For a long time the Mana series, also known as Seiken Densetsu; has been a favorite among people in the action rpgs of Squaresoft.
Legend of Mana doesn't fail to disappoint. Seiken Densetsu, also known as Holy Mana Sword is a classic. Legend of Mana though takes a different approach than most the others though in terms of game play, but I'll get to that later. In the beginning there was land upon the earth or so. There used to be Sproutlings, growth and people among the planet's horizons. Now, some enmity has gone and ruined the earth, breaking the core of different places, people and things leaving it but only a barren waste land. The mana that people ever so loved was gone with it's people, and it's your turn to try to rebuild the world; and restore the mana tree which gives all life.
The visuals of the game are of yet a colorful and whimsical masterpiece of two-dimensional art. As with most Seiken titles. The art work in the game is cartoonish and colorful. There are many colorful action effects as you slice through enemies or as you are casting spells and different techniques. The game never looks drab or dull as much scenery is vibrant.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]As far as the gameplay is concerned, the status menu is kind of neat. You can choose which two skills you want to use in battle, basically with "triangle and circle". Once you master the skills, you can use them both in unison; making a skill that uses both at one time. It's really not needed but they make the game have more variety. Your shoulder buttons which are R1,R2,L1 and L2 are basically used for skills for your weapons. There are many weapons in the game. Sword, Broadswoard, Spear, Axe, Knuckle, Hammer, Flail, Bow, and some others can use skills. But you can only aquire them if you use the weapon in a battle. There is a starting weapon you can use at the battle of the game, but you can use other weapons as well; and just not the starting weapon. The skill sets in these weapons also have ranges, such as short range, mid range and long range.
Being in an area where there are monsters, you will typically wander around and non randomly get into a fight with a group of them on the screen when completing a mission. That is when you change your stance and get your weapons ready. As far as skills and "triangle plus circle" techniques,you also have your main attack and strong attack techniques which are used with "x" and "square" respectively.One of the neat things is, while you are damaging a foe or group of foes, you can make different combo attacks depending on the sequence of buttons hit. Of course being square as the last, since it is a heavy attack and will leave you open because it takes more effort to use. The result is a more damaging hit, but you will be unable to move for a short while.
Magical attacks use basic instruments that can be summoned by finding an elemental hidden in a stage and tempered by using that element and an instrument. If you actually consider making things. You can grow fruit and vegetables and a garden from the spoils of battle from an enemy. And also, you can temper those into weapons to give them different status properties. There is also golem building using block shapes to shape their artificial intellegence in the golem labratory at your "Base" which is where the adventure starts.
The main objective though is to complete different scenarios, by building artifacts onto the world; and getting another artifact to build that one after you beat a boss or complete a quest. There are many different artifacts to discover, and basically the farther away from "home" an artifact is, the harder the enemies will be in the area. There is also the fact of that there will be three colors in a circle near each place. That typically means that an elemental will be there depending on which color is presented.
Truely even though it's a 20 hour game, at least for me; this game deserves a 10/10 because of the vast variety in the game. The Legend of Mana ever shines brightly in this masterpiece of a series.
Mon Aug 08, 2011 6:20 am
