Legend of Mana

"Bittersweet storytelling with a bit of action"

When the Mana Tree; the entombed Goddess of the world was destroyed by an unknown force, here Mana(spiritual energy) was turned into artifacts and were scattered across the world. Wars were started so mankind could obtain the God-like power, but after hundreds of years, the power that once flowed through the artifacts seemed to grow weaker and weaker. Soon, Mana almost seemed to be extinct and the world became peaceful again but without the Mana Goddess to watch over humankind, the creatures of the world turned their backs on her and became manipulated with worldly problems. She still can faintly cry out to the inhabitants of the world...but no one seems to listen....

Legend of Mana uses a style of storytelling that immerses the player into the daily lives of the townsfolk rather than the Main character. You see, you are just part of the adventure but you're also an observer; you make key entrances but the game doesn't let you hog all the glory to yourself; there are many lovable characters that occupy this game: From the Love Stricken Centaur to the Tricky Merchant rabbit to the small cactus that resides in your house that logs down all of you adventures. The characters are pretty deep too; everyone has a story to tell and a past that haunts them and for the most part you're trying to help them anyway you can.

At first, there is only your house on a Map-like world. Throughout the game, you will receive "Artifacts" that allow you to put more locations onto the world. Towns, Caves, Pirate ships and even the Underworld are there for you to uncover and explore as you play this game. Artifacts are placed onto the Map, but sometimes there are certain regulations; if you want to put down the Pirate Ship, you must have a space on the map where water resides. If not, you won't be able to place it on the map.

Legend of Mana is unlike the other games in the Mana series; The Main character roams across the world helping people through various missions which then allows the story to progress. The game is also pretty non-linear to an extent you can choose which missions you want to do and you're never really forced to follow a direct path through the game. Most of the Missions are there for you watch two characters interact with each other, you'll follow them through the stage until you either fight a boss or the conflict is resolved. Most quests may seem petty, Following a Pirate Penguin who races after his lover, to a Magician who cannot accept the fact that his brother has turned into a Wendigo-like creature in a snowfield but after you finish these quests you're rewarded with a bittersweet conclusion, then you're swept away again by another quest and other interesting characters.

The Battle system could've been worked on though. Like most Mana games, the battle system is no different. It's a typical action RPG where your character dukes it out with monsters on the field. Unlike the other Mana games, when you encounter the enemy you can't leave the screen. So you basically cannot run from the enemy. This is sort of annoying since there is a bit of a preparation loading time(Encounter enemy then a few seconds to pull out your weapon) before every single fight. It's also quite similar to Parasite Eve's encounter system where all enemies are set in a certain location and no matter what, you're forced to fight them. Also, whenever you dispatch the enemies that lay before you you are always healed back up to 100%...every single battle. This makes it as though there is no challenge in the game whatsoever. There are a lot of weapons you can use in this game, Swords,Spears,Bows,Staves, and even your bare hands can be used to fight enemies. Weapons also have certain abilities that can be learned from using the weapon a lot. Once the Gauge below you health bar is full, you can preform a strong charged attack. It's kinda stupid because it takes a while for you to preform it and by that time the enemies could be out of your range...

You can also bring a pet to help you into battle. Sometimes you will encounter an egg when fighting enemies; if you can capture it by feeding food it will hatch into a monster who can help you in battle. You can also give your pet certain food which will change it into another monster(much like the Feed option in the Final Fantasy Legend series). Besides having a monster to help you in battle, another character from the game can also join you throughout your missions; your buddy. Like Secret of Mana, Legend of Mana allows you and your friend to Cooperatively work together throughout the game, you can also get a computer player to play as the second player too if you wanted to.

The games graphics are those similar to Saga Frontier 2's; the backgrounds look almost as if they were painted. The game is very colorful too thanks to the painted feeling the game gives off.

The music isn't bad either. Whether it's Rock music when fighting the game's hulking bosses or the simple melodies that course through most of the areas in the game: It's perfect and works well with the setting.

Legend of Mana is a great game and while it does have it's array of problems, it didn't necessarily ruin the game. Though, don't expect a Secret of Mana or a Final Fantasy Adventure; while Legend of Mana has it's roots tangled with the older Mana games, it also is quite original much like how different Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter is the black sheep of the other Breath of Fire games.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 08/09/05