In most cases, you are merely an observer that offers a helping hand, witnessing how people survive and manage conflicts in the worst of circumstances, as extinction looms over them. For instance, we all explore towns, but how many times do we actually feel like our actions in them are fueling the story? This little touch makes the journey a bit more personal, which is kind of ironic considering your character is not the focus by any means in Legend of Mana. What I appreciate most is it takes the things I love about RPGs, but it presents them in a slightly different way.

Legend of Mana’s core loop draws me in every time. In addition, certain arcs have a bigger impact on your progression and overall mission of restoring the Mana Tree others feel more like bonus chapters, opening more customization options. Some of these chapters end on cliffhangers, while others are stand-alone, but my favorite part is the variety within these stories, which can get deeply philosophical but are also balanced out by more humorous, light-hearted adventures. There’s something satisfying about interacting with the world and putting the pieces together to activate these short jaunts, like seeing an event and following a character from it, or hearing a villager discuss an issue and going to the scene in question. These offer short slices of story and gameplay, so no level overstays its welcome. You advance the narrative by stumbling upon vignettes, that trigger through exploration and placing artifacts. I look at the game as one big storybook, but you must find the pages. What I love about Legend of Mana is that it doesn’t hold your hand, and forces you to seek out your own stories within its various landscapes. None of these systems are too deep, but they do make your home feel like more than just a place to save your game. Speaking of your home, as you play, you build it up to feel like one, recruiting characters to live on your premises, filling a monster ranch with baddies to fight at your side, customizing weapons at your very own workshop, and planting seeds at the Mana Tree to bear different items to lure new pets your way. The farther away from your home you place items, the more difficult the enemies and journey ahead become. You collect artifacts for towns and dungeons and put them on a sprawling world map, deciding on the best placement for bonuses, which can impact everything from finding a rare monster for recruitment to factoring into which quests you can access. In Legend of Mana, you’re building out the world on the map just as much as you are fighting in it. I go back to it every few years just to see if my feelings will change, and every time I still see its magic – even if it didn’t always perfectly hit the target. Legend of Mana has its flaws, but it was also wise beyond its years in some of its systems and storytelling. I land on the side that sees it as the last great Mana game before Square Enix struggled with the franchise’s direction. It resulted in an entry that’s just as celebrated as it is disliked. Sure, it had rabites, big boss battles, and its trademark action combat featuring co-op, but Legend of Mana’s structure is much different than previous titles (more on that later). When Legend of Mana hit PS1 in 2000, it threw me for a loop, as it wasn’t a typical entry for the franchise. I love getting lost in the series’ vibrant worlds, taking on larger-than-life baddies, and being taken with the stellar music – both poignant and adrenaline-pumping – that never disappoints. It was integral in developing my love for RPGs and I created powerful memories that I’ll always cherish by bonding with my grandpa over Secret of Mana.

I’ll always have a special place in my heart for the Mana series.

Legend of mana switch