Episode 446: Secret of Evermore (Patreon)

This week sees us revisiting the Squaresoft of the 1990s—specifically, the Squaresoft of 1995, when the company could seemingly do no wrong. They'd just released Final Fantasy VI and Chrono Trigger back to back, fer cryin' out loud! And eventually... they did do wrong. They flew too close to the sun. Bit off more than they could chew. Got too big for their britches. Were hoisted by their own petard.

But enough about The Spirits Within. Hey-o!

No, this episode explores a creation with more substantial connections to Final Fantasy than The Spirits Within could ever hope to claim. This episode is all about Secret of Evermore, a game built roughly upon the framework of Secret of Mana, which was of course the sequel to Final Fantasy Gaiden: Seiken Densetsu. Also, Evermore had a cameo by some Final Fantasy IV characters. Did all of this make it a good game? Hmm, well, maybe not. Neither is it a particularly bad game, though. It's awkward and lumpy and needed a few rounds of play balancing, but it does some imaginative things; between its crafting-focused skill system and atmospheric soundtrack, Evermore really does play like the midpoint between classic Japanese action-RPGs and modern-day Western RPGs. Which makes sense, as it was a Japanese corporation's attempt to establish a Western studio to make Japanese-style games with a Western flavor. It didn't quite work out, and Square USA went away pretty quickly, but we did receive this one weird offshoot.

Nadia Oxford leads this week as Jeremy Parish, Jared Petty, and Ash Paulsen do their thing (pausing to sniff for reagents whenever Nadia mashes the shoulder triggers). Edits by Greg Leahy, and artwork by John Pading.

Music in this joint:

• 14:07 - EarthBound: Battle Against a Weak Opponent
• 23:14 - Lode Runner (FC): Stage Theme | Secret of Evermore: A Boy and His Dog
• 35:45 - Fire Eyes
• 43:08 - Hall of Collosia
• 51:08 - Puppet Show
• 58:47 - Battle with Thraxx
• 1:06:14 - Final Battle
• 1:14:16 - Cecil's Town
• Closing - Staff Roll