[Rant] Face it people. None of the Mana games are any good.

I think I've reached breaking point.

Originally Posted by Some guy

...a good traditional Mana game would be nice ;_;

When was the last one of these? Oh yeah NEVER.

Mana games have never been good. You go back, you play Zelda: Link to the Past these days and it's not that good. And here's the thing, Link to the Past was better than Secret of Mana in just about every way. And while the Zelda series has gone on to be one of the strongest franchises in gaming. It's constantly pushing the frontiers of game design and remains in the upper echelon of not just it's own genre but video games as a form of interactive art. Mana games on the other hand, originally Zelda with stats, have floundered about like a lost puppy waiting to die, kept alive by meager sales from confused and disillusioned fans, eyes clouded by nostalgia. Even I was suckered into this. I bought Sword of Mana the day it came out. I'll give it a quick review right here: Mindless shit, score: No Fist*.

Just face it guys. The series is a joke, it's not getting any better, and these tenuously related games wouldn't sell at all if they didn't have 'Mana' tacked onto their name somewhere.


* The Fist scoring system I use is quite simple.
Double Fist: Excellent games
Fist: Good games
No Fist: Poor games
Weak: Shit

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Or maybe that'sthe thing that is really annoying me. Mana has te ability to be so much more. I'm no fan of game music but I really like the music in all the Mana games I've played. The games characters tend to not be too cliché ridden and the games more often than not have decent storylines.

It's just it fails so hard on the gameplay front. Combat is completly asinine and the inclusion of stats in a real time game is something I've always found ridiculous, especially anything determining skills. Arn't I the one playing? Isn't it my skills on display? But yeah I mean the combat. Strategy consists entirely of moving out of the way if you see the enemy wind up for an attack. And with nothing else determining the difficulty of quests otehr than the number and ferocity of the mindless enemies, it get's old really really fast.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by PiccoloNamek

LTTP is good every time I play it.

Hmm. Yeah it's still pretty fun. It's more, I rushed out and bought it on GBA when the port game out, not dissimilar to the way I bought Sword of Mana. I played it and enjoyed it but I really felt it's age. When I played it as a kid on SNES it was the most amazing game I'd ever experienced but playing it again a decade later made me realise just how much gaming has progressed.

Originally Posted by Qwarky

Also the fact that you even bother comparing Zelda games with Secret of Mana means you have absolutely no idea what you're saying. This is something Total! magazine and its ilk did back in the days, when the viewpoint defined game genres and when Zelda was considered an action RPG.

But comon, they are. They're both top down, sword swinging action adventures. Are tehre many other games taht fit this mould? Zelda was item and puzzle based, while Mana was statistics and story based but on a fundamental level they played in a very similar way.

Originally Posted by Forsety

It's funny because a lot of people still consider ALTTP to be the best Zelda game.

Morons living in the past. While ten or so dungeons was nice, the game was just a long slog to the end through the dark world. It doesn't come close to what was acheived in the 3D Zeldas.

Quote:

You just sound like some retarded fanboy who doesn't like to except the fact that there ARE better action adventure games besides Zelda.

Lol care to name any? Because I noticed you didn't. I am a Zelda fanboy, I'm not hiding that, but I can still judge other games on their merits.
Look guys the comparison to Zelda was just that, a comparison. Mana could've been Zelda. It could've gone through the stratosphere and become one of the strongest and most influential franchises in gaming. But it didn't it failed. And I don't see where it's fans are pulling the optimision from that future games in the series will be as great in their time as Secret of Mana was.

Originally Posted by Bradylama

Coming out now and saying that it's an awful game is more retroactive reasoning than anything that can be considered objectively sound.

You're quite right. The thing is, people expect and hope for the newer Mana games to deliver and be great games, like Secret of Mana as if it's still an example of excellence in gaming. I definately enjoyed playing Secret of Mana back in the day, but I'm not one of those gamers living in the past. By today's standards the game isn't good, hell objective eyes might even see it as inferior to current Mana games.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Has anyone witnesed Denicalis ever add anything to a conversation other than baseless potshots?

Quote:

This is what is called "opinion", and just because someone doesn't share yours does not make them a moron.

Ooo ooo good one it doesn't make then a moron. But wait, what if it's my opinion (which it is) that they're a moron?

Finally, Mucknugle. Did you read any of my subsequent posts?

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?