Let's Play : Secret of Mana - Episode 15 : Over 30GB Served this month!

Doc Holliday

Welcome to my first Let's Play! I will be playing through the outstanding game Secret of Mana with you guys!


Secret of Mana


Secret of Mana is an actiony role-playingy adventure game with goofy characters, goofy music, and bright colors. It is highly regarded as one of the SNES classics, and sits among Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy VI in the ranks of the best games Squaresoft has ever made.

I don't remember this game being all that long (perhaps 30 hours or so?), but it has been a long time since I have played this game; and a long long long time since I have beaten it. I will need you guys to help me along the way, finding secrets and whatnot. If you have a tip for me for something I haven't done yet, put it in a spoiler and label it "PLAYER TIP". I'll scan through these and make sure I abide as many requests as I can!

The Videos :

Episodes 1 - 10, High Res Blip.tv (QT):

Episode 1 - PILOT : "I did what now?"
Episode 2 : "I never get to do what I want to do"
Episode 3 : "Rabiteman? BOO!"
Episode 4 : "A Childhood Foe Defeated" or "Evil Death Fish of Doom"
Episode 5 : "This is my angry face" part 2
Episode 6 : "Boss Rush kekeke"
Episode 7 : "I'm Baaaaaaack"
Episode 8 : "Badger Badger Badger Badger"
Episode 9 : "Yaaawwwn"
Episode 10 : "Tiger Bikini" <-- this one is a .mov. Right click -> save as and watch it on your computer.

Episodes 1 - 10, Low Res Google Video (flash) :

Episode 1 - I did what now?
Episode 2 - I never get to do what I want to do
Episode 3 - Rabiteman? BOO!
Episode 4 - A Childhood Foe Defeated)
Episode 5 - This is my Angry Face
Episode 6 - Boss Rush kekeke
Episode 7 - I'm Baaaack
Episode 8 missing from google video
Episode 9 - Yaaawwwn
Episode 10 - Tiger Bikini

Latest Episodes

(all .mov files. Please right click -> save as and watch it on your computer)

---

Episode 11 - "Die Ninja! DIE! ... DIE!"
Episode 12 : "Go Away! The Sage is Out!"
Episode 13: "I'm back, fo realz"

http://www.keepthewebweird.com/somlp/somep14.mov New!



I received approval for this Let's Play. If you want to do your own Let's Play, then ask a mod's permission.

Rakai

I love that artwork of the three standing in front of the giant tree. One of my favorite video game pictures of all time.

Arikado

Fucking yes!

This...this got me into Square. I did Final Fantasy 2 and hit multiple brick walls and swore them off. Then I saw this, rented it, then bought it twice (first copy got ruined in a horrible lemonade+dog accident). I bought the fucking multitap to 3 player this game. My sisters and I played this until all three characters to max out all the weapon levels.

SimBen

I have spawned Let'splaybabies.

Excellent.

It's good that you're doing this, because I've never finished this game.

iadrian

SimBen wrote: »

I have spawned Let'splaybabies.

Excellent.

It's good that you're doing this, because I've never finished this game.

This was my thought, SimBen. You've started something. Now it's only a matter of time before someone gives FFVI another stab.

I'm stoked to see this game being done. Loved the hell out of it; it's one of the first games I remember my little brother being old enough to play co-op with me. Can't wait to see more, because I never finished it, either.

Klyka

I am actually thinking about setting up a little website where everyone can just upload their let's play videos so we have every let's play ever neatly packed into a site.
I already have the technology needed for that set up because of some other stuff.

Would anyone be interested in that?

Doc Holliday

I'm glad everyone is excited. And yes, SimBen was absolutely the inspiration for this. Once you brave the unknown frontier that is RPG Let's Plays, the flood gate opens!

Klyka, that would be pretty cool, but I'm really enjoying blip.tv's interface and options as far as syndicating RSS, podcasts, etc. Maybe just a website that indexes Let's Plays and uses each's respective video embed? I don't know. Either way, I'm open to anything, and it's cool that you've got the resources!

Klyka

I just took a look at blip.tv, didn't know the site before.
It really does seem like it has everything one needs,especially the RSS feed is nice, as is the blogging.
If I started the let's play site it would not start with such things right out of the box, it would just be a simple "upload movies,make comments" site. So I guess it's not needed, blip.tv seems to be the right choice
And just a simple link site, I don't know, we could just make a megathread for that.

TVs_Frank

SimBen wrote: »

I have spawned Let'splaybabies.

Excellent.

It's good that you're doing this, because I've never finished this game.

Same here. I just never found the game all that fun and the story didn't seem interesting. I'll be watching this one. I didn't know about this blipTV site either. The video quality seems excellent.

Xenogears of Bore

The game becomes ten times as much fun when played three player. Same with Final Fantasy:Crystal Chronices. FF:CC is of course the Mana series true successor.

Also, I used to have trouble with SoM as a kid because I didn't know about abusing stacked magical effects.

Tonberry King

Player Tip: Thirty hours is about right. It's taken me longer but I grind like crazy in this game. I NEED to level each weapon up to max for each character or I can't move on. Don't do this. Unless you plan on making the girl or the sprite your main character, there is no need to level up their weapons beyond one or two. The AI is stupid when it comes to charging their weapons. They'll charge every time they see an enemy but never before or after. I recommend you set them to 0 and keep them there unless you're fighting a boss that is weak against physical attacks.

The best place to set your character's AI is dependent on your play style but I like giving my characters long range weapons and setting them on B2.

The girl's magic has an unique way of leveling up. Before I would go to an Inn or Luka and do all my griding there. That way I could cast "(element) saber" over and over again and then recover my MP immediately by resting. Then I found out you don't get as much experience that way. You have to be in an area with enemies to get full experience.

My last tip on grinding is to abuse the Drops. Their ability to multiply is useful for having a constant stream of enemies to beat up on.

Edit: It's a shame so many of you haven't beaten this game. The ending is epic.

Valkun

The lack of multiplayer action makes me a sad Valkun. If someone does Seiken Densetsu 3 single player before we get to it, there will be strangling involved, through the internet.

Pemulis

Klyka wrote: »

I am actually thinking about setting up a little website where everyone can just upload their let's play videos so we have every let's play ever neatly packed into a site.
I already have the technology needed for that set up because of some other stuff.

Would anyone be interested in that?

This would be very cool. Fromearth has a good collection of the SA Let's Plays here:

http://fromearth.net/LetsPlay/

I would love to see a collection of all of the PA LP's.

DO IT!

Sterica

Secret of Mana had an incredible multiplayer that was only hindered by the need to pause the game for everybody to do anything beyond attacking. It'd be a perfect subject for a DS remake, or even a Wii remake (use the Wiimote to pick targets for spells/items).

redfenix

One of my favorite games, ever.

Frosteey

I vote for the spear.

Tonberry King

Frosteey wrote: »

I vote for the spear.

I vote for throwing the spear.

Pole Dart is where it's at (unless you have the Sprite Spear. Then, yes, I vote spear).

Doc Holliday

Spear huh? For the main character? I usually keep him with the sword-- what does everyone else think about using the spear?

SimBen

Valkun wrote: »

The lack of multiplayer action makes me a sad Valkun. If someone does Seiken Densetsu 3 single player before we get to it, there will be strangling involved, through the internet.

If we ever do Seiken Densetsu 3, it will have to be a megathread. With several people doing their own play-throughs simultaneously, with different parties. It's the only way it can be done.

There are 120 different possible party configurations in Seiken Densetsu 3, not two of which have an entirely identical playthrough. Each possible party has 64 possible class configurations (4 choices per character). Which means there are 7,680 different ways of going through that game.

Frosteey

Tonberry King wrote: »

Frosteey wrote: »

I vote for the spear.

I vote for throwing the spear.

Pole Dart is where it's at (unless you have the Sprite Spear. Then, yes, I vote spear).

The javelin attacks are so boring. "Whoo, I can spin it around in a half circle before throwing it! I can throw two in succession! I can jump back a tiny bit!"

Lame.

Doc Holliday

Argh! Ran out of room on my hard drive after my last recording, and it fubar'd the recording. Better to learn these things early on than later... I need to start duplicating my saves. Hmph.

techacolyte42

BEST GAME EVER.
I recommend rotating weapons, different ones are better against different creatures - and usually level up faster than you can get new orbs anyway.

Frosteey

techacolyte42 wrote: »

BEST GAME EVER.
I recommend rotating weapons, different ones are better against different creatures - and usually level up faster than you can get new orbs anyway.

I'd actually probably recommend this. At least, the melee weapons. You can just grind weapon levels off-camera.

Actually, the boomerang's all right, I guess.

FCD

SimBen wrote: »

Valkun wrote: »

The lack of multiplayer action makes me a sad Valkun. If someone does Seiken Densetsu 3 single player before we get to it, there will be strangling involved, through the internet.

If we ever do Seiken Densetsu 3, it will have to be a megathread. With several people doing their own play-throughs simultaneously, with different parties. It's the only way it can be done.

There are 120 different possible party configurations in Seiken Densetsu 3, not two of which have an entirely identical playthrough. Each possible party has 64 possible class configurations (4 choices per character). Which means there are 7,680 different ways of going through that game.

God I hate Squaresoft for never bringing it over. Hate them so much.

Arikado

Whip is so freaking cheap. The Fists and Shuriken are awesome once you skill them up to lv 5+. You can take out entire groups with that.

Tonberry King

FCD wrote: »

SimBen wrote: »

Valkun wrote: »

The lack of multiplayer action makes me a sad Valkun. If someone does Seiken Densetsu 3 single player before we get to it, there will be strangling involved, through the internet.

If we ever do Seiken Densetsu 3, it will have to be a megathread. With several people doing their own play-throughs simultaneously, with different parties. It's the only way it can be done.

There are 120 different possible party configurations in Seiken Densetsu 3, not two of which have an entirely identical playthrough. Each possible party has 64 possible class configurations (4 choices per character). Which means there are 7,680 different ways of going through that game.

God I hate Squaresoft for never bringing it over. Hate them so much.

Which raises the question: how the hell will we ever do a LP on this forum?

The only way we'll be able to play a translated version of this game is by breaking some rules.

Frosteey

Tonberry King wrote: »

FCD wrote: »

SimBen wrote: »

Valkun wrote: »

The lack of multiplayer action makes me a sad Valkun. If someone does Seiken Densetsu 3 single player before we get to it, there will be strangling involved, through the internet.

If we ever do Seiken Densetsu 3, it will have to be a megathread. With several people doing their own play-throughs simultaneously, with different parties. It's the only way it can be done.

There are 120 different possible party configurations in Seiken Densetsu 3, not two of which have an entirely identical playthrough. Each possible party has 64 possible class configurations (4 choices per character). Which means there are 7,680 different ways of going through that game.

God I hate Squaresoft for never bringing it over. Hate them so much.

Which raises the question: how the hell will we ever do a LP on this forum?

The only way we'll be able to play a translated version of this game is by breaking some rules.

You can always play the untranslated version...the stories are fairly easy to recap. You could probably stumble your way through them without any knowledge of Japanese. "That evil looking guy kidnapped the little kid. Bad news."

SaraLuna

Secret of Mana holds a special place in my heart. It was my *favorite* game when I was younger, and I would still rank it in my all time top 5.

even now I still buy every mana game that comes out, hoping to feel that magic again.

Tonberry King

pablo_price wrote: »

even now I still buy every mana game that comes out, hoping to feel that magic again.

Hahahahahohhh, a part of my soul just died inside.

:? :x :x :x :x :x :rotate: :rotate: :rotate:

Doc Holliday

Yeah I was very disappointed with Sword of Mana, or whatever the first GBA one was, then I didn't bother with the second one.

That said oh my dang, my video recorder is making me mad. That's twice I recorded episode 2 and twice it bombed out. Sigh. Learning experience for the win, I guess. I'm hanging it up for the night. Episode 2 will be tomorrow.

Arikado

Sword of Mana was sooooo baaaaaaaad. I bought it thinking it'd be nice to play on the bus rides to my college classes all it proved was that it had a crappy story, very little action with the main characters, and really weird design overall.

redfenix

Arikado wrote: »

Sword of Mana was sooooo baaaaaaaad. I bought it thinking it'd be nice to play on the bus rides to my college classes all it proved was that it had a crappy story, very little action with the main characters, and really weird design overall.

was that the DS one with the worst magic system ever?

kitch

Whoa. My friend and I just started playing this game yesterday.

Zen Vulgarity

Awesome pilot.

Remember: Get all the weapons, you bastard.

Viscountalpha

Tonberry King wrote: »

Player Tip: Thirty hours is about right. It's taken me longer but I grind like crazy in this game. I NEED to level each weapon up to max for each character or I can't move on. Don't do this. Unless you plan on making the girl or the sprite your main character, there is no need to level up their weapons beyond one or two. The AI is stupid when it comes to charging their weapons. They'll charge every time they see an enemy but never before or after. I recommend you set them to 0 and keep them there unless you're fighting a boss that is weak against physical attacks.

The best place to set your character's AI is dependent on your play style but I like giving my characters long range weapons and setting them on B2.

The girl's magic has an unique way of leveling up. Before I would go to an Inn or Luka and do all my griding there. That way I could cast "(element) saber" over and over again and then recover my MP immediately by resting. Then I found out you don't get as much experience that way. You have to be in an area with enemies to get full experience.

My last tip on grinding is to abuse the Drops. Their ability to multiply is useful for having a constant stream of enemies to beat up on.

Edit: It's a shame so many of you haven't beaten this game. The ending is epic.

I was close to the end, And I kinda gave up. I Lost all my mana seals and I was like WTF? this sucks. Oh right and that stupid dragon that kicked my ass-- repeatedly. I would re-grind this game up though just to see the ending. I'm probably looking at $rape$ prices though. ( need to rebuy it)

Doc Holliday

Zen Vulgarity wrote: »

Awesome pilot.

Remember: Get all the weapons, you bastard.

If I'm coming up on one that's not integral to the plot, spoiler it for me and mark it "Player tip" so I don't miss it!

Zen Vulgarity

Doc Holliday wrote: »

Zen Vulgarity wrote: »

Awesome pilot.

Remember: Get all the weapons, you bastard.

If I'm coming up on one that's not integral to the plot, spoiler it for me and mark it "Player tip" so I don't miss it!

Hnn. I'm playing the game with you now, no?

Also: Max your spells. They get very, very cool looking.

If someone wants I can do a Densetsu 3 LP after this.

Frosteey

Zen Vulgarity wrote: »

Doc Holliday wrote: »

Zen Vulgarity wrote: »

Awesome pilot.

Remember: Get all the weapons, you bastard.

If I'm coming up on one that's not integral to the plot, spoiler it for me and mark it "Player tip" so I don't miss it!

Hnn. I'm playing the game with you now, no?

Also: Max your spells. They get very, very cool looking.

If someone wants I can do a Densetsu 3 LP after this.

How would you pronounce Riesz? And would your party be Riesz, Angela, and Hawkeye/Duran?

Rakai

redfenix wrote: »

Arikado wrote: »

Sword of Mana was sooooo baaaaaaaad. I bought it thinking it'd be nice to play on the bus rides to my college classes all it proved was that it had a crappy story, very little action with the main characters, and really weird design overall.

was that the DS one with the worst magic system ever?

Sword of Mana was a GBA remake of the first game that was called Final Fantasy Adventure in the states and was for the original Gameboy.

Doc Holliday

Zen Vulgarity wrote: »

Doc Holliday wrote: »

Zen Vulgarity wrote: »

Awesome pilot.

Remember: Get all the weapons, you bastard.

If I'm coming up on one that's not integral to the plot, spoiler it for me and mark it "Player tip" so I don't miss it!

Hnn. I'm playing the game with you now, no?

Hehe, it is "Let's" Play, after all :P

Zen Vulgarity

Frosteey wrote: »

Zen Vulgarity wrote: »

Doc Holliday wrote: »

Zen Vulgarity wrote: »

Awesome pilot.

Remember: Get all the weapons, you bastard.

If I'm coming up on one that's not integral to the plot, spoiler it for me and mark it "Player tip" so I don't miss it!

Hnn. I'm playing the game with you now, no?

Also: Max your spells. They get very, very cool looking.

If someone wants I can do a Densetsu 3 LP after this.

How would you pronounce Riesz? And would your party be Riesz, Angela, and Hawkeye/Duran?

Duran, Kevin, and Hawk are by far the most destructive party.

Like, their finals are retardedly strong.