Mana's evolution towards western/SaGa-like JRPGs peaked with Legend of Mana, a massive overhaul whose world map and main questline are entirely shaped by the player. Not surprisingly, the contrast between this and its previous output lies in the structure: If Trials of Mana built its narrative around distinct, polyphonic journeys, this work dispensed with the narrative altogether - sporting non-linear progression and optional, vaguely related arcs with lots of charming characters and events to encounter. Along the way, its high-fantasy setting, silly humor, simplistic dialogue and colorful hand-drawn aesthetic gives the adventure a delightful, storybook-like quality, which makes up for the lack of a cohesive plot.

Obscure as they may be, new systems like crafting, farming, and even monster raising complement its less urgent and more relaxed design. Ditto for its real-time battle system, which mirrors that approach with tweaks to pacing (long recovery, variable party size), customization (fully configurable movesets) and especially to flexibility (combos, chain-cancelling). Super moves and a huge influx of new skills contribute to their least challenging but also their most diverse and enjoyable combat yet. More than a cheerful romp, this is an unlikely reinvention that ranks among its series' best.

As much as I love this flawed masterpiece of a game, I have to admit it's really kind of a mess.

The game is a masterclass in visuals, music, and genuine uniqueness. But the decision to present the story in fractured snippets is downright annoying. While I do like the main three stories just fine enough, I feel a united, more focused narrative like past entries would have been a better decision.

And don't even get me started on the forging system. Why?

After finishing Seiken no Densetsu 3 on the SNES, I was excited to examine what the next entry in the Mana series would entail. Up to this point, I was blessed by a series that seemed to strive to make drastic improvements and changes with each entry. SnD3 expanded on the combat of its predecessor as well as explored how the characters you choose for your party can affect the trajectory of the story, as well as battle dynamics.

Legend of Mana did not let me down, it's wild, something I've sincerely never seen a JRPG pull off before. Rather than having a world map that the player progresses through in whatever line the story dictates, you are instead free to sculpt the world for yourself. Cities, dungeons, fields, landmarks - their locations are all up to the player, and you're tasked with making your own adventure through them. It's insanely cool.

Problems do arise. It leaves nearly everything to your imagination. No quest is given more importance than the next, it seems almost random which ones turn out to be inconsequential side-events, and which are absolutely critical. If you do not enjoy visiting, revisiting, and re-revisiting old areas under different variables (time of the week/characters in the party/different quests completed) you're going to be HARD PRESSED to know what the hell you're supposed to do. Poor signposting all around that really comes to a head at the two-thirds point of the game, where even the guides I found online left me totally lost. A progress roadblock that I found so frustrating I very nearly dropped the game entirely.

Thankfully, I managed to pull through. Much of the game once I finally found my momentum was wonderful, a truly imaginative world that thankfully begs to be explored. The spritework, environments........ It scratches the same itch for me as Final Fantasy 9, in how there are astoundingly few human characters in the overall cast. That level of overt fantasy where much of the cast you can speak to and invite into your party are completely alien to one another - Flying lamp makers with venus fly traps for tails, bartenders made out of puzzle blocks, scholars with snake-like features bursting out of their bandages, a straight up giant teapot. This is the stuff that died the moment gaming entered 3D, and I'd like to make it known I think that's a FUCKING SHAME.

The combat is a revised version of the one introduced to SnD3, veering more towards some very standard JRPG action that I am honestly bored to death of. Once you polish slow and clunky combat enough you start to realise you're removing a level of careful deliberateness to the way you think about your inputs. It's buttery smooth, very easy, completely cheeseable. I like how you can customise what action every button does, but why would you ever not use the counterattacks - they're so gamebreaking they make every encounter a joke.

This game is intensely charming, and clearly made with a lot of love. It shows in almost every corner of its design, but not necessarily where it counts. Some more overt signposting would have made this an out and out classic for me.

eu jogava esse daqui quando criança e lembro de achar que era "o jogo perfeito" na época.
O problema: eu não sabia inglês. Joguei ele inteirinho com um detonado que perdeu os caracteres especiais (o ç por exemplo) e sempre começava com a palavra "Comeando..."
Lembro de estar desesperado procurando um outro detonado e falar pro meu primo "AH NÃO... É O COMEANDO DE NOVO"
Enfim, terminei com ajuda de detonado, mas amei o jogo do começo ao fim, pra mim ele era perfeito, e ainda o é. Só que até hoje não sei como a gente ia saber que precisava montar o mapa do jeito certo sem seguir um guia pra desbloquear o true ending.

I don't think I've ever played a game like this. So surreal and beautiful at times, and janky and bad at times. There are so many systems that you can completely overlook, and the combat isn't exactly the most riveting. Even then, there's something so magical about this game that makes me love it so much.

You aren't given much direction in this game. At the start you are given a choice of where you want to start the reconstruction of the world, your character appearance and starting weapon, and then you're off to the races. Afterwards you go to dungeons and towns that you bring into the world at your own discretion, meet characters, do quests, and traverse beautiful landscapes with even more beautiful music.

Others may see this lack of direction as bad, but I find it absolutely wonderful. Not knowing where I'm going to go, or who I'll meet or fight next contributes so much to this game's sense of wonder and discovery.

I want to say more about this game, but frankly, I think it's best experienced with minimal knowledge of it. Discovering this world completely blind not knowing what it had in store for me greatly enhanced my enjoyment of it. This game, warts and all, is an absolute treat.


TL;DR - Playing through this game is like playing through a fucking fairy tale. The art style, from the characters to the environments, are so whimsical and beautiful. The soundtrack is impeccable and some of Yoko Shimomura's best work in her already amazing discography. Even with its strange and convoluted mini-systems that I never fully understood and it's rather bare bones combat system, I thought this game was an absolute joy to experience. I would urge anyone to try it out for themselves.

a game you don't play so much as observe with a certain detachment; you don't control a hero, per se, but more a vessel into which NPCs pour their needs, doubts, and anxieties. battle is entirely perfunctory, something only performed to fill negative space between story beats, yet there are mind-bogglingly intricate crafting and farming systems to improve your performance in these battles. literally every aspect of this game is needlessly byzantine. you can miss so much and never have the faintest idea how you missed it, and the game will taunt you with wide gaps in lists. not since king's quest v has a game been both so gorgeous and so infuriatingly inane. feels more bold and refreshing today than it did at release, when it was completely inscrutable. the watercolor-on-parchment aesthetic and strictly supplemental use of 3D aged it better visually than 99 percent of ps1 games. it's easy to see why it reigns as the dominant aesthetic of the world of mana; always has me gazing in awe right up until it starts talking.