The real secret of Mana is that it's not very good.
[Crowd boos, starts throwing chairs]
Ahaha... and what's the deal with Sonic Spinball? More like Sonic Stinkball, pee-yew!
[Gets snared around the neck by a vaudeville hook and pulled off stage]
The cover for Secret of Mana has always captivated me, moreso than any other piece of artwork produced for a game, new or old. I feel so strongly about it that I'd probably have a hard time explaining why in a way that doesn't associate an undue amount of pretension to the piece itself, but it most strongly evokes in me a sense of mystery and insignificance, yet there's something very gentle and calming about it as well. Would love to get a print of it one day, frame it up real nice. I probably feel far more passionately about this painting done for a freaking 1993 Super Nintendo game than I should but whatever, I'm weird as shit. You know this.
Unfortunately, I was pretty disappointed that Secret of Mana wasn't able to live up to the expectations its excellent cover art created for it. Perhaps it was never really fair of me to judge a game by its cover, but well, even if I hadn't I don't think the gameplay in Mana is anything to write home about. It's a top-down action RPG, so combat is something you'd really want to focus on making feel good. Instead, Mana is dragged down by really wonky hitboxes, dice rolls that rob the player of their agency in battle, and delays in attack animations and damage accrual. It don't feel no good!
The story is also just... kinda dull? By the time I got to the Mana Tree, I realized I had become so uninvested in the narrative that this big grand moment - so important that it's used for the cover of the game, which as we've established I love - completely fell flat. The stakes never feel palpable enough, I never found myself swept up in the plot's urgency, and the characters all just feel very generic.
I can't help but wonder if some of my dissatisfaction comes from setting unrealistic expectations that any rational person would know Mana couldn't live up to. Expecting a very self-serious and thoughtful RPG that has something to say is just a really weird thing to project onto an early 90s Square game, and I understand that. At least it has a pretty good soundtrack, I really like the cut version of Danger from the remake, and I think the sprite art is pretty good! And I mean, there's worse 90's action-RPGs to play, some of them are even by Square, so it's not all negative.
Now if you'll excuse me, I've actually set up an appointment to view the original Mana Tree painting and I have a flight to catch...
[Crowd boos, starts throwing chairs]
Ahaha... and what's the deal with Sonic Spinball? More like Sonic Stinkball, pee-yew!
[Gets snared around the neck by a vaudeville hook and pulled off stage]
The cover for Secret of Mana has always captivated me, moreso than any other piece of artwork produced for a game, new or old. I feel so strongly about it that I'd probably have a hard time explaining why in a way that doesn't associate an undue amount of pretension to the piece itself, but it most strongly evokes in me a sense of mystery and insignificance, yet there's something very gentle and calming about it as well. Would love to get a print of it one day, frame it up real nice. I probably feel far more passionately about this painting done for a freaking 1993 Super Nintendo game than I should but whatever, I'm weird as shit. You know this.
Unfortunately, I was pretty disappointed that Secret of Mana wasn't able to live up to the expectations its excellent cover art created for it. Perhaps it was never really fair of me to judge a game by its cover, but well, even if I hadn't I don't think the gameplay in Mana is anything to write home about. It's a top-down action RPG, so combat is something you'd really want to focus on making feel good. Instead, Mana is dragged down by really wonky hitboxes, dice rolls that rob the player of their agency in battle, and delays in attack animations and damage accrual. It don't feel no good!
The story is also just... kinda dull? By the time I got to the Mana Tree, I realized I had become so uninvested in the narrative that this big grand moment - so important that it's used for the cover of the game, which as we've established I love - completely fell flat. The stakes never feel palpable enough, I never found myself swept up in the plot's urgency, and the characters all just feel very generic.
I can't help but wonder if some of my dissatisfaction comes from setting unrealistic expectations that any rational person would know Mana couldn't live up to. Expecting a very self-serious and thoughtful RPG that has something to say is just a really weird thing to project onto an early 90s Square game, and I understand that. At least it has a pretty good soundtrack, I really like the cut version of Danger from the remake, and I think the sprite art is pretty good! And I mean, there's worse 90's action-RPGs to play, some of them are even by Square, so it's not all negative.
Now if you'll excuse me, I've actually set up an appointment to view the original Mana Tree painting and I have a flight to catch...
BlazingWaters
1 year ago
Still feel like replaying it anyway cause, idk, why not ig.