Game of the month (May)

[Rpgfreak]

I suggested in another forum to start posting an game each month to discuss. I won't start with much info about the game, but will slowly add. I guess I would like to see people to post about things in the game, about the game and about their opinion of the game.
I think I will limit the games to super nintento games for now. As it is the end of march this will be the game of may, so it will have some time to be discussed.

So this month I point out Seiken Densetsu 3. It's a great game which is quite unique because of how the story is put together. You choose your starting character (6 choices). For each character there is an different story to begin with. Later on these stories are merged into the main story, but still some things will depend on the choice of characters you made...

[Great Red Spirit]

Oohhh, SD3... excellent game

There is a potential problem with this though, with the huge amount of great games available (and unfortunately an even larger pile of games that deserve to burn ), we'd have a huge amount of games to choose and argue about. I think we need to establish some criteria to keep the number of games we can discuss down (SNES is way to broad, especially for a system with so many good games )

[Gideon Zhi]

SD3 is home to one of the biggest cop-outs in videogame history, though. They could have at least -staged- a war between the three countries after you find the sword of mana, but no, they just kill everybody off right then and there.

Bah.

[TechMaster]

I would have liked it more if they didn't have the characters merge into a main story.  If they had all the characters' routes all seperate, then its replayability would have increased drastically.

[honookatana]

I never did play too far into that game. For some reason, I just couldn't get into it like I could with SoM.

[Rpgfreak]

Seems like most people dislike the way the stories are being merged into 1 story. If they would have made multiple stories I think it would become more like 6 different stories/games. I don't think that would work.
Its replayabililty doesn't come from the story. You will see some other things happen when you choose different characters. But the main story will be the same. As is with almost all games. So the rewards in story for replaying are very few. But still more than in all other games I know for the snes.
The characters in this game are drawn a little bit childish.

That covers most negative points of the game I guess.

Ups are in my eyes:
You can see the view from 6 different kingdoms (one for each player). Some missions will be based on the character choices you make. So the game isn't completely linear. The battle system is quite simple.

Still there were some things I would have like to be better. Like the seed system thats in the game...

[Gideon Zhi]

I still think they could've extended the longevity of the game if there was a massive tricontinental war after you retrieve the Sword. It wouldn't have seemed so much of a cop-out as the whole "OMG they were soooooo strong I died!" thing :p

[TechMaster]

Its replayability isn't the real issue that I have with the game, to tell you the truth.  The only thing that has kept me from ever beating it (yes, I haven't even beaten it once...-.-''') is that the game didn't give me the urge to finish it.  There are games that I have not beaten due to technical difficulties but the urge to beat it is still there.  At the later parts of the game, I just don't have that urge anymore ><.

[Nightcrawler]

I don't have much to say on SD3.  It's been several years since I've played it.

I agree with Gideon.  A major war at the end would have helped.

I think I'm ok with the 6 stories merging into one.  You do have a different final boss depending on who you pick and some other differences.

You want 6 seperate stories, got play Saga Frontier 1.  That's half decent.

I've always had a better liking for Secret of Mana though.  That will always be my favorite in the series.

Anyone play Legend of Mana? That game just dissapoints me.

How bout Secret of Evermore? Is that worth finishing? I've only played a few hours a long time ago. Didnt really get into it.

Sword of Mana has potential to be fun, but it has a lack of plot in my eyes.

[Gideon Zhi]

I loved Legend of Mana, but not for the same reasons I loved Secret. Legend was more of an experience than a game. The towns, cities, lakes, and the people were absolutely beautiful, and even if the disjoint in the stories kinda dragged the plot(s) down a bit, the world itself seemed alive and vibrant, bursting at the seams with character.

Remember that stupid centaur guy who got turned to stone by the teacher?

[KingMike]

I beat Secret of Evermore maybe 5 years ago, and haven't played it much since then.
I didn't like it as much as Secret of Mana for several reasons.
It seemed to be a smaller game, for one.
Also, the soundtrack was rather small, because a sizable portion of the game lacked music. The music that was there was alright (I liked the Gothica music), but I think Square Japan has spoiled me...  
I didn't like the alchemy system because it was more time-consuming than Mana's magic system. First, you had to find a place to buy the ingredients (and keeping a list of what the shops sell is a definite to avoid wasting lots of money), then you need to use the spells 'til they run out. If you don't make enough from the enemies you killed in the process, then you gotta waste time killing some more to get the money back, so you can repeat the process. At least Mana gave you a cheap and easily renewable source of magic.
And the Call Magic is kinda useless, since you get what...10 Call Beads in the game, and an ingredient for the Call Up spell (to get more) I believe was even rarer.
Also the dog was a kinda boring sidekick (sorry, but no superpowers or dialouge capability. Certainly Square Japan would be able to make it work. ). Except for the laser-spiting flying toaster you get for the future world (which is really short).
But the graphics are nice, and it's decently challenging, and what music exists is nice. Better than some US-released RPGs (How about that Lord of the Rings game?   ), I guess I'd give it a try (after Zelda, Mana, SoulBlazer, Illusion of Gaia).

[Rpgfreak]

For Dragoon_0, I though of limiting it to translated games.

Back to SD3. SD3 is translated by Neil Corvell. I think he did a great job on this game. I don't believe I saw much Japanese in the game (Only in the naming part I believe).

[Nightcrawler]

His name was Neill Corlett.

[Rpgfreak]

Sorry. My mistake. Seems like I don't remember everything perfectly.

[Rpgfreak]

Hm not much response anymore (anywhere...).

About the game. Its an sequel to secret of mana. But probably as it never got released in the US, it never has gotten the name.

As I never cared much about graphics and that kinda stuff, I probably liked the game, even though the characters are kinda childish, and attack childish to. I almost always look at the numbers only I guess...

I guess this game isn't the right game to get an conversation going. Hope next one will be better. Will probably be a game less known...