Line #35 VideoGame/DawnOfMana


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4	''Dawn of Mana'', known in Japan as ''Seiken Densetsu 4'' (聖剣伝説4), is a ''[[VideoGame/WorldOfMana Mana]]'' {{Prequel}} released in 2007 for the Platform/PlayStation2. It follows the story of [[ConvenientlyAnOrphan the orphan]] Keldric, his UnluckyChildhoodFriend Ritzia, the destruction of his DoomedHometown by TheEvilEmpire, and how all of this ties in with the awakening of the Mana Spirits and the Mana Tree.
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6	''Dawn of Mana'' plays like its SpiritualPredecessor ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'', but instead of gaining experience to level up, the hero has to earn badges before he can permanently upgrade his abilities. This mechanic, in addition to the frustratingly difficult boss battles and jumping puzzles, has made ''Dawn of Mana'' reviled by fans.
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8	!!Tropes unique to this game:
9	* AutoRevive: Chalices will restores all of your HP and MP should you die. Too bad you can only find one or two of them in any given chapter...
10	%%* BarrierChangeBoss: Granz the Masked Guru.
11	* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Stroud and Anise are defeated, the Golem Army is stopped, the door to Mavolia is sealed once again, the world of Fa'Diel is saved, Ritzia and Faye fuse together to become the Mana Goddess and the seed latched into Keldric's arm becomes the Mana Sword. But Keldric has lost everything: most of his friends and family on Illusia were either corrupted or dead, he was forced to kill Lekius and the Ritzia he once knew was gone.]]
12	* {{Bizarrchitecture}}: TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon.
13	* CameraCentering
14	* CherryTapping: Killing enemies with the Slingshot or Whip.
15	* ContinuityNod:
16	** The BigBad shares a name with a minor character in the ''VideoGame/LegendOfMana'' world history, and is most likely a reinterpretation of her. [[spoiler:She also has similarities with the depiction of Medusa from ''VideoGame/SwordOfMana'', who was in love with a man named Lord Granz. It is implied that the name Anise is name mortals use out of fear of being hit by the curse of Medusa's real name which, if true, would give interesting implications to the Benevodon from ''VideoGame/TrialsOfMana'' that Medusa's OneWingedAngel form resembles: Zable Fahr (considering how Anise is seen in ''VideoGame/HeroesOfMana'', which features the Benevodon, it's likely there's ''some'' connection)]].
17	** King Stroud of Lorimar is referenced in ''VideoGame/TrialsOfMana'' ([[spoiler:called Dark Prince in the FanTranslation]]). He also shares the same name as Stroud from ''VideoGame/SwordOfMana'' - better known as Dark Lord from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyAdventure'' (although the Japanese names of their titles are dissimilar). Generally the only villain in the series that ''isn't'' alluded to in this game is the Emperor-type character (Dragon Lord in ''VideoGame/TrialsOfMana'' and Vandole in ''VideoGame/SecretOfMana''.[[invoked]]
18	** Another of these shows up in the presence of [[spoiler:Thanatos, here a malevolent spiritual force rather than one very irate body snatching Lich archmagus. The designs of the afflicted characters and creatures, and the form taken by this energy when it's free-floating, all reference Thanatos in ''VideoGame/SecretOfMana''.]]
19	*** The Masked Guru is revealed to be [[spoiler: Anise's lover Granz, no mere mortal but a powerful spirit]]. This ''may'' explain why [[spoiler: Julius (the BigBad of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyAdventure'' said to be the alias of Emperor Vandole in ''VideoGame/SwordOfMana'')]] might be the [[HeWhoMustNotBeSeen unseen Echoes of Mavolia]] behind Thanatos and thus the villain Thanatos had backstabbed in ''VideoGame/SecretOfMana'', was also draining the energy of [[spoiler: Lady Medusa's husband, Lord Granz]] on top of all that.
20	* DoubleJump
21	* DieChairDie: A lot of the game's environment is destructible and [[RewardingVandalism contains loot]]; you can even earn an accolade for destroying more than 700 objects.
22	* EnemyDetectingRadar / ColorCodedForYourConvenience: blue ones drop items, red ones are there to improve your level completion grade and to abuse the RagdollPhysics with their bodies, and the flashing yellow dot indicates the direction you need to go.
23	* EverythingTryingToKillYou: Partially averted; you can trick enemies into attacking each other.
24	* FairyCompanion: Casts magic for you and cures StatusEffects.
25	* {{Flashback}}: The entire game is merely an account of the origin of the Mana Tree by Gnome, who told it in a meeting with his fellow Spirits. Gnome is apparently known to embellish a few parts of his stories, but it's believed at least the basic events historically took place thousands of years before the meeting.
26	* GrievousHarmWithABody: How you can hurt enemies with the Whip.
27	* HearingVoices: Both the mana spirits (good) and the echoes (evil) speak to the main characters in voices that only they can hear.
28	* HeWhoMustNotBeSeen: The Echoes whom the Thanatos serve unlike the creator of Mavolia (which serves as the Echoes' prison) Anise/[[spoiler:Medusa]] who is the final boss.
29	* InterchangeableAntimatterKeys - Blue ones unlock the way for further progress; gold ones open doors to secret goodies and/or shortcuts.
30	* LevelGrinding: A necessity in every chapter thanks to the BagOfSpilling.
31	* MinecartMadness: Featured in Chapter 2.
32	* {{Prequel}}: For the entire franchise, as the game tells the origin of the Mana Sword and the Mana Goddess.
33	* RagnarokProofing: Discussed in Chapter 6; Fay is amazed that a structure built apparently hundreds, if not thousands, of years ago still has working components, whereas Keldy thinks it's a result of [[AWizardDidIt Mana spirits]].
34	* RankInflation: S is the best grade you can earn on all of the stats that the game cares to keep track of (and it's a lot of stats. Fortunately, you only need to obtain S rank once for it to stick for that particular stat, so it doesn't need to be all at once).
35	* RagdollPhysics: Abusing it is the only way to gain much-needed stat boosts in the game.
36	* SceneryPorn: The game uses a ''VideoGame/LegendOfMana''-esque color palette and, excepting the desert chapter, isn't all brown (and even there contains plenty of impressive sweeping vistas).
37	* SequelHook: [[spoiler:After Gnome's story is concluded, the Spirits set off to assist a new warrior and maiden. This may or may not be one of the existing games in the series.]]
38	* StartOfDarkness: [[spoiler:Dark Majesty]] of ''VideoGame/TrialsOfMana'' is revealed to be [[spoiler: the Emperor of Lorimar (called the Kingdom of Light in ''VideoGame/TrialsOfMana'') King Stroud]] and it's revealed that his deal with the demons was in fact to open the door to Mavolia (called the underworld in the English version of ''VideoGame/SecretOfMana'' and the fan-translation of ''VideoGame/TrialsOfMana''), that his killing of the previous Archdemon was striking down said Archdemon's host [[spoiler: [[UnluckyChildhoodFriend Ritzia]]]] with the first Mana Sword (secretly, [[spoiler: Medusa and her host Ritzia]] survives due to the sword being corrupted, not that it matters since [[spoiler: Keldy kills her for real soon after]]) and that his Archdemon form is the result of absorbing lots of Thanatos. His remains (mentioned in ''VideoGame/TrialsOfMana'') following his death in attempting to open the Mana Gate (which later includes Illusia following ''VideoGame/ChildrenOfMana'') [[HeWhoMustNotBeSeen still aren't seen]] yet are likely somewhere in Mavolia alongside Lekius's corpse which ''also'' teleported away following death.
39	* WhereItAllBegan: The game begins and ends with a chase through TheLostWoods... but the second time around, you're going after [[spoiler:the BigBad after she's pulled a GrandTheftMe on UnluckyChildhoodFriend Ritzia]] and the monsters have all been corrupted by Thanatos servants of the Echoes.
40	* WreakingHavok: The whole game just seems to be an engine experiment for use in later titles.

Context VideoGame / DawnOfMana