Legend of Mana

[Scarlett Johansson]

Remastered and out now

I've seen mixed to positive reception. Apparently you can make your own character and recruit a crap ton of npcs that can also change the way the story goes.

Dare I ask is it good? I heard not as good as Secret or even Trials

 

[throwawayguys]

seiken densetsu 2-3 are good, 1 is good for game boy, 4 (legend) isn't. just listen to the soundtrack and take a look at the art book

 

[Lift Me Up]

Secret of Evermore is better but SqEx won't talk about it or remaster it.

 

[Epic Fail Man]

Legend of Mana is great. Beautiful graphics, great soundtrack. The gameplay is good although if I remember correctly each weapon class gets a bit boring after a while so you have to switch it up. The progression system is weird and non-linear and depending on what paths you take you have different party members and go to different areas. So there is lots of replay value.

My biggest gripe with the game is that they have an odd levelling up system where you collect crystals the enemy drops after they die making you and the second player fight over the enemy drops or the ai character being completely under levelled as they aren't programmed to collect exp crystals.

Other than that it's a must have imo, second favorite Mana game after Seiken Densetsu 3. If the price is high I'd recommend emulating it since it's an old game.

 

[Coldgrip]

Remastered and out now

I've seen mixed to positive reception. Apparently you can make your own character and recruit a crap ton of npcs that can also change the way the story goes.

Dare I ask is it good? I heard not as good as Secret or even Trials

So are we talking customize your looks or doing what they did in the original where you pick boy or girl and your weapon? Yes there are a shit ton of npc to get, you can only have one in your party at a time though, as well as a various pets you can get and your own golem you can customize. Thing is though, unless they've done a pretty big combat revamp, it's all for nothing because, while you can fairly easily find people who'll praise the graphics and ost, and even the story, almost nobody praises the combat.

So unless you're a diehard Mana fan, a diehard fan of the original, or brawler fan, don't bother.

Oh, and then there's the forging. Yes you can get your own forge and make your own weapons, and hooooollllllly shiiiiit, does it get fucking arcane and esoteric. Think of all the obtuse bullshit from all the FF games, now imagine somebody looked at all that and said "You know, I bet we can make this even more obtuse!" That's what forging weapons in LoM is like.

So yeah, unless there's been a major combat and forging revamp in addition to being one of those three types of fans, pass on it.

 

[Epic Fail Man]

So are we talking customize your looks or doing what they did in the original where you pick boy or girl and your weapon? Yes there are a shit ton of npc to get, you can only have one in your party at a time though, as well as a various pets you can get and your own golem you can customize. Thing is though, unless they've done a pretty big combat revamp, it's all for nothing because, while you can fairly easily find people who'll praise the graphics and ost, and even the story, almost nobody praises the combat.

So unless you're a diehard Mana fan, a diehard fan of the original, or brawler fan, don't bother.

Oh, and then there's the forging. Yes you can get your own forge and make your own weapons, and hooooollllllly shiiiiit, does it get fucking arcane and esoteric. Think of all the obtuse bullshit from all the FF games, now imagine somebody looked at all that and said "You know, I bet we can make this even more obtuse!" That's what forging weapons in LoM is like.

So yeah, unless there's been a major combat and forging revamp in addition to being one of those three types of fans, pass on it.

I don't remember the combat being that bad. I do remember it being a bit boring after using one weapon for too long, but the game is so short that you are almost done with the game when it gets too monotonous. The game is easy enough to ignore the forging and use whatever weapon you pick up.

But I agree, unless they fix these issues just emulate it, don't spend 50$ or whatever they're charging.

 

[Jonah Hill poster]

Nintendo did a great decision making both Trails of Mana and Collection of Mana available for all people to play. If we can just get Super Mario RPG and Chrono Trigger remastered on there, I wont have issue with it.

 

[Coldgrip]

I don't remember the combat being that bad. I do remember it being a bit boring after using one weapon for too long, but the game is so short that you are almost done with the game when it gets too monotonous. The game is easy enough to ignore the forging and use whatever weapon you pick up.

But I agree, unless they fix these issues just emulate it, don't spend 50$ or whatever they're charging.

What I think really pushes the combat into 'bad' territory are a few things; weapons not having decent combos (like the spear), the wonky move speed with weapons, plunge attacks particularly the special ones being almost pointless because enemies moving or hitting you out of them, and the specials. Seriously, the special attacks shouldn't take long enough to charge that the enemy can just wander out of range as you sit there with weird wisps of light coming off you, as you execute a slightly stronger than normal thrust against an empty space.

 

[Dunsparce]

seiken densetsu 2-3 are good, 1 is good for game boy, 4 (legend) isn't. just listen to the soundtrack and take a look at the art book

Legend isn't "Seiken Densetsu 4" in Japan, Dawn of Mana is. It is the first in a long line of spin-off titles, though this one resembles the main series more than the rest, being the only one that came out before the "World of Mana" project from the mid-2000's.

2003's Sword of Mana for the GBA, which also came out before World, was a pseudo-remake of the first game with added story content and with all Final Fantasy-related content removed and replaced with stuff that originated in the Mana series itself.

 

[throwawayguys]

Legend isn't "Seiken Densetsu 4" in Japan, Dawn of Mana is. It is the first in a long line of spin-off titles, though this one resembles the main series more than the rest, being the only one that came out before the "World of Mana" project from the mid-2000's(2003's Sword of Mana for the GBA was a pseudo-remake of the first game with added content and with all Final Fantasy-related content removed and replaced with ones that originated in the Mana series itself)

you're right, of course, and Dawn was what I was mistakenly thinking of. that's the one with the bad gameplay and good story/music

 

[eternal dog mongler]

My biggest gripe with the game is that they have an odd levelling up system where you collect crystals the enemy drops after they die making you and the second player fight over the enemy drops or the ai character being completely under levelled as they aren't programmed to collect exp crystals.

You can just wear the ring the catgirl gives you to alleviate this problem. You can get it fairly early on. There was also some easy way to forge weapons with high attack power that didn't involve a whole bunch of bullshit.

That's about all I remember from the game.

 

[Rapier Ape]

The people who said the combat was "bad" are 100% right in their assessment.
It plays like a bad rom hack of the original Nes version of Double Dragon.......except slower......if you can imagine that.

 

[Aquinas]

Legend of Mana is great,
While you cant really customize your character to any serious extent (its a PS1 game, remember) what you can do is customize how your character develops depending on what weapon he weilds, as each type has their own path of skills to learn as you chug along. like one named after fist of the north (norse) star.
instead of autistic levels of character creation though. it has an autistically complex smithing system (it also has a golem making and magic making system but they're fairly straight forward)
Also LoM isnt a game with a single storyline, but 3 of them happening at once, and you arent exactly beholden to staying to one iirc, its easier to think of it more as an episodic game

My suggestion? Grab a shota elf magician and go break the jaw of a dragon.
(Also just play it emulated on the ps1, im far far more fond of the ps1's graphics but thats just me)

The people who said the combat was "bad" are 100% right in their assessment.
It plays like a bad rom hack of the original Nes version of Double Dragon.......except slower......if you can imagine that.

jump into a wood chipper

 

[Mimic]

I dig the game a lot, but it is certainly rough around the edges. The remaster didn't fix much of that (you can turn encounters off now if you need to get from point A to point B in a hurry, that's about it). Its strength comes from shaping the world to your whim, and following the quests and plots from there, but a lot of things do hold it back.

The combat starts fairly fun but does get repetitive, then easy after a while, then turns into a boring slog as you raise the difficulty levels. It's not fun spending 20 minutes to get through Luon Highway on No Future mode simply because the Rabites have exponentially raised HP.

Forging is witchcraft and unless you're autistic enough to read a guide do not even bother.

Thought it was cool they left the SaGa Frontier II sword in though. That was a fun little event.

Music is by Yoko Shimomura, so is amazing. Definitely give that a listen.

Worth a play at least, but I'd say emulate it unless you really dig the new music (which is actually pretty fantastic IMO).

 

[Jimjamflimflam]

Loved it on the PS1. Beautiful art, great characters, overall fun in its world building.

Been ages so might be off on the details but the junk yard filled with toys who were involved in the great war, magic school with basilisk professor and the other professor that's in a walking stain glass window because his physical form is trapped in another dimension. Pirate walrus with it's penguin crew. Bunch of other weird stuff.

Only fuddy-duddies didn't like this game.

 

[eternal dog mongler]

The combat starts fairly fun but does get repetitive, then easy after a while, then turns into a boring slog as you raise the difficulty levels. It's not fun spending 20 minutes to get through Luon Highway on No Future mode simply because the Rabites have exponentially raised HP.

That's when you know you need to start forging.

You don't need a 999 attack power weapon for No Future, but having one in the 400s makes it less tedious and that's not too hard to forge. Here's a reddit post that somewhat rings a bell. I think you can do this to any weapon you can make out of metal. Only takes three coins (fuck coins.)

 

[Kosher Dill]

unless you're autistic enough to read a guide do not even bother.

This is what I've heard about the entire game, that it's full of obscure easily-missable nonsense and requires a truly autistic devotion to replaying over and over to get the full experience. How true would you say that is?

 

[Mimic]

That's when you know you need to start forging.

You don't need a 999 attack power weapon for No Future, but having one in the 400s makes it less tedious and that's not too hard to forge. Here's a reddit post that somewhat rings a bell. I think you can do this to any weapon you can make out of metal. Only takes three coins (fuck coins.)

Dude, thank you!

This is what I've heard about the entire game, that it's full of obscure easily-missable nonsense and requires a truly autistic devotion to replaying over and over to get the full experience. How true would you say that is?

Honestly it's still a lot of fun to just pick up and play. You don't need any outside knowledge to just go through it, and can usually pick up on stuff. And if not, always an excuse to do a New Game+. I don't think the game was made with the intention of doing everything in a single run.

 

[Aquinas]

run 1 should be guideless unless you want to forge
Run two should be your dante must die mode while forging excaliber

 

[Smaug's Smokey Hole]

While you cant really customize your character to any serious extent (its a PS1 game, remember)

It's a sprite game, that was always the pain of using sprites.

The 2003 game by Brownie Brown is atrocious, there's save points in the intro because it's so fucking long. Maybe the game is good, I never played, gave up after 45 minutes. The original, while clunky, was something I really liked. Except I remember soft-locking myself towards the end, but that happens, I did the same thing in Wind Waker.