 legend of mana, originally released in japan as , is a 1999 action role-playing game developed and published by square (now square enix) for the playstation. it is the fourth game in the mana series, following 1995's seiken densetsu 3. set in a high fantasy universe, the game follows an unnamed hero as they restore the land of fa'diel by creating the world around them and completing a large number of interrelated and independent quests. while incorporating action role-playing elements from the prior games in the series, such as real-time battles, legend of mana has its own distinct style of gameplay. most notably, it gives the player the ability to shape the world's structure through a land make system, generating regions and quests in a non-linear gameplay system rather than a strong main plotline. legend of mana was directed by series creator koichi ishii, designed by akihiko matsui, and produced by veteran square director and producer akitoshi kawazu. the game had high sales, selling 400,000 copies in its first week of release. reviews were less positive than for prior games in the series. critics gave considerable acclaim to its vibrant and colorful hand-drawn graphics and soundtrack by yoko shimomura, but were critical of the lack of a clear main storyline, stating that it left the game feeling disjointed. the game was re-released as a part of both the playstation's and square enix's best-sellers lines, and re-released on the playstation 3 playstation network store as part of the psone classics series in 2011. ==gameplay== [[file:legend of mana battle.jpg|thumb|left|a boss battle 
1999_video_games Cooperative_video_games Mana_(series)_video_games Multiplayer_and_single-player_video_games PlayStation_Network_games PlayStation_games Role-playing_video_games Video_games_featuring_female_protagonists