Oh my god Secret of Mana is being 3D remastered for PS4, PC and Vita

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

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By Robert Purchese Published 25/08/2017

 

ORIGINAL STORY 9.30AM BST: The best game in the world ever, Secret of Mana, is being 3D remastered for PC (Steam), PS4 and Vita, and will be released 15th February 2018.

 

Why Switch isn't included I don't know, especially given the game's Nintendo heritage, but as Xbox One is excluded as well, it could be a Sony exclusivity deal.

 

Remember, the Secret of Mana series landed on Switch in Japan in June, albeit in a retro re-release anthology which isn't confirmed for the West.

 

The Secret of Mana 3D remake will have a complete new visual style as well as voiced characters (a choice of English or Japanese), some new dialogue scenes, and a newly arranged soundtrack. It looks like a much newer game now, albeit a slightly more cartoony one. There is mention of upgraded gameplay but no details on how it has changed.

 

UPDATE 11.45AM BST: PlayStation Store pre-orders are now open (thanks, Alcifer) so we know the 3D remake of Secret of Mana will cost £33 on PS4, which isn't cheap. Optional in-game purchases are mentioned - but what are they for? If pre-orders get downloadable armour perhaps you can buy it too?

 

UPDATE: It's £33.

 

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I've never played it personally, but it's constantly listed in "best games ever" lists, so I'll probably pick this up

[LimeMaster]

OH GOD NO! After what they did with Final Fantasy remasters I don't trust them. 

[George P Global Moderator]

Well my PC is ready, either way.

[Doli]

Gameplay

 

 

[dragontology]

Loved this game when it was new. I replayed it a couple times with emulators, but I replayed Super Metroid and Zelda 3 so much more, because those were 5-6 hour games and Secret of Mana was like... I don't know. It's hard to gauge an RPG, because there's the story, and then there's all the grinding. And I'm trying to picture the whole story of Secret of Mana, and I just can't. I know the beginning, but the rest is just disjointed memories, it's kind of a blur. I remember up to getting all three characters. And that part is a mess. You can get Primm in a random encounter, or you can't. Not sure anyone ever figured out how to make that always happen, or never (for speed runs?). So sometimes you'd get kidnapped by Goblins, and they'd be cooking you in a stew, and Primm would come along and save you. But it didn't happen every time. And after she joins your party (later), you're sent to do a thing, no spoilers, but you get so far and she tells you to either go back and do this other thing for her, or she's going to leave and do it herself. Now, I think you can agree and go with her, but I'm pretty sure you can't go where she wants to go just yet, but it's a pain to trigger this, because there are these bee/wasp creatures you have to power through... so I just let her go. Of course you pick her up again later, after you get the pixie kid.

 

Which leads me to wonder how they're going to do that. I don't know how the game/story worked in Japan, but here in the US, they give you this little pigtailed girl in a green dress, but they sometimes use male pronouns. So the pixie child, Popoe (and they weren't even named in the US version), I guess was meant to be genderless or gender androgynous? And we weren't even having that conversation in the US, I mean on the national level. We didn't have liberals celebrating Secret of Mana for its gender inclusion or its safe space for non-binary genders or whatever. It was just... what it was. I mean, it was just a game, we didn't really get politics or social issues involved in our games so much then. I feel like with this version, this being 2017, gender being the big social issue it is, whether Square gives Popoe a gender or just lets them be gender neutral, Square's going to plant a flag whether they want to or not, and whichever way that flag doesn't blow, is going to ruffle some feathers. Same with the vendor, I think they were gender neutral by intent. I think Square made a point that this game could be played equally by boys and girls and that it didn't matter what was in your pants if you had a big heart and wanted to save the world. Or maybe I'm just reading too much into the limitations of 16-bit graphics, but I'm calling it like I see it, and I'm buying the game day one regardless.

 

For those who have never played it before... there's a great part, and it's when you really first step out into the world. You've had your sword upgraded, it's no longer rusty. You got your full party. The story has just begun to unfold. You've gotten I think your first set of spells (there are so many entities that give Primm and Popoe defensive and offensive magic, respectively), and you've met some of the major players, and then you get launched off continent. And there are these four areas in a 2x2 grid, that represent the four seasons. And to move forward, you basically have to go through them all, in a clockwise pattern, to simulate the passing of the seasons. And I think this triggers a boss battle, but I don't recall, that just makes sense. So when you get there, go counter clockwise to grind, and then clockwise to advance. It's just a really neat area because of how it changes the palette... I'm expecting it to be amazing in the remake/remaster.

 

Lastly, not for nothing, but Final Fantasy XV's live action combat as opposed to the traditional menu-based isn't actually new. It comes from Secret of Mana. If you like that in Final Fantasy XV, being able to just run up and hit things when you want and dodge them when you want, fighting on your own terms... you're gonna love Secret of Mana. And yet, a lot of RPG purists hated Secret of Mana for this. They said combat should only be done through the menus. The argument was that in an RPG, player skill should not be a factor, only stats and the luck of the dice. While I can't disagree with the argument, I personally prefer the more active style.

[BillysBadFurDay]

Holy crap. This is definitely a game I will be interested in playing.

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

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Here's the Secret of Mana remake's spruced up opening movie

Same as it never was.

By Matt Wales Published 31/10/2017

 

Square Enix has offered up another look at its forthcoming Secret of Mana remake on PS4, Vita, and PC, this time highlighting its spruced up opening movie.

 

Gone are the moody, minimalist pixel-art pans of the 1993 Super Nintendo original, replaced by vibrant hand-drawn illustrations. The new introduction also features reworked (and voiced!) narration, which adds a touch of nuance compared to the fine-but-functional original English translation. Here, see for yourself:

 

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[compl3x]

PS Vita. Damn. I just remembered I own one of those. the OLED one, too.