Legend of Mana Naked Mallet Man: Brief Post
Replaying Legend of Mana makes me realize how much influence it takes from Trials. Some are direct references, like the Altena Alloy material or one boss making a cameo. Drakonis may be Dragon Lord from Trials as well given his dialogue. Fieg Snowfields may be named after Fiegmund the ice Benevodon.
But the largest connection is the battle system, which feels like they tried to make Trials into a true action RPG and only partially succeeded. Class Strikes return as Special Techniques, and are powered by a similar "combo meter". Movement in combat is slower like in Trials, but it seems more like you're sliding like a slug than taking a defensive stance.
Except for a few circumstances, Trials of Mana is too easy, including playthroughs with variant restrictions. Enemies are prone to being staggered and don't have enough HP. My character picked the Hammer as his weapon and spent most of the game pounding the enemies with basic attacks.
Ground Zero was the most useful Special Technique as it caused an explosion with a wide radius when the hero threw his Hammer at the ground. Others like Superslugger were satisfying if they sent enemies flying, but whiffed at least as often as they hit. Blammo, a short range spin attack, was useful in the beginning.
NAKED the hero never wore armor, but seldom had trouble with the bosses. He could Crouch to regenerate HP faster at the expense of defense, which didn't matter when he always did it when safely out of reach. Companions such as Elazul and Larc were required for certain missions, providing both damage and distraction. NAKED's only used a pet Rabite for the Ghost of Nemesis mission in The Bone Fortress which required 3 characters.
Fullmetal Hugger returned in Madora Beach's "Summer Lovin'" mission as Fullmetal Haggar, and lost an eye during the fight just like its ancestor. The only notable move from it seemed to use from Trials was Dive Bomb. Enemy moves and spells in Legend don't have names, so it's hard to describe them in these posts.
Drakonis served as the villain because Legend's "plot" was more of a short story anthology than a novel, and his revival was a substantial sidequest. When he turned The Underworld into The Flames, he had a weird hitbox that only registered damage to the area around his head? Drakonis preferred to bite and breathe fire, but fell on the first try.
The only two bosses to give NAKED any trouble were Vadise + Sierra and Mana Goddess. Vadise the dragon and her dragoon Sierra both attacked at once, and some halitosis made NAKED faint. Mana Goddess had significant reach with her melee and cast wide range spells of multiple elements. NAKED dropped dead twice then.
DEATH COUNT: 3
Legend offers many mechanics, but the difficulty is too low to justify them. Store bought weapons are good enough, so you don't need monsters, golems, or forging to save you. Armor isn't necessary when you can either stun the enemies to death with basic attacks, or when they tickle you when they are allowed to move. Most players will appreciate Legend of Mana more for its unusual storytelling, music, and graphics rather than its battle system.
The only variant that could be interesting is a "magic only" playthrough, because somehow spells are worse here than they are in Trials.
Replaying Legend of Mana makes me realize how much influence it takes from Trials. Some are direct references, like the Altena Alloy material or one boss making a cameo. Drakonis may be Dragon Lord from Trials as well given his dialogue. Fieg Snowfields may be named after Fiegmund the ice Benevodon.
But the largest connection is the battle system, which feels like they tried to make Trials into a true action RPG and only partially succeeded. Class Strikes return as Special Techniques, and are powered by a similar "combo meter". Movement in combat is slower like in Trials, but it seems more like you're sliding like a slug than taking a defensive stance.
Except for a few circumstances, Trials of Mana is too easy, including playthroughs with variant restrictions. Enemies are prone to being staggered and don't have enough HP. My character picked the Hammer as his weapon and spent most of the game pounding the enemies with basic attacks.
Ground Zero was the most useful Special Technique as it caused an explosion with a wide radius when the hero threw his Hammer at the ground. Others like Superslugger were satisfying if they sent enemies flying, but whiffed at least as often as they hit. Blammo, a short range spin attack, was useful in the beginning.
NAKED the hero never wore armor, but seldom had trouble with the bosses. He could Crouch to regenerate HP faster at the expense of defense, which didn't matter when he always did it when safely out of reach. Companions such as Elazul and Larc were required for certain missions, providing both damage and distraction. NAKED's only used a pet Rabite for the Ghost of Nemesis mission in The Bone Fortress which required 3 characters.
Fullmetal Hugger returned in Madora Beach's "Summer Lovin'" mission as Fullmetal Haggar, and lost an eye during the fight just like its ancestor. The only notable move from it seemed to use from Trials was Dive Bomb. Enemy moves and spells in Legend don't have names, so it's hard to describe them in these posts.
Drakonis served as the villain because Legend's "plot" was more of a short story anthology than a novel, and his revival was a substantial sidequest. When he turned The Underworld into The Flames, he had a weird hitbox that only registered damage to the area around his head? Drakonis preferred to bite and breathe fire, but fell on the first try.
The only two bosses to give NAKED any trouble were Vadise + Sierra and Mana Goddess. Vadise the dragon and her dragoon Sierra both attacked at once, and some halitosis made NAKED faint. Mana Goddess had significant reach with her melee and cast wide range spells of multiple elements. NAKED dropped dead twice then.
DEATH COUNT: 3
Legend offers many mechanics, but the difficulty is too low to justify them. Store bought weapons are good enough, so you don't need monsters, golems, or forging to save you. Armor isn't necessary when you can either stun the enemies to death with basic attacks, or when they tickle you when they are allowed to move. Most players will appreciate Legend of Mana more for its unusual storytelling, music, and graphics rather than its battle system.
The only variant that could be interesting is a "magic only" playthrough, because somehow spells are worse here than they are in Trials.
"I wonder what that even looks like, a robot body with six or seven CatClaw daggers sticking out of it and nothing else, and zooming around at crazy agility speed."
T-Hawk, on my Final Fantasy Legend 2 All Robot Challenge.
T-Hawk, on my Final Fantasy Legend 2 All Robot Challenge.