This game nailed the franchise concepts from the start. On a gameboy, with a workable system that had more variance than 99% of other gameboy games. Absolutely masterful creation that led to two of the best action rpgs of the 16 bit era.
Not mentioned: when you Level up, you pick which of 4 stats (strength, intellect, vitality, or willpower) gets a big boost (2 points). The two stats "adjacent" to that stat then get 1 point, and the "opposite" stat gets nothing. Strength is attack power, Intellect is spell power and Max MP, Vitality is defense and Max HP, and Willpower makes your weapon "super meter" fill up faster and faster the higher it gets. With this system, simple though it may be, you can build your character in a lot of different ways. You can go stereotypical warrior and pump up strength, which then gives you decent vitality and willpower, but almost no MP, making all your spells except for Heal and Cure totally worthless. You can TRY to be a Mage by focusing on Int, but uh... don't. Just don't. Spells are underpowered at best and most bosses are all but immune to them. I remember fighting Dark Lord with the one "mage" I tried to build and I had to hit him with literally hundreds and Fire spells, running away non-stop and chugging Ethers for 30+ grueling minutes. You can go Willpower and still have okay Magic and HP, but your defense will be awful and the bar doesn't really reach a point of being usefully fast until you're halfway through the game, making the early going a total slog. Or you can try the tank route by focusing on vitality, which gives you great HP and pretty good strength and willpower, but again your spellcasting is pretty much worthless (aside from healing again). Or you can try any number of more balanced approaches. The game never says "no" and you can pick any of the 4 stats to be the "good" stat for every single level up, so you can just pick what feels right in the moment or set up some sort of "stat rotation" like, Strength on even levels and Willpower on Odd levels, or whatever you can come up with. For an original GameBoy title, that's some deep-ass character customization. But hey, I have really high-strength prescription rose-tinted glasses for this game; I got it for my birthday when I was in middle school and played it through from start to finish dozens of times for the better part of a decade. I love this game to death despite the numerous faults pointed out in this video, none of which I can really argue against. The game is frequently plodding, janky, obtuse, frustrating and repetitive... but I love it anyway.
Agreed across the board. Mechanically I like this one better than SD2. It's behind Legend for me, though I still haven't gotten far in SD3 or tried SD4.
I'm playing this on Switch, I wish I had it for the Game Boy when it came out. This game is really perfect, it has the RPG elements that I love but also good combat. The level design leads you to where you have to go without telling you or making it feel restrictive. This game has everything that makes a good game. And every time I save, and those 2 save slots pop up, it reminds me that they really did put everything into this game despite the limitations. Not 3 save slots, but not just 1 either. I've been leveling up the lowest attribute each time, but I don't know how useful Willpower is so maybe I'll start skipping that one. As for the Switch version, I like the purple & orange color palette but I would have liked more options. It's 4 colors, I doubt it would have cost them anything to put more pallettes. My only major complaint is that pressing X and Y resets the game, which is crazy. It could be L and R, not something you can accidentally press and lose your progress.
@@customsongmakerWith Willpower you can pull out special attacks faster or at least get a very strong attack without having to wait half a minute. The only gripe I have with it was in a part of the game where I had to chop down some tress with the Axe, but the Willpower bar loaded up so fast I kept throwing it, which doesn't chop them unlike the normal attack.
@@shupasopni Same, I'm not a big fan of Secret of Mana systems and it feels more jankier, SD1 is a pretty good game if you know how to avoid the softlocks, SD3 is a great game though, the class system let's you make some interesting party combinations.
I didn’t have the Internet when I had to figure this out. I had actually shoplifted this game from a Walmart, this was before games were put behind glass… For whatever reason I had a harder time with ‘where the two lines meet’ on the second floor of the tower in Final Fantasy Legend
This right here. Ive notice the slight click when u walk by those trees, but never connected it w the palm trees and 8 clue. Ive only accidentally triggered it, so no mf, i did not get you vague dumbass clue!
Went through this game at least 10 times back in the day. This and Link's Awakening are my favorite Gameboy games. As for wanting the sound off? Nope. Love the soundtrack
In complete retrospec, as someone who loved both games, its kind of funny to state FFA as jank and leave SOM alone. SOM was a great game, but that game also had its share of jank. Jank movement, Jank hitboxes, Jank AI from both sides (allies and enemies). Jank systems. It was far from clean gameplay too, it just looked a lot nicer. Both were absolutely pushing beyond the limits of what their consoles could do at the time with this stuff.
Hey its me, you described me. Actually I was 9. This game holds such a special place in my heart because of this. I guess my child imagination "filled in the gaps" of the design. But it felt like a better LOZ to me. And because of the name, directly led to me renting FF2 on the SNES which led to me falling in love with RPGs. The music especially defined my childhood. I used to just listen to the second overworld song to be in a happy place.
It's incredibly unfair to judge a game against what came after it. The button layout argument holds no water because of that. It was an idea thought up years after this released. This game is a product of its time. Most who played it when it was new (myself included because I'm damn old) loved. The love only got stronger years later after it came out that it was Mana's big brother.
There's an absolutely terrible review of Star Ocean: First Departure on youtube that judges it against modern action jrpgs, says the game straight up sucks because it lacks modern touches and quality of life improvements. Silly stuff. Not gonna say who it is because I dont want to promote the guy.
@@vaporsaver TBF First Departure is a ground up remake made in the engine of the second game so it should be judged by 2008 standards not 1996 standards. Nobody would judge Ys Memories of Celceta by 1993 standards.
@@Chelaxim Nobody should expect a remake made to maintain a retro style and align aesthetically with Second Story to have modern AAA jrpg quality of life and combat features. It's a retro remake, not FF7 remake for chrissakes. "To be fair" nothing. It was a trash review.
Meh, it's one of my favorite GB games of all time, the story and soundtrack are amazing and the gameplay, while a tad outdated, still holds up. To each their own I guess.
Except for the dungeon theme, I absolutely LOVE the music. I found the idea of the power moves awesome, magic was a great addition, and I still play it on an emulator once in a while. I only have fond memories about this game (except for the stupid ice magic maze)
Oh yes, courage and pride from the heart (yes, I actually looked it up 15 years later, when the internet was finally around in my corner of the world ^^) was definitely the best song. It was a great decision to make it the second one! After being annoyed with the dungeon music for some time, this one has you all "let's goooo!" again :D
This game really set the stage for Link's Awakening and the Oracle Games; as well as setting a solid precedent of story/plot before the golden quad of SMRPG/FF VI/CTrig/Earthbound hit. Granted, it looks rough TODAY; but it was an experience in it's time. I'd always wished they'd make an NES port of this.
I love this game. Its my favorite game in the series to play solo. I never understood why you could guide your character's stat growth in this but lost this option in the SNES sequel. Trials fixed that but then for some reason restricted each character to one weapon type. They could have had each character have a ranged weapon type and a melee weapon type, or gain access to more weapon types when they change classes for example.
This dude does not realise what a fucking masterpiece this was in 1991, on the Gameboy. This was above 99% of GB games and amazingly advanced and ahead of it's time, making best use of a very limited system to give you magic, items, a huge world. I had people trade me 5 games for this, back in the day. Sad to see someone young not realise what an incredible achievement this game was. Not to mention this is one of THE BEST soundtracks on a gameboy.
Sadly you can never experience the fact that there was nothing out there like this.. it was new and AMAZING... we had FF for Nes but this was the 1st for Gameboy and it was AWESOME!!!
So basically what you're saying is, if you want to experience the story in the first game of the Mana-Series, play the mobile remake, Adventure of Mana instead. Or better yet, the enhanced remake, Sword of Mana for GBA?
I'd say Adventure of Mana, I've heard it's a far more faithful remake. There is indeed fun to be had here though, if you're looking for something super retro.
I remember when I never got to play Final Fantasy 6 only because it was no longer sold in stores. This was the game I played in exchange for that and honestly wasn't too bad. Yes back then if you didn't play the games at that time they were off the shelves. They were probably making room for N64 or Gamecube games :(.
I can't see somebody running this game down. It was an early gameboy title that was pretty ambitious. The other mana games were not out yet obviously so of course they wouldn't make it similar to those 🙄
My core complaints are problems which weren't present in other comparable Gameboy games, not what was present in future Mana titles. The end of the video actually specifies my view towards my own complaints, being that they don't really matter when viewing the game in the context of the first mana title, and that it's impressive the game exists at all.
Mana isnt really about beauty Is actually a religion game if you take a closer look to the details, it consist of animism stone age mythology. The mana tree is mother nature and characters are like the princess and her mother are the seeds of mana representing the incarnation of motherearth. In the Legend of mana PS1 talks about a reincarnation heroe from the previous game secret of mana being himself again in legend of mana. Thats the only detail i know so far but im Actually starting getting into it
For it's time it was badass, you used Zelda from another handheld to compare it. Young people today, you said they wanted to see how much they could push the hardware. Bingo buddy!
FF Adventure only predates Link's awakening by 2 years. Both games were released on the same console and have all the same restrictions, yet Link's Awakening accomplished a far better and more functional flow. While the Oracle games may have released on GB Color, they play nearly identically to Link's Awakening, so my comparison stands.
@@Super_HamboneFinal Fantasy Adventure also predates A Link To The Past. The first Zelda,Startropics,Neutopia and Crystalalis are this game's contemporaries. I don't think "same hardware limitations" are that cut and dry also. I mean...Tomb Raider Legend and Rise of The Tomb Raider are both Xbox 360 games. It has more to do with game design standards of the time. The PSP and 3DS are weaker than the PS2 but how does Tekken 6 and Super Street Fighter IV compare to Tekken Tag Turnomemt and Street Fighter EX3?
This game was amazing. Especially when it was one of the few RPGs I had that was portable. I loved it a lot. Sorry you didn't have the same experience. I liked the villains actually. Not going to spoil though
I'd say the experience was overall a positive one. If anything, I had fun experiencing the beginning of a franchise that was so formative in my childhood. It makes me really happy to see so many people in the comments who loved this game!
The editing here is really nice, loved the way you zoomed out on footage for dramatic effect, and the metacritic edit got a chuckle out of me ngl. Also really interesting you brought up FF stories progressively getting darker since I had a bit of a realization SD1 was oddly dark-toned for a GB RPG mainly compared to SOM and SD3. But I have to disagree with a lot of points made. While condensed, SD1's translation was actually pretty solid for the English text limits and the time I'd say. Some of the mistranslations were actually not mistranslations, such as the "can't carry" text. While a bit awkward at times, the lack of "the" before proper nouns is forgivable given the limitations, never really found it an issue. That said it does omit Sumo's extra vow to avenge Willy near the end of the game which is a pretty glaring oversight, glad to see you brought it up. On a side note, as far as I know there is no mention of Hasim being Fuji's brother, merely her escort. Regarding the aesthetic, I found it rather charming. The world is a lot more bleak than future Mana games, so the minimalism and almost robotic nature of the game (the electric sounding chocobo remix really comes to mind) really add to it imo. I would have rec'd playing the game with the tea midori shader or similar though, as it does a great job bringing out the nature environments compared to the pallet you used in your footage. *spoilers* I also disagree with the game unnecessarily killing characters as only two party members die and one of them begins as a villain. I also think you were a bit harsh declaring they had nothing to them aside from one attack a piece. Even years later I still vividly remember Amanda's bravery and sacrifice, the Mysterious Man's manipulative nature, or the scene of Lester honouring his sister through his musical talent. With so many playable characters and the game's short runtime I feel as though the characterization was perfectly adequate. Axes were overwhelmingly powerful when charged as well and had solid range for early game particularly. However I agree the items overall could have been handled better though, mostly due to the rare drops for the best items being a bit of a pain, or the keys not being used automatically. I don't think it's bottom of the barrel compared to other 8-bit games, at least. Even though I played it after the SNES entries, it's definitely my favourite Mana game after SD3 since I was able to look past the early installment weirdness. Regardless, you did an entertaining job presenting your ideas for one of the jrpgs in existence, I'd be interested to see your thoughts in the reimagining Sword of Mana as I still have yet to play it.
I'm glad someone caught the can't carry textbox. I was wondering if anybody would call me out on that. You are definitely one of the viewers I have ever had!
@@Super_Hambone I never actually considered the item limit box could appear during that scene, talk about a mood whiplash! Thank you, you are one of the reviewers for sure!
If you didn't play the SNES games at the time they were around you never got to play them because they always replace it with the next new console. That's one good thing that came out of the modern times. They replaced SNES games with N64 ones. Even as a fucking kid I knew SNES was way better than N64. I could predict it.
Played this through totally legal means when I was a teenager discovering new games (I grew up with 2 N64 games and about 4 PS1 games). Since I was at least vaguely familiar with Zelda at the time, the gameplay hooked me right from the start, even through the jank. Ultimately, I think this is the game that introduced me to JRPGs, and ever since, they have become my favorite game genre. Criticisms toward the game are warranted, in retrospect. I'm curious what you think of the GBA remake, Sword of Mana. Most discourse I've seen on that game is that people prefer the original, but that could just be nostalgia. I never really played enough of it to form my own opinion. And THANK YOU for saying what I've been thinking about Final Fantasy VI for years. I get why people love it, but damn is that game depressing. I've never wanted to beat a game so fast just to make the world less shitty.
While i've never played through all of Sword of Mana, I've always thought it was a really cool way to remake and expand upon a game that was so simple. It also exists in a strange mysticsl state in my head, as I never played it as a child, but had an ad for it from another game. As an unhealthy Children of Mana player, I was fascinated!
Kinda weird how ProJared never made a series retrospective of the games. Also, I see you did the whole game in the Game Boy game; so why didn't you play the remake on Game Boy Advance?
I actually played the GBA remake "Sword of Mana" before getting to play this version, which I didn't even know WAS the original version of that game when I bought it semi blind. It's clunky for sure, but given the age, still fun to mess with.
Thanks for pronouncing the name of the game the same way I do and always have. People that say "Mahn-uh" can go live on an island somewhere far away from us.
The music is really good. And when it comes to the gameplay, there is a vast open world which was pretty good on the Gameboy when you compare to the other games. Definitely one of the best games of the platform (though it was much worst than the incredibly good Zelda game)
Bought this when it first came out. Did not care for it because of the story. Just got done playing it over netplay with a friend to see if my opinion changed. Even worse this time. Story is crap. Just a bunch of fetch quests. Leveling up magic is a tedious bore. The armor was so overpowered that half the game we took little damage and a few boss fights we took 0 damage. The end boss was killed with little effort. Final fantasy adventure was 1000 times better and we are now playing part 3 and are an hour into it and it way better than secret of mana.
@@Super_Hambone facts homie, and np! i know virtually nothing about the topic but you made it interesting to watch nonetheless. The best way I can put it is that I’d binge watch these at 2AM instead of sleeping for work lmao
I just bought the mana collection,and wanted to experience this game. After 5 hours I no longer want to 😂 It started well and I was having fun,but I became increasingly frustrated as the hours went by. Really good video!
Someone didn't pay close enough attention! Let the commentary sink in. I compare the title to its contemporaries on the gameboy, as well as address problems that are completely unrelated to age. You're allowed disagree without insulting me and my viewpoint. That's also untrue. I prefer games to inconvenience me.
Secret and Trials were kinda disappointing after playing this game. Later games have never been able to capture the pure 'adventure' vibe this game had.
P. P. S since it seems like a pioneer of that type of game, not surprising there'd be a lot of refinements to come. I quite enjoy it so far, I didn't grow up gaming (except for Crash Bandicoot) so it all feels new to me
What a fun review of this game. I've never played any mana games and was thinking about starting with the first. NOPE. Gonna jump straight to the mana games.
Not really. Take the GB Zelda titles, while Adventure precedes them by a few years, there were no advancements in tech that would have kept Adventure from being just as finely aged. However it hasn't aged gracefully because of its lesser design philosophies and frustrating mechanics. It's entirely fair to expect a higher level of quality found in other, similar titles from the same era. Though in the end i'd say I more or less got what I was expecting, a charming albeit extremely archaic experience. And that's fine by me.
One common theme old mana games is they start with a fall down a waterfall. 1,2,3
This game nailed the franchise concepts from the start. On a gameboy, with a workable system that had more variance than 99% of other gameboy games. Absolutely masterful creation that led to two of the best action rpgs of the 16 bit era.
I love this game. Now I play it via emulation. It's primitive but still enjoyable.
Not mentioned: when you Level up, you pick which of 4 stats (strength, intellect, vitality, or willpower) gets a big boost (2 points). The two stats "adjacent" to that stat then get 1 point, and the "opposite" stat gets nothing. Strength is attack power, Intellect is spell power and Max MP, Vitality is defense and Max HP, and Willpower makes your weapon "super meter" fill up faster and faster the higher it gets.
With this system, simple though it may be, you can build your character in a lot of different ways. You can go stereotypical warrior and pump up strength, which then gives you decent vitality and willpower, but almost no MP, making all your spells except for Heal and Cure totally worthless. You can TRY to be a Mage by focusing on Int, but uh... don't. Just don't. Spells are underpowered at best and most bosses are all but immune to them. I remember fighting Dark Lord with the one "mage" I tried to build and I had to hit him with literally hundreds and Fire spells, running away non-stop and chugging Ethers for 30+ grueling minutes. You can go Willpower and still have okay Magic and HP, but your defense will be awful and the bar doesn't really reach a point of being usefully fast until you're halfway through the game, making the early going a total slog. Or you can try the tank route by focusing on vitality, which gives you great HP and pretty good strength and willpower, but again your spellcasting is pretty much worthless (aside from healing again). Or you can try any number of more balanced approaches. The game never says "no" and you can pick any of the 4 stats to be the "good" stat for every single level up, so you can just pick what feels right in the moment or set up some sort of "stat rotation" like, Strength on even levels and Willpower on Odd levels, or whatever you can come up with.
For an original GameBoy title, that's some deep-ass character customization. But hey, I have really high-strength prescription rose-tinted glasses for this game; I got it for my birthday when I was in middle school and played it through from start to finish dozens of times for the better part of a decade. I love this game to death despite the numerous faults pointed out in this video, none of which I can really argue against. The game is frequently plodding, janky, obtuse, frustrating and repetitive... but I love it anyway.
Agreed across the board. Mechanically I like this one better than SD2. It's behind Legend for me, though I still haven't gotten far in SD3 or tried SD4.
I'm playing this on Switch, I wish I had it for the Game Boy when it came out. This game is really perfect, it has the RPG elements that I love but also good combat.
The level design leads you to where you have to go without telling you or making it feel restrictive. This game has everything that makes a good game. And every time I save, and those 2 save slots pop up, it reminds me that they really did put everything into this game despite the limitations. Not 3 save slots, but not just 1 either.
I've been leveling up the lowest attribute each time, but I don't know how useful Willpower is so maybe I'll start skipping that one.
As for the Switch version, I like the purple & orange color palette but I would have liked more options. It's 4 colors, I doubt it would have cost them anything to put more pallettes.
My only major complaint is that pressing X and Y resets the game, which is crazy. It could be L and R, not something you can accidentally press and lose your progress.
@@customsongmakerWith Willpower you can pull out special attacks faster or at least get a very strong attack without having to wait half a minute.
The only gripe I have with it was in a part of the game where I had to chop down some tress with the Axe, but the Willpower bar loaded up so fast I kept throwing it, which doesn't chop them unlike the normal attack.
@@shupasopni Same, I'm not a big fan of Secret of Mana systems and it feels more jankier, SD1 is a pretty good game if you know how to avoid the softlocks, SD3 is a great game though, the class system let's you make some interesting party combinations.
Palm trees and an 8. Get it?
I do indeed
@@Super_Hambone I didn't I was stuck there for months till I looked it up online.
I didn’t have the Internet when I had to figure this out. I had actually shoplifted this game from a Walmart, this was before games were put behind glass…
For whatever reason I had a harder time with ‘where the two lines meet’ on the second floor of the tower in Final Fantasy Legend
This right here. Ive notice the slight click when u walk by those trees, but never connected it w the palm trees and 8 clue. Ive only accidentally triggered it, so no mf, i did not get you vague dumbass clue!
Final Fantasy Adventure, and it’s 50 names, was the first game I ever played. I am so old!!!!
Went through this game at least 10 times back in the day. This and Link's Awakening are my favorite Gameboy games. As for wanting the sound off? Nope. Love the soundtrack
In complete retrospec, as someone who loved both games, its kind of funny to state FFA as jank and leave SOM alone.
SOM was a great game, but that game also had its share of jank. Jank movement, Jank hitboxes, Jank AI from both sides (allies and enemies). Jank systems. It was far from clean gameplay too, it just looked a lot nicer.
Both were absolutely pushing beyond the limits of what their consoles could do at the time with this stuff.
Just finished it, it was amazing imagine 1991 and being 10 playing this, wow
Hey its me, you described me. Actually I was 9.
This game holds such a special place in my heart because of this. I guess my child imagination "filled in the gaps" of the design. But it felt like a better LOZ to me. And because of the name, directly led to me renting FF2 on the SNES which led to me falling in love with RPGs. The music especially defined my childhood. I used to just listen to the second overworld song to be in a happy place.
I was 3
It's incredibly unfair to judge a game against what came after it. The button layout argument holds no water because of that. It was an idea thought up years after this released.
This game is a product of its time. Most who played it when it was new (myself included because I'm damn old) loved. The love only got stronger years later after it came out that it was Mana's big brother.
There's an absolutely terrible review of Star Ocean: First Departure on youtube that judges it against modern action jrpgs, says the game straight up sucks because it lacks modern touches and quality of life improvements. Silly stuff. Not gonna say who it is because I dont want to promote the guy.
@@vaporsaver TBF First Departure is a ground up remake made in the engine of the second game so it should be judged by 2008 standards not 1996 standards. Nobody would judge Ys Memories of Celceta by 1993 standards.
@@Chelaxim Nobody should expect a remake made to maintain a retro style and align aesthetically with Second Story to have modern AAA jrpg quality of life and combat features. It's a retro remake, not FF7 remake for chrissakes. "To be fair" nothing. It was a trash review.
This review is total BS.
Meh, it's one of my favorite GB games of all time, the story and soundtrack are amazing and the gameplay, while a tad outdated, still holds up. To each their own I guess.
Except for the dungeon theme, I absolutely LOVE the music. I found the idea of the power moves awesome, magic was a great addition, and I still play it on an emulator once in a while. I only have fond memories about this game (except for the stupid ice magic maze)
The 2nd overworld theme does indeed go hard
Oh yes, courage and pride from the heart (yes, I actually looked it up 15 years later, when the internet was finally around in my corner of the world ^^) was definitely the best song. It was a great decision to make it the second one! After being annoyed with the dungeon music for some time, this one has you all "let's goooo!" again :D
This game really set the stage for Link's Awakening and the Oracle Games; as well as setting a solid precedent of story/plot before the golden quad of SMRPG/FF VI/CTrig/Earthbound hit.
Granted, it looks rough TODAY; but it was an experience in it's time. I'd always wished they'd make an NES port of this.
I love this game. Its my favorite game in the series to play solo. I never understood why you could guide your character's stat growth in this but lost this option in the SNES sequel. Trials fixed that but then for some reason restricted each character to one weapon type. They could have had each character have a ranged weapon type and a melee weapon type, or gain access to more weapon types when they change classes for example.
The stat choices were indeed pretty cool, can't lie
One of the first JRPGs I played as a kid! I love it
Even through my frustrations, i found it to be very charming. I can totally see someone loving it
Why call it the mana series it’s clearly an adventure series
@@TeddyBelcher4kultrawide I just call it seiken densetsu
This dude does not realise what a fucking masterpiece this was in 1991, on the Gameboy. This was above 99% of GB games and amazingly advanced and ahead of it's time, making best use of a very limited system to give you magic, items, a huge world. I had people trade me 5 games for this, back in the day. Sad to see someone young not realise what an incredible achievement this game was. Not to mention this is one of THE BEST soundtracks on a gameboy.
Of all the games I played, I definitely played this one.
It's definitely a game I purchased and completed, that's for sure.
Sadly you can never experience the fact that there was nothing out there like this.. it was new and AMAZING... we had FF for Nes but this was the 1st for Gameboy and it was AWESOME!!!
I had to look at the date. For a second I thought this was an April Fools video. That game is great. Deep and emotional, with a great sound track.
So basically what you're saying is, if you want to experience the story in the first game of the Mana-Series, play the mobile remake, Adventure of Mana instead. Or better yet, the enhanced remake, Sword of Mana for GBA?
I'd say Adventure of Mana, I've heard it's a far more faithful remake. There is indeed fun to be had here though, if you're looking for something super retro.
I remember when I never got to play Final Fantasy 6 only because it was no longer sold in stores. This was the game I played in exchange for that and honestly wasn't too bad.
Yes back then if you didn't play the games at that time they were off the shelves. They were probably making room for N64 or Gamecube games :(.
I can't see somebody running this game down. It was an early gameboy title that was pretty ambitious. The other mana games were not out yet obviously so of course they wouldn't make it similar to those 🙄
My core complaints are problems which weren't present in other comparable Gameboy games, not what was present in future Mana titles. The end of the video actually specifies my view towards my own complaints, being that they don't really matter when viewing the game in the context of the first mana title, and that it's impressive the game exists at all.
Mana isnt really about beauty
Is actually a religion game if you take a closer look to the details, it consist of animism stone age mythology. The mana tree is mother nature and characters are like the princess and her mother are the seeds of mana representing the incarnation of motherearth. In the Legend of mana PS1 talks about a reincarnation heroe from the previous game secret of mana being himself again in legend of mana.
Thats the only detail i know so far but im Actually starting getting into it
For it's time it was badass, you used Zelda from another handheld to compare it. Young people today, you said they wanted to see how much they could push the hardware. Bingo buddy!
FF Adventure only predates Link's awakening by 2 years. Both games were released on the same console and have all the same restrictions, yet Link's Awakening accomplished a far better and more functional flow. While the Oracle games may have released on GB Color, they play nearly identically to Link's Awakening, so my comparison stands.
@@Super_HamboneFinal Fantasy Adventure also predates A Link To The Past.
The first Zelda,Startropics,Neutopia and Crystalalis are this game's contemporaries.
I don't think "same hardware limitations" are that cut and dry also.
I mean...Tomb Raider Legend and Rise of The Tomb Raider are both Xbox 360 games. It has more to do with game design standards of the time.
The PSP and 3DS are weaker than the PS2 but how does Tekken 6 and Super Street Fighter IV compare to Tekken Tag Turnomemt and Street Fighter EX3?
one of the videos i've ever watched!
The comment I've read today ...
"Say"-ken not "sigh"-ken
why is your video title half finished?
It’s an insufferably tired intentional joke. Even worse, an uncreative trendy one.
Definitely one of the jrpgs of all time
Your videos are amazing. I shall leave a flower 🌼 and wait for it to fully bloom. Once it does I'll give you a tree.
A very well-spoken review with good quips! I look forward to seeing your reviews for the rest of the series!
Thanks, comments like this are what keep me going!
Love your videos bro, you are a pro at this!
Trials of Mana is so good!
This game was amazing. Especially when it was one of the few RPGs I had that was portable. I loved it a lot. Sorry you didn't have the same experience. I liked the villains actually. Not going to spoil though
I'd say the experience was overall a positive one. If anything, I had fun experiencing the beginning of a franchise that was so formative in my childhood. It makes me really happy to see so many people in the comments who loved this game!
@@Super_Hambone I played this AFTER I played Seiken Densetsu 2 and 3 so no I still enjoyed it as it was.
The editing here is really nice, loved the way you zoomed out on footage for dramatic effect, and the metacritic edit got a chuckle out of me ngl. Also really interesting you brought up FF stories progressively getting darker since I had a bit of a realization SD1 was oddly dark-toned for a GB RPG mainly compared to SOM and SD3. But I have to disagree with a lot of points made.
While condensed, SD1's translation was actually pretty solid for the English text limits and the time I'd say. Some of the mistranslations were actually not mistranslations, such as the "can't carry" text. While a bit awkward at times, the lack of "the" before proper nouns is forgivable given the limitations, never really found it an issue. That said it does omit Sumo's extra vow to avenge Willy near the end of the game which is a pretty glaring oversight, glad to see you brought it up. On a side note, as far as I know there is no mention of Hasim being Fuji's brother, merely her escort.
Regarding the aesthetic, I found it rather charming. The world is a lot more bleak than future Mana games, so the minimalism and almost robotic nature of the game (the electric sounding chocobo remix really comes to mind) really add to it imo. I would have rec'd playing the game with the tea midori shader or similar though, as it does a great job bringing out the nature environments compared to the pallet you used in your footage.
*spoilers* I also disagree with the game unnecessarily killing characters as only two party members die and one of them begins as a villain. I also think you were a bit harsh declaring they had nothing to them aside from one attack a piece. Even years later I still vividly remember Amanda's bravery and sacrifice, the Mysterious Man's manipulative nature, or the scene of Lester honouring his sister through his musical talent. With so many playable characters and the game's short runtime I feel as though the characterization was perfectly adequate.
Axes were overwhelmingly powerful when charged as well and had solid range for early game particularly. However I agree the items overall could have been handled better though, mostly due to the rare drops for the best items being a bit of a pain, or the keys not being used automatically. I don't think it's bottom of the barrel compared to other 8-bit games, at least.
Even though I played it after the SNES entries, it's definitely my favourite Mana game after SD3 since I was able to look past the early installment weirdness. Regardless, you did an entertaining job presenting your ideas for one of the jrpgs in existence, I'd be interested to see your thoughts in the reimagining Sword of Mana as I still have yet to play it.
I'm glad someone caught the can't carry textbox. I was wondering if anybody would call me out on that. You are definitely one of the viewers I have ever had!
@@Super_Hambone I never actually considered the item limit box could appear during that scene, talk about a mood whiplash! Thank you, you are one of the reviewers for sure!
If you didn't play the SNES games at the time they were around you never got to play them because they always replace it with the next new console. That's one good thing that came out of the modern times. They replaced SNES games with N64 ones. Even as a fucking kid I knew SNES was way better than N64. I could predict it.
This is the game review ever made!
Why did you add Mt. Metorx's Theme from Star Ocean: First Departure R ? Try to add the atmosphere to the mix ?😎
Played this through totally legal means when I was a teenager discovering new games (I grew up with 2 N64 games and about 4 PS1 games). Since I was at least vaguely familiar with Zelda at the time, the gameplay hooked me right from the start, even through the jank. Ultimately, I think this is the game that introduced me to JRPGs, and ever since, they have become my favorite game genre.
Criticisms toward the game are warranted, in retrospect. I'm curious what you think of the GBA remake, Sword of Mana. Most discourse I've seen on that game is that people prefer the original, but that could just be nostalgia. I never really played enough of it to form my own opinion.
And THANK YOU for saying what I've been thinking about Final Fantasy VI for years. I get why people love it, but damn is that game depressing. I've never wanted to beat a game so fast just to make the world less shitty.
While i've never played through all of Sword of Mana, I've always thought it was a really cool way to remake and expand upon a game that was so simple.
It also exists in a strange mysticsl state in my head, as I never played it as a child, but had an ad for it from another game. As an unhealthy Children of Mana player, I was fascinated!
Kinda weird how ProJared never made a series retrospective of the games. Also, I see you did the whole game in the Game Boy game; so why didn't you play the remake on Game Boy Advance?
I actually played the GBA remake "Sword of Mana" before getting to play this version, which I didn't even know WAS the original version of that game when I bought it semi blind. It's clunky for sure, but given the age, still fun to mess with.
Is Sumo in Sword of Mana too?
the JRPG ever made.
Definitely up there with other JRPGs.
Thanks for pronouncing the name of the game the same way I do and always have. People that say "Mahn-uh" can go live on an island somewhere far away from us.
Are you using music from Y's Book?
I blame Kingdom hearts. "There can only be one action combat rpg series. Mana can try other things." --hypothetical no one.
You're going crazy.
Oh yeah. Definitely.
I loved this game lol
The music is really good. And when it comes to the gameplay, there is a vast open world which was pretty good on the Gameboy when you compare to the other games.
Definitely one of the best games of the platform (though it was much worst than the incredibly good Zelda game)
Bought this when it first came out. Did not care for it because of the story. Just got done playing it over netplay with a friend to see if my opinion changed. Even worse this time. Story is crap. Just a bunch of fetch quests. Leveling up magic is a tedious bore. The armor was so overpowered that half the game we took little damage and a few boss fights we took 0 damage. The end boss was killed with little effort. Final fantasy adventure was 1000 times better and we are now playing part 3 and are an hour into it and it way better than secret of mana.
This was so well made, super impressed by the way you presented your ideas and the editing of the video is 👌
Thanks so much, complete stranger! Comments like this mean the world to me :)
we should hang out some time
@@Super_Hambone facts homie, and np! i know virtually nothing about the topic but you made it interesting to watch nonetheless. The best way I can put it is that I’d binge watch these at 2AM instead of sleeping for work lmao
That's exactly what i'm going for😅👍
I just bought the mana collection,and wanted to experience this game.
After 5 hours I no longer want to 😂
It started well and I was having fun,but I became increasingly frustrated as the hours went by.
Really good video!
this game has the best music
This game is great. You're just a baby who is spoiled by all the conveniences of modern gaming.
Someone didn't pay close enough attention! Let the commentary sink in. I compare the title to its contemporaries on the gameboy, as well as address problems that are completely unrelated to age. You're allowed disagree without insulting me and my viewpoint.
That's also untrue. I prefer games to inconvenience me.
That shit was badass back then when it was all we had fella.
Final fantasy adventure is not a bad title. Squaresoft release 2 title in hope to further develop one of them bae on sale.
Secret and Trials were kinda disappointing after playing this game. Later games have never been able to capture the pure 'adventure' vibe this game had.
this game really was
SO TRUE!!!!
I didnt think it was that bad. Like yeah its not amazing or anything but it was fun for a gameboy game. Also I love the music in this game lol
This is my first FF game lol and given into my curiosity to look it up rather than f around and find out with it.
P. S trying the gbc version
P. P. S since it seems like a pioneer of that type of game, not surprising there'd be a lot of refinements to come. I quite enjoy it so far, I didn't grow up gaming (except for Crash Bandicoot) so it all feels new to me
You didn’t play the game
What a fun review of this game. I've never played any mana games and was thinking about starting with the first. NOPE. Gonna jump straight to the mana games.
Honestly just choose whichever one looks the most intriguing. Can't go wrong with Secret or Trials!
among us when?
the indeed
Tbh the entire video feels like a case of Seinfeld Is Unfunny. You're expecting too much of a GB game.
Not really. Take the GB Zelda titles, while Adventure precedes them by a few years, there were no advancements in tech that would have kept Adventure from being just as finely aged. However it hasn't aged gracefully because of its lesser design philosophies and frustrating mechanics. It's entirely fair to expect a higher level of quality found in other, similar titles from the same era. Though in the end i'd say I more or less got what I was expecting, a charming albeit extremely archaic experience. And that's fine by me.
I....don't love Secret of Mana. Secret of Evermore is better! 😄
nice take!
Thanks, I too agree with this take!
Thumbs down for bad grammer
I will destroy you! Grr!
Thumbs down for bad spelling