The Sunleth Waterscape (Day 126)

My initial impressions of Secret of Mana were not positive. I'm capable of enjoying games that aren't from my preferred genre, but a number of flaws jumped out at me almost immediately.

The plot is skeletal and mildly confusing but I can forgive that because I hear it's poorly translated and summarized from the original Japanese--and let's be honest, you're probably not playing a game like this because of the storyline. It's about mowing down enemies and tackling bosses above all else. However, the combat can be a little clumsy and unsatisfying.

I do like the idea of charging up your attacks to unleash more powerful versions of your basic attack. As you gain levels and upgrade your weapons, you gain the ability to charge your weapons to new levels. So far I've acquired the ability to charge up to level 4, which takes quite awhile. Once you spend four or five seconds charging your weapon, you're not guaranteed to actually hit your opponent, which can be frustrating. Enemies are typically knocked down after being attacked, at which point they are untargetable. It makes the combat rather slow-paced and frustrating at times.

Your allies have access to a wide variety of magic. The female ally has support magic and the sprite has offensive magic. These spells are tied to elemental creatures that you gain access to as you progress through the game, such as Undine, Gnome, and Lumina. This reminds me a lot of the Tales series, although the creatures are summoned directly in those games. Most of the spells are pretty cool and can be easily cast from the game's targeting ring by pressing X. Most of the boss battles seem to be easily conquered by spamming all of the Sprite's spells until he runs out of MP, which is a little problematic.

I'm not even close to done with the game yet--it seems like it could be quite long for an SNES game. It is a flawed but not entirely unenjoyable game. Honestly, I think I'll enjoy Seiken Densetsu 3 more but I'm definitely going to finish this one. It's a classic game that hasn't really aged well. The soundtrack, at least, is pretty solid.