NES #37: Faria

Developer: Game Arts

Publisher: Nexoft

Release Date: June 1991

 

It’s interesting to play through lesser-known NES games, because with each passing year they continue to get more obscure. The NES is starting to get really old. Its last significant year was maybe 1992. That’s 32 years ago! It’s amazing that people remember any of the games from it, let alone unpopular ones. I think that’s why so many mediocre games end up on best of lists. There are over 750 games, and even in the age of emulation people probably aren’t going to dig too deep. If people think of top-down action RPGs on the NES they are probably thinking about Crystalis. It’s certainly the best example not only because it’s a good game but because it’s still affordable. Faria is much rarer, and of course in this decade even games with the slightest rarity have skyrocketed in price. However, I think it’s worth playing. It gets bad reviews around the internet, but I can’t figure out exactly why. I suspect it’s because they want it to be Crystalis or Zelda 2. However, it’s just Faria, but I don’t think being Faria is such a bad thing.

 I mean, what’s not to like? It’s not like it’s too short or too easy. It has a large world to traverse with plenty of towns and dungeons. It has a nice bright color palate and graphics that set off my nostalgia detectors. It certainly feels more like a turn-based game than most other NES action-RPGs. It has the traditional town-field-dungeon setup that is so common in turn bases game. On the overworld there are random encounters that pull you into a different screen. The combat screens are usually dotted with trees giving you some feeling of strategy. You can’t just stand in one spot and swing your sword. Yeah, it’s fine. I never dreaded having to fight another battle. They are fast-paced and never take too long. In dungeons the random encounters go away, and monsters appear on screen. It works pretty well honestly, and it’s probably a good thing too because going through so many random encounters in a dungeon would seriously slow the game down.

 

The major dungeons are large and confusing. This could be one drawback if you’re playing on original hardware because you can only save in towns. This can lead to some long dungeon sessions. Luckily if you die you are teleported back to town with only some money missing. This makes the dungeons more fun than frustrating. They are large and elaborate and would probably be fun to map. If you like epic boss battles, however, this is probably not the game for you. Levels are gained fairly quickly, so if you are like me and enjoy grinding for better gear than none of the bosses pose most of a challenge. They are mostly slow-moving lumps that require only a few hits. It’s unusual to have a game with such difficult dungeons and easy bosses. Still, getting to the bosses is enough trouble, so I didn’t really need epic battles. Overall, the dungeons were fun, and I did see some reviewers praise them.

 

The gripes I have with Faria are pretty standard for 8-bit games. Accumulating money takes longer than it should because enemies randomly drop gold. It’s not like a standard RPG where gold is gained from every monster. Also, if you kill the final monster on an overworld screen you might miss a money bag before the screen changes. Caves are more infuriating than they should be because your flashlight only shines a tiny space around you. Also, the flashlight’s battery can die leaving you pretty much stranded. You can buy wings to travel to different towns, but of course not all towns have them. This is a recurring annoyance in older RPGs. By the Super Nintendo era most towns would have all normal items. It is a bit of a pain in Faria especially since overworld movement is a bit slow. None of the flaws hurt the experience that much though. There were a few things that slowed the game down, but if you’re a fan of 8-bit RPGs it’s nothing new. In a way it adds to the charm.

 

So, I really am scratching my head a bit. I had a good time with Faria. It’s no masterpiece, but I was glad to play it. It’s easily going into the good section at #33. That puts it at #12 on the NES specific list. It’s splitting up Clu Clu Land and Balloon fight. You can tell I love RPGs and old arcade games because I tend to rate them higher than most people would. I’ve purposely been avoiding many of the great NES games, so the fact that I’ve played 21 good ones so far bodes well for the console overall. There really is a lot of fun to be had on the NES, even so far into the 21^st century. Hey, the classics never go out of style.

 

NES Quality Percentage: 21/37 or 56.75%

Ranking List.docx

Game Boy Advance #4: Sword of Mana

Developer: Brownie Brown

Publisher: Nintendo

Release Date: 12-1-03

I have a confession to make. I have never been able to get into Secret of Mana. It’s a game I loved in limited play as a kid, but as an adult I keep starting it and abandoning it a few hours in. It feels like an action RPGs that wants to be a turn-based game. I guess waiting between attacks really annoys me.  If you’re going to go for action you should make the battles fast paced. Hopefully someday I will be able to power through it and maybe will end up really enjoying it. However, what I am a big fan of is practically every other Mana game. They are usually able to get the action part right while still managing to feel like RPGs. It is once again a case where the famous game is my least favorite in the series. I actually didn’t know there were so many Mana games. It feels like the games come out several years apart on all different consoles. They also have a bit of branding trouble where the second most famous American release is Final Fantasy Adventure. Most of the Mana games feel like scrappy underdogs in America, and this just adds to the charm. Did anyone play Sword of Mana back in the day? Did anyone play anything on GBA besides Pokémon and WarioWare? Is this all a simulation and the GBA is actually playing us? I suppose that’s a discussion for another day. Let’s talk about the actual game now.

 

Sword of Mana is a very good RPG for a handheld. It’s fairly fast paced, not overly long, and easy to pick up and play. The nature of handhelds would change significantly in the DS era, but in 2003 portability was definitely still a concern. It’s very much an action RPG where the enemies are always on screen, and you mostly attack them head-on. There are no random battles in this one. It’s a mostly linear quest with obvious trails leading to obvious towns. It’s not even possible to backtrack very much until almost the end of the game. Every new town has a set of side quests, and I don’t think I finished a single one of them. Still, it’s nice to know they are there. It’s all pretty standard, but definitely fun.

 

Like many of the Mana games the real fun comes in the details. Sure it’s mostly running and attacking, but everything is customizable. There is a wide array of weapons that level up independently of your character’s level. There are items along the way that help you upgrade weapons and armor. Spells will similarly level up as you use them. There are also class-changing skill points that are earned on level up. If you wanted to, however, you could skip all the upgrading and grinding and just run through the game. It’s not that difficult, and you certainly earn enough levels by just exploring the complicated dungeons. Much like its console cousin Legend of Mana, it’s a game that’s only as complicated as you want to make it. I, of course, like to take the slow route and level everything up as much as I can. It still only took me about 20 hours, so it never gets tedious.

 

Sword of Mana does suffer from the same problem experienced by so many GBA games. It really needs more buttons. I have no idea why Nintendo didn’t go with a 4-button setup, especially since the GBA was such a haven for Super Nintendo re-releases. The most glaring example in Sword of Mana is the magic system. You collect spirits throughout the game who each come with two spells. To cast them you tap R for the status spell and hold R for the attack spell. This is cumbersome because some monsters are only hurt by magic, and waiting for the attack spells is both slow and dangerous. I wish I could toggle spells and cast either one instantly. I also wish I could equip two weapons at once since different monsters have different weaknesses, and I frequently found myself back on the inventory screen switching weapons. This was a real problem with pre-DS handheld games. Action-RPG and adventure games would often have large inventories and required constant item switching. I’m sure you know what I’m talking about if you’ve ever played Link’s Awakening or Final Fantasy Adventure. At least the Mana team had refined it a bit by not having most enemies completely immune to certain types of weapons. Still, I can’t be too hard on Sword of Mana for being overly ambitious when it mostly comes together into a complete package.

 

It was nice getting back to GBA again and playing something more significant than my usual games. I haven’t reviewed one since February of 2022, and those were all games aimed at little kids. There really are a lot of kids games for GBA, but it’s nice to find something with more depth every once in a while. It easily slides into the good section at #23. I need to play some more good games because while I did enjoy it, I was surprised it ranked so high. Actually, it’s my first good GBA game. Hopefully it’s a sign of better games to come. Hey maybe I should play WarioWare or Pokémon. I’ve heard they’re good.

 

Game Boy Advance Quality Percentage: 1/4

 

 Game Boy Advance 

1. Sword of Mana

2. Cabbage Patch Kids: The Patch Puppy Rescue

3. Care Bears: Care Quest

4. Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots