Yeah, the DS Mana games are NOT very good. Secret of Mana is still my fav.

Crystal Chronicles is basically the new Mana. It's a Final Fantasy ARPG series. And it's getting a lot more attention and better games than the newer Mana stuff.

That's basically my thesis in this post. What if instead of splitting away from FF entirely the Mana games kept the Final Fantasy Adventure series title (which they dropped in Japan after SD3) and kept the games more FFish like in FFA. I bet that recent "Mana" games would be just as awesome as older ones had that happened.