Legend of Mana Review (Clive)
Narrative
I first played Legend of Mana back in 1999 at a time when Square was absolutely cranking out classics on PS1 like it was going out of style. Square had been playing around with a variety of art direction styles at the time, and this game alongside SaGa Frontier 2 made heavy use of pixel sprites on hand-drawn watercolor backgrounds. It was gorgeous. In terms of play, I think I was initially put off by how bizarre of a follow up it seemed to Secret of Mana. We hadn't gotten Seiken Densetsu 3 in the US and I don't think a fan translated version of that title was available via emulation until about '00/'01. I recall doing exactly one run through the main story before shelving it. There were so many other games to play and they just kept coming.
It must have gotten into my brain though, because I came back to play this game in the summer of '02 with a vengeance. I started playing it very late at night after getting home from chilling with friends and usually in a variety of states of altered consciousness. Subsequently, it was not uncommon for me to fall asleep / pass out at the homestead or on the world map, wake up the next morning, save, go to work, rinse and repeat. This time the game's irreverent & ridiculous characters and unique visuals stuck with me, and as I began to truly figure out the insane and complex systems underpinning what on the surface appeared to be a relatively shallow game, I realized it was a freaking masterpiece in disguise. This is the definitive edition of the game.
Pokiehl the Poet
- Gorgeous reworked visuals in keeping with original PS1 aesthetic.
- A soundtrack for the ages.
- New Game + and enhanced difficulty settings provide great replay value.
- Storylines that range from irreverent & nihilistic to heroic & just plain dark.
- Fantastic writing & translation.
- Much more than meets the eye.
Gilbert the Centaur
- Lack of story-based urgency may dissuade the impatient.
- Labyrinthine and/or cryptic systems of crafting / farming & pets / stats & skills / map creation require extensive trial and error or outside expertise to truly understand.
- Simplistic combat is largely devoid of danger until higher difficulties reached, where it becomes wonky at best.
- Quest progression can be a bit cryptic as well.
- Dungeon layouts can be rather confusing without maps (or w/o making your own).