Title - "Seiken Densetsu 3"
Alternative title(s) - "Legend of the Mana Sword III"
Genre(s) - Role playing
Platform(s) - Super Famicom
"Seiken Densetsu III" is a 1995 Squaresoft role playing game for the Super Famicom and this was the last "Seiken Densetsu" game to be on a Nintendo system in the 1990’s. "Seiken Densetsu IV" as some people dubbed it/"Legend of Mana" appeared on the Play Station if you don’t know. "Seiken Densetsu III" is set years before "Seiken Densetsu II"/"Secret of Mana". Three sincere groups and three power driven groups are trying to get the ultimate source of mana, the Sword of Mana. It’s up to six young warriors to do whatever it takes to keep the world at peace. It’s a shame this game never reached America and elsewhere.
Well, to begin the game, you have to pick a main character and two partners. You have to pick your main character carefully because you will deal with that character’s quest. The list is down below with stories and scouting reports.
Angela: Angela is a magician from Altena who struggles not only to maintain a relationship with her mother, but to learn magic as well. She is carefree and she will do whatever it takes to get what she wants. As she matures, she becomes a powerful magic caster.
Charlotte/Carlie: Charlotte is a cleric raised in Wendel, a holy city. Not much is known about this character. Her mission is to save a dear friend of hers. She is the best healer of the game and she has the highest spirit rating which means that she can cast spells in an instant and she has the best supporting magic spells as well, but she is the weakest attacker and defender. As for knowing why she is so short, that would be a spoiler.
Riesz/Lise: Riesz is an amazoness from the Wind Kingdom, Rolante. She is out to avenge the death of her father and to figure out what happened to her brother. Of the girls, she’s the most powerful and agile one as well as the most resilient, but she’s the weakest of them all in the magic department. Still, she can work as a fighter and a magician real well and she has balanced statistics. (Like many people, she is my favorite charater.)
Hawkeye/Hawk: Hawkeye is a slick thief from Navarre. However, with some bad luck like attacking a friend under some spell and trying to break another spell in another friend of his, Hawk will do whatever it takes to make his life good again. Besides the fact that he is the best character in terms of luck, an element you should not look over, he’s the most agile character. Plus, of all of the guys, he’s the best in the magic department, but in terms of attack power and defense, he’s the worst here.
Duran: Duran is a fighter from Forcena. He got into some duel with some sorcerer who wiped out Duran’s allies in an instant. Duran believes that sword fighting can triumph over magic and that he can be a fighter as good as those of the past. Of all of the guys, he has the best single swing attack. In other words, when he swings once, it is the most powerful swing of the guys or rather the most powerful swing in the game. More of that will be said later. Other than that, he’s in the middle of pretty much every category.
Kevin: Finally, Kevin is a grappler from the Beast Kingdom. He carries an ability to turn into a werewolf at night. His story is that he wants to avenge the death of his pet. In terms of how the game goes, Hawkeye and Kevin have the ability to strike twice. Now, with this in mind as well as the fact that he is so powerful to begin with, he is the most powerful character of the game and he gets a power boost during the night. He also has the highest defense rating, but the catches for him are the facts that he is the worst character in the magic department and both him and Hawkeye have to be close to the enemy to work to their full potential.
So, select your team and get that sword!
Fun - 9
As you play the game, you develop skills and you pick classes. There are four final classes total: Light-Light, Light-Dark, Dark-Light (which is not the same as Light-Dark) and Dark-Dark. Once you pick a class, you can’t change again. In general, if you go light, you are more defensive, but if you go dark, you are more offensive. Be careful when you pick them because classes do affect a character's arsenal.
Now, yes, the game is fun. Actually, the score shown here can vary. It depends on the characters you pick as a team and their classes. I am not going to say what is the best group.
Personally, the game is more fun if you play as the girls than the guys. Plus, in my opinion, playing as the girls makes the game a bit more smooth than rough. I may be biased since I prefer magic to power, but even if I hadn’t said that, you have to remember that the girls have a lot of spells to help each other out and that if you play as the guys, you have to rely on power and it is harder to support your partners as you control one character. It’s a matter of choice. We all have our favorite choices.
There are many factors that make the game interesting. We have team combinations. We have a day system, which I really like. We have silly, but spiffy ways of traveling. The challenge is just right. The game is really innovative.
To be honest, there are not many flaws. If any, the only flaws I can find lie within the characters themselves. There are times I wished Angela or Riesz had the ability to heal. There are times I wished Hawkeye had a little more pop in his single swings. Other than that, there is not much else to complain about.
Life - 10
With six characters, that equals 120 team combinations. Add that with four final classes. How is that for this category?
Story - 8
This category depends on the character. While some characters have nice and touching stories like Hawkeye’s and Riesz’s, some of the others don’t stand out as much. The general story is a story we keep hearing over and over again, but you shouldn’t be that concerned about it.
Control - 10
There are advanced tactics and basic tactics. The basics are A to attack/accept, B to use battle techniques once your power bar is at a certain level/cancel/run, X to bring up the menu, and so forth. The advanced tricks will take time to practice with, but you should be fine.
Audio - 10
Well, you do hear music from the past "Seiken Densetsu" games. That’s good. Kikuta Hiroki-san can make some decent music. I especially love the theme of the Mana Holyland. It’s so scary, yet it sounds cool at the same time. Yeah, he is no Uematsu Nobuo-san, and yeah, the music is not as great as say Final Fantasy VI, but at least it is solid. The sound effects are there and they stand out. Hear the cracks of the lightning spells or the swings of the weapons and you have nice sound effects. Again, there is not much to complain from here.
Art - 10
The game looks pretty good. I have to say that it definitely looks better than II. You have the usual anime art. I like the spells. The sprites really, really look that darn good. You have the same "Seiken Densetsu" feel.
Overall - 9
Is it a very good game? Yes. Is it the best "Seiken Densetsu" game? That depends on what are you looking for. Is it flawless as some people say? No.
If you’re wondering why this game never made it to America, I believe it is either because of market decisions, some technical problems (as I once heard a while back) or both. Despite all of this, you should play this game. Forget about the flaws people say. Play this game. It has so many interesting elements and you will have fun with "Seiken Densetsu III" for a long time.
+
The amount of innovation, the amount of fun, it still has the same "Seiken Densetsu" feel.
-
Stories from some of the characters are not that great and I wish some characters did have extra abilities.
Date of creation - 8/5/03
Last update - 8/3/04