The Mana saga has been accompanying us for 30 years with numerous installments. Some of them have returned in recent years in the form of remasters or remakes, as has happened with Secret of Mana and Trials of Mana, hence Square Enix has wanted to continue reliving more titles of the series and that is what will happen this week with Legend of Mana.
It is the fourth game in the franchise that was published 21 years ago exclusively for the first PlayStation and at the time it became a fantastic and truly unique title for having proposals and mechanics that were used for the first time in the saga and that they have never seen each other again. Maybe because they didn’t quite fit in or because the company didn’t repeat the same formula.
Be that as it may, we have had the opportunity to thoroughly play this remastering about which we are going to tell you in the following analysis what we thought and if it really will be an RPG that you should keep track of.
Building the world of Fa’Diel from scratch
The story of Legend of Mana is not especially different compared to that of other chapters in the series. In this case centuries ago the Manna tree was burned and reduced to ashes . As a result of this situation, the power that the tree had spread into the mana stones, enchanted instruments and some very valuable artifacts, causing the different races to try to take over all these elements.
After hundreds of years at war, the power of Manna began to gradually disappear and the battles ceased. However, many of the lands of the world of Fa’Diel, where the events will take place, were stored in these artifacts, so our hero or heroine will have the mission of finding a way to bring the mana tree back to life so that the world return to your normal state of peace and quiet .
Thus, as we have highlighted, Legend of Mana can boast of having unusual mechanics to what we are used to in the saga or in most RPGs. Usually our hero begins a journey in which he travels through various regions and dungeons while the story takes shape over time. On the other hand, here the world will be completely empty from the beginning and we will be the ones who will build it at our own pace and give it the shape we want.
The first thing we will see will be the devastated world map, with nothing anywhere, until we establish our home or base of operations. Then we will have to place the town of Domina on the map and from that moment we will have to look for artifacts that will serve to place more places around the world to visit , which will allow us to advance with the main plot or carry out secondary missions depending on which one we use.
Each one will be able to advance at the rate they want and the missions that will appear will take place in the form of episodes , since at the end of each one of them the word ” end ” will appear and we will return to the world map to return to our house or place a new artifact. For this reason, the way in which the events will be narrated is somewhat atypical, something that in part can also shock a bit because in the long run it does not end up catching as much as that of other games of the same genre and that causes interest sometimes it lapses a bit.
Still, the plot isn’t bad at all, and seeing the world take shape over time is something that will encourage us to keep going. Especially since most missions will give us new artifacts to place, so that during the first hours we will already have a good part of the map quite covered. However, a big problem we have encountered is that some objectives, apart from not being very interesting, are very unintuitive and there are times when it is a bit difficult to figure out what exactly to do, especially in the first bars in the absence of tutorials or some kind of help.
Although the artifacts can be placed as we want and there is no fixed order, it is true that there are some missions that are mandatory to complete or others that will not appear depending on certain actions or decisions we make. On the other hand, each place is different from the rest, both from the map itself and within the respective areas, which will take us through forests, mountains, caves, deserts, beaches, etc. What’s more, the visuals of all of them are splendid as they give the impression that they have been drawn by hand .
In fact, in this remastering , the way the scenes look has been improved so that they now look even better with more defined graphics. Quite the opposite of what happens with the characters, which are more pixelated than in the original title, resulting in a somewhat strange combination to see some very defined details and others not so much, so in the end it is somewhat questionable the effort that has been put into this remastering. In short, a feeling very similar to the one that Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne HD Remaster recently gave us.
Adapting the fighting style to our way of playing
So far we have only stopped to talk about the design of the map or everything related to the plot, but Legend of Mana is much more than all that, because it is still an action RPG in which there will be moments when we will stop fighting in real time against the enemies that we meet on the stage.
In no case will there be random encounters and we will start fighting instantly as we get close to the creatures we pass by. In truth at first it gives the impression that the combat system is very simple until as you advance you realize that it has an enormous depth that makes it the most varied, offering the possibility that each one suit the way you play.
Our character will have a wide variety of different weapons. Although we will start the adventure with just one of them, the one we want, with time we can get together with the rest. Each one is differentiated by the attacks that they allow us to execute, the combos or the special abilities that we will learn and that we will unleash. Likewise, there will also be faster and weaker blows and other slower and devastating ones, although we will not be able to dedicate ourselves to hitting without more without stopping or we will be briefly paralyzed and a little sold.
This means that the combats have their part of strategy of thinking well when is the best time to attack, dodge, block impacts or use the skills that we are unlocking, which will be dozens of different. That is why there will be those who prefer to cut with the sword or wield a spear to pierce their opponents, but in none of the cases will there be one that is the best in general, since the difficulty is very well adjusted so that each one can enjoy the game. adventure at your own pace and without suffering too much in general.
In addition, our character may be accompanied by a creature that we raise . During our journey we will obtain beast eggs from which monsters will emerge in the form of companions who will join our group. The artificial intelligence of these is not that it is very good, but it never hurts to have some help at any time. In fact, if someone is defeated, they must wait for their vitality bar to recover before returning to action, which is a great reason to carry someone with us always.
Even this ally can be controlled by a second player , in case you have someone who wants to accompany you while you play, something that in the long run is more advisable than leaving the dirty work to artificial intelligence. Even so, we have enjoyed the battles very much, especially those against final bosses with imposing sizes and who have presented us with a challenge on more than one occasion.
As much as Legend of Mana is a remastering, the changes that have been applied are not especially striking. The original game already looked great and this time the aspect of the scenery or the resolution has simply been improved a bit more. On the contrary, the soundtrack, which was already excellent at the time, has been completely renewed under the supervision of the composer Yoko Shimomura.
Beyond all this, we can highlight the addition of a minigame that never reached the West or the fact that it is completely localized into Spanish, which is always a plus point and even more so if the result is magnificent, as it happens in this case. However, for a remastering it feels more like we are replaying the adventure of 20 years ago than an improved one.
In short, if you liked Legend of Mana , you will fall in love again like in the first PlayStation, because it is a formidable RPG, with a lot of personality thanks to its mechanics of allowing us to create the world at our own pace or in the way we want. Without a doubt, one of those classics that will always be worth returning to , regardless of the number of years that pass.
Legend of mana
| Platforms | Nintendo Switch, PC and PS4 (analyzed version) |
|---|---|
| Multiplayer | Yes (two players) |
| Developer | Square enix |
| Company | Square enix |
| Launch | June 24, 2021 |
The best
- The ability to advance at the rate we want.
- The stages already looked great and now even more so.
- The soundtrack is still a real treat for the ears.
Worst
- The first hours can be a bit complicated because you are not very clear about what to do.
- It is missing more improvements or news to be a remastering.
