Traditionally, console games ported or even originally created for a portable system is not a good thing. For whatever reason, things created to be portable usually were downsized versions of their intended visions. For example, Yoshi’s Cookies has a pretty decent puzzle edge to it, but it quickly becomes repetitive; the Gameboy version of Tetris is higher up on the quality chart, but do you really want to look at gray cubes when you can look at them in color on a variety of different platforms? Over the years, this habit has slowly disappeared as more and more games are maturing. I think Mana Khemia: Student Alliance for the PSP is one of the successfully ported games.
Mana Khemia: Student Alliance is a port of the PlayStation 2 game Mana Khemia. The plots are the same: You’ll follow Vahn as he travels through the alchemy school of Al-Revis and learns about the world and himself. Along the way, he meets and befriends various stereotypical characters who never really develop beyond their source. The same issues with the story that I had with the PS2 version I have with Student Alliance. It still has not learned to fully show things instead of telling us about them. And I still insist that Vahn’s issues stem from his lack of having actual friends during his childhood.
Everything that was great about the original gameplay is also present in the PSP version. The overwhelming customization of the various recipes is all present in its crazy glory as is the item hunting and refining of said recipes and the jobs to be completed for the much needed cash. It is important to note that synthesizing is a little more difficult than the PS2 version because of the smaller size of the PSP’s screen. So hitting the proper emblem to enhance the quality of an item is a tad more difficult. Combat works just as well and is just as solid as fans remember it. However, this means that the differences in times (day and night) also are the same as the PS2 version, which means that there is still no reward other than bragging rights for exploring areas during the night. Thus, the old habit of hunkering down and praying for daylight to come still occurs.
Yet, this is where the two versions differ. Graphically, the game is an obvious drop in quality from the original. The backgrounds look downright horrid due to pixilation. The only thing to escape unscathed were the characters’ sprites. So what was once a cute little universe is now a highly pixilated world; the background looks like it was pasted there to fill space. It just feels like it doesn’t belong in the universe. Worse yet, what once was a rather cool experience watching the sunrise is now just bland. Adding insult to injury is the horrific loading times. Every little action — from leaving to a different area to opening a menu to changing character’s status screens and growth books — has a load time. And these are not short three second loads but are mostly 30 seconds. Oddly enough, the first time an action is performed (such as jumping or slashing), there is some major lag — especially when combat ends. It just hangs there for a few seconds and then jumps right to the results screen. The weirdest part is that once it starts flowing, nothing stops it. Until the next instance the game loads.
Sound is the same as the PS2 version for the most part: the over-the-top vocals that are downright annoying at times, the uber-cute and catchy campus theme, the thuds and whacks of the various weapons. However, the oddest thing is that all of the combat vocals were removed — even the victory voices. So now that they are gone, it just feels empty and lacking.
This is not to say that game is unplayable. On the contrary, Mana Khemia: Student Alliance is playable if you can stand its quirks. You can work your way from start to finish if you like. You can still sit there for a good 30 minutes fiddling and creating various items and weapons in the workshops. It is just more difficult to play because the game is not as responsive as its PS2 precursor. I feel that is the reason why so many mainstream reviewers have hated Mana Khemia: Student Alliance for the PSP so much. Because here was an opportunity to smooth the various quirks from in the original, an opportunity to make the game a director’s cut, an opportunity to create a stronger story and more believable characters. In other words, they could have created a stronger game. However, this is not the case. It is essentially the same game with the same quirks only taken a step further. I can easily imagine that there are people out there who will probably love this game and understandably so. If it was a “clean” port, it would have been a simple “choose whichever one interests you more.” Heck, the portable version probably would have been the way to go because there are so many available points for taking a break.
In a way, I feel like I was reading last year’s textbook. Not that old textbooks don’t have any value or lack useful information, but they can also be better made than this year’s standard. I remember in my “Oral and Written Expressions” class that the professor hated one of the textbooks we needed for the course, and in essence, she stated that with each new edition it got watered down and more horribly written than the previous edition. That is what Mana Khemia: Student Alliance feels like to me: something that could have been made a few years ago and not something that was released in 2009. It feels like something that was somewhat rushed out to meet some sort of demand as the creators rushed elsewhere to focus on other projects. And that’s a shame, because it is so easy to imagine the heights this game could have risen to if it was given the proper attention.
As such, Mana Khemia: Student Alliance is not an easy game to recommend, especially to RPG fans. Part of the problem is all of the complaints that have been voiced. The other part of the problem is the price; this game costs $35 while the original PS2 version now costs $20. So essentially you are paying more money for a weaker gaming experience. With this in mind, if you want to play this game and you have access to a PS2, go buy or rent the PS2 version. Sure, it has its own quirks, but it is a much more enjoyable game overall — especially if you are new to the RPG genre. If you do not own a PS2, then go rent this game. See if you can tolerate its quirks better than I. But sadly, you are not missing much if you decide to pass on Mana Khemia: Student Alliance. In all honesty, I hope this is not some sort of omen of things to come regardless of the system a game is released on.
