[General Discussion] What the heck has happened with the Mana/Seiken Densetsu franchise? Where's the magic

Well, when you think about it, Secret of Mana was at the top of its game with co-titles like Chrono Trigger and EarthBound for the SNES. It had a great plot and great music. Not only could play co-op w/ two people, but it was just plain fun. At the time, the graphics were outstanding, and it truly was a great RPG for the SNES era.

Unfortunately, it seems that today many developers (with the exception of a few) aren't interested in getting the player entranced in a solid storyline. Instead, they churn out these games quickly just because they're franchise sequels. They fail to do the one thing that seemed to keep games entertaining in the past....develop some originality, but don't mess with the thing that made it great in the first place.

Originally Posted by GoldfishX

Same thing that's happened with the FF series...Too many games, too much whorage, too little substance.

I completely agree with that statement. Especially the question of what happened to the SUBSTANCE? That's probably the biggest problem of most new titles out there today. The bottom line in most cases... that quick development leads to a disappointing game.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by GRUN-3

Secret of Mana was never known for its plot. Sorry, it's the truth. It was so fun that I didn't care that the plot was specious at best and hackneyed at worst, though.

Yeah, I suppose that's probably true. I'm going from what I remember about the game as a kid...I probably hyped it up to be better in my mind, but I do know for a fact that it was one of my favorite memorable RPG's, and the fun factor was very high.

There's nowhere I can't reach.