* Full-price games will sell for $80 AUD. Square Enix decided to charge a lot for a half-complete product because they know idiots (like me) will buy it anyway. Including Sword of Mana, Legend of Mana or both could have made the compilation measurably better value for money but these would have raised development costs to produce a GBA and PS1 emulator (assuming the one included with the Final Fantasy re-releases couldn't be repurposed). A fast-forward feature would have reduced the tedium in Trials of Mana because your party slows down whenever enemies are around. Some filters for the SNES games would have been nice. The Legend of Mana remaster physical version is coming via our friends at Playasia, and will ship when the game launches worldwide on June 24th across Windows PC (via Steam), Nintendo Switch. Scans of the games' original box arts and manuals and concept artwork would have costed very little development time but they're absent. It's 356MB so there was a lot space left in what I assume is a 4GB cartridge. The package is very bare-bones and has no love in it. For $60 AUD* you're not getting very much in return*. The games have a nice looking border and Final Fantasy Adventure has a few nice filters. It supports savestates and has a sound test feature. The game contains the first three games in the Mana series: Final Fantasy Adventure, Secret of Mana and Trials of Mana. The developers did an excellent job bringing Legend of Mana to modern standards, in a similar manner to the Saga Frontier remaster from earlier this year.I've been playing Collection of Mana lately and think it's overpriced for what you get. The music is incredible, as is befitting a Square Enix title from the PlayStation era. The character designs are interesting and the massive boss monsters always cut an imposing figure. The remastered artwork looks phenomenal, with each map looking like a colorful portrait. The best aspects of Legend of Mana are the visuals and the soundtrack. Related: Where the Concept of Mana Came From (& Why It’s Not Just Magic Fuel) There's little incentive to invest time in the numerous complicated ancillary systems, as there's no need to power the character up. Despite all of this, the combat is also extremely easy, as the special attacks deal so much damage that even the bosses will go down in one or two blasts. A lot of the enemy attacks can stunlock the player, allowing groups of foes to easily kill the player by just getting one hit in. The special attacks deal a ton of damage, but they have long wind-up animations, and the enemy can easily take a step back at any time, causing the attack to miss. The targeting is finicky, as the player needs to be on the exact same plane as the enemy for hits to count. The combat feels clunky and unresponsive in Legend of Mana. The main character slides around as they move as if they're dragging a ball and chain behind them, making it hard to gauge movement. It's possible for a second player to take on the role of another party member in battle. The main character can also be joined by temporary party members, as well as monsters that the player raises in their home, which are controlled by the A.I. They'll build up their special meter with each hit, which will allow them to perform a powerful special attack when it's full. ![]() The combat in Legend of Mana is similar to the style used in Secret of Mana and Trials of Mana. Battles take place on a 2D plane and the player is able to perform light/heavy attacks with their weapon. The game has trouble registering when the player is trying to talk to an NPC, which is a small frustration that happens countless times. There are also towns in Legend of Mana, but these are home to another issue with the game, as it can be difficult to even select another character for dialogue. ![]() The dungeon exploration segments soon become repetitive, as they all feel similar. One of the new features in Legend of Mana is the ability to disable combat encounters, which is a godsend when trying to navigate the labyrinth-like dungeons, especially the ones with puzzles spread across multiple rooms. It doesn't help that almost every dungeon is identical, in that they're mazes composed of lots of smaller rooms. ![]() The lack of a strong overall story tying everything together also hurts Legend of Mana. The game is composed of lots of smaller stories that are usually tied to a single dungeon.
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