Legend of Mana

[Pumpkin]

Going to play this game soon~ I tried it before and enjoyed it but didn't get too far. I have an official strategy guide and hooly mooly its a complicated game. THERE IS AN EVENT FLOWCHART that goes on for 4 pages with the circles and squares and my goodness

Anyone play this game?

[Ayen]

I haven't. I played Secret of Evermore which was inspired by this game, so I have a somewhat vague idea of what the game is like.

[Vyk]

You may be thinking of Secret of Mana. Same series though, but different dates/consoles

I've tried Legend of Mana twice. And though I loved Secret of Mana and mildly enjoyed Seiken Densetsu 3. I kinda hated Legend of Mana. It's a slow burn, and it's co-operative play is misleading and retardedly broken. Which really sealed it for me as I purchased it on PSN to play with my girlfriend, and it was a really disheartening experience. So now I have this seething bias against it. But it should have been designed better. The first two games did co-op better. They had the formula down. No excuses. Would not recommend /rant

[Endless]

Going to play this game soon~ I tried it before and enjoyed it but didn't get too far. I have an official strategy guide and hooly mooly its a complicated game. THERE IS AN EVENT FLOWCHART that goes on for 4 pages with the circles and squares and my goodness

Anyone play this game?

I played it, you could say that. The Brady Games guide is incomplete and sometimes wrong, including in the flowchart you mentioned. Sorry xD It also pales in light of the Japanese Ultimania guide (which I have) and its 500+ pages of info goodness, which sadly never was translated officially. One notable thing the brady guide misses is the info on demi-human pets and how to get them.

Elysia the Succubus for example.
59935

Anyway, if you want accurate information when you're stuck, head over to GameFAQs' LoM board. It's not very active, but a few of us still check it regularly and answer questions.
We also wrote tools to help with some aspects of the game:
- DragonBlood87 wrote three utilities (http://legendofmana.wikispaces.com/Utilities) for map planning, pet diet calculation and instrument making;
- KnightmareSin wrote a program to see what your character's stats will be based on what weapons you level up with (http://www.mediafire.com/download/7m73emueubslcs6/Character_Stats.zip);
- biqutS wrote and I improved a program to simulate the weapon forging process, so you can test without wasting your precious items and without constant saving/reloading (http://www.airelle.info/apps/JForgeW.zip). Note that we used to have a whole off-gf group dedicated to forging (it's still there but inactive due to problems the owner has with yahoo groups), that's how passionate we are xD

The main issue with 2-player game is that the second player is stuck playing whichever NPC is accompanying you, and at some points, there may not be one (it's rare, but it happens) or to import his own character, which will not gain experience/items for his own game and whose equipment cannot be changed after importing. Overall you'll see that bar a couple boss fights, the game in itself isn't difficult on the first playthrough, though getting everything on the first playthrough can be hard if you haven't planned ahead, but only because the game offers so much and is so non-linear. In my opinion, its main interest is the story, art and music, all of three are easily at the top of what was done in the psx era.

[Ayen]

You may be thinking of Secret of Mana. Same series though, but different dates/consoles

Oh, right. Blah. I can't keep up with you kids and your gadgets.

[escobert]

I had it on PSone and liked it. It was fun and placing objects on the map was cool. I loved the art style.

[Wolf Kanno]

Moved into the proper forum.

I really enjoyed Legend of Mana, it was a different type of game, especially since I was coming off of Secret of Mana for it but I really enjoy the customization and crafting aspect of the game. It lacks a strong overall narrative but instead focuses on several really well written smaller stories involving the side characters. The Jumi Tribe quest is probably my favorite of the quests. This is also the game that introduces the diary writing cactus that shows up in the World of Mana titles. The art style and music are exceptional for this game and I frankly don't feel like it got enough love.

Co-op isn't as good as Secret of Mana, but since I don't really care about that stuff, it wasn't really a big deal; though a friend an I using our endgame characters to thrash the final boss in Nightmare Mode was pretty amusing though the novelty wears off quickly.

[Pumpkin]

I did a few quests. The one where you rescue Pearl(?) and the one where you help the bunny guy. Then I talked to the big umm rock thing. Having fun so far. I played slightly past this before but yeah I can certainly see how the game changes. This is really a separate order from how I played last time. I like how you can pick where on the map the game takes place!

[Pumpkin]

I am almost done Chapter 3 now. I really enjoy it, but its not a very long game is it? Not that I'm complaining, I have enough games to play so a short one is a good change of pace.

[Endless]

If by "chapter" you mean story parts delimited by the screen at the start/end that reads for example "Niccolo's Business Unusual", there are 67 of them.
The easiest way to know how close you are to being allowed to finish the game is to look at the tree at the top left of the screen. It starts as a seed, then grows. Once the final area is accessible, it's a full fledged tree.

That said, just because it is accessible doesn't mean you should rush to it. with the proper setup, you can beat the final boss with as little as only 1/3 of the story uncovered (any one of the three major arcs is enough) and thus miss out on most of the game.

The three major stories in the game, which you should aim to go through are :
- The Dragons: you'll meet a character named Larc, he's the start point
- The Faeries: you probably have met Daena on Luon Highway, she's part of it.
- the Jumis: imho the best one, and it starts with Elazul searching for Pearl, and will take you a long long way on the feelstrain. Extra feel points if you have apprentices at home. :D

There are several minor arcs, the apprentices I mentioned have their own, as does Niccolo (whom you have met), Gilbert, lover of women, the Pirates (especially Valerie (*)) and several other characters.

(*) At one point, there is a cave when you can step on crabs, in Madora Beach with a quest involving Valerie. Save before, and if your guide has it, follow it to step on as many crabs as possible (you want to talk to Valerie after a special crab tells you you hit 30+ crabs; 32, the max, gives a bonus reward). Reload until you have it, it really is worth it.

[Pumpkin]

I've been following a guide to get as many of the quests done as possible. The tree isn't a big tree but it has sprouted and has a full head of leaves and such. And thanks for the tip on the crabs!

[Pumpkin]

I have the Sword of Mana but I haven't placed it yet. Doing some other questies and such first

[Endless]

Did you remember to talk to Lil'Cactus after each quest ends ?

[Pumpkin]

Indeed :3: