Legend of Mana

"*Insert clichèd synopsis here*"

Legend of Mana is part of Squaresoft's Mana series, which includes classic games Secret of Mana and Seiken Densetsu 3 (only released in Japan). The Mana games are very entertaining action/RPGs which play a bit like Zelda on one hand, but are completely different in most aspects. They're much more RPG-like (leveling up, towns, ect.) and the games have a sort of battle system, which is still action oriented, but very original and fun. However, Legend of Mana is a much different game in the series. Why is that? Read on...

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Design Elements
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Visuals
The visuals in Legend of Mana are very well done. Most of it is done in watercolor or hand drawn. The final result is beautiful. The environments are very colorful. Let me describe the some examples to you. The area you start out in is your house, which has amazing 2D detail with carpets and wooden floor. You leave your house to see beautiful green grass and trees, and a concrete/dirt path to the rest of the world. All of this simply animated; none of that silly 3D! The World Creation Map looks like a common, tan map, but now you can you animated areas on spots of land.

The characters look great, if not exceeding in detail. In fact, this game has excellent character designs. One of the characters you meet early in the game is an Onion Warrior! GO, ONION WARRIORS, GO!!!!! By Onion Warrior I mean an Onion with a sword, of course. And he is an Onion Warrior. Don't you deny it for a minute. All characters are drawn like the environments, and the result is even better!

The effects in this game are great. When you create a town, it appears in a flash of colorful lights. It starts out a flat piece of land after the sparks, but jumps up into the town or dungeon it was made to be! When you destroy an enemy, it turns into little blue crystals and gold pieces, which I'll get to later. The enemy designs are also magnificent. They are 2D like everything else. Enemies include purple bats, blue mushrooms, crabs, and such. But the HUGE bosses are the greatest part! They all look ASTOUNDING, and the design is excellent!
Rating: 9 Excellent

Music/Sound
The music in this game is excellent. Some of the best tunes in Squaresoft history are in this game! It's difficult to explain the music in Legend of Mana, but there is a lot of piano and orchestral stuff. It is all placed perfectly throughout levels.

The sound effects include *ding*s and the sounds of swords swishing through the air. All occasional stuff, but it's all in great quality.
Rating: 9 Excellent

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Gameplay Elements
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Gameplay
The gameplay in Legend of Mana is much different from previous Mana games, as I mentioned before. This time around, the game centers around side quests. This game is made out of side quests. But these side quests are FUN! Most of them, at least. Of course, you can be in the middle of as many side quests as you like at once, unless one requires you to stay in one town or area.

When you begin, you choose from two characters: Male or Female. Once you do, you pick your starting weapon. You can use any weapon, but this is your freebie. They include Knife, Sword, Spear, Axe, 2 Handed Sword, 2 Handed Axe, Hammer, Staff, Gloves, Flail (numchucks), or a Bow. After that, you can pick the area where your quest will take place, and then set the area of your home.

You start out the game by making towns. You heard me. However, you don't completely make them, in fact you just place where they go. You create the towns (or dungeons, if it is the case) with 'Artifacts' which you find after completing quests or talking to people. You'll set the artifacts on a piece of land on the World Creation Map (the world map which appears when you leave an area) and POOF, instant town and/or dungeon. You find the first artifact by talking to a Sproutling (a leaf/bush thingy... that's my thingy of the review), and from there, the sky is the limit. Or the fact that you can only set new artifacts around already created towns/dungeons, but it doesn't make much of a difference. When you press the Triangle button on the World Creation Map, you'll see the Mana levels of surrounding towns. Prior to setting an Artifact, while you're choosing which area to place the Artifact, you'll see how it will affect the surrounding towns Mana levels. The effects may change depending on the day. The days are named after the Mana spirits: Wisp (Light), Shade (Darkness), Dryad (Trees), Aura (Gold), Salamander (Fire), Gnome (Land), Jinn (Wind), and Undine (Water). The higher a Mana level in a part of land, when you enter it you may have a higher or lower chance of seeing the Spirit. I'll get back to you on what they do exactly (it's been a while since I've explored that part of the game).

Inside these places, you can talk to people and go on quests. In these quests you must perform a task, from destroying a boss to rescuing a missing person, it's usually an extremely fun task. Usually. Unfortunately, there are several, if very few, boring quests. One is the now famed ''Lil' Cactus'' episode, where you are given no clues where to go, and you usually find him in a place that has yet to be explored, according to when the quest begins. It's a very tedious task, but you can just decide to pass it by and go on other quests until you bump into Lil' Cactus.

The battle system is what makes this game so fun. This time around, you can use Normal attacks, which are quick and can do three hit combos, or Strong attacks, which are slower but more powerful. The stamina bar from the original game is gone, so you can attack as much as you can now. Rather then getting into battles action style, this time enemies jump out at you and you unsheathe your weapon, much like Chrono Trigger. Of course, this means there are two different control settings: Exploration and Battle. You can customize both. Oh, yes, back to battling. In the battles you can also use 'Specials' and 'Skills', which you can set to buttons. The skills vary from each weapon you use. This is why having various types of weapons is a good idea: You can get a variety of skills. Whenever an enemy dies, crystals pop out of them. These crystals are in fact experience points for leveling up! Little crystals are 1 Experience point, big crystals are 10 experience points. If crystals don't pop out, then you'll usually see candy (health refill) or an item bag (an item). With the crystals you'll might see your money, Lucre. Small pieces of gold are 10 Lucre, large pieces are 100 Lucre.

Another problem with this game is related to the battle system, however. This time around there are only two humans that can play, and a computer controlled monster (it's always CPU). You don't have to use the monster, and it's good too. They're useless and stupid. Of course, your second player may come with you on quests; usually they have to. Again, they're useless and stupid, but a friend can play as this second player, which makes it much more fun.
Rating: 9 Excellent

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Final Rating
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The Goodies
+Yummy graphics!
+Yummy music!
+Yummy battle system!
+Yummy originality!

The Yuckies
-Idiotic AI helpers
-Several quests are boring

The Final Word, with Cheez Rome
Despite it's differences, Legend of Mana is extremely fun, and it's few problems (which are big, however) can be passed by because the game's battle system is so fun, and the visuals and music are astounding. If you want something different or just plain fun, I suggest you try out Legend of Mana!

Final Rating: 9 Excellent

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 06/05/01, Updated 05/02/02