The Mana Tree kinda dwindled to nothing, and you have to rebuild the land to get it to come back.

Yep, that's basically it. Doesn't sound very interesting, huh? Well it actually is, so there. The game is actually comprised of a bunch of mini-quests. You see, you make the land. For completing certain quests, you get artifacts. The artifacts make specific cities. You put whatever city you want in your happy little land. So it kinda makes sense that they can't have a linear story, cuz it all depends on what cities you put in. Plus there's a bunch of other little things in there. Like, you can catch eggs and raise monsters, or use old weapons and armor to create different golems, or even mix different seeds in your garden to find out what funky fruit they make (ya gotta feed the monsters somehow.) So there's plenty to do. Now, I've heard people say that they finished the game in the first day. I'm not saying it can't happen, but they must've skipped a lot of stuff, cuz I've played it for a week and still haven't finished it. So it all depends on you. The city, the time spent on it, everything. Definite replay value, ne?
Now, graphics. Gorgeous. Wonderful. Just plain spiffy (oh no... Sailor Ronin vocab. is rubbing off on me... Oh well. Spiffy's a neat word.) Anyways, the graphics are really cool. They're not 3-D or anything, mainly it's your basic RPG-type look, but it's all watercolor. You know, like watercolor paintings. Even the characters look sorta watercolor-y, but you can see it most in the backgrounds. Your character is walking on a beautiful watercolor painting. It's just so neat. The pastel colors that result from using watercolors give the game a cartoony feel, but that's ok, cuz Legend of Mana's just kind of a cute, silly game. And don't you Secret of Mana fans dare say "What happened? Secret of Mana was never cute!" cuz it was, you just never paid attention. Rabites. Need I say more? They just had graphical limitations back then that wouldn't allow them the smooth, curvy world they have now. There's none of the funky cinema's Square is usually known for, but I think that's more of a Final Fantasy thing. Well, I think I've wasted enough of your time on graphics.
As for the music, let's say this: Squaresoft games are known for two things, their graphics, and their music. Unfortunately, I couldn't find much Legend of Mana music. I was lucky to have found those two up there, however crappy they may be. The first one is the theme from the very beginning of the game, before you even press start. It's a beautiful song, so I put it up, despite the fact that it'll only play in the right speaker (on my computer, at least.) The second one is the theme from a town called Domina, the first town you create. It's a happy little tune, and reflects the overall feeling of the game.
Now, the battles. Pretty much real-time. You see an enemy, you step too close, you're drawn into a battle where you whack at 'em and use special attacks that you (should) have previously assigned to certain buttons. Oh, and your HP heals itself gradually, so if you're being killed, just step back for a moment and all will become better. Very useful for idiots like me who die way too easily. The problems with this battle system is that you have to be standing directly beside the enemy to hit them. You can't be above or below. That kinda stinks. And the AI sucks. The people traveling with you attack the enemies, but they don't collect the experience that drops afterwards (yeah, you have to manually walk around and collect the experience points.) So, they don't gain levels as fast as you, and that kinda stinks, too. But, if you talk to certain save point statue thingers, you can go two-player and another person can take over with the sidekick duty. Or, if they have their own game, they can import their character to tag along with you.
I guess I've wasted enough of your time. Oh, and I removed the poll cuz it was being stupid. Good riddance.

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