aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa this thread moves too damn fast.
And you NO'd Legend of Mana? I don't know you people.
It had one of the most beautifully created worlds I've ever seen, a really effing fun fighting engine, and one of the best damn soundtracks ever. Also, there was all of the stuff you could do, like build golems, smith your own weapons and armor, raise monsters to fight with you, make your own magic spells, the list goes on.
I will agree that the world creation didn't have that big of an impact on the gameplay, but that's simply because it wasn't a big part of the game, it was just that way so that you could go through the game any damn way you wanted. Now that was one of the best parts of the game. You didn't have to help the dragoons with their war. You didn't have to help the Jumi race fight against extinction. You didn't have to participate in the magic school's missions all over the world. You didn't have to do jack shit.
You were free unravel the threads of story in the game any way you saw fit. That's what made this game great.
The main character was basically just a catalyst. He (or she) makes things happen but isn't really involved in the stories. But that's okay. There are too damn many RPG's where the only person who can save the world is some gay teenager from a small town that doesn't want to do the work because "he can't." There are enough emo protaganists in this world.
In summarium, Legend of Mana is a light hearted game that's damned fun and way too fucking underrated.
(This is all I can think of for now, I may add to it later)