Legend of Mana

"The 1000th title of mana"

The legend of you fantasy, starting out in this game you get to choose between a girl and a boy. Having a large map to choose from, you pick a spot on the map and your escapade begins. Playing this game will have a huge effect on you view of 2-d graphics. The detail that they put into this game is absolutely amazing. So take a pick between the genders and start your tale for the Legend of Mana.

Game play 9
Being able to move around in a battle in an RPG is a very handy trick. Used to playing where you attack, wait, they attack, this game lets you actually move around in the battle on your own and have a very wide diversity of “Special Techniques”. The only grievance I would have about the battling system is that you can only have two main characters in your party to win. Even though it is enough to pummel most monsters it would still be rather enjoyable to have someone else to aid you. Another good quality feature to the game play is the ability to have another person help you in your game. All they have to do is plug in a controller, you go to a save area and choose two player mode and you can have them control your NPC’s. Only thing that is exasperating about the NPC’s is the fact that you cannot change their equipment or give them new abilities to use in the battle. Watch out for one thing, the NPC's like to steal your experience you gain from battles.

Sound 10
Music in this game is spectacular. The music that differs from town to town, battle to battle, is astonishing. They worked very hard on this games sound it would seem to be. The detail they put to the sounds and the soundtrack to this game just blows me away. The best thing about the battles is you have separate music for the majority of the boss battles. So you know whether or not it is a major battle compared to a mini boss. The character even has a noise for just about every move he or she makes. While producing new items such as musical instruments or weapons they have a mixture of noises themselves. While on the topic of this games music, it shouldn’t surprise you too much because Squaresoft does it. Not saying other companies don’t have excellent music, it’s the fact that Squaresoft’s workers are amazing at making music and sound effects.

Graphics 10
Detailed to the very last spot, this game tops it all. For a 2-d game like this, the graphics are by far the best I’ve ever seen. The coloring of the surroundings is outstanding. Environments really stand out in each level that you go to, from having snow all over the field to having a enormous wasteland even with on oasis. Characters in this game their own portrait when you speak with them; even those graphics are wonderful. What is really astounding is some of the characters move their mouths, I wouldn’t say exactly to what you read when they are talking, but the larger characters have a particular movement even without going to a video. The beginning video is one of the most excellent intros to a game I have ever seen. It would seem that thy took hand drawings and mixed them with 3-d, which in animes it looks absolutely horrible, but in this game Square went over the line and showed that you can make the graphics work out right.

Story 9
Starting this story is very interesting. Instead of just going with a straightforward story line, you can go to separate missions on the game where they have their own little tale to go with. Even though I think you can do the game in a certain order to make the adventure make more sense I didn’t have a problem putting 1 and 1 together. Exploring is an essential factor to beating this game. Being able to do a lot of missions you can explore to find new items or to find out where you have to head next in the tale. Certain missions have to be finished in order to trigger another one to advanced in the escapade.

Replay Value 10
Depending on how much of the game you got done with your first time through. I would highly suggest going through the game again and finishing your quest. Because having all the things from your last game you can bring along with your New Game+ feature. So get what you can and if you miss it go again for it another time though its entertaining.

Game play 9
Sound 10
Graphics 10
Story 9
Replay Value 10
Overall Ranking 10

I had borrowed this game from my friend and beat it in a couple days, which I kind of regret. Knowing how spectacular this game is I am definitely going to save up some money and go and buy it wherever I can find it. While saying I will get this, I suggest that you go out and buy this game to add to your collection of Square games.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 04/13/04