The other day someone asked me if I had ever created a top-10 or top-20 games that I personally think are the best ever made. I have never compiled a list like that and even if I did I think that I would forget something, then have to go back and remake the list entirely. The list gets more complicated if we are talking about "of all time" because there are a lot of games that I don't really have much recollection of even playing but if it was pointed out to me I would feel silly that I didn't include them on the list. Also, times have changed a lot so some of the things that I thought I really enjoyed - and did at the time - would bore me to tears today.
However, there are some that really stick out in my mind as being something truly wonderful and captivating and one of those games is Secret of Mana on the SNES.
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Squaresoft was a company that was nearly overlooked by myself and my group of gaming friends back in the late 80's and early 90's because RPG's hadn't really hit us fully as a group yet. I recall requesting a friend of mine purchase Final Fantasy II and he was really reluctant because neither of us knew anything about it... there was no internet at the time so back then you looked at boxes and see what it said right there on the box. If it didn't pull you in you left it behind. Final Fantasy II ended up being a favorite for both of us so a bit later on when Secret of Mana was released by the same company, we jumped at the chance to get it.
Little did we know that Square actually had turned the RPG genre on its head with this title, and it would end up being one of the greatest and most memorable gaming experiences of my life.
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You start out with one character but your party quickly grows to 3 and all of them can be played by you as the game goes on. The others will do their thing on their own but honestly, if you want to get anywhere quick, you are going to need to be switching back and forth and taking over the controls yourself. This was complicated at first, but after just a little while it becomes quite easy.
The main character or "the boy" excels at physical attacks but is unable to use magic, the second character or "the girl" is a healer but possesses a certain amount of physical attack capabilities as well. The third character or "the sprite" uses offensive magic but is quite "squishy" so you need to keep it out of harm's way. Little did we realize at the time but this soon became the "holy trinity" of tank/healer/dps that exists in most RPG's and MMOs to this day.
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You would venture from place to place as you would expect in a game of this type but there was no turn-based combat like we had become used to at this point but instead the action was live and based on a skill recharge of sorts. Also, there were no "random encounters" based on some sort of RNG that was oh so annoying about almost any other RPG that I had played up to that point. Sure, some of the enemies would jump out from hiding places, but they ALWAYS jumped out of the same hiding spot, there was no random "you've been attacked" sort of shite that was in almost every single RPG I had played up to that point.
Bosses were inventive and challenging, but nothing was terrible impossible. It was fair, and you had the opportunity to grind and level up if you wanted to as well.
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There was also some really good graphics (for the time) and the music and story was pretty engaging as well. RPG's are long games and I haven't replayed many of them but I went through this one several times and enjoyed all of them.
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A remake of the game was released around 2010, but unfortunately I have never actually played it. I am hesitant to do so because I have such fond memories of playing this game and would hate to spoil it but dropping $30 on nostalgia-bait and ending up thinking it is boring. I think it is important to remember that our standards were very different in 1993 than they are now, 32 years later.
Secret of Mana is considered by many, if not most, to be one of the greatest games made by anyone ever and I wholeheartedly agree with this notion. I was quite disappointed with Trials of Mana so this is part of the reason why I have never bothered with the remaster. Sometimes the memories of something are much better than going back and actually experiencing it again.
Did you play this game? If so I would love to hear your thoughts!
i was hoping to see top 10 on your list but i guess secret of mana is the first. i think I'll see what I'll find on epic
Is there any other game that handles the ‘holy trinity’ concept so elegantly? Secret of Mana's story may have been simple, but the atmosphere and characters were unforgettable. Especially that weapon levelling system... I used to grind for hours! 🗡️ I agree about the remake, sometimes it's best to keep old games as heirlooms. I wonder if today's young people can show this kind of patience? 🤔
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I've never played any of the Mana series games, but from what you've explained, they seem really fun. I guess I'll have to give them a chance someday.
I never got to play this game (or maybe I did, but a more recent version, because the name sounds familiar 🤔), but I love RPGs (in fact, they are the only type of game that doesn't bore me, because I consider myself bad at other games 😆). If I had the chance to play it, I would definitely do it. Thanks for talking about it and making it known ✨