Secret of Evermore

"You can get the Mana without the Evermore, but you can't get the Evermore without the Mana."

I played Secret of Mana back in the old days time and time again. It was a very good game, with an intriguing storyline and some interesting characters to interact with. Ever since I heard about Secret of Evermore, I had always wanted to try it out, despite some negative comments I've heard about it (“That game's stupid, your first weapon is a bone”). Finally, in 2008, I've gotten my chance. Secret of Mana rip-off? Well, seeing as it's made by the same company, I'd have to say no. But does it borrow many of SoM's gameplay mechanics? Oh hell yes. Hey, I never said it was a bad thing! Not yet, anyway…

STORY:
SoE stars a young man and his dog, whom are both named by the player. One day, in the little town of Podunk, the duo are on a stroll together when the doggy sees a pesky little kitty running by. Canine chases feline, owner chases canine, chaos ensues. The duo enters a strange mansion, and start fiddling around. Then they get transported to a mysterious laboratory, where they are again transported to the land of Evermore. Now our doggy friend is transformed into a wolf-like creature and our hero just wants to get back to Podunk. That's pretty much the story. The secret of Evermore, well, isn't much of a secret. Actually, you find out its secret without really realizing it—the whole “Secret of” part was obviously more of a marketing ploy than anything else.

If anything makes this story worth it, it's the hilarious things that the characters say and do, specifically the protagonist. You will often find yourself laughing out loud at some of the movies he talks about and how they relate to his adventure, as well as some of his spunky dog's antics. Some NPCs are quite funny as well, such as the obese Queen who's obsessed with keeping her castle clean, and the totally ripped Tiny.

Unfortunately, the hero and his dog's adventure stops with that. You see, I never really felt any emotional connection between the two—no “man's best friend” type thing, if you will. I think Square really missed the mark on that part. Not to mention the millions of “I'll help you, but can you go on this fetch quest for me first?” parts of the story. As a matter of fact, pretty much the entire game consists of fetch quests, or at least quests that are similar. For such a simple plot, there's really quite a bit of redundancy going on in the middle.
STORY: 4.5/10

GRAPHICS:
Colorful, vibrant, and overall quite beautiful, SoE's visuals are probably actually better than its more popular sibling's. The animations are great and the variety of people and enemies is definitely there. Not to mention the very cool magic effects that we see so frequently. Some of the best the SNES has to offer in the RPG genre, if I do say so myself.
GRAPHICS: 10/10

SOUNDS:
Also like the graphics, SoE musically is impeccable. From the tribal music of the first area you visit to the mysterious pyramid tune, everything fits just right. It is rivaled only by, of course, Secret of Mana, not only in the music, but even in the sound effects. I couldn't help but immediately think of Mana the first time I cast a spell in Evermore. Which is pretty cool, since I really liked listening to everything in SoM.
SOUNDS: 9/10

GAMEPLAY:
Ahh yes, this is the part of any RPG that can go in so many directions it's hard to come up with a solid score. Evermore, for better or worse, is no exception. The battle is VERY similar to SoM, in that you attack and must wait for the numbers to reach 100 to get in a good hit again (if not you deal almost no damage). We basically get three different weapons—swords, axes and spears. Oh, and the bone. And the bazooka, which is effing sweet. But the bladed weapons are the core of the game because they are not only used for battle but also for getting from place to place (chopping shrubs, breaking walls, etc.). Not much different than Mana, eh? Too similar actually, if you ask me. Come on, try something different! Well, the bazooka is a little different. Quite a fun weapon to wield, that bazooka. But I'll let you figure that out for yourself.

As for the magic, well, THAT certainly is different than Secret of Mana, or any other RPG for that matter. The magic in Evermore requires you to use alchemy, which means you need ingredients. That's right folks, none of that “magic points” B.S. most of you are accustomed to. What we need here are rocks, liquids, sticks, and all sorts of chemicals you can think of, in varying amounts, in order to use our magic. They can be bought or found scattered across the grounds of Evermore (with large thanks to your dog sniffing around for them whenever he gets the chance). Will this unique system turn some people off? Probably. I thought it turned me off at first too, but I learned to like it. The only problem is for people who want to level up their magic—it costs a lot more to do than it does in Mana.

The hero's ever-changing-form dog (he's a poodle one minute, a toaster the next) can also be controlled with a press of the Select button (whoever isn't controlled by the player is on some pretty well-done AI). It's actually necessary to control him in some levels, since he can uhh… jump across streams and bite monsters and stuff. Other than that, you'll probably be using the hero for everything.

But wait, I haven't finished! Did I mention the mazes? I didn't? No kidding! Well, the levels in SoE are pretty much all mazes. Huge ****ing mazes. Tedious mazes. Painful mazes. To tell you the truth, I actually hated playing most of this game because of the mazes. There, I said it. Call me impatient if you want, but the mazes in this game are way too intense for more laid-back RPG fans such as myself. Pair this up with some ridiculous puzzles (how were we supposed to know he'd throw his spear?!) and a severe lack of save points, and you've got your SNES powered on for a looong time.

Thankfully, the boss battles are pretty straightforward (if you can get to them, that is). I found many bosses, while they looked cool, very bland. The strategy you follow the entire game consists of HIT, RUN AWAY, HEAL SOMETIMES. It gets kind of old, but at least it's mildly challenging.

So in the end, the only truly original thing about SoE's gameplay is in its magic system, which is actually quite good if you give it a chance. Hell, even the menu uses the same ring format as Mana. Were all these similarities intentional? Definitely. But were they really necessary? Couldn't they have made a few teensy adjustments to make this game stand apart from SoM? For example, oh… I don't know, a different TITLE? Yeah, I'd take a different title in exchange for less frustrating mazes. Sounds like a good trade to me! Oh well. You might like it.
GAMEPLAY: 4/10

LASTING APPEAL:
Evermore is a damn long game, especially with so many dead ends in the levels. There are lots of areas to explore, and therefore many goodies to pick up wherever you go. Sidequests are few and far between, however, and there's only one ending. Once you're done, you're done. You may not even get that far.
LASTING APPEAL: 6/10

OVERALL:
I'll say it straight out: if you're a huge Secret of Mana fan, you'll either absolutely love or absolutely abhor Secret of Evermore. From what I've gathered, it's more of the latter. I was never a HUGE Mana fan, so I can't really go either direction. Evermore is by no means a crappy game, or even a crappy RPG. It has pretty visuals and music, and the gameplay is nicely polished (though there are some glitches you need to watch out for!). It's just that no new territory is explored with it. But who am I to criticize it like that? I'm just a lousy GameFAQs member.
OVERALL: 5.2/10

Thanks for reading =)

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 01/09/08

Game Release: Secret of Evermore (US, October 1995)