When comparing Eternium: Mage And Minions vs Secret of Mana, the Slant community recommends Eternium: Mage And Minions for most people. In the question“What are the best Android RPGs?” Eternium: Mage And Minions is ranked 1st while Secret of Mana is ranked 8th. The most important reason people chose Eternium: Mage And Minions is:
You'll never have to wait for some sort of stamina/energy to refill. You'll never be blocked by consumables either: health potions/food drops from monsters, you can have gear with life regeneration. Play as much as you like in this free-to-play game.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro No stamina/energy system, you can play as much as you want
You'll never have to wait for some sort of stamina/energy to refill. You'll never be blocked by consumables either: health potions/food drops from monsters, you can have gear with life regeneration. Play as much as you like in this free-to-play game.
Pro Innovative interface created for touch screen devices feels like second nature
Tap once to move, tap once to auto-attack, draw gestures on the screen to cast your more powerful abilities. It feels very smooth and gives you a lot of control.
Pro Awesome game graphics
Background graphics have crisp detail in them.
Pro A rich randomized loot system that is not pay-to-win
Loot is to be found throughout the game when destroying monsters, though there is some equipment available from the shop. Luckily the game is not pay to win, so that paid equipment is not as good as equipment that can be found in game on your own.
Pro No paywalls, the game can be experienced and completed in full without ever spending any money
You never feel forced to buy anything to progress. In-game currency can be obtained by just playing the game.
The game can be finished without ever paying.
Pro Can be easily played offline, for those times you may not have a data connection
The game can be played offline after you finish to download all the content it needs.
However, some features are disabled while playing offline, such as upgrading abilities (timers require online synchronization), or transmuting items (timers require online synchronization).
Pro Tons of tactical combat techniques that are enabled by a plethora of abilities for you to choose from gives the game a lot of customizability in this area
Charge or leap across the map, slow down time, raise above the field and hail your enemies with fire, incinerate the ground, or freeze your foes. These are just a few examples of abilities that can be upgraded in order to increase their power and obtain new game-changing effects. The upgrade takes time though, but can be sped up using in-game currency that you either earn through play or purchase through in-app-purchases.
The combat itself requires tactical thinking. Facing a horde of monsters you can pull them together using Vortex, incinerate the ground beneath them, or use your AOE attacks then freeze them in place to maximize the damage. If you are facing a powerful champion, time you disablers properly and the battle can be won.
Pro Deep crafting system that allows for plenty of customization
You can fuse rings and amulets to obtain legendary versions of them while being able to choose the final stats. Really feels like crafting. Or you can fuse any other 3 items with a chance to get a better version. Gemstones can be socketed into your gear to customize your character.
Pro The challenging opposing enemies give a feeling of accomplishment once they are defeated
Exciting game play with some really tough enemies. Lots of strategy required at many key points.
Pro Further customize your play-style by recruiting different companions
You can have up to 3 companions that can follow you into battle. They are controlled by the AI but you can use their main abilities. The companions abilities are quite strong and enable powerful combos.
Companions to choose from:
Tank - taunts enemies and has a charge stunning the enemies in a large area.
Healer - heals your team and can use vortex - pulling enemies towards a target spot.
Ranger - comes with a nifty attack speed aura and can shoot a hail of arrows in a cone to inflict a lot of damage.
Mage - has a cool-down reduction aura and can cast a powerful chain lightning (which is only available in the in-game store).
Maggie - another healer whose major talent is a field that cancels the use of spells by enemies, preventing summoners from calling forth skeleton hordes, and prevents enemies from using healing spells (which is only available in the in-game store).
Pro Trial levels add spice to the game
The trial levels add to the game and allow extra fighting for the level of the character and add extra levels to beat.
Pro Using a touchpen when playing this game is amazing
Pro On single mode gives a drawn-together feeling to the gamer
Pro Has stood the test of time
Twenty some odd years later and Secret of Mana is still considered one of the best action role playing game experiences there is.
Pro Unique ring command system allows for easy menu selection
The ring command system used for selecting equipment and other options is still as innovative today as it was back in 1993.
A first at it's time, the ring command system allowed for users to select their weapons and equipment easily without having to leave the main game screen, making for selecting quite easy.
Pro Shift in gameplay for Squaresoft/SquareEnix made RPGs
Secret of Mana features a top down real time battle system akin to other action role playing games such as Legend of Zelda that at the time was a large shift from the turn based fare that Square created. Even today Square Enix does not foray too often into the action role playing genre, making for a unique experience when it comes to Square created titles.
Pro Considered one of the best stories in RPG's young and old
While the outline of the story is the normal RPG fare, where a young boy is tasked with saving the world, the characters and their journey still holds up as one of the best ever written.
Pro Colorful 16bit era graphics
Secret of Mana was created at the height of the 16bit SNES era and utilized some of the most colorful and stylized fantasy role playing game graphics. While it would have been nice to see Square polish them up a bit for HD devices, they still hold up, especially in a market that has many games designed with bit graphics as a current trend.
Cons
Con Only 3 classes to choose from (Mage, Warrior, and Bounty Hunter)
Right now the game features only 3 classes: mage, warrior, and a gunslinger.
Con Missing character customization
You can choose only the gender of your character.
Con Some features are disabled when playing offline
You cannot use features requiring time synchronization:
Upgrading an ability
Transmuting three items
Con Lacks the option to use virtual joysticks
While the gesture interface feels great for most players there are people who would prefer to use virtual joysticks.
Con Progression locked behind bloated, exponentially growing cycles - Pay-2-progress
Con Lacks multiplayer through Wi-Fi hotspot
Mage and Minions would be better if they added a multiplayer option for dungeons and trials through a local Wi-Fi hotspot. It would be easier to play with others using a Wi-Fi hotspot.
Con Right-hand-centric
The crucial visual displays are on the left, under the hand of left-handed players. You have to raise your hand off the screen to see what's happening. This probably could be made switchable to either side of the screen with little effort.
Con Graphically, almost a direct port
Square Enix has done nothing to polish the graphics in this port which for the price point is a little disheartening. The black borders on both sides of the screen are also disappointing. To see Square do so little to accommodate HD devices and their swath of screen sizes, it makes one wonder how they get away charging the prices they do.