Why is mana blue?

[J1M]

Red is color of urgency, alarm and blood. So it's health

"Blue" - human eyes only recently managed to interpret the color blue, or so they say. I assume that's why it's associated with intelligence/ greater perception and therefore mana, which used to canonically always have to do with int classes.

edit: I think calmness/focus might be associated with blue as well, tho.

If you are going to be dumb enough to read that and believe it, don't be dumb enough to repeat it.

maybe you are too dumb to realise, but I put "or so they say". And I am using a popular belief as a rationale as to why blue might be chosen for a ... "fantasy" video game. Who's the dumb one now?

Bad ideas from social media can't travel into the past.

[Tangerine]

Green is poison.

I think poison is primarily purple in Japanese games, though green isn't uncommon.

@Val the Moofia Boss what's your expert opinion?

[orinEsque]

If you are going to be dumb enough to read that and believe it, don't be dumb enough to repeat it.

maybe you are too dumb to realise, but I put "or so they say". And I am using a popular belief as a rationale as to why blue might be chosen for a ... "fantasy" video game. Who's the dumb one now?

Bad ideas from social media can't travel into the past.

Well alright that's reasonable.

[rusty_shackleford]

Green is poison.

I think poison is primarily purple in Japanese games, though green isn't uncommon.

@Val the Moofia Boss what's your expert opinion?

We actually had a thread on this if someone wants to dig it up, green is poison is because our green paint was poison.
Man, lax safety standards of the past seem cool.

So, yea, likely not a thing outside of the west unless by osmosis.

[Tweed]

Green is poison.

Unless you're Japanese and then it's purple.

Actually, that might just be a Capcom thing.

[Tweed]

Anyway, Dragon Wars is still the earliest example I've seen for a blue magic bar, but I don't know when games started calling it mana instead of magic/astral/goodboy points.

[DecadeRiptide]

Blood is red, so of course it's life. That leaves us with two more primary colors.
Developers in the 80s were pretty smart. They knew that one day every single game would need a stamina meter. People run through grass, brush, trees and other greenery. Couldn't use that one for mana.

Health being red or green is still a tossup to this day

The real question is if cheese and onion is blue or green

[DecadeRiptide]

Green is poison.

I think poison is primarily purple in Japanese games, though green isn't uncommon.

@Val the Moofia Boss what's your expert opinion?

We actually had a thread on this if someone wants to dig it up, green is poison is because our green paint was poison.
Man, lax safety standards of the past seem cool.

So, yea, likely not a thing outside of the west unless by osmosis.

Why was green paint poison?

[rusty_shackleford]

Anyway, Dragon Wars is still the earliest example I've seen for a blue magic bar, but I don't know when games started calling it mana instead of magic/astral/goodboy points.

Man, Dragon Wars is late. Did it really take that long?

[rusty_shackleford]

I think poison is primarily purple in Japanese games, though green isn't uncommon.

@Val the Moofia Boss what's your expert opinion?

We actually had a thread on this if someone wants to dig it up, green is poison is because our green paint was poison.
Man, lax safety standards of the past seem cool.

So, yea, likely not a thing outside of the west unless by osmosis.

Why was green paint poison?

Because it was made out of poison.
Women also rubbed it on their cheeks to make them look rosy.

Don't worry, the future will make fun of us for equally silly things we're doing.

[Tweed]

The next big question is: Do you pronounce it MAH-NAH like you're supposed to? Or MAN-UH/AH like a dirty heathen?

[DecadeRiptide]

We actually had a thread on this if someone wants to dig it up, green is poison is because our green paint was poison.
Man, lax safety standards of the past seem cool.

So, yea, likely not a thing outside of the west unless by osmosis.

Why was green paint poison?

Because it was made out of poison.
Women also rubbed it on their cheeks to make them look rosy.

Don't worry, the future will make fun of us for equally silly things we're doing.

Nah man they lied to you bcos lead stopped the van people using x-ray vision into your home

[rusty_shackleford]

The next big question is: Do you pronounce it MAH-NAH like you're supposed to? Or MAN-UH/AH like a dirty heathen?

Man-ah
I never heard it pronounced until way after I Was reading it in my head

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Green is poison.

I think poison is primarily purple in Japanese games, though green isn't uncommon.

@Val the Moofia Boss what's your expert opinion?

Primarily purple. Final Fantasy, Pokémon, Trails, Dragon Quest, etc, the poison element/status effect is typically represented by a purple icons and spell effects. But green also sometimes appear like in certain other FF games or Octopath.

[Acrux]

Green is stamina

[J1M]

I think yellow works better for stamina.

[Acrux]

Yellow works, but Tweed's mention of Dragon Wars reminded me of the STUN bar that was green.

[WhiteShark]

The next big question is: Do you pronounce it MAH-NAH like you're supposed to? Or MAN-UH/AH like a dirty heathen True American?

MAN-UH

[logincrash]

"Blue" - human eyes only recently managed to interpret the color blue, or so they say.

That's been deboonked.

[Norfleet]

"Blue" - human eyes only recently managed to interpret the color blue, or so they say.

That's been deboonked.

In ancient times, people didn't see blue because color hadn't even been invented yet. Color was first invented in the late 19th century. Prior to that, everything was black and white. Even after that, it remained a novelty for the rich and most the world remained in black and white for decades.

[orinEsque]

"Blue" - human eyes only recently managed to interpret the color blue, or so they say.

That's been deboonked.

i know.

[Lancaster]

Golden Axe had life & magic in blue.

[Norfleet]

The next big question is: Do you pronounce it MAH-NAH like you're supposed to?

Yes, that's just how I always thought it was, because that's how the Sorceror says it in Diablo, which was the first time I had ever encountered it spoken.

[rusty_shackleford]

I think yellow works better for stamina.

Pee meter

[Poityu]

And what are the earliest games you can find that have mana in it, and it is represented as blue?

Diablo (1996), but I haven't played it.


The Korean MMO Lineage (1998) that started the boom of MMOs in Asia in the 2000s introduced me to hack'n'slash by 2nd hand exposure.
What I actually played back then was Dragon Raja (2000), a similar Korean MMO.
The bar is green if your magic is faith based I think (like a priest), if you're a mage the bar is blue.

[rusty_shackleford]

The Korean MMO Lineage (1998) that started the boom of MMOs in Asia in the 2000s introduced me to hack'n'slash by 2nd hand exposure.
What I actually played back then was Dragon Raja (2000), a similar Korean MMO.

I played both of these

[jcd]

Gauntlet (1985) has blue bottles.

I would love to hear Slavoj Zizek's answer to this.

[rusty_shackleford]

Gauntlet (1985) has blue bottles.

I would love to hear Slavoj Zizek's answer to this.

Never played it, but they appear to just be magic potions and not actually represent some abstract form of mana?

[J1M]

Zelda 2 (NES, 1987) uses a white and blue bar to represent mana.

[sheet]

Grim Dawn uses green.

Heretic and Hexen have both Green type and Blue type mana in a first person shooter.