Introduction

If you haven't played it, it's new to you. Well, maybe that'd be more true if this wasn't such a well known fan translation we were playing here, but humor me. This is my first LP, and I'm drunk with power.


Fig 1: Drunk with Power.

So let's do it! Let's Play:


Moonspeak Translation: Seiken Densetsu 3

What's the Deal Here?
Seiken Densetsu 3 (Unofficially known as Secret of Mana 2), dropped on September 30th, 1995 in Japan. It was warmly received by fans and critics, who lauded it for its deep character progression system, the endless amount of character and class combinations available, nifty features like day/night cycles and a calendar that actually has an impact on gameplay from day to day and an exceptionally long story that actually has replay value.

Pretty cool, huh? Unfortunately, it was not released in North America or Europe.

There's a few possible reasons floating around as to why SD3 never jumped to Pacific to our golden shores. Some say Square's US devteam wanted to concentrate more on creating Secret of Evermore (not a bad game by any stretch; it's actually quite underrated) rather than translating SD3. Others say that Square had the official translation and localization under way when they decided to shift focus to the Super Mario RPG... tough call on that decision. WE CAN'T HAVE NICE THINGS.

Fortunately for us, the oddly named Neill Corlett (yes, two Ls) released a very solid English language translation of SD3 in 2000, allowing all of us filthy, milky white gaijin the chance to play this totally wicked awesome game. Thank you very much Neillllllllll.

What? A Customizable Party? Separate Storlines??
Yes, you heard that right. There are 6 characters in this game, but like Secret of Mana, you can only have a party of 3. You select your party at the beginning of a new game, and because each character has their own storyline and 7 total possible playable classes, this makes for a metric fuckton of replayability. Basically put, Seiken Densetsu 3 is ballin'


Fig 2: Ballin'. Not Pictured- Shot Callin'.

Who are these wacky characters? Proper introductions are in order.


_{she must get cold}

Angela is SD3's best offensive spellcaster, in addition to also being the game's requisite pretty, pretty princess. She hails from Althena, a nation far too cold for her to be wearing a Baywatch one-piece and can be viewed as sort of a prototype to Garnet in FF9; she's royalty with magical powers and an evil mother that wants to waste her for her own gain. Except replace the trademark Final Fantasy female protagonist meekness with 100% pure sassypants.


_{hungry like the wolf}

Duran is the game's best MC main tank meatshield, packing a shield (at least with his Light classes) in addition to the thickest armor in the game. He's a mercenary soldier in the employ of the grasslands nation of Forcena and is pretty much like every jRPG male protagonist: an orphan, armed with a sword, striving to be the best warrior in the world. Unlike other jRPG male protagonists, though, he's doing what he does for the sake of revenge. Duran is kind of a jerk, actually.


_{steven segal ponytail detected}

Hawk/Hawkeye is a somewhat androgynous thief from the desert fortress of Navarre. He's on the lam from his people; as you might expect, it takes a long story to be declared an outlaw by a bunch of brigands. He enjoys long walks on the beach, fine wines, petty theft and dishing up DPS like a motherfucker. Yes, even before the days of WoW, Hawk was a prime example of Rogues being overpowered... just so long as he's not put in the Ranger class. Seriously, fuck you if you make me play with Ranger Hawk.


_{not a furry}

Kevin is a half human, half beastman, hailing from the creatively named Beast Kingdom. Cast out of his home by his evil dick father and forced to kill his friend, a wolf cub named Carl, by a psychotic jester ( ), Kevin sets out on a path to revenge. Kevin is a fucking damage MONSTER. Like Hawk, he attacks twice instead of a single swing. Unlike Hawk, when night falls, Kevin turns into a werewolf and his strength shoots through the roof. Despite talking like a nimrod, Kevin is .


_{no comment}

Carlie/Charlotte is a young priestess of Wendel, or as she'd rather refer to her self, the 'cute little girl that lives in Wendel' . Her caretaker, an older cleric by the name of Heath, has been kidnapped by the same evil, psychotic jester as in Kevin's story. She sets out to get her friend back and reap some bloody clown murder. Carlie is a cleric, and as such heals stuff. She's immensely useful in the early game because of her Heal Light spell, and late game, she can wreck some serious shit if built properly. She will crush you with the weight of her saccharine cuteness and see you driven beneath her widdle feet.


_{half human, half stilt}

Lise is an amazon soldier from the wind kingdom of Rolente, and one of the survivors of a massive clusterfuck insurrection caused by a pair of ninjas ( ) named Bill and Ben ( ). With her brother made a traitor and her king dead, Lise sets out on a quest to make the wrong things right and liquidate everyone who has ever made fun of her overlong legs. She has excellent reach with her spears and can be exceptionally useful with some of her classes- some allow her a full suite of debuff spells, others allow her some awesome summoning spells. She's a pretty cool character, I guess.


The game also features a giant turtle in swimmer's goggles that you ride as transportation. His name is Booskaboo.


_{I don't get the goggles, personally}

I will be joined by my colleague and fellow scholar of games Doran Blackdawn for this playthrough. Unfortunately, for some inexplicable reason, this game is only 2-player, despite having three usable characters. I have no clue why this is.


Wicked Awesome Thread Bonus Plunder... Things:

A Really Cool Medley of Some of SD3's Better Music Tracks by Blinn. The goon, I mean; not the shader.

Table of Content

One: In Which Dr. Destructo is Foiled by Locked Doors and an Unfamiliar Opening Segment!	Google Video	Download AVI
Two: Squashing Rabites, Kicking Mushrooms	Google Video	Download AVI
Three: Insert Crabs Joke Here	Google Video	Download AVI
Four: Trees, Caves, Cannons, Robots	Google Video	Download AVI
Five: Hawk, Thief, Cancels Get Gunpowder: Interrupted by Giant Wombat	Google Video	Download AVI
Six: Silliest Invasion Force Ever.	Google Video	Download AVI
Seven: And We Are Again Fired Out of a Cannon	Google Video	Download AVI
Eight: Getting Strung Around by the Antics of Little People	Google Video	Download AVI
Nine: Now THAT is How You Kill a Boss	Google Video	Download AVI
Ten: Poppies Will Make You Sleeeeeeeeep	Google Video	Download AVI
Eleven: And We Would've Gotten Away With It, Were It Not for That Meddling Darkness Spirit	Google Video	Download AVI
Twelve: Booskaboo- Big Time Payoff for a Thread Title	Google Video	Download AVI
Thirteen: We're Gonna Need a Montage to Change Our Classes	Google Video	Download AVI
Fourteen: Operation Desert Gank	Google Video	Download AVI
Fifteen: We Are So Lost	Google Video	Download AVI
Sixteen: Again With the Robots. Always With the Robots	Google Video	Download AVI
Seventeen: Stumbling Around in the Dark and the Power's Not Even Out	Google Video	Download AVI
Eighteen: I Don't Even Know What to Call This	Google Video	Download AVI
Nineteen: WE ARE BEING ATTACKED BY BUNNY RABBITS!	Google Video	Download AVI
Twenty: On a Whim, We Decide to Kill a God	Google Video	Download AVI
Twenty One: "Oh Sweet Jimminy, No."	Google Video	Download AVI
Twenty Two: Kinda Like Ishtar, But With Lots and Lots of Talking Instead of None	Google Video	Download AVI
Twenty Three: Still Criminally Incompitent	Google Video	Download AVI
Twenty Four: RAPE RAPE RAPE	Google Video	Download AVI
Twenty Five: The Earth Beast is an Unbelievable Chump	Google Video	Download AVI
Twenty Six: That Thing Does Not Look Holy in the Slightest	Google Video	Download AVI
Twenty Seven: And I Didn't Even Make That "PAUL IS NOT PAUL ANYMORE!" Joke I Wanted To	Google Video	Download AVI
Twenty Eight: Smashing Pumpkins	Google Video	Download AVI
Twenty Nine: Deeee-Luxe Apartment in the Mana Holy Land	Google Video	Download AVI
Thirty: God-Beast Genocide Complete!	Google Video	Download AVI
Thirty One: Don't Tell Me You Didn't See That Joke Coming	Google Video	Download AVI
Thirty Two: CRUSH THE WILLOWY EFFEMINATE GOTH	Google Video	Download AVI
Thirty Three: Little Do We Know...	Google Video	Download AVI
Thirty Four: ...What We're Getting Into...	Google Video	Download AVI
Thirty Five: ...Is Very, VERY...	Google Video	Download AVI
Thirty Six: ...PAINFUL.	Google Video	Download AVI
Thirty Seven: Is This Us Standing Atop the Mountain?	Google Video	Download AVI
Thirty Eight: Back to the Mana Holy Land, Battling Jihadist Shapeshifters	Google Video	Download AVI
Thirty Nine: It's Afraid... IT'S AFRAAAAAID!	Google Video	Download AVI
Fourty: Spoilerz: We Win	Google Video	Download AVI