As a seasoned gamer with over three decades of gaming under my belt, I’ve seen my fair share of ups and downs in the realm of video games. But let me tell you, Visions of Mana has managed to captivate me like few others have in recent memory.
In the 2020s, the Mana series has experienced a revival. The remake of Trials of Mana offers a fresh take on a beloved Super Famicom game, though its potential is somewhat limited by budget constraints. Meanwhile, the remaster of Legend of Mana could rank among Square’s finest re-releases. What sets Visions of Mana apart is that it represents the first new mainline game in the series since Dawn of Mana, which was released almost twenty years ago, demonstrating that Square isn’t content to rest on its past laurels.
Every four years, individuals representing different parts of the globe are selected as “Alms” for a spiritual journey associated with one of eight elemental forces, accompanied by a “Soul Guard.” This journey leads them to the sacred Mana Tree. The Alms represent each of the major regions and offer their souls at the Mana Tree to maintain the planet’s energy source. If an Alm fails to make this pilgrimage, their home will suffer from a lack of Mana, eventually being destroyed. The world relies on this continuous cycle for survival. In the story, Val, the Fire village’s Soul Guard from Tianeea, must travel across the world to gather the Alms, causing him to question his role in this ancient tradition.
In a straightforward manner, let me say that Visions of Mana isn’t breaking any new ground with its individual components, but instead, it’s refining and solidifying the concepts introduced in Trials of Mana. You might hear people call this game reminiscent of a PlayStation 2 title, but if we view that comparison positively, I can see why. The dialogue, story progression, and overall feel of the game hark back to Square’s golden age of RPGs, creating a sense of nostalgia. It’s rare to find such a globetrotting RPG adventure these days, but Visions of Mana manages to capture that classic charm without feeling outdated or cynical. Instead, it seems like they aimed to create a timeless Mana story for today’s generation.
The combat appears to be based on the remake of Trials of Mana, where your active party now includes three characters. Each character can switch between eight classes and three different weapon types. These classes are connected to elemental vessels, and only one character can possess a specific vessel at a time. Each vessel offers a unique class to the character who wields it, regardless of the elements they share. The choice of which character uses which vessel is flexible, depending on your preferences and who you believe best fits each role.
In this new game, your party members seem more lively compared to the Trials series, despite stricter character development. The combat rhythm is reminiscent too, incorporating dodge, jump, two attack options, and skills that can be assigned to face buttons. However, what truly sets it apart is the overall improvement in feel. Actions are quicker, attacks less rigid, button responses are smoother, and transitions between animations are more fluid. It’s like night and day compared to Trials; this game seems to be approaching an AAA standard in terms of game feel that Trials never quite managed. As a connoisseur of action games, the quality of my button presses significantly enhances my gaming experience.
In this game, the initial stages seem effortless, appearing almost simplistic. The basic attack sequences are straightforward – a combination of simple combos using the regular attack button and additional moves with other buttons. Characters’ classes are gradually introduced over an extended period. Initially, Visions only provides you with three characters and just two elemental vessels, which I found surprising. One character is left in their basic class while others gain more battle options, making it seem like the game is challenging or even mocking you until you acquire your fourth party member and third vessel. Even after getting enough vessels to activate the entire job system, I continued to grapple with the combo sequences.
As a devoted gamer, I must admit that initially, I found myself growing irritated with the game’s combat mechanics. However, over time, my frustrations started to dissipate mysteriously. It was as if the game’s combat system had somehow resonated with me, almost instinctively.
In this game, each character offers unique enjoyment when you begin to explore them, but by the end, I found myself favoring Val, Morley, and Palamena. Val’s lance, Morley’s katana, and Palamena’s versatile abilities consistently brought me success. Experimenting with my team composition to find the most effective combinations of three characters was a great way to add personal fun to the game. Careena and Palamena are similar in terms of adaptability, and I particularly enjoyed transforming Careena into both a lancer and a monk. Her lance attacks exude grace, while her monk-style classes focus on pounding and tossing. Julei may not have excelled at raw damage during my tests, but he showed potential in healing and spells if you prefer magic-focused active party builds. Ultimately, all characters work well, and there’s no incorrect choice based on my testing.
Instead of just acquiring fresh actions and skills as you progress through your class, you’ll primarily gain passive abilities or new spells to cast for your character, regardless of which class you’re currently playing. You advance in your class by investing points earned on the battlefield into elements linked to vessels you already possess, encouraging players to both explore new locations and revisit old maps. The passive abilities are subtle, but they do help differentiate one class from another when they share the same weapon. Frequently switching between characters and classes primarily serves to obtain various passives, stat preferences, and vessel attacks.
As a dedicated gamer, I’m thrilled by the versatility in combat options this game offers. You’ve got two attack buttons for basic attacks, an ability wheel that allows me to customize four unique skills, elemental vessel attacks, and class-specific strikes. The combination of these elements keeps the action flowing seamlessly, offering a multitude of tactics during gameplay. Class Strikes, shared among various weapon types yet subtly different due to associated elements, serve as my special moves. A progression meter for vessel attacks becomes available later in the game, building over time and allowing me to charge my vessel for a powerful effect that envelops the entire battlefield. These abilities can be devastating, rapidly depleting boss health bars like they’re made of plastic. The result? An exhilarating, chaotic battle experience!
In my opinion, what makes Visions of Mana unique as an action RPG is its gradual complexity and adaptable difficulty level, which suggests that it’s not just for action game enthusiasts but a broader audience. The game takes its time to acclimate players to its intricate battle system, allowing them to switch between normal and hard settings whenever they desire. I found myself spending most of my time on the normal setting, and I believe the majority of players will find it satisfying. Additionally, encounters are well-balanced so that side activities don’t make the player overpowered, and Visions effectively escalates challenges when necessary.
I’m not the kind of person who needs every action game to have the depth of Devil May Cry, but my initial worries about Visions’ combat being simple were thankfully shortsighted. There are so many things you can do with your characters in this game, but for more casual players, most are not needed for a Normal playthrough. Ability Seeds can be equipped on each character to modify stats or give them new skills. Some can even give you massive buffs with adequate trade-offs. The game will let anyone hit credits with a bit of work, but it silently begs enthusiasts to do a hard mode run. End-game content on Hard demands mastery of just about everything. You’ll need to build your team properly, consider elemental weaknesses, optimize your ability slots, and probably even more I haven’t thought of. There’s so much to juggle even as a Normal mode playthrough reaches its conclusion that I think it’ll make even the most casual player want to embrace the mechanical depth of an enthusiast player. That’s the kind of depth I love in an ARPG: Not all necessary, but there for the real sickos to chew on.
Engaging regular foes in battle can be enjoyable, but it’s the boss fights that really make the game shine. The boss designs here are simply fantastic, each with unique attack patterns to master. These battles resemble ARPG versions of MMO raids. They signal their attacks with area-of-effect markers, forcing you to dodge and weave while switching between characters to ensure your team is dealing maximum damage and staying alive.
In my opinion, Party AI in the latest version has significantly evolved compared to Trials. Previously, party members often seemed idle during challenging boss fights, taking hits that should have been avoided with ease. However, now you can adjust your party member’s AI during battles directly from the pause menu, making it easier to complete the game without much hassle. While they might still get hit by area-of-effect attacks occasionally, party members are now more actively participating in fights and contributing significantly. There have been instances where I found out that a character I wasn’t controlling delivered the final blow, which was always gratifying. You can customize their aggression levels, item usage, stopping points, and more to suit your playstyle. Switching characters during a boss fight no longer feels like covering for others; instead, it’s an enjoyable experience.
Much like previous Mana series games, the number of consumable items you can take into battle is restricted, usually around nine. This is designed to offer flexibility in your recovery strategies, but it’s not meant for you to heavily depend on using items excessively to compensate for poor play. In tough situations, you won’t be able to rely on items to help you recover from bad choices or lack of understanding in attack patterns.
Despite enjoying the gameplay of Visions overall, one major issue I’ve encountered is the inconsistent use of items during gameplay. It could be due to a PC-exclusive problem, a bug, or an unclear cooldown system that isn’t well-explained. Sometimes characters won’t use selected items at all, and there seems to be no UI indicator showing if item usage follows a cooldown system. In some instances, I could quickly use two revival items without issue, but in others, any item would take around five seconds to be used after being queued up. If the items did adhere to a well-communicated cooldown, it wouldn’t bother me so much because a restriction like that can be engaging. However, during intense boss fights when keeping the team alive is crucial, it’s important for items to behave consistently and predictably, but this wasn’t always the case. I’m unsure if this is a bug or if I’m missing something fundamental, but either way, I hope it can be addressed in some manner to improve gameplay experience.
In simpler terms, I’m generally open to new experiences, including games, and often give them the benefit of the doubt. However, I can be disappointed when a game doesn’t live up to its potential. Many times, games seem to lose steam mechanically towards the end instead of finishing strong. Despite some repetitive content at the end in Visions of Mana, the mechanics actually improve as you play more, which was quite unexpected and delightful. In fact, my initial mild enjoyment evolved into intense excitement. I don’t typically get hooked on games like this, but Visions of Mana has left a lasting impression. It’s even tempting me to start a New Game Plus run on hard mode, just so I can dive back in and explore what this game is truly capable of.
I’m delighted to express that Visions offers an extraordinary experience beyond its engaging combat system; it’s the captivating world design that keeps your journey enthralling. The game’s environments are awe-inspiring masterpieces, among the finest created by Square Enix during this generation. The artistic brilliance of Visions’ landscapes is expected to be discussed for years to come. The developers at Ouka Studio left no stone unturned in creating these stunning vistas, and they are so breathtaking that the 3D character models appear even more impressive by comparison. It’s evident that this game prioritizes its world, and it shines through. The world feels alive, and it portrays nature in a manner reminiscent of Mana during its 2D sprite days. Fields are expansive, some even featuring farms or small houses with NPCs milling about. The skyboxes are exquisite hand-drawn artworks, so beautiful that I often found myself simply standing there marveling at them. I vividly recall an early area where individual blades of grass swayed in the wind. It was astonishing to witness such meticulous attention to detail in how they chose to depict nature. If you’re as passionate about environmental design in games as I am, you’ll be captivated by the artistry on display throughout your journey.
Exploring this world is rewarding, as the gameplay progression bears a strong resemblance to MonolithSoft’s Xenoblade series. While your journey follows a generally linear path, there are numerous hidden treasures scattered throughout for those eager to search. One unique feature of Visions is that any interactive points on the map that can be accessed with tools you acquire during the story are marked by a blue dot, guiding your exploration. I find this both helpful and potentially limiting, as it highlights areas that were previously inaccessible with earlier tools. However, I believe it enhances the experience by revealing what parts of the old maps become accessible with new abilities. Although the maps may not be as vast as some other RPGs, they are quite expansive and brimming with activities. Additionally, you can navigate them in various ways thanks to your elemental vessels, which enable functions like grappling hooks, time manipulation, water platform creation, wind propulsion, and more.
In this game, you’ll find numerous side missions scattered across the map or within towns. These tasks may seem routine but they offer a substantial experience overall. You might find yourself frequently traveling back to earlier towns due to the regular updates in town quests, which keeps you engaged with the game world. The majority of these quests revolve around either defeating a group of enemies or gathering items out on the field. However, there’s one notable exception – a long-running side quest chain that requires you to find scenic spots based on paintings. This quest series is arguably one of the best in the game, and it boasts exceptional writing. I believe the dialogue in all the quests is charming, adding depth to the main characters who genuinely enjoy helping others. The conversations between the characters and those in need are particularly engaging. While some players may not appreciate the straightforward, checklist-style side quests common in RPGs, I find them enjoyable as they provide more opportunities for exploration and combat.
One thing I’d like to see in a patch at some point is the ability to track multiple quests at once, or to maybe be able to open your menu when you’re traversing the overall on water or in the sky. I would often do side quest cleanup in these modes, but pausing the game doesn’t let you go into the usual menu to check side quests or update your characters’ classes and gear. So if you want to change your active side quest you’ll have to land, open the menu, and then get back on your animal friend to then be able to go track it. You can skip some of the animations that transition you to the overworld, but it’s still a good amount of time spent waiting.
In the towns of this game, you can interact with various shops and characters, gaining additional insights about the world’s current state. While towns serve as places to purchase items, I found the economic balance to be somewhat unbalanced. By the end of the game, I had amassed a significant amount of money that I wasn’t sure what to do with. Characters often suggested spending it after battles, but there wasn’t much to buy besides some equipment and consumable items. Typically, I could afford to buy one of every new weapon and the latest armor for each character whenever they were updated in shops, leaving me with a surplus of money.
In simpler terms, “Visions of Mana” begins in a familiar manner, resembling a typical Role-Playing Game (RPG) adventure. The characters are kind-hearted and slightly sassy, but always with good intentions. There’s little conflict among them, and when it arises, it quickly resolves. I didn’t anticipate a profound shift in perspective from this story. As Mana series stories often contain humorous moments and cheerful characters, I wasn’t prepared for any deep introspection or thought-provoking themes. However, the narrative does touch upon some familiar themes the series is known for, such as self-sacrifice for a higher power. I find the way it explores these ideas strong, even if the story doesn’t entirely captivate me. The characters, though, are delightful and easy to grow fond of, making the journey enjoyable despite my initial expectations. The writing also took me by surprise with several powerful emotional moments that brought tears to my eyes more than once during gameplay. Well done, Visions of Mana! You have a compassionate spirit.
In simpler terms, I played the game on a computer and found the overall performance to be quite stable. However, the graphics settings were limited as there was no additional customization menu. You could adjust resolution, frame rate, turn VSync on or off, apply/modify AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution 2 upscaling, and choose between Low, Standard, and High graphic settings. The game ran smoothly at 120 frames per second with AMD upscaling disabled and graphics set to high, except for busy battles where it dropped down to 60 fps. Interestingly, cutscenes were mostly locked at 30 FPS which created a sudden change in experience whenever I completed a story battle. Some engine scenes followed the set framerate limit, but they often abruptly switched to 30 FPS. This is likely because these scenes are coded to function this way (many games do this), so if you’re sensitive to significant frame rate changes, be aware of it.
Additionally, if you were planning to play the entirety of Visions on the Steam Deck you might need to give it some time. The text is a bit hard to read, the visuals don’t look great, and the performance isn’t in a good spot. I was able to get a consistent 30 FPS early on when turning the graphics down to low, but the further into the game you get, the busier the effects will tend to get. It would often struggle to get 30 FPS in late-game battles on Deck, and with the graphical effects making things chug so much I largely didn’t find it to be a good platform for the game. Traversal would dip to the low 20s, and some battles would even drop to about 10-15 in extreme instances. To be fair, as of writing this, the game is not listed as Verified for Steam Deck, so there was never a guarantee of it working. Nothing broke in my time playing, but unless you can deal with low framerates in your action games maybe pass if this is your only way to play for now. I hope some post-launch or day one patch is able to clean things up, because playing this portably would be a dream.
During my gameplay, I spent approximately 40 hours reaching the end credits and completing as much additional content as I could find. About 10 hours were dedicated to side quests and hunting down extra powerful monsters in the open world. If you’re in a hurry, you might be able to finish it in about 30 hours, but I recommend taking your time to do side quests regularly. This is because the main story battles seem to be designed with the assumption that you’ve leveled up through optional content.
The game Visions of Mana offers a lot of potential for Square’s most energetic franchise. Despite some minor concerns that seem insignificant when considering the broader perspective, this game left me captivated throughout my playtime. I explored almost everything the game had to offer and found myself enjoying most of it. Initially, I was concerned due to a slow beginning that lasted for around 10-15 hours, but as it evolved into an engaging action-adventure title, it may well become one of my top picks for the year. Although it could benefit from some additional refinement, these shortcomings are nothing new for the series.
Reflecting on my overall encounter with the game Visions, what truly captivated me was its pure perspective in its message and delivery. It carries a hidden optimism that humanity might coexist harmoniously with nature, immersing us in the breathtaking world we inhabit. Moreover, it’s invigorating to engage with a game that is unabashedly authentic. Trials of Mana initially piqued my interest, but Visions won me over as a fan. There’s immense potential for this series to expand, and I eagerly anticipate further developments.
8
Versions tested: PC
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2024-08-27 15:27