Legend of Mana first appears to be a bright and relatively pleasant game. And it is, for the most part. However, if you pay attention, the story and history of the world itself can be downright disturbing.
Moments pages are Spoilers Off. You Have Been Warned.
- The Junkyard. It is littered in broken toys, some of which can speak. Either reading the books in your library or just guessing from their snippets of dialogue, these toys were given life ages ago to fight in a war. They now lie, broken and inanimate, but still alive.
- Three main storylines deal with:
- Being enslaved by a damned dragon emperor to return him to life.
- Dealing with a group of adventurers who lost a friend who did a horrific Face–Heel Turn into a demon, with a dungeon in a colossal dragon skeleton.
- Tracking down a serial killing jewel thief. She steals the "hearts" of Jumis, the most valued gems in existence. This kills the Jumis.
- The implication that your need to rebuild the world is a side effect of some horrible cataclysam that brought the world as it was known to an end. That a lot of this devastation lies alongside what is otherwise a pleasant and light game, only serves to enhance just how disturbing these moments are.
- The Transformation Trauma that's defined the series since Final Fantasy Adventure turned a girl into the World Tree. Whether it's being turned to stone for crying for the wrong person, being transformed into a mindless and violent monster for visiting the wrong snowy hills, or the slow drive into violent insanity and physical transformation of one partial demon, Legend of Mana meets your daily dose of vitamin Agggggggghhh!
- The entire Jumi race has been oppressed, hunted and killed for their cores since anyone can remember and apart from a few characters like Inspector Boyd no-one really seems to care. It is implied that most jewelry shops openly deal in Jumi cores and quite a few NPCs treat the in game Jumi with open hostility.
- The room in the Underworld where you face off against the boss has four statues with freaky-looking faces in it. As you damage the boss, some of the statues begin to move. They will open and close their mouths and possibly their eyes as they try to help the boss defeat you with their own attacks.
