I can agree with that. I might like the music better in SoM though. I havent played SD3 in ages.
Yeah I'll expound a bit
Pros:
-Being able to pick your characters and classes is great, even if some combos can be abused. Lots of cool synergistic group comps, and having 6 possible characters with 4 possible endgame classes each provides lotsa replay value
-TECHS. Full screen techs are the shit
-Boss fights aren't just a shitfest in which you menu-cast your strongest magic ad nauseam. Speaking of boss fights, there're a lot of badass bosses.
-The graphics are pretty impressive. Very detailed backgrounds and sprites
-No timed attacks. I dunno if this should count as a pro because it probably comes down to preference, but I think that the game is much better paced as a button masher with the way the classes and techs work. Secret of Evermore and Mana's combat is fun in a measured, economical sort of way, but playing a level 50 Deathhand in wolf form and watching big numbers pop up all over the place as you decimate rabites and build up your tech bar is just as great
-Storyline can change depending on which party members you choose, which I guess is cool if you're one of those losers that enjoys both generic JRPG plots and choose your own adventure books
-Inventory system that allows you to stockpile items, whereas in Mana you were limited to 9 per
Cons:
-Like Secret of Mana, it suffers from an annoying midgame. Lots of flying around in the shitty open world with a shitty top-down angle, looking for the tiny strip of land that you can land on, with your only guide being the flashing dot indicating the general location of a dungeon. In fact, I think it's even worse than Mana because there is no specific order in which the 8 bosses have to be killed, and since the dots don't disappear after you complete the related dungeon and everything looks the fucking same when you're flying, you'll likely spend a good chunk of time wandering around like a distinguished mentally-challenged kid abandoned in Wal-Mart
-As demi said, the music is generally pretty weak, at least for Square standards
-The menus suck hairy asshole. Dunno why they abandoned ring menus for equipping items in favor of this laggy shit
-Obtaining your desired final classes and the ultimate armor would literally take 10 or so hours of mindless grinding if it weren't for the beauty of save state abuse
Think that covers most of it. I had enough fun with it that I'll play it again as a different character if I can get another friend to control the third character instead of stupid AI. Shame it desyncs in netplay.
Is Sword of Mana worth a play? Did anyone here actually even play Sword of Mana?
