The Mana Series Is Underrated

[@MangyB4033]

Actually in the 90's it was Enix, not square, that held the Dragon Quest IP. They did not merge until 2003.

[@tippick]

Good call, I didn't know that! I should have verified that before making assumptions, will do that more thoroughly in the future. Thank you! I figured that Akira Toriyama was employed by Squaresoft back in the day because of Chrono Trigger, and that Dragon Warrior was in there by relation. It looks like what I found was more that he was a freelancer for Enix and Squaresoft.

[@GoeTeeks]

@@tippick Toriyama always worked for Enix. Chrono Trigger was actually a collaboration between Squaresoft and Enix, with Toriyama doing the character design, Enix handling most of the combat design, and Square handling the story and music.

[@bennorrell6411]

Man, that song from Secret of Mana takes me back to my childhood. That particular OST will forever remind of Christmas because that’s the game I got as a gift the year it came out.

[@tippick]

The SNES had so many amazing OSTs in it, its insane to think about looking back. Secret of Mana, Chrono Trigger, FF6, DKC1-3, FFMQ, Breath of Fire and I'm sure I'm missing plenty others lol. I'm glad you have such good memories with Secret of Mana!

[@dancode9738]

Yeah, I had a multi-tap for 3 person co-op. My brother and our friend would have a sleepover on the weekend and pretty much power through the entire game. It was awesome without any AI, and still one of my best gaming experiences. Beat is several times that way.

[@nitrohell]

Hello, thank you for the video! 00:37 You forgot Dawn of Mana (2006) for the PS2. Also Children of Mana (2006), although was released for a handheld (NDS), it was very much an all original mainline entry in the series, being designed by series creator Koichi Ishii. They both were part of Square-Enix's World of Mana project which fell flat. To me, Legend of Mana (1999, PS1) is the most underrated of them all, especially because of it's OST (by the legendary Yoko Shimomura) and it's game lore, which is incredibly rich and quite deep/dark for such a fairy-tale looking game.

[@tippick]

Wow! Thank YOU for your comment! I actually never knew about Dawn of Mana, that's pretty wild. You're right, that was the last one. I'm surprised I never heard of it. I did have a hard time getting into Children of Mana and because it was on handheld I kind of drifted away from the series from there. It's super sad to me that it feels like Mana didn't get as much attention from Square-Enix as some of their other series but I think they were able to go a mile with what was given to them. Agreed. The more I talked about it the more I loved Legend of Mana and realized how phenomenal the game really is. It just has so many amazing things going for it. On Wikipedia (not sure how reliable that is lol) it's mentioned that Shimomura thinks that Legend of Mana is the soundtrack that best expresses herself and it her personal favorite. Truly just a masterclass game in my opinion.

[@BrandingChangeYep]

Great video, was interesting to learn about the history of mana series & get an overview of it as a whole.

[@felbier]

What a great video! Thank you very much for putting in the work.

[@tippick]

Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it. It was fun all the way through so I will definitely be doing more videos!

[@mbe102]

Legend of Mana will forever be my favourite JRPG. Theres just so much to do. Don't go into expecting a deep story, but expounding on lore in small novella style stories. Theres so much to do. So much to learn. So much depth. And yes, that child-like wonderment is present, but boy can Legend of Mana go for the dark side of things when it wants too. Play the OG in Co-Op with a friend and go on an adventure together; its a ton of fun. The Composer, Yoko Shimomura, also did the music for Kingdom Hearts, and Final Fantasy XV (and a whole bunch more) but she said that Legend of Mana was her favourite work she'd ever done. And it really is. Every song fits in the game, and some, outside of it, are songs that I will hear when I leave this waking world.

[@tippick]

Excellent comment, couldn't have said it better myself! Yoko Shimomura is the GOAT of video game composers!

[@ibeatpudding]

I had a lot of fun with Visions of Mana. I recommend playing it on hard mode because it's easy on normal mode. The game is beautiful, characters are charming, combat is quick and fun. I also found myself invested in the story. It's mostly what you'd expect with some refreshing plot twists.

[@tippick]

Yep! I think that Visions has the best story in Mana for sure. I was invested as well in the story and I appreciated that what they did made sense, and it didn't feel like it was pandering with some of the themes they kept in. Visions may be my favorite Mana game to be honest.

[@casualtylo]

Wow what a fantastic video! seriously thank you so much for this one! I hope you keep doing more of these! I was trying to get some information on the series because i know nothing and so far watched 4 videos this was definitely the best one for me!

[@tippick]

Thanks for the kind words, seriously!! Yeah this was a pure passion video for me, cause I do love the series and Visions of Mana also felt like a passionate revival from the developers, so I wanted to pull the trigger and talk about why exactly I love this series from them lol. I'm truly glad you enjoyed it. This has done so well and honestly support has exploded for me lol, I didn't expect it to be this positive, so I am insanely more motivated to make other videos :). They won't only be about the Mana series, but I do like talking about games and it seems people liked this enough, so I'm already working on my next video now! Thank you again, it means a lot to me.

[@casualtylo]

@@tippick Where there's passion there's Will, I do hope you keep doing these, because as I mentioned in the previous comment this video was amazing thank you very much for the work and effort you put into it and i do hope you continue this journey of yours! I subbed and got notifications on for the next video! I was actually genuinly intrigued with the series specially since they remake one game remastered another and launched a new one I was and am giving it a thought but i knew nothing about the series and again this video was extremely insightful and entertaining so Thank YOU for that! Hope you have a good one! 😁👍

[@tippick]

@@casualtylo Thank you Casualtylo! If you do give one of the games a shot I'd love to hear a total newcomer's thoughts on it. Hope you have a great day as well! 😁

[@grizzlywhisker]

They need to make these games co-op again, that was a huge part of the appeal of Secret of Mana and Seiken Densetsu 3.

[@creatorsfreedom6734]

a fairly good review for the Mana franchise

[@tippick]

Ayyy I'll take it

[@LaatiMafia]

A very thorough video widepeepoHappy

[@CobaltContrast]

This game has been such a huge influence in my dungeon master brain. The very simple mechanics, upgrades and magic always blows people away when you add to your games to spice them up.

[@CobaltContrast]

People often say I'm a sidequest master. Its probably why as much as I liked secret of mana, legend is what had me hooked. I went from wishing I was competent playing with my older brother to being the elder sibling I wanted teaching my little sister on legend.

[@tippick]

Yeah, I think Legend does an amazing job of having side quests that feel like you stumble upon something you're not supposed to and then finding a resolution that benefits everyone involved. I love your experience with your siblings, I'm a little sad that I didn't talk about the multiplayer aspect of the series now. Thank you for the comment!

[@disciple012]

Dragon Quest was always called Dragon Quest in Japan. Enix had to rename it when they released the games in the US because there was a Dungeons and Dragons game called Dragon Quest.

[@Zeomantic]

Loved the hell out of Visions of Mana! Great video, dood!

[@DasNya]

I've played the original Seiken Densetsu 3 (Emulator(JP Version)) and bought the remake instantly on Steam. Not only is this one of my favorite games of all time, Trails of Mana is THE example for "How Remakes should be done". Small tip for people who want to try the Remake: Put the difficulty to 'hard'. It's almost the 1:1 difficulty from the SNES version (a bit easier because you can dodge certain attacks/items (darts) now). Also, Fenrir Knight Riesz is one of the coolest characters ever

[@ilyanahm9569]

Always nice to see more love for the Mana series. If anything I'd have added that the original gameboy game has two remakes, Adventures of Mana on Vita/Android, and Sword of Mana on GBA. While Adventures is considered to be not very good because it keeps many flaws of the original, Sword of Mana is really good in my opinion. It's a shame it wasn't included in the mana collection. Appreciate you avoiding spoilers from Visions since I haven't payed it yet.

[@tippick]

Yeah, one of my big regrets in this video is that I didn't mention anything about the handheld games because I didn't really play them. I played a little bit of Children of Mana and didn't like the dungeon crawly aspect, so I never wanted to go back and play Sword. I'd actually be super interested in playing FFA and Sword to see the changes on being a "full fledged Mana game". I try to be as accommodating as I can with spoilers. I love stories in games and its hard because I want to say how much I like it, but the more you show the more scary it gets lol. I hope you enjoy Visions, all I will say is that I absolutely loved the game and wish it was talked about more!

[@matiasjauhojarvi9551]

Great video and very interesting.

[@tippick]

Thank you!!

[@phillipalleva-cox3903]

I am currently playing the trials of Mana remake and it is my first Mana game. So far I’m having a fine time with it. It’s not blowing my socks off, but I’m definitely enjoying it.

[@tippick]

Yeah, I do think that while Mana doesn't do anything crazy, they're super solid games that try to put fun front and center and I love that about them.

[@GoeTeeks]

The real fun of Trials comes with its replayability and party build. Building different party combinations and seeing how well they work goes a long way towards the fun. And not only do you have six different characters to pick from, but the first class change each character gets can really alter how they're handled (the second class change for each character does make some differences, but is far less drastic of a change). So really, it's like having 12 choices of play style.

[@Eener1000]

Loved the gameboy SoM and the first snes one. Both were great games that felt very focussed. SoM2 for the snes felt very experimental with some good points and some bad ones. From the PS1 games on they leaned to much on tropes and artstyle.

[@parkplaceninja]

Legend of Mana was my favorite ps1 game.

[@tippick]

Such a good choice! I forgot how much I loved it until I started working on this lol.

[@innoutfan]

Legend of mana is sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo goooooooooooooooooooooooooood

[@Deniki666]

Legend of mana wasn't the last release. I distinctly recall Sword of Mana for the PS2. I wish I didn't, it wasn't very good.

[@GoeTeeks]

Legend of Mana for the PS1 has some minor differences than its Remaster counterparts on current gen platforms. Besides the graphics and numerous QoL improvements, there's a different translation that comes with it. Apparently some people who grew up with the original don't like some of the (rather minor) changes done to the remaster version. The remaster is definitely the definitive way to enjoy Legend of Mana, though.

[@tippick]

Yeah, I could have sworn that when you did NG+ on the original it moved all enemies up to your level and started there. When I did a NG+ on the remastered version it started at level one again. I wasn't confident enough to talk about differences as I thought they were minor (other than widescreen and better quality graphics). I definitely learned that I should be more thorough with videos like this, as there's a lot of small stuff that can be added in.

[@GoeTeeks]

@@tippick Enemies move up in levels when you up the difficulty. There's two settings above standard: Nightmare and No Future. No Future puts all enemies to max level, Nightmare I think ups them to a high base level (like 45 at the start) and eventually enemies reach 99.

[@tippick]

@@GoeTeeks Damn you really know your stuff, thanks for that info.

[@GoeTeeks]

@@tippick I recently played through it earlier this year. But yeah, you'd do well to research stuff you're going to claim in the future rather than make assumptions. But if you keep this kind of format going, you just might go far. Here's to rooting for you.

[@tippick]

@@GoeTeeks Thanks for all the kind words GoeTeeks! Yeah, to be honest I didn't even think this video would break 100 views. I've had a problem getting stuff like this out in the world so I tried not to put up a ton of barriers that would make it harder. I'm a little overwhelmed that this got big but people have been nice, so good motivation and its a good lesson to learn from the first actual video lol. Learned a lot and I will definitely continue making these, just need a little bit of good polishing it seems like 😁. Appreciate the convo!

[@thecedex]

1:50 .. Square didn't own Dragon Quest

[@tippick]

Yep, my fault. I didn't think this video would take off as much as it did to be honest, so I didn't do as much research as I should have on that. I assumed Akira Toriyama was part of Squaresoft back in the day due to Chrono Trigger, and by extension Dragon Quest/Warrior but it seems he was a freelancer. Enix owned the IP at the time.

[@thecedex]

@@tippick all good. Keep it up

[@DerTendou]

I think the series is adequate rated. Secret of Mana and Trials of Mana are bangers not masterpieces but very good games and most people would agree, Legend of Mana is different (because of course Kawazu is involved) but enjoyable. The handheld games are mediocre but not bad, Dawn of Mana is the only game most people would agree it being a bad game and Visons of Mana? I don't know, I think it's a mixed bag, some love it and some find it okay. I don't think there is a Mana game that is underrated and should have higher ratings.

[@tippick]

Yeah, one thing I think I did a poor job on was trying to emphasize that it's an underrated series to the greater gamer audience. RPG fans who have played since Secret and Trials I think understand that the series is really good, but gaming has become much more normalized now from back then. Because of Visions I wanted to try and draw some attention over for those gamers who might be interested in Mana, because I do think it should be talked about more, maybe a little less than a FF or Persona game.

[@JLockeTV]

i think you missed a few, off the top I can think of Sword of Mana from Gameboy Advance, and Children of Mana from the DS. great video otherwise.

[@tippick]

Yeah, I played Children of Mana for like an hour and didn't like it as a kid, so I never really played the handheld Mana games and didn't mention them. I definitely should have made that part clear though. Still learning as this is the first video I've really done. Thank you for the kind words!

[@timsohn7057]

The Mana series was not underrated when 2 and 3 dropped. After that though…

[@tippick]

Yeah, Secret and Trials definitely made huge strides when they came out. I was just personally surprised that when I spoke with my friends they never played those games and I felt like I wanted to draw some attention to it all, and after Visions I felt that not enough people knew what made these games such a treat back in the SNES era.

[@timsohn7057]

@ I really felt the remakes were amazing but not having multiplayer was a huge missed opportunity imo. I was lucky enough to play both 2 and 3 with a multitap and it was fantastic! I know multiplayer isn’t a staple of the series, but to me Mana series shines best friends if available in the games!

[@jasonames7452]

The series isn't underrated, it's adequately rated by JRPG enthusiasts. Square Enix could give it all the budget in the world and it wouldn't make a difference except in the graphics department. The Mana series is comprised of competent action games with lighthearted fantasy stories, and it doesn't strive to be more than that. Mana games are a safe pick if you just want something to pass the time, but they won't wow you, because they're too easy and they lack that je ne sais qois game mechanic, setting, or aesthetic that helped catapult so many other JRPG series to greater heights of success.

[@tippick]

I agree that people who are into JRPGs know that Mana is a great series. I do think that Mana is one that can help bridge the gap for RPGs towards a crowd that is not familiar with the genre. For the greater gaming population as a whole I believe these games can captivate people who aren't as familiar with RPGs to see why they rock so much, and I think it's that group that these games are underrated for.

[@jasonames7452]

@@tippick Pokemon has done more to bridge the gap for the uninitiated than you could possibly know. If your interest is keenly Action JRPG's, then there's Kingdom Hearts, Tales of series, Star Ocean, Ys, and the original Castlevania Metroidvanias. Mana has never stood out for a reason, it's good, but unexceptional, hence my comment about it being adequately rated.

[@tippick]

@@jasonames7452 Yeah, it sounds like you're saying the series doesn't have anything exceptional, and my video was showing things that I think it does exceptionally well. You can think its adequately related, and I can think it's underrated.

[@Livingtree32]

Secret of Mana is amazing, but after the original Trials they stopped delivering. Visions is mediocre at best.

[@koreyeiche3324]

Only came here to say “I disagree”

[@tippick]

Based lol. No worries, I don't expect everyone to agree with my thoughts.