Saturday, May 2, 2020

Trials of Mana, Part 3 - Now You Must Choose

Today on Trials of Mana: Fewer Girls. Even the moon is depressed.

Perhaps the moon knows the secret to the new sound.



Two character intros left to look at. Charlotte is very short, and that's it for her super powers. Well, she can also heal, as we know. Her primary stat is Spirit. She doesn't get a huge Int/Spirit boost like Angela, though, just the one stat. She also physically attacks with all the force of a curtain moving from a breeze.

She's SO ADORB though.

We start with the somewhat heart-breaking scene of her dreaming about her long-gone parents. At least, it would be if every other character hadn't suffered similar fates already. ...and didn't the characters in Secret of Mana all lament their lack of a mother, as well?

...what was going on at Square during this timeframe?

Charlotte's homeland is immediately set apart from the rest of the game for one simple reason: People are actually wearing clothes. No hard ab-sporting midriffs or smooth sexy thighs here.

Maybe that's why this statue is crying. It's the only sexy person in Wendel.

Running around with Charlotte. She's a real munchkin. This is great for people who loved The Sprite. You can basically main a sprite of your own here.

Charlotte GOES OUTSIDE, to the shock and horror of the guards. Well I never! Going outside is more pleasure than we're allowed here in Wendel.

Charlotte's friend schemes with her to get her out of the temple unseen. It involves bouncing off of this giant silicone implant. She'll be gone in no time...wike poof.

She crash-lands, knocking out Kevin in the process.

Later she wakes up, good as new. In the original game she landed on Hawkeye at that point. It must depend on your character choices. Well, glad she's okay. ...how's Kevin doing though? Can we get a camera back there?

RIP Kevin

Lakeside Town Astoria is very Mediterranean-looking. The colors and the art direction of this game are spot-on.

Next stop is Rabite Forest, home to lots of level 1 enemies that are too adorb to fight.

It's Charlotte versus a rabite in an ADORB-OFF. As Charlotte flees in circles from the bouncing menace, who will out-adorb the other?

Noted badass Heath dispatches several beastmen, only to be incapacitated by...

AH! JESUS!

"WHAT ARE YOU??"

In any case, Goremand...who actually looks and acts nothing at all like Thanatos, if he's supposed to be the same guy...kidnaps Heath forever.

Heath wasn't going to be signed by AEW anyway. "F*** Heath, am I right?" said Cody when reached for comment.

That's it for Charlotte's scenario. Poor tyke. I hope she sees her friend Heath again. Out of everyone in this misery-filled game, I think Charlotte is probably the one most likely to have some sort of happy outcome.

Credits roll, as the sexiest woman in the Holy City of Wendel looks on.

Next up is Kevin. With an A in Strength, this guy punches so hard that several brain injuries have been named after him.

...And he's my choice for main character in this run, giving us the same final battles as my neglected Seiken Densetsu 3 run for greater ease of comparison. His only friends on his journey will be two impossibly gorgeous and feminine women. Godspeed.

Goremand is also the villain of this scenario. He buddies up to the King of Ferolia, and of course he's up to no good.

Here's Kevin, chilling with his lawyer.

That's right, Karl's a lawyer. Here in Ferolia, jobs aren't given out on merit.

Kevin argues with his lawyer dog about how he talks. Who are you to doubt Karl??

Time for the game to get depressing again. On the bright side, Kevin's got hella abs...for the ladies.

Karl, of course, turns on his client, and they're forced to battle. It sucks and is awful.

What is with this game?

He returns home to find that everyone's all bloodthirsty and warlike, and his own father doesn't like him any more. This is like somebody's nightmare journal.

Night-time vista. The original version of the game had some really impressive night scenery, and I plan to play a lot of this one at night too. With Kevin as a main, there's a gameplay reason to do that, since he's much stronger at night.

Ludgar is the field marshal of the king, and leads the beastmen in their conquest of nearby towns. No longer will they be relegated to guarding Elinee's Castle!

TODAY, THE DAWN OF THE BEASTMAN BEGINS.

Yeah, Goremand is nothing like Thanatos. While Thanatos was a man in a very menacing costume, Goremand is some kind of weird little imp-clown. There's little resemblance at all. Maybe he's possessed by the original spirit of Thanatos, but he isn't the same character on the surface.

Of course, they set up Karl turning on Kevin because they want to draw out Kevin's latent power.

Kevin confronts them on it and gets thrown out of the castle.

Landing in the woods again, I feel like "Forest of Cutting Shadows" from Chrono Cross should start playing here.

Some really nice art direction here in Duskmoon Forest. It's a good place to practice fighting, gain some levels, etc.

Also makes me weirdly want to play WoW a little more.

Kevin confronts Goremand. They don't fight yet, that'll be later.

The sly Goremand escapes by telling Kevin that he can revive his puppy by going to Wendel. Why do all of the villains in this game act like Pennywise?

Kevin looks like he's about to go Super Saiyan here. He's already got the hair for it. Incidentally, he IS the character who has a more potent second form.

That's it for Kevin's intro. Credits roll, as usual. ...this time we're continuing.

Before we go...these credits show us the beastmen launching their all-out attack on the land...by hitching rides on large birds. Which means that at the very least, they're smarter than the good guys in Lord of the Rings.

While other characters end up in the occupied town of Jadd after their credits, Kevin finds himself in Astoria just before it gets obliterated by the Beastmen. With this imminent invasion on their doorstep, how will he prepare?

"Not interested!" he says. "I just need to get to Wendel to revive this dog!"

sigh


1 comment:

  1. Wike poof!

    Oh yeah, I can see the WoW-ness here.

    Kevin also looks like he's powering up on the reversible cover: https://i.redd.it/7s1fz2t40cn41.png

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