Well, we finally finished Secret of Mana last night. I think it would have been a lot easier to take on the fnial boss if my co-op partner had been using the sword at all. By the time we reached that final battle, he still had a pitiful level 1 sword that barely dented that guy. We had no way of knowing that we'd be given a spell right before that encounter that would make the sword a lot more powerful against that boss specifically--but only if you have leveled it up to the maximum.
I'm glad that we finished the game, but I must admit that it is by no means perfect. The combat system was often very frustrating and unintuitive. You'll frequently find yourself charging your weapon for a good 6 or 7 seconds only to see a flashy spin attack that fails to hit anything at all. Attacks miss frequently even when they're completely dead on. Attacks having a percent chance to hit and to be evaded makes sense in turn based RPGs because the act of attacking a target is as simple as selecting an option from a menu. In the case of Secret of Mana, you'll find yourself physically stabbing someone with a spear and they'll magically take no damage from it and you'll often get no feedback on why your attack failed.
All regular attacks in Secret of Mana have a sort of recovery time. After you execute a regular attack, you'll have to wait until your meter charges up again or else any attack you launch will be feeble and do very little damage. Not only that, but these feeble attacks will reset your charge meter. I understand that this system was in place to prevent rampant button mashing from being successful, but it does lead to some frustrating situations, especially when surrounded by enemies and stunlocked.
Spells, although consistently useful and very powerful, do have some negative effects on gameplay as well. You'll find yourself using the girl's healing magic extremely frequently over the course of the game and every time you do so, every member of your party freezes in place whereas enemies can continue to take action. You cannot be damaged during this time, but enemies are able to reposition--and in the case of some bosses, this can result in vital weak points being covered up before you have time to act.The final boss fight was particularly bad about this in that your party only has brief windows of time to attack.
Despite all these downsides to the game, it was a charming action RPG that I certainly don't regret playing. The skill ring that allows you to access items and spells in the middle of combat was quite innovative for the time and still pops up from time to time in games today. Exploring dungeons, leveling up, and acquiring new spells and weapons is as fun as it often is in classic RPGs. Additionally, encountering enemies on screen can sometimes be a refreshing change of pace from more traditional turn-based games. If there's anything I'm tired of by now it is the random encounter--and it was a very popular and omnipresent mechanic in games of that era.
It was not an easy game to finish for a number of reasons, but having a co-op partner made the journey much more smooth. We'll be playing Seiken Densetsu 3 now, which I have every reason to believe is a superior game. More on that soon.
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