a review of
secret of evermore
a videogame by square usa
published by squaresoft
for the nintendo super nes
text by ario barzan
score: 
(out of four)
Bottom line: Secret of Evermore is “kicking ass and writing symphonies at the same time.” Ask me about RPG’s, and I’ll admit to once having a thing for them: an affinity that drove me to emulate Tales of Phantasia on a stuttering computer and max out the timer on Final Fantasy VII.
Ask me to tell you what the “thing” was, and…I can’t, exactly.
I’d like to think the unmentionable was a phase, that the games were an outlet for nervous ticks at an unstable period.
Now, the phrase “random battle” will get a rolling of eyes, a sigh, maybe a bar of soap in your mouth.
Final Fantasy XII has recently been called a Beacon of Nobility. I’m sorry, though: it was only a step forward on the long staircase RPG’s need to climb to escape from their stone-age. See, back in 1995, Secret of Evermore was doing what should be done now. It was, presumably, Square USA’s answer to Secret of Mana, and it got damn near everything right.
Select a new file, and you’ll find those first moments slightly…off. The setting: dingy Podunk – a nameless name. Trash rolls about on the street, a couple youths play marbles, and a boy and dog emerge out of a theater showing “The Lost Adventures of Vexx.” It’s humble, and clunky. In no time at all, a cat grabs the canine’s attention, and he sprints away in the pursuit of happiness. As the boy follows, the chase leads to an old mansion, setting in motion Very Unusual Things. Once inside, bumbling curiosity activates a mechanism – a transporter that shifts the kid and his pet over to another dimension. This dimension is Evermore, a combination of personal Utopias. Utopias of whom? Why, the scientific minds behind the project.
Charming as this concept is, if you go invest in RPG’s for their plots, you are not going to be thrilled with Evermore. If, on the other hand, you are like me, and realize that most “fabulous” video game plots are poor summer movies, and prefer to revel in what the medium is better at doing now, then you’re in luck. The plot is there to dictate advancements in setting, but it is by no means a backbone. Sparse and never-too-serious events take the boy to different locales, each representing historical periods. Prehistoria segues into Antiqua, then Gothica, and, finally, Omnitopia.
Let’s throw the trash-bag out. In what seems to be a common cold of video games, Evermore’s conclusive chunk is weak: an obtuse splurge of glass tubes and pristine interiors. The rest is picked at the peak of freshness, so what happened? Omnitopia is, however, small, and not a flow murderer. Also, the dialogue. But, no, at the same time, it’s not bad, really. Just funny, in the way that it would be funny to see a figure skateboarding in a Friedrich painting. The stuff’s saved by being brief and reasonably pleasant.
Onto the good. On the chance one has played Mana, they’re already acquainted with part of Evermore’s system. Everything is presented from a lightly lopsided bird’s-eye view. Press Y to bring up a ring menu (very slick), and hold A when the percentage display on the bottom, representing stamina, allows you to dash. The boy’s dog acts as a secondary character whose aggressiveness can be toggled on an A.I. scale.
As the boy progresses through trials or passive events, he is rewarded with, or given, weapons, be it a bazooka, sword, or…bone. Use that weapon enough, and it will deal more damage. After a certain point, you can hold down the attack button to charge your attack. Effects vary – if you’re wielding a spear, it launches across the screen for long-range damage.
Not to worry. Combat supports improving statistics’ hardiness. It is actualized, seamless – no swirling vortexes, chess board positioning, or victory animations here, folks. And, hell, it’s well done. What a blessing. Dragon Quest VIII was lovely, lovely enough to make R2 my MVP button, but that didn’t stop its NES mechanics from plunging the package into flames of torment. Here’s the thing. DQVIII, and the bulk of RPG’s, are the British army, and Secret of Evermore is the feisty American force that runs around, hides in trees, and doesn’t stand for the horseshit of lining up and trading blows.
There’s a compact, brisk intelligence to fighting. Unravel your rival’s capabilities, and when the choice moment comes, line up and strike the bastard, resulting with the sound of hitting a table with one’s knuckles. This is not as easy as it sounds. Many enemies are faster, or, if they are slower, unexpectedly lunge out with territorial ferocity, making well-played victories against them an “A” on the proverbial paper. Bosses do not forsake their title. You’ll go from fighting a crab-like arachnid in the skull of a dead behemoth, to a gladiator in a Colosseum, to a freak-show-gone-loose (think Bigfoot, but ten times bigger…and only his head is visible) accompanied by possessed puppets on a stage.
Rather than spells being introduced by leveling up, they’re taught to you by a people. And in place of magic points are raw materials, which can be combined to specific effects. It’s guaranteed that you’ll miss out on the bulk of these spells the first time through, and even the second. Evermore is crawling with so many secret locations that it’s kind of mind-boggling. It’s also rich with said materials. Try nudging suspicious crannies: they will often yield something.
Most important of all is this: A lush wonder surrounds the journey. You need to give Evermore a little time. It doesn’t have an immediate sparkle. Where its inspiration is truly outdone is in the ripeness of emotion.
You can feel this in the visuals’ layers: sights give the impression of a mystery beyond what’s in front. This is a bit of a wonder, considering Western games’ ugly art history that continues to perpetuate itself (the best recent, popular example is Oblivion – an attractive, albeit generic, world with character models that look like the team modeled and mirror-imaged fucking middle-aged cosplayers). There’s the amazing, gravitational soundtrack by Jeremy Soule – his first project in the medium, and still his best. And it’s not only in the music – it’s in the lack of music. Evermore’s world is not afraid of quietness. There are forests, ecosystems, whose leaves rustle as animals chirp and hoot, and vast, windy expanses with grumbling pits.
Here is also why the game succeeds: structure. FFXII improved combat’s flow by removing a number of unnecessary abstractions, though hell if its containers for the combat weren’t blunt. By contrast, Evermore’s dungeons are curious, nuanced complexes testing not only your offensive skills, but your navigational and puzzle-solving abilities. In them, a hint of surreal Metroid design emerges, as well. Get inquisitive or lucky enough, and you might walk past a wall and through an unseeable maze to appear in a secluded chamber. Maybe there will be a person who can teach you a spell, or maybe a series of pots will await their opening.
Honest-to-God life was invested into towns and villages. Nobilia, Antiqua’s capital, is a flood of happenings – chickens being fed by children, an old man preaching apocalyptic messages, people in their trading booths waiting for customers (keep track of the bartering system for great deals!); there is no other Super Nintendo site that matches this level of inhabitance.
When I was a kid (I can hear the groans. Hush), one of my favorite things was to be outside for hours, lifting up rocks, logs, whatever, to see the life underneath. Evermore is those rocks, those logs. If you want to poke around, it lets you, and rewards you with impeccable atmosphere and sublime, little game-y elements. You’re thrown into the thick of things, and there’s a whole world out there, one that trusts the competence of the player behind the controller. Its craft holds up because it’s not bound by flimsy tech demos or self-absorption; it is universally, wonderfully made. Go out, get a copy, make a cup of tea, and settle down for a slice of joy.
– ario barzan
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July 3rd, 2007 at 554
I’m a huge Evermore fan. It’s definitely my favorite SNES RPG.
I’ve played it through a number of times and have yet to feel like I have found all the secrets so there is always reason to go back, but when I do I always appreciate the quality of the game more than I do getting a new spell…
July 3rd, 2007 at 1445
I think I like SoE more than most people, and it’s good to see a corrective to the mostly-negative reviews. Several facts remain, however:
1. The magic system is broken. Other than cure spells, you can (without excessive tedious level-grinding) level up one or, MAYBE, two spells to the point at which they’re actually useful–and even then, there’s no particular REASON to use magic rather than just whacking things.
2. The ring menus are clumsily implemented. Nobody was ever going to mistake this for Secret of Mana; they could’ve forged their own path.
3. The lack of a multiplayer mode is seriously painful.
4. The “hilarious” fake movie references are BEYOND painful.
Carry on.
July 3rd, 2007 at 1858
personally, i found the magic to be useful! i mean, the game is kind of hard – sometimes bitchingly hard. casting a crush or fireball spell saved my ass many a time.
i guess i don’t see what’s wrong with the ring menu? you press down or up – it swoops to the next layer. you whirl it around to what you want, press a button, and that’s that.
about the multiplayer: yeah, or…maybe no. having another person with you would rob the game of its certain emotional charm. on top of that, there are parts where the dog is separated from the boy for a long time.
July 3rd, 2007 at 2033
Uhhhh . . . there wasn’t a two-player mode? Are you sure?
July 4th, 2007 at 937
No, there wasn’t. The good news is that it was such a glaring problem that it got fixed by romhackers: http://www.romhacking.net/hacks/24/
July 6th, 2007 at 1302
I’m pretty sure that the “glaring” lack of a two-player mode was fully intentional, seeing as how it would pretty much ruin the game.
July 11th, 2007 at 022
As someone who has in fact USED the two-player patch, I can definitively say that, bugs notwithstanding, it doesn’t so much “ruin the game” as “make it way, WAY more entertaining.” I read in an old issue of Nintendo Power that the reason they didn’t include two-player was because it would have jacked up the memory requirements and, thus, the price. Not a good decision.
July 21st, 2007 at 1427
Secret of Evermore? That.. game?
Ohh, man. It pains me. I am not going to be a little troll and say this was the worst piece of shit ever and I would rather cut my hand with a spoon rather than play this game again. I want to be open minded. I have had games that I loved and everyone else hated (Outlaws, for instance.. different genre but whatever). But, Evermore? I played that game. I was in love love love with secret of mana a few years before playing evermore. I tried it. I couldn’t stand the game. I thought I had changed tastes, and tried Mana again. Loved it again. It looked so similar that it took me time to realize I hated the game. The design, the story, almost everything. The difficulty was nice, though. Didn’t finish, I’ll admit, but played it at least ten hours.
Seriously, is action button an equivalent of a greenwich village magazine for poetry, except for video games? you trash link to the past saying no one could stand it anymore. possible (haven’t tried it in years). But evermore? i am pretty sure many people couldn’t stand it either.
okay, i’ll shut up. maybe i’ll try it again someday. but i am skeptical. Do you also hate chrono cross?
July 22nd, 2007 at 1331
you know that not everyone here is the same author, right, dude? _james_ says a link to the past didn’t hold up – not some collective consciousness that speaks on behalf of everyone, in spite of their own viewpoints.
perhaps you’d like to share why you hate almost everything in the game?
and, see, i’ve never played chrono cross.
July 22nd, 2007 at 1427
Two things: 1) Secret of Evermore is a horribly glitchy game and 2) This is its greatest strength. You mention that nudging suspicious crannies will yield returns; this is even more true when you consider the myriad bugs which can grant you superpowers, or at least entertain you for a while.
Just be careful not to activate the handful that will ruin your game. . .
July 22nd, 2007 at 1739
The game-breaking bugs are fucking excellent!
July 23rd, 2007 at 807
Yeah, it’s not the same author. But it seems that the people at action button (which, I infer, know each other, and perhaps are friends) have the tendency to *destroy* games that were extremely popular (examples? FF7, Metal Gear Solid, God of War 2, Zelda LTP – couple of which i haven’t played), and basically pretend they were the worst pieces of trash ever, and glorify less well known games (there obviously are exceptions, otherwise action button would just end off pissing off everyone) Of course, I am not saying you want everyone to love the same games, but it is not being a smart, critical reviewer (aim of the site if i understand well) to just be a 2.0 version of an imdb board troll, simply put, with a better vocabulary. You can stay sharp, funny, and critical without using super over the top expression and “witty” comparisons all throughout every single review. It’s actually harder, and so, it’s more rewarding. I simply think Action button has slight “attention whore” (please teach me a better expression, for my english is not perfect..) tendencies, and I find it really sad, given the excellent aim of the website.
I realize I am shooting my own foot since I said I hated Evermore – but I didn’t say it was the worst game ever. It was simply really not for me. I came to the game convinced I would love it. Or at least, very much like it. What does not work for me: amazingly, I was not really having fun during the fights. It seemed broken. I always felt I was doing either too much or too little damage during the game; like too little time was spent checking how difficulty should progress. I ended up leveling up a lot, which is annoying. Though it is nice to see a game where not every fight is ridiculously easy if you have been playing normally so far (which is why I liked FF XII). The graphical design of the game is very bland. Somehow the time travel thing works (chrono trigger!), but most often, I feel it is corny. The B-movie references were having the same effect. Maybe I didn’t grow up in the right culture, but I did find grindhouse “funny”, even though I was probably not armed with the right cultural background for it. The look of the hero was horrendous. I even prefer Vaan over that guy. He was almost as bad as a bitmap brothers hero (say, the guy from magic pockets), but except that it was not funny.
Anyhow, I will try it again now, maybe i will like it… who knows.
July 26th, 2007 at 1050
I much prefered Mana to Evermore. Evermore took about half from Mana, except the problem is that it took the wrong half. The magic system WAS basically useless. When I played through the games I leveled up one or two skills. The Mana system for increasing magic strength based on usagd doesn’t work for individual stats for each magic skill. In Mana, each element had their own skill, and while that was still really annoying to me, forcing needless grinding, it was better than Evermore. The combat felt worse than in Mana as well.
And the lack of multi-player. I finished Mana basically with three people playing through the majority of the game. And it was lots of fun. The missing multi-player hurt as I assumed it would be in there, and my friend was there with the second controller, but only one was working.
It wasn’t a bad game. Just very average. Most SNES RPGs had horrible balance problems..and most RPGs STILL have horrible balance problems so I guess it’s fine. There’s a few that relish in their unbalanced state, the Nippon Ichi games come to mind, and I love them, but in most cases, once they hit that unbalanced state, it’s a slog to get to the end.
July 27th, 2007 at 1838
i might as well repeat myself and say there were many points in the game where i found leveled up spells to be a boon, and that the event of finding spells in itself was satisfying, opening up more of the world and allowing some unnecessary but entertaining effects.
as far as combat is concerned: it’s to the point and does what it does with grace. you level up if you fight stuff around you, the weapon physics are crisp, the enemies are feisty, and it’s all designed around your capabilities. it’s…really a brother to mana’s design, so calling it worse is…questionable?
i still don’t consider the lack of 2P to be problematic. for some, there’s this curious stigma surrounding its lack of inclusion merely because “mana had it.” perhaps evermore works, regardless? it establishes a nice in-game relationship that utilizes the consequence of solitariness. having the dog as a virtual, trusty, silent companion is great! the game could have a two-player option, but it doesn’t, and still works, so mentioning it as a horrible mistake is a little silly, especially when a mod has been made to “rectify” the situation.
August 2nd, 2007 at 1418
I would hate a 2-player mode in Evermore. The entire point of your dog is that he is silent, useful, and loyal… he’s a dog. To have another player controlling the dog would simply make the whole dynamic bizarre. Can you give your dog complex instructions on how to run around and draw attention during a boss fight? Wouldn’t the whole dynamic of having a dog be ruined if it were really your friend, a human being, sitting in the room there next to you?
What it Agro could be controlled by a second player? Would that enrich the Shadow of the Colossus experience?
August 8th, 2007 at 1929
damn, man! i mentioned that exact parallel in my reply, at fist, but i edited it out for…some reason.
spot on!
April 15th, 2008 at 825
I love Evermore’s non-music in an almost sexual way. I wish more modern games would have enough balls to try rich atmospheric sounds.