History VideoGame / SeikenDensetsu3

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sd3box.jpg]]
''Trials of Mana'', long known as ''Seiken Densetsu 3'' [[note]]聖剣伝説３, lit. ''Holy Sword Legend 3'', but stating the name in romanji to denote its unreleased-in-English status was common from 1995 to 2019[[/note]], released in 1995, is the third game in the ''[[VideoGame/WorldOfMana Mana]]'' series and was released for the UsefulNotes/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem (or the Super Famicom, if you prefer). "Seiken 3" was initially famous for being the first ''Mana'' game to [[NoExportForYou never make it Stateside]], though fan translations did exist via [[UsefulNotes/{{Emulation}} emulation]]. An official export was an incessant request from fans for over two decades; on June 11, 2019, twenty-three years, ten months and eleven days after the game's release in Japan, ''[=ToM=]'' in its original SNES form was finally announced for official release worldwide in English, French, German and Spanish on the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch as part of the ''Collection of Mana''... alongside a full remake being announced for a 2020 release on the Switch, UsefulNotes/Playstation4, and Windows PC.

As for the game itself?

The Mana Tree is dying ([[TheWorldIsAlwaysDoomed again]]), so the Mana Goddess sends her fairies to the world below to find someone worthy of restoring it. [[SoleSurvivor All but one]] perish on route due to the steady loss of magic, and the remaining Fairy settles for the first schmuck it can find. Naturally, he/she happens to be the latest incarnation of the Mana Knight.

''[=ToM=]'' plays like a souped-up version of its predecessor, ''Secret of Mana''. The percentage meter, which limited the frequency of melee attacks, is gone. ''[=SoM=]''[='=]s {{charged attack}}s have been replaced by {{Limit Break}}s (or "Techs"). The Tech meter builds with each successful hit on the enemy.

In a departure from the norm, ''[=ToM=]'' revolves around six characters of which any three can make up your party; your first choice determines which of the BigBadEnsemble you eventually take on. Your teammates start the adventure in a default job, but have opportunities to pursue [[BlackAndWhiteMagic Light and Dark]] classes later on. Unlike in most {{Eastern RPG}}s, there are no takebacks, and the fruits of your labor may not become apparent for a while.

The gameplay, music, and graphics are all very highly regarded, with the latter two being some of the finest quality work ever produced for the Super Nintendo. ''[=ToM=]'' also has high replay value, since it requires three playthroughs to see even ''most'' of its content, and due to the almost infinite number of parties and class changes (character interactions do change depending upon who's in your party, and the characters who aren't in the party will still appear from time to time as {{NPC}}s), it'll likely take vastly more to see all of it.

While it remained obscure to general audiences for decades due to its lack of official translation and release, it was something of an CultClassic among fans of the ''Mana'' series, and it could be found on more than a few "best action [=RPGs=]" lists, particularly those focusing on the 16-bit era.

----
!!Provides examples of:

* AccidentalPervert: If, as a male character, you talk to Angela while she's sleeping at the inn in Jad, she'll accuse you of being this. If you play as Riesz (the only female who can get into this situation), [[DevelopersForesight Angela just expresses annoyance at being woken up.]]
* AdjectiveNounFred:
** Many of the location names follow this format in the Fan Translation. Castle City Jad ([[SpellMyNameWithAnS officially spelled as]] Jadd), Magic Kingdom Altena, and Sand Fortress Navarre (Nevarl is the official English translation as seen in Heroes of Mana), to name a few.
** Molebear Highlands. No prize for guessing what kind of wildlife you encounter here.
** Dragon Hole. It's a ruddy big hole, and there are dragons in it.
* AerithAndBob: Hawkeye, Eagle, Bigieu, Lord Flamekhan... and Bill and Ben. Would you believe it's the last two who pose a genuine threat?
* AfterCombatRecovery: Only after boss battles.
* AllTheWorldsAreAStage:
** The Mirage Palace is chock-full of bogus doorways leading to places you've seen before, including the ruins of Astoria with its dead townsfolk left staggering around as ghosts.
** Later in the same quest, the Dark Lich signals his barrier changes by shifting the background to various environments, each corresponding with a different God-Beast. He differs a little, visually, from the other two arch-villains who simply change their color.
* AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs: After their hometown gets ransacked by foreign armies, your hero sets out to become strong enough to avenge it. (Barring Charlotte, who originates from the neutral city of Wendel). Jadd, Laurent, and Ferolia are always revisited, no matter which heroes you choose. Altena and Nevarl are unlocked only if Angela/Hawkeye is in the party, since the non-branching story doesn't go there.
* AlwaysNight:
** Duskmoon Forest (Moonlight Forest in the fan translation), also encompassing Mintas (Mintos in the fan translation) and the Ferolia (Beast Kingdom in the fan translation). Since Kevin switches to werewolf form at night, this is his preferred terrain.
** Two of the final dungeons, Mirage Palace and Dark Castle, are constantly enveloped in darkness. This [[EvilIsNotWellLit doesn't count as moonlight, though]]; Kevin gets no bonus.
* AmazingTechnicolorBattlefield: Whilst fighting the The Dark Lich.
* AmazonBrigade: The kingdom of Laurent (Rolante in the fan translation) of which Riesz is the princess, and the kingdom of Altena of which Angela is the princess.
* AnnoyingArrows: Hawkeye's traps--in particular, the "arrow" trap. Tripping the booby trap on a chest might also trigger it.
* AnotherSideAnotherStory:
** Out of six playable characters, you can only choose three to build your party for any given playthrough, and only ''one'' can be the Mana Knight (which grants him or her additional screen time and also determines who the final boss will be). The remaining three become [=NPCs=] who you may or may not cross paths at various points. Thus, every playthrough with a different party combination can become Another Story.
** Another thing to consider is each character has a rival who is also the Big Bad's right-hand man. Rivals have an adversarial relationship with at least two main characters (e.g. Deathjester orchestrates the murder of Karl, then makes off with Heath).
* AntiMagic: The "Anti-Magic" spell, of course; it removes all magic effects. "Counter" boomerangs all magic back onto the caster, which proves fatal to specialized mages like Koren or [[spoiler:Heath]].
* ApocalypticLog: Found in the captain's room of the Ghost Ship. "DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE..." *eeek!*.
* ArbitraryHeadcountLimit:
** Your lead character accumulates only two companions in their party. Despite each character having their own backstory and conflicts, there is still a central plot-line which ties it all together. It seems like they only join your party in order to get to Wendel more quickly.
** If your third party member is Charlotte (who joins in a predetermined location), then someone who was not chosen as a party member will be the one to release you from jail in Jadd. Unfortunately, he or she will inevitably be a little too slow in boarding the ship to Maia, and is left stranded on the pier. Oops.
* AwesomeButImpractical: Level 2 and 3 techs. While they do have awesome attack animations, a lot of late-game enemies (''and'' some bosses) will answer them with an equally devastating tech in return, which (if it's something which hits the whole party) can easily spell a TotalPartyKill. This is to prevent spamming.\\\
Furthermore, Hawkeye and Kevin can strike twice with their Lv. 1 attacks, which negates the Lv. 2 attack boost (even more so if they have saber spells, which stack with Lv. 1 attacks but not the higher ones). When fighting an immovable boss character, the ability to strike from anywhere in the arena is not as important as raw DPS output.
* BadassCape:
** The Wizard of the Crimson Lotus (title shortened to Koren in the fan translation) is very proud of his cape. He even works it into his official title.
** Eagle's cape and shoulder pads are nothing to sneeze at.
** [[spoiler:Heath]] dons a black cloak after being corrupted by his father's energy.
* BadDreams: Charlotte's prologue starts out with a nightmare of her parents abandoning her.
* BigBadEnsemble: All three potential villains are actively involved in the plot, resulting in a lot of overlap. The battle at the Mana Holyland whittles the rogues gallery down to one: The remaining stragglers make a final appearance to inform the Mana Knight of what transpired here.
* BigBoosHaunt: The Ghost Ship, Chartmoon Tower and Mirage Palace. Zombies, sexy vampires, werewolves, and ghosts galore.
* BigFancyCastle: Almost too many to list.
** Each of the villains resides in one. Even Drakonis has a throne room built into the fixtures of his caves.
** Altena, Valsena, Ferolia, Nevarl, and to a lesser extent Laurent. These are a pain in the ass to negotiate in the tutorial, let alone once they fill up with enemies: {{Empty Room Psych}}s, staircases to nowhere, and a forked road to the boss which has a one-in-two chance of bypassing the healing statues entirely. Your lead character is given the opportunity to map out their base in the prologue; you should take it.
* BittersweetEnding: No matter who the heroes end up beating, the final boss [[spoiler:murders the Mana Goddess before you can get to him, leaving behind the Fairy to become the new Goddess]]. It's stated that it will be a thousand years before Mana fully returns to the world. On the plus side, the world is saved, and a few remaining threads are tied up at least. (Angela and Kevin make peace with their parents, for example).
* BlackMarket: Byzel is a merchant city by day, and black market by night.
* BoringButPractical: On reflection, Lv. 1 techs. They may just be a glorified melee attack -- but they won't be countered, can be enhanced by elemental sabers, and can still hit multiple enemies if they are bunched together. Even better, Hawkeye and Kevin have double-strike capability. (Hawkeye wields two daggers, Kevin delivers a one-two jab and uppercut.) The one-two punch carries over into their level ones. So they deal out the same damage at a faster rate.
* BonusBoss: The '''[[KillerRabbit Black Rabite]]'''. Evil in its cutest form!
* BossRush: In the last dungeon, a trio of bosses return to harass you some more. The lineup will differ depending on the quest you've chosen.
* BrainwashedAndCrazy:
** [[spoiler:Loki and Heath are forced to follow orders from their masters, Dragon Emperor and Masked Mage]], respectively. And if you have Duran/Charlotte in your party, the fight becomes a bit of a TearJerker.
** The Queen of Reason, Valda, who is Angela's mother. It becomes clear by the final act that Valda has no control anymore; she is acting under the influence of Koren, who is secretly serving one the "three evils", namely the Dragon Emperor.
** The ninjas and thieves of Nevarl are under the control of Bigieu and the Earl of the Evil Eye (shortened to Jagan in the fan translation).
* BrokenBridge:
** Exploded by a mini-boss, no less. That's what you get for [[TakeItToTheBridge fighting on a bridge]] instead of retreating!
** Many doors in the game can't be unlocked without supernatural help. For example, you need Wisp to enter the Dwarf City, Jinn to spread pollen over Laurent, Luna to get into Lampflower Forest, and Dryad to reveal a path in the Jungle of Vision.
** The Mirage Palace is invisible to the naked eye. It won't appear until you have a magic mirror in your possession, won by defeating Zable Fahr.
* BroughtDownToNormal: The Altenans by the end. [[spoiler:With the Mana Tree dead by the end, the mana and magic will cease to exist for at least a thousand years.]] This means any magic-casters in your party are SOL in the epilogue, as well.
* CallingTheOldManOut: Kevin does this after learning [[spoiler: that his father was behind his dog, Karl, transforming and attacking him, prompting his own transformation in which he killed Karl.]]
* CatsAreMean:
** Bigieu morphs into a big cat when you fight her.
** Inverted with Nikita, as the cat pops up several times during Hawkeye's story to break him out of prison, lend him a vital hand against Bigieu, and take care of Jessica so Hawkeye could carry his mission without worrying for her.
* CaveBehindTheFalls[=/=]NoobCave: The Cave of Waterfalls.
* CaveMouth: The entryway to the Dragon Hole.
* CharacterDevelopment: It is highly recommended that you play the three routes with both of each route's central characters (Duran/Angela, Kevin/Charlotte, and Riesz/Hawkeye) for this purpose. It doesn't hurt that each pair tends to complement each other's abilities well.
* CharacterMagneticTeam: Your first character sets out on a journey to save their homes, and stumbles across a fairy and two others heroes who've been wronged.
* ChekhovsVolcano: And, of course, it doesn't go off until you've accomplished all you've needed to and you have a ticket off the island. The Earl of the Evil Eye is there, but he doesn't bother to attack and assumes that all three of you will perish in the eruption. Then he conveniently flees before that becomes the case.
* ChokepointGeography:
** The final dungeons are inaccessible by sea or air. The Mirage Palace is separated by the Jungle of Vision outside of Pedda (Pedan in the fan translation), the Dragon Hole lies at the center of the Glass Desert, and Dark Castle resides on a craggy island, only reachable via the Cave of Darkness.
** The party gains transportation earlier than they do in ''[=SoM=]''. The world is yours -- so long as there's sand. Almost every town resides near a beach or riverbank, but just reaching it is almost a puzzle in itself; Ferolia and Lampflower Forest are the hardest to find.
* ClassAndLevelSystem: One which might take a bit of grinding to really exploit. The first class change can be achieved when the character is at Lv. 18 (roughly after the Machine Golem fight in the snowfield). This is done by touching any Mana Stone that you can encounter during the game. The second change happens at Lv. 38 (usually earned in the final dungeon... or the Ancient Ruins if you grind like hell); only the Mana Goddess herself can bestow this class, and you need a special item harvested from ??? seeds.
* ClimbingClimax: You will find the Lord and the Emperor not in the throne rooms (they've vacated), but on the highest peak of their headquarters. The Masked Mage teleports you and [[spoiler:Heath]] to the roof of his manor to duke it out.
* CombatPragmatist: Hawkeye's Nightblade class utilizes poison, blow needles, and bashing the enemy's face in with a wrench.
* ContinueYourMissionDammit: An unspoken variant -- the occasional pre-eruption tremor from the volcano on Bucca serves to add a bit of urgency to the fact that you're supposed to be finding a way off the island before it erupts. Mercifully, there is no time limit; there's even a town with stores and an inn!
* CoolAirship: Altena has a seriously badass looking blimp. In addition, the Beastmen travel by [[GiantFlyer giant hawk]], and the Nevarl raiders... have a [[{{Balloonacy}} boat with a bunch of balloons tied to it]], of all things.
* CoolMask:
** Masked Mage, natch.
** Hawkeye's Nightblade class sports one. And some of his equip-able armor is of the CoolMask variety.
* CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot: [[spoiler: Kevin didn't kill Karl at all - the entire encounter with the grown up version of him is an illusion created by Death Jester. Kevin was so distraught by what he thought he did that he buried Karl without even verifying he was dead, and his father dug the wolf pup back up later, alive and well.]]
* CrashIntoHello: Charlotte rams into Heath right at the start of her story.
* CrystalPrison: Each of the God-Beasts fits snugly into a Mana Stone.
* DarkSkinnedBlonde: Kevin and most of the beastmen.
* DarkIsEvil: Zable Fahr is the Dark god-beast. Also the Dark Lord.
* DarkIsNotEvil: You can use darkness element spells and weapons, and the darkness summon spirit Shade is not evil, though [[EldritchAbomination Zable Fahr God-Beast]] is ThatOneBoss for some people. Your characters' class alignment can become dark (or dark-dark), which is just a fancier way to say that the classes are more offensive based and enfeebling in their specialties. Even their descriptions are up to the player. For example, the Nightblade: a ruthless remorseless coldblooded murderer who revels in the act of stealing lives, or an assassin who preys upon the villainous, corrupted, and nonredeemable in the dark? The Death Hand: a brutal, tasteless savage who turns to internal turmoil for the sake of limitless power, or a wielder of a well kept secret martial art that makes use of unorthodox but effective means to swiftly ensure quick and painless death on opponents? You decide.
* DangerousInn: Sleeping in one room in the middle of [[spoiler:the Ghost Ship]] will make monsters spawn and attack you right away, and oh, you don't get the recovery you were expecting.
* DamageSpongeBoss: The God-Beasts fall into this since they get stronger with every one you defeat, which mostly amounts to buckets and buckets of HP. If you don't have the right elements to do extra damage to them, be prepared to wail on them for a long time.
* DarkerAndEdgier: Even for a series whose theme is all about a cute and charming fairy tale aesthetic meshed with very stark and mature story elements, ''Seiken Densetsu 3'' was and is the only installment that marked where the mature elements were at their highest. Human sacrifice? The want of those of the underworld wishing to take over the world of the living? Warfare that veers on near genocide? This isn't even including equipment and spells described in overseas guide books and official materials. A suit of armor made from the bones of demons feared to bite into its user's flesh and turn them into bloodthirsty murderers? A mask reminiscent of serial killers meant to scare and unleash the killing instinct? A skull themed glove with pointy finger claws meant to rip and tear at the head of the opponent? A spear made for obscene amounts of collateral damage and to remind people of the threat of violent giants that once terrorized the world in the past? It's there.
* DealWithTheDevil:
** The Wizard of the Crimson Lotus offered part of his soul to the Dragon Emperor in exchange for becoming the world's greatest wizard. (Previously, the Wizard of the Crimson Lotus [[FromNobodyToNightmare was a nobody]], just like all the other men in Altena.)
** The Darkshine Knight did the same thing after falling into a chasm while fighting the Dragon Emperor.
* DeathMountain:
** Path to the Heavens and the Gusthall (Corridor of Wind is the fan translated name).
** Bucca, because ChekhovsVolcano is a mountain which you climb and then descend into.
* DevelopersForesight:
** When the party stays at an inn, they all shift into their respective "sleeping" animations. In normal gameplay the only thing the player sees of these are the characters' heads peeking out from under the sheets of the beds, but by toggling sprite layers using an emulator you can see that not only are the rest of the characters' bodies there, they have panties or boxers as well -- and that those panties change color depending on the character's class.
** Also, the game is '''very''' famous for this by making you meet the characters you didn't choose every now and them. Exclusive scenes may happen too, depending on what character you have in or out of your party.
** At one point in the game, you need to get some gunpowder to get to your next destination, Valsena (Forcena in the fan translation). The only person who has any is Watts the dwarf, who offers to sell it for an obscene price which you almost certainly can't afford. After you save him from the [[BossBattle boss]] of a dungeon, picking up one of the Spirits you were looking for (and going to Valsena to ask its king about) along the way, he gives it to you as a gift. But if you have managed to kill enough monsters to get the money Watts asks for, you can agree to pay his outrageous price and buy the gunpowder, thus bypassing the dungeon and going straight to Valsena. In that case, the King will direct you to the dungeon you bypassed and tell you about a shortcut to the boss room via a strange statue (which does nothing if you went through the dungeon in the 'normal' way), so you still find the spirit.
* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: Not only do you kill the [[EldritchAbomination eight God-Beasts]] (note that the Japanese characters used to represent this are the same ones used to represent the Mana Beast in the previous game, although the Japanese name, ''Kami Kemono'', probably is more accurately translated as God-Beast), ancient evils that predate the world, but the final boss has the combined powers of all eight of them, and the Sword of Mana, which is what sealed them away in the first place and was used to help create the world.
* DifficultButAwesome: Any team without healing ability is referred to as a "suicide team," since any mistake can mean a party wipe. They also deliver high damage and serious debuffing capability, allowing them to bring quick death to the ''enemy'' as well.
* DoomedHometown:
** Everybody's hometown gets invaded, either by the baddie for various nefarious reasons, or the heroes themselves in order to kick the bad guys out.
** Poor Astoria. The quaint river village is doomed to get pummeled to pieces by Lugar, no matter what.
* DoppelgangerAttack:
** [[spoiler:Did you really expect Deathjester to fight ''fair''?]]
** Grand Divina's Double Magic is not, as the name suggests, a doublecast but instead splits Angela in two, doubling the enemy's pain. This is also the Nightblade's skill.
* DoubleEntendre: When playing Hawkeye's intro, if you talk to one of the guards at the door of the throne room, he says about the Laurent amazons "I bet they're all cute ladies. I want to poke them with [[ICallHimMisterHappy my dagger]]." Think about it....
* DownerBeginning: All the characters experience this, and they go off on their journey to set things right.
* {{Dracolich}}: Dragon Zombies. You encounter them in the Dragon Hole. More ominously, they also appear in the Mirage Palace, implying that the Masked Mage has reanimated the slain Dragon Emperor's troops.
* TheDragon: There are three pairs for each of the three overlords--Deathjester and [[spoiler: Heath]] for the Masked Mage, the Wizard of the Crimson Lotus and the Darkshine Knight for the Dragon Emperor, and the Earl of the Evil Eye and Bigieu for the Dark Lord. Because they get more screen time than their bosses, they're also better developed characters.
* DragonRider: Flammie the dragon acts as a GlobalAirship for the party.
* DualBoss: Zable Fahr. [[spoiler:Which then turns into a triple boss after the two heads are destroyed. They get reanimated and then the true head reveals itself.]]
* DualWielding: Hawkeye dual wields daggers. Kevin dual wields gloves/claws/fists (if you want to call them that).
* DumpStat: Agility for everyone but Hawkeye, who uses it for some of his spells. This is due to it being poorly implemented: it was intended that for every point of Agility you had your Evasion Rate would go up by 1%, but instead the game uses the character's class's base Evasion. This would have made it useful for [[SquishyWizard squishier]] character like Angela, but the point of the stat ceases to exist. Though it's often speculated that it increases your chances of randomly executing a short animation composed of invincibility frames when attacked, which is technically different from a "Miss", so the point of the stat might not be entirely lost.
* DyingAsYourself: [[spoiler:Heath and Darkshine Knight, who is actually Duran's father]].
* EasilyConqueredWorld:
** The Beastman tactic of SMASH BASH GLOAT is remarkably effective against whole cities.
** The Kingdom Laurent, AKA "The Castle That Never Fell." Well, that's tempting fate, isn't it? The Nevarl thieves are too cunning to attack directly, instead spreading a sleeping pollen which puts the Amazons' lights out. The King is struck down in his own throne room without any resistance whatsoever.
** On the flip side, it also seems to be an [[InvertedTrope Easily]] ''[[InvertedTrope Liberated]]'' [[InvertedTrope World]]. The Amazons take back the castle because the thieves never figured the former might [[HoistByHisOwnPetard use the latter's own tactic against them]].
* EldritchLocation: The Dark God-Beast knows how to make an entrance. You arrive just in time to witness the shattering of the Dark Mana Stone. Once this happens, the heroes are sucked into an empty void where Zable Fahr waits.
* EmptyRoomPsych: Every room in the Chartmoon Tower (Moonreading Tower is the fan translated name). Behind one door is the staircase; the other three are enemy nests.
* EpicRocking: The soundtrack contains a few very long tracks, with "The Sacrifice, Part Three", at 8:05, and "Return to Forever", at 8:39, taking the cake.
* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: Quite a few, including the Priest of Light and the Earl. Two of the main villains (Emperor and Lord) are addressed by title only. However, ''Land'' and ''Heroes of Mana'' retcon their real names as Drakonis and Stroud (the latter also being the name of a different character in ''VideoGame/SwordOfMana''), respectively. Belgar is the name of the once-noble priest who degenerated into the Masked Mage.
* EvilCostumeSwitch:
** [[spoiler:Heath]]'s monochrome costume while in the service of the Masked Mage.
** Your ''own'' characters can have this while picking Class Changes.
* EvilerThanThou: Eventually, one will come out on top; the victor will be the side most actively involved with the primary character. By extension, this also determines how the finale will play out in terms of dungeons.
* EvilOverlord: The Dragon Emperor for Duran and Angela, the Masked Mage for Kevin and Charlotte, and the Dark Lord (called Dark Prince in the fan translation) for Riesz and Hawkeye.
* EvilSorcerer: The Wizard of the Crimson Lotus, The Masked Mage, and [[spoiler:Heath, Charlotte's playmate and supposedly her mentor]].
* EvilVersusEvil: The three evil factions (the Beastmen, Altena and Navarre) are all fighting for the Mana Sword, and are in fact a greater danger to each other than the PC group. This all comes to a head when the path to the Mana Holyland becomes open for the villains to invade; all three factions come in well before your party does because your party needs to waste time to find a means of transportation up into the Holyland. [[spoiler: Who comes out on top is dependent on your party; if Lise or Hawk are the hero, the Navarre thieves will have already killed the Dragon Emperor and the Masked Mage, if Kevin or Charlotte are the hero, the beastmen will have killed Dragon Emperor and the Dark Lord, and if Angela or Duran are the hero, then the Altenan forces will have killed the Masked Mage and the Dark Lord. From then on, they focus completely on ''you.'']]
* ExclusiveEnemyEquipment: Ultimate equipment, along with the Lv. 3 class changes, only be obtained via seeds dropped by specific enemies. Even if you can't wear it, you can still sell it for mucho dinero.
* ExposedToTheElements: Your team can go from the Burning Sands[[labelnote:*]](Desert of Scorching Heat in the fan translation)[[/labelnote]] to the Frostbite Fields[[labelnote:*]](Sub-Zero Snowfield)[[/labelnote]] without so much as a coat. Originally averted as Angela comes close to freezing to death in the latter, but played straight when she can waltz right through it later in the game.
* FallenAngel: The [[MeaningfulName Dark Lord]]. The Masked Mage's backstory is also riddled with this.
* FantasyCharacterClasses: And how! Amongst a cast of six characters, all of them boast Light and Dark paths, with an additional two master paths, leading to a total of 36 classes, starters not included.
* FastForwardMechanic: If you stop at a TraumaInn during the day, you have the option to be awakened in the evening or next morning, though this is rarely a concern for progressing through the StoryArc.
* FinalBoss: Comes in '''three''' flavors depending on what character was your first pick:
** Duran and Angela: Dragon Emperor, a tyrant thought to have been slain by Duran's father, but was just hiding. He's been marshaling his dragon armies to try and take over the world again.
** Hawkeye and Riesz: Archdemon, AKA Dark Lord, a Lucifer archetype and prince of the underworld.
** Charlotte and Kevin: Masked Mage, or rather, Dark Lich, a fallen cleric who bathed himself in dark magic, losing any semblance of humanity he once had.
* FinalBossNewDimension: The final God-Beast, Zable Fahr, apparently exists outside of the physical realm. When his stone cracks, the party is pulled into a weird blue void.
* FirstTown: Astoria. Well, it's the first town common to ALL the characters when any of them are the lead. Most characters have to make a stop in Jadd before they ever reach Astoria, with the exception of Charlotte. It's also the first town shop-wise, as Jadd is under a curfew and can't sell you anything.
* FissionMailed: Kevin can't win the training battle against Karl. Losing his HP transforms him into a werewolf for the first time, which gives him a fighting chance. Karl's death inverts the trope by playing the Game Over melody.
* FlashbackEffects:
** Before recruiting your teammates, each tells their story in a DeliberatelyMonochrome cutscene.
** Charlotte gets one even if you didn't select her as a teammate at all.
* FlatCharacter: The Earl of the Evil Eye and the Dragon Emperor are easily the least developed villains in the game. Although, really, all of the arch-{{Big Bad}}s suffer from this to a fairly large degree, due to being in the background for so long.
* GetOnTheBoat: The only way to travel anywhere until you get more reliable means of transportation, [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg or the cannon]].
* GemstoneAssault: The Diamond Missile spell.
* GiantEnemyCrab: The [[WarmupBoss very first boss]], Full Metal Hugger.
* AGodAmI: Every BigBad, once they've absorbed the energies of eight God-Beasts.
* GodSaveUsFromTheQueen: Valda has gotten it into her warped brain that Altena isn't quite overpowered enough -- that her kingdom is entitled to each of the world's Mana Stones. When glimpsing the full scope of her plans, King Richard spits back, "The Queen of ''Reason''!" with maximum irony. [[spoiler: The truth of the matter is a bit more complex. Altena depends heavily on magic just to ''survive'' on their frozen continent, and with the Mana Tree threatened, so is the supply of mana that keeps their country going. Of course, unsealing the mana stones and freeing the {{Eldritch Abomination}}s [[SealedEvilInACan stored in each one]] is probably the ''worst'' way to solve that problem, but you can thank [[EvilChancellor Koren]] [[BrainwashedAndCrazy for giving her that idea]]]].
* GottaCatchThemAll: As usual, the eight spirits (plus Fairy) are needed to unlock the Holyland.
* GottaKillThemAll: The eight God-Beasts in the second half of the game.
* GrandTheftMe: [[spoiler:Despite what some websites say, most certainly ''not'' Elliot's fate]], provided the Dark Lord is the Big Bad. [[spoiler:(Elliot is seen lying on the ground next to the Dark Lord.)]]
* GuideDangIt:
** The game doesn't mention this, but certain spells can't be learned unless you've leveled up [[OneStatToRuleThemAll particular attributes]]. Hawkeye learns new moves by leveling up his AGL and LUCK, but dumping points into his INT is useless. However, Duran (the no-frills tank) must raise his SPIRIT at least a little if he wants to learn his Paladin moves, which require MP to use. The requirements aren't always intuitive, and you may waste a level or two trying out new combinations before you see a result. Thankfully, the game rewards ''every'' spell you've missed along the way (without any fanfare, just a quick message box) once you meet the requirements.
** Also, getting items for the second class change isn't hinted at nor are you told where you can reap them, meaning first-time players frequently don't even get them. Keep in mind, seeds are only dropped by certain foes, and that enemy must die ''last'' in order to drop a chest.
** Another evil moment is while fighting enemies which counter skills and spells. Good luck dealing with Darkshine Knight on your first try after you thought you were invincible raiding entire screens with your special attacks of no MP cost.
* GustyGlade: Gusthall. Does it really count as a glade if it's half made out of caves, though?
* HailfirePeaks: Bucca contains a huge underground spring. A good thing, too, since Booskaboo is able to swim inside and ferry you off before the mountaintop blows!
* HaveWeMetYet:
** If you take Angela or Duran's path, the party will run into a younger version of the King of Valsena.
** If Duran is leading the party, [[spoiler:you also run into his father, Loki, just before the battle in which he's going to die. Duran tries to convince his father not to go, but Loki goes anyway. And just to wring a few more tears out of the player, Loki comments that he hopes his son "turns out to be a fine young man like [present!Duran]."]]
* TheHeavy: Each main [[TheDragon Dragon]] (those are Koren, Bigieu and Deathjester) is the one pushing the plot and doing the legwork for their BigBad.
* HeWhoMustNotBeSeen: The Dark Lord's remains are never seen. His resurrected body, on the other hand, is.
* HiddenDepths: With the exceptions of the Dragon Emperor and the Earl of the Evil Eye, all of the villains get fleshed out, well-developed personalities and back stories.
* HiddenElfVillage:
** Corobokkle Village and Diorre.
** The ancient city Pedda exists in some kind of weird temporal flux: It's just empty ruins when you first arrive, but staying at the inn warps you back in time to the first Dragon War.
* HighAltitudeBattle: One of the God Beasts is fought on your own flying dragon. You'll need to take to the skies to reach Dangaard.
* HighCollarOfDoom: Check out the Bela Lugosi getup on the Earl of the Evil Eye. Sheesh.
* HighlyVisibleNinja: The kingdom of Nevarl is guarded by these, and Hawkeye can become one.
* HostageForMacGuffin: Whoever the Big Bad is, their flunkies will inevitably hold the Fairy ransom in exchange for [[spoiler:the Mana Sword]].
* HowlOfSorrow: Kevin's intro, after realizing [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone he's killed Karl]].
* HufflepuffHouse: Laurent Kingdom is busy keeping the peace up north.
* HypnotizeThePrincess: Koren and Bigieu, posing as {{Evil Chancellor}}s of sorts to the north and south, work independently to provoke fighting with their neighbors. Koren reveals that he [[spoiler:hypnotized the Queen of Reason into becoming a warmonger]], and Bigieu basically prostitutes herself out to Lord Flamekhan. By the time Hawkeye notices something's amiss, she now has mind control powers over the ''entire'' ninja clan, including Eagle and Bill/Ben.
* IneffectualSympatheticVillain:
** Most of Ferolia, even Lugar to a degree.
** This may be subverted after all; if you challenge any beastman during the Jadd raid, they knock the hell out of your character (except Duran, who seemingly is the only one smart enough to notice picking a fight isn't a good idea now) with a ''single attack'', and to add insult to injury, they aren't even in their wolf form. To be fair, though, for most characters this is literally right after the first trek through the overworld, and the beastmen sent to raid Jadd would logically be pretty tough. By the time you trade blows with them again, you'll have already reclaimed a kingdom from a clan of ninjas as well as fought ghosts and elemental beasts many times the size of your character, so it may be something along the lines of CantCatchUp on the part of the beastmen; they can go toe-to-toe with the forces of Altena and Navarre on equal standing, but by this point your team is just much stronger than them.
* InnSecurity: Twice. Sleeping at an inn is required to make the fairy appear, and later on [[spoiler:in a free boat ride leads to the characters being trapped on the GhostShip]].
* InterfaceSpoiler: The game leads you to believe that [[spoiler:opening the gate to the Mana Holy Land and acquiring the [[CosmicKeystone Sword of Mana]]]] will be the game's big finish. It's somewhat undermined by the fact that unless you've spent an inordinate amount of time LevelGrinding, you're nowhere near the level needed for your [[PrestigeClass second class change]], and at that point in the game, have no way of getting the {{MacGuffin}}s needed for it anyways.
* InUniverseGameClock: The days of the week are named according to the Mana Spirits, thus affecting the strength/weakness of their corresponding magic. It's also free to sleep at an inn on Mana Holy Day.
* IThoughtEveryoneCouldDoThat: The Faerie has a bit of trouble remembering that humans [[GravityIsAHarshMistress can't fly]].
* ItsAllUpstairsFromHere: Chartmoon Tower.
* JustifiedSavePoint:
** The HP/MP replenishing statues of the Mana Goddess are tributes to the deity, usually placed in the vicinity of Mana Stones to ward off outsiders. There are one or two statues in the final villain's lair... but they're headless, placed there in direct mockery of the Goddess. They also don't refill your energy.
** The Goddess is a human totem. The Village of the Dark Priests does not worship the Mana Tree, but they have a HP/MP restoring totem pole, regardless. The Masked Mage keeps his own save statue at the nexus of his base (it's shaped like a skull).
* JustLikeRobinHood: The Thieves Guild of Nevarl at the beginning. Doubly since the Wanderer and Rogue class allude to when Nevarl wasn't a desert.
* KaleidoscopeHair: The heroes can become blonde (or blonder) through class changes, too. Charlotte, Riesz, and Kevin are already light-haired, but Angela and Hawkeye are both dark-haired, and their class-changes with blond hair are both dark-dark.
* KubrickStare: Both the Wizard of the Crimson Lotus and Bigieu have this as their PerpetualExpression.
* LadyLand: Laurent and Altena. Both armies are comprised of all-amazonian soldiers, though Laurent still retains a male monarch. We also learn that Koren's original motive was to show up his female classmates at Altena. Once the red-haired stepchild of that realm, he's now the world's most powerful sorcerer.
* LaserGuidedKarma: With the winds turned off, Laurent can't be retaken by the amazons. You need the power of Jinn to spread the thieves' pollen and knock them all out, a fitting end to their treachery.
* LateCharacterSyndrome: Unless you [[GuideDangIt go out]] [[LevelGrinding of your way]] (or just plain hack your save) to get it sooner, you won't be able to get the [[PrestigeClass final class change]] until just before TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon.
* LateToTheTragedy: The party narrowly misses a clash between the Emperor, Mage, and Lord in the Mana Holyland. It must have been one hell of a fight, as the resulting bloodbath leaves their armies and the Holyland in tatters. Only Deathjester, the Dark Knight, and Bigieu live to tell the tale; Bigieu and the Dark Knight [[spoiler:take their own lives as penance]], while Deathjester just shrugs and beats a hasty retreat! (Though he admits his chances of escape are slim to none.)
* LethalLavaLand: The Valley of Flames. ([[ConvectionSchmonvection No actual damage from convection]], though.)
* LightIsGood:
** Wisp is the light elemental Spirit.
** Notice that Riesz has blonde hair and blue eyes.
* LightIsNotGood: Lightgazer, the God-Beast of Light. Also, there are several enemies which use Light-based attack spells to destroy your party.
* LimitBreak: Three levels of them, the second and third being learned after the class changes. The second and third limit breaks are different depending on the class chosen.
* LinearWarriorsQuadraticWizards:
** Early game, the physical attackers do tend to be more powerful than the casters (who need a meat shield to tank hits for them while they stand immobile to cast), and pure casters do outdamage pure hitters, but most of the main characters end up being some kind of MagicKnight (depending on which of the upgraded classes they choose).
** InUniverse, Duran's motivation to get the Mana Sword is because the Lotus Sorcerer handily defeated him in a CurbStompBattle.
* LiteraryAllusionTitle: A few songs that don't have {{Word Salad Title}}s provide possible examples of this, such as "Literature/WhereAngelsFearToTread" and "[[Literature/TheLongGoodbye Long Goodbye]]". "Return to Forever" is probably a ShoutOut to the [[{{jazz}} jazz fusion]] act of the same name.
* LivingStructureMonster: Genova, one of the bosses, is a demonic fireplace/furnace that attacks by spitting enemies out of its fire.
* LoadBearingBoss[=/=] TheRuinsICaused: After you beat Bigieu, her section of the Dark Castle collapses, and the party flees across a connecting bridge to the next tower. If Hawkeye is with you, he'll stand over the gap and announce that vengeance is his at last.
* TheLostWoods: Lampflower Forest and the Jungle of Visions. ''And'' the Holyland, of course.
* LostWorld: The Ancient Ruins of Light and the Jungle of Visions. Somewhere deep in the forest, the Masked Mage is assembling his army like a regular Colonel Kurtz.
* LukeIAmYourFather:
** Duran, [[spoiler:the Darkshine Knight is your father]].
** Heath, [[spoiler:the Masked Mage is your father]].
** Charlotte, the Elf-King is your ''other'' grandfather.
** Angela, [[spoiler:King Richard is your father]]. Alluded to in the original game, but confirmed in [[VideoGame/HeroesOfMana the prequel]].
* MagicKnight: Duran's Sword Master class is the best example from this game; he can imbue his and the other party members' weapons with magic. His Paladin class only gets the [[HolyHandGrenade Saint Saber]] imbuement in addition to a healing spell, but it's quite useful against [[ThatOneBoss Zable Fahr]], the God-Beast of Darkness. The Duelist class can cast [[BlackMagic Dark Saber]], which is not quite as useful in the long run, and the Lord class is basically just a healer in plate armor. The other character that exemplifies this trope in [=SD3=] is Riesz, who gets [[SummonMagic summon spells]] and status magic (her Light classes are more about buffing the other party members, while the Dark classes cast debuffs on the enemy).
* MagikarpPower:
** This seems to be the characteristic of the Light path. The Dark classes spit out a higher volume of attacks and maximum strength levels. The Light classes, comparatively, have little to offer until about ten hours later, when Light-Light finally yields big dividends -- especially in the final areas of the game. Hawkeye's first Light class, Ranger, is really underwhelming: No buffs/debuffs, no elemental attacks, and mediocre stats across the board. If you survive long enough to promote him to Wanderer, he'll learn Counter magic -- effectively neutering Koren, who won't be able to lay a finger on your trio. It gets ugly ''real'' fast.
** Angela's Delvar class is rather unimpressive compared to the Sorceress class, but taking it allows her to eventually gain access to the Rune Master class, which has a spell capable of delivering 999 damage to any enemy at her level or lower. Yes, even the final bosses.
* MarathonLevel: To reach the final bosses, you must first comb through an alien landscape (Glass Desert for the Emperor, Jungle of Vision for the Mage, and Cave of Darkness for Archdemon), defeat the Dark God-Beast and a sub-boss, scour the dungeons for three past bosses, and then fight the dungeon boss. There are no gold Goddess statues after the first boss (just headless ones), only a long, hard slog back to civilization if you run out restoratives/MP.
* MaximumHPReduction: Two of them.
** The spell Lunatic reduces the target's maximum HP by 20%. It's very good when used at the beginning of boss fights, where it can knock off upwards of 10,000 HP.
** On the enemies' side, there's Spiral Moon, which deals damage while carrying the same effect as the spell Lunatic ''to your entire team''. This makes the select few bosses having access to this move all the more dangerous.
* TheMaze:
** Labyrinth of Ice Walls and Moonlight Forest are bare-bones examples.
** Lampflower forest requires that you visit it at night, which signposts the exit with glowing flower bulbs.
** Chartmoon Tower offers up a game of "Hunt the Staircase" with each floor.
** Dragon Hole is a web of similar-looking caverns that loop on themselves, with headless statues blocking the paths to Koren. Detours open up once you've located and killed the past bosses lurking around the cave.
** Just getting to the Mirage Palace is a hassle. The jungle is a ''Zelda''-style maze (listen for the chime), leading to Zable Fahr and a chest containing a magic mirror which reveals the Masked Mage's location. The courtyard is protected by a PortalNetwork leading to various puzzle rooms. The palace itself is smaller but no less confusing: false switches, deadfalls, and a disguised door.
** Late in the game, the Mana Holyland is struck by an attack from the Big Bad, now supercharged with the energy of all eight God-Beasts. The straightforward path to the Tree is a now lot more convoluted, with broken columns and branching paths of lily-pads placed to confound you. This is a good as time as any to level grind.
* MeetTheNewBoss:
** The Masked Mage is heir to the previous game's Thanatos, with a similar boss form and attack animation. The Lich, along with the Lord, is a recurring villain in the ''Mana'' series.
** If you look closely, each of the main adversaries has a component or two of Thanatos. The Priest of Dark is a necromancer who hides behind a mask. The [[spoiler:Dark Lord]] shares his body-stealing ways. The Dragon Emperor converts a fallen warrior (Geshtar in the original, [[spoiler:Loki]] in this one) into an undead knight. Bigieu is also a pro at mass hypnosis.
* MirrorBoss: The Darkshine Knight [[spoiler:is a former Knight of Gold]], Koren is a hopeless student of magic who fast-tracked his abilities due to outside influence, [[spoiler:Heath is the orphan ward of Wendel's top priest]], Lugar is the sneering Beastman general who somehow thinks the throne is rightfully his (in contrast to ReluctantRuler Kevin), Bill and Ben are, or at least used to be, laid-back master ninjas, [[spoiler:Heath]] is fully fledged summoner in addition to his necromancer abilities, granting him all of Charlotte's dark magic.
* MirrorMatch:
** Kevin and the Ferolian troops all share the same werewolf sprite (albeit differently-colored). The latter use the same techs as Kevin's top-tier classes. Needless to say, this gets ''very'' confusing if he's on your team.
** Each class the heroes can take has a enemy parallel. Duran has knights. Angela magicians. Kevin with werewolves. Light Charlotte are potos, while dark Charlotte shamans. Light Hawkeye with Chobins and dark has ninjas. Finally, Reise has the bee women and goblins.
** In addition to Shapeshifters (mostly harmless balls of wax that morph into various monsters), you may encounter their UndergroundMonkey equivalent, Shadow Zero. (''[=SoM=]'' vets will remember these as the clones of Randi's party who you fought in Joch's cave.) They'll mimic your class changes along with their special attacks. The problem is that they aren't affected by HealthDamageAsymmetry; their attacks do the same boss-killing damage as yours, to your party's still PC-level hit points. If you have Dark classes in your lineup, and the Zero decides to mimic them (and you didn't bring along any characters who can Silence enemy spells), just flee. You can't win.
** The Zeros do this by copying your current stats. So if you've used a cheat code to make your Strength/Intelligence ten times as high as your class can go, say goodbye to your party.
* MonsterClown: Deathjester and (ulp!) Zable Fahr.
* MonsterTown: Bucca Island plays home to a tribal village of Tomato Men. Unlike their brethren scattered about the island and elsewhere, these guys are peaceful and fork over equipment and health.
* MonstrosityEqualsWeakness: Despite the large number of huge, monstrous bosses in the game, by far the hardest fights are against the human-sized villains.
* MookMaker: Genova. A living doorway which spits out assorted mooks for you to fight, apparently from the pits of Mavolia (Hell) itself.
* MotiveRant: At least two for each plotline.
* MyNameIsQuestionMarks: The ??? seeds needed to get the items necessary to unlock the second class change.
* MyRulesAreNotYourRules: The levels for class changing are specifically delineated at 18/38. You'll start encountering class-changed enemies (a few with full-screen techs) at level '''ten'''. Your party also has to fill a tech gauge before unleashing their special attacks, but enemies of the exact same class can slam your party with their abilities right off the bat (they will also frequently use them as counterattacks after you hit them with a spell).
* {{Nerf}}:
** There are fewer special moves (owing to the Lv. 7 percentage meter being replaced with the more streamlined 1-2-3 Tech meter). And the Lv. 3 techs can provoke a nasty response from enemies, most notably the werewolves and knights.
** Interestingly, you can complete this game without ever having recruited a mage or healer. Magic isn't as devastating as it used to be, and you can scrape by with healing items, but the latter makes boss fights a lot tougher.
* NinjaPirateZombieRobot: The Beastmen, including Kevin, are all martial artist [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent werewolves]].
* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown:
** Duran vs. The Wizard of Red Lotus.
** Kevin vs. his father, the Beast King.
* NoticeThis: In combat ready mode, all playable characters turn to face their foes no matter how they move.
* OfficialCouple: Duran and Angela, if the player chooses either as the main character and chooses the other character as one of the three characters.
* OlderIsBetter: Ancient City Pedda is the best place to shop. Short of the Equipment Seed items, their weapons and armor are second to none.
* OneCurseLimit:
** An exploitable bug. Using the Chibikko Hammer will make your team miniature, replacing whatever status effect they have, and using it again will invert the miniature status effect turning them to normal.
** It's also invoked by the plot with Jessica -- she was cursed to die if she learned the truth, but that made her immune to magical brainwashing later on.
* OneWingedAngel: All three potential final bosses.
* OrcusOnHisThrone:
** Each the villains lounge around in their hideouts and let their minions do the work -- until they're either killed by one of the other enemy factions or the heroes storming their fortress. In fact, you don't even meet them until you've completed the respective final dungeons. The Dark Lord wasn't totally idle behind the scenes, though: He's the one who raised the Dark Mana Stone from the Underworld. He also sacrifices his first body to rip open the Holyland entrance. The reason he doesn't confront you is because he's waiting for his cronies to resurrect his form.
** The original Japanese name for one of the bosses in ''Legend of Mana'' fought in the Underworld is identical to the name of the God-Beast trapped inside this stone, hinting at a link between the two games after all! (The boss doesn't look much like its namesake, though, and the name was changed in the North American release, so aside from a similar case of DualBoss, there isn't any way you'd know it - you don't even get to see the Mana Stone).
* OurVampiresAreDifferent: The Earl of the Evil Eye.
* OurWereWolvesAreDifferent: The Beastmen, who are a race of their own but very clearly inspired by werewolf mythology. They transform at night, gaining a sizeable attack bonus. This includes Kevin.
* PaintingTheMedium: Class change is a thing that exists InUniverse instead of just a gameplay mechanic. In fact, Duran's entire (initial) motivation is to be able to get strong enough for one of these.
* PalmtreePanic: Volcano Island Bucca.
* PartyOfRepresentatives: Each party member hails from one of the various countries involved in the war for the Mana Holyland, and they're even paired by who-is-invading-who:
** Altena vs. Valsena (Angela and Duran)
** Ferolia vs. Wendel (Kevin and Charlotte)
** Nevarl vs. Laurent (Hawkeye and Riesz)
* PauseAbuse: It was discovered that the charge-up time between selecting a skill or spell and its actual execution continues to elapse even when the player accesses a menu. Thus, the player can select a spell then switch to the menu so the character doesn't take damage before the spell executes. However, this also works on enemies preparing spells to attack you with....
* PeninsulaOfPowerLeveling:
** The Jungle of Vision is the earliest equivalent, and a good place to stock up on seeds.
** Once again, Mana Holyland is the place to visit for cheap EXP gains. Following the invasion by Nevarl, Beastman, and Altenan forces, the realm is overrun with Shapeshifters that reap 900 EXP each. (In the previous game, it was Griffin Hands.) Unfortunately, they don't come out to play until just before the last boss.
* ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything: An EnforcedTrope. Hawkeye and his feline pal are the only thieves seen doing any stealing: Under Isabella's influence, the thieves' hideout of Navarre is gearing up for cavalry assaults on whole cities.
* PowerTrio: Any three of the six heroes (selected by the player) can be one.
* PrestigeClass: Each character has four classes based on whether he or she chooses the Light or Dark path on each upgrade level (i.e. Light-Light, Light-Dark, Dark-Light, or Dark-Dark).
* PromotionToParent: Riesz to Elliot.
* ThePsychoRangers:
** The God-Beasts act as these the elemental spirits.
** To an extent, the top enforcers of each of the world's kingdoms. See "Mirror Boss", above.
* PumpkinPerson: Mispolm, God-Beast of the Woods, takes the form of a giant jack-o-lantern sat atop a mass of roots.
* APupilOfMineUntilHeTurnedToEvil: Like Angela, Koren toiled under Jose's tutelage at the magic school, but got nowhere. The Dragon Emperor offered him true power in exchange for selling his people out.
* RealityEnsues:
** Angela's prologue has her thrown into the aptly named Sub-Zero Snowfield wearing nothing but a highly {{Stripperiffic}} leotard. Less than ten minutes later, she starts coming down with hypothermia.
** In contrast to the LovableRogue type of mercenary, Duran is loud, brutish, uncouth, and smells bad. Also, the first time Duran goes up against the Red Wizard, he gets curbstomped, because Duran's never faced anyone who uses magic before.
** Once Hawkeye decides he no longer wants to be part of his band of thieves because of their growing corruption, they don't graciously let him leave; [[ResignationsNotAccepted they try to have him killed]]. It didn't help that he was framed in the murder of one of their own. When he returns to the gang as a hero trying to stop the end of the world, only two of Hawkeye's former gang members side with him; the rest are all {{Mook}}s who have to be cut down.
** Kevin can transform into a werewolf and kick major amounts of ass, [[InvoluntaryShapeshifting but he can't control it]]. The first time he transforms, Kevin kills his beloved pet Carl ([[spoiler:or so he thinks, as it's just an illusion created by Deathjester]]), and spends the rest of the game [[CursedWithAwesome hating his power]].
** Both Kevin and Charlotte are HalfHumanHybrids whose genetics give them significant abilities, but also cause a fair share of problems. Both of them have some sort of brain deficiency as a result of being a mix of two species, with Kevin talking in HulkSpeak and Charlotte still having both the body and mindset of a small child despite being chronologically fifteen.
** Riesz is badass, but she's not a OneManArmy. When raiders invade her kingdom, kill her people and kidnap her brother, she has to run in order to find help. She also never gets a chance to go on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge, instead having to find ways to stop the plans of the BigBad while putting her kingdom's reconstruction on hold.
* RecurringRiff:
** As well as the Mana series' "Mana Tree" theme, two of the boss themes ("Nuclear Fusion" and "Obsession") borrow snippets from the final boss theme of ''VideoGame/SecretOfMana'', "Meridian Dance" (the main melody and the intro, respectively).
** Also, the track "Electric Talk" contains a call back to both "Into the Thick of It" and "Did You See The Sea" from ''Secret of Mana'' if you listen to it long enough.
** "Meridian Child" also vaguely hints at the track "Meridian Dance" from ''Secret of Mana''.
** "Long Goodbye" is an expansion of the track "Close Your Eyelids" from ''Secret of Mana''.
** The track "Secret of Mana" can be considered both a ShoutOut to the international name of ''Seiken Densetsu 2'', as well as a stylistic call back to "The Child of the Sprite Tribe", a track from that game, albeit in a minor key.
* ReformedCriminal: Hawkeye, sort of. He began as a thief, and joined the straight and narrow when his gang was assimilated by the Dark Prince.
* RemixedLevel:
** Certain sites, such as Gusthall, Labyrinth of Ice Walls, and Valley of Flames must be revisited in the game's latter half after the party sets out to reap the eight God-Beasts.
** The Mana Holyland is visited twice. Later on, the path to the Mana Tree is blocked by debris; finding a detour might take a little brainwork.
* RingMenu: Just like [[VideoGame/SecretOfMana its predecessor]].
* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: Half the cast. Angela is the princess of Altena, Riesz princess of Laurent, and Kevin the prince heir to Ferolia.
* RuleOfThree: You have three heroes; there are three invading kingdoms, creating three unique final scenarios with three unique final bosses.
* SceneryPorn:
** Path to the Heavens.
** The journey to fight the Dark God-Beast will contain some, regardless of which path you pick.
** Hell, the entire game, why not. It's considered by many to have some of the finest graphics on the SNES.
* SchrodingersGun: Whoever you selected as the main character is going to be the one that ends up hosting the Faerie. Whoever you selected as the second character is going to join you outside the Cave of Waterfalls, and whoever you selected as the third will join you after [[spoiler:they bust you out of the Beastman-occupied Jadd's dungeons]]. Selecting Charlotte as your second or third character kinda throws that off (if chosen and not the hero, she ''always'' joins you somewhere between where the other second and third choices join), but [[DevelopersForesight the dev team thought of that]]: [[spoiler:If Charlotte's on your team and thus you already have three characters by the time you get locked up in Jadd, the person in the other cell who busts you out will be a fourth hero who never joins your team (if Duran's not on your team, it'll usually be him), and your party leaves the person behind when they escape on the ship, but fortunately the person is able to escape the city off-screen.]]
* SelfFulfillingProphecy:
** The Dark Lord was feared and hated as a child, which hints that he had been prophesied as a harbinger of doom. His status as something to be feared invited demons from the underworld to tempt him over to [[TheDarkSide their side]], thus dooming his kingdom ([[spoiler:revealed to be Lorimar in VideoGame/DawnOfMana]]), which the Dark Lord promptly destroyed.
** [[spoiler:Turns out in VideoGame/DawnOfMana that he was feared and hated for trying to drown his little brother, for eliminating all rivals to declare himself emperor and king of Lorimar, and for being an absolute tyrant. His deal with the demons was actually to open the door to Mavolia/the underworld and his Archdemon form is the result of merging with ''multiple'' Thanatos masks. His killing of the previous ruler of the underworld Medusa/Anise is also revealed to be from striking her host down with the first Mana Sword (it's also revealed that she secretly survived unbeknownst to the Dark Lord).]]
* SelfImposedChallenge: There are a number of challenges that can be done with this game, such as single character, or no class changing.
* {{Seppuku}}:
** [[spoiler:Heath]] and The Wizard of the Crimson Lotus after their defeat.
** Unless your protagonist is Hawkeye or Riesz, the Navarl faction loses big in the Mana Sword sweepstakes. The [[spoiler:Dark Lord]] loses his corporeal form in exchange for opening the way to the Mana Tree, but his enemies steal the body and destroy it before he can be properly revived. The Earl insists they can still keep to the plan by taking back the sword and unsealing their underworld armies, but [[spoiler:Bigieu is unable to go on without her love. Rather than live in disgrace, she murder-suicides herself and the Earl]].
* SequelDifficultySpike: This is the hardest of the ''Mana'' games bar none. The enemies hit hard and often. In the final dungeons, where no healing statues or merchants are available, you will be forced to fight to your fullest. Fortunately, there is no real item limit (You can only carry nine of an item in battle, but your backpack holds endless reserves), and the merchants at Byzel sell sword/armor buffs in the form of Scales and Claws. A well-stocked team will be prepared for anything.
* ShiftingSandLand: Nevarl and the Dragon Hole's outer reaches.
* ShipLevel: The GhostShip, where Shade is recruited and you temporarily lose one of your party members due to a curse.
* ShoutOut:
** Bill and Ben. If you're from the UK, the name instantly screams out "'''''[[WesternAnimation/BillAndBenTheFlowerpotMen weed]]'''''"!
** The Guardian enemies in the Jungle of Visions have Breast Fire and Rust Hurricane as special attacks, just like [[Anime/MazingerZ the granddaddy for all Super Robots]].
** The Gigantes (wielded by the Wizard of the Crimson Lotus) holds the ''exact same'' Japanese name as the Mana Fortress from ''Secret of Mana'' and is likely to be its StartOfDarkness.
* ShowSomeLeg:
** Angela's line when trying to set a trap for a guard.
--->"Could you help me change my clothes?"
** And one of her classes gives her a LimitBreak that is essentially her showing some... leg... and charming the enemy.
* SimpleYetAwesome: Hawkeye's "Ninja Master" class gains the ability to multi-target his Shuriken ability. This means you have a fast-casting ability that hits all enemies on the screen, does significant damage, knocks enemies back, and lowers their evasion. All for only 1 MP. Fans have dubbed it the "1 MP Wonder".
* SinisterScythe: Deathjester. The hooded statues adorning the walls of Dark Castle are also sporting these.
* SlippySlideyIceWorld: Altena and the surrounding environs.
%%* SmugSnake: Deathjester. Good Lord, ''Deathjester''.
* SpeedRun: Taking advantage of several bugs makes it possible to beat the game in about four hours.
* SpellMyNameWithAnS:
** Is the Amazon princess supposed to be named "Lise", "Liese", "Riese", "Reis", or "Riesz"?[[note]]With every single one of these being ''perfectly valid'' options from various European countries.[[/note]] The world may never know, though the fan translation did go with "Lise".
*** [[https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2019-02-16/million-arthur-arcana-blood-arcade-game-gets-pc-release/.143498 The trailer for the Steam release of ''Million Arthur: Arcana Blood'' finally gave us an official spelling: Riesz.]]
** Carlie is "Charlotte" in Japan, changed in the fan translation for space reasons.[[note]]Character names can be six letters or kana long, and changing the length of this proved to be ''absurdly'' difficult without causing a lot of damage to the ROM or necessitating truly excessive amounts of work throughout the game to make sure nothing else broke, so Neill & co. just left it as it was and changed a few names to accomodate the six-letter limit.[[/note]]
** Similarly, Hawk is "Hawkeye" in Japan, and also got his name cut down a bit for space reasons in the fan translation.
** Bigieu was likely originally either Bijou ('jewel' in French) or Bijuu ('lovely beast' in Japanese). [[PunnyName Or both]], as they're phonetically identical in katakana.
** Lugar, whose name works out to 'rugaaru' in katakana, is a semi-pun on loup-garou ('werewolf' in French).
** And then there are the locations -- Forcena/Forthena/Folcena/Valsena. Rolant/Rolante/Laurant. Navarre/Navall/Nevarl. Jad/Jadd. Pedan/Pedda. Althena/Altena (each one's last translation is the official translation found in ''Heroes of Mana''. And that's not even everything).
* SpikyHair: Hawkeye's pal, Eagle.
* SquishyWizard: Angela, which an extra helping of [[HelloNurse squishy]].
* StationaryBoss: Averted with the Dragon Emperor, a screen-filling FinalBoss who defies expectation by leaping into the foreground.
* StormingTheCastle: We have met the enemy. It's time to take the battle to his home address. You can't enter the Glass Desert, Cave of Darkness, or Jungle of Visions (apart from the countryside surrounding Pedda) until the Mana Sword is robbed and taken to the villain's respective hideout.
* {{Stripperiffic}}:
** Practically the entire female population of Altena, ''especially'' Angela. Nobody [[ExposedToTheElements freezes to death]] because Altena is kept temperate due to magic, but [[spoiler:Angela comes close to actually freezing to death after being chased out of the castle]]. Laurent's amazons also fit this to a lesser degree except Riesz, who is in full armor, though in official art she still has a very low-cut chestplate and doesn't wear pants.
** The official art of Riesz's fenrir class on almost puts anything Angela has to shame, as it's just [[http://images.wikia.com/mana/images/5/57/Riesz_Fenrir_Knight.png a bikini with a wolf hide cape]], but Angela still wins the award for the most Stripperific outffit in the game. In her Magus class, she's basically wearing a [[http://images.wikia.com/mana/images/0/0e/Angela_Magus.png thong]], along with a cape, breastplate, and thigh-high boots.
* SugarApocalypse: The Mana Holyland gets hammered pretty bad. Upon your arrival, the landscape is still verdant, with the only enemies being Rabites. In subsequent visits, Holyland has already begun to wither away, and the wildlife is replaced with creepy Shapeshifters.
* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute:
** If you liked the party from ''VideoGame/SecretOfMana'', Duran, Angela, and Charlotte make good replacements for Randi, Purim, and Popoie. (Though unlike ''[=SoM=]'', Duran can learn his own magic, and Charlotte can switch to black magic.)
** Chiquita and Josephine. Given that they're the same race as Neko, expect racketeering and sky-high prices. Oh well, a cat's gotta eat.
* SuspiciousVideoGameGenerosity: If you are given a gold statue (which saves your game and heals your party), you will need it. It usually means there is a painful boss fight just around the corner.
* SwordOfPlotAdvancement:
** An interesting case. It's a subversion of how things worked in ''VideoGame/SecretOfMana''. In that installment, the heroes obtain the Mana Sword and power it up by reforging it with orbs gathered from defeated bosses. This time around, [[spoiler:you are forced to give it to the villain almost immediately after obtaining it, and you discover that, as you slay the God Beasts, [[NiceJobBreakingItHero the sword gets stronger]]]].
** Also, in ''Secret of Mana'', the only person in the whole world who used it for anything purposeful was the Mana Knight. In ''Seiken Densetsu 3'', [[spoiler:not only do none of your characters use it themselves, it seems the villains are both capable of using it and can also destroy it]]!
* TalkToEveryone:
** Don Perignon won't spill the beans on Laurent until you've found all of the huts and spoken to their inhabitants.
** During the Mirage Palace segment, the party reawakens in Astoria (or ''do'' they? -- like everything the Masked Mage touches, it is unclear what is real and what is not). The townsfolk are all mute and loitering around the same areas as before, apart from the merchant... talk to all of them, and the merchant reveals himself to be a ghost; he attacks you in the same house where the party first materialized.
* TauntButton: Buskaboo the Turtle has a horn that does nothing except amuse a button-mashing player.
* ThemeNaming:
** Hawkeye and Eagle.
** Bon Voyage and Merci.
* ThirdPersonPerson: Charlotte.
* TrapIsTheOnlyOption: The heroes decide this after [[spoiler:the faerie is kidnapped]]. It's obviously a trap, but they don't have any choice but to go.
* TurtlePower: Life's a beach. Booskaboo, a giant turtle wearing scuba goggles and a racing flag, can take you anyplace that is accessible by coastline. "Inexplicable" sums him up best.
* UndergroundLevel: Gaia's Navel, Gemstone Valley, and the Dragon Hole.
* UnresolvedSexualTension:
** Hawkeye and Riesz. Especially if they're both in your party, and either them is the leader.
** [[spoiler:During the battle to retake Laurent, if you have Riesz in your party but not Hawkeye, Hawkeye will ask the party to spare Bigieu's life. Riesz will agree, and Hawkeye will kiss her, causing Riesz to freak out.]]
* UnwinnableByMistake: Whatever you do, ''do not'' use a Magical Rope in the Dark Castle.
* UnwittingPawn:
** [[spoiler:You. Every time.]] At least the Mana Sword proves too hot for the villains to handle, and they soon regret their treachery.
** Also, [[spoiler:Lord Flamekhan, Valda, and Heath. To a lesser extent, Bill and Ben]].
* UselessUsefulSpell:
** Energy Ball. In theory it should up your critical attack rate, but because of a programming bug critical attacks are practically non-existent. Same goes for spells that affect agility or hit rate, for the same reason.
** Averted by Angela's Rune Master skills. Stone Cloud will petrify every single normal enemy who isn't resistant to earth damage, which equates to instant death. For enemies who are immune to earth, there's Stun Wind which silences the enemy in addition to doing massive damage. Silence may not sound that useful, but a number of regular enemies in the game react to techs and spells (such as Stone Cloud or Stun Wind) with powerful abilities that can trash the party, making them effectively immune to anything but normal attacks. Silence stops those party-wiping reactions.
* TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon:
** Three of them. You can only visit one per playthrough, though.
** Subverted. Regardless of which main character you've picked, the [[spoiler:decaying Mana Holyland]] will be the last dungeon.
* VillainousBreakdown: While some just say few words, some of TheDragon and every BigBad has this upon defeat.
* VillainousHarlequin:
** Deathjester, of course.
** Zable Fahr. How fitting that the darkest of the God-Beasts would be three {{Monster Clown}}s.
* VirginPower: Supposedly, the Father of the Winged Ones only allows virgins near him, which is why only the amazons can guard him. Actual events in-game may throw this claim into dispute [[spoiler:(for one thing, the "father" turns out to be a girl)]].
* VolcanoLair: Dragon Hole is hinted to be one. Past eruptions turned the surrounding desert into crystal.
* WakeUpCallBoss:
** Full Metal Hugger. Most first-time players fall victim to this guy. He'll slap you upside the head and let you know that bosses cast undodgeable attacks and you better heal after every last one. And if you picked an all male team, chances are Jewel Eater will be this too.
** Tzenker has the nasty habit of keeping away from your party while casting potent spells. Without the help of coins, magic, or claws the fight can become quite a chore.
** Genova can be quite difficult for underleveled players as he is a MookMaker, casts some really strong spells, and if one is unlucky the mooks (which happens to be shapeshifters) will morph into something that will constantly Poison the party.
** The Machine Golems fought in the Sub-Zero Snowfield or Bill and Ben in Desert of Scorching Heat will make short work of players who abuse of Level 2 Techs. Keep in mind that these bosses tend to counterattack with a Tech or magic of their own if struck by a Level 2 Tech or a magic. While Bill and Ben are doable, as they might focus in a single character with Shadow Dive, the Golems ''are not'', they will utterly destroy a party using Level 2 Techs by counterattacking with all-party high level spells and you fight '''three''' of them at same time. Players should take these battles as a warning that spamming Level 2 Techs or magic ''will not'' work on bosses as well as it did in the last game.
* WhiteAndGreyMorality: Mostly. There are a few flat jackasses (mostly the Earl of the Evil Eye, Deathjester and the Dragon Emperor) but the three villainous nations have legitimate reasons for their actions (the homelands of two of them are becoming inhospitable, and the third has a generations-long history of being discriminated against by humans) and most of the villains have tragic back stories or motivations.
* WinterRoyalLady; The Queen of Altena, who has a personality to match.
* WolfpackBoss: The Earl of the Evil Eye will be backed by a werewolf and succubus.
* WordSaladTitle: Many of the music tracks have these kind of names. Examples include Hope Isolation Pray and Faith Total Machine.
* TheWorldIsJustAwesome: There's a reason it's called Path to the Heavens. You can even see the curvature of the earth!
* WorldTree: The Mana Tree.
* YouAllMeetInACell: Played with. If you didn't pick Charlotte as your third party member, you'll pick up your third after being thrown in the Jadd prison upon defeating the first boss. Subverted if Charlotte ''is'' your third party member, in which case your party is already full and your would-be fourth member just helps you break out of jail and is left behind when your party [[GetOnTheBoat gets on the boat]].
* YouAllMeetInAnInn: Also Played with. You can find every potential party member except Charlotte at the tavern in Castle City Jadd, but nobody actually joins your party until later.
* YouCantGoHomeAgain: Half of the protagonists are exiled during their intros. Subverted with Duran, who chooses not to go home until he defeats the Wizard of the Crimson Lotus. In Riesz's case, it's an exceptional, half-self-imposed case of WalkingTheEarth and specifically a GenderBender of a not-quite KnightErrant.
* YouCantThwartStageOne: Hope you weren't too attached to the [[spoiler:Mana Tree]].
----

** Bill and Ben. If you're from the UK, the name instantly screams out "'''''[[TheFlowerpotMen weed]]'''''"!

''Trials of Mana'', long known as ''Seiken Densetsu 3'' (聖剣伝説３, lit. ''Holy Sword Legend 3'', but stating the name in romanji to denote its unreleased-in-English status was common from 1995 to 2019), released in 1995, is the third game in the ''[[VideoGame/WorldOfMana Mana]]'' series and was released for the UsefulNotes/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem (or the Super Famicom, if you prefer). "Seiken 3" was initially famous for being the first ''Mana'' game to [[NoExportForYou never make it Stateside]], though fan translations did exist via [[UsefulNotes/{{Emulation}} emulation]]. An official export was an incessant request from fans for over two decades; on June 11, 2019, twenty-three years, ten months and eleven days after the game's release in Japan, ''[=ToM=]'' in its original SNES form was finally announced for official release worldwide in English, French, German and Spanish on the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch as part of the ''Collection of Mana''... alongside a full remake being announced for a 2020 release on the Switch, UsefulNotes/Playstation4, and Windows PC.

''Seiken Densetsu 3'' (聖剣伝説３, literally translating as ''Holy Sword Legend 3'', but for whatever reason, English-language media most commonly use the rōmaji used as the title of this article), released in 1995, is the third game in the ''[[VideoGame/WorldOfMana Mana]]'' series and the first one to [[NoExportForYou never make it Stateside]], though fan translations do exist via [[UsefulNotes/{{Emulation}} emulation]]. An official export has been an incessant request from fans for nearly twenty-five years; the 2018 remake of ''VideoGame/SecretOfMana'' has produced renewed hope that Creator/SquareEnix may be planning something similar for this game's twenty-fifth anniversary that may actually, ''finally'' see official release outside Japan.

It plays like a souped-up version of its predecessor, ''Secret of Mana''. The percentage meter, which limited the frequency of melee attacks, is gone. ''[=SoM=]''[='=]s {{charged attack}}s have been replaced by {{Limit Break}}s (or "Techs"). The Tech meter builds with each successful hit on the enemy.

In a departure from the norm, ''[=SD3=]'' revolves around six characters of which any three can make up your party; your first choice determines which of the BigBadEnsemble you eventually take on. Your teammates start the adventure in a default job, but have opportunities to pursue [[BlackAndWhiteMagic Light and Dark]] classes later on. Unlike in most {{Eastern RPG}}s, there are no takebacks, and the fruits of your labor may not become apparent for a while.

The gameplay, music, and graphics are all very highly regarded, with the latter two possessing some of the finest quality the Super Famicom ever produced. ''[=SD3=]'' also has high replay value, since it requires three playthroughs to see even ''most'' of its content, and due to the almost infinite number of parties and class changes (character interactions do change depending upon who's in your party, and the characters who aren't in the party will still appear from time to time as {{NPC}}s), it'll likely take vastly more to see all of it.

While it's not well known to casual gamers due to its lack of an official translation, it's something of an CultClassic among fans of the ''Mana'' series, and it can be found on more than a few "best action [=RPGs=]" lists, particularly those focusing on the 16-bit era.

At E3 2019, it was announced that the game would finally be coming to the West on the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch as ''Trials of Mana''.

** At one point in the game" you need to get some gunpowder to get to your next destination, Valsena (Forcena in the fan translation). The only person who has any is Watts the dwarf, who offers to sell it for an obscene price that you almost certainly can't afford. After you save him from the [[BossBattle boss]] of a dungeon, picking up one of the Spirits you were looking for (and going to Valsena to ask its king about) along the way, he gives it to you as a gift. But if you have managed to kill enough monsters to get the money Watts asks for, you can agree to pay his outrageous price and buy the gunpowder, thus bypassing the dungeon and going straight to Valsena. In that case, the King will direct you to the dungeon you bypassed and tell you about a shortcut to the boss room via a strange statue (which does nothing if you went through the dungeon in the 'normal' way), so you still find the spirit.

* ExclusiveEnemyEquipment: Ultimate equipment, along with the Lv. 3 class changes, only be obtained via "???" seeds dropped by specific enemies. Even if you can't wear it, you can still sell it for mucho dinero.

* MyNameIsQuestionMarks: The ??? seeds needed to outfit your Lv. 3 characters with the best stuff.

* OlderIsBetter: Ancient City Pedda is the best place to shop. Short of the "???" items, their weapons and armor are second to none.

** Assuming he's not in your party, Duran is the one who helps you escape from Jadd prison. Unfortunately, he is a little too slow in boarding the ship to Maia, and is left stranded on the pier. Oops.

* SortingAlgorithmOfEvil:
** In regards to the three final boss monsters, the Dark Lord is widely considered the strongest, the Masked Mage the weakest, and the Dragon Emperor in the middle. This is only subjective. It's a toss-up who is worse: The Satanic body-snatcher who seeks to reclaim the planet for demonkind, or the necromancer who has deemed ''all'' life unworthy of existence. Drakonis is just a warmonger, but he's prophesied by the tablet in Pedda to bring about the end of the world just like the others; presumably, he goes mad after [[DrunkWithPower absorbing too much power]].
** This also applies to the nations each one acts as TheManBehindTheMan for. Despite teaching their forces how to become Berserkers, Dervishes, and Death Hands (essentially ThugDojo grapplers with the kinds of martial arts fantasy you'd find in anime minus overt ki powers and more carnally brtualizing), with the exception of [[ThatOneBoss Lugar]] and the Beast King, Ferolia is [[IneffectualSympatheticVillain absolutely]] [[PokeThePoodle pathetic]] in their application, and especially in their strategy and tactics department (despite some early-game success). Altena, the nation of magic, is much more organized and effective, and poses a bigger threat, and their villainous actions are limited to the assault on Valsena. Now Nevarl's armies of Ninjas... Their footsoldiers show a severe [[CombatPragmatist lack of fair play]] (putting the amazons to sleep rather than engage them directly, a ''crushing'' blow to morale), they slaughter literally ''everyone'' in Laurent castle during their takeover, and the mooks you fight in their areas are among the toughest you'll face, bringing to you a tenacious mix of debilitating damage inducing magic and killer physical prowess on pure skill that overrides the ConservationOfNinjutsu.

In a departure from the norm, ''[=SD3=]'' revolves around six characters of which any three can make up your party; your first choice determines which of the BigBadEnsemble you eventually take on. Your teammates start the adventure in a default job, but have opportunities to pursue [[BlackAndWhiteMagic Light and Dark]] careers later on. Unlike in most {{Eastern RPG}}s, there are no takebacks, and the fruits of your labor may not become apparent for a while.

* SugarApocalypse: The Mana Holyland gets hammered pretty bad. Upon your arrival, the landscape is still verdant, with the only enemies being Rabites. In subsequent visits, Holyland has already begun the wither away, and the wildlife is replaced with creepy Shapeshifters.

* ExposedToTheElements: Your team can go from the Burning Sands (Desert of Scorching Heat in the fan translation) to the Frostbite Fields AKA Sub-Zero Snowfield in the fan translation (and both deserve their names) without so much as a coat. Originally averted as Angela comes close to freezing to death in the latter, but played straight when she can waltz right through it later in the game.

** Duran and Angela: [[spoiler:Dragon Emperor]], a tyrant thought to have been slain by Duran's father, but was just hiding. He's been marshaling his dragon armies to try and take over the world again.
** Hawkeye and Riesz: [[spoiler:Archdemon, AKA Dark Lord]], a Lucifer archetype and prince of the underworld.
** Charlotte and Kevin: [[spoiler:Masked Mage, or rather, Dark Lich]], a fallen cleric who bathed himself in dark magic, losing any semblance of humanity he once had.

In a departure from the norm, ''[=SD3=]'' revolves around six characters of which any three can make up your party; your first choice determines which of the BigBadEnsemble you eventually take on. Your teammates start the adventure in a default job, but have opportunities to pursue [[BlackAndWhiteMagic Light and Dark]] classes later on. Unlike in most {{Eastern RPG}}s, there are no takebacks, and the fruits of your labor may not become apparent for a while.

* BigBadEnsemble: All three potential villains are actively involved in the plot, resulting in a lot of overlap. The battle at the Mana Holyand whittles the rogues gallery down to one: The few remaining stragglers make a final appearance to inform the Mana Knight of what transpired here.

** Is the Amazon princess supposed to be named "Lise", "Liese", "Riese", "Reis", or "Riesz"?[[note]]With every single one of these being ''perfectly valid'' options from various European countries.[[/note]] The world may never know.

** Carlie is "Charlotte" in Japan, changed on the translation for space reasons.
** Similarly, Hawk is "Hawkeye" in Japan, also changed on the translation for space reasons.

** There are fewer special moves (owing to the Lv. 7 percentage meter being replaced with the more streamlined 1-2-3 Tech meter). And the Lv. 3 techs can provoke a nasty response from some enemies, most notably from werewolves and knights.

** Certain sites, such as Path to the Heavens and Valley of Flames, must be revisited in the game's latter half after the party sets out to reap the eight God-Beasts.

* TheRuinsICaused: After you beat Bigieu, her section of the Dark Castle [[LoadBearingBoss collapses]], and the party flees across a connecting bridge to the next tower. If Hawkeye is with you, he'll stand over the gap and announce that vengeance is his at last.

** In addition to Shapeshifters (mostly harmless balls of wax that morph into various monsters), you may encounter their UndergroundMonkey equivalent, Shadow Zero, i.e. the clones of Randi's party that you fought in [=SoM's=] Joch's cave. They'll mimic your class changes along with their special attacks. The problem is that they aren't affected by HealthDamageAsymmetry; their attacks do the same boss-killing damage as yours, to your party's still PC-level hit points. If you have Dark classes in your lineup, and the Zero decides to mimic them (and you didn't bring along any characters who can Silence enemy spells), just flee. You can't win.
** The Zeros do this by copying your current stats. So if you've used a cheat code to make your Strength/Intelligence [[UpToEleven ten times as high as your class can go]], say goodbye to your party.

* RemixedLevel: The Mana Holyland is visited twice. Later on, the path to the Mana Tree is blocked by debris; finding a detour might take a little brainwork.

* TheRuinsICaused: After you beat Bigieu, her section of the Dark Castle collapses, and the party flees across a connecting bridge to the next tower. If Hawkeye is with you, he'll stand over the gap and announce that vengeance is his at last.

* SequelDifficultySpike: This is the hardest of the ''Mana'' games ever. The enemies hit hard and often. In the final dungeons, where no healing statues or merchants are available, you will be forced to fight to your fullest. Fortunately, there is no real item limit (You can only carry nine of an item in battle, but your backpack holds endless reserves), and the merchants at Byzel sell sword/armor buffs in the form of Scales and Claws. A well-stocked team will be prepared for anything.

''Seiken Densetsu 3'' (聖剣伝説３, literally translating as ''Holy Sword Legend 3'', but for whatever reason, English-language media most commonly use the rōmaji used as the title of this article), released in 1995, is the third game in the ''[[VideoGame/WorldOfMana Mana]]'' series and the first one to [[NoExportForYou never make it Stateside]], though fan translations do exist via [[UsefulNotes/{{Emulation}} emulation]]. An official export has been an incessant request from fans for nearly twenty-five years; the 2018 remake of ''VideoGame/SecretOfMana'' has produced renewed hope that Squenix may be planning something similar for this game's twenty-fifth anniversary that may actually, ''finally'' see official release outside Japan.

In a departure from the norm, ''[=SD3=]'' revolves around six characters of which any three can make up your party; your first choice determines which of the BigBadEnsemble you eventually take on. Your teammates start the adventure in a default job, but have opportunities to pursue [[BlackAndWhiteMagic Light and Dark]] classes later on. Unlike in most [[EasternRPG JRPGs]], there are no takebacks, and the fruits of your labor may not become apparent for a while.

* LiteraryAllusionTitle: A few songs that don't have {{Word Salad Title}}s provide possible examples of this, such as "Literature/WhereAngelsFearToTread" and "[[Literature/TheLongGoodbye Long Goodbye]]".

** The Kingdom Laurent, AKA "The Castle That Never Fell." Well, that's tempting fate, isn't it? The Nevarl thieves are too cunning to attack directly, instead spreading a sleeping pollen than puts the Amazons' lights out. The King is struck down in his own throne room without any resistance whatsoever.

** Many of the location names follow this format in the Fan Translation. Castle City Jad ([[SpellMyNameWithAnS officially spelled as]] Jadd), Magic Kingdom Altena, and Sand Fortress Navarre (Nevarl is the official English translation as seen in Heroes of Mana), to name a few. The topographers of this world aren't too creative.

** The Mirage Palace is chock-full of bogus doorways leading to places you've seen before, including the ruins of Astoria with its dead townsfolk left staggering around as ghosts (!). Consequently, this might be the only justified boss rush in the game. (As for Gorva, he's already ghosted, so a little thing like death won't stop him.)

** Let's be blunt: Most of the "good guy" castles (Altena, Valsena, Ferolia, Nevarl, and to a lesser extent Laurent) are a pain in the ass to negotiate in the ''tutorial'', let alone once they fill up with enemies: {{Empty Room Psych}}s, staircases to nowhere, and a forked road to the boss that has a one-in-two chance of bypassing the healing statues entirely. Your lead character is given the opportunity to map out their home base in the prologue; you should take it.

** Bigieu morphs into a big cat when you fight her. Well, why not.

* DarkerAndEdgier: Even for a series whose theme is all about a cute and charming fairy tale aesthetic meshed with very stark and mature story elements, Seiken Densetsu 3 was and is the only installment that marked where the mature elements were at their highest. Human sacrifice? The want of those of the underworld wishing to take over the world of the living? Warfare that veers on near genocide? This isn't even including equipment and spells described in overseas guide books and official materials. A suit of armor made from the bones of demons feared to bite into its user's flesh and turn them into bloodthirsty murderers? A mask reminiscent of serial killers meant to scare and unleash the killing instinct? A skull themed glove with pointy finger claws meant to rip and tear at the head of the opponent? A spear made for obscene amounts of collateral damage and to remind people of the threat of violent giants that once terrorized the world in the past? It's there.
* DealWithTheDevil: The Wizard of the Crimson Lotus offered part of his soul to the Dragon Emperor in exchange for becoming the world's greatest wizard. (Previously, the Wizard of the Crimson Lotus [[FromNobodyToNightmare was a nobody]], just like all the other men in Altena.) The Darkshine Knight did the same thing after falling into a bottomless pit.

** The Kingdom Laurent, AKA "The Castle That Never Fell." Well, that's tempting fate, isn't it? The Nevarl thieves are too cunning to attack directly, instead spreading a sleeping pollen than puts the Amazons' lights out. The King is struck down in his own throne room without any resistance whatsoever!

** Hawkeye and Riesz: [[spoiler:Archdemon, AKA Dark Lord]], a Lucifer archetype and arguably the worst of the whole rotten lot. Owns a sweet castle.
** Charlotte and Kevin: [[spoiler:Masked Mage, or rather, Dark Lich]], a fallen cleric who has bathed himself in dark magic, losing any semblance of humanity he once had.

* MarathonLevel: To reach the final bosses, you must first comb through an alien landscape (Glass Desert for the Emperor, Jungle of Vision for the Mage, and Cave of Darkness for Archdemon), defeat the Dark God-Beast and a sub-boss, scour the dungeons for three past bosses, and then fight the dungeon boss. There are no gold Goddess statues after the first boss (just headless ones... shudder), only a long, hard slog back to civilization if you run out restoratives/MP.

** The Masked Mage is heir to the previous game's Thanatos, with a similar boss form and attack animation (HANDS HANDS GRABBING FROM THE FLOOR). The Lich, along with the Lord, is a recurring villain in the ''Mana'' series.

* OlderIsBetter: Similarly to ''Chrono Trigger'''s 12,000 B.C., Ancient City Pedda is the best place to shop. Short of the "???" items, their weapons and armor are second to none.

** An exploitable GoodBadBug. Using the Chibikko Hammer will make your team miniature, replacing whatever status effect they have, and using it again will invert the miniature status effect turning them to normal.

** All the {{Big Bad}}s lounge around in their hideouts and let their minions do the work -- until they're either killed by one of the other enemy factions or the heroes storming their fortress. In fact, you don't even meet them until you've completed the respective final dungeons.
** The Dark Lord wasn't totally idle behind the scenes though. He's the one who raised the Dark Mana Stone from the Underworld. He also sacrifices his first body to rip open the Holyland entrance. The reason he doesn't confront you is because he's waiting for his cronies to resurrect his form.

** In regards to the three final boss monsters, the Dark Lord is widely considered the strongest, the Masked Mage the weakest, and the Dragon Emperor in the middle. This is only subjective. In a genocide contest, it's a toss-up who is worse: The Satanic body-snatcher who seeks to reclaim the planet for demonkind, or the necromancer who has deemed ''all'' life unworthy of existence. Drakonis is just a warmonger, but he's prophesied by the tablet in Pedda to bring about the end of the world just like the others; presumably, he goes mad after [[DrunkWithPower absorbing too much power]].

* SpeedRun: Taking advantage of several {{Good Bad Bug}}s makes it possible to beat the game in about four hours.

* LateToTheTragedy: The party narrowly misses a clash between the Emperor, Mage, and Lord in the Mana Holyland. It must have been one hell of a fight, as the resulting bloodbath leaves their armies and the Holyland in ruins. Only Deathjester, the Dark Knight, and Bigieu live to tell the tale; Bigieu and the Dark Knight take their own lives as penance, while Deathjester just shrugs and beats a hasty retreat! (Though he admits his chances of escape are slim to none.)