Seiken Densetsu DS: Children of Mana

There really isn't much of a story to Children of Mana, you're just exploring dungeons and killing the boss and moving on. You can be either Flick (I guess the one who would be the "main person" if you had to pick out of them all), Tumble (The only girl), Pop (the little boy) , or Wanderer (reminds me of Nikita ~). Whoever you pick will only really change who they speak to in the beginning of the game, and some of their dialogues during the story otherwise it's all the same business.

The spirits stop you before you leave to the first dungeon and you get to choose which one you want to take with you. You can change them anytime you are back in the village by talking to Tiss (she's the girl who is by the broken mana tree tablet). Your choices of mana spirits (from top to bottom, left to right) are Salamander, Gnome, Dryad, Wisp, Undine, Jinn, Luna, Shade. You hold B until you get engulfed in their aura then release it and they will be summoned (Lv 1 costs 5 MP, 2 is 10, 3 is 15. Their levels will be increased by gems you can synthesize later) and you can either push B again and they will charge offscreen until they do their attack, or you can walk into them to get their power (Salamander gives you Flame Saber which lets you deal fire damage and put monsters on fire, Undine is Ice Saber, Gnome is Diamond Saber, Jinn is Thunder Saber, Dryad is Aura Wave (Invulnurable to status effects), Luna is Life Boost (HP Regen for as long as it lasts), Wisp is Heal Light, and Shade is Invisible (you turn invisble, nothing really special just most monsters can't see you), or you can just let them sit there and they will blink and then unleash their spell.

The menu screen is pretty simple. Top to bottom left to right again, Save Game, Gem (This is where you swap Gems in and out to gain various benefits), Multiplayer, Status, Equipment, Leave Village / Call Flammie (Changes after you beat first dungeon). In dungeons the menu screen will only appear after every 4 levels, pressing start otherwise will just ask if you want to use your magic rope to leave (infinite uses).

In Fever mode you can unleash Killer Shots with your weapon by holding down it's respective button (A or X) and then letting go once you shine. This of course gets stronger and better as you swap in the gems to increase their levels (more synthesizing to do), the sword is a basic thrust through the enemy, the bow shoots three steel arrows that push back and stun, the flail whirls around twice in a huge arc, and the hammer just spins around eight times or so (probably the best source of damage from a Killer Shot). Also if you have the gem for Fever Slot you test your luck with Fever mode, possible outcomes are: All HP is recovered, All attacks will do critical damage, All damage is nullified, All attacks make Luc (the monetary unit in this game) appear, Fever mode is instantly ended, Random amount of HP recovery, or nothing.

Outside of Fever Mode the weapons also have secondary uses, Sword is Guard which reflects some projectiles back. Flail extends itself to either pull you to an object or pull the object to you. Bow turns into a harp and you unleash a Musical Note that will have most monsters dance in place for you to smack them around, or if it lands on the monster they will get stunned. Hammer just pounds the ground and is used for hitting various switches or knocking things away. You can switch which weapon you want to use by hitting R and then pushing which button you want the weapon to go to.

There's no real challenge since you cannot get a game over, dying merely puts you back in town with everything you had until you died. So you can just march right back in there and fight again. Although sometimes you'll just march right back to your death in some jobs (purchased from the Dugbears in a house on the left) since the enemies are plentiful and harder than in the normal dungeon.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Elixir

Lacerta, you basically repeated everything I just said.

I guess, I didn't notice it until after I posted heh.

Also you can buy, sell, or create new gems in a shop in the house on the left. Some gems only come from sidequests, created by gem synthesis, or can only be found by getting a gold rank in dungeons. Some have negative effects, some only work in multiplayer, etc. Weapons can be bought or sold as well, and you can buy backpack extensions to increase the amount of things you can carry (maximum is 24, costs 30000 Luc).

Kind of lame that multiplay becomes a huge lagfest depending on the dungeon you go to.

Most amazing jew boots

It's like they tried to combine aspects from both SoM and LoM. The only problem is they messed up with the story.

Sure there's a lot of originality in it, but there's not much there to even want to pull you into it.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Originally Posted by Elixir

By the way, anyone know what the people located top right in the middle left house do? I've recently figured out that the third option in the middle left house, top, is to increase your amount of items you've carried/personal upgrades. I still don't know what the boxes in the equip menu do (the last items, in the bottom, below the rings).

Like I mentioned earlier those little Dudbear things let you buy jobs, which serve no real purpose other than to have you crawl through the dungeons more (sometimes up to 2x the original dungeon's length) and get something out of it, usually Luc or a Gem.

The boxes are nothing more than "key items" , which have no use outside of the story or in certain events.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?