Secret of Evermore
Graphics
The graphics in Evermore are pretty good. They look very similar to those in Secret Of Mana, but
the tone is much darker. For a good portion of the game, there really isn't very much green
grass, or bright areas at all. This is really my main complaint about the graphics. Everything
is so dark that is starts to become sort of frustrating after a while. Eventually, all you want
to do is get into a bright open area, but you really don't get that chance. The game is divided
into four main settings that you'll see during the course of the game. But except for the last
one, they all seem kind of similar in basic ways.
Overall, this is really more a
matter of personal preference than an actual gameplay issue. If you do prefer games with
darker themes, you will probably find these graphics to be quite good. There are also some
other good points. The general graphics you see, such as towns and dungeon areas, are highly
detailed. Most of the Spell Effects look very good, especially the ones that are more
powerful. The enemies, especially the bosses, are also really detailed. I would go as far
as to call some of them impressive. The game doesn't really do that poorly in this
category, but I think that the graphics could have been much better if there was some more
variety in terms of color.
Gameplay
All of battles in the game take
place in real time, much like in the Zelda series. Secret Of Mana is a much better
comparison, though. You can use various kinds of weapons, and the more you use
them, the more powerful they become. You can think of this as your weapons leveling
up like your character does. The real problem with this system is there isn't a really
big selection of weapons to begin with, and the fact that some are naturally weaker than
others. You'll generally stick with using the newest weapons you have, and not even bother
to make the older ones better. This system was handled differently in Secret of Mana, and
it was to your benefit to use a wide variety of weapons in different situations. There were
also more weapons in that game to begin with, making the system itself more fun.
Another serious problem with Evermore is that you only have control of two characters throughout the entire game. The boy and the dog, which you name yourself. I'll call him Mike from this point on. Only Mike is able to use any of the weapons just mentioned, which limits you even further. The dog cannot equip any armor with the exception of collars that you can buy and find. The dog fights with his brute strength (what else could a dog do?) and he is able use his powerful sense of smell to help you find alchemy ingredients and other hidden items. I would much rather have had three human party members, though. Since Mike's only companion is the dog, he really doesn't have anybody to talk to and interact with unless he visits towns or a major story event happens. In most RPG's, your party members form relationships and become friends or have rivalries. I find that to be one of the more entertaining aspects to the games in the genre, and it doesn't happen in this game. Very disappointing.
Instead of learning magic in this game, you must create spells using Alchemy. By mixing various items that you find, you can create spells. For example, lets say you need 1 part Earth and 2 Parts water to create the Heal Spell. Each time you use the spell, it will use up part of your Earth and Water Supply. When you run out of either ingredient, the spell won't work until you get some more. I really didn't like this system at all. In order to strengthen your spells, you need to keep using them as often as possible. That's the same way it was handled in Secret of Mana, and is similar to making your weapons stronger. I liked it in SOM, but I hate it in Evermore. Many ingredients are very scarce in the game, and it is often not possible to use your spells when you need them, to say nothing of wasting them to make them stronger. That makes it extremely difficult to make your spells powerful, and renders some of them useless. This system is one of the worst that I've ever had to put up with. It's extremely irritating, and is one of the main reasons I consider this game to be as terrible as I do.
There are many places in this game that are nothing more than elaborate, but poorly designed mazes. The only purpose that any of them seem to have is to make the player waste time and become frustrated by getting lost. A lot of them are just trial and error, with annoying enemies running around, that have no skill involved at all. This makes much of the game extremely frustrating, and severely diminishes any replay value that it has. The game is also very linear. You don't really have much control over anything. You do get an airship device near the end, but you really can't go anywhere interesting with it, except revisit a couple areas you've already been to. There are only a handful of places where you can even land the thing. Therefore, there aren't really any sidequests or hidden places to find.
Story
As the Game Begins, Mike is walking with his dog. The dog gets sees a cat, and chases it into an abandoned mansion. Mike follows him in, and both he and the dog are warped to the land of Evermore, which is divided into four distinct zones. You start off in a Prehistoric Area, and move on to the others as you progress through the game. I found the story to be really uninteresting, overall. There are a lot of times when dialogue seems like it's supposed to be funny, but it just isn't done right and ends up simply sounding stupid. The whole game seems like it's supposed to be a Comedy, but unlike other games that used the same concept, I didn't find much of this game amusing at all.
Music
From what I remember, the music was actually halfway decent. While I think there could have been some more variety, some of it is quite impressive. Of course, I certainly wouldn't say that the songs in this game really compare to some other games available on the system. Secret of Mana in particular has an amazing soundtrack that really helps get you into the game. SOM had music worth paying money for. Evermore... doesn't.
Conclusion
I haven't played all that many truly bad games, but of all the games that I have played, this ranks as one of the worst. It tries to be like Secret of Mana in many ways, but it fails miserably in that attempt. If you are extremely desperate for a SNES game, you might want to give it a shot. Some people may get a small amount of enjoyment out of it, but most people would be better off trying some of the other amazing games in the genre available on the Super Nintendo.
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