Two New Seiken Densetsu Games Announced

Screens

Seiken Densetsu 4 is a surprise. I thought Legend of Mana was supposed to represent SD going a different direction, but i guess not. This should make quite a few people happy. It's 3D, and from the single screen available, it looks nice. It hasn't been announced what system it'll be on, but it looks like PS2.
Then there's Children of Mana for DS. Nothing besides the title is known, but it looks like there's more action than Sword of Mana or Legend of Mana. Check the two weapons in the upper right and the five on-screen enemies. The most before was 3.
I want sprites, dud bears, and weird puzzle people.

Whatever anyone says, i really enjoyed Legend of Mana. The use of many short stories to form 3 larger stories was a nice change, and the diverse cast of characters appealed to me. I'd be happy if some of that carries over. Sword of Mana had some of that, but not nearly enough. That "day of mana" thing should go away, unless they plan on doing something useful with it.

They did do something with the "Day of Mana" thing in Legend of Mana. I don't remember exactly what, but I'm sure it had something to do with gardening. We're probably two of a select handful of people who liked that game.

And isn't there a thread about this already?

:| Unless i missed it... There was a mention of World of Mana in the TGS thread, maybe. The games were only revealed within the past few days.
I think day of mana strengthened the mana spirits or made them appear on certain days. I'm sure it did something, but it didn't seem like much. There was also that golem creation that was interesting but useless. There were lots of great ideas that weren't really useful.

Seiken Densetsu 4 was announced at E3, but all they had to show for it at the time was the big tree. It was implied that it was for next gen consoles at the time, but they didn't say anything definite about it. Looks good.

So I guess this is a return to the more mainline series. And here I always though Legend of Mana was supposed to be a real sequel, even if it was different.

I don't want different days, I don't want to forge armor with nuts. I want watts, and I want upgrades with mana spheres.

Sounds like I want SD2.

This just goes to show that every grave is shallow in the gaming industry. SD 2 and 3 were great, but I lost a taste for the gameplay type with Terranigma. Maybe SD4 will prove me wrong.

i really liked legend of mana as well. i played that game so much. never beat the hardest mode, though. i really liked it when you'd play with a friend, you'd go to the first town and knock on the door of that house next to the inn and the second player would come out of it. + it was all really pretty. it'd be cool if sd4 was like 3 in the whole choosing a different character with a different story kinda thing. hawkeye was the best.

http://www.dengekionline.com/data/ne...6efdee5ce.html

I knew it was going to be awhile but Winter 2006 for Mana DS in Japan? - :cry:

I seriously need to track down a copy of Mana for SNES before this is released, I am looooong overdue. I really like the nature/rainforest art theme of the series.

From IGN, looks like the game is in good hands (but unfortunately won't be done till winter 06:

http://ds.ign.com/articles/655/655322p1.html

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October 3, 2005 - Square Enix's Mana (Seiken Denstsu) revival continues. Following last week's announcement of Seiken Densetsu DS: Children of Mana, a 2D action-RPG for the DS, and the fully 3D Seiken Densetsu 4 for an undisclosed platform, Square Enix has updated its webpage for the World of Mana project. There aren't too many details at the page now, but you still might want to check it out here.


Square Enix has also announced the key staff members who are working on the DS title. Here's how the list looks:
PRODUCER
Kouichi Ishii: Mana series, Final Fantasy

SCENARIO
Masato Katou: Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross, Xenogears

CHARACTER DESIGN
Nao Ikeda: Legend of Mana, Final Fantasy Tactics Advance

MUSIC/SOUND
Kenji Ito: Secret of Mana, Romancing Saga
Masaharu Iwata: Ogre series
Takayuki Aihira: Drag-on Dragoon 2

There are some big names in there, including Kouichi Ishi, who directed the original titles. This talented production unit apparently has a long project ahead of it, as Square Enix isn't planning a Japanese release for Children of Mana until Winter of 2006!

Sadly, we still don't have any details on Seiken Densetsu 4. This includes its platform, as although a single screenshot for the game has been made public in recent Japanese game magazines, Square Enix still won't tell us what hardware we'll need in order to play the game.

Square Enix has plans for the Mana series beyond these two titles. The company states that we can look forward in the future to more products under the World of Mana label, covering an expanse of media and genres.

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http://www.square-enix.co.jp/mana/

Pretty.

I played through Secret of Mana when i picked up a new used SNES about 3 or 4 years ago. It was not the beautiful game i remembered. It's a glitchy, ill-spirited beast with enemies that constantly gang-bang the player with no way to escape. A re-make would be nice.

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Originally Posted by Finch

http://www.square-enix.co.jp/mana/

Pretty.

I played through Secret of Mana when i picked up a new used SNES about 3 or 4 years ago. It was not the beautiful game i remembered. It's a glitchy, ill-spirited beast with enemies that constantly gang-bang the player with no way to escape. A re-make would be nice.

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Hey, I love old school painful game design so don't get my expectations down before i get it. :p :(

Eh... alright. Just remember it's a broken game with pretty graphics.

I remember my dad buying it for me for Christmas and hiding it in a closet. I found it, opened it, played it, and put it back. I'm sure he found out, because it was then put into a crappy bag and hidden. I found it again, but didn't play it. The wait for Christmas was awful until my brother and i convinced my parents to let us open one gift on Christmas Eve. That game was magically better back then. I still have the instruction booklet from my original copy, and if my mom didn't throw it out, the Nintendo Power with SoM on the cover. I did everything possible with that game, lent it to a guy, and never got it back. Some other kid i knew stole it from him at one point, but he got it back.

I have the Nintendo Power with the SoM cover article. Still in good condition too, in fact flipping through it is what inspired me to want to get it recently.

edit: BTW, that Peach drawing in your sig is ace.

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Originally Posted by Dylan1CC

edit: BTW, that Peach drawing in your sig is ace.

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Wish i could claim it. It's from Mario Strikers. The box art alone makes me want that game.

square-enix has a sexy ass website...listening to bgm on the website made me want to get one of the ost's to one of the games which ones the best?

Really looking forward to the DS one :) - Especially after reading the list of people on the development team In this thread up a few posts.

oh btw from IGN:

"Following last week's announcement of Seiken Densetsu DS: Children of Mana, a 2D action-RPG for the DS"

so it IS 2D :) Presumably that means sprites , as it should be :D

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Originally Posted by dhowerter

Presumably that means sprites

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You should really check out the first post in this thread. Has a link and everything.

when i was playing final fantasy crystal chronicals i kept thinking to myself "this should be a mana game" or "the mana series should go in this direction" with the pretty graphics and all....not so much the gameplay.

The gameplay wasn't bad, it was just weak. Exploring was fun, fighting was fun, and the boss battles were pretty nice. Even the story was good, but there wasn't nearly enough of anything. If it was released in the SNES days, CC would've been Secret of Mana.

wasn't there supposed to be a re-release or port of seiken 3 for the ps1 some time ago? ...at least that's what i remember hearing.

:D New chara designs!

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y52...nch/tumble.jpg

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y52...eFinch/pop.jpg

http://photobucket.com/albums/y52/Fi.../seikends6.jpg

Cute.

SPECULATION! WHAT DOES THIS MEAN? It means that character designs will be cute.

Story and gameplay details:

http://ds.ign.com/articles/660/660023p1.html

First in game screens, looks beautiful:

http://media.ds.ign.com/media/695/695657/imgs_1.html

http://dsmedia.ign.com/ds/image/arti...4044135184.jpg

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Originally Posted by Dylan1CC

Story and gameplay details:

http://ds.ign.com/articles/660/660023p1.html

First in game screens, looks beautiful:

http://media.ds.ign.com/media/695/695657/imgs_1.html

http://dsmedia.ign.com/ds/image/arti...4044135184.jpg

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How is that a DS screen?

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Originally Posted by Compass

How is that a DS screen?

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Hmmm, I dunno. Maybe it's not. The other screens don't look quite as good, true.

The DS can do some beautiful stuff. Kirby sez so. You're right, tho, that looks tons better than anything else from the game and the weapon set-up is missing. Maybe it's on the top screen or something. It's got TEH ANIME, too.

A few more tidbits. From http://www.rpgfan.com

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The game's animation sequences are being created by Production I.G., the studio behind Ghost in the Shell: Innocence.

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I shat.

From http://ds.ign.com/articles/660/660903p1.html

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October 24, 2005 - A surprise revelation in the latest issue of Nintendo Dream. The magazine has a lengthy look at Seiken Densetsu DS: Children of Mana for the DS. In the feature, series producer Kouichi Ishii reveals that this first entry in Square Enix's World of Mana project is being developed by an outside developer, Next Entertainment.


We won't blame you if you don't recognizing the development studio. It's actually the new name for the studio once known as Nextech. Nextech has been around since the days of the Genesis, when it was known for its work on Ranger-X and the 16-bit system's adaptation of Virtua Fighter 2. On the Saturn, the company developed games like Gran Chaser and ported Resident Evil to the system. It went on to bigger things following that, serving as the developer of Resident Evil: Code Veronica for the Dreamcast. Most recently, the company's website lists work on Shining Soul for Game Boy Advance, Shin Megami Tensei 9 for Xbox and Time Crisis 3 for the arcades.
As Ishii explains, the use of an external developer is part of the plan for the World of Mana project. While it's possible for a single development group to work on the same series constantly, he believes that by having many different teams work on Mana games, gamers will get a chance to experience the series in many different ways. Next Entertainment apparently worked hard to get the gig, doing extensive research into the series before filing a report to Ishii that even managed to surprise him with some of the details.

We'll be able to see the fruits of Next Entertainment's labor soon. Children of Mana is set for Japanese release this Winter.

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Seems like every company's employing every other company these days. I like the idea of different developers.

HEY WAIT WOAH SLOW DOWN.....when's the ds getting smaller?

in any case...them screens look great. i think i'll go back and play some legend of mana. OH SHIT! i just noticed...3 CHARACTERS!?!? so it's gonna be like old school mana with 3 players instead of 2?...i hope it's multiplayer/wifi whatever. that'd be so great.

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in Square Enix's World of Mana project is being developed by an outside developer, Next Entertainment.

We won't blame you if you don't recognizing the development studio. It's actually the new name for the studio once known as Nextech.

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Interesting. I didn't know they had changed their name again.

It looks awesome, sort of a return to the style of the first SNES game.

sounds good cant wait for even more info comes out keep up the good work cronies :p

Dun dah duuuun. From http://www.rpgfan.com... Seiken Densetsu 4 will be on the PS2. A big "WELL DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUH..." and "HOOOOOOOORAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!" for that.

Nextech did the Shining Soul games that were like Secret of Mana, but awful, right? This news doesn't make me happy.

I like Shining Soul 2. It's not the best game evAr, but it's not awful at all. There's not much of a story, but name a Shining game where you were interested past, "HE BAD! ME GOOD!"
For what it's worth, it's a lot more fun to play than Secret of Mana, and it's mentioned that they tried rilly rilly hard to show Square they could do it. Have a little faith, friend.

i liked shining soul 2. it was fun playing with friends but gets kinda blah playing alone.

Gau/Nextech/Next Entertainment did Code: Veronica, Ranger X and Crusader of Centy.

I think Children of Mana is in good hands.

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Originally Posted by rama

i liked shining soul 2. it was fun playing with friends but gets kinda blah playing alone.

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It's a subway and laundromat game, like Mario Golf for GBA. Fun in short bursts, and all that, perfect for a portable.
I wish i had someone to play with. :( I know one other guy with a GBA and no one who would even know about Shining Soul.

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Originally Posted by Finch

I like Shining Soul 2. It's not the best game evAr, but it's not awful at all. There's not much of a story, but name a Shining game where you were interested past, "HE BAD! ME GOOD!"
For what it's worth, it's a lot more fun to play than Secret of Mana, and it's mentioned that they tried rilly rilly hard to show Square they could do it. Have a little faith, friend.

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I only plated the first Shining Soul and it was the most simplistic and boring attempt at anything resembling an RPG I have ever played. It wasn't even that it was broken as much as just tragically uninteresting.

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Originally Posted by Kev

Gau/Nextech/Next Entertainment did Code: Veronica, Ranger X and Crusader of Centy.

I think Children of Mana is in good hands.

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They didn't "do" Code:Veronica. They lent some programmers to help Capcom get a handle on the DC hardware, but that was a Capcom/Flagship production all the way.

Nextech is kind of like the opposite of red company. Alot of what they do is co-development and doing work on other people's games, handling the technical side of things (wheras red does things like character design and story, but not programming)

Hadnt seen these before. New scans for the PS2 Seiken Densetsu 4:

http://www.rpgfan.com/news/pictures2...setsu4-001.jpg

i'll buy it if i can play as this guy, the rest look mad gay

Yeah, the main character looks like a dolled up version of the lead from FFXII. The cute quality and bright colors are a staple of the series though, I guess.

The crazy Shonen-jap-businessman-pirate always wins though. That's a given.

At least he looks like a kid, the main "dude" from FFXII looks twice as feminine as Meg Ryan and that is no exagerration.

Friend sent me a link to some videos and other scans of SD4 (cool vid of Children up there too):

http://rpg-reich.de/main.php?site=news&id=1876

This shows SD4 taking advantage of its move to 3-D with puzzles (the log rolling thing?) and the first person view (bow and arrow usage?).
I hope we get other characters though and not just pet rabbites and Mushboom's...

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Originally Posted by stormy

i'll buy it if i can play as this guy, the rest look mad gay

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huh you know thats shonenen jump guy right...

All I really want is Secret of Mana 2. Three characters which can be switched between on the fly with AI controlling the non-used ones except when I give them orders. Monsters I can fight or not depending on whether I feel like it. The ability to attack in 8 directions, if not the full 360 degrees. Throw in a beautiful world with memorable music and we're good.

And if we have to have alchemy, make it happen quick. Watching the same animation time after time while small but valuable chunks of my life slip away as I try to figure out what the rules are isn't an option in a system I'll ever use.

Secret of Mana/Seiken Densetsu 2- great. Seiken Densetsu 3 and on- It feels like the series gets less interesting with each new complication they add to it.

James