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Secret of Mana is already over 20 years old, so a remake to it feels well deserved. It's biggest issue was that the game was very flawed, but still enjoyable. So with that said, let's go into what I feel about this game.

Story:
If you've played the original Secret of Mana, you already know how the story goes. Evil empire is trying to take over the world using a power source known as Mana and are planning on bringing about a big fortress. However, a guy, a girl, and some sprite kid all unite to stop them. It's...pretty basic and not the grandest of stories, but it's servicable. The remake doesn't change any of that, so if you're going into this looking for a deep and in-depth story like other Square games did, especially around the time the original was made, you're better off looking elsewhere. That being said, our characters that we see in this game are pretty well done, if cliche at times. There's even little scenes you get when you sleep at an inn that help make the characters more fleshed out after major events in the game.

Gameplay:
Unlike your standard JRPG, where your characters are stationary and fight against a group of enemies, Secret of Mana instead is more action oriented, very much along the lines of Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy XV, only years before those games were even thought about. The combat is very fun, and instead of relying on just going in swords, axes, whatever weapon the gives you a blazin', you instead wait for the perfect time to attack in order to make yourself more effective. Now, you COULD go swinging your weapons around at everything you see like in a typical hack and slash, but it won't do you nearly as good. In addition to your standard leveling system, your party also gains levels in their weapon profficiency, making themselves more skilled with the weapons as they level up and allowing them to pull off flashy moves by charging the attack button. However, I found this not really as useful because not only are you a sitting duck as a result, but the attack really doesn't do much when you do end up charging it.

Graphics/Aesthetics:
The graphics are...okay. That's really it. For a more modern game, this remake really doesn't do much graphically. For some reason, none of the characters move their mouths when they talk despite there being voice acting (which I'll get to in a bit), which doesn't really make sense, especially in cutscenes. This game's graphics feel more at home on the PS2 in 2001, not the PS4 and PC in 2018. The game isn't ugly, mind you, just...not really modern, especially since the sprites from the original aged so much better.

Music/Sound Design:
Secret of Mana's music is one of its strongest points, being so much more advanced than most games on the Super Nintendo/Super Famicom were able to make at the time. And the sound effects just felt so lively. The remake's music is amazing as well, especially since the sound effects have been updated beautifully. I can't say it's a perfect update, since some of the songs still seem...odd with how they were remade, but it's pretty good for the most part. The voice acting on the other hand? Not nearly as good. Some of the voice acting just feels stale and bland, like the actors really didn't seem to care and just wanted a paycheck. It could also be a possibility that the voice acting was done during the Voice Actors strike, but if it wasn't, then someone should've had some of these lines redone.

Misc.:
One thing that people who have played the original seem to forget is that the game is very player-hostile. For one, just like with most RPG's, grinding is a necessary pain. You have to have every character grind up their skill with weapons until they're at the maximum amount, and you have to do this with every weapon you upgrade. Thankfully, weapon upgrades are at least spaced out enough that it's not too big of a problem, but what IS a problem is that the same needs to be done with magic. You have to grind up levels with each element that you get, and you can't just keep going whenever you want. You only can grind up to a level depending on how many elementals you have. And every time you get a new one, you have to not only grind up the levels of elementals you already have, but you have to grind up the levels of the new elemental just to get it caught up with all the other elementals. On top of that, the ring-style menu system is just aggrivating. You're going to get very frustrated with this as a new player, and even those who do "get used to it" still struggle with it because of how inconvenient it is. It is different, that much is true, but it's also a pain to deal with every time you play. Thankfully, while you're navigating through menus, the game is paused, so you can take your time, but it's still a long time you'll be spending in menus just to equip stuff, cast a spell, or even use an item. It is a chore to deal with. And then there's the AI. Oh sweet mercy the AI. This AI is some of the dumbest I've seen in a JRPG ever, and it's just as bad in the remake. Thankfully, you can take control of characters, but when you're not controlling them, they don't seem to know how to move around the map at all. They tend to get you killed very easily as a result if you don't know what you're doing. Thankfully, they at least have the knowledge on how to attack propperly, but they're still idiotic no matter what you do to adjust it. And then there's the many glitches. I encountered a glitch rather early on where my characters teleported around part of the map and then weren't able to interact with anything until I went to a different area, and another where the game just flat-out crashed on me. Someone didn't do enough QA when they were making this game, it seems

Overall:
Pros:
+Music and Sound Effects are very nice.
+Combat is fun and fluid
+Story isn't great, but it's at least servicable
+There's some pretty good characters in this game, very likable or relatable, even if they're rather cliche
+The amount of spells you can get will make any mage fans happy with their fun
+System specs mean you can probably play this game even if you're playing on a less-than-modern system

Cons:
-The grinding you'll be doing is agonizing and will just stop you from having any fun just so you don't fall behind
-The AI has the intelligence of a Goldfish, except when it comes to attacking things.
-Voice Acting is not good, at least not in English
-Visuals could be better upgraded
-Glitches out the wazoo. Square, fix your game please!
-That menu system is player-hostile.

Would I recomend this game?
I would say yes, but with an extreme sense of caution. This is one of those games where you have to really work with it if you want to play it. If the game fixes the bugs it has, then I'd definitely recomend it more. Secret of Mana is fun, but it hasn't aged well. If you're wiling to ignore the English voice acting or the rather dated-looking visuals, then you might enjoy it, though the glitches and menus will frustrate you until you learn to get used to them. Overall, good game, but severely flawed. Maybe wait until it's on sale before you get it or wait for it to be patched

If you've ever wanted to truly feel like a ninja, this is the game for you. It's got a lot of action and there's plenty of fun here even if you hate stealth games. You can choose to be a bloodthirsty killer, attacking everyone in your sight, or you can be stealthy and distract your enemies, avoiding as much conflict as you can. It's your choice in the end.