Seiken Densetsu 3 (1995) [SFC]

“The good ole days weren’t always good, and tomorrow ain’t as bad as it seems”
-Billy Joel

Importing games from other regions has always been a dream of mine. Especially when it comes to those elusive titles that were previously unavailable in my own region. Truthfully, it’s thrilling to hold one of these “rarities” in my hands that, until this very moment, was out of reach. That, and finally being able to play a game from a far off and mysterious time and place, just makes me giddy!

But then, as was the case with my recent playthrough of Seiken Densetsu 3, I start to ask questions. Questions like, why wasn’t it localized in the prime of its availability and is it actually worth going out of your way to give it a try? I mean, it seems odd, doesn’t it? A sequel to a coveted RPG like Secret of Mana should almost be a shoe in! Right?

Unfortunately though, due to the necessity of costly bug fixes and a shift in focus to the 32bit line of consoles, Seiken Densetsu 3 never saw the light of day, in an official capacity, outside of Japan. Until relatively recently, that is. A group of passionate and talented fans were too impatient to wait the 25 years it took Square to localize the game! No, they wanted to play it now! So, they banded together, and by 1999 their collective efforts bore fruit with an unofficial fan translation that could be patched on top of an existing Seiken Densetsu 3 ROM!

And like the passionate fans that came before me, I was too impatient to wait for Square to release their official localization found in the Collection of Mana. I needed to know whether or not it was truly worth checking out. Besides, it was so much cooler to import the game, drool over the physical cart and flip through the manual (which I couldn’t read a word of). That, and I got to play the original “untouched” version of the game, before Square got their grubby “enhancement” hands all over it! *winky face*

 Narrative: 5/10

In Seiken Densetsu 3, you follow the stories of six different characters and depending on which you choose as the “primary” protagonist, you’ll be entered into one of three main story arcs. Although each arc has its own distinct plotline, and each character will have their own personal beginning and ending sequences, most of the story beats will remain the same in the beginning half of the game. Of course, depending on the party members you choose, you’ll also encounter unique dialog trees and the occasional event, which does give the story some variety. Eventually, all three story arcs will converge into the main plotline where you’ll be tasked with seeking out and claiming the legendary Mana Sword in order to prevent the destruction of the world and the reemergence of the “God Beasts”, who have been, up until this point, conveniently sealed away within the eight Mana Stones scattered throughout the world.

Truthfully, branching stories like those found in Seiken Densetsu 3, are a fascinating way to learn about the characters in a game and what drives them toward the end goal! It also reinforces a player’s desire to revisit the game and experience it from different perspectives. However, I do feel that the narrative as a whole suffered because of it. I felt I lacked the emotional investment for each character and that ultimately left me feeling impartial to their quests since the story was so fragmented. Sure, I would get the whole scope on my main character, but the supporting characters got left by the wayside, leaving me with unanswered questions! Instead, I would have had to replay the whole game at least 3 more times to get the whole story.

That being said, the story does eventually unfold and each character shifts their focus on a primary objective, granting Seiken Densetsu 3 a much more focused narrative. But that doesn’t happen until about three quarters through the game. Up until that point, I felt I was just playing the game to progress the story forward and see all the sights, instead of becoming immersed and enjoying the story for the sake of its narrative and what it was trying to communicate.

Nonetheless, as a vehicle for the gameplay, it did motivate me and set me on a path to explore each of the scenarios, but beyond its gameplay utility, I was unfortunately unimpressed. Until the end that is. Which honestly, is a long time to wait for the game to “get good”.

Visuals: 7/10

One thing that Square has always been good about is stretching the graphical capabilities of the consoles they develop their games for. And when it comes to Seiken Densetsu 3, that fact rings true in every sense. In fact, I’d say that it’s probably one of the most graphically impressive games on the Super Famicom. It’s colorful, vibrant, has exquisitely detailed sprites and backgrounds, and utilizes the divisive Mode 7 graphics mode tastefully and effectively. Combined with all of the other aspects of the game, the visuals truly create a cohesive, lush and fantastical world that’s a joy to observe.

With that in mind, I’ve always had a love/hate relationship with the art direction in the Mana games. On one hand, it’s cute and cheerful, and really adds to the fairytale aesthetic found throughout the series. I find myself immersed in the lively palette choices, the truly stunning boss designs and expertly executed visual effects. But on the other hand, at times, it feels at odds with the tone of the game, especially when it starts to get grim. I mean, it’s hard to take a bad guy seriously, when a cute yellow bunny hops on by in the background. But my biggest gripe is the overly embellished character and environmental designs. Which on the surface is impressive, but ultimately impractical. 

The characters are so elaborate and exaggerated, full of bibs and bobs, that it can be hard to parse what you’re looking at. Now, while playing the game, these details within the sprites are toned down, but not so much when it comes to the environments. Truth be told, from a gameplay perspective, this causes an issue because it can sometimes be difficult to distinguish the background from an interactive object such as a cave entrance. I’ll tell you one thing, it never feels good to wander around for 45 minutes, only to find out that you were passing by the exit this whole time.

Traipsing around trying to find your way home wasn’t the only detriment to Seiken Densetsu 3’s user experience either. Unfortunately, the menu systems, a staple in any RPG, were also plagued with a relatively unintuitive design. Now, normally I wouldn’t harp too much about such a thing, but the second I pulled up the menu to equip a new item or look at my characters’ stats, it wasn’t immediately apparent what each facet of the menu was used for. This, along with a serious drop in performance and responsiveness, made doing the simplest tasks a challenge and I dreaded ever having to use it. Even 10s of hours later.

 Audio: 7/10

The magic Square was able to pull off visually during the 16bit era wasn’t the only thing that kept us coming back to play their games. Actually, for those of us who consider themselves “Square Aficionados”, I’d say the one thing that has stuck with us for years was their soundtracks!

As far as SNES soundtracks go, I’d say that Seiken Densetsu 3’s is up there with many of the best – quality-wise. The tracks range from fun, upbeat and colorful, much like the graphics, to urgent and imposing, which is very consistent across many of the other Mana games. But I wouldn’t say that the composition of these tracks were quite as memorable as those found in Seiken Densetsu 3’s 16bit brethren like Final Fantasy VI or Chrono Trigger.  

In spite of that, it’s a pleasant soundtrack to listen to, even outside of the game, but it does have its issues. Like the graphics, the storyline, and dialog, Seiken Densetsu 3’s soundtrack felt detached at times. Especially when it was trying to reinforce a more dire situation. Although it was never at odds with whatever scenarios were playing out, I don’t think it really hammered home the distress we were supposed to be feeling.

I’m torn on this though, because when listening to the soundtrack outside of the game, I get a greater feeling of what each track was supposed to represent. Maybe it was just the combination of the awkward dialog and the graphics being at odds with the emotions of the scene that made it feel misaligned.

 Gameplay: 6/10

Music and visuals are good and all, but you may be asking, how is the moment to moment action in Seiken Densetsu 3? I mean it’s a JRPG from the JRPG kings of the 16bit era, so that’s all that needs to be said right? Well, unlike many of Squares’ releases at the time, which primarily focused on turn-based combat, Seiken Densetsu 3 is a much more free-roaming Action RPG. Similar to some of their other releases in the same vein like its predecessor Secret of Mana (Seiken Densetsu 2) and the black sheep of the bunch, Secret of Evermore.

So, instead of having random encounters, entering dedicated battle screens and taking turns with the enemies unleashing attacks, you’ll instead be able to move freely during encounters and attack enemies similarly to how you would in something like a Zelda game. Battles would then be activated by touching an enemy, which you can see roaming around on the map.

Like Secret of Mana, items or abilities are used by activating the item/ability wheel. This will freeze time and give you the chance to select which you would like to use. You’ll need to be careful, however, because each item/ability will have a set time to activate, leaving you open to enemy attacks and at risk of being interrupted. Unlike Secret of Mana though, you no longer have a stamina gauge. Instead, your attacks are put on a temporary cool down, so knowing your attack timings becomes crucial.

Eventually, you’ll also unlock special abilities for each of your characters, which consumes a power gauge and will allow you to unleash devastating attacks and/or support magic to aid you in battle. The abilities available to you are determined by your character’s class, as well as which upgrade paths you follow, later in the game. Luckily, you won’t have to constantly micromanage your party members while in combat, instead they’re controlled by the AI and behave based on a few simple directives, such as attacking the same enemies as you, supporting other party members and their power gauge utilization. However, if needed you’re still able to switch to those characters for more direct control. Which is definitely necessary at times and more than a little useful!

Without taking into account the fact that the movement and attacks feel sluggish, imprecise and unresponsive at times, this whole setup works pretty well. It can be frustrating when enemies are able to interrupt you, especially when trying to heal a partner, but learning how and when to keep your distance is just a part of the learning curve. Further, since your attack range is on the short side you’ll find yourself in the line of fire much more often than you would want. Meaning you’ll be trying to pull off those moves at an increased rate, upping your chance of running into those frustrations. Then when it comes to using your abilities and items, having to pull up the item/ability wheel can be a bit cumbersome and interrupts the flow of battle. Not to mention the need to switch between characters to use specific abilities, like for example, your healing magic. It honestly would have been really nice to have some sort of shortcut option for those types of things. And you’ll really feel it during the hectic boss fights and it hampered my desire to experiment with each character’s abilities, which is unfortunate because that’s usually the best part of playing an RPG.

Be that as it may, two of my favorite mechanics in Seiken Densetsu 3 would have to be the class upgrade system (briefly mentioned earlier) and the daily cycles. When it comes to the class system, once you reach a certain point in the game, acquire specific items and reach the designated level thresholds, each of your characters are able to change or upgrade their class up to two times. In each instance, you’ll be able to choose from the dark form or the light form of that class.

There are of course pros and cons to choosing either side, but one thing that’s consistent about each class change is that it’ll increase your maximum stat levels and you’ll learn newer, stronger abilities! Oh and your costume will change. And if I’m going to be perfectly honest, being able to change a character’s costume may be my weakness in any type of game!

Then there are the “daily cycles” which are actually split into two categorical features. For one, the day and night cycle, which affects the events you have access to in both the field and within towns, along with the enemies you’ll be able to fight during each phase. Then there are the daily elemental cycles, which changes with each day of the week. So, each day is then associated with an elemental spirit and on those days that element will be slightly more effective. It’s subtle, but I found that it made your treks out into the wild more dynamic. Meaning, you would have to think more strategically before entering an area where the enemies primarily use that element. For example, you probably wouldn’t want to go into a volcano during the fire elemental day without equipping some fire resistance first!

 Accessibility: 5/10

Gameplay mechanics aside, the unspoken hero of many games is intuitive design. I mean if done wrong, it stands out like a sore thumb, but if done right, no one is the wiser because it just works. In Seiken Densetsu 3’s case, it does a great job of orienting new players, despite it being a 25+-year-old game. And I would attribute that to the simplicity of the controls and the relatively intuitive combat and gameplay loop. Making it a very easy and straightforward game to pick up and play.

Even though there isn’t any explicit tutorialization, I found it easy to learn by simply playing around with the controls. Of course, I do have years of experience with these types of games, but I would imagine that since there isn’t much complexity in the gameplay, even unseasoned JRPGers would quickly adjust. Honestly, the manual probably would have helped a lot as well, if I could read Japanese, but even without it, the onboarding process was very self-explanatory.

Like I mentioned earlier, where I do find the game suffers, and I could see many players somewhat struggling, would be with the readability of the graphics. Although the characters are bright and stand out from the backgrounds, and you typically know where you’re being attacked from, when it comes to navigating the world, important details can be obscured or blend into the environments making them hard to find. Coupled with vague mission objectives and no world map to reference, finding your goal can sometimes be a struggle. You’ll find yourself wandering between towns talking to people in hopes to get clues as to where you are and where you need to be. A quest log would have been very helpful, or even markers highlighting points of interest on the world map.

 Replayability: 6/10

Frankly, major and even minor accessibility issues in a game can hinder your motivation to complete your initial playthrough, let alone picking the game back up again. However, many of these things become non-issues when you have prior knowledge of how things work and where things are. So then it’s up to the designers to incentivize a player to come back and play their game again and again. 

When considering if I would come back and play Seiken Densetsu 3 for a second or even third time, its inclusion of multiple characters with branching stories had me intrigued. From that standpoint, it inherently adds replayability. I mean, I was tempted to see how each of the storylines would play out from the perspective of each character and how their dialog would change. Not to mention the mechanical differences of how each of the characters played. Having at least one healer on my team next time would probably be my first order of business in a second playthrough, that’s for sure!

Unfortunately, it was the length of the game that had me doubting it, along with my overall lukewarm reception to the story as a whole and the gameplay mechanics. True, I would get to see slightly different outcomes, and maybe those characters would resonate with me more, but I also dreaded slogging through another 30+ hours. Though, with some time between my previous completion and a new playthrough, I could see myself coming back to it just out of curiosity. But the hardest part will be giving up the characters I’ve grown attached to. With a main story that’s already lacking, in my eyes, the motivation to play again just isn’t there. Not yet anyway.

One saving grace that Seiken Densetsu 3 has, however, and that could inspire you to come back to it, is that like Secret of Mana, it features a multiplayer mode where the second player can take control of one of the other party members. This in turn could help with some of the mundane tasks such as repeatedly exploring the same areas and/or grinding for materials, making them much more fun! Because sharing in an experience, even when it’s a grind, is always a blast!

 Challenge: 7/10

Another factor that can affect replayability in a game is its challenge. Make the game too difficult or too easy and a player’s interest will eventually wane. Really it’s the balance of tough but fair that quenches our gaming thirst! 

For the most part, the challenge level in Seiken Densetsu 3 was balanced and relatively fair, though your party composition can greatly skew this. For example, due to not having a healer in the party I used in my recent playthrough, I had to juggle using items much more often. That meant I had to make more frequent trips to the surrounding towns to restock. Which also meant I had to grind much more often for money and supplies.

It wasn’t that fact alone that increased the challenge for me though, it was actually the limit on the healing items I could hold at once. If for example, I was in a tough battle with a boss or a group of higher-level enemies, and ran out of healing items, I was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Honestly, it could even make trivial fights harrowing if I was running low on supplies! Of course, I dug my own grave when selecting my party, and this minor difficulty spike can be mitigated simply by recruiting a healer, but a little more clarity regarding each character’s roles and the types of abilities they would have eventually learned would have been useful. 

Apart from party composition, the level of your characters and whether or not you’re playing multiplayer can affect how tough of a time you have while playing Seiken Densetsu 3. I mean, if you go into a fight under-leveled or under-equipped, it’s expected you’ll have a hard time, but in many cases a bit of grinding can fix that. Truly, the beauty and downfall of RPGs is that it’s really on the player’s shoulders how much time they want to invest and how much of a challenge they’re willing to put up with by leveling up, buying equipment, etc. In the case of multiplayer, having a partner to be able to distract enemies while you cast spells or use items is a great way to thin that difficulty out. Especially when those enemies have a tendency to spam their high-powered magical abilities, not giving you a chance to react!

 My Personal Grade: 7/10

So, here we are! My odyssey, filled with this Super Famicom import and all the nostalgia feels I could handle, is complete. At least for now, and I gotta say, so far what I’m seeing is that the late 16bit Squaresoft certainly had its ups and downs. However, in many cases, the games we did get here in the West were superb examples of the genius Square was able to employ when it came to developing polished and memorable RPGs.

On the flip side, in my experience, the games that never made it to the West, especially those near the end of the SNES lifecycle, felt less impactful. Almost like the company had already moved on to bigger and better things. And that was the exact feeling I experienced when playing Seiken Densetsu 3. While it did have a lot of heart, I felt the execution just wasn’t there. Sure, Square would still go on to release truly memorable games in the next year following its launch, but I can almost see why they didn’t want to take the chance, fix those bugs and localize it. Or maybe it was just because all of their talent was focused on other games.

That’s not to say that these games weren’t good though! In fact, Seiken Densetsu 3, despite its quirks and flaws, was an enjoyable playthrough. And in my mind, it’s more than just a curiosity that never left Japan. Certainly, it was not as memorable as its stepbrother Chrono Trigger or the usurper Super Mario RPG, but it definitely had its merits and it’s absolutely worth a play! Especially, since it has become much easier to acquire and play with an official localization found in the Collection of Mana.

Aggregated Score: 6.3

The Danmaku Mage lives out his days swimming through a perpetually growing backlog, writing an odd article or two and creating videos in order to share his and his wife’s odyssey as they shrink down that behemoth, one game at a time. You can find him on Twitter @BacklogOdyssey or join his journey at www.backlogodyssey.com.

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