childrenofmana
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Comparing Square Enix's Japanese and US boxart
In a recent interview with 1UP, Square Enix's marketing communications manager gave us some insight on the process behind adapting Chocobo Tales' packaging for the US. We happen to prefer the Japanese version's modest artwork over North America's chaotic cover, but we understand that the company had a younger audience to appeal to and a different message it needed to convey. We've collected DS covers from Square Enix's Japanese and US releases after the post break for you to compare and decide which one you like best. To its credit, the company hasn't completely mangled its DS boxarts so far (The same can't be said about Nintendo's bastardization of Hotel Dusk's cover). How do you feel about Children of Mana's simplified design? Does Final Fantasy 3's stripped packaging appeal to your western tastes? And do you agree with 1UP that publishers have been doing a better job with dressing their products?
Deals of Mana
Amazon must have a warehouse teeming with Childen of Mana shipments, as the online shop seems to have a sale on the game every other week. Square Enix's dungeon crawler has sold for less in the past, but today's $17.99 pricing is still a significant discount from it's regular $29.99 tag. This offer disappears tomorrow -- likely reappearing in a fortnight -- so don't wait too long to drop the game into your cart.Play-Asia's Heroes of Mana sale will stick around until the end of the week, but there's no guarantee that the title will stay in stock. The Japanese text might be too much for first-time importers, but according to what we've heard, this RTS/RPG is a quality purchase. You can grab Heroes of Mana for $19.90, paying an extra $2.60 for shipping to the US. [Via CAG]
DS releases for the week of January 8th
Excellent -- the rest of us actually have a few games hitting shelves this week, and Japan doesn't have quite the flood they've enjoyed lately, so things are reaching equilibrium. Now let's hope for an upcoming deluge of goodness for everyone. Starting next week, there are some interesting titles heading out into the world ... so let's see what we have to tide us over.First up, the US:DS releases Arthur and the Invisibles GBA releases Arthur and the Invisibles For more on global releases, check after the jump.
Metareview: Children of Mana
During the great catastrophe that occured in Illusia, many lost their life. The Mana Tree, a staple of the Mana series, has now become corrupt with its own power, causing countless monsters to roam the lands. Mana pillars have also erected across Illusia, tasking the player with raising the Sword of Mana and freeing the trapped Guardian Spirit within. This is the only way the Mana Tree and Illusia can return to peaceful state it enjoyed before the catastrophe. IGN - 80%: "Hardcore gamers expecting to get a sequel to the popular Secret of Mana series from the days of the Super Nintendo are going to be let down purely based on the dungeon crawler design of the game. For fans of games like Blizzard's Diablo, or repeat gamers that enjoyed Sword of Mana despite its harsh criticism and apparent downsides, Children of Mana is a keeper. The action is solid, the amount of character customization is definitely robust, the amount of side quests and bonus missions to partake in will ensure players that the adventure isn't over too quickly, and the game is simply beautiful on an audio/visual level. As far as hack-n-slash RPGs go, Children of Mana is one of the best we've seen on a handheld, and for dungeon crawler addicts Square Enix has definitely hit the spot." Gamepro - 80%: "Ultimately, Children of Mana is wonderfully rendered, but when compared to Secret of Mana's engaging narrative, Children of Mana's sparse and slow story falls short. The game is still fun, especially if you enjoy dungeon-crawling and strategically nuanced battles. Fans of the Mana series should check it out, but don't hold your expectations too high." Games Radar - 60%: "It's a shame that combat in Children of Mana is so mindless. The ingredients are there to make this a really excellent action RPG. Unfortunately, it wasn't cooked for long enough and you're left with an action RPG with great RPG elements and trite action. There are lots of things this game does right, but ultimately it fails to live up to its potential."
Nintendo dishes out the facts on Children of Mana
We haven't had much news on the game as of yet, mostly due to a lack of official word from Nintendo and Square on the game's contents. Now we know, for example, that there are over 180 magic gems that players can use to customize their characters.Turns out, in the game world, 10 years before the start of the game for the player, a great catastrophe has struck the land of Illusia and monsters have taken over the land. This, in turn, causes the Mana Tree to become corrupt with its own power and mysterious Mana pillars to have erected across the world. With the aid of the Sword of Mana, the player must free the locked guardian spirit within each pillar and restore Illusia back to its original status.The main characters of the game are Ferrik, who was saved as a child by a nameless swordsman and has spent the entirety of his saved life trying to become a great swordsman himself. He lost his parents and older sister during the catastrophe. Tess is a more scholarly type, spending all of her time studying the Mana Tree and its Mana Goddess. Poppen is a magician from the desert of Jadd. Tamber is a young dancer who lost her brother and parents during the catastrophe. Finally, Wanderer is an outcast of the niccolos race and is described as loyal and compassionate.
Children of Mana preview
The Mana tree has always been one of our favorite, er, trees and we are happy to see the series possibly lift back to what it once was after that mistake of a Legend of Mana game. Yes, we said it. Legend of Mana and all its Winnie the Pooh type environments rubbed us the wrong way. Fortunately, Children of Mana, set to release October 30, is forming rather well. Or, we think it is based on what other journalists lucky enough to play it are telling us. Being able to play with a friend via ad-hoc seems fun and we like the sound of investigative revenge streaming from broken-hearted orphans. Hopefully, Children of Mana will aid in healing the series.
Final Fantasy III & Rune Factory go head-to-head in Japan
On August 24, Final Fantasy III and Rune Factory: Shin Bokujou Monogatari (Harvest Moon spinoff) will be released in Japan fo DS. While FFIII certainly has the brand edge, both titles look to boost the DS's credibility as a viable RPG platform. Famitsu recently published its reviews for the two games, suggesting that FFIII is slightly superior: Final Fantasy III (Square Enix): 9/8/9/8 - 34/40* Rune Factory (Marvelous Interactive): 8/9/7/9 - 33/40 Keep in mind that, back in March, Children of Mana scored even higher than FFIII, earning a 36/40, and will be released in the US on October 30. FFIII will land stateside in November (hopefully). Rune Factory: Shin Bokujou Monogatari has not been confirmed for release outside of Japan, but Harvest Moon DS is scheduled for September 12. *C3 News notes that Famitsu's score for the original FFIII (NES) was 35/40.
New Children of Mana trailer
If you head on over to Square Enix's World of Mana website, you can catch a glimpse of the forthcoming DS entry in the recently reborn RPG franchise. Children of Mana certainly falls in line with Square Enix's habit of constructing stellar graphics that live up to their bold and thoughtful art design, though one should be warned about the adorable bunny beanbag creatures that feature heavily in the game. Centering on the adventures of Flick, Tumble and Pop (fresh from breakfast cereal mascot auditions), the game aims to attract fans of the classic Mana series in addition to newcomers. The battle system seems geared more towards reflexes than strategic thinking, but with some Wi-Fi cooperative gameplay, it should turn out to be an excellent and much needed DS RPG (that doesn't star a certain portly plumber). To view the trailer, follow the link, click on "Trailer" and then on the "Children of Mana" picture. [via Cubed3]
