...
See, I tend to look at games for their
entire package, as opposed to "oh it fulfills my need for top down hack and slash, f*ck the story."
Back then, we had to do this shitty thing where we had to pay for stuff, so we had to carefully evaluate which things we bought so we didn't f*ck ourselves and ruin our month until we could save up for another game by not eating lunch and pocketing our lunch money. You are basically emulating/freeloading most of this stuff now, so you're kind of lucky.
When you're standing there with like 50$ as a kid and you are like OK, I can get this SNES game, or these two gameboy games, you have to really make sure you're making the right decisions in life. Otherwise you end up buying shit like Wizards and Warriors + Castlevania Adventure while passing on like Joe and Mac or something, and then you feel like a f*cking moron after you realize what you've done.
If we needed a cheap fix for an action game or something, we'd either borrow games, or rent crap. If you were getting a game that took like >4 hours, it better have some sort of interesting story.
I was personally a little disappointed with LA's limp ass ending. All that work for such a stupid ending. After Link to the Past, I thought there'd be a better ending.
Anyway,
I think you misunderstand the "sense of urgency". I mean to say, there are times in the game where you do things like A) fall off a cliff because you're being chased by a villain B) fall out of an airship C) are rescuing someone that's been kidnapped.
There's suspense, and surprises. Not everyone makes it out alive. It feels a bit more serious.
Zelda has that urgent "save zelda, get the golden doritos and stop ganon" thing, but it's hardly ever urgent really. You have time to put bees in jars and release them and watch them murder platemail'd knights, and you can sit there playing rupee games and cutting the grass in Hyrule looking for loose change to buy more crap. The big bad guy basically just stands there until Link shows up to whoop his ass. If he were a little more proactive, I don't think Link would be able to do anything to stop the guy.
The most urgent thing in LA is watching dopey crash the boat. The rest of the game is basically you dicking off in a fever dream on an island, printing out pictures at the photo booth while you run around gathering instruments so a skywhale can tell you some LSD riddle and fly away while you float around like an a$$hole at the end of the game. lol.
Also, Zelda has always been an adventure game, but the world is always a bit small feeling. Even Link to the Past, the crown jewel.
I think Zelda II has the biggest population of any Zelda. In Zelda 1, you're talking like, a population of 6 people? They all live in caves and are old toothless goons. There's old dudes living in the dungeons. They're all insane.
Link to the Past has what, 10 people? There's one goddamn village in the entire game basically, and a few stray houses. The entire world could probably fit in a Super Walmart.
compare this to a game like FFA where you go places. There's whole cities you run around in. It feels more world-like as a result.
also in FFA, the fact that different weapons exist and are sometimes required or make certain parts more convenient does in fact make the combat in a game more interesting than just swinging the sword around or using the boomerang. You get different speeds, effects, special attacks, and range of motion. That tradition has carried on through all of the Mana games. It is part of what makes them what they are.
Zelda's combat isn't bad. It's just a bit more straightforward. You're Link, the pantsless sword wielding dork that sometimes has to use a specific item one time to kill a boss because "brilliant game design".
As much as I like Zelda, it is really easy to make fun of the entire formula in those games.
Why do big bad monsters live in dungeons with a f*cking item that can murder the shit out of them ALSO INSIDE THE DUNGEON. Who put the f*cking maps and compasses in there? Why is there a BIG KEY to open the chest to get the treasure? If the monsters just guarded the items themselves, Link would be f*cked and evil would triumph.
and, yeah, LA has a lot of rehashed tunes. That's part of why there aren't too many really standout tunes in that game. Heard em already. It's a very long soundtrack listing with not a lot of standout tunes. Some of them barely count as songs. They're more like little jingles.
Don't get me wrong though, LA was some 10/10 shit somehow despite goofy "why do we like this" thoughts.
I beat that game probably 50 times as a kid between the regular and stupid ripoff DX version that f*cking did nothing but take my money for no reason because you can do that stupid color dungeon on an OG gameboy anyways.
It's just not great of a tale/adventure as FFA if you really sit down and compare the two.
FFA is a much more serious, kinda depressing story.
The problem isn't that the voice acting is bad. The problem is that it HAS voice acting. It probably has loads of it and anything else that takes your time and just has you passively staring at the screen. Most things in the game will probably take longer than they did in the original. It probably has f*cking TUTORIALS out the ass.
If there's no JP option, f*ck. That will suck. the Jonathan Taylor Thomas voice actor guy for Randy is lame.
And I bet the NPCs are still all useless.
I hope they are.
Secret of Mana was STATE OF THE ART when it came out. State of the art in a higher art form, IMHO (one that lacks a third dimension) and this port is a sad sack example of Unity grade fodder.
I think maybe you don't really understand WHY you liked SoM, or maybe I don't. I guess there are two types of Mana fans and I'm not really the one who likes anything after SD3 including this cash grab.
I like SOM for alot of reasons. I played it a lot as a kid. I remember using my child-age privilege to cry and whine until my uncle would let me borrow it. I probably ruined his weekend with his friends, lol. Woops.
The environments are still some of the best I've seen in a game basically ever. The music shits all over a lot of things, and the story + gameplay itself was pretty amazing at the time.
I fully expect to be disappointed in the music much like how SD3's music f*cking blew compared to SD2, but I will still listen anyways. The percussion is probably going to be weak. SOM's percussion was over the top.
I want to fly around in this 3D and goof around like I did on SNES. I am hoping the flying portion is awesome. I used to just fly in circles and swoop down and do this thing where I'd randomly land somewhere and see where I went.
I want to see Matango in 3D. I'm curious how some of the shrines will look, and if we will still see goofy shit like SHOOTING YOURSELF ACROSS THE PLANET IN A f*ckING CANNON.
I'm aware that this isn't state of the art stuff now, so I am OK with getting a revisit. I'm not optimistic. I am just excitedly curious. I want to beat the shit out of rabites and see that stupid scene where you're going to be cooked.
I hope Primm still comes shufflef*cking her way in to save me.
I basically just want to see how all those scenes turn out in 3D. If there's no JP voice option though, jesusf*ck that's gon be baaaaaaad.
Everyone making fun of the new "kawaii chibi" stuff is an asshat though.
The original game was like that too. Look at Popoi. Look at the rabites. The mushbooms have hearts on their heads.
Look at the f*cking ducks with army helmets shooting at you.
It's all cute and stupid as it murders you. That hasn't changed.
The dated, lower quality 3D does kind of suck though since it actually looks like Dawn of Mana has better visuals than this will have.
No, I tell you what the real problem is, it's that they're remaking a game that doesn't need to be remade...
You've not even played the game. Just stop.
If any old Square IP is deserving of a remake, it's definitely SOM. They've rehashed all the FF games out the ass and sort of dropped the ball with continuing the mana series. Chrono Trigger got a PS1 release with anime cutscenes.
Secret of Mana never got shit really.
What it really deserves is a full-blown redo. like FFXV caliber visuals with studio rock music to match the music that was in the original in terms of percussive presence.
This one is a budget remake, which is disappointing, but still piques my interest enough to give it a shot.
