Review #710: Sword of Mana

 Final Fantasy Adventure, now a proper Mana game.

 Sword of Mana felt like a Gameboy Advance launch game, to me, for the longest time, because back when the GBA first released this game was EVERYWHERE. But we had little money at the time, and for about two years or so the only game I had in my collection was Super Mario Bros. Advance. Not that it mattered, since I don't remember being particularly interested in this game, even though I had already dabbled into the Mana series. But I digress, as I'm wont to do, this game here is a Remake of Final Fantasy Adventure, however, it took away every Final Fantasy element(Moogles, the Chocobo, Black Mages, etc) and in turn added some Mana staples, such as the elemental spirits, the different days and cannons as means of transportation. In the end, it ends up being a very different game, for better or worse.

 The game follows the same plot from Final Fantasy Adventure, but with a few tweaks. Well, quite a few tweaks. Plenty of tweaks. You start off as a Gladiator, once again, but now the Hero and the Heroine knew each other when they were younger, and her protector never dies because he doesn't exist in this game. The structure of the plot is basically the same, you still have to defeat the Dark Lord and Julius and try to save Mana from disappearing. The original game was noteworthy for its rather depressing tone, a ton of characters died throughout the course of that game. That changed a bit, there's not as much death, but they added other types of tragedy in this version, the loss of a sister, the loss of a mother, the loss of a former love due to being frozen for various years... there's a lot of loss in this game. That said, I think they erred a bit with a few characters, such as Count Lee, who is easily forgiven because he was being evil for the 'right' reasons. Or Medusa, who is easily forgiven for turning innocent people into birds, and caging them, because she had a sad past. It doesn't feel very honest when the main character is still feeling sorry for Medusa up to the end of the game. One big addition to the plot is that now you can pick between the Hero and the Heroine, and depending on who you pick you might see a few exclusive scenes.

 Aimless wandering, Mattocks and Keys are things of the past, thank god. It may rub a few people the wrong game, but this game is a much more linear affair, there isn't even an overworld to get lost in. Some people adored the freedom of the first game, I very much didn't. Here you'll always be where you need to be, and you can even partake in a few shallow sidequests by talking to every NPC that comes your way. They are mostly fetch quests, but it's extra content. I felt the rewards were pretty much worthless so by the end of the game I didn't care about going out of my way to complete them though. Don't freak out if the game starts weirding out, there's a TON of sprite-flickering in this game, particularly in towns.

 When not exploring towns, you'll be exploring dungeons and the like. I'm not gonna lie, I think dungeon design was all over the place. A few were fine and dandy, but a few dungeons were just... weird. There's this dungeon, the Subland River in which you have to figure out that you can interact with a few rocks that are barely distinguishable from the background itself. Heck, I clearly remember getting lost in a few dungeons because it wasn't very clear just what the game wanted me to do. For instance, it took me a while to realize how the rocks I could grapple onto with the flail looked like. There's no tutorial, there are no hints, just a rock that looks weird. I've been playing Mana games for a while now, I'm used to using the flail like this, but the game failed to teach me what these rocks looked like. It doesn't help that out of the 8 different weapons you can use in the game, the flail is the only one that can, and must, be used for exploration. Why? I don't know, it just is. Oh, and the infamous figure-8 puzzle from the original game? I didn't have any issue doing it in that game, but for whatever reason the game had trouble registering my walk. I thought I must had been doing something wrong, or needed to speak with another NPC, but after more walking it finally triggered.

 Combat is where the game finally had a chance to shine, because combat in the Mana games is usually pretty dope. And, on first impressions, this game delivers. Press A to attack in real time, as you lay attacks you fill a gauge below your health which can then be used to use a super attack. There are 8 different weapons, each one with their own unique super attack. And spells? Equip one of the elemental Spirits and the either hold R to use an offensive spell or tap R to use a supportive spell. Weapons and spirits get stronger the more you use them, and every time you level up you can pick a different stat-increase spread, fashioned after archetypes such as "Fighter", "Monk", "Wizard", etc. Oh, and I almost forgot! What the offensive spell is changes depending on which weapon you've got equipped!

 Sounds pretty neat, don't it? It can be. It can be fun. Here's the biggest problem: Resistances. Enemies can be resistant to an specific weapon type, so you have to press Start, enter the weapon menu and change your weapon. And the enemy might even resist THAT weapon, so you might have to enter the menu and swap weapons again. Worst case scenario, you cycle through every weapon only to discover that the enemy is weak against magic. That's eight times you pressed the Start button, 16 times you pressed the A button and 16 times you pressed the B button only to figure out that you can't hurt the enemy, because being resistant to something means that they take ZERO damage. It's not an option to change weapons, it's a necessity. I'm an oldschool kinda gamer, so I love using swords. Guess what? If I had to seal with an enemy weak to magic I had to change my weapon too, because the Sword's offensive spells are worthless and you'll get hit as you cast it, meaning you'll lose your MP and your health. Combat was fun as long as I didn't need to swap my weapons just because. Eventually you'll try to avoid resistant enemies because they are not worth the hassle.

 There are a few other caveats with this system, for instance, a few weapons like the Sword, Axe and Gauntlets have combos, but you need to get the timing of your button presses right, else the combo won't come out. It doesn't work very well. Early in the game when you have to defeat a few Zombies to progress can be hell, since you can only defeat them with magic. So far I had been focusing on MONK and FIGHTER, since I wanted to be a melee fighter, but my spells were doing negligible damage and I was running out of mana. So I had to get some space between me and the zombie so that I could hold L and A to 'sit' and very slowly recover some mana. That's when I figured out that my Sword spells were worthless and I had to switch to the bow if I wanted to land magic attacks.

 In what can only be considered an homage to the original game, because why else would be so horrible, your AI companions' AIs are completely, undeniably and legally braindead. THEY ARE WORTHLESS. Even as punching bags, because they'll get stuck between objects and won't even follow you properly. To add insult to injury, there's an annoying 1-second pause every time you enter a new screen.... but the AI companion will move as you are frozen to the spot because reasons. Like, Jesus Christ, the cherry on top.

 Sword of Mana is flawed. Very, VERY flawed. It's got plenty of good qualities to itself, but almost everything it does falters in some way or another. Every time you start having fun with the game it'll stop you dead on your tracks with a new enemy whose weakness you have to find. It's like, the game is getting good, you're enjoying your favorite weapon and then you hear a CLING and a 0 appears on top of the enemy and the frown returns to your face. That makes the game hard to score, you know? I can't deny enjoying the combat at times, but I also hated it. I liked parts of the story, but I also felt it got a bit too cheesy at times. I think there's definitely value in here for people that like the Mana series, but ironically, since it's a remake of the first game but with more Mana elements and less Final Fantasy's, it shouldn't be your entry into the franchise because it falters in a few ways the other games don't.

 And I know I'm being very harsh, but I usually am with games I can could've been so much more. Because hacking and slashing monster feels great when you aren't hampered by resistances. Because you've 8 different weapons, and a ton of elemental spirits. You can change how your stats develop, which could've made for fun builds if only some enemies didn't outright cancel any type of physical damage. Because the game's world is relatively large for such an early Advance game, with various different towns and dungeons, not to mention that I love the tragic themes it touches upon. If sound angry, it's because I am. Because a few tweaks could've made this game another classic in the franchise.
 6.0 out of 10