Seiken Densetsu 3 (聖剣伝説3, Seiken Densetsu Surī^?, lit. "Legend of the Holy Sword 3") is a console role-playing game developed and published by Square (now Square Enix) for the Nintendo Super Famicom and the third installment in the Mana video game series. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (436x791, 117 KB)Seiken Densetsu 3 (JAP version, there never was an official US release) box art This is the cover art for a video or computer game. ... A video game developer is a software developer (a business or an individual) that creates video games. ... Square Co. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Square Co. ... A game designer is a person who designs games. ... Koichi Ishii is a video game director for the Square Enix corporation. ... Hiromichi Tanaka ) (January 1, 1962 – ) is a Japanese video game developer working at Square Enix. ... Hiroki Kikuta (菊田 裕樹 Kikuta Hiroki, born August 29, 1962) is one of the more known composer of video game music. ... Senshi Bankō: Phantasien II, an art book containing Nobuteru YÅ«kis works. ... The Mana series, known in Japan as Seiken Densetsu lit. ... This article is about the country in East Asia. ... is the 273rd day of the year (274th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full 1995 Gregorian calendar). ... Video games are categorized into genres based on their gameplay. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... In computer games and video games, single-player refers to the variant of a particular game where input from only one player is expected throughout the course of the gaming session. ... This article does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... The Super Nintendo Entertainment System or Super NES (also called SNES and Super Nintendo) is a 16-bit video game console released by Nintendo in North America, Brazil, Europe, and Australasia between 1990 and 1992. ... The Megabit is a unit of information storage, abbreviated Mbit or sometimes Mb. ... In various types of electronic equipment, a cartridge can refer one method of adding different functionality or content (e. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Square Company, Limited ) was a Japanese video game company founded in September of 1983 by Masafumi Miyamoto and Hironobu Sakaguchi. ... SQUARE ENIX (Japanese: スクウェア・エニックス) is a Japanese producer of popular video games and manga. ... Nintendo Company, Limited (任天堂 or ニンテンドー Nintendō; NASDAQ: NTDOY, TYO: 7974 usually referred to as simply Nintendo, or Big N ) is a multinational corporation founded on September 23, 1889[1] in Kyoto, Japan by Fusajiro Yamauchi to produce handmade hanafuda cards. ... This article should be merged with Super Nintendo Entertainment System The Super Famicom design differed from that of the American SNES, though the controllers are almost the same. ... The Mana series, known in Japan as Seiken Densetsu lit. ...

The game features three lengthy main plotlines, six different characters, each with their own storylines, and a wide range of classes to choose from, which provides each character with an exclusive set of skills and status progression. The game also makes use of a time progression system, with transitions from day to night and weekday to weekday in game time, adding to the game's challenging gameplay. A character class represents a characters archetype and career in some role-playing games (RPGs). ...

Although the game was only published in Japan, many Western players have been able to come into contact with Seiken Densetsu 3 thanks to an unofficial English fan translation. In the West, the game is sometimes referred to as Secret of Mana 2,^[1][2] even though the name is not official. Fan translation refers to the unofficial translation of various forms of media by fans, usually into a language in which an official translated version is not available. ...

Gameplay

The Seiken Densetsu 3 class change system

Seiken Densetsu 3 acts very much like its predecessor Secret of Mana, as it employs a real-time combat system, making use of a ring menu which provides the player with quick access to magic spells, items and character information, amongst other options. One of its main differences, though, is that the range of characters is doubled to six, with the player choosing the three members of his or her party when commencing a new game. A single variety of weapon is available for each character, and the "progression by means of use" present on the series' previous game was removed from the weapons and magic systems; now the only factor which influences a spell's damage is how high the character's "magic" attribute is. A storage system was introduced, where excess items can be placed, replacing Secret of Mana's "four-of-a-kind maximum rule". The player can switch items between storage and their nine-slot item ring menu, or else "top-up" items currently in it to a maximum of nine each. Image File history File links SD3ClassChange. ... Image File history File links SD3ClassChange. ... Secret of Mana, known in Japan as Seiken Densetsu 2 , lit. ... Magic: The Gathering. ... Secret of Mana, known in Japan as Seiken Densetsu 2 , lit. ...

A battle mode was introduced as part of the gameplay, which freezes some aspects of normal gameplay (such as item storage) to allow the player to focus on defeating monsters. Players can exit battle mode by moving off-screen or far enough away from the monsters for it to be disengaged (unlike the Legend of Mana no-escape mode). When in battle mode, the character adds one point to his or her "power gauge" by making an attack which hits a monster (in place of Secret of Mana's vulnerable charge-up). When the gauge is full enough, special moves can be unleashed - moves vary according to the character and their class. Once all enemies on-screen are defeated, the player has the chance to receive a reward item in a treasure chest. Sometimes, a "prize" wheel of traps is given when opening the chest; this can be eluded by timing the cursor to fall over an "OK" disc. Legend of Mana ) is the fourth game in the Mana series. ...

Unlike Secret of Mana, Seiken Densetsu 3 only allows for up to two human players, with the other one or two characters being controlled by the AI. A screen in the system menu lets the player control certain preferences on how the AI-controlled characters should act. Unlike the prequel, however, instead of setting the characters' range to the enemy and their level of aggression, the player sets directives on the character's behavior during combat, such as taking an individual target or supporting another character. The player can also determine whether or not the AI characters will make use of their power gauge and what earned abilities they may use, though magic spells must be cast manually by the human player.

Classes and Leveling

Level progression is coordinated by the player, as a choice is given regarding where to invest a character statistics point at every level up. A "class" system is also present. Once a character reaches level 18, he or she is able to go to a Mana Stone and choose a class to progress to - either a class aligned to "Light" or a class aligned to "Dark" - which provides a different set of skills and different improvements to character statistics. A second class change may be performed at level 38. The second change requires the use of rare items to be performed, and once again an option between a "Light" and a "Dark" is presented; However, there is a key difference between the second class change and the first class change. Although the first class change of "Light" and/or "Dark" is in the players power of choosing, the second class change will advance the character depending on which of the two rare items for that characters class you use in the class change at the Mana Stone. Counding all possibilities there is a total of seven possible classes for every character, including the initial class. Experience points (often abbreviated as exp or xp) are a representation of a characters advancement and improvement in skills in role-playing games and computer role-playing games. ... A statistic or stat, in role-playing games, is a piece of data which represents a particular aspect of a fictional character. ...

Passage of time

Angela, Duran and Hawkeye fighting Land Umber, the Earth God-Beast

Seiken Densetsu 3 also employs a calendar function into its gameplay. The seven-day week cycles much more quickly than an actual one — a day passes in a number of minutes — but it still affects gameplay in certain ways. Image File history File links SD3_image1. ... Image File history File links SD3_image1. ... For the TV station in the Peoria-Bloomington, Illinois market, see WEEK-TV. A week is a unit of time longer than a day and shorter than a month. ...

Each day of the week is represented by a different elemental spirit. On that spirit's day, magic of that element will be slightly stronger: The Mana series, known in Japan as Seiken Densetsu lit. ... Magic: The Gathering. ...

• Luna Day - Moon magic is stronger;
• Salamander Day - Fire magic is stronger;
• Undine Day - Water magic is stronger;
• Dryad Day - Wood magic is stronger;
• Jinn Day - Wind magic is stronger;
• Gnome Day - Earth magic is stronger;
• Mana Holy Day - All elemental magic is balanced.

A Day is also divided into day and night, represented by Will-o'-the-Wisp the light elemental (known as Wisp in the rest of the Mana series) and Shade the dark elemental, respectively. Reportedly, the use of the opposite elements according to day and time and the game's elementology are not weakened; for example, using water spells on a Salamander Day does not make them weaker than using them on a Gnome Day.

Certain events only happen during certain times of day, such as a nighttime-only black market selling particularly rare items. Enemies encountered in the field also change during certain time periods, and some may be sleeping if characters approach them at night. Using an inn's services allows the player to "skip" the game's clock to that day's evening, or the following morning. Mana Holy Day is also notable in the game's calendar as players can use the inns' healing and time-skipping service for free, while a nominal charge is given on other days.

Story

Characters

The characters (and their individual stories) are grouped into the main sub-plots as follows:

• Angela (アンジェラ, Anjera^?) is the only princess of the ice-covered Magic Kingdom of Altena. Her mother, Valda, the Queen of Reason, uses her magic to keep the Altenan citadel in a perpetual spring. However, like her country, Valda is cold and unfeeling towards her daughter, who has become lonely and selfish as a result of her upbringing. The Queen's spell weakens as Mana starts to fade. So that her spell may continue and Altena does not freeze over, she, with her assistant wizard Koren, decides to invade other nations to claim their Mana Stones. Once done, she would sacrifice her daughter to the ancient spell which would unlock the power of Mana kept in the Stones, opening the way to the infinite power in the Sword of Mana, letting the spell continue. After Angela is told this, she flees Altena.

• Duran (デュラン, Dyuran^?), an orphaned mercenary swordsman of the Grasslands Kingdom of Forcena, proudly serves his king, the wise Richard. Duran and his little sister Wendy were raised by their aunt, Stella after Duran's mother died as the result of a long term illness, and their father was lost in battle with the Dragon Emperor. One night, Duran is on guard duty at the castle of Forcena when Koren attacks the castle. Duran is left for dead after confronting him, and after making his recovery, he vows to become the best swordsman in the world and to exact his revenge upon Koren.

• Hawkeye (ホークアイ, Hōkuai^?) (Hawk in the fan translation) is a member of a guild of noble thieves based in the desert Sand Fortress Navarre. The guild's leader, Lord Flamekhan, suddenly and uncharacteristically declares Navarre to be a Kingdom. Surprised by this, Hawkeye discusses the matter with his friends, Flamekhan's children, Jessica and Eagle. Hawkeye and Eagle decide to confront Flamekhan about it, only to find that he is in the middle of a meeting with his assistant, the witch Isabella, who turns out to be pulling Flamekhan's strings. Isabella (later revealed as "Bigieu") casts a spell on Eagle to make him attack Hawkeye, who injures Eagle gravely in his self-defense. However, Isabella finishes Eagle off with a spell and puts all the blame on Hawkeye. He is imprisoned and awaits his execution when Isabella informs him that she has given Jessica a cursed necklace; should Hawkeye tell anyone the truth, she will be choked by it. Luckily, he makes an escape.

• Riesz (リース, Rīsu^?) (Lise in the fan translation) is princess of the mountainous Wind Kingdom of Rolante, and captain of its Amazon army. After her mother dies while giving birth to her younger brother, Elliott, Riesz vows to take care of him. However, two mysterious ninjas from Navarre, Bill and Ben, discreetly trick Elliott into turning off Rolante's protective wind and kidnap him. With the wind gone, Navarre attacks Rolante with a cloud of sleep powder and kills its king, Joster. Devastated, Riesz makes her escape.

• Kevin (ケヴィン, Kevin^?) is the inarticulate son of a human mother and heir to the throne of the Beast King, the ruler of the werewolf-like Beastmen. Sick of the treatment of his people by "normal" humans, the Beast King's desired revenge is made all the more possible by the appearance of the mysterious "Man who devours death" (Shi wo kurau otoko, Deathjester in the fan translation), with his dark magic at "beck and call". He shows his abilities by making Kevin's beloved wolf-pup orphan friend, Karl, rise up and attack him while both are out in the Moonlight Forest. Kevin defends himself and his werewolf abilities are awoken; unfortunately, they come at the cost of Karl's life. After seeing that the Beast King is sending an invasion force to overthrow the humans' precious Holy City Wendel, Kevin overhears the Beast King congratulate the Deathjester on his spell. Enraged, he confronts the Beast King and is, quite literally, thrown out of the castle. He declares the Beast King not to be his father, and wishes to find his mother and some way to revive Karl.

• Charlotte (シャルロット, Sharurotto^?), (Carlie in the fan translation), the "cute little girl who lives in Wendel", is the granddaughter of the Priest of Light. Orphaned by her parents, the cleric Leroy and the elf Shayla, she is looked after by a fellow cleric, Heath. Feeling an evil influence in nearby Jad, the Priest of Light sends Heath to investigate; however, Charlotte overhears this conversation and makes an escape to find the Deathjester kidnap Heath. This is when she decides she must save him.

Image File history File links Download high resolution version (364x650, 33 KB)Angela from Seiken Densetsu 3 Artwork by Nobuteru Yuuki This work is copyrighted. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (490x650, 41 KB)Duran from Seiken Densetsu 3 Artwork by Nobuteru Yuuki This work is copyrighted. ... A mercenary is a person who takes part in an armed conflict who is not a national of a Party to the conflict and is motivated to take part in the hostilities essentially by the desire for private gain and, in fact, is promised, by or on behalf of a... A swordsman is one skilled in the use of swords. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (395x650, 35 KB)Hawkeye from Seiken Densetsu 3 Artwork by Nobuteru Yuuki This work is copyrighted. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (380x806, 42 KB)Reisz from Seiken Densetsu 3 Artwork by Nobuteru Yuuki This work is copyrighted. ... The Amazons (in Greek, ) were a mythical ancient nation of all-female warriors. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (377x633, 41 KB)Kevin from Seiken Densetsu 3 Artwork by Nobuteru Yuuki This work is copyrighted. ... Speech disorders or speech impediments, as they are also called, are a type of communication disorders where normal speech is disrupted. ... A German woodcut from 1722 A werewolf (also lycanthrope or wolfman) in folklore is a person who shapeshifts into a wolf or wolflike creature, either purposely, by using magic, or after being placed under a curse. ... Image File history File links Charlotte from Seiken Densetsu 3 Artwork by Nobuteru Yuuki This work is copyrighted. ...

Setting

According to Seiken Densetsu 3's in-game lore, the Mana Goddess created the game's world by forging the powerful Sword of Mana and defeating eight God-Beasts with it, sealing them within eight Mana Stones, before turning herself into the Mana Tree and falling asleep. The game is set at a time where Mana starts to fade and peace has ended, as some people plot to unleash the God-Beasts from the stones so as to gain ultimate power, politically and magically. The Mana Tree is a character from the Seiken Densetsu series of RPG video games. ...

Plot

With the exception of Charlotte, the characters are told (or otherwise decide) to seek the advice of the Priest of Light in the Holy City Wendel. They arrive at the city of Jad, soon after the Beastmen have invaded. Due to the Beastmen's werewolf powers, they are able to make an escape by night.

All characters, on the way to Wendel, stay overnight at Astoria, where they are woken by a bright light. Following it, it reveals itself to be a Faerie from the Mana Holyland, exhausted by her journey. Out of desperation, the Faerie chooses the main character to be her host, and tells them to get to Wendel. There, while giving his or her grievances to the Priest of Light, the Faerie interrupts and explains that the Mana Tree is dying and that the Holyland is in danger. This is grave news for the Priest, for if the Tree dies, the God-Beasts will reawaken and destroy the world. In mythology and in fiction, Faerie (see also fairy) is an otherworldly realm, home to the Fae or fairies, though many believe this place to be neither mythical nor fictional, but quite real. ...

He goes on to explain further that, because the Faerie has chosen the main character as its host, they must travel to the Holyland to draw the Sword of Mana from the foot of the Mana Tree to restore peace to the world, and have their wishes granted by the Mana Goddess if it can be drawn before the Tree dies. However, there is a catch: a lot of power is needed to open the gate to the Holyland. The Faerie does not have the strength to do it, and the ancient spell which would unlock the power in the Mana Stones to do so takes the caster's life. However, the Stones' guarding spirits (Secret of Mana's Elementals) are seen to be able, once their powers are combined. Secret of Mana, known in Japan as Seiken Densetsu 2 , lit. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Seiken Densetsu. ...

After journeying across the world to get the Spirits, thwarting the invasion attempts of Navarre and Altena, discovering the powers of the Fire and Water Mana Stones released (by agents of Navarre and Altena, respectively), and learning the disappearance of the Mana Stone of Darkness along the way, the Main Character tries to open the gate to the Mana Holyland with the Spirits' assistance. The first attempt fails, but the second succeeds; the Faerie realises that it was opened thanks to the release of power from the Mana Stones.

The characters travel into the Holyland and the Main Character claims the Mana Sword; however, it is soon discovered that the Main Character's adversary (Koren and the Darkshine Knight for Angela and Duran; Jagan and Bigieu for Riesz and Hawkeye; or the Deathjester and Heath for Kevin and Carlie/Charlotte) has captured the Faerie and will only release her in exchange for the Sword of Mana. The unfortunate trade is made, and once the enemy receives the Sword, then the Mana Stones shatter and the God-Beasts are released.

The characters must then defeat the God-Beasts before they can gather and destroy the world, and then defeat the true form of their adversary: the Dragon Emperor for Duran and Angela, the Dark Prince for Hawkeye and Riesz, or Dark Lich for Kevin and Charlotte.

Audio

The score for Seiken Densetsu 3 was composed by Hiroki Kikuta, who had previously composed the music for Secret of Mana. Featuring a surround sound mode, it has become one of the more popular import Super Famicom CD soundtracks over the years, due partly to the game's intense cult following, as well as to the popularity of the composer. Hiroki Kikuta (菊田 裕樹 Kikuta Hiroki, born August 29, 1962) is one of the more known composer of video game music. ...

Development

There are perceived strong feelings among video game fans as to whether or not Secret of Evermore was released in lieu of an English language version of Seiken Densetsu 3. Ill feelings towards the lack of an official translation probably stem from titular and mechanical similarities. Secret of Evermore, released in North America on September 18, 1995, is a role playing video game for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System video game console. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ...

One suggested reason against Secret of Evermore's favouring over Seiken Densetsu 3 is due to the establishment of a new development team at Squaresoft's office in Redmond, Washington. It is believed that the decision had absolutely no effect on any such translations and did not tie up any of the people involved in translation; it was specifically hired to create it and they would not have been assembled otherwise.^[3] This may have been accompanied by a decision not to continue translating titles, including the sequel to Secret of Mana. Square Co. ... Location of Redmond within King County, and King County within Washington. ...

Another suggestion is that Squaresoft had nothing to do with the decision not to publish Seiken Densetsu 3 in North America. The translation was already underway when Square Co, Ltd. cut the project to focus on the development of Super Mario RPG, which had been co-developed by Nintendo and Square.^[4]

Seiken Densetsu 3 had a particularly rough time being debugged. When one bug was fixed, two more would pop up; critical hits do not work properly in the release version. Seiken Densetsu 3 may not have been released for fear of a recall.^{[citation needed]}

Fan translation

In 2000, a fan translation project led by hacker Neill Corlett was successfully completed and made available on the internet as an unofficial patch. Due to the increasing popularity of video game ROMs and the quick progress of emulators at the time, the translated version of Seiken Densetsu 3 was made available to many players from around the world. Its translation is considered a milestone in fan translation history, as Seiken Densetsu 3 makes use of a complex compression algorithm and had proven to be a significant challenge for all who had attempted to translate it before Corlett's team. 2000 (MM) was a leap year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Fan translation refers to the unofficial translation of various forms of media by fans, usually into a language in which an official translated version is not available. ... In computing, a patch is a software update meant to fix problems with a computer program. ... Namcos Pac-Man was a hit, and became a universal phenomenon. ... A ROM image, or simply ROM, is a computer file which contains a copy of the data from a read-only memory chip, often from a video game cartridge, a computers firmware, or from an arcade games main board. ... DosBox emulates the familiar command line interface of DOS. An emulator duplicates (provide an emulation of) the functions of one system with a different system, so that the second system behaves like (and appears to be) the first system. ... A Spanish kilometre stone A milestone on the Boston Post Road in Harvard Square, Massachusetts, USA Slate milestone near Bangor, Wales A milestone or kilometre sign is one of a series of numbered markers placed along a road at regular intervals, typically at the side of the road or in... In mathematics, computing, linguistics, and related disciplines, an algorithm is a finite list of well-defined instructions for accomplishing some task that, given an initial state, will terminate in a defined end-state. ...

Reception

References

External links

• Seiken Densetsu 3 guide at StrategyWiki
• Seiken Densetsu 3 at MobyGames

MobyGames is a website devoted to cataloging computer and video games, both past and present. ...

Fan sites

• Zophar.net - Seiken Densetsu 3
• Seiken Densetsu 3 at the Seikens.com