I've given it careful consideration, and after quite a bit of though, I have decided to review...
Recurring Fantasy Side Post Theater Proudly Presents...
Classic RPG Review - Secret of Evermore
The first thing you might be wondering is "Why aren't you reviewing 'Secret of Mana' instead?" Because I wanted to do the less heard of game, and I figured that it'd give me a chance to get into this cool yet fairly unknown series without immediately jumping on the most known. SO YEAH!
The Secret of Evermore was released in 1995 as an action RPG for the Super Nintendo. A "fun" fact here would be that this was the ONLY game developed by the Square designers in America (at the time of course). If you feel like you recognize the "Secret of" bit, I'd say you are somewhat right already. Yes, it reminds you of "Secret of Mana", but I'm sad to say that the games are unrelated here. They do both use the ring menu system, real-time battles, and the ability to switch between two characters, but that's where the similarity ends here. Evermore isn't an entry in the Mana series. (You can read more on the Wiki here.)
A due note on my part, I don't own an actual copy of this game. Trust me, I'd love to, but a physical copy would easily set me back $100. I'm just not up for paying that much for a physical copy right now, so I'll be using an emulator to play Secret of Evermore. For those who are curious, I'm playing it with snes9x. There might be better emulators out there, but this is the one I've almost always used. I'm not going to tell you how to use emulators nor where I got the games though. You can figure that out on your own right here. On the plus side of this, I'm able to take screenshots to make the review less wordy. Yay!
As per my general review format, I'm going to be a three-tiered setup here. I'll look over graphics/sound, gameplay, and story/characters. I've combined the last two because I'm not (currently) planning to play through the entire game. That'd distract me too much from my main goal right now (FFXIII), and I'd like to get that done. There's a chance I shall return later, but I'm not going to promise to return either. That's enough for details and extras though, so let's jump into the actual review.
Since the first thing you see and hear in the game are the graphics and sound, I figure that's as good a place as any to start. Now, you have to remember, this is the Super Nintendo days, so you can throw out most ideas of full 3D with fancy polygons or anything like that. Honestly though, I sometimes miss the simple days of what may seem like plain-er but generally well done and looking 2D games. Of course, pictures are going to say quite a bit more than words, so I'll start with that.
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(I couldn't get blogger to let me arrange them how I liked, so that's why it's one big collage of images instead of separate ones. If you want separate versions, you can find them here. It's just an imgur album.)
As you can see from above, the graphics are pretty nice. For the time and era of the game's release, it's pretty much spot on. Animations feel right, enemies are varied in looks, and the game flows quite well. The sounds are pretty good, but the music never truly blew me away. Nothing really stood out to me, but the environments sounded like they should. And honestly, the environment is probably one of the better parts. As you can see from above, I ventured through a couple of stone age-ish eras, and they look spot on to me. I liked the varying look of each area, and so the graphics and sound get a definite pass.
There is one unfortunate part though... I didn't play long enough to reach some of the other areas in the game. From my understanding, there are three other big areas that resemble different points in history. I'd say that overall, the game's environment gets a passing grade. It looks and sounds pretty good, but I wouldn't call it the best on the SNES either. That's all I have for the graphics/sound department. (I'll probably refer to it as "environment" in later posts, but I'm still undecided.) Onwards to gameplay!
Gameplay! For me, Gameplay is the king in a game. You can forego graphics a bit. I'm even willing to overlook a mediocre story or characters. The gameplay is where a game has to shine always. If it doesn't play well or even play fun, then why should I waste my time on it? Secret of Evermore manages to deliver with gameplay though! And this is how.
Secret of Evermore is an action RPG, and it plays as such. You have health and a stamina meter. Running or swinging your weapons uses your meter. You earn levels and gain better stats. It's fairly straightforward in that capacity, but the games does offer some fairly unique elements. Your character isn't alone in his quest through Evermore. You also get his dog (and get to name it), and it helps out as an AI partner. It's able to run about and attack enemies as well. For an older game AI, it works out pretty well, and it even tends to do more damage than you do. Still isn't perfect though and will sometimes get itself into trouble. On top of helping you fight, the dog will also search out items you need for magic. (This is covered more further down.)
The game makes use of the ring menu system, which is common throughout the "Secret of" series. Basically, it pauses the game and a ring appears above your head with different options. Going up and down changes the ring selection to different things like spells, weapons, and items. For what the game is, the ring menu is pretty much perfect. It pauses up the action and allows you to select things as needed. I'll cover weapons and how they work first, and then I'll swing back around to spells.
Weapons are the straightforward element in this. You select your weapon and attack enemies with them. The amount of damage you do is based on the weapon and how full your stamina meter is. Unfortunately, this was one of the first annoying faults for me. The stamina meter is based on percent and trying to attack when the meter isn't completely 100% full results in a lackluster attack. Weapons aren't the only thing that uses your stamina either. You gain an accessory that allows you to dash, but that drains your meter as you do so. It's not the worst system by far, but it definitely adds to the difficulty at times.
As far as weapons go, you start the game off with a bone to smack people with, but you quickly obtain new weapons like a Spider's Claw (Axe) and a Horn Spear (self-explanatory). I only played enough to obtain one of each of the weapon types: Sword, Axe, and Spear. So each weapon I got was really only more powerful than the previous ones. Using the weapons to kill enemies gains experience for them and will eventually level them up. All weapons can be charged once leveled and gain new attacks. The Horn Spear (only example I have) can be charged and thrown once you level it up.
The only complaint I'd have here is that a weapon's reach sometimes felt super short. Like the enemy has to be crashing into you for you to be able to hit it. Of course, the ability to throw the spear makes it the most useful weapon for me since timing isn't easy on a keyboard. (I ended up hooking up a controller for the last portion of play, and that greatly improved my ability.) Now I just need to give a quick glance over how spells work, and then it's time to wrap up the review with story/characters!
Spells are probably one of the more interesting parts of Secret of Evermore. You trade in the usual MP (Mana/Magic Points) for a Alchemy system. As you play through the game, you earn Alchemical Recipes that allow you to cast spells with the use of various items. Items for recipes are found by defeating enemies, finding them in chests, finds them while roaming the map (with help from your dog), and buy many of them in stores. Alchemical Recipes are obtained from all over the game. You get them from characters as you progress, NPCs that you randomly talk to, or a couple other ways. In the end, there's quite a few spells to obtain, and they even level up as you use them! Pretty much everything has levels in this game.
Now, that takes care of most of the gameplay. I'm sad that I didn't fully complete the game at this point, but based on what I've seen in guides, I could probably finish it if I gave another ten hours or so. It is fairly short, so that's kinda a bummer. If I had any more "complaints" about gameplay, it'd probably be this... The game is very challenging. (Not much of a complaint really, I just suck.) Thankfully, the game is the good kind of challenge that makes you feel like you can do better. Once you get used to the weapons and spells, things become quite a bit easier. (Also a real controller helps.) Regardless, this game is not for a casual gamer or someone looking for an easy RPG. Next up, we look at the character's and their story.
*BEWARE! POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD!*
The game starts off in the 1990s in a town called Podunk. However, you aren't there very long when suddenly things take a turn. The boy discovers a strange machine and gets zapped into another world along with his dog. You find yourself in a strange lab, but then you get launched down onto a planet. And that planet... is Evermore! You crash land in a prehistoric area and have to fight your way out. You quickly meet a young girl, who goes by Fire Eyes, and she runs this realm, Prehistoria, as the chief. And everything sorta escalates from there.
After Prehistoria comes three other areas to explore, and each one is representative of the character who resides over the realm. I've already ruined the story for myself by looking into guides and Wikipedia, but I'll try not to ruin it too much here. Honestly, for this short of a game, it's actually a very interesting story. It isn't overly complex, but for me, that's part of where it shines. Stories don't need to have overly complex plots with twists and turns all about. From what I know is to come, I believe I'd really like this story. I was enjoying what I saw of it anyways.
*NO LONGER BEWARE! THE SPOILERS ARE BEHIND YOU!*
Now we need to look over the characters. For this older game, the characters really don't stand out as much. They don't really have much going for them as far as emotions go. The boy got here by accident, so he's just trying to escape. He does say a few lines talking about movies he saw, but those are meant to be more funny than meaningful. I could just blame it on being a bit older, but there were older games around the same period that produced great stories with real characters. So... This is probably one of the few failings in the game. The characters do exist, but they're not what I'd call "deep characters". Yeah, I know I complained about deep and complex stories, but it's nice to have deep characters without them being characters trying to be deep by talking all sullen and such. (Looking at you most new games and FFXIII!) I've said enough here though, and it's time to wrap this review up.
Before the final wrap-up, I'd like to list some Pros and Cons to bring it around before my final verdict.
Pros - Challenging gameplay, A nice and different style/look, graphics and sound fit the game well, an interesting magic system, and simple yet intriguing story.
Cons - Challenging sometimes becomes ridiculously hard, the graphics and sound didn't really blow me away, combat is heavy on timing and stamina, and the characters are kinda boring.
So if I had to rate this on a 1 to 10 scale... I'd probably give it a 6 out of 10
Why a 6 you might wonder? It's a pretty good game, but I wouldn't dish out $100 to buy it on eBay. It reaches out there with a good and straightforward story, but the characters leave something to be desired. The graphics and sound are good, but there are better games to play in this capacity. The gameplay shines through in most places though, and that's why you play games. Unfortunately, RPGs have to bring more to the table than just the gameplay, so I had to be harsh on it. If you have the time and want an interesting SNES action RPG, I'd totally recommend it. (Scroll back to the top if you want details on emulating it.)
Overall, I had a fun time while playing Secret of Evermore. I really enjoyed the challenge, and even when frustrated, it pushed me to try again and again. The controls are much better done with a controller of some sort though. (If you have to emulate it, I'd suggest getting a real controller.) Do I plan to finish it? I'd really love to, but I've got several things I'm either working on or have on the backburner of "things to do". So it just comes down to time and effort. I would like to finish the game so I can experience the story firsthand. And here is where I end the review. Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed the review!
Side Note - I've gone far too long with the "Side Post" label. As far as my blog ratings are concerned (view counts), they are the most popular posts I have. However, I feel I need to evolve some posts beyond the Side Post label. I'm thinking of expanding (much like I'm doing with the VGBA posts) to a new kind of post with the label "Recurring RPG Review" or something along that name. Just.... Look forward to more RPG reviews! This is another future planning though because I need to finish Final Fantasy XIII.... I really do.
~May the Crystals Guide Me~
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