leene_chan | The End of Sword of Mana.

Proving that yes, I do sometimes finish the games I start!

I finished the game on level 55 and the last boss still took some time to beat but I did it on the first try. Phew!

This game is generally regarded as being a mediocre remake. I've never played the original version (Seiken Densetsu or Final Fantasy Adventure) but I don't think that Sword of Mana was all bad. In terms of content and variety it could be considered more complete than the latest portable SD game, Children of Mana. Even if unlike CoM it did lack in the charm department...

Gameplay: Not too bad if you work within the limitations. The A.I characters were useless and best ignored. Let them die and keep them dead unless you're fighting a boss! I used the Heroine because attacking long-range with magic suits me best. Not all of the elementals were useful (Dryad, I'm looking at you!) and hardly any of the weapons you obtain throughout the game are useful (like the mace, the lance, and so on...) There weren't many puzzles in the game but a wealth of annoying traps that could finish you off if you weren't careful! Those silver balls that were weak only to a certain weapon and injured your character if you moved too close must've come from Hell itself!

On the plus side, the world of Sword of Mana was big and fun to explore. Each area looked unique and there were times I just wanted to wander off and mess around outside the story. The sidequests had a narrative element that made them more fun than the ones in CoM. I'll give the game an 8 for gameplay because for its flaws it still was enjoyable to play as long as you didn't rely on the NPC party members and kept hitting the enemies' weak points. Popoi's Notebook is your friend!

Characters: Uneven. I thought that Count Lee, Isabella (originally from SD3), the Death-Eating Man (also from SD3), Devius, Dark Lord and Medusa had fairly interesting backstories but the A.I characters were the worst! All they did was whine and deliver the occasional melodramatic speech. It was unfortunate that the most obnoxious characters were the ones that followed you around throughout the game but maybe they were good for unintentional comedy. I don't know if the overly slangy translation was to blame, but I'll give SoM a 7 for characters. There was a scene towards the end where the hero's party meets in Ishe for a "last supper" and you're treated to a text narrative about what great friends they all are. I wanted to scream, "Noooo! These people are not my friends!" Maybe if you pretend they don't exist the game will be more enjoyable for you.

Music: Not great. It's remastered old Gameboy music and it shows. I'll give it a 7.

Graphics: Gorgeous. A 10! I'm in love with the Glass Desert! The excellent graphics made this game a lot more enjoyable. The game designers created a beautiful world for the story to develop in. I don't think a lot of the characters deserve to live in it, though.... .

Story: The story itself would've been great but the execution left some to be desired. There were scenes that worked well and others that fell on their faces (usually because of melodrama). I don't know if the Hero's story makes more sense but all and all the story was probably one of the stronger parts of the game. I'll give it an 8 because there was a good build-up of tension even if it did fizzle out in the end.

Fun Factor: An 8. There were times when I loved this game and times I wanted to rip it out of the console and bite it in half. It had a lot of visual appeal and exploring was fun. Quite a few of the dialogue parts were cheesy but in this day and age, that's nothing unusual. =_=

My Overall Score: 8.0.

As an overall game it was better than CoM but its weak characters and poor music lowered the score. Oh well. I really didn't think it was that bad!