When comparing Knights of Pen & Paper +1 vs Secret of Mana, the Slant community recommends Secret of Mana for most people. In the question“What are the best Android RPGs?” Secret of Mana is ranked 8th while Knights of Pen & Paper +1 is ranked 31st. The most important reason people chose Secret of Mana is:
Twenty some odd years later and Secret of Mana is still considered one of the best action role playing game experiences there is.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Classic tabletop gaming
Knights of Pen & Paper +1 uses all of the traditional tropes of role playing tabletop gaming. From standard health and mana stats to basic attacks and class abilities.
Pro Well written plot and original gameplay
The user plays as the DM and as the players also while partaking of the story of the in world game as well as the out world one.
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 Freezes and crashes
Sadly there are freezes and crashes in the game.
Con Could use an editor for the writing
Some of the writing in game is confusing as it is not written correctly.
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.