Even if you don't mind that, trying to puzzle out the blacksmithing system alone is enough to give you a tremendous headache. Otherwise, you're going to miss a lot of content, some of which can be permanently missed. The obvious intent is for you to play the game multiple times and slowly puzzle things out, but that requires being willing to sit through one or more playthroughs or read a lot of comprehensive guides written for the PS1 version. Just about every element, from the plot to the weapon crafting, involves digging through a lot of barely explained mechanics. The biggest barrier to enjoying Legend of Mana is that every single part of it is almost painfully obtuse. Figuring out optimal placement without a guide basically involves playing the game over and over and experimenting until you find the right combinations. The only problem it has - and be prepared to hear this a lot - is that it's not a particularly transparent system. It's a pretty cool feature that adds a nice sense of non-linearity to the core gameplay. What is a low-level area in one game might be a late-game area in another, depending on the quests you do, the order you do them in, and how you place your artifacts. In essence, you're building your own world map. Depending on where you place artifacts, you can also change the mana levels of the adjacent regions they create, which in turn influences the available enemies, items and quests. The further away from your home you place the artifact, the stronger the enemies - and the more valuable the materials. Your first artifact is your home base, and from there, you create towns and dungeons. The area is entirely barren when you start off, and you need to fill it out with artifacts, which are items that you get from completing missions and quests in the game. When you start the game, you choose a region of the world that functions as your overworld map. One of the biggest systems in Legend of Mana involves the world map. It isn't quite as in-depth as something like Trials of Mana, but it still has plenty to enjoy, and there are some pretty cool interactions between skills. If you enjoyed the previous Mana titles, then this is the element of Legend of Mana that is probably the most familiar. It has the simple satisfaction of beating up enemies and watching numbers pop out. It can be a bit messy in the way old-school action-RPGs can be, but that doesn't really detract from how it plays. Mana's combat system is fun, if unexceptional. You're not limited to any one style and can swap weapons at any time, but your overall stats are determined by the weapon you had equipped when you leveled up. You can equip multiple weapon types that change the available moves, and you'll gradually learn new attacks and defensive moves over the course of the game. Combat boils down to repeatedly attacking the enemy and occasionally using special moves. The other is either an NPC or can be controlled by a second player. You can have two party members and a pet, but you only control one party member. Like the other games in the franchise, Legend of Mana is a by-the-numbers action brawler. There's some fun material, but do not play Legend of Mana for the plot. Mostly, the narrative is an excuse to have smaller character interactions and engage with gameplay mechanics. There's interesting world-building hidden throughout, but it depends on you to unlock some of the quests. More often than not, you'll do something incredibly basic, and that's it. There are several potential core plots, but they're disconnected vignettes that occasionally overlap. The core problem with The Legend of Mana's plot is that there isn't really one. They must use magical artifacts that contain the memories and history of the world to slowly replenish the land and bring back people and the mystic power of Mana to the world. Players control a nameless protagonist with no history who is tasked with rebuilding the world. Centuries passed, and the Mana Tree slowly regrew. Many years ago, the life-giving Mana Tree burned to the ground, and the remaining races of the world engaged in a horrible war that devastated the land. Legend of Mana: Remastered is set in the ruined world of Fa'Diel.
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