Topic: The Mana (Seiken Densetsu) Fan Thread

@Xyphon22 Makes sense, I just got confused when you said you got an Animal Crossing guide, thought you meant a walkthrough type guide lol.

I am the same way although I will admit that I used a walkthrough a little bit for FFA but that was mainly cause of the poor map design in the overworld and lack of direction in game.

@Tasuki Well, Animal Crossing is a little different. Yes, it's the official guide, but it's not like it is telling me how to defeat a tricky boss or anything. There really can't be a "walkthrough" for Animal Crossing, and I mainly use it for the checklists to know what items I already have. Regardless, I'm still really looking forward to playing this, it just may be a little longer than I hoped before I get around to it.

@Xyphon22 Ah ok that makes sense lol. Yeah I am thinking I might start Secret of Mana up here soon. Haven't figured out if I want to play it on the Collection or SNES mini. Then after that I will move onto Trials.

So I'm finally getting around to diving into Trials of Mana (the original on the Collection of Mana, not the remake). I'm using Duran, Charlotte, and Hawkeye. It is definitely simpler than SoM with only one weapon and not having to keep switching and leveling up different ones. But there does not seem to be any strategy that I'm aware of. I just kind of mash A (and B when the gauge fills up) and heal with Charlotte or candies whenever I have to. I also don't know if I'm missing something, but I still only have 2 magic powers (heal and cure ailments for Charlotte, nothing for the other 2) even though I have 4 or 5 of the elementals and it says they have given me their power. Do I have to do something to unlock it, or do they not give me magic like they did in SoM? A manual definitely would have been helpful, but I think I'm doing okay without one.

Sorry for the double post, but seriously, how do you get magic in this game? I've tried to figure it out online and thought I knew it. But I've raised the correct stats whenever I level up and last night I finally got to a Mana stone to change my classes for all three characters, but still the only magic anyone has is the same original two healing spells that Charlotte has always had. What am I doing wrong?

Which elemental(s) do you have .... ? Spells are in the training menu, too?

@BruceCM I just got Undine, so I have like five or six of them. What's the training menu? There's the menu where you press right and there are a bunch of boxes that are supposed to show your moves, but Duran's and Hawkeye's are all empty and Charlotte just has the two.

Heh, there's moves, skills & abilities .... Confused yet? Only some characters, like Charlotte, get magic much earlier than others, while others get more abilities or skills! I've only played the remake, mind you, which I think made various differences, so exactly how you do it originally, I dunno, sorry

@BruceCM That's alright. It's just very confusing, and the fact that it was never in English before until now makes it hard to look anything up to figure it out. I thought you just had to raise certain attributes high enough, but that didn't do it. Then I thought the problem was you had to change class first, but that hasn't done it either. So I'm at a loss. I guess I've made it this far without magic, though, so hopefully I can just keep toughing it out until I get them.

Yeah, the others should at least be getting some of the other stuff but it varies quite a bit, @Xyphon22.... Most of the guides seem to be for the recent remake
There must be some here who played the collection, though

You're doing nothing wrong. After the first class change you can unlock (depending on the chosen classes) more spells/skills every level by training the right stat. There are VERY few spells to unlock when still playing the base classes and training the corresponding stats doesn't immediatly unlock the spells after a class change.. one unlock per level. You can easily look it up in an online guide.. the game has been out for about 20 years as a fan translation (Seiken Densetsu 3) so there are numerous comprehensive guides (Gamefaqs or a Wiki page).

You can write a small book using all guides from the original game.. :

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/snes/588648-seiken-densetsu-3/faqs

And the original game didn't have moves, spells or abilities. The system was very different.

@Omedru So you are saying that I should start learning them after I first level up after the class change? Like for Duran, it says I should learn Diamond Saber with my Piety/Spirit at level 7, but it was already past that before I changed classes. So the next time I level up, I should learn it?

Alright! After however long it has been, I've finally beaten the original Trials of Mana (and thus the whole Collection of Mana). I think it did become a lot better once I finally sort of figured out what the heck I was doing, but that took a whole lot of looking up multiple guides on GameFAQS and the like and sort of took away from the experience; and so I think Final Fantasy Adventure is still my favorite of the three. It also kind of stinks that I feel like I've only seen 1/6 of the story and such (or maybe 1/3, as it seems like groups of 2 share the same basic story), but I have no desire to play through it all again just to get some more story and a different final boss fight (although that is crazy that the game has 3 different final bosses, based on what I've read).

For those who have played both this and the remake, are there considerable differences besides the obvious graphics and shift to 3D? I definitely don't feel the need to play the original again, but I might be willing to give the remake a shot so I can use different characters if the gameplay is different enough to warrant it. Or it at least explains things much better.

Found this list of them all, @Xyphon22 ....
Major Changes
Players can now set the difficulty level when starting a new game. This can be switched dynamically in the Settings menu after the player gains control of the Chosen.
Li'l Cactus quest can grant various bonuses upon finding it enough times throughout the world.
Abilities are another major new game mechanic that can grant multiple buffs to a single character or the whole party.
Chain Abilities can be obtained through interacting with certain NPCs throughout the adventure, defeating certain bosses, completing certain plot points.
A fourth class tier has been made for each of the six characters and can be obtained via defeating an extra boss for each of them in the post-game.
New Game Plus allows the player to carry over levels, gold, seeds, equipment, and items from a previous playthrough.
As of patch 1.10, the player can choose to start from level 1, in addition to selecting the Expert and No Future difficulty modes.
Minor Changes
Characters Max HP and MP no longer hit a cap of 999 and 99 respectively.
The player has now the option to play out the introduction segment of their other two party member upon meeting them.
The currency is now called Lucre instead of GP in the 2019 version.
Restorative items like Candies and Chocolates now restore more HP since characters have more of them.
Since leveling up has been made easier, enemy levels have been scaled up to reflect this reality.
Class changing is typically made earlier in the game for both the second and third tiers. The first ??? seeds the player encounter in the game will always give them the six class change items that they need.
Treasure chests are no longer dropped by enemies and items are instead automatically picked up upon defeating enemies.
Treasure chests and glowing yellow orbs are now abundant throughout the world.
Weapon, armor and accessory upgrades can be found in treasure chests in various dungeons instead of being bought like in the classic version.
Enemies won't usually counter class strikes like in the classic version.
The mimic enemy can no longer be spawned by the treasure roulette as this mechanic was dropped in the remake; instead they can be found in dungeons disguised as regular chests.
Some enemies will now sport magical spheres with honeycomb pattern surrounding them that act as additional armor and are meant to be broken with power attacks, charge attacks or class strikes.
Any level of class strikes can be performed regardless of the actual amount of filled CS gauge bars. In the classic version, a character would always use its strongest class strike possible depending on the filled CS gauge bars.
The CS gauge will now always be depleted upon triggering a class strike, regardless of hitting monsters or not. This wasn't the case in the classic version.
The CS gauge doesn't deplete itself after combat if isn't used completely.
Characters can now be interrupted by monsters during casting time.
Cups of wishes no longer restore MP like in the classic version.
Leveling up now restores HP and MP of the corresponding character.
Training points can now be used in the training menu instead of immediately upon leveling up.
Training points can be stacked on an attribute more than once regardless of any previous pick.
There are now five attributes (Strength, Stamina, Intelligence, Spirit and Luck) instead of six.
Character classes can now be reset to a lower class. This can be done in front of a Mana stone by using a specific new item, the Goddess Scales.
TheMagic Pot can now be leveled up to ensure better yields upon planting seeds and you can now plant up to ten seeds in a row.
Weapon/Armor seeds no longer exist but they have been replaced by a 3-tier of rare item-yeilding seeds (Silver , Gold and Rainbow item seeds).
The maximum number of different items that can be assigned to the ring menu is now twelve.
The Minor Mallet can no longer be put on the ring menu.
Springsteppers are now more common and can be used for traversing obstacles or reaching high places instead of showing an area of the world map.
2-Player co-op is no longer available in this version.
There are no longer areas in dungeons that trap the party until they defeat all the enemies. This mechanic was replaced by a feature that turns the field perimeter red when escape is not possible.
Sleeping enemies will now spot and attack the party if you approach near them making sneaking through them more difficult.
Player characters can now jump. This mechanic is widely used in many parts of the game, notably in the Woods of Wandara.
Various healing pots for replenishing HP, MP and CS and also containing items can now be found profusely everywhere.
If a player character is inflicted with blind, poison or silence, the status effect will still linger outside the battle.
In the classic version, the player had to put training points into Angela's intelligence attribute for her to learn new spells; this is no longer the case as the spell learning has been distributed between the five stats (Spirit for Light magic, Intelligence for Water and Dark, Strength for Fire, Luck for Wind, Stamina for Earth).
Some class strikes work differently; for example, Angela's Boomerand Spiral (Grand Diviner) can do AOE damage and Duran's Spin Slash (Gladiator) no longer makes him spin around and instead creates a tornado in front of him.
Kevin's werewolf transformation is now instant.
Leveling up is now made easier in general thanks to increased experience from boss fights and regular monsters and New Game Plus.
After a certain Li'l Cactus reward, you can now get elemental icons, claws and fangs at Beiser's Night Market.
Kevin's class strikes had two variants in the classic version; a normal one and a single-target throw/grapple. The second variant is absent in the remake.
Status aliments now have a chance of success instead of being garanteed to be inflicted, given that the target must be susceptible to it. This makes skills like Needle Shower much less reliable.
The Nomad class for Hawkeye has been made a little more defensive in order to balance out the multiple nerfs added to his skills and spells.
Most spells and class strikes now hit several times instead of just once.
Large bosses with multiple targets now take increased damage from AOE spells that hit multiple parts.
Multiple targeting with spells like Fireball or Ice Smash are now tiered within the training system and are no longer considered the same spell.
Item use is no longer instant and the user is now briefly vulnerable before and after using the item.
Benevodons and end-game bosses don't instantly use their strongest attacks anymore. Instead, they create additional targets on the field that must be destroyed before the spell finishes charging. If the party succeeds in doing so, the boss gets temporarily knocked out so that they can be further damaged. If the party fail to destroy all targets, they get hit by severe damage that most likely eat up all their HP or leave them in critical state.
Trophies (bronze, silver, gold and platinum) can be obtained in the PlayStation 4 and PC versions of the 3D remake.
The new burn status condition has be added and limit your peripheral vision and doubles the damage you take while the status is in effect.
Numerous spells and skills have been rebalanced or removed in the 3D remake.
Instant death spells, like Annihilate and Undead Away now simply do normal damage instead of dealing 999 damage points to bosses and higher leveled enemies. Additionally, those spells have a chance to instantly kill the target if a lower level than the party instead of being a garanteed kill.
The Wall spell now only relfects the next spell that hits the protected target instead of during a limited time.
Crystalline now only wards off a single attack instead of lasting for a while.
The Nature Aura spell now merely speeds up the rate at which the CS gauge fills rather than instantly maxing it out.
Multiple targeting with spells like Fireball or Ice Smash are now tiered within the training system and are no longer considered the same spell.
Angela can no longer multi-target her level 1 spells with her default class.
Max HP down spells like Lunatique and Moon Saber no longer work on bosses anymore.
Impediment and Accelerate were removed in the game since the Dexterity attribute they affected no longer exist in the 3D version.
Stats buffs and debuffs no longer hangs around until dealt with or by winning a battle. There is a time limit to all six spells.
Story
Story progression is now streamlined to specific star markers that the player must interact with before move forward.
The player can be shown objectives during playtime, although this can be turned off.
NPCs in Dior no longer run away from the party before talking with the Elfin Elder; they now respond in ellipses.
All player characters can now fight the black rabite in their respective final story arc after defeating the Benevodon of Darkness.
It is no longer necessary to activate specific Mana Spirits to advance the story; this is instead woven into cutscenes.
They are now two segments of the game that make your party teleport to their destination instead of having to travel there manually; the first is when the bridge in Stonesplit Gap falls down, the party automatically get transported back to Maia. The second instance is after escaping Beuca Island, as Vuscav first deposits you on the beach near Maia, the party is teleported straight to Valsena.

@BruceCM Wow, that's a lot of (albeit minor) differences. I didn't read through all of the minor ones, but the major differences seem to mostly apply to after you already beat the game once, plus a new ability system. I'm not sure if one new system warrants buying a whole new game. Maybe when I have much less to play than I do at the moment. And I'll give the demo a try, since I don't think I ever started that up although I downloaded it.

Yeah, I never got the Collection, since I'd had Adventures & Secret of Mana for Android, then got the remake of SoM on Vita, @Xyphon22 ... So, I skipped straight to the remake for Trials! Maybe when that goes on sale again it'd be worth getting for you? I certainly enjoyed that version

@BruceCM Yeah, I've seen it on sale quite a bit, so I might bite eventually. My biggest problem is just the vast number of RPGs I already own and haven't played, so I don't feel a need to add another one right now. But I had never played any of the Mana games before except for about an hour of SoM on the SNES Classic, so the Collection was definitely worth it. And I think if everything was explained better so I actually knew what I was doing I would have enjoyed Trials a lot more, and I am assuming the remake probably does. But I have now re-downloaded the demo, so I'll give that a go here in the next couple of days probably, once I take a little break from that world, probably to dive back into Skyrim.

Well, it doesn't explain things like a modern game does, @Xyphon22 .... I, at least, didn't need to look too much up with it, though! See how demo goes, anyway

Secret of Mana is the greatest game ever (to me)! I cannot understate its influence on me. I even make a live action web series adapted from it .