Legend of Mana

by Squaresoft

Product Details

• ASIN: B00004SWM0
• Media: Video Game
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (130 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,132 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Editorial Review

Though it lacks the dramatic intensity of the Final Fantasy series--the crown prince of console role-playing games--SquareSoft's Legend of Mana still satisfies with its beautiful hand-drawn sets and its innovative nonlinear gameplay.

Billed as the sequel to the Super Nintendo's Secrets of Mana, Legend of Mana's story contains more than 60 self-contained miniquests, but generally the goal is to restore the world's Mana, or life energy. Gamers won't need to be obsessive about winning all the quests, but there are some challenges that must be completed if you wish to reach the final showdown. The game begins as players choose either a male or female lead character while a map displays the new lands within the world of Fa'Diel. In each of these lands, players will find items and clues they can use in other lands. The fragmented nature of the game can be disorienting for gamers looking for quick gratification. A diary can be used to keep track of current miniquests, while an encyclopedia neatly organizes the vast amount of story players uncover. Due to the vast nature of this game's plot, you'll likely need these features to stay focused on your quests.

Anime fans will be wowed by the character design and beautifully illustrated storybook backgrounds. The game includes a Pokémon-style monster-raising element, which is surprising for a teen-rated RPG, but it works well. --Porter Hall

Pros:

• Pokémon-style monster raising adds nice nurturing element to RPG tasks
• Nonlinear quest system makes story engrossing
• Stunning hand-drawn backgrounds

Cons:

• Music is at times absurdly overdramatic
• Second player controls character only during battle

GameSpot Review

A few years into the PlayStation's life cycle, Square suddenly remembered all the great 16-bit franchises it had lying around the office. "Maybe we shouldn't let these flounder," thought one of Square's brighter executives, and a bevy of design teams were quickly assigned to resurrect old glories. One of the first fruits of this "renaissance" is Legend of Mana, the fourth title in Square's Seiken Densetsu series. Yet despite its obvious mastery of presentation, Legend of Mana never delivers the gameplay to match its predecessors. The heart of Legend of Mana's gameplay is the new "landmake" system. You begin the game by choosing a male or female player, a starting weapon, and an initial location on the world map of Fa-dil. From this point forward, the world is literally what you make of it; "artifacts" placed on empty ground turn into fully formed, frequently populated environments. Towns, dungeons, forests, plains, and more - everything in the world comes from the placement of artifacts. New artifacts mean new quests, and new quests mean even more new artifacts. Unfortunately, the landmake system is responsible for Legend of Mana's greatest downfall: an overbearing sense of fragmentation and isolation. Since you place artifacts wherever you please, there's no sense of "world." Instead, you get a spattering of disconnected islands, with nothing to unite the different environments. This fragmentation extends to the story itself: The game is divided into 60-odd miniquests to uncover and complete. When a quest begins, the name of the quest flashes on the screen; upon its completion, a unique splash screen declaring "The End" of the quest appears. Instead of a continuous narrative, you feel thrust into a stop-go lurching ride of a storyline. Even so, the game unfolds linearly, with completion of early quests a prerequisite for later adventures. Legend of Mana also commits the cardinal sin against the Seiken Densetsu heritage: the omission of multiplayer. Previous titles are renowned for their fabulous three-player mode, yet Legend of Mana inexplicably jettisons this series tradition. Instead, the largest party you can have now consists of two characters and a pet monster. When present, the second character can be controlled by another player. "When present?" asks the perplexed reader. Unfortunately, secondary characters join and leave your party throughout the many miniquests, and many adventures are undertaken solo. With luck, any future installments in the Seiken Densetsu series will reinstate multiplayer components to their rightful place.--Andrew Vestal--Copyright © 1998 GameSpot Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of GameSpot is prohibited.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

55 of 55 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another great hit from Squaresoft, June 10, 2000

By A Customer

= Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Legend of Mana (Video Game)

I played Secret of Mana many years ago on the SNES, and when I found out last fall that Legend of Mana would be produced and be coming to the US, I got very excited. For those of you who don't know, Secret of Mana is actually known as Seiken Densetsu 2 in Japan. US's Final Fantasy Adventure was Seiken Densetsu 1. Seiken Densetsu 3 never made it to the US, but SD 4 was titled Legend of Mana and was shipped to the US.

First of all, it's a very non-linear game. "Scenarios" are triggered by doing certain events or randomly. There are 69 scenarios in all. You start with either a male or female character, a choice of an initial weapon, and where on the map you want to play. A really original aspect of the game is the Landmake system. During the game you will find artifacts, and they can be used on your world map to make places to go such as cities or jungles or dungeons. A whole array of characters can be found during the game, and they can assist you in battle. The battle system is a new sort of action battle, where you run around the screen and either use a quick attack, a slow powerful attack, or a special move. A second player can join in by being an NPC (non-playable character) or they can import their own Legend of Mana character to play.

Another great addition to the game is the fact that you can make your own weapons and items and such. You can create golems to assist you in battle, or raise little monsters to help you from time to time.

In conclusion, Legend of Mana is a highly reccommended game. The watercolor backgrounds and lush graphics, even though they are 2D, are amazing. The music is phenominal and so is the sound. This is a great game.

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Weird story, but superb gameplay, March 3, 2002

By 

Rabbi Yonassan Gershom (Minnesota, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Legend of Mana (Video Game)

To begin with, the mythology in this game is rather strange -- it's an odd mix of Buddhist, neo-pagan, and New Age theology that doesn't always hang together for me. Maybe that's because the game originated in Japan, and I'm just not as familiar with their folklore. Having said that, I will also say that this is one of the most complex, intuitive games I have ever played. You can program the controller buttons for skills that you choose, decide who to take with you on various quests, make your own customized armor and weapons, etc. Our family has logged many hours in three separate games, and we still have not solved all the scenarios. Definitely a challenge!

One of the neatest features is the "pets" you can grow, which are really monsters that fight as your allies. At various points in the game, you find "monster eggs" that you capture and put into your Monster Corral. You then feed them with foods that you win in the game. The various foods have different effects on the monsters' agressiveness, magic, etc. as the monster grows. You can keep up to five pets in the corral, and you get to choose which one to take with you on each quest. The pets level up in battles just like the RP characters, and some monsters are more powerful than others. As the game progesses, you have the option to sell ones you don't like to make room for new eggs. Part of the fun is seeing what they hatch into!

There are also magical trees where you grow the various seeds that you win in certain battles. The fruits that appear are hilarious -- Apricats, Cabadillos, FishyFruits, Rhinolopes, etc. These can be used as foods for your pets, or as ingredients to temper the weapons, musical instruments, or golems that you make in the workshops. You can sell extra items in the various shops to get money for materials to make more powerful weapons, too. So, it pays to harvest and re-plant your orchards regularly.

The storyline, as other reviewers have already pointed out, is flexible and non-linear -- a lot depends on how you solve the subplots. We found that, when family members each play their own versions, things occur in very different orders. How you answer the questions will also determine whether or not you get certain scenarios at all. The best strategy, I found, is to visit the different lands often, and talk to everyone you see there. When their conversations change or a new character appears, that usually signals the beginning of a new quest. (Hint: to find a couple subplots on the pirate ship, keep asking the helmsman to go in different directions in different orders.)

The overall goal is to heal the Mana Tree, which is like the Tree of Life. As you solve the various subplots, you will be given "artifacts" that you place on the World Map. The artifacts morph into new lands where you find more scenarios to solve. At some point you will receive the Sword of Mana, which grows into the Mana Tree. If you choose to climb the Tree and solve that scenario, you will beat the game. The first time through, I did that right away -- and the graphics for the finale are absolutely beautiful!

When I played a second time, I chose not to climb the Tree until I had found the scenarios that I missed the first time. BTW, when you play again, you can import your HP level and certain other attributes from the first game. I also discovered that I could import another player's character from their game, complete with his or her weapons, etc. (Before you do this, though, be sure each of you has a backup copy, in case you accidentally overwrite somebody's data.) In 2P mode, the second player can control their character in my game and join me on the quests. This can be very useful for defeating a powerful monster! But watch out -- some scenarios will send the second player home. When that happens, he or she will be prompted to save whatever points s/he has earned in your game.

49 of 57 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Square's latest Gem proves to be vastly entertaining., July 7, 2000

By A Customer

= Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Legend of Mana (Video Game)

First of all, I'd like to say something to all those people who say "This isn't a sequel to Secret of Mana--it stinks." Of course it isn't a sequel! There is a game between Secret of Mana and Legend of Mana, it just didn't come out in America, it's called Seiken Denjetsu 3, Secret of Mana was 2, and Legend of Mana is 4--just to clear that up.

Second, I'm goin to have to say that this game has the most beautiful 2D graphics I've ever seen. They're hand-drawn, and they look something like those of Saga Frontier 2, but more detailed. For those of you who don't like 2D things, this game may very well change your mind.

The Storyline in this game is.... well, relatively non-existent. There are 69 sub-quests in this game which help determine the overall story which is buried deep inside somewhere. The game doesn't focus on any one concept, or any one villain. It is just made up of a lot of sub-quests. Depending on which Sub-quests you do, you'll meet new characters, find new artifacts, etc...

Legend of Mana uses the most innovative 'world creation' system i've seen yet. In the game, you find magical artifacts which when triggered, construct a city, dungeon, or new area... you decide where you put the new area, and you basically create everything in the game. Depending on where you use the artifact, the story will change. You also make your own weapons, and armor, which is unique.

The Battle System in Legend of Mana is kind of cool... There are no menus, and it is fought in real-time. You go to another screen for battle, but you can move your characters freely around the battlefield. Instead of menus, you assign different abilities to buttons. eg: strong attack, weak attack, special ability. I found this battle system needed a little getting used-to, but proved to be very successful and fun in the end.

The only flaw i see in this game is the fact that there is no main storyline, and this may disappoint some gamers--and it shares few similarities with Secret of Mana, which may also disappoint many gamers. But other than those flaws, I'd say that this is an excellent game with tons of replay value, because there are so many things you can do.