Legend of Mana

5/10 - I had wanted to play this game ever since seeing it in some PSX magazine in 2000. And 20+ years later I couldn't pass on the opportunity with the remaster. However, the game left me pretty disappointed. It's... weird. Not much of a story, sidequests are incredibly dull, everything's missable if you just breathe in the wrong order, and the battle system leaves much to be desired. Graphics are gorgeous, but that's about it. I don't regret playing, though. It IS a classic; I just didn't feel it was for me personally. And after all is said and done I would still recommend it - only barely.

Legend of Mana is a charming little game, but not everyone's cup of tea. It's cute, easy and fun if you want a relaxing game with unique characters and stories involving them. There's surprising depth to pets raising, weapons tempering, fruit growing, skills acquiring and artifact placements, but it's absolutely not necessary to enjoy the game and complete it. Even though visually it's been improved over the original PSX version the sprites however remain pixelated which might bother some players, but you get used to it quickly and stop minding it after a while. There's also No Future mode once you complete the game for the first time that was added for the remaster version, which significantly raises the difficulty of the game for players that want a more challenging experience. Overall the game's short, sweet and nostalgic, but definitely not for everyone.

I wrote this review just to say that this game actually works with STEAM MACHINE and its present OS (per July 2026) - with some caveat. Switch to Proton Experimental and replacing audio dll file to make sure the BGM works. Now, on to the game. To be honest, i don't like the PC Port. It created this unecessary upgrade that the background and sprites were so apart in style. But i guess Square have to find an excuse of the ridiculous price tag for a nostalgia. Gameplay wise, its got everything. Literal world building, action, skill tree (sort of?), farming (kinda?), pets and robots, the most overly complicated weapon and armor crafting system that without a guide you'd be smacking random stuff. You can speed run it, but do try to enjoy the stories and wacky personalities in the game. Its a beautiful game ruined by uneccessary aesthetic upgrade. Other than that, still my all time favorite.

Areas load in on Steam Deck with no music; game launches on Moonlight windowed and doesn't detect controller plugged in to Nvidia Shield; lazy upscaling on some visual elements and not others. Another half-assed Square port that doesn't just work. The game wasn't even good anyway, just find the soundtrack on Youtube and you've experienced anything positive from it that you needed.

Legendary Flashback

This is a pretty nostalgic game for me (my cousin used to have it for is PS1 back in the day and let my play this game). Now that I have it on steam, it brings back some fun memories. You are given Artifacts to then place in your map (so there is some aspect of map-building here), and you explore and play as a character, learning abilities, gaining special techniques and making your own items (armor, weapons, instruments, etc.). Overall I find this game to be mostly stress-free (no timed events), the backgrounds are aesthetically pleasing and the music is enjoyable too.