A Question for Mana Fans

[Keyblade Knight 1st Class]

With the upcoming release of Visions of Mana, I've been thinking about getting into the series. I'm aware that there's not one but two different remakes of Final Fantasy Adventure (the first game in the series) so my question is, which one would be a better starting point, Sword of Mana for GBA or Adventures of Mana for mobile? Or should I just start with Secrets of Mana because it's the most popular?

 

[Chie]

If you want to play the first game I'm not sure why not just play the first game.

 

[MATGSY]

With the upcoming release of Visions of Mana, I've been thinking about getting into the series. I'm aware that there's not one but two different remakes of Final Fantasy Adventure (the first game in the series) so my question is, which one would be a better starting point, Sword of Mana for GBA or Adventures of Mana for mobile? Or should I just start with Secrets of Mana because it's the most popular?

If you want to play the first game I'm not sure why not just play the first game.

Yeah, Collection of Mana on Switch is basically the most straightforward way to go.

 

[ShardofTruth]

The connections between the different Mana titles are superficial at best and while there are some clear connection between certain titles (Final Fantasy Adventure --> Secret of Mana, Heroes of Mana --> Trials of Mana, Dawn of Mana --> Children of Mana) it's not really necessary to understand the story in any of them. There are reoccurring themes and characters like in the Final Fantasy series as well.

Personally, I like Sword of Mana better than Final Fantasy Adventure or any of its remasters, because they tried to connect it better to the rest of the series and it looks and sounds a lot nicer while featuring two playable characters with some slightly different story segments as well. The main criticism against it is the gameplay which is a slower and the enemy can be HP sponges but other than that it improved on almost every aspect.
It also plays more similar to Secret of Mana and Legends of Mana.

Still, the essential titles are FFA, SoM and ToM, I'd give them a try at least. If you want more play Legends of Mana. Heroes and Children of Mana are very different games and Dawn of Mana is still a major dissapointment.

 

[Luminary]

Visions will be my first Mana game. I’m excited as the trailer gives me the same vibes I got when I watched the DQXI trailer, which ended up being my first DQ game. If I like it, I’ll go back and play some of the older games like I did with DQ.