Children of Mana

Children of Mana is a Nintendo DS game which is the first installment of the World of Mana compilation. The game was co-developed by Square Enix and Nex Entertainment, and it was published by Square Enix in Japan and by Nintendo in other countries. Children of Mana was released in 2006 in Japan, North America, and Australia and in 2007 in Europe.

Story
One day, following a flash of light, the stone at the base of the Mana Tree cracks, distorting time and space. The hero recalls that their friend Tess, who is a priestess, went to the Mana Tower to pray, and goes to find her. After reaching the tower with an Elemental in tow, the hero finds the tower is infested with monsters. Upon fighting their way to the top of the tower, the hero finds Tess, frightened but unharmed. Suddenly, a giant flaming bird named Xangar descends upon the two. The hero attempts to fight it, but finds that the bird is protected by a barrier. A sword then falls from the sky, causing the bird's shield to fade away and allowing the hero to slay the beast. When the bird is defeated, a mysterious man garbed in black appears and attempts to take the Holy Sword, which is still stuck in the ground, but is prevented by the appearance of a barrier when he tries. The man disappears, and the hero attempts to grab the sword. No barrier appears to prevent them, and they take what turns out to be the fabled Sword of Mana.

Upon returning from the Mana Tower, the hero discovers that three mysterious pillars of light have struck in the lands of Topple, Jadd, and Lorimar. After being asked by the leaders of the village, the hero investigates these places and finds dungeons full of monsters with a huge monster at the end. After these three tasks are completed, the mysterious man appears once again, identifying himself as the Mana Lord. He steals the Sword of Mana and causes a large storm in the land of Wendel. The hero journeys there to stop the Mana Storm by confronting the Mana Lord. When the Mana Lord is about to kill the hero, a group of gems appear around the hero to prevent his attack. The Mana Lord then decides to kidnap Tess and vanishes.

After returning to the Mana Village, the hero heads for the Path of Life under the roots of the Mana Tree. At the end of the Path, the hero finds the Mana Lord waiting, and the two fight. Upon his defeat, the Mana Lord reveals that he was one of the two children of Mana who had saved the world during the great disaster, and rather than trying to hurt anyone, he was simply trying to fulfill the reason he was created: "to fill the world with the power of Mana". He tells the hero the other child of Mana is spreading disaster through the world and must be stopped. He proceeds to give the Sword of Mana to the hero, then commits suicide by throwing himself off a cliff. This shift in power causes a rift to open in the sky, where the second child of Mana is waiting. The hero destroys this second child, the Scion of Mana, restoring the world to peace.

In the aftermath, Tess and the Elementals are entrusted with care of Illusia, while everyone else must leave. Moti says Illusia will be protected as a haven and that humans will not return for many more years. They embark to Jadd to start a new life in a new world.

Gameplay
Like previous games in the Mana series, Children of Mana features a top-down perspective in which characters navigate terrain and fight off hostile creatures. At the start, the player is given the choice of playing as one of four playable characters at the start: Ferrik, Tamber, Poppen, and Wanderer. Each character has ratings: the damage they do with magic, how fast they can attack, and the amount of health and mana they have. The game plays out nearly identically regardless which character is chosen, except for a few quests specific to one character. Unlike previous games in the series, the main character typically has no companions.

Children of Mana is unique from earlier Mana titles in that it is a, so a majority of the gameplay takes place in select locations rather than on an open world map. The world map is used to select those locations. The primary objective in each location is to defeat all of the monsters. Each dungeon is divided into different randomly generated floors, and to progress between each zone, the player must find an item called a Gleamdrop, then carry it to a pillar of light called a Gleamwell. The player must repeat this process on each floor of the dungeon until the last floor is reached, where the area's boss is fought. The player can not return to previous floors unless they die or leave the dungeon; upon returning, they start the dungeon over at the beginning. When not clearing dungeons, the player stays in the Mana Village, which contains shops to purchase equipment. Dungeons can be returned to later by accepting quests from townsfolk in the Dudbear shop. During these quests, the dungeon itself is slightly altered: the player's starting position may be different, the number of floors can change, and the monsters and boss monster contained may change. Like the main quests, Dudbear quests involve clearing the dungeon of monsters, sometimes to acquire an item at the end.

The game retains the real-time battle mechanics of previous games in the Mana series. There are four weapons with their own unique abilities: sword, flail, bow and arrow, and hammer. Once the first boss, Xangar, has been defeated, the player character can equip two weapons at once. The four characters can use any weapon type, although each of them retain their own abilities and weapon of choice. The player can change which weapons their character has at any time. Each weapon has standard normal attacks, special attacks, and fury attacks. The fury attacks are the strongest and require a full Fury Gauge to use, which is filled by striking enemies with standard attacks and taking damage from enemies. Different weapons can have different effects on the environment, such as the hammer's ability to smash pots. In addition to weapons, the player can select from one of eight Elementals, which provide different magical attacks and magical enhancements to weapon attacks. The player can switch between Elementals in the Mana Village. Elemental attacks can be made stronger by equipping Gems, which can also boost the player's attributes.

Multiplayer
Children of Mana features a cooperative local wireless mode that can support up to 4 players at once. The multiplayer mode does not allow the players to save their progress in the game while playing in it, although experience and items received can be saved later after leaving the multiplayer party. The player hosting the session is able to keep the progress data after multiplayer is finished and can continue the story onward; however, the other players will find themselves back where they started in their own games, with only the additional stats and items gained while playing multiplayer. Items directly related to the story, such as weapons like the flail and hammer, cannot be obtained by anyone but the host. There are a few items that can only be obtained as bonuses by playing through stages using this mode.

Controls

 * D-Pad: Move
 * A button: Confirm / use weapon
 * B button: Cancel
 * X button: Use weapon (after defeating Xangar)
 * R button: Change weapon

Playable

 * Ferrik is a fifteen-year-old boy, a knight who is said to be brave, bright and cheerful. He lost his parents and sister in the great disaster. After his life was saved by a knight, he has been honing his skills with the sword, his weapon of choice.
 * Tamber is a sixteen-year-old girl, a dancer with a sense of truth and justice, and an air of maturity about her. She lost her parents and little brother due to the great disaster. Her weapon of choice is the bow.
 * Poppen is a stubborn and fearless nine-year-old boy. He lost his mother at birth and his father in the great disaster. Poppen's weapon of choice is the flail.
 * Wanderer is a traveling merchant, a tradition kept throughout the series. He is a member of the Niccolo tribe of rabbit/cat people who lost his family due to the king of Lorimar during the great disaster. His weapon of choice is the hammer.

Supporting

 * Moti - The mayor of Mana Village. He teaches the player character how to use weapons and even provides them.
 * Tess - The player's best friend and a priestess.
 * Watts - A commander who is one of Moti's friends.