History VideoGame / SwordOfMana

* NamedByTheAdaptation: [[spoiler:The heroine's mother]] was not named in the original ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyAdventure'' or in its more faithful remake ''Adventures of Mana'', but is named "Mana" in this game.

* BerserkButton: Screw with Medusa, and Devius and Dark Lord will ''make you suffer.''

* ChildhoodFriendRomance: Amanda is an Unlucky Childhood Friend for the hero, while Willy has a crush on the heroine. Sadly, PairTheSpares doesn't work out since Amanda is forced into a MercyKill because of Medusa's venom.

* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: Devius and Dark Lord are ''furious'' when the hero kills Medusa, not caring that Medusa had had an episode, forcing the hero to act in self-defense. Devius even kidnaps Bogard to force a fight to the death as revenge.

* PetTheDog: Devius in the heroine's route. ''Very'' much, considering his birds, Medusa, and the way he treats the heroine herself.

* StarCrossedLovers: Pretty much ''every single love story'' turns out this way: The protagonists in the hero's route, Dark Lord and Isabella, Pamela and Durac, [[spoiler:Bogard and Mana]], and Granz and Medusa.

** The legendary Gemma Knights were Gemma: a sword-wielding hero, Bogard: a man from the Mana clan, and Granz: a minstrel. What are the hero, Willy, and Lester again? And all of these characters are more or less doomed to re-enact the adventures of the previous generation. [[spoiler:The heroine]] and [[spoiler:Julius]] in particular have a pretty raw deal, as destiny has arranged for the former's self-sacrifice and the latter's loss of humanity, not helped that the same happened to their predecessors, Emperor Vandole and the heroine's mother [[NamedByTheAdaptation Mana]], as well.

* TheChosenOne: The heroine is a woman of the Mana clan, and thus is able to [[PoweredByAForsakenChild sacrifice her body]] to sustain the Mana Tree, becoming the next Mana Goddess in doing so.

* StarCrossedLovers: Pretty much ''every single love story'' turns out this way: The protagonists in the hero's route, Dark Lord and Isabella, Pamela and Durac, and in the backstory, [[spoiler:Bogard and Mana]], and Granz and Medusa.

* StarCrossedLovers: Pretty much ''every single love story'' turns out this way: The protagonists in the hero's route, Dark Lord and Isabella, Pamela and Durac, and in the backstory, [[spoiler:Bogard]] and Mana, and Granz and Medusa.

* AnyoneCanDie: It's a wonder anybody actually ''survived'' this game.

* BarehandedBladeBlock: Dark Lord, in the Hero's opening sequence.

* BecauseDestinySaysSo: The heroine MUST become the Mana Tree to avert TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt, at the cost of her body, even if she'll live on as the new Mana Goddess like her mother before her.

* BreakingAndBloodsucking: Despite warnings and misgivings, the Hero and Heroine stay the night at the Vinquette Hall, and this time both the Heroine and Isbella are taken by the vampire in the night. However, because of AdaptationalHeroism, Count Lee is a FriendlyNeighborhoodVampire trying to protect the women of the Mana Clan.

* ChildhoodFriendRomance: Amanda is an Unlucky Childhood Friend for the hero, while Willy had a crush on the heroine. Sadly, PairTheSpares doesn't work out since Amanda is forced into a MercyKill because of Medusa's venom.
* TheChosenOne: The heroine is a woman of the Mana clan, and thus is able to [[PoweredByAForsakenChild sacrifice her body]] to sustain the Mana Tree and in doing so become the next Mana Goddess.

* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: Due to Dark Lord and Julius banning the use of Mana power alongside worship of the Mana Goddess, the Mana Tree is dying yet again, and only the heroine's sacrifice can stop it, once Julius is defeated.
* EraSpecificPersonality: The antagonists are given much more development than in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyAdventure''. The heroine also has her own storyline, instead of being a DamselInDistress.
* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: Devius and Dark Lord are ''furious'' when the hero kills Medusa, not caring that Medusa had had an episode, forcing the hero to act in self defense. Devius even kidnaps Bogard to force a fight to the death as revenge.

* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler:Goremand]]. Possibly only to be expected as, [[spoiler:he's an {{Expy}} of -- [[NonLinearSequel or possibly even the same character as]] -- Goremand from ''VideoGame/TrialsOfMana'', who was never killed there either]]. [[spoiler:But at least in ''Trials'' you could punch his smug face in. Here he's TheUnfought]].

* NamedByTheAdaptation: The heroine's mother was not named in the original ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyAdventure'' or in its more faithful remake ''Adventures of Mana'', but is named "Mana" in this game.

* ObliviousToLove: The hero doesn't really figure out that the heroine likes him until near the end of the game, just enough to join her in her determination to ScrewDestiny before it becomes clear that it's already too late to do so AND avert TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt.

* PosthumousCharacter: Vandole and [[spoiler:Mana]]. Granz too, [[spoiler:but this eventually turns out to be subverted, as Julius secretly kept him alive to siphon off his magic behind Dark Lord(who has been shown to publicly shun magic)'s back]].

* RobotBuddy: Marshall, a robot found in the Tower of Dime, and is your companion in both routes.
* SaveTheVillain: The heroine to every major antagonist you fight. Her route only. [[spoiler:It never works.]]

* StarCrossedLovers: Pretty much ''every single love story'' turns out this way: The protagonists in the hero's route, Dark Lord and Isabella, Pamela and Durac, and in the backstory, Bogard and Mana, and Granz and Medusa.

* ThisIsYourBrainOnEvil: Vandole and [[spoiler:Julius who might be Vandole]].

* TheVirus: [[spoiler:Medusa's venom inflicts BodyHorror on Amanda; the Vandole family's addiction to Mana power eventually gets the better of Julius(of course depending on whether he's Vandole himself or not he may be the one who got the Vandole family addicted to Mana power in the first place).]]

* YouCantFightFate: The heroine is doomed to become the new Mana Goddess to save the Mana Tree, which was dying even before Julius started draining it, due to Julius and Dark Lord trying to phase out the world's use of, and reliance upon, the power of Mana. Worst of all, the heroine had passively sensed that this was true, but consciously acted to ScrewDestiny until it was clear that if she doesn't do it, it'd cause TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt.

''Sword of Mana,'' released in Japan as ''Shin'yaku Seiken Densetsu'' (新約 聖剣伝説) or ''The New Testament: Legend of the Holy Sword'', is a VideoGameRemake of the [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyAdventure first game]] of the ''[[VideoGame/WorldOfMana Mana]]'' series with many of the ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' references removed and [[ContinuityNod many added details from the later games inserted]]. It was released for the UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance in late 2003. Faithful remakes of the original 1991 video game were released in 2006 [[NoExportForYou exclusively for Japanese mobile phones]] and in 2016 for UsefulNotes/{{i|OSGames}}OS, {{UsefulNotes/Android|Games}}, and UsefulNotes/PlayStationVita.

* WhatTheHellHero: [[spoiler:Dark Lord]] thinks the Mana clan's [[ReedRichardsIsUseless non-interference policy]] is stupid and [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge makes his displeasure]] [[DisproportionateRetribution VERY clear]].

* FinalBossNewDimension: You get sent to one of these for the third and last phase of the final boss fight against [[spoiler:Julius]]. It's kind of an abstract blue area with a shimmer effect serving as the floor. You're confined to a small area in the center while he constantly flies around. The location box in your menu just refers to the place as "Limbo."

* OneWingedAngel: Every Mavole you fight, and [[spoiler:round two against Julius]].

* ReedRichardsIsUseless: The Mana Clan ''could'' use the power of mana to save innocent lives [[spoiler:such as Medusa's]], but won't, because it would "throw off the balance" to help only one person, and/or because it's a {{slippery slope| fallacy}} that leads down to an EvilEmpire abusing Mana power and using it as a weapon.

* {{Transflormation}}: [[spoiler: What the heroine must undergo in order to save the Mana Tree.]]

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

* BareYourMidriff: Isabella.

* GirlInABox: Lee has a whole basement full of them. [[spoiler:Turns out Granz told him to keep them there so that they wouldn't be slaughtered out of FantasticRacism.]]

* PuppeteerParasite: Boison Vine, one of Julius' servants. This plant is controls the corpse of a Full Metal Haggar to move around, and once the crab is destroyed, he will flee to take control of a giant plant monster to deal with the player character.

* ContinuityNod: Each of the six class trees from ''VideoGame/TrialsOfMana'' show up again here. Isabella (in appearance only; her real name of Belladonna is not used in this game) and Goremand have {{exp|y}}ies here as well.

* WeaponOfChoice: Swords for the hero, staves for the heroine. They can use other weapons, but these pairings are used in official art.

* BalefulPolymorph: Lester, and several other minstrels in Devius' manor. Inverted with one of them, who actually ''liked'' being a bird.

* RapunzelHair: So very, very many offenders. The heroine somehow manages to pull this off with ''curly'' hair; Lester, Isabella, Medusa, Dark Lord, and Julius all count as well.

* AdultFear: Medusa's incurable memory loss--essentially the magical version of Alzheimer's--devastates her spouse and children, and eventually causes her family to splinter.

* MoralityPet:
** Medusa to Devius.
** Marley to Dark Lord.

** Crystal equipment. We're talking MASSIVE stats in all categories, not counting the number of times you can temper them. Crystal weapons even have a chance to deal '''[[InfinityPlusOneElement ALL]]'''-''(yes, that's what it actually says)'' elemental damage, while crystal armors resist ALL elements and make you immune to Charm. However, you may find that a mix of other types of armors that resist other StandardStatusEffects may be better than just straight-up pure defense. Also however, you'll notice that the heroine can only have crystal weapons and gloves. That's where Altena Felt comes in--does the same job as crystal for fabric equipment, but grants immunity to Confuse instead.

* TheChosenOne: The heroine is a woman of the Mana clan, and thus is able to [[PoweredByAForsakenChild sacrifice her body]] to sustan the Mana Tree and in doing so become the next Mana Goddess.

* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler:Goremand]]. Possibly only to be expected as, [[spoiler:he's an {{Expy}} of -- [[NonLinearSequel or possibly even the same character as]] -- Goremand from ''VideoGame/TrialsOfMana'', who was never killed there either]]. But at least in [[spoiler:''VideoGame/TrialsOfMana'' you could punch his smug face in. Here he's TheUnfought]].

* PlotCoupon: The heroine's pendant, the titular sword...

* TheStoic: Devius. [[NotSoStoic Except when you mess with his mother]].

Not so very long ago in the kingdom that would become known as Granz, a knight and sorcerer named Vandole stumbled upon the Mana Tree, inadvertently absorbed its power, and (of course) [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity proceeded to slowly lose his mind and sense of self]]. He established an empire that [[AndManGrewProud abused Mana to power its technology]], had a reign of terror, and was eventually vanquished by [[LaResistance a small but powerful band of heroes]]. A bit of time has passed since, and those heroes had begun to settle down and stabilize the world, when trouble (naturally) reemerged. Stroud ...[[ThatManIsDead oh, please]] [[DoNotCallMePaul excuse me, ''[[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Dark Lord]]'' (son of Granz, one of the previous generation's heroes) and his... um, ''[[HoYay friend]]'' Julius staged a bloody coup of the Granz regime and began a vicious persecution of the Mana tribe. In so doing, two young children--the son of one of the Granz aristocrats and a girl of the Mana tribe--have their lives very violently disrupted: the Mana tribe is wipled out and the girl is forced to go into hiding, while the boy's parents meet a similar fate. He isn't as lucky as her, and is forced to fight as a gladiator for Dark Lord's amusement.

* NamedInTheAdaptation: The heroine's mother was not named in the original ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyAdventure'' or in its more faithful remake ''Adventures of Mana'', but is named "Mana" in this game.

Not so very long ago in the kingdom that would become known as Granz, a knight and sorcerer named Vandole stumbled upon the Mana Tree, inadvertently absorbed its power, and (of course) [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity proceeded to slowly lose his mind and sense of self]]. He established an empire that [[AndManGrewProud abused Mana to power its technology]], had a reign of terror, and was eventually vanquished by [[LaResistance a small but powerful band of heroes]]. A bit of time has passed since, and those heroes had begun to settle down and stabilize the world, when trouble (naturally) reemerged. Stroud ...excuse me, ''[[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Dark Lord]]'' (son of Granz, one of the previous generation's heroes) and his... um, ''[[HoYay friend]]'' Julius staged a bloody coup of the Granz regime and began a vicious persecution of the Mana tribe. In so doing, two young children--the son of one of the Granz aristocrats and a girl of the Mana tribe--have their lives very violently disrupted: the girl's family is killed and she is forced to go into hiding, and the boy's parents meet a similar fate. He isn't as lucky as her, and is dragooned into gladiator training by Dark Lord.

Ten years later, the boy makes an escape and the girl starts out on a journey to find other Mana survivors. They bump into each other again, and destiny ensues.

%%* BecauseDestinySaysSo: Poor heroine. Poor ''Julius''.

* BigEater: Willy, shown in one of the cut scenes.

* CanonName: The hero and heroine have several.

%%* ChildhoodFriendRomance:
%%** Poor Amanda is an Unlucky Childhood Friend.
%%** Willy.
* TheChosenOne: The heroine.

* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: Devius and Dark Lord are ''furious'' when you kill Medusa. Devius even kidnaps Bogard to force you to fight him to the death as revenge.
%%* EvilRedhead: The Vandole family.

* FinalBossNewDimension: You get sent to one of these for the third and last phase of the final boss fight against [[spoiler:Julius]]. It's kind of an abstract blue area with a shimmer effect in the foreground. You're confined to a small area in the center while he constantly flies around. The location box in your menu just refers to the place as "Limbo."

** The legendary Gemma Knights were Gemma: a sword-wielding hero, Bogard: a man from the Mana clan, and Granz: a minstrel. What are Hero, Willy, and Lester again? And all of these characters are more or less doomed to re-enact the adventures of the previous generation. [[spoiler:The heroine]] and [[spoiler:Julius]] in particular have a pretty raw deal, as destiny has arranged for the former's self-sacrifice and the latter's loss of humanity.

* HalfHumanHybrid: [[spoiler:Medusa's children, Dark Lord and Devius.]]
* [[SheIsNotMyGirlfriend He Is Not My Boyfriend]]: The heroine to Watts re: the hero, in the scene where she gets the ''kusarigama''.

%%* ManipulativeBastard: Julius.
%%* MaskPower: Dark Lord.

* MoralityChain: Dark Lord to Julius. [[spoiler:True to type, he completely succumbs to his Vandole blood right after Dark Lord's death and makes a beeline for the Mana Tree or(if "Julius" is an assumed identity of Vandole)..... he dropped his "Julius" facade because Dark Lord is no longer a threat.]]

%%* ObliviousToLove: The hero.

* ReedRichardsIsUseless: The Mana Clan ''could'' use the power of mana to save innocent lives [[spoiler:such as Medusa's]], but won't, because it would "throw off the balance" to help only one person, and/or because it's a {{slippery slope| fallacy}} that leads down to an EvilEmpire abusing mana power and using it as a weapon.
** WhatTheHellHero: [[spoiler:Dark Lord]] thinks this is a ''stupid'' fallacy [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge and makes his displeasure]] [[DisproportionateRetribution very clear]].
** Julius also calls the Mana Clan out on this very early in the story, perhaps in parody of the GreenAesop in ''VideoGame/SecretOfMana''. "This wouldn't be happening if you'd stop keeping your powers to yourselves, you know." "Huh? But Mana is everywhere, how could we be hoarding it?" "...Wow, talk about completely missing the point."
%%* RobotBuddy: Marshall.

* SequentialBoss: [[spoiler:Julius]] has a three-part battle. He first fights alongside a number of yellow {{Palette Swap}}s of the Gray Ox. Then his second phase has him do a DoppelgangerSpin before each attack. Finally, he goes OneWingedAngel [[spoiler:using mana power]] and sends you to an AmazingTechnicolorBattlefield where he frequently flies out of your attack range.

%%* SlapSlapKiss: The hero and heroine, early on.

* ThatManIsDead: Gurnda and Stroud prefer to be known as Devius and Dark Lord respectively. You can only get away with calling them by their names from their "old lives" if you're ''very'' close to them.

%%* WeaponOfChoice
%%* WeCannotGoOnWithoutYou

* WorldTree: The Mana Tree.
%%* YouCantFightFate

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: While playing as the heroine, explore the airship to get a good idea of its layout. Note that Julius's room has no bed. Note also that most of the soldiers' rooms, as well as [[spoiler:Medusa]]'s room, have twin beds. Now go find the only room [[ShipTease with a bed big enough for two.]]

%%* GuideDangIt: For starters, how to get the {{Prestige Class}}es.

* AGodAmI: [[spoiler:Julius/Vandole's goal.]]

%%* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas

* HelloInsertNameHere

** The secret Brownie Ring.

''Sword of Mana,'' released in Japan as ''Shin'yaku Seiken Densetsu'' (新約 聖剣伝説) or ''The New Testament: Legend of the Holy Sword'', is a VideoGameRemake of the [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyAdventure first game]] of the ''[[VideoGame/WorldOfMana Mana]]'' series with many of the ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' references removed and [[ContinuityNod many added details from the later games inserted]]. It was released for the UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance in late 2003. Faithful remakes of the original 1991 video game were released in 2006 [[NoExportForYou exclusively for Japanese mobile phones]] and in 2016 for UsefulNotes/{{i|OSGames}}OS, {{Android|Games}}, and UsefulNotes/PlayStationVita.