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Gaming

ROLE PLAYGROUND | What is wrong with Secret of Mana?

In a world where remakes are getting made left and right, you really need to stand out - Secret of Mana didn’t

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The Secret of Mana remake should have been an amazing video game.

After all, it's one of the most beloved JRPGs of its time - it's battle system still holds up as unique and different after all these decades - and it's a fun game that takes you through a fantastical story! It's the quintessential RPG experience, and a remake had such potential.

So what happened? Secret of Mana just tanked. When I played through over this past weekend - i was treated to a broken, garishly designed game that lacked the same kind of fantastic feel that the original captured. While the story still kept me enthralled enough to keep moving forward, the game itself became ever more frustrating and confused.

Still, I can't deny that I played it for hours and at times had at least a little bit of fun. That's something, right? Is it? No, seriously, I'm asking.

THE GAME

Secret of Mana is a remake of the SNES action RPG of the same name, released in 1993. It takes place in a fantasy world that contains a magical essence called Mana - and you control three unnamed heroes as they fight against an evil empire, trying to harness Mana and take over the world.

The remake features new, 3D graphics, a slightly modernized battle system, and a design that almost feels too saccharine for its own good.

THE GOOD

The good in this game lies with what wasn't changed - the story. The story is simple, and features many typical tropes that have become iconic in JRPGS. You quest as three unnamed (or player-named) heroes across this unnamed world to retrieve and seal the powers of the Mana Seeds - because if the evil Empire gets them, they will recreate the evil Mana Fortress. Thus, mana will come back to the world and the evil Empire - lead by an evil, undead wizard named Thanatos - will control it all.

It's not groundbreaking. Even for the time, this plot was definitely one gamers had seen before, but that didn't matter! The story is engaging, because it's a typical hero's journey. You are able to gain fun magic powers and fight crazy large beasts and win! It's both an escape and even a form of wish fulfillment for some - and that's why we still continue to love these games.

Sure, a complicated, powerful story is great, but there is something to be said about the power of simplicity.

There are some other fun additions - the small conversations that party members have at the Inns are nice. It adds a level of character to these typical trope-y characters that we're given. Sure, it doesn't add a lot, but it adds enough.

Was this enough to make the game good, though?

THE BAD

No. It wasn't. At all. The game is broken, guys. Like bad. I'll start with the awkward AI and sprite movements. I was on my way to the Dwarf Village, and my party members were constantly getting stuck at turns. Often, I'd find myself asking, "Where the hell did the Sprite go?" It's not the worst thing, but when you're a relatively low level and traveling somewhere new, things get really hairy when your party is about three of four movements away fighting a wall for dominance.

You guys remember how in old games, whenever your sprites were preparing to talk to someone, they would come together and disappear within the protagonists body and then line up. Now, I want you to picture that, but a couple of seconds slower and instead of disappearing, everyone becomes this weird amalgamation of all three characters before making a line. It looked atrocious and made me regret actually getting information from anyone in the game. It's almost as annoying as the battle system.

Listen, the original game was definitely not the perfect system by any stretch of the imagination. But the point of a remake is to fix the game's problems and make them better. That's now what Secret of Mana did - instead, it made the game look pretty(?) and didn't bother to change anything else. This makes battles an absolute slog to get through.

The action bar mechanic is fine, and it definitely works in this action-RPG setting, but it also suffers from feeling a little too dated. Combine that with the delayed reaction from enemies in the game (by about two seconds) when they got hit, and the awkward move from 2D battles to 3D and you've got a mess. Not unplayable, but definitely annoying.

And finally, we have the awkward design elements. I don't know why they decided to go for this sweet and cute chibi-esque design - but it definitely made the game feel less fun and vibrant and more grating and childish. I know that this game is meant for a younger audience, but young kids don't need cheaply designed chibi characters.

I could go on and on, but unfortunately, I don't have a whole month write this article.

THE BOTTOM LINE

Don't waste your time on the remake. It's not worth the $40 that they charge, and that's an incredible disappointment. The game is mired by all of the choices it didn't make. Instead of giving us a remake the changes with the times, we are stick with a 3D-ed, almost carbon copy of the original game with all of the problems and issues that came with plus even more.

A remake is not a carbon copy and needs to change with the times. This game didn't do that - and that's incredibly disappointing.

Here's hoping they'll let someone else try it again further down the road.

Shann Smith is a lover of video games and has played games since he could hold a controller. He is a freelance writer, playwright, screenwriter, and also writes the Video Gay-Mer column on Popdust! If you have any games you'd like him to unpack, hit him up!

POP⚡ DUST | Read More…

ROLE PLAYGROUND | Thirteen years later, does Kingdom Hearts II still hold up?

ROLE PLAYGROUND | Monster Hunter: World doesn't dazzle like I thought it would.

ROLE PLAYGROUND | Nier Automata is an intense experience

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ROLE PLAYGROUND | Monster Hunter: World doesn't dazzle like I thought it would.

It's really not my cup of tea.

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Listen, I sat down with every intention of playing Monster Hunter: World and loving the hell out of it. It's a game that's beautiful and grand, but this grandiose beauty got lost in the game's playability. I also walked into this game blind - having never played a MH game before in my life. And sure, that definitely hindered my experience - because I know that this series has specific conventions, but that shouldn't matter.

A big game like this should be able to appeal to more than just fans, and obviously it has, but I feel like there are some key issues that need to be addressed. While the world is beautiful, and the character designs are fun and funky, it gets screwed over by clunky fight controls that overshadow the game's more innovative moments.

THE GAME

Monster Hunter: World takes place on a continent called The New World, a mostly uninhabited continent filled with a lush, harsh environment. Several fleets have come to the island and created settlements for both research and obviously hunting and tracking the many creatures that inhabit the island. You take control of your Hunter, and along with your Handler, are called with the Fifth Fleet - which has been summoned by the Research Commission.

Upon arrival, you barely survive an encounter with a massive Elder Dragon, Zorah Magdaros, and make it to the settlement of Astera. Once you settle in, you are told that the Fifth Fleet is responsible for figuring what draws the Zorah Magdaros to this lush, new world by tracking it's movements and setting up camp based on where it goes. And by clearing out other hostile monsters, of course.

THE GOOD

There's a lot of good in this game, obviously. It's received massive acclaim upon its release. I think the biggest part has to be the lush world design and the active environments within that world. From the very beginning, I was treated to a world so beautiful and vibrant and got I mesmerized by it. It's very difficult for an open world to feel so alive - and I'm thankful that these guys made it such an important aspect of the game.

I know that when I travel around this world for a hunt - I'm going to interact with an environment that reacts to me, and that matters! It mostly works really well, it makes the hunts very dynamic and if it weren't for the controls - I'd keep singing praises.

Of course, the environments aren't the only thing that this game has going for it. I was surprised at how much I liked the character designs. I'm usually a less-is-more kind of guy - growing up with Enix's out-there designs would do that to you - but there's a certain charm in the way Monster Hunter does things. The big weapons seem small next to the large enemies - and the freedom in the character creator helps you make whatever kind of character you want! It's nice.

THE BAD

The bad part of this game concerns me the most. In a game that revolves Monster Hunting, the controls just need to be better. A lot of this bled through from previous games - and I understand that, and I'm sure that a lot of people have gotten used to them. And obviously a lot of other people have managed to power through - but I just couldn't. From the first fight - I struggled.

I didn't struggle because the game was hard (or harder than a game like this should be), I struggled because the fighting mechanics were annoying. The combo system felt slow and obnoxious - even with the so-called fast movement weapons like the sword and shield.

New controls should be a learning curve, but I feel like there should be a level of intuitiveness that just wasn't there for me. It really breaks the immersion and makes the game less fun, which is unfortunate, because there is a lot of really good stuff here. But games need good controls and I don't think Monster Hunter: World has them.

THE BOTTOM LINE

This game is hit or miss. It was a definite miss for me, and I won't be purchasing my own copy. I'm glad my little brother has his! I do think that some people will find it fun, and the obviously already have, so I'd definitely say rent the game first. In some way? Maybe? But yeah, I didn't enjoy it, because the controls weren't fun.

I don't care how beautiful a game is - it has to be fun.

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Gaming

ROLE PLAYGROUND | Nier Automata is an intense experience

Listen, I loved most of it and that counts for something right

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To be honest, I had given up on Square Enix - they aren't an amazing company and some of the things they've done to the Final Fantasy franchise are unforgivable (I'm look at you, shitty mobile games)! It's not that they're horrible - it's just that they've stopped worrying so much about quality and definitely started focusing on quantity. But, every so often, they release a game that manages to accomplish something really special - and I think they've done that with Nier: Automata.

THE GAME

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Nier: Automata is a branch off of the Drakengard series and a sequel to Nier (both of which I haven't played, don't shoot me). It takes place in a world where the Earth is now a battlefield in a proxy war between an alien threat and the human race. The aliens have sent down a set of seemingly soulless machines to eradicate human life - and the humans are fighting back with their own combat androids YoRHa.

You control 2B, a female android, who is programed to calm and composed - and are 9S, a recon android - as you fight to help the remnants of humanity save the world from this robotic threat.

THE GOOD

There's a lot of good. So much good. Too much good some would say. Right off the bat, I loved the mixture of genres present in the game's combat system. It goes from a Galaga-esque bullet hell to hack-slash seamlessly, thanks to a variety of different types of battle. For example, when you are on the ground - you can use your sword and your little robotic assistant for close range and long range attacks typical of a hack-and-slash. But, when traveling between different locations, like the Hub (the main place of YoHRa operations) and the overworld, you pilot your ship and fight enemy bots.

This variety elevates combat beyond the typical RPG fair. You aren't just wandering around a world and slashing your way with your sword - you're also piloting, and shooting your way through machines of various sizes and shapes. It's different from a game like Kingdom Hearts - where you literally just walk around and smash a button to get things done. And that matters - I love KH - but my hands need to be able to do more than just spam the X-button.

I think on a grander scale - the world is crafted in such an interesting way. Due to the lack of humanity populating the massive pre-war cities - the game evokes a kind of loneliness mixed with this crazy feeling of grandeur. The designers put a lot of work into making the world feel huge - and it is. There are human resistance camps, of course, but the world is mostly populated by wild life and machines.

Then there's the story - I can't get into it, because I don't want to spoil it - but it's one of those games that doesn't stop after you've beat it the first time. In fact, you may think that it's taken you as far as you can go, but it hasn't. It takes some turns that you won't expect - and will honestly drive you CRAZY, but you continue, because this narrative is AMAZING.

THE BAD

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Now, as I said, the world is crafted in an interesting way, but there are some key design flaws that broke the immersion for me. There were some invisible walls in random doorways for no reason - it's not the worst thing, but it's definitely annoying. I thin invisible walls are great and are usually necessary, but this just felt kind of annoying for me. Small - but it was enough to take me out of the game for just a little bit.

Another issue I have is with the way the game utilized the camera. So, listen, something you should know about me: I hate it when games don't let you control camera angles. I understand that this was a very specific choice on the developer's end - but it is a huge pet peeve for me. It doesn't do it all the time, but when it does, I immediately dread whatever's happening. There's a certain amount of control that I think you should have when playing a large game like this - and to not have it really got on my nerves.

But again, that's purely personal opinion.

THE BOTTOM LINE

In the end, this game is such a ride and I wish I could tell you everything that happens in it - but I still feel like I've only scratched the surface. It's narrative is beautiful, and it's world has some problems, but in the end they are small compared to the emotions it elicits. It's definitely a different kind of action RPG than I've seen on the market in recent years. If you have the money, I'd say buy it. If it's available, definitely rent it - and let me know what you think!

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Gaming

ROLE PLAYGROUND | Does Persona 5 have too much to do?

Honestly, I still can't believe the game has over 100 hours of content that you have to get through...

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Content is super important.

Most modern games boast lots and lots of content. Assassin's Creed Origins had 60 hours of it! People still play games like Skyrim and Fallout 4 and continue to rack up days and days and days worth of playtime. Unfortunately, a lot of times these games lack any real substance in all of this content. You're stuck with useless fetch quests and annoying radiant quests that you repeat over and over again.

Up until I played Persona 5, I could count on my hand how many content heavy games provided and complete experience. That's not always the worst thing - after all, not everybody can be CD Projekt. But it does make games with real, in depth content a pleasant surprise. And that's almost what I want to call Persona 5: A pleasant surprise. But, I'm not sure if it totally delivers - especially after playing through so many hours and still not being finished!

It's crazy. This game is crazy.

THE GAME

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Persona 5 is a huge game with a very long, linear story. You start as a new student at Shujin Academy in Tokyo. After a mysterious app appears on your phone, you enter a strange new world dominated by the twisted desires of the people around you. Throughout the game you meet various people who are being taken advantage of by oppressive, tyrannical adults - eventually forming The Phantom Thieves of the Heart. With you ever expanding team, you fight against these evil adults' inner selves and change them for the better. But, you can't get away with it forever, especially with nearly everyone from your principle to the police hot on your tail.

THE GOOD

There's a lot of good here - most of the game is practically perfect. The characters are well-written, dynamic, and fun to play with. The setting seems typical, until you get to the very first Palace (a mental manifestation of a person's twisted desire). Honestly, you could fill a book with all the good, but I'm going to try and focus on some key points that I felt really stood out as I played through this monster.

It's very rare for me to like every single main character in a game - and even rarer for me to want to play as all characters in said game. Persona 5 manages to create characters that have such personal, intimate problems and make the game about these characters finding strength in overcoming those problems. This forces the player to identify with them in a specific way, each time they are introduced.

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The best example of this is Ann Takamaki, a popular girl in school, who is a model and perceived as a well rounded girl on the outside. But, the more you get to know her, you find out about the dark secrets that haunt her, as well as Shujin Academy. These inner demons define her character, and the game makes sure that you see her struggles. I can't reveal too much about what happens, but it's dark, shocking, and very real.

This realness makes her eventual acceptance of herself and her act of rebellion all the more sweet. In the first Palace of the game, you find Ann. She has been captured and you don't know if you're going to save her. Then, she steps up to the plate. She yells at her aggressor - and unleashes her Persona, Carmen.

For those unfamiliar with the Persona franchise, Persona are manifestations of characters' mental state at the time. Each Persona game's Personas represent something different. In Persona 5, they represent the characters' want to rebel against the oppressive outside forces that seek to control them. I haven't spent too much time playing the other Persona games (for now), but I have been assured by forces that each one is pretty different.

Other than astounding characters, I really want to talk about the dynamic battle system. It's turn-based, which usually turns me off, but the game devs really made a point to refresh the typical (and boring) staple of the genre. The battle menu is fun, the movement works, and there is a lot of variety in what the characters can do. They can do a regular melee attack, shoot a character-specific gun, and cast spells in the form of the various Persona that you collect as you play through the game. You also have a very interesting ability to "hold up" your opponents and hit them up for cash, do a massive attack, or command them to join your team.

It's just really, really fun! I love it so much! I played this game for fifteen hours straight, and I never got tired of fighting - unless I kept on dying, which is just me not taking losing well.

Again, I can go on and on about all of the good in this game. So, I'm going to give you some bullet points really quick:

The setting is also primo - each Palace is different, and filled with new challenges.
The side characters are also mostly dynamic, and if you take the time to talk to them, you will be treated to a lot of great story and world building.

It does a really good job in showing what it's like to be a teenager in a world that seems to be dominated by adults who don't care about them. It's beautiful to see these kids fighting back. Why? Because that's the kind of world we live in now.

THE BAD

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There's a few things I have a problem with in this game. The main issue has to be with just how much you can do in this game. This sounds strange, but it's definitely valid. Most of the time - takes people between 80-120 hours to complete this MONSTER. And, a lot of times, it felt excessive.

Persona 5 depends on social links and interaction on top of battle and leveling up. Through these social links, you can unlock different types of Peronas, perks for your party member, etc. Social interactions such as working and studying also increase the character's statistics - which matters a lot depending on who you talk to. It's intricate, and it plays a large part in the game. On most days, you won't even fight. You'll just go and talk to someone, and assist them in some way. Or you go shopping, or you study at a café.

It's very interesting to see a game focus so much on the social aspect. In modern RPGs, we see a lot of this social side of things in regards to other characters - usually companions or important NPCs (faction leaders, etc). But Persona 5 takes it to a whole new level, to the point where most of the game is about improving your character's social standing with various - often times random - people that he meets throughout Tokyo.

Now, why is this an issue? You see, there are nine playable characters in this game. And then there are numerous side characters - most of these side characters have specific arcana attached to them. This arcana is a way to identify monsters and persona that you catch. And you increase in these specific arcana, you get benefits and buffs inside the Palaces.

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If you want to get all of these social links, you have to work really hard to get Personas that have all of their corresponding arcana. Plus, there is a whole other Palace called Mementos that you explore and fight mini-bosses to boost your status with the people of Tokyo. There's so much that it's overwhelming, and often times it's hard to keep track of what you need to do.

To make a truly great game, I feel like there needs to be a level balance in the content you've produced. And Persona 5 has a lot of astounding content, but it feels like it's just packed way to full in this game. It pains me to say it, but sometimes there is such a thing as too much to do.

THE BOTTOM LINE

Now, my only real criticism with this game is the fact that it has too much content. That's not the worst thing that a game could have going for it, and other people may not feel the same as I do. Some people like to have a game where they can get lost in it - and I do enjoy those games most of the time. But by the time you're 60 hours into Persona 5, you definitely start to feel a little fatigue. I dare say you could even grow tired of it, because no matter how dynamic the game is - it can still get boring.

Everyone should play it, because it's a beautiful, beautiful game. It's story is intricate and fun, as are the characters. It just has A LOT going on.

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