Dark Lord rules! Let's play Sword of Mana!

Hey kids!



Let's play Sword of Mana!

I'm pretty sure most of you are at least somewhat familiar with the Mana series. They're a set of traditionalish RPGs, except rather than being turn-based, you fight on the same areas you traverse, like a Zelda game. Sword of Mana is a GBA entry that is actually a remake of the first entry, known as Final Fantasy Adventures outside of Japan, which Secret of Mana, the next game in the series and the most commonly known, is a prequel to.

Did that make sense? No? Then just pretend Sword of Mana is a straight sequel to Secret of Mana, because it's such a different animal from Final Fantasy Adventures that people who loved the former dislike this game, and for good reason. Sword of Mana is the Sonic '06 of Final Fantasy Adventures, although not nearly as bad. It adds a ton of new stuff, plot and gameplay alike, and not all of it is very thought out. It's also incredibly unintuitive, but I'll burn that bridge when we get to it. I do like this game, mind you, but I also have not played any other Mana games aside from a few weeks ago when I played Secret of Mana, and some dumb DS title that isn't very good.



Anyway, that's not important. This is important though: we need to choose which of the two possible characters we play as!



The male protagonist is the same as the player you controlled in Final Fantasy Adventures. He's the son of a former noble, but political maneuvering's left him to the way of the sword just to stay alive. He's pretty hot-tempered, but he can afford to be, as he's one hard-to-kill guy.



The female protagonist is a villager of initially little importance, but if you've played this game or Final Fantasy Adventures, or hell, if you've played any JRPG, you can guess that to be a lie. On the upside, she's nowhere near as docile as the average "pure maiden of destiny", and while she prefers to talk rather than fight, she's more than capable of doing the latter.



It does have some slight effects on the story who you choose. For the sake of these examples, I'll refer to each of them as Flavio and Marita. We will, of course, need names for both of them regardless, with a six-character limit.

• Both characters have access to a specific area of the game, with story components, that the other does not. Flavio gets to explore a mine, complete with minecart section, while Marita will sneak around on an airship to sabotage the enemy's plans.
• Flavio is more physically inclined to start, while Marita is more magically inclined, although you can build either character either way.
• As a related point, Flavio starts out with no magic and one of the best physical weapons in the game, while Marita starts with one of the best magic types and magical weapons in the game.
• Flavio will get access to more teammates throughout the game, and with a more varied moveset than Marita's teammates.
• Marita gets slightly longer cutscenes than Flavio.
• It bears repeating that this game was remade from a game where you only got to play as Flavio, so things might seem a bit... I dunno, stranger maybe, if you select Marita.

One last thing: we'll have to decide what sort of build we go for. See, there's six level up types: warrior, monk, magician, sage, thief, and random. More importantly, there are also class bonuses you can get by obtaining specific levels. Since some of these class requirements are stupidly unintuitive, I'll just say what classes we can go for at a given time, and all y'all can put forth a vote as to what you'd like to see. I'll even try giving them some flavor text, since that's more than the game would offer, but you'd still be blind-ish as to the effects. Or you can look up a guide, whatevs.

• There are many that take up the path of the warrior, more often out of necessity than personal inclination. As a result, dedicated fighters tend to favor defensive techniques over offensive ones, and almost always prefer the weapon they first started training with over any other.
• The term "monk" is usually a misnomer, as while there are those who practice unarmed martial arts in monasteries, most grapplers are simply those who prefer fighting without a weapon. This style of combat does leave them somewhat weaker than a warrior defensively, but they make up for it with raw physical might.
• Magicians are generally seen as a threat to the realm, as they harness spirits and mana, which was widely known as the cause of the Vandole Empire's destruction. However, there are those who wield spirit magic all the same. Magicians, outcast as they are, prefer offensive elemental magic over other types.
• Many people lay claim to the title of sage, but true sages are a rare and impressive sight. Those who wish to study as a sage do tend to follow religious institutions, taking up the title of cleric. Like magicians, they wield magic, but as they are far preferential to healing magic over elemental magic, they are somewhat more accepted.
• There are those that rely not on physical or magical might, but rather their own wits and cunning. Thieves are a common sight in big cities, and although they're not as strong as a well-trained warrior, their agility and lack of honor makes them dangerous to take lightly.
• Additionally, there are those beyond the cities that live in the wilds, practicing no single form of combat. These barbarians and amazons vary wildly in fighting style, but a common trend among them is to favor the lance, due to the ease of its construction.

So yeah! Six class options, and two character choices, and names for both characters! That is what I require of you! You guys excited? I SURE ARE

Next Time: Achievement Unlocked: 2x Home Destruction Combo

AHEM

You should name them LARRY and MARY

How about...play as the girl, make her a grappler, and name her FRILLS and the boy RUFLES. Unless you want actual names, in which case Jack and Jill are fine.

Play as a female magician named Mary. Name the guy Allen.

If I remember right, the heroine's dungeon takes more than a few cues from the opening of Laputa: Castle in the Sky. (Yeah yeah, citing that film or Nausicaa as an influence for a JRPG is a bit like citing Lord of the Rings as an influence for a fantasy novel.)

So yeah, may as well run with the reference and call them Pazu and Sheeta.

Let's lead with Denam the Fighter, backed by Catiua the Cleric.

This is also a sound plan.

Their names are Hansel and Gretel.

100% Thief

also, I will +1 Hansel and Gretel

Whichever one we don't choose to play as will follow their own string of level ups, although of course the male character levels up physically and the female one magically. Only the one you play as gets class bonuses.

I am amused by the warped TAS's choice of partner for the final fight in FFA. It is the MAN, particularly funnily.

Name the girl TREE.

I approve of Pazu and Sheeta.

Male barbarian, call them both whatever you like.

+1!

And start with Sheeta.

Changing my vote to Hansel and Gretel

Not one taker for DICKKS and SKANKZ, huh? For shame.

Or call her MarySu and the guy Marty...

Or just go with Hansel and Gretel. Those work.

For character class I say - all random all the time, baby!

I'll go with Pazu and Sheeta.

Also, you should turn all the enemies into black enemies. All of them.

+1 Hansel and Gretel

Hansel, and his amazing friend Gretel the Grappler.

I will not do this. I will explain, in great detail, why I am not doing this, but for now, just say "Kalir hates grinding" and leave it at that.

I knew Kalir was a good guy.

I just knew it.

In the spirit of ridiculous names: HEEEEP (alternately: HEEEAP, because it's fitting) and SHEEEP.

Play as the boy, magic is kind of slow, and I've already played as the girl.
Go for the crystal ring, it's not as hard as it seems! And it means your partner can wear a game-breaking accessory too once you reach that other ring.

Ah yes, Sword of Mana. I can't fault Square-Enix for wanting to do a remake of Final Fantasy Adventure, but I didn't expect it to be this bad. It's like Brownie Brown took inspiration from Legend of Mana, but then epically failed at understanding how all that stuff worked in the game it came from.

The game does have some nice music and visuals, though...Well, really the visuals are just nice when all that odd visual warping isn't happening. I swear, I've never seen such a thing happen in other GBA games. I'm surprised it was even let out the door like this.

I'd love to see both characters' stories, but my vote goes to the girl because she's the one I haven't played up until near the end of the game before finally getting sick of it with.

Name suggestions are Square (Boy) and Enix (Girl).

Second.

I can get behind this idea.

I can get behind it because it's the SMARTEST DECISION!

Hansel and Gretel (don't care about the pair of name with gender, or which gender you play as), and being a jerk, I'll say Thief, otherwise I'm fine with Grappler.

Airships are cool so be a girl. LPs always seem to go with the girl but airships are still way cooler than mines.

I tend to grind exactly twice in this game. The first time is right at the start, for about two hours to get 900 kills on Rabites. The second time is once I have a full set of Orichalcum equipment, back with the Rabites. The endgame is pretty easy for me.

Never played this game.

I'm going to go with Marita, because sabotaging an airship sounds fun. Magician sounds good. Ill go with Bonnie for the female and Clyde for the male. Aren't I original.