History VideoGame / SecretOfMana

An [[UsefulNotes/IOSGames iOS]] version came out in 2010, and was ported to Android in 2014. A 3D [[VideoGameRemake remake]] was released on February 15, 2018 to Platform/{{Steam}}, Platform/PlayStation4, and Platform/PlayStationVita.

* LostTechnology: The Mana Fortress, and a lot of stuff on the Sunken Continent. [[spoiler:Your party gets to ''ride the subway'' at one point, which [[RagnarokProofing amazingly still works]]. It's full of zombies, for extra realism.]] Also the "orbs" in Mandala- while they were created in-game by [[PropRecycling simply putting the targetable magic crystal sprite on a grey tile]], according to one of the locals they're actually called ''[[UsefulNotes/{{VCR}} "veedios"]].'' The party comments on these devices in the inn skits of the remake, talking about what kind of things they'd like to record.

* SchizoTech: The entire game is a traditional medieval fantasy setting, complete with dwarves, goblins, swords, knights, castles... and large tunneling vehicles, a metallic sandship, steampunk robots, a modern-day subway system on a lost continent, and "[[UsefulNotes/{{VCR}} Veedios]]".

''Secret of Mana'', known in Japan as ''Seiken Densetsu 2'' (聖剣伝説２, literally translating as ''Holy Sword Legend 2''), is the second game in the ''VideoGame/WorldOfMana'' series. An [[UsefulNotes/IOSGames iOS]] version came out in 2010, and was ported to Android in 2014. A 3D [[VideoGameRemake remake]] was released on February 15, 2018 to Platform/{{Steam}}, Platform/PlayStation4, and Platform/PlayStationVita.

* MoneyForNothing: Up until you finish the Underground Palace, money is plenty useful to keep up with the latest armor and to have weapons forged. In particular, the best armor that can be bought (right before the Pure Land) is both very useful due to a huge spike in the enemies' attack power and very expensive, to the point that you will likely be just barely able to afford it all unless you've been grinding excessively. In the final two areas of the game, however, you earn more money from books and bosses than ever, but have nothing to spend it on except for the final weapon upgrades (which cost only a fraction of the money you'll make getting the needed orbs). You even get 27,000 GP from defeating the Dark Lich, money that is literally for nothing since you have to finish the game afterwards and cannot backtrack or save.

** Also in the remake, there's no longer a fixed maximum distance you and your party members are allowed to move apart from each other- your AI companions [[ArtificialStupidity will still get stuck trying to navigate around a small rock]], but at least they don't hold you back any more. Also, any time a companion is off screen, you can reset them to your location just by opening and closing the ring menu.

* MoneyForNothing: Up until you finish the Underground Palace, money is plenty useful to keep up with the latest armor and to have weapons forged. In particular, the best armor that can be bought (right before the Pure Land) is both very useful due to a huge spike in the enemies' attack power and very expensive, to the point that you will likely be just barely able to afford it all unless you've been grinding excessively. In the final two areas of the game, however, you earn more money from books and bosses that ever, but have nothing to spend it on except for the final weapon upgrades (which cost only a fraction of the money you'll make getting the needed orbs).

** A pretty heavy offender; with the exception of Aegropilion, Hexas and the last two bosses, ''every'' enemy and boss has a palette-swapped version.

%%* TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon: [[spoiler:The Mana Fortress. If the visuals don't clue you in, the music definitely will.]]

** The experience level cap for your characters is 99, though reaching level 65 or so will completely decimate most of the trash mobs you come across, even in the final dungeon. It's right about there that your characters' HP will also max out (999 for Randi, 800 for Primm and Popoi), and your spellcasters' MP will hit the cap of 99 long before then.

** There's one design flaw of the original game that was removed for the mobile version and functions the same in the remake. In the original, in order to keep the party visible, you could only walk so far before hitting some invisible wall. This will often result in your teammates getting stuck between scenary. The remake does away with this, which is a godsend when you're just trying to run through a place. And, if the AI characters get stuck offscreen, simply opening and closing the item ring will teleport the AI characters to your position.

%%* BadassSanta: [[spoiler:Frost Gigas]], literally.

%%* CityOfGold: [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Gold City.]]

%%* EvilSorcerer: Thanatos.

%%* GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere: Boreal Face.

''Secret of Mana'', known in Japan as ''Seiken Densetsu 2'' (聖剣伝説２, literally translating as ''Holy Sword Legend 2''), is the second game in the ''VideoGame/WorldOfMana'' series. An [[Platform/IOSGames iOS]] version came out in 2010, and was ported to Android in 2014. A 3D [[VideoGameRemake remake]] was released on February 15, 2018 to Platform/{{Steam}}, Platform/PlayStation4, and Platform/PlayStationVita.

The remake also adds several little touches that make menu navigation much more convenient: most notably shortcut keys for frequently-used weapons and spells, and switching between characters within the Equipment screens without having to switch control over to them entirely.

** There's one design flaw of the original game that was removed in the remake. In the original, in order to keep the party visible, you could only walk so far before hitting some invisible wall. This will often result in your teammates getting stuck between scenary. The remake does away with this, which is a godsend when you're just trying to run through a place. And, if the AI characters get stuck offscreen, simply opening and closing the item ring will teleport the AI characters to your position.

** Technically, once you reach the Lofty Mountains, your only actual "goal" is to visit Sage Joch at the peak, which is a good 5 minute hike from Flammie's landing point. However, there's nothing in the game preventing you from just not going back to the Sage's apprentice to find out where Joch went and you can simply skip to where he "should" be.

''Secret of Mana'', known in Japan as ''Seiken Densetsu 2'' (聖剣伝説２, literally translating as ''Holy Sword Legend 2''), is the second game in the ''VideoGame/WorldOfMana'' series. An [[UsefulNotes/IOSGames iOS]] version came out in 2010, and was ported to Android in 2014. A 3D [[VideoGameRemake remake]] was released on February 15, 2018 to UsefulNotes/{{Steam}}, UsefulNotes/PlayStation4, and UsefulNotes/PlayStationVita.

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

* AdvancingWallOfDoom:
** The Wall Face boss will attempt to smush you against the (inanimate) [[SpikesOfDoom spike-lined]] rear wall if you don't kill it quickly enough.
** It's a last ditch effort if it runs out of MP... which it will quickly, futilely attempt to revive its eyes if you "kill" them.
** Demon Wall, the upgraded version, just barrages your characters with special attacks if it runs out MP. Which again, it will burn through quickly.

** There are 3 enemies[[note]]Griffin Hands, Ice Thugs, and Ghosts[[/note] that ''only'' appear in the Pure Land and each has a RareRandomDrop that can't be acquired anywhere else. Once events transpire at the Mana Tree, [[OneTimeDungeon you can never return]]. And since one of those 3 drops is Randi's best helmet, you'll ''really'' want to make sure you get it first.

** There's one design flaw of the original game that was removed in the remake. In the original, in order to keep the party visible, you could only walk so far before hitting some invisible wall. This will often result in your teammates getting stuck betwern scenary. The remake does away with this, which is a godsend when you're just trying to run through a place. And, if the AI characters get stuck offscreen, simply opening and closing the item ring will teleport the AI characters to your position.

** The shop in Potos Village is the only place that sells Overalls. Once Randi's banished, you can't go back unless by exploiting a glitch, making the Overalls the ''only'' piece of equipment outside of the late-game RareRandomDrops that can't be bought from a shop at any time. However, since Randi starts off already equipped with the Overalls, it thankfully can't be missed when counting towards the Trophy or Achievement in the remake.
** There are 3 enemies[[note]]Griffin Hands, Ice Thugs, and Ghosts[[/note]] with RareRandomDrops that ''only'' appear in the Pure Land. Once events transpire at the Mana Tree, [[OneTimeDungeon you can never return]]. And since one of those 3 drops is Randi's best helmet, you'll ''really'' want to make sure you get it first.
*** There are a few other enemies with RareRandomDrops that appear in the Sunken Continent or Pure Land that also appear in the Mana Fortress, so their items aren't lost forever. However grinding for them is often easier in the earlier locations since the enemies may appear in greater numbers or closer to an easily-exploited respawn point.

* PowerUpLetDown: Most of the weapons carry a bonus effect at different levels, usually something along the lines of also inflicting a status effect like poison or sleep, being strong against certain enemy types like bugs or undead, adding a small stat bonus, or having a higher critical hit rate. However, at level 8, half of the weapons only have the bonus effect "strong against dragons", which might sound good, except that the ''only'' dragon-type enemies in the entire game are 3 bosses in the Pure Land; no regular enemies have that type. It gets worse at level 9, as ''none'' of the final weapons have ''any'' bonus effect at all. Only the Mana Sword, the level 9 sword, has a significant power boost, being more than double the level 8 sword, but it's only usable for the final battle. For the axe, the level 9 axe's base power is actually ''lower'' than the level 8 axe.

%%* OminousFloatingCastle: The Mana Fortress.
* OneTimeDungeon: The Sunken Continent and the Emperor's Castle are both only played through once.

%%* OnlyTheChosenMayWield: The Mana Sword.

** Anything that [[RandomDrop randomly drops]] from enemies only found in the Sunken Continent and Pure Land; it disappears after you've completed those two places.
** Randi's best helmet, the Griffon Helm, drops from the Griffon Hand enemies in Pure Land. You can't return there after you pass through the last gate and Thanatos blows up the Mana Tree.

** Attack spell damage doesn't climb linearly with MP cost. Hence it's best to stick with the cheapest attack spell you can cast.

* SequenceBreaking: The King of Matango tells you that your next destination is the Fire Palace in the desert. Upon arriving there, you discover [[spoiler:that not only is the Palace impossible to traverse without Salamando, but also that the Fire Seed was stolen]]. Therefore, you're forced to go to the Ice Country to recover both. However, ''nothing stops you from going to Ice Country before the Desert in the first place (and completing both objectives in the process), skipping the whole conundrum altogether''. It even doubles as a PeninsulaOfPowerLeveling as Todo Village sells superior armor to the stuff sold in the Desert Town, ''and'' the monsters in Ice Country were meant to be fought quite a bit later than those in the desert before the Fire Palace. Technically, once you reach the Lofty Mountains, your only actual "goal" is to visit Sage Joch at the peak, which is a good 5 minute hike from Flammie's landing point. However, there's nothing in the game preventing you from just not going back to the Sage's apprentice to find out where Joch went and you can simply skip to where he "should" be.
* ShiftingSandLand: The Arid Sands([[IAmNotShazam which is constantly mistakenly called Kakkara despite Kakkara only being the oasis city-state in the Arid Sands]]).

** You can miss the [[BladeOnAStick spear]] entirely if you bypass the first meeting with Sage Luka.

Of course, you get other weapons besides [[HeroesPreferSwords the sword]]. Each weapon has its advantages, either during battle or [[UtilityWeapon when navigating dungeons]]. For instance, the axe isn’t much different than the sword, but sometimes there’s debris in your way. Find a large gap which you can’t cross? Odds are there’s a stake in the ground on the opposite side and you can use your [[WhipItGood whip]] as a rope. With experience, your characters are able to perform a stronger version of the charged attack. The experience cap increases as you locate "Orbs" that, when obtained, you can take to the UltimateBlacksmith, and he’ll [[EquipmentUpgrade forge a stronger weapon]] out of it.

** Popoi in the Japanese, so the player isn't forced into TwoGuysAndAGirl or TwoGirlsAndAGuy. However, it's male in the SNES & iOS English versions and female in the German versions; the English remake, however, uses [[GenderNeutralWriting gender-neutral "they"]] for Popoi. Voice-wise, Popoi ''is'' voiced by women in both Japanese and English, although in both cases it's done in a manner that is meant to be androgynous. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMMqMos_6nY&t=6m17s According]] to the [[WordOfSaintPaul voice actress]], Popoi is [[NoBiologicalSex genderless]].

** Dryad's entire pool of magic, on a technicality. You get her assistance for the penultimate area of the game, and it all ends up being pretty redundant. Plus, it starts at level 0, and do you really want to spend yet another grind session leveling it?

* SquishyWizard: Magic casters by RPG rules should be kept at a distance anyways, although the girl likes to think she's a bad ass Kung Fu expert, with the Kung Fu Suit and the knuckles and all.

* StoryToGameplayRatio: The first rough half of the temples (Up until the Fire Temple) are a good half of the game and span 3 continents. The next 3 temples (plus foiling a political assassination and going to the MOON.) are good for about an hour's worth of gameplay all the while you're trying to talk to Sage Joch who's pulling a SecretTestOfCharacter on you. This maye have been due to cut content, owing to the fact this game was developed with [[WhatCouldHaveBeen SNES-CD in mind]], namely the extra storage of a CD. The reduced content could also be due to time constraints after the device was cancelled by Nintendo.

* StoryToGameplayRatio: The first rough half of the temples (Up until the Fire Temple) are a good half of the game and span 3 continents. The next 3 temples (plus foiling a political assassination and going to the MOON.) are good for about an hour's worth of gameplay all the while you're trying to talk to Sage Joch who's pulling a SecretTestOfCharacter on you. This was due to the fact this game was developed [[WhatCouldHaveBeen SNES-CD in mind]].

** It is possible for the player to attack enemies (and bosses!) in such a way they could '''never''' recover. The only problem is it's possible for ''the player'' to get caught by enemies this way through bad luck or plain old carelessness. Cue RageQuit, especially if one hasn't saved in a while.

** Most of Primm's buff spells are pretty useless, ''particularly'' early in the game when her mana reserves are so low that she can only get a few spells off before running out and needing a precious Faerie Walnut, and their maximum spell level is so low that they literally only last a few seconds anyway. The weapon buffing Saber spells in particular can be more of a liability than a help. Really, the only spells Primm should be using for roughly the first half of the game are Cure Water and Analyze (and Remedy if you run out of Antidotes). Of course, some of her ''late'' game buff spells, particularly Lucent Barrier and Wall, are a borderline GameBreaker.

%%* TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon: [[spoiler:The Mana Fortress.]]

* RealityIsUnrealistic: Tasnica is referred to as the Republic and is ruled by a king. For many players, this might be seen as a CriticalResearchFailure or a bad translation. However, a number of nations have styled themselves as republics, with elected kings (in the case of Poland prior to the nineteenth century) or dukes (Doges in the case of Venice). Somewhat corrected in the remake, as the "King" is instead referred to as the "Tasnican Chancellor" in the English translation. Of course, he's still wearing a crown and has the same model as the other "kings" in the game.

Of course, you get other weapons besides [[HeroesPreferSwords the sword]]. Each weapon has its advantages, either during battle or [[UtilityWeapon when navigating dungeons]]. For instance, the [[AnAxeToGrind axe]] isn’t much different than the sword, but sometimes there’s debris in your way. Find a large gap which you can’t cross? Odds are there’s a stake in the ground on the opposite side and you can use your [[WhipItGood whip]] as a rope. With experience, your characters are able to perform a stronger version of the charged attack. The experience cap increases as you locate "Orbs" that, when obtained, you can take to the UltimateBlacksmith, and he’ll [[EquipmentUpgrade forge a stronger weapon]] out of it.

** "Whisper and Mantra" and "Mystic Invasion" also share melodic elements, and in the 2018 soundtrack, the former also incorporates elements of "Ancient Dolphin" from ''VideoGame/TrialsOfMana''.

* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: Sage Luka is quite a piece for a 200 year old woman Not that you could tell by the sprite in the original, but Randi {{lampshade|Hanging}}s it so we know. She also uses the typical 'old folks' sentence ender 'ja' in the Japanese script as a hint. Luka's age is brought up a bit more in the remake, where Primm has an inn skit where she wonders just how Luka managed to stop her aging. She concludes that the lake surrounding the Water Palace must be enchanted by Undine and resolves to start swimming in it to retain her youth (an odd choice given that Primm can directly summon Undine to do her bidding at this point).