion with the vampire(s).
So it wasn't a horrible 1.5-ish hours of gaming experience by any stretch. The noodle just didn't stick. Is it Rhonda-fail or game-fail? Who cares, I decided to play Metroid Zero Mission instead.
I never got to this part, but it sure looks pretty with its (mostly) non-tiled landmark self!
Noah tells me that Sword of Mana (GBA, 2003) was the remake of Final Fantasy Adventure (US)/Seiken Densetsu (Japan). Since it's a big influence art-direction wise for the game we (sometimes) work on, it made sense to try it. I played Secret of Mana/ Seiken Densetsu 2 back in the day and enjoyed it enough. Of course, I loved the cute Flammy dragon.
Maybe coming off of a failed Chrono Cross attempt made me less receptive to another long-ass, involved RPG, even though this was was an action RPG and, OK, really wasn't all that similar at all. The story seemed charming enough, the art was lovely, and the music was full of character. The menu wasn't very obtrusive at all, which is great since they can often be big ole clunkers, esp. in "old" "REAL" Final Fantasy games.
There were minor annoyances that kept adding up.
Why did someone have to teach you how to jump? "There are these meaty appendages attached to my torso - I move with them regularly, but how do I lift myself from the confines of the ground below?!" The jump was essentially useless to anything but getting to formerly inaccessible areas. It should have been employed as part of the battle system. The enemies are so stupid with their random behavior that they will essentially shoot/claw/etc anywhere. Is it sad that this makes it more likely that they'd hit me than if they had adhered to aiming? Regardless, this lack of good enemy AI was probably the #1 fun-killer. #2 - The spirit powers went above and beyond confusing me. Holding for half a second did a power-up thing; holding for some other period of time did the attack. Either way, I was draining MP. Not being able to figure out how to aim said mysterious attack (which I'm not saying is anyone's fault but my own) led to my defeat at the hand of werewolf dude in that scary mansion with the vampire(s).
So it wasn't a horrible 1.5-ish hours of gaming experience by any stretch. The noodle just didn't stick. Is it Rhonda-fail or game-fail? Who cares, I decided to play Metroid Zero Mission instead.
I never got to this part, but it sure looks pretty with its (mostly) non-tiled landmark self!