A huge disappointment in the Mana Series; if not for the graphics, I'd have given this a 2.
Well, to be honest, Dawn of Mana hasn't got that much faults. Its graphics is downright vivid and well-made, the sounds good for a PS2 game, but it was the game physics and the gameplay that wrecked it, shattered all the potential this game would ever have. If you've played it, you'd know what I speak of.
Firstly, the gameplay. I know that exploring big worlds is a great idea, but it's a bad thing in this game, making you waste hours of time searching for the exit in a labyrinth-like stage. A very good example can be seen very early in the game, in about the third stage of the game. You will be lost, I assure you, and you will waste a lot of time doing what the stage tells you to do. Which brings me to my next point, the game physics.
I'll only give you one example: the cart, probably at the third stage. You have to hit twenty targets with your sword while riding the cart in a breakneck speed, going down. It's nearly impossible, since the character rotates and moves as the cart goes, making it hard to hit the target, and if you move too much, it's all gone for you; you fall to the bottom of the cart track, forcing you to restart again. And again and again.
So, essentially, Dawn of Mana had some game elements well-executed, but the very foundations of a 3-D adventure RPG, the elements that should have been well-done, have been poorly done and thus wrecked the game. I advise you to stay away from this game; it's not worth the money you'll pay for it and the time you'll spend on it.