Legend of Mana: A pointless mess and total B.S.?

[Tanukitsune]

I can't really say this game is terrible, the gameplay is fun, the sound is great, the graphics even better, but this game has one BIG problem, the main character doesn't seem to have any point at all to exist!

You can pick a male or a female character, it doesn't affect nothing in the game, and the game let's you choose where to set up your base and then well, let me put an example:

When you unlock the beach area and go there you start an event in which you see two pirate penguin lovers, the female thinks the male should continue being a pirate since it's his dream but the male one wants to stop so they can be together in peace, the girl says something about eggs, the male one freaks out and they leave.

What do you do? You fight some monsters and then a boss, then the pirate couple walks in and the girl convinces the male pirate to continue his dream of being a pirate.... I didn't do anything to convince them and the boss was just there because... The game needs a boss?

And that's the main problem with the game, it's a bunch of stories of other characters in which you don't really have nothing to do with, people talk, leave, you fight some monsters, then a boss and the characters return to talk some more.

Sometimes the characters is your partners and fights, and sometimes the boss actually has an effect on their story, but 90% of the time, they are just there.... because?

The hero doesn't even need to exist for the ending:

The Mana Tree is being "reborn" a seedling creature is going to be the new tree, but the game makes up some BS story about how you have to defeat the dark side of the tree so it can be reborn, so once again, you fight a boss and the character walks in after you beat it. I don't remember anybody mentioning the tree having a dark side, so why do I fight one? Because the game needed an end boss!

Wow! I didn't know Square could make such a mess of a game story-wise... The stories aren't bad, but this game is just a bunch of stories tacked in so badly that they aren't necessary! Separately, they are good, the story would have made a good comic or anime and the game is fun despite it's pointlessness, but together...

I don't think anybody would care to hear about this game itself, but the whole mess of the hero not being necessary for the story is so bizarre I just had to share it with others!

[Thyroid]

I have this on my backlog and plan on playing it before the year is up. I basically bought it because it looked pretty. But I'm surprised at this:

Wow! I didn't know Square could make such a mess of a game story-wise... The stories aren't bad, but this game is just a bunch of stories tacked in so badly that they aren't necessary! Separately, they are good, the story would have made a good comic or anime and the game is fun despite it's pointlessness, but together...

Ya know, I like Final Fantasy, kind of, but it's biggest shortcomings are the writing (including story) and how it's delivered. It often feels like a big anime series, the kind I watched when I was a kid, and I often think that this is where this episode or that episode would end. So I'm kind of surprised you think it's such a big deal.

That having been said, maybe the hero being a superfluous fifth wheel was just something they thought they'd try? It feels like it's intentional.

I'm still looking forward to playing this before the year is up.

[Tanukitsune]

I'm positive it's intentional, and I don't mind that the stories in the game feel like they should have been an anime instead, but the fact that you feel almost like an observer is rather strange and disturbing. And in the other Square games, your actions have much more consequence.

If you're putting it off because it's a JPRG, don't worry, it's ridiculously easy, sure the blacksmithing and other things are very complex, but once you make a good weapon with some good ore (that you get for completing quests) the game is a breeze, I beat it in about 25 hours?

[Twig]

Legend of Mana is my favorite Playstation RPG, hands down. :3

And that's the main problem with the game, it's a bunch of stories of other characters in which you don't really have nothing to do with, people talk, leave, you fight some monsters, then a boss and the characters return to talk some more.

You have it backwards here. That's the game's greatest strength.

The main story is pointless drivel that no one gives a shit about, because it's boring and it's been done a million times. Oh no, the world is in danger! SAVE IT.

It's all of the side stories (small, or big, like the Starcrossed Lovers, I think it's called) that make the game great. You're approaching it all wrong if you want to be the most important character in this game.

the fact that you feel almost like an observer is rather strange and disturbing.

It is strange and interesting. You keep using the wrong words!

[Tanukitsune]

I actually did find it interesting at first, but as the game progress and I noticed that the hero wasn't necessary, it began to grate me, I find it fascinating AND disturbing, is that better? XD

I LIKE the game, I LIKE the stories, I just don't like the way they combined.

But frankly, I don't think the stories have any impact at all, do you even save the world?

What does the Mana Tree do apart from being a source of power? They say a war might arise and people might fight over it, but you never know what good you did, did a war start? Did anything change in the world AT ALL!

Come to think of it, does any story have impact on the characters who are in them? The merchant is still a jerk and owns the art gallery, he should be rich, but I still see him peddling in the streets.

The wolf guy? He was "dead" in the beginning and now he's dead again, and the dragons he killed? They are back like nothing happened!

The Brock centaur? He didn't learn his lesson and he's still going to hit on the next pretty lady he sees.

I actually gave up on the jewel thief one, the only one I had left, because they mention that they can be revived, so why bother? I know they'll be revived in the end...

I bet if I had played this game in Japanese and didn't understand the plot I would have thought this is a masterpiece.

[Twig]

Why do you care if you save the world? That is quite literally the least interesting story in the entire game. Seriously.

As to the rest, I haven't played it for ages, but I don't remember "nothing happening" at the stories' ends, so uh.

[Tanukitsune]

Why do you care if you save the world? That is quite literally the least interesting story in the entire game. Seriously.

As to the rest, I haven't played it for ages, but I don't remember "nothing happening" at the stories' ends, so uh.

It's not that nothing happens, it's that at the end it feel like nothing happened and you're at where you began.

As for the world...

Don't the sproutlings or fairies say it's all just a dream world? Although the probably just said that to explain why you decide where the rest of the world goes?

[Twig]

Yeah, that probably happens in the world itself. But within the stories, the characters are undeniably affected. That is a flaw, but I don't think it's a big one, especially when you're comparing it to Square Enix games. Or just Squaresoft, as they were during LoM's release.

I am the first to admit the Legend of Mana has a buttload of flaws that, should they be addressed in a proper sequel/spiritual sequel, would make the game go from potentially amazing to actually amazing. Unfortunately, that will never happen, because people hate the game. Though, I would argue they hate the game because it was too different, not because it was inherently bad. And I say the same thing about your hatred. It isn't what you want or expect out of a JRPG. But it is good. It is very good. :3

And the sproutlings are just a bunch of crazies.

[Thyroid]

And in the other Square games, your actions have much more consequence.

Interesting. Do you think this is because it's a game from Square, or because the idea itself just put you off regardless?

If you're putting it off because it's a JPRG, don't worry, it's ridiculously easy, sure the blacksmithing and other things are very complex, but once you make a good weapon with some good ore (that you get for completing quests) the game is a breeze, I beat it in about 25 hours?

Nah, I'm playing Final Fantasy. I'm on a Final Fantasy kick and want to keep it going, because the urge for something like that is just so rare for me. I think I'll play a handful of those before moving onto Legend of Mana, thus making 2011 the Year of the RPG.

[Tanukitsune]

Huh? I thought there was a sequel, isn't there a Mana game on the DS?

Like I said before, I like the game, I just can't over this particular thing in the game.

I knew Square tends to make one "normal" Final Fantasy and then a "strange" one, I guess they do this to most of their series?

[Tanukitsune]

Interesting. Do you think this is because it's a game from Square, or because the idea itself just put you off regardless?

No, if the game was from another company I would have complained too, this is the most modern Square game I've played until I get Xenogears from the US PSN store, I don't know how the more modern Square is but I'm sure it's the idea itself that bothered me, you could recreate the same effect by playing a level of Super Mario Bros. while waiting for a commercial break to end on a TV show, that's how little effect I feel the hero has on the story... :|

[Twig]

The hero is not meant to affect the story, except in that he or she kills the monsters. The hero is meant to be nothing but an observer, watching everyone live their lives as the hero builds the world. That's why it's so interesting.

It would be so goddamn perfect if there was a proper sequel to Legend of Mana that offered more dynamic and diverse outcomes based on the manner in which the player builds the world. Place the temple too close to the ocean and oops instead of saving the monk he drowns! That's a shallow example, but an interesting possibility.

...but that will never happen. Because everyone hates change.

Huh? I thought there was a sequel, isn't there a Mana game on the DS?

There are many Mana games, but there is a grand total of one Mana game that is like Legend of Mana - and that is Legend of Mana itself.

But the franchise is pretty much dead now. Square hasn't been able to make a genuinely good game in the series since Legend. A few have been all right, but not good.