|
Seiken Densetsu (聖剣伝説) is a
Role-playing game series from
Squaresoft (the
company behind the
Final Fantasy series), now
Square Enix (the maker of the
Dragon Quest and
Final Fantasy series), created by Koichi Ishii.
Started in
1991, Seiken Densetsu is known for its live-action (non turn-based)
battle system and original
fantasy theme. Seiken Densetsu translates "holy
sword
legend." It is the cousin of
Final Fantasy and
SaGa. Seiken Densetsu is between these two game series in popularity,
but closer to the former.
Chrono is between Final Fantasy and Seiken Densetsu, both in
popularity and the gameplay engine.
Brief release history
- Seiken Densetsu (Final
Fantasy Adventure) was released in 1991 for the
Game Boy.
- Seiken Densetsu 2 (Secret
Of Mana) was released in
1993 for the
Super Nintendo.
-
Seiken Densetsu 3 (See notes) was released in
1995 for the
Super Famicom.
- Seiken Densetsu 4 (Legend
of Mana) was released in
2000 for the
PlayStation.
- Shinyaku Seiken Densetsu (Sword
of Mana) was released in
2003 for the
Game Boy Advance.
Notes
Seiken Densetsu 3 was not released in the US because Square opted for
Secret of Evermore. However there are
un-official (or fan) translations circulating the
internet in
English,
French, and
German. It is sometimes refered to as "Secret of Mana 2."
Secret Of Evermore, although not part of the series, used the same
engine. It was only released in the US in
October of 1995.
Shinyaku Seiken Densetsu (Sword of Mana) is a
remake of Seiken Densetsu (Final Fantasy Adventure). It features
two-player game play, but that mode requires two copies of the Sword of
Mana.
Seiken Densetsu
Seiken Densetsu (or Final Fantasy Adventure) is the first game in the
Seiken Densetsu series. Like most early Game Boy games, it was
monochrome. Gameplay was very similar to
the original Legend of Zelda.
Chocobos and
moogles made a cameo appearance in Seiken Densetsu. A male character
named "Sumo" (by the manual) is the
protagonist. The
antagonists are Julius, and his close friend Dark Lord. The main
female character, named "Fuji" (by the manual) is captured twice
throughtout the game. She is first taken to a
box in a
dungeon, then later captured on an
airship and taken where the final confrontation takes place. In Jadd,
Amanda's brother Lester was cursed by Davias, and Sumo had to take her
with him. Amanda is later tainted by Medusa, turns into a
statue and dies. Sumo placed Amanda's
tear drops on Lester to uncurse him. Lester had to avenge his sister's
death. The Chocobo was later changed to a Chocobot, so it can walk
across bodies of water. After Sumo defeated Julius, Fuji became a Mana
tree after her
mother died. Sumo guarded the Mana tree afterwards.
Seiken Densetsu later received a 32-bit
remake for the Gameboy Advance as in Shinyaku Seiken Densetsu in Japan
and as Sword of Mana in North America. At the beginning of Shinyaku Seiken
Densetsu, the player gets to choose to play as the male lead character
(Sumo) or as the female lead character (Fuji). They both have a different
quest, but the plot is still similar. The most important thing about this
remake, however, is the complete "de-Final Fantasification" of it - all
elements from the original that had an origin in Final Fantasy were
removed in favor of elements from other Seiken Densetsu games (i.e. the
chocobo is replaced by Cannon Travel). Shinyaku Seiken Densetsu was remade
to resemble Seiken Densetsu 3.
Seiken Densetsu 2
Seiken Densetsu 2 (or Secret of Mana) was released for the
SNES in 1993. It is the most famous game in the Seiken Densetsu
series. The gameplay is similar to that of
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. It also features two-player
gameplay. It stars the main character Randi, a girl named Purim, and a
sprite child named Popoio, and a notable non-playable character named
Dyluck. For a long time, the Mana Sword was sleeping stuck in a rock. But
one day the sword called for Randi to take it. But removing the sword from
the stone brought monsters upon Potos
village (Randi's home), and the villagers blamed the danger all on
him. First, he battled a miniboss in the Potos
underground. Afterwards the blame was delivered, and he was banished
from Potos Village by the village's elder, Timothy. Randi went on a trip
to Water Palace and met with Luka. Then the guard of the Kingdom of
Pandora was informed so that Randi can pass through Kingdom of Pandora to
enter Gaia's Naval cave.
Dwarves live in this cave. There, Randi met Watts, and Watts tempered
his
sword and
forged an
axe. The final confrontation was against the Mana Beast, taking place
at the Mana Fortress.
Secret of Mana was cursed with a fixed-width (or monospace) text
font and limited dialog space. The curse caused a poor English
translation. It was broken by an
emulation related modification project, Secret of Mana: Variable Width
Edition, resulting in a retranslation. It resulted to be a
professional-looking translation like that of its successor Seiken
Densetsu 3.
Seiken Densetsu 3
Seiken Densetsu 3 (or Secret of Mana 2) was released for the
Super Famicom exclusively in Japan in 1995. It was originally planned
to be released in North America, but Squaresoft opted for the substandard
Secret of Evermore, canceling the North American localization.
However, it was
unofficially translated into English in the year 2000, and later into
French and German from the English fan translation project. The
translation project was very difficult. A variable width font was used,
and it resulted in a professional looking fan translation. The title logo
was changed from
Kanji to
Romaji. Like
Final Fantasy VI and
Bahamut Lagoon, Seiken Densetsu 3 has sophisticated graphics. Seiken
Densetsu 3 has been regarded by many (including non-Japanese gamers) to be
the best game in the Seiken Densetsu series, although the combat and
multi-player systems got simplified. Unlike in Seiken Densetsu 2, there is
only one kind of weapon per character, which can be bought in stores; the
forging/upgrading has been completely removed. The magic system also got
slightly simplified: now, when a spell is learnt, it is complete and at
its full potential, no need to level it up. Seiken Densetsu 3 introduced
an interesting addition to the character evolution system: class changing.
After a character reaches level 18, it can change to a more advanced form
(class), which means new spells, abilities and of course quite a bit of
improvement to the character's stats. Class change needs a mana stone to
be performed. When touching the stone, the player is asked to choose the
type of the new class - either "light" or "dark". There is also a second
class change at level 38, but this one requires additional items to
"unseal" the incredible powers aquired by it. Like most
Dragon Quest games and
SimCity 4, Seiken Densetsu 3 has a day-and-night feature. The Seiken
Densetsu 3 soundtrack (composed by
Hiroki Kikuta) features catchy
rhythms, and lots of strings, and
xylophones.
Seiken Densetsu 3 puts the player in the shoes of Duran, Lise, Kevin,
Carlie, Hawk, and Angela. The player gets to choose a party of only three
playable characters. Seiken Densetsu 3 gets the storyline making done on
the basis of the player's selection of characters. Duran, the
son of Loki, is the
swordsman of the Kingdom of Forcena. His
father died trying to defeat that powerful dragon and his mother died
of an illness. Duran was raised by her aunt Stella. He has a younger
sister named Wendy. Lise is from the Wind Kingdom of Rolante, the kingdom
that Duran saved after an attack by the
soldiers of Navarre, Hawk's country. Angela is a runaway princess of
Altena, the Kingdom of Magic. Carlie is the granddaughter of the priest of
the Holy City Wendel, which got attacked by Kevin's homeland, the Beast
Kingdom. The six characters define 3 major plots, which all share the
basic situation: the Mana Tree is dieing and the forces of evil are
awakening throughout the world.
|
