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For some of you, I think this music must bring back memories.
Because most people who tried, or finished this game
still remember it today, even if the game is quite old.
It was released in 1993 in Japan, and in 1994 in Europe.
Secret of Mana, a cult video game, to say the least !
One of the first, if not the first RPG to be released in Europe
and, of course, in France. Fully translated !
Before, there was only Zelda 3 on the Super NES.
But it's not really the same category.
Zelda is more of an adventure game,
while Secret of Mana is a real RPG, with experience points, and everything.
It was a bit of a revolution back in 1994.
Europeans didn't know anything about RPGs, unlike the Japaneses.
Let's zoom out, to show you something.
At that time, the game was sold with a little guide book.
Entirely in French.
We had to have it, since it was sold with every new cartridge.
It wasn't bad. There's a list of items...
and the whole story of the game, quite simply.
Here, you can see all the magic abilities.
With the eight spirits...
The girl's and the sprite's spells...
As you can see, there's a lot of different spells.
What was a bit of a shame, however,
was to have the whole solution in the second part.
This is the entire game's solution.
So, even for those who didn't want to use it...
Well, they still had it. It was imposed to them.
So, it was close at hand, and whenever they got stuck,
they were tempted to open it.
Because everyone had it. Quite simply.
Here's a list of monsters.
All basic ennemies we encounter in the game.
There's two pages like that.
On the next page, it should be a boss list...
There's around thirty, no, forty of them.
With the famous Mana Beast, here.
So !
I'll show you Secret of Mana.
By taking a save I finished the game with.
So, I won't be able to show you the story...
...but instead, I'll show you weapons, and all that stuff.
I'll zoom in again...
Here, for example I'm...
Wait, I'll reduce the volume too...
Alright. As you can see, I'm in a desert zone.
It's not really interesting, so I'll get out of here.
I'll use the game mean of transport. You'll see...
This is the game menu.
A revolution too back then, I'll show you later.
There, the Flammie Drum.
This is the game mean of locomotion.
We get it, I'll say... at mid-game.
First, you have to save this dragon, called Flammie.
Then, later on the game, he offers to join us.
What you see now is the famous Mode 7, from the SNES.
It's kind of a 3D rendering technique.
It's a texture pinned to the ground
rendering a pretty convincing 3D effect, as you can see.
The same system was used for Mario Kart, F-Zero...
There's two viewing modes : here's the second one.
I can show you the Worldmap too.
And show you that...
...the map was very large for a game back then.
It's really huge. There's many continents.
We can travel throughout snow, desert... Forests too, of course.
Also, there's a lot of small islands we can only discover with Flammie.
Now, I wanted to show you the Ice Country
because the music there is absolutely amazing !
If you're familiar to my small videos...
...you'll see I pay special attention to...
Well, if I find the snowy land first...
I pay special attention to, err...
to musics !
For me, a game with bad musics...
Here we are !
Well, most of the time, I won't like that game.
Here, I'm landing.
Still the same music... I probably have to go out.
That was a village.
There's a lot of cities and villages too in this game.
I'll let you listen to the music. I won't speak.
I'll use a spell. One of the first we get.
To get rid off these two clouds...
There we go.
See, I didn't lie about the music. That's some serious stuff !
So !
I'll explain you the battle system.
As you can see, it-it-it-it...
I can do it !
IT'S an action-RPG. Like Zelda.
You can see the drop-down menu is shaped like a circle.
This is great. Here, It's all the usable items I have.
Chocolate restores something like 200, 250 HP.
This allows us to revive a teammate.
Next ones restore HP, MP...
This one's for calling Flammie...
This belt here avoids being changed into Moogles, some game's creatures.
The Barrel is to pass unnoticed, Metal Gear Solid style.
This, is... for curing poison, and all that kind of things.
And the Magic Rope is for going back up to the dungeon's entrance.
That's the weapons.
There are eight different types of weapons.
No more, no less.
But each weapon can be evolved.
For example, the sword which name here is Kora (Dragon Buster)
was first a Rusty Sword, then it became a Broad Sword, etc...
In all, the sword has eight different forms.
We can refine it by talking to a blacksmith
whose name is Watts, if I remember well...
That's it, Watts.
We have to bring him a weapon's orb...
...that we can find in dungeons, or when we kill boss monsters.
Then, we can upgrade a weapon.
It's the same for each weapon. Each one has eight different forms.
Now, in those weapons...
Look on the bottom left corner of the screen.
There's a bar increasing.
One... It's over seven ! Two... Three...
For each level, we can use a special attack.
I'll show you the highest I can do, the seventh one.
The maximum is eight.
I'm only at seven. Look.
I did 610 damage to him, and 613 to his buddy, which is a lot.
The maximum we can do is 999.
Either through magical or physical attacks.
As you can see, each weapon has a power level.
For example, I'll do the level 1.
There. That was a level 1 technique.
The more we fight ennemies with a weapon,
the more it becomes powerful.
I can control the other characters too.
I can play with the girl.
Or, I can play with the sprite.
Knowing that in the beginning, we only play with the boy
and later on the adventure, we meet the girl, then the sprite.
I'm quickening to show and explain you everything.
The boy doesn't have any magic power, but the two others have.
I'll show you that.
It's pretty much the same menu.
We can see items, weapons...
Here you can edit some stuff, see your stats, magic levels, etc...
And here, all the magic powers.
Magic relies in eight spirits we meet during the game.
We start with Undine, here.
Then, it's Salamander... or Sylphid, I don't remember.
Anyway, we get them all by moving to the end.
Also, each spirit gives access to three different spells.
Earlier, I showed you the Earth Slide.
Now, I'll show you another one. If I find some more clouds...
There.
I switch back to our friend...
I'll use, I don't know... Sylphid ?
This is the thunder elemental magic.
There we go.
About the story, now. Since I didn't mention it yet...
Errr... What could I say ?
It's a comprehensive, great story.
Although it's not exceptional, it's classic but great !
What can I tell you about the story... ?
In the beginning, I'm the young boy you see over there
in the upper left of your screen.
So, everything is peaceful in the world, but...
I'll take a sword that I'll find in a forest corner,
take it off its base,
bringing all the game's ennemies to reincarnate into the world.
Because of that sword.
So, because of that, I'll be banished from my village
and I'll have to save the world, finding all the Mana Seeds
to restore world peace.
It's a bit hackneyed, classic, but the story is really well made.
There's a lot of twists and turns,
And there's a lot of various places.
I'll move somewhere else.
We'll take the Flammie Drum again.
It's been awhile since I've played, so...
There.
What can I tell you more ?
Well, the music !
It's exceptional too, since it's Squaresoft.
I forgot to tell you.
It was developed and created by Squaresoft.
Squaresoft, a mythical company whose name is now Square Enix
since they merged with Enix.
But we shouldn't forget what Squaresoft was at that time !
It's not only the Final Fantasy series.
There's a lot of things beside.
One of the best game developping companies back then, anyway.
And still now by the way.
Errr... Well, I'll go there. I don't know at all where I am...
Never mind, I'm landing.
I think this is a village from the beginning.
Maybe he'll tell us ?
No.
Anyway, we can talk to all inhabitants.
There's a dozen of cities and villages.
This guy here should be a vendor, I guess.
In a village...
You see I've got quite a few GPs, Gold Pieces.
Well, let's move out.
So, what did I forget to tell you about this game ?
Why is it so special ?
For two reasons. First, as I told you, it's...
...the first RPG to be released in Europe
so, the first to be released in France, translated in French.
Since Zelda isn't a real RPG, it's the first.
A lot of players still remember this game because of it.
But also because of its atmosphere. It has a magical universe.
It's totally enchanting.
Only a few games have such an universe.
This game looks like a tale.
It's as if we're reading a tale, or a fable.
It's very magical, very enchanting, everything's cute.
But it doesn't mean there's no twists and turns !
It's not because it's cute, enchanting and magical
that the story can't be great as well.
Well, you see, right ?
Now, I don't know what to tell you...
I recommend you to play it, since now, we can find it on emulator.
Well, here I play on a classic Super NES, but it can be found on emulator.
Don't be surprised if I kill each ennemy in one hit.
That's ennemies we find around the beginning of the game.
and I'm currently at the end of it, that's all.
It's that simple.
I'll use the drum again to show you something.
Since I've only one minute left...
Well, that's it...
That's it. I don't know what to add.
I'll go to the game's final dungeon, since it's right here.
If Flammie wants to take off...
Come on !
He doesn't want.
I've got to find it again now...
No ?...
Well, it doesn't matter.
I mainly wanted to show you the game, because
it's the universe which is fabulous.
Enchanting, magical...
It may be words we often say in videogames, but this one...
Why won't he take off ? Never mind...
I hope I've made you want to play this game.
Because it's truly special. Its atmosphere is unique.
That's Secret of Mana.
See you !