The Answer Isn't 42. Let's Play The Secret of Mana!

(Sorry for being late. Webspace issues and having to install a new OS for my mom kept me away.)

Hi all, and welcome to my first ever attempt for an LP of Secret of Mana (Seiken Densetsu 2 aka Legend of the Holy Sword). And just what IS the Secret of Mana? It was made by a game company. Having come to love this game in an unusual way, I've decided that since my friend picks his LPs the same way, I should pick one I have an unusual relationship with also.

I acquired Secret of Mana in 8th grade around 1998 after having rented it a lot before and falling deeply in love with its strangely nostalgic feel. In fact it was also the same year I acquired FF6 (I think from the same guy in fact, a fellow student getting rid of his older games). I remember immediately faking sick the same day I got it because I couldn't wait the few hours to get home and play it.

While Final Fantasy VI became my favorite game of all time for its great all-around package of perfection, SoM became one of my other favorites because something about it hearkens back to a much simpler time, perhaps the classic fantasy books you were read when you were little. It didn't try to be excessive, or movie-esque. It just told a simple story in the best way it could under the circumstances it was made. While we may never know what its true potential could have been thanks to its SNES-CD origins, we do know what it has achieved, and it is because of that that I am starting this game for you all today.

Before I continue, I also want to note that I would like to base this patch of the VWF version by FuSoYa, as the font there doesn't suck, and as you can see actually looks quite nice. The side-effect is that it slightly changes dialogue since he made the patch to make the story more readable and text less awkward. The story itself is unchanged, but reads a lot better now. You'll see the font in the intro, where all screens in this post have unchanged text, then you can see what you think and decide what happens afterwards.

Alright, enough. Let's plug this badass game in and prepare for...



Yay!



Oooooooooooh shit.

For those who don't know, Nasir worked on almost all of Square's early efforts including the first few Final Fantasies and this game. And like those games, it's not exactly the most... stable of works.



I always liked the text crawl in this game, but one thing that stuck me as enormously silly about it is that the entire intro is in perfect English in the Japanese version, and yet here it's still changed.

Note: The following intro is altered from its original all-caps format for your sanity. YOU'RE WELCOME.

"Darkness sweeps the troubled land, as Mana's power fades...
People await a hero who will wield the sword...
Excalibur, Herald, Gigas...
The blade has had many names, for it has been celebrated in myths and legends throughout time.
But all of these speak to just one weapon...
The Sword of Mana."



Something tells me we're not in Texas anymore.

After selecting the name, we begin with a cryptic flashback of... images we couldn't possible yet care about, but they look cool so who cares, as we learn the history of Mana in the world.





This whole thing reeks of familiarity. Now where have I...?



So what Galadriel was trying to say was... oh wait. While I try to figure out why my game has suddenly been infected by the One Ring, perhaps I can direct your attention to this.



Yes, only 26 characters, so sadly we won't get to see #$%@O getting it on with @#$!% while saving )@!*$#

Your choices are Bob, Boy, Seth, or <insert name here> if you can all agree on one. Enjoy, and part one is coming soon!

Hooray for secretive secretions of magic! Hmm, he looks a bit RANDI to me...

Crono

Anyone else's brain fill in the music and wolf howl for them as they looked at the screenshots of the opening?

Yes.

Actually according to an old interview with Kikuta, the sound was a digitized whale cry.

It's already been seconded, so if no one is going to nominate another name I move that we end debate and vote on this name!

Crono.

So is that the real secret of Mana?

Anyway, the name's gotta be PANTS. Hey I'm trapped in 2008, can anyone hear me?

This is pretty good. However I was looking at the crazy brown hair and bandana on the sprite and I could only think of one name for him:

Yeah I'm sorry guys, I'm going with RAMBO here.

- Eddie

We'll save that one for Purim.

I say we compromise. All hail CRAMBO!

I am going to have to second crambo

I can totally get behind Crambo.

I'm not going to lie to you, Crambo sounds pretty goddamn delicious.

- Eddie

Froggie went a-courtin and he did ride, c-c-c-Crambooo!

Crono + Rambo + Bob = Crambob

It is tradition for the BOY to be named BOY, and I will not vote for anything else. Though Crono is pretty solid.

This thread title wins, by the way. 42 and Mana? yes, I can back that.

Ayup.

And I'm so glad you're playing the VWF version! I've been trying to muddle through that myself but just haven't had time. Exciting.

It's moments like this that make me love TT. Crambo FTW!

Purim is going to be Shantae.

It's all about Crambo!

Also, I never beat this. I'm gonna go sit in the corner now.

I change my vote to Crambo.

Good thing nobody's voting he use the original version of SoM, since the original release only allows for 5-character names. Meaning we'd miss out on Crambo entirely.

Boy- Crambo
Girl- Shantae
Sprite- Pants

That is the talking-time-est, most game-spite-ful combination of names possible, and so it must be.

On a logistical note, if there was ever an LP that needs links to the soundtrack, it's this one. I will always consider this game and Chrono Trigger as the absolute pinnacle of midi video game music. Since it has already been discussed, I'll go ahead and throw up the link to the intro music. Beautiful stuff.

What is all this talk of VFWs and FuSoYus?

A user going by the alias FuSoYa created a variable-width font patch for Secret of Mana some years ago, and also corrected some contextual errors in the script along with that. Here's what SoM looks like without VWF:

Wait, is that the same FuSoYa as from you-know-what?