Legend of Mana

One of the most unique "action-RPG" style games I've ever played. Beautifully and faithfully redrawn artwork and re-orchestrated music (with the option of switching back to the original compositions) make this remaster of a classic Playstation 1 game worth the price of admission. Admittedly, the story may not be the game's strong suit. Though there's a vague overarching story about saving the Mana tree, for most of the game you'll basically be completing side quests for different characters until you reach the end. And, depending on where you place the biomes on the world map (and the order in which you complete the quests within those biomes), these side stories can change (mostly by the player missing out on their full conclusions). If you've reached the end of the game and find that there are still several missing journal entries recounting your completed quests (courteously provided by your pet cactus) don't despair; you can simply begin again in New Game Plus to try out a new combination of actions! The game mechanics themselves are surprisingly deep (maybe even too deep). You learn new weaponskills and abilities by using previous ones. Want to learn how to counterattack? Use the 'defend' skill enough times until it unlocks. Want to learn how to taunt? Use the 'backstep' and 'cheer' skills enough times until you learn how! Want to learn a new weaponskill for your hammer? Use the 'jump' and 'whirl' skills enough times with your hammer equipped until you learn the 'Skullcrusher' weaponskill! And so on and so forth. The game pushes you towards experimentation instead of telling you outright exactly what to do. The magic and monster systems are similarly mysterious. You can create magical instruments from a host of materials and items, but you never really know what will be created except by simply trying out different combinations of materials and instrument types. You can also capture monsters to aid you in battle and feed them different types of foods... but who knows which foods do what to their stats and personalities (combat AI behavior). You can even create robots and craft parts (out of weapons) that make them behave differently on the battlefield and utilize different attack types when they join you. There's really too many possibilities to keep track of. But that's one of the things that makes the game great. With so many different possible ways to experience the game, it's no wonder I've come back to it over and over again throughout the years.

I've not quite played another game like Legend of Mana. The combat is simple but expressive, the aesthetic is beautiful and iconic, and the story is mysterious and evocative. Well before Soulslike storytelling came in vogue, Legend of Mana set up a fragmented world you had to piece together, jumping in and out of stories mid-stream without every full grasping the full picture. Reviewers found this frustrating back in the day, but I found it uniquely compelling. There's this sense that the world is vast and magical, and exists well beyond what you can see of it. Will the penguin pirates complete their questionably heroic quest? Who are the figures depicted in the statues the bone-dragon Jajara clutches in their phase 2? Why are the Dudbears Dubababa Du Dubba? Treat yourself, befriend a strange assortment of allies, bard your way into spellcasting, lose yourself in a mesmerising soundtrack, collect surprisingly battle-ready pets, read a cactus' diary and bring a friend to play with you. Personally, it's a game I'll never forget.

More of a 3.5 game. QUICK SUMMARY-You might love the game because: You absolutely love tinkering. Smithing weapons, crafting magical musical instruments, raising pets, finding the optimum path through the story sounds like great fun to you. Wanna build the ultimate super weapon and killer dragon familiar? Prepare to shun sunlight for many days. You also enjoy 2D action games, especially brawlers, and you love games like River City Ransom, but with fantasy aspects like spells and stuff. You also enjoy the idea of playing through all of that with a friend. You also find cartoons charming. A couple plucky kids save the world? You eat that stuff up. PC SPECIFIC FEATURES: There doesn't seem to be any specific issue or feature unique to PC. I don't see any complaints. WHAT THE GAME DOES WELL: -A whole lot of quests and a whole lot of stuff to find and do. Stumbling on new quests and characters is actually a huge part of the game. -A bunch of weapons, each with their own specific impact on your stats growth, and with their own array of abilities to learn. -Raising pets and smithing weapons is genuinely rewarding (but see the cons section). -A coop player can take control of any secondary character at any time, including from their own campaign, and can learn the skills your character has learned. -New Game+ is actually a major element of the game. It's not just a one time thing. Expect to restart the campaign a whole bunch of times. -The new mini game unique to this version helps a lot with farming rare items. -The option to turn off battles is a god send for some of the quests especially if you want to go exploring. WHAT THE GAME DOES POORLY: -YOU WILL NEED A GUIDE. This is not an exaggeration. If you want to do everything, get a guide. Do NOT try to figure the game out yourself. This is seriously no lifer stuff. -As fun as it is to learn all the different weapons and unlock their weapon arts, the way the game calculates progression kind of kills experimentation: it locks you into a specific set of stats if you're carrying a certain weapon after a certain level. Basically, use the weapon that will give you the best stats until that level, then use whatever you want. -The quests are extremely elaborate and complex. Advancing them often involves stumbling into the right map, at the right time, under the right circumstances. If you want to see all of the quests, get a guide. Trying to work out all of the quests on your own, by exploring organically, will require an obscene amount of effort, experimentation, and hours. -The whole feel of the game and its characters places it firmly in Saturday morning cartoon territory, and not in a funny, charming old school Pixar sort of way. I highly recommend putting in the effort to see the core 3 story arcs, and the quests that unlock important progression stuff like pets and that's it. Everything else, with maybe one good (but way too complex) exception really isn't worth the effort. -The idea of building your own world map sounds fun in theory, but in practice you will be kind of forced to place map tiles in such a way to continue quests, not make monsters easier or encourage rare material spawn rates. It's not worth the effort anyway. -The game isn't hard enough to warrant the extreme amount of time and effort necessary to craft the best equipment and raise the best pets. It's better to just look up which pets are the best and which key items are necessary to get the best crafting results. If you manage to get even just one of the best gear traits, you're fine. Don't worry about crafting powerful instruments. They're better used for utility.

Animations and backgrounds are beautiful, even the Underworld. The different environments are emotionally intense. From a sunny beach to a cozy house with a monster breeding area and blacksmith, to a High Tower, windy cliff city and moonlit one. Story is meant to be divided. Each personal story adds a little to the overarching theme of growing the Mana Tree. 3 or so of those branches end up in important boss fights: The revival of the Dragon Emperor, the murders of the Gem People and the friends fighting over an old friend that was naturally evil. Very different from other Mana games, combat abilities are constantly developed through use and combination. Even if some simple mechanics and upgrades are all it takes to win.