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Legends of Mana is a unique experience (for a Mana game), forgoing the strong, structured storytelling of previous entries to be a more casual, fragmented story with some puzzle elements. It has a lot of unique sub systems, like crafting, farming, monster raising, and the land placement system, however because there is little guiding the story a lot of these either only function as side games, or aren’t explained well. Only recommended for Mana fans, I’d highly suggest playing either Secret or Trials of Mana over this if you had to choose.
Story
While having elements of the Mana series, this entry doesn’t rely on any of the previous games (other than reusing standard mob enemies), and forges a new story. The Mana tree, which sustains all life on the planet, burned down nearly 900 years ago. This caused a war between the races, who converted the last remaining pockets of mana. The separate lands (and their people) were sealed into artefacts, to await a time where the land could be restored and mana flows freely again. You are charged to do this, and play as a silent protagonist, who slowly restores mana to the land while remediating the conflict between the races.
The game has 3 main story arcs focusing on 3 different groups of people (with numerous smaller arcs focusing on side groups or characters). You only need to complete one main story arc before being able to start the final arc and finish the game. Quests are started by talking to the townsfolk, and some can be failed (or missed entirely) if completed out of order. Completion of quests either gives new artefacts (lands to be placed), or just allows for the next quest in the story arc to be started. There is very little handholding in this, it’s up to the player to talk, search and explore through towns & stages to find the next part of the quest. Because of this the story is very light and very fragmented, which is a shame as one of the best part about the Mana games was the strong narrative, and any of the stories would make for a decent game if they were as focused as either Secret or Trials of Mana.
Gameplay
Gameplay is all over the place. The land system isn’t explained very well, and is crucial as it determines mana values for stages (which can effect what items shops have, available quests, enemy difficulty, and crop growth rates). While you can easily play with the map placed anywhere, you do have a very good chance to lock yourself out of certain items, or make some systems significantly more difficult if going for achievements. That said it offers endless replayabilitiy as every game will be vastly different if you select a different part of the world map to play in and place the artefacts in a different order.
The monster raising mini game is explained, though its left for the player to work out what food changes what behaviour and stats. The crafting system is briefly explained, and has a whole hidden mini game that can drastically make equipment overpowered if you know what you’re doing and can figure it out. The crop raising game (which produces materials for crafting and monster raising) is mostly down to random luck as to what you will produce (which again for achievements isn’t fun).
Stage design and combat has taken a massive departure from previous games. Every stages is now like a dungeon, with say 1-3 fights per screen. Some have shortcuts that might bring you to a fork in the path or bring you back closer to the entrance, but it’s mostly left to the player to wander around aimlessly until you find the right path to get to a boss. Very few quests or stages have pointers that you are going in the right direction, though only a few stages are really like puzzles (while most have a forking path or two, you generally reach the end quickly and can backtrack to the correct path).
I found combat to be really disappointing when compared to previous games. Now it’s just a matter of smashing light or heavy attacks until the enemies are dead, and you get a full health refill after every battle. The no real strategy in levelling up weapons, or choosing light\dark paths that the previous games used. The one saving grace is there are special moves that you can use (they are mostly useless in combat), but with the right amount of fights, and special moves unlock special abilities with each weapons, which can let you do some decent damage or dodge a major move by bosses. The enemy hit boxes are made so you have to be basically in line with the enemy (some weapons have animations that affect a wider range), and bosses take up the whole side (so you basically can’t miss). Magic is locked behind instruments you can purchase or create, and the weapon type you have equipped determines your character’s stat growth. The game is ridiculously easy- I managed to get almost to the end using equipment found from an enemy drop in the first 30 minutes of the game, and the only driver to craft some better weapons was to help grind experience levels quicker.
Graphics
Being a remastered game (and having never played the original release from 1999) it looks good. The game looks great in the standard 1920*1080 mode, the sprite graphics and animations look decent (though the stages aren’t as animated as previous games) and everything has plenty of detail. If you run the game at higher resolutions (either borderless, or full screen) however, it becomes quite pixelated or stretched. I’d highly recommend running at the lower resolution so it doesn’t turn into a mess.
The menu UI in my opinion is a step back from the old ring system Mana games used to use. Because you collect so much stuff (which can be used in the various subgames) everything is in the same 1 inventory folder. Nothing is sorted by category, and as there is no sorting function other than switching equipped items the inventory is always a mess.
Music
The soundtrack is fairly impressive, with a wide range of tracks that encompass piano, electronic and also a bit of rock, though I don’t think it’s as good as the Secret of Mana soundtrack. There is an option to pause the game and listen to any of the tracks at any time, which is a nice bonus.
Multiplayer
The game has an option for a second player to join, but it’s not something I tested, though its easy to enable from the menu.
Achievements
If you are aiming for 100% achievements this game is a pain. You will have to use a guide, grind pointlessly for weapon and experience levels, and farm items that are based purely on random luck. Not impossible (there are plenty of good guides), but it’s a commitment that needs to be made at the start of a play through.
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