A must play for fans of the Action/RPG genre. Truely sad that the best Seiken Densetsu game didn't make it overseas.
------------
Where do I begin? Well, for starters, this game didn't make the cut for the last Super Nintendo games released in North America. Like Tales of Phantasia, it was previewed in Nintendo Power, and was even in progress of being translated. To drop such a project when they were already so far into it is a shame and a grave mistake. Let me tell you why.
Seiken Densetsu 3 is not a direct sequel to Seiken Densetsu 2 (Secret of Mana, for those who aren't familiar). It's a prequel that happens thousands of years before the events in Seiken Densetsu 2. The Magic Kingdom Altena, the Navarre Raiders and the Beast Kingdom are fighting to gain control of the Mana Stones, release the terrible power of the God-Beasts trapped within them and obtain the legendary Mana Sword, known to bring power surpassing even that of the gods. Where do you come in? Well, that's the interesting part. Depending on what character you choose as your main character, the story can have one of three different variations, and I don't just mean in the dialogue. Events, bosses, important characters, items, areas you go to and the last boss are different in each of these story lines.
Characters: 10/10
-----------------
When you start a game, you get to choose your party before the story even starts! There are four physical characters (Duran, Kevin, Hawkeye and Riesz) and two magic users (Angela and Charlotte) to choose from. Though the fighters also get magic, it's not their main weapon (usually) and they tend to rely on a combination of strength and supportive magic, whereas Angela and Charlotte are much weaker, but have an array of damaging spells (Angela), and supportive skills and summons (Charlotte) to assist your party with. Once you've chosen your characters, you'll be taken into the story of the main character, and will meet up with the other two shortly.
The characters all have very different personalities. You won't find any copy traits here! All of the characters are really believable without being too ordinary or overly angsty. Each of them grows in their own way throughout the game, and as a bonus you even get to meet the 3 characters that you didn't choose within the course of the story!
Gameplay: 10/10
----------------
You're free to move around in battle and have access to a window that pauses time (X button), and allows you to use items or magic. You can have up to 9 of each item, and 10 separate items in your item circle at a time. If you Press L or R from here, you can access the other characters' respective windows. This is the only way to use their magic, as they won't cast it on their own. Secondly, pressing Select will let you switch between the character you control in battle. Attacking the enemies is as simple as pressing the A button when at close range. Every time you land a hit, the little bar by your character icon will fill up. Once it starts flash you can use a tech, which does more damage than your normal attacks. With every class change, you’ll get another tech which can be used if you build your bar up to the next colour. Each character has a variety of techs that they can learn depending on what classes you choose for them. Getting used to the battle system (specifically the menu swapping) can take a little while, but it's simple once you get the controls down. An important thing to remember is that you cannot access your menu (Y) or your item storage (Start) while there are monsters on the map.
Difficulty: 10/10
----------------
While the game starts off pretty easy, it can get pretty hard. While enemies use skills you won't be able to access your item/magic rings, and if a character is busy (performing a tech or hitting the enemy) you won't be able to access their rings. This often gets you into dangerous binds and adds thrill to the battles. At some parts in the game, the normal enemies will feel like bosses! They also fit your level consistently, so over-training won't do you much good by the time you get to the next area. Also, depending on your main character, certain parts of the game may be more difficult than others.
Graphics: 10/10
---------------
The graphics are simply... amazing for the Super Nintendo. The backgrounds and locations are intricate and beautiful, like the Seiken Densetsu series is meant to be. The world map is a large improvement on Seiken Densetsu 2’s (even Flammie), sporting more details and smoother movement. The character sprites are lovely, as are the enemies, but the real masterpiece is the boss sprites (and the detail shots of Flammie you get when you fight one of them!). Don’t be surprised if you find yourself gawking at how some of these babies look. There's no pixilated enlargements here (except for one of the Great Rabite's skill animations), just wonderful sprite work. The spells are animated nicely, and have a more extravagant animation if you target all of the enemies. Anyone who doesn't give this game a graphic rating of 10 is probably chasing their marbles all over the floor as I type this.
Sound: 8/10
------------
Next comes the sound. The music is catchy, fun, sad, foreboding, and mischievous all at the same time. Unfortunately, a few of the sound effects are hard on the ears (many coming from offensive spells), and some of the tracks will start to drive you insane if you're stuck in an area for too long. The music sound quality is much better than the few unforgivable sound effects, and easily beats that of some early Playstation soundtracks that will remain unnamed. I give the sound 8/10, the only thing that keeps me from giving this game a perfect mark.
Replay Value: 10/10
-------------------
Seiken Densetsu 3 has an incredible amount of replay value for an RPG, especially for it's time. Aside from the plot, character and boss variations, each character can change classes twice in the game, with a total of 6 possible classes per person. There are no repeating classes, they are all unique to their characters, so there's a whopping total of 24 different final classes you could wind up with! So not only would you have to go through the game three times to get all of the different stories, you'd have to go through the game 8 times to be able to use every class. Wow! You'll want to go through the game with every character, otherwise you'll never know the full scoop on the other 3 characters. Also, there's a special optional boss that is harder than all three of the last bosses called the Black Rabite. You can only challenge this boss if you have Duran or Angela as your main character (because the other characters don't go to the Glass Desert or the Dragon's Hole), and it has been labeled as one of the hardest optional bosses on the whole console! How's that for replay value?
Conclusion
-----------
If you haven't played this game already, you probably should (unless you don't like RPGs). Though it never hit North American shores, a wonderful man by the name of Neill Corlett (and friends) finished translating it in 2000, so you don't have an excuse if you can't understand the original Japanese! The translation is one of the best unofficial translations for a game I've seen, and definitely worth your time.
I hope my review has helped you if you've never played the game and were looking for an introduction to a great Action/RPG classic!
Note: Riesz and Charlotte were changed to Lise and Carlie in the translation. I prefer the original names so I use them. While I understand the change to Lise, Carlie just baffles me (other than insufficient naming space).