Seiken Densetsu 3

I've been making strides recently to reduce my backlog -- and Seiken Densetsu 3 (now colloquially recognized as Trials of Mana) is the last SNES game on my list! So it's a matter of some consequence, although the game itself is, while certainly not bad, failing to blow my mind so far.

The character selection aspect is neat, in that it tailors the beginning (and, so I've read, ending) of the game to one of six personalized stories; and, I guess, the later-game play mechanics might be different between magic users and the straight melee characters. But more generally, SD3 feels like a slightly fixed-up version of Secret of Mana, sharing most of its good points as well as its bad ones. The real-time combat is fun, but still feels a little buggy; even early fights aren't necessarily easy, forcing a reliance on items until magic gets involved (luckily, the item limit is a lot higher). Although, I think only one of the game's six characters - of which you pick three - gets healing magic, which makes me wonder if even the heightened item limit would be enough for a party without her.

And since I specifically mentioned using a walkthrough in the last game, I should specifically mention that I am again referring to a guide with some frequency. Not unlike some adventure games which have frustrated me, making progress in SD3's story seems like it would be routinely impossible without some outside help. So I was supposed to sleep in this inn to trigger a cutscene? And I was supposed to talk to this character, then check this save statue, in order to open a hidden door? Whatever, Square.

Anyway, it's fun, narratively interesting (by SNES standards at least), and moving at a pretty good pace. Plus I'm a thief or a ninja or something. So that's cool.

Progress: Just got Gnome