Dawn of Mana

[Sabao]

Very much like how everyone finally hears about the release of a Starcraft 2, I was pretty excited about the release of a new Mana game. It's the first one in full 3D, and it just looked too pretty to pass up. I bought a copy as soon as I found one.

Unfortunately I'm very much disappointed.

The series has been dumbed down to a psuedo RPG platformer. A far cry from the open ended Legend of Mana, and probably a little more like the earlier incarnations of the Mana series with its linear plot and real time battle system, but that's pretty much where similarities end.

 

[Makio-Kuta]

That's really disappointing to hear. I loved Legend of Mana (but it was the only one in the series I ever played), so often eyed Dawn of Mana in the store. Just one less game to play I suppose.

 

[Sabao]

Legend of Mana is a far cry from Dawn of Mana. LoM was very open ended storywise, featured a lot of customization (Farming, Forging, Golems, Pets <3) whereas Dawn of Mana featured very little micro management, if none at all.

There is no growth system. Sure you level up in battles but you start over at 1 when you start the next chapter. You have three weapons; the sword, the slingshot, and the whip. A whole lot less than the arsenal presented in its predecessors.

It was reminiscent of the Zelda series, but Zelda at least had a little more depth. Here, it's kill stuff to get to level 3, proceed to target area, beat boss, chapter cleared. It's such a shame that a great series like this one had to change so much like it did.

 

[madmax_vii]

The only thing good about DoM is it's physics system, hopefully they release something like LoM2

 

[arcthemonkey]

I'm going to go ahead and not lose faith in the series, and hold out for a REAL mana game. I'm just going to chalk this one up to temporary insanity like I did with Unlimited SaGa.

Haven't played DoM yet, and I'm not sure if I want to. Heroes of Mana looks good, though!

 

[Prexus]

Yes, Heroes of Mana looks excellent. So I am otherwise ignoring the existance of Dawn of Mana.

 

[The Cry of Fallen Angels]

I miss hero, girl and sprite too

 

[LegacyCrono]

Dawn of Mana is a mix of Legend of Mana with Ocarina of Time and a chapter-based system that is simply... eww. It isn't RPG, for sure... :p

The worst thing: "Okay, finally chapter two! ...Wait, Faye wasn't in Level 3?! WHY IS SHE IN LEVEL 1?!"
SEE YA!!!!!

 

[madmax_vii]

If anything, DoM feels more like an engine test as compared to a full game anyway.


Like Arc and Prexus, I'm ignoring this one.

 

[Sabao]

Mana turning RTS? I'll have to try it first I guess, since I'm not too keen on the idea. I really do prefer the hand drawn maps and gameplay LoM had. It's the only RPG I've actually invested more than a hundred hours on. :\