TGS 2005: The World of Mana Update
The mysterious new RPG project from Square was not yet a part of this world.
by Nix
September 16, 2005 - Square Enix has teased us for quite a while now with its next project in the Mana series, not even confirming whether the play would follow the adventuring of the Seiken Densetsu series (ala Secret of Mana, and not Legend of Mana or anything else disappointing us ever since ) that the game is best known for. The World of Mana was once again teased at TGS, with only a trailer video to speak of and no hint of platform or release plans. Square's representatives at the booth smiled big and directed us to this video when we asked about the game, but we weren't sure if they were excited for the project and just couldn't say or else had already been asked the question a billion times before just in the early hours of the show and were trying to keep their humor about them.
In terms of what was shown in the video, there was little hint as to what the game would be, but we can guess that whatever The World of Mana is, it will be lush. "It happened a long time ago...," we are told. The video then opened with a fly-by of miles and miles of perfectly green round trees. A brilliant flock of red birds flew over, and we traveled along with them for a ways until the camera started to pull back. It was then revealed that what we were seeing wasn't a world of trees, but rather a gigantic tree, made of trees, itself standing tall in a further forest of more trees. This is the legendary Mana Tree, and it should be the centerpiece for the tale told in the game. The tagline on the video concluded that, "The grand adventure that began with the Mana Tree will unfold for you."
Where and when this adventure will unfold is still a giant mystery. The going rumor is that the project is a joint development of a PS2 and a Nintendo DS game, with perhaps other components on other platforms to follow (the same way Square's Code Age series has hit PS2, mobile phones, manga, etc.) You know as much as we do at this point, so look for full disclose on The World of Mana in any of its due incarnations once Square Enix is ready to reveal the game.
