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I'm playing through the classic Mana games! Let's all go plant trees!(Trials of Mana complete!)
- Thread starter Second Duke Revier
- Start date
I'd posit that the portable sphere was a great place to test out new franchises/ideas, too. "Basically Zelda" on the Super Nintendo would have had to look like a Link to the Past to pass muster. On the gameboy, you could reuse all the Final Fantasy sprites from the NES, see if people like it, and then graduate it to a home console if it is successful.
Mind you, the "development" stories I've always heard regarding Final Fantasy Adventure and Secret of Mana paint the picture that they were two totally separate projects, and Secret of Mana was birthed more from discarded Final Fantasy 4 ideas than anything else.
EDIT TO ADD:
The internet is a living graveyard, but I was able to find this quote that is attributed to Legends of Localization... but now the linked section is dead. Anyway:
That itself is from Chrono Compendium.
Mind you, the "development" stories I've always heard regarding Final Fantasy Adventure and Secret of Mana paint the picture that they were two totally separate projects, and Secret of Mana was birthed more from discarded Final Fantasy 4 ideas than anything else.
EDIT TO ADD:
The internet is a living graveyard, but I was able to find this quote that is attributed to Legends of Localization... but now the linked section is dead. Anyway:
That itself is from Chrono Compendium.
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Chrono Trigger being planned for the CD rom drive makes so much sense! Show off Toriyama artwork with all the extra space.
Seiken Densetsu (the name) itself came from a planned 5 disk Famicom Disk System game that was canceled at the planning stages pre Final Fantasy, FWIW.
90s Square dev must have just been a slurry of cool ideas going every which way.
Seiken Densetsu (the name) itself came from a planned 5 disk Famicom Disk System game that was canceled at the planning stages pre Final Fantasy, FWIW.
90s Square dev must have just been a slurry of cool ideas going every which way.
Fascinating. Explains a lot about how Chrono Trigger turned out. But then, how did the decision of making their FF3 sequel a sequel to Final Fantasy Adventure come about?
Welp. It is time.
The intro starts out strong; the Star Wars scroll returns, with an immensely pretty backdrop and some gorgeous background music. The scroll just talks of how things have gone to shit, how a hero of the sword needs to rise again, and how the sword has had multiple names through the ages. Huh, that's quite the smart retcon indeed, though tbh I'd have been fine with wielding the Excalibur again.
The game continues expositing after the name entry, talking of an evil empire that misused the power of the Mana tree, and angered the gods, who sent beasts in retaliation. This escalated to a massive, horrific war, where the world itself was on the brink of destruction. But, at the bleakest moment, the hero of the sword destroyed the empire's strongest weapons, causing them to decisively lose. Their civilization was destroyed, and with it, a bunch of their technology. But the world survived, and became peaceful again. Hmm, this all sounds familiar...are we sure they aren't talking about the Vandole empire here? The evil empire Bogard and Cibba had squared off against before the events of Final Fantasy Adventure?
One ominous warning about history repeating itself later, we cut to this trio. Apparently they're sneaking off to visit a haunted waterfall. Well, more accurately, to explore it for loot.
Much like in the first game, the protagonist falls off a sharp distance. And, much like in that game, he inexplicably survives the fall unhurt. Gotta hope he doesn't endure gravity as much as FFA Revi did.
He hears ghostly voices urging him to pull a sword out of a stone. And, since the way back to his home is covered with prickly plants, and he has nothing to cut them, he is forced to pull it out.
The sword turns out to be a pile of rusted metal. Unfortunately, it's the only weapon Revi has, and fortunately, it can cut through the plants just fine. Oh god...please tell me this isn't the Excalibur....
The very next area is full of weak enemies that die in one hit and jump around pointlessly. Ah, we're back to FFA again.
Speaking of FFA similarities, I notice the critical bar from it has returned, and charges a LOT faster now. This makes dealing critical hits a lot easier, and in fact, dealing them seems to be the expected standard for combat, as regular swings are considerably weaker. It's an interesting change for sure, and it seems like a good way to encourage timing swings and discourage mindless attack spam, but I'll have to see how it plays in practice in future scenarios before forming a solid opinion on it.
Revi's town isn't too far off, and he arrives without much fuss. The townsfolk talk about how the elder is looking for him, how the town is surrounded by monsters, and how there's a knight in town. Looks like some big stuff is going down already!
The town also has an inn, which seems to be the only way to save a game now. Boo! I liked being able to save anywhere! Also notice the return of the dancing turbaned man at the far right end of the scene. Yep, he and his innumerable clones are back, and running all the businesses around.
Sure enough, we find the knight at the local pub. He doesn't have any words for Revi, though.
The elder is predictably angry at the trio, and chews them out for trespassing into the haunted waterfall. Then he notices Revi's new sword, and gets a lot more grim. It turns out, there was a whole ass prophecy that their town would be destroyed if the sword were ever pulled out. Whoops.
One of the trio decides to take his anger out on Revi, only for both of them to be tossed into a pit with a mantis crab! Boy is this not Revi's day.
The mantis crab is...actually rather tough. It has a boomerang attack that seems impossible to dodge, and also has a bunch of spells that automatically hit him. Good thing I got a bunch of candy from rabite slaughter!
The candy supply pays off, and secures him a victory over the mantis crab! Revi adorably jumps up and fistbumps the air, while some unseen voice congratulates him over his win.
The knight pulls them out of the pit, and comments on Revi's sword being the Excalibur of legend. Goddamnit. Hilariously, he then talks about the sword probably being damaged and severely weakened, as normally, it can only be pulled out by great knights at a time of need. Revi offers him the sword, but the knight pointedly tells him that he has to go power it back up, and is the only person who can do that, as he pulled it out.
He then directs him to a sage in the Water Palace, and leaves.
Back in town, Revi gets excommunicated, as shit has been going awry lately and they suspect him pulling the sword is the root cause of it all. Ah well, at least he got directions to a bigger quest before losing his home. Before kicking him out, the elder decides to inform him that he has a mysterious mother somewhere, and should try looking for her. Sure thing, he'll get to it once he can find a new living. Which shall happen next time, hopefully!
The intro starts out strong; the Star Wars scroll returns, with an immensely pretty backdrop and some gorgeous background music. The scroll just talks of how things have gone to shit, how a hero of the sword needs to rise again, and how the sword has had multiple names through the ages. Huh, that's quite the smart retcon indeed, though tbh I'd have been fine with wielding the Excalibur again.
The game continues expositing after the name entry, talking of an evil empire that misused the power of the Mana tree, and angered the gods, who sent beasts in retaliation. This escalated to a massive, horrific war, where the world itself was on the brink of destruction. But, at the bleakest moment, the hero of the sword destroyed the empire's strongest weapons, causing them to decisively lose. Their civilization was destroyed, and with it, a bunch of their technology. But the world survived, and became peaceful again. Hmm, this all sounds familiar...are we sure they aren't talking about the Vandole empire here? The evil empire Bogard and Cibba had squared off against before the events of Final Fantasy Adventure?
One ominous warning about history repeating itself later, we cut to this trio. Apparently they're sneaking off to visit a haunted waterfall. Well, more accurately, to explore it for loot.
Much like in the first game, the protagonist falls off a sharp distance. And, much like in that game, he inexplicably survives the fall unhurt. Gotta hope he doesn't endure gravity as much as FFA Revi did.
He hears ghostly voices urging him to pull a sword out of a stone. And, since the way back to his home is covered with prickly plants, and he has nothing to cut them, he is forced to pull it out.
The sword turns out to be a pile of rusted metal. Unfortunately, it's the only weapon Revi has, and fortunately, it can cut through the plants just fine. Oh god...please tell me this isn't the Excalibur....
The very next area is full of weak enemies that die in one hit and jump around pointlessly. Ah, we're back to FFA again.
Speaking of FFA similarities, I notice the critical bar from it has returned, and charges a LOT faster now. This makes dealing critical hits a lot easier, and in fact, dealing them seems to be the expected standard for combat, as regular swings are considerably weaker. It's an interesting change for sure, and it seems like a good way to encourage timing swings and discourage mindless attack spam, but I'll have to see how it plays in practice in future scenarios before forming a solid opinion on it.
Revi's town isn't too far off, and he arrives without much fuss. The townsfolk talk about how the elder is looking for him, how the town is surrounded by monsters, and how there's a knight in town. Looks like some big stuff is going down already!
The town also has an inn, which seems to be the only way to save a game now. Boo! I liked being able to save anywhere! Also notice the return of the dancing turbaned man at the far right end of the scene. Yep, he and his innumerable clones are back, and running all the businesses around.
Sure enough, we find the knight at the local pub. He doesn't have any words for Revi, though.
The elder is predictably angry at the trio, and chews them out for trespassing into the haunted waterfall. Then he notices Revi's new sword, and gets a lot more grim. It turns out, there was a whole ass prophecy that their town would be destroyed if the sword were ever pulled out. Whoops.
One of the trio decides to take his anger out on Revi, only for both of them to be tossed into a pit with a mantis crab! Boy is this not Revi's day.
The mantis crab is...actually rather tough. It has a boomerang attack that seems impossible to dodge, and also has a bunch of spells that automatically hit him. Good thing I got a bunch of candy from rabite slaughter!
The candy supply pays off, and secures him a victory over the mantis crab! Revi adorably jumps up and fistbumps the air, while some unseen voice congratulates him over his win.
The knight pulls them out of the pit, and comments on Revi's sword being the Excalibur of legend. Goddamnit. Hilariously, he then talks about the sword probably being damaged and severely weakened, as normally, it can only be pulled out by great knights at a time of need. Revi offers him the sword, but the knight pointedly tells him that he has to go power it back up, and is the only person who can do that, as he pulled it out.
He then directs him to a sage in the Water Palace, and leaves.
Back in town, Revi gets excommunicated, as shit has been going awry lately and they suspect him pulling the sword is the root cause of it all. Ah well, at least he got directions to a bigger quest before losing his home. Before kicking him out, the elder decides to inform him that he has a mysterious mother somewhere, and should try looking for her. Sure thing, he'll get to it once he can find a new living. Which shall happen next time, hopefully!
Violentvixen
(She/Her)
That's the Mantis Ant again!
It's amazing how much the sound and music in this game is locked into my brain. I can hear all those screenshots.
Fear of the Heavens is of course iconic but I think the darkness of the intro is really interesting.
Off topic, but rather hilarious...
bsky.app
There will be a new Secret of Mana post today, assuming everything goes well.
Revier (@dukerevier.bsky.social)
I ran into a Mana Bazaar today! Rather funny, considering the games I've been playing and LPing...
bsky.app
There will be a new Secret of Mana post today, assuming everything goes well.
Ahead, Revi runs into a curious man who looks a fair bit like Bowow. He offers us a trip to the Water Palace.
I elect to keep exploring, and run into some more returning FFA enemies. They still die too easily to care about.
Revi also runs into this cat, who runs a combined shop-inn just before the Water Palace. He sells a bunch of bizarre consumables and headgear Revi can't afford. So he settles for a bar of chocolate and moves on.
He also runs into this battalion en route. He chats with their commander and the soldiers before they leave for the "Haunted Forest". Which is apparently west, through a teleporter. Rather than mess with it, he continues on to the Water Palace.
Well, none can fault its name, for sure! Though, I wonder where they get all that water, and where it flows.
The sage within, Luka, tells them of how Mana's power is indeed growing weak, and how pulling the sword did indeed summon monsters. Damn. She then tells Revi that he can restore the sword's power by defeating evil monsters. So that's how the level up mechanic works? Cool!
Actually, no, it gains power from orbs, like the one the mantis ant dropped. So Revi has to go hunt bosses then. Aight. Oh wait, but he also needs to find someone who can reforge the sword to power it up with every orb. This seems a bit complicated...
She then warns about an evil empire trying to restore the weapons of the Vandole Empire by unsealing them with Mana seeds. Then the knight, Jema, talks of strange happenings in Pandora, and directs Revi to Gaia's Navel, as there are dwarves there and they're good at metallurgy, like most dwarves in fantasy stories.
The knight leaves, and Luka urges Revi not to fail. Then she makes him power up the sword with a Mana seed, and tells him to go collect power from more such seeds - eight such ones, to be precise. She gives him a spear, tells him it can be upgraded just like the sword, and that there are other weapons like them, and offers to save the game, abruptly breaking the fourth wall. I appreciate it though, because wow was that a long cutscene! Finally she gives him directions to Gaia's Navel - it's all the way south, past Pandora.
Oh, but surprise! He gets caught by cannibalistic goblins!
Only to be rescued by this girl in pink pyjamas! Revi tries to ask her for her whereabouts, but she just says she mistook him for someone else and so saved him, and takes off.
To be honest, I'm not impressed by the storytelling so far, it seems a bit too long winded and too straight with the cliches. But eh, it's the literal beginning of the game, it'll probably improve later.
I try out the spear. It's alright, it unfortunately no longer has the range it had in FFA, but it still has greater range than the sword, and has decent horizontal reach even, making it hit multiple enemies often! This made it a pretty easy switch, I sure as hell wasn't going to use a rusted sword over it!
After a long, uneventful jaunt, Revi finally entered the game's first dungeon, the caves leading to Gaia's Navel. It had sleeping goblin guards, obnoxious slimes that constantly multiplied themselves, and regular ass bats.
It also had lava on its lower level. Which was easily cooled by a skull switch. Man, FFA Revi sure could've used it back in his day!
Deeper inside, he ran into the dwarven village. Who talk of rumblings from deeper within the earth, a sprite's child who somehow ended up with them, and the Underground Palace having sunk deep into the earth a long time ago. Curious that none of them tried to dig it back up, considering, y'know, their expertise in metallurgy, which would involve digging up ore for raw material, y'know? I seriously doubt they BUY it from elsewhere, that would just be inefficient and silly.
Watts is a blacksmith again, and he reforges Revi's sword using a lava pool as a smelter, which is metal as fuck. The sword's power makes his hammer glow, which gets him to try forging an axe. His reforging makes the sword look a lot more shiny and also boosts its attack over the spear, making me switch over.
The dwarven village also has a theatre! Between it, the reforging, and the new armor, Revi's wallet is drained quite quickly in this place
The sprite child is part of the theatre! He racked up a ginormous debt, and is working to pay it off. Hmm. Sounds a bit like a scam...Unfortunately, Revi is forced to pay 100 gold by the narrative. Oof.
Oh joy, it was a scam all along. Who could've figured!
Thankfully, the elder apologizes and refunds Revi.
That little vignette out of the way, Revi heads out and....
Surprise! An earthquake!
And an impromptu boss fight! With some weird oversized pineapple! It's fairly unimpressive for an opponent, only throwing easily dodgeable pumpkins that barely deal damage. It swaps positions upon being hit, but that does little to save itself, and it soon falls.
The elder and the sprite thank Revi after the fight, well, the elder does. The elder explains how the sprite lost all its memories, and apologizes for its rude behavior. The elder then hints at the Underground Palace being accessible from here, and the sprite gets all perked up to receive its seed! Thus, Revi's next quest, and first companion!
Unfortunately, they can't quite head there yet; there's lava blocking the way. The elder directs Revi to Elinee, who made the lava to seal it, and who has apparently turned evil. She lives in the haunted forest, the very same place the battalion travelled to! Funny how coincidences happen in these kinds of stories, isn't it.
Watts gives Revi the axe, but again charges him 100 gold! Had the boss not dropped money, Revi wouldn't be able to afford it! He also opens a shortcut to the surface. But that shall have to wait till next time, as I've played enough for today. Until then!
Lol.
And yet the game's dialogue reads better than FFA's, on a technical level anyway.
And yet the game's dialogue reads better than FFA's, on a technical level anyway.
Same
Violentvixen
(She/Her)
There are a few different ways to go about this early recruitment. I tended to get Purim (the girl) first by going to Pandora after talking to the soldiers.
Good to know! Yeah, I figured she was recruitable, I just hadn't discovered how yet.
I try Kard out for a while. It's not very impressive, but it does have ranged attacks, and it's kind of fun to let the AI do the heavy lifting for a while.
The two travel back to the teleporter near the Water Palace, which does lead to a rather evil looking forest! Unfortunately, they can't get ahead here. Hmm. Didn't one of the battalion soldiers say something about collecting a whip to traverse this place?
Well, Luka doesn't offer anything useful this time, nor does the cat sell a whip. Time to go check the town we briefly traversed earlier!
The town of Pandora is full of people lamenting the strange happenings recently. Apparently people have been drawn to some ruins to the south, some of them have lost their speech, and there's a marriage being arranged.
The gloomy mood continues in the castle, as they talk about people losing their senses completely(they actually say they turned into zombies, but, well, I haven't seen any of the townsfolk actively attack me yet). Apparently a battalion led by General Dyluck had set off to confront Elinee, who is responsible for the recent events. They haven't heard from them for a while, though, and are getting worried.
We run into the girl from earlier upstairs! She's called Luna, and she forcibly thrusts herself into Revi's party and directs them to the witch's castle. Good thing we wanted to go there anyway! Unfortunately, she doesn't have a whip with her, so we still need to keep looking.
The king and queen of the town aren't very helpful, and neither is Jema, who leaves after telling the party things they already know. Luna takes out her anger at him for having sent off Dyluck on a dangerous mission.
And the southern ruins have nothing for us but creepily senseless people walking around.
Well, shit. Did I miss a shop or something? Do I backtrack to the haunted forest with her?
After spending an embarrassingly long time wandering about, I find the way forward. It's here, indicated by this sign. And to think I've been diligently checking them so far!
This leads to a different teleporter, leading to an actually explorable part of the forest! Wait, so what was the other teleporter for?
The haunted forest mostly has the party square off against bandit rats shooting arrows at range, from the safety of plant enclosures. They aren't too threatening, though they do reduce the non Revi members to ghosts. Revi eventually arrives at these skull poles, and helpfully prompts me to take out my axe against them. Why specifically against these sorts of skull poles, we will never know.
Eventually, he comes across a teleporter that takes him to a castle...where he's immediately pummelled by a werewolf! Ouch lol. There are also horrifying bandit creating eyeballs. Truly a cursed land indeed.
They can also Moogle him, which is just as horrifying here as it was in FFA.
For a residence of an infamous witch, the castle's interiors are surprisingly sparse.
And a nasty ambush of poltergeist chairs stunlocks Revi and kills him off! Welp, looks like we aren't getting through this place with Revi alone. Not at his current level.
Next time, we try and hopefully secure a foothold in the witch's castle.
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Violentvixen
(She/Her)
Yeeeep I remember this from the first time I played. They destroyed me, I think this is the first fast enemy in the game. Get everyone leveled up a bit in Gaia's Navel as you have the Dwarf Village at the end to rest/heal and make sure you have the best armor you can afford (I can't remember if Pandora/Gaia's Navel offer the same tier of stuff right now).
There's an alternate way to recruit the girl where you fight werewolves in an area you don't see outside of that battle. Something causes her to go to the forest alone so that's where you meet her but I can't remember how you trigger it now. It is the worst.
If you recruit her on your first pass through Pandora and then go to Gaia's Navel, she'll get upset that you aren't going to the forest and leave. Then after you get the Sprite you'll have to rescue her from the werewolves.
Alternately, you can recruit the Girl, go straight to the forest, and when you hit those skull pillars without an axe, she'll agree it's a dead-end and then you can go back to Gaia's Navel and she'll stay with you. Which means you'll have a second character for the Tropicallo fight!
Violentvixen
(She/Her)
Ah, that's right. Thanks!
Yeah, this was my normal recruitment path. She was always kinda bad at targeting through the walls of that fight but still got a few hits in.
Yep, if it's Spiky Tiger I was stuck there for a very long time. Damn roll attack.
More to the point, it is the first boss that just plain has invincibility time where you cannot reach it with anything, and the opponent AI is apparently programmed to murder you if you have let your party members fall. The fight is more or less built so you treat your companions as living meat shields, and it is your job to keep them meaty when you cannot otherwise attack.
Conceptually, it is about measuring when you should be attacking and defending, but in a battle system that really isn't built for that. There is a clear reason they stick that battle right before you get additional combat options.
You also get the werewolf-rescue-fight if you never encounter Primm (you can even miss the goblin kidnapping if you utilize cannon travel and do not speak to Dyluck), conquer Gaia's Navel, and then enter the forest and meet her for the first time. It is basically the game guaranteeing you will have her in the party in time for the forest siege. Revi was so close to hitting that flag, but doubled-back before the activation.
Conceptually, it is about measuring when you should be attacking and defending, but in a battle system that really isn't built for that. There is a clear reason they stick that battle right before you get additional combat options.
You also get the werewolf-rescue-fight if you never encounter Primm (you can even miss the goblin kidnapping if you utilize cannon travel and do not speak to Dyluck), conquer Gaia's Navel, and then enter the forest and meet her for the first time. It is basically the game guaranteeing you will have her in the party in time for the forest siege. Revi was so close to hitting that flag, but doubled-back before the activation.
Welp. Nothing to do but gear up everyone. Hilariously, this dress provides much more defense than the chain mail vest or the spiked armor.
The trio carefully made their way back into the castle, helped in no small part by the raw strength of the heavy spear. It was seriously dominating all of the enemies here, taking them down in two or three hits! The werewolves remained the only real threat, thanks to their lightning fast moves. They required careful manoeuvring and a fair bit of luck to handle.
Eventually they come across the castle's dungeons and free the imprisoned battalion. Unfortunately, Dyluck isn't with them. They also run into yet another cat, which is a welcome sight, as he can save the game and they're a fair bit far from the last save. He also handily offers a restock of consumables.
They run into the castle's library inside, where the music strangely kicks up its tempo greatly.
It's not particularly big however, and they quickly end up on the castle's rooftop, where Elinee does evil witch things, like teleporting Dyluck away to Pandora's southern ruins. Apparently Thanatos wants to conquer Pandora, and she's helping him for some reason. She then summons a boss fight!
It's a huge tiger! And it makes a grand appearance by pouncing on the entire team! It also has fire breath, which can burn characters. Burning is essentially like poison, only nastier, as it also locks the affected characters out of taking any actions. But that's not all! It also loves randomly rolling around and debuffing the team's attack power. I can see why y'all were talking it up - it was the toughest battle so far, by a huge margin!
But the team persevered, and eventually, with the power of the heavy spear, and a pocket full of sweets, they prevailed! I'm sorry that I couldn't capture their victory animations, those were quite delightful! Anyway, this tiger offered an upgrade to the boomerang, which I would be sure to check back at Watts' smith.
But first, time for the plot! Killing that tiger somehow restored Elinee's older self, and she explains why she was helping Thanatos - apparently, she had run out of herbs for her experiments, and had brokered a deal with him for his herbs - a soul for a herb. Jeez, that sounds quite expensive. She must not have been very good at business!
Elinee also informed the team that Dyluck had indeed been teleported to the southern ruins, and they would need to save him and defeat Thanatos there. She graciously gave a whip and some money, nicely wrapping this whole arc up! Thanks so much, Elinee! Her castle also magically emptied itself of all enemies, making the trek back very smooth and painless.
Outside the castle's keep, they received a mystic call from Luka, who called them to the Water Palace. This better be good...
The whip does indeed allow the party to cross gaps by pulling themselves on these poles, complete with fancy jumping animations! FFA Revi sure would be jealous of these folk!
Luka directs the team to a cave eastward, where an elemental spirit is in trouble! Her seal has worn off, indicating that she's probably in great danger. Welp, time to be the heroes and look for her.
The water elemental cave has yet another remix of the "overworld" theme, sounding a lot more watery and echoey. It's also quite short, the trio are already at the boss! Which was quite obnoxious, it kept eating Revi and curing itself with a powerful curative spell! Thankfully, the team had more than enough damage to power through, and it croaked its last, dropping a glove upgrade in the process.
Past it they find Undine, who is not only safe and sound, but also bestows them with spells! Finally! FFA definitely didn't take this long to grant its spells, sheesh! Anyway, Luna can use her support spells, and Kard her offensive ones. Revi himself can't cast any magic, but he can be buffed with Luna's spells. She also gives them a pole dart, but meh, it's just another weakish ranged weapon.
The spells though? Yeah. They're the cool shit. In more than one sense.
Join me next time, as the trio finally starts blasting their way through situations with spells! This should be great fun!
Goggle Bob's Secret of Mana Tips You Can Take or Ignore Whatever I'm Not Your Dad (TM)
You now have all the weapon types that will ever be available in the game. When I first played through SoM, I very dedicatedly forged every orb I found, and made sure to level up the charge meter for everyone with every weapon. I was a child with too much spare time! This was stupid! Theoretically, at this point, you can get a feel for what you like, and just "specialize" in what works for you. Unless I have missed some secret technique along the way for some specific situation: there is never a time when you have to have a weapon ready. Final Fantasy Adventure distinctly had monsters that could only be defeated by particular weapon types, and Secret of Mana completely dropped that concept. There is never going to be a boss or even random minion that demands you have a powered up javelin or something. There are some neat (and, arguably, weird) special effects that weapons have along the way that you may want to experiment with, but it has been my experience that those special effects are pretty ephemeral in the pacing of the game. By about the time that you realize your current claw is poisoning opponents, it is already time to upgrade. And considering the stat jumps for monsters in this game seem to be exponential (you'll see the numbers when you are buying late game armor), upgrading with Watts for more attack power is always preferred over maintaining a level-based side effect.
So the tldr is I recommend finding what you like now and sticking to it.
Oh, wait. Except the Mana Sword. Keep that puppy in rotation no matter what.
And for maximum SoM smoothness, the three weapons that ever have "overworld abilities" are the sword (cutting grass and alike), axe (cutting down "heavy" obstructions), and the whip (jumping across gaps). Theoretically, you could assign these three weapons to your three party members, and then you do not have to worry about juggling weapons when you inexplicably encounter coral that needs a good axein'.
You now have all the weapon types that will ever be available in the game. When I first played through SoM, I very dedicatedly forged every orb I found, and made sure to level up the charge meter for everyone with every weapon. I was a child with too much spare time! This was stupid! Theoretically, at this point, you can get a feel for what you like, and just "specialize" in what works for you. Unless I have missed some secret technique along the way for some specific situation: there is never a time when you have to have a weapon ready. Final Fantasy Adventure distinctly had monsters that could only be defeated by particular weapon types, and Secret of Mana completely dropped that concept. There is never going to be a boss or even random minion that demands you have a powered up javelin or something. There are some neat (and, arguably, weird) special effects that weapons have along the way that you may want to experiment with, but it has been my experience that those special effects are pretty ephemeral in the pacing of the game. By about the time that you realize your current claw is poisoning opponents, it is already time to upgrade. And considering the stat jumps for monsters in this game seem to be exponential (you'll see the numbers when you are buying late game armor), upgrading with Watts for more attack power is always preferred over maintaining a level-based side effect.
So the tldr is I recommend finding what you like now and sticking to it.
Oh, wait. Except the Mana Sword. Keep that puppy in rotation no matter what.
And for maximum SoM smoothness, the three weapons that ever have "overworld abilities" are the sword (cutting grass and alike), axe (cutting down "heavy" obstructions), and the whip (jumping across gaps). Theoretically, you could assign these three weapons to your three party members, and then you do not have to worry about juggling weapons when you inexplicably encounter coral that needs a good axein'.
Violentvixen
(She/Her)
So later in the game you can start waiting around for armor upgrades, but I think for the first third or so you should be prioritizing buying the nicest armor as soon as you can.
Wait, have you not run into or bought anything from Neko before now? You should buy at least a couple Cup of Wishes from him as backup.
I was super methodical about the game and insisted everything had to be at its maximum level before forging. Lots of grinding in the Forest of Seasons which we haven't gotten to yet. Saving money to buy armor instead of upgrading weapons that never got used is much smarter!
Completely agree with those three weapons and I would argue that the spear is a really good one to keep leveled up. The level 6(?) attack where you spin around is fantastic, I'd program the two other party members to focus on charging that. Also there were multiple times where I'd hide behind a rock or something in a cave and poke an enemy to death through it as they couldn't reach me. The whip always knocked enemies back a bit more than I liked. I think there are a couple switches later in the game that specifically need the whip or pole dart, but since it just needs a hit rather than an amount of HP doesn't matter if they're at level 1.
I also did the goofy cheat to reset the game and have the Mana Sword outside the final battle for a bit, that was fun.
Thanks a bunch, will keep that in mind. It's good to know that I have all of the weapons the party can use, and that upgrading all of them isn't necessary.
I did run into him earlier!
Revi also runs into this cat, who runs a combined shop-inn just before the Water Palace. He sells a bunch of bizarre consumables and headgear Revi can't afford. So he settles for a bar of chocolate and moves on.
Remember?
Thanks again. It's good to know that eventually charged attacks, from the spear at least, become good. I've tried a few of them so far and they haven't been very impressive, essentially being just stronger attacks that take too much time and don't deal enough damage to use over regular swings(as in, swings charged up to 100%).
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