The Mana World Forums

i had some interesting thoughts about the nature of mana itself, how it is researched and how it could be used by the humans. more about that in the wiki article i wrote about that topic.
http://wiki.themanaworld.org/Teleportation

What do you think about this?

It's a nice explanation of mana and mana use in my opinion, but I'm not sure about its use for teleportation, reminds me a bit of Stargate (which I like a lot), but I feel as if it doesn't fit the fantasy behaviour.

I like it... Although I still don't like the whole tree-thing.

This sounds alot like the legends of Yggdrasil (what the mana tree was based on) and the vortices (points of concentrated spiritual energy on earth) & the leylines (streams of energy connecting the vortices). Some of you probably know this but I would like to state that not only does this have a fantasy feel to it but it's an actual myth.

P.S. Sorry if I offended you elven.

I liked the idea, also the teleportation part. Though like Modanung, I didn't like reference to a mana tree kind of thing.

ElvenProgrammer wrote:It's a nice explanation of mana and mana use in my opinion, but I'm not sure about its use for teleportation, reminds me a bit of Stargate (which I like a lot), but I feel as if it doesn't fit the fantasy behaviour.

the stargate system is an artifical system based on technology, while my leyline transport system is a system created by mystical energy and used by magic. what can be more fantasy?

about the gateways: i didn't thought of portals like the stargate. i thought of stone circles in the landscape where you meet a geomancer who turns you into mana energy and sends you across the globe from there.

we need some kind of fast transportation system in the game anyway. or do you want the players to walk across the complete game world for hours to meet a friend?

Bjørn wrote:Though like Modanung, I didn't like reference to a mana tree kind of thing.

i just tried to be in consistence with the other background articles which mention a tree of life (just noticed that it's called "tree of life" everywhere else, not "mana tree". i changed that in my article). but if you don't want the tree - the system could live without one. but that's not my decision.

Well when I think at technology in tmw, I think about a town with wooden gears everywhere, machines can be fed by mana energy, but they mostly work as a steam machine.

Of course we need some kind of find transportation, but this one is immediate. In an instant you can reach every part of the world. I'd like that you need to get at least 2 transports to make a complete trip around the mana world
Also my idea was to have different kind of transports: a train for desert areas, flying creatures/zeppelins for mountain places, magic spheres in a subterranean network of galleries, a sled for snowy places, and so on...

About the tree, I guess Bjorn wants to completely remove it, and I agree in some way.

ElvenProgrammer wrote:About the tree, I guess Bjorn wants to completely remove it, and I agree in some way.

The Mana Tree has always been a part of the mythology, if not the central story, of every Mana game. I can understand not wanting to make it a visitable location but taking the Tree out completely would be like...I don't know, making a Zelda game without the Triforce, maybe.

Well if you want to create a game inspired by Zelda you won't use the triforce, if you want to make a sequel/clone then you use the triforce. I guess the same apply to us, we're inspired by the mana series, we use mana, but it is not said we have to give the same explanation someone else already gave. If I remember correctly, in Final Fantasy VII (and in the movie too)they had something similar to mana, but they gave them nice and original explanations.
Anyway this is only my opinion, and not the definite idea.

Not only SoM uses a tree in it's story... there are lots of games that use magical trees in their stories (World tree, tree of life, mana tree)... and nomatter how good the rest of the story is I think the tree part is a bit unoriginal.
But I'm ok with using the concept.

ElvenProgrammer wrote:Well if you want to create a game inspired by Zelda you won't use the triforce, if you want to make a sequel/clone then you use the triforce. I guess the same apply to us, we're inspired by the mana series, we use mana, but it is not said we have to give the same explanation someone else already gave. If I remember correctly, in Final Fantasy VII (and in the movie too)they had something similar to mana, but they gave them nice and original explanations.
Anyway this is only my opinion, and not the definite idea.

Touch?! Still, I'm a believer in the 'Know your roots' philosophy. The Mana Tree (or Yggdrasil, if you prefer) is a classic concept and would work well in the backstory, I reckon.

I agree the tree is a great idea, but I'd like not to stuck with it since maybe we can have better original ideas.

How about the core of the world is the source of mana and it has roots coming out of it? It's like a giant seed but it never grows... it just expands maybe... so that way we can still keep the roots for teleportation because I like the idea.

and I like your

ElvenProgrammer wrote:and I like your

What?