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[Mista]

The demo for Trials of Mana, the 3D remake of the 1995-released Seiken Densetsu 3, has begun rolling out in various regions of the world.

Here are the download links:

• PlayStation 4
  • Australia
  • Canada
  • France
  • Germany
  • Hong Kong
  • Indonesia
  • Italy
  • Japan
  • Malaysia
  • New Zealand
  • Singapore
  • Spain
  • Thailand
  • United Kingdom
  • United States
• Switch
  • Australia (available, no link)
  • Canada
  • Japan
  • United States
• PC (Steam)
  • Not Yet Available

(Download links for other regions / platforms will be added as they become available.)

 

[HaveButOneLife]

Gonna play the crap out of this.

 

[Andyliini]

Will try later today. Altough I just played Collection of Mana, which left me fatiqued of Mana. I doubt I'll get it at launch, but maybe later if the feedback is good.

 

[sublimit]

I'm very curious to try the demo later today.

 

[RPGCrazied]

Played on Pro. The visuals are nice. The framerate is not. The cutscenes stutter like a wild man in heat. And the voice acting is..... not great. Probably better in Japanese though. In its current state I'll grab when price drops.

 

[Lanrutcon]

No Steam?

...RIOT

 

[Mista]

No Steam?

...RIOT

Keep checking here brother

 

[sublimit]

Played on Pro. The visuals are nice. The framerate is not. The cutscenes stutter like a wild man in heat. And the voice acting is..... not great. Probably better in Japanese though. In its current state I'll grab when price drops.

Does it have an option for Japanese audio?

 

[Shantae]

Played on Pro. The visuals are nice. The framerate is not. The cutscenes stutter like a wild man in heat. And the voice acting is..... not great. Probably better in Japanese though. In its current state I'll grab when price drops.

Framerate problems on a Pro? yeesh...and here I was thinking this would be a great Switch game to get.

 

[Pallas]

Will be checking this out.

 

[JareBear: Remastered]

What is the official release date of the game? I’m currently completely sucked into Dragon Quest XI, hopefully I can finish before this comes out

 

[vkbest]

I can't understand why on 2020, people with Pro and 1080p TV, have to get higher resolution downsampling when the frame rate is crap o unstable in that resolution. Its a mess of stutter

 

[Shantae]

What is the official release date of the game? I’m currently completely sucked into Dragon Quest XI, hopefully I can finish before this comes out

April 24th is what the eshop says.

 

[RPGCrazied]

Does it have an option for Japanese audio?

Yes. But haven't tested that. Downloading on switch to see if it runs better than Pro.

 

[JareBear: Remastered]

April 24th is what the eshop says.

Perfect

thank you

 

[Exentryk]

Will give this a try tomorrow. Enjoying the excellent music in the mean time...

 

[Trogdor1123]

Will give this a try tomorrow. Enjoying the excellent music in the mean time...

That is excellent, is the rest available?

Also, got my PS4 downloading it now. Will try tonight.

 

[RPGCrazied]

Tried a little on switch. The Japanese is much better than the English VA. But the resolution does look worse with a little more stuttering. If playing on the go isn't an issue best bet would get on PC, or PRO for better visuals and slightly better performance than switch.

 

[bronk]

Loading is bad. Voice acting is atrocious, switch to Japanese immediately. It was fun. Felt like I was playing a PS2 game. I'll probably wait for a price drop though.

 

[jshackles]

This is relevant to my interests

Thanks Mista

 

[Mista]

This is relevant to my interests

Thanks Mista

Most welcome brother

 

[Spukc]

Loading is bad. Voice acting is atrocious, switch to Japanese immediately. It was fun. Felt like I was playing a PS2 game. I'll probably wait for a price drop though.

so it's not much better then that other wanky port?

 

[bronk]

so it's not much better then that other wanky port?

I'm on PS4 Pro by the way. The Switch release? I just played this one on Super Nintendo and had alot more fun than this remake so far.

 

[Spukc]

I'm on PS4 Pro by the way. The Switch release? I just played this one on Super Nintendo and had alot more fun than this remake so far.

i played the fan translation years ago.
i would have bought the collection (it's on sale now)
but the not removable background is a nono for me.
i don't want to fuck up my oled

 

[bronk]

Now I'm playing Nioh 2 and it loads about twice as fast. The loading in Mana really bothered me and it was alot too.

 

[Exentryk]

That is excellent, is the rest available?

Yeah, here is the playlist:

 

[Lanrutcon]

Steam demo is great. Runs like silk, loading is like...20s? too long for my taste.

Totally buying this.

 

[GamesAreFun]

Loading is bad. Voice acting is atrocious, switch to Japanese immediately. It was fun. Felt like I was playing a PS2 game. I'll probably wait for a price drop though.

The voice acting is good, I don't understand the criticism.

 

[Isa]

Got it pre-ordered and ready to go, gonna start this up after I have a go with the RE3make demo. Glad they kept the pretty aesthetic and sexy designs. Interesting for a T rating no less. I've noticed since Jim's been in charge there has been a slight easing of the TNA banhammer which is nice, so I've been getting a few more games on PS compared to Switch for the performance and trophies. Slightly off topic but matters to us(my gal and I).

 

[Lanrutcon]

Finished the demo. Ended up including Hawk in the part (even though he SUCKED in the original). Was gonna take the healer, but Jesus Christ is she annoying.

 

[SurprisedPikachu]

Played on Pro. The visuals are nice. The framerate is not. The cutscenes stutter like a wild man in heat. And the voice acting is..... not great. Probably better in Japanese though. In its current state I'll grab when price drops.

Most likely better in Japanese since of how Japan treats voice acting. They're pretty much all about quality. I have never seen an anime with shitty Japanese voice acting. I am more than happy to be proven wrong, but my understanding is that Japan takes voice acting seriously.

 

[cireza]

Completed the demo on Switch and was not impressed.

Game is a bit blurry, framerate is not great with drops, texture poping and some ugly textures, far away bakground quite ugly as well, day/night transition looks like it is still in debug state with the screen becoming part black and textures being replaced directly without transition...
Gameplay is basic, it lacks style. I played in hard and everything was extremely easy, even beat the first boss (normaly pretty difficult in original game) without taking a single hit.
Stuff to pick up every two steps as well, awful.

Won't be buying this, thanks for the demo. I would say, take Collection of Mana instead, or Langrisser which has just been released and is extremely well polished.

 

[Lanrutcon]

Completed the demo on Switch and was not impressed.

Game is a bit blurry, framerate is not great with drops, texture poping and some ugly textures, far away bakground quite ugly as well, day/night transition looks like it is still in debug state with the screen becoming part black and textures being replaced directly without transition...
Gameplay is basic, it lacks style. I played in hard and everything was extremely easy, even beat the first boss (normaly pretty difficult in original game) without taking a single hit.
Stuff to pick up every two steps as well, awful.

Won't be buying this, thanks for the demo.

So if the skill progression/character advancement works like the original, then you really only get "into" the combat once you've got a full party and you've gotten them classes. The demo was pretty basic in that regard since you play 2 classless dudes/dudettes. I did find it pretty easy (the boss was easier than in the original).

I can't really comment on the rest because I played on PC at 2440x1440. Graphics were crisp, not mind-blowing: but very pristine.

 

[SidViscous]

A ton of content for a demo, I explored everything, spoke to everyone, and did a little grinding which took me to almost two hours until I finally reached the "Buy this fucking game!" screen. Then towards the end when you finally join up with the other characters you get the option to replay the whole intro again from their point-of-view (but as you can't save these, you'll need to do them in a single sitting). So in all, I got a good few hours of entertainment out of it. Glad the saves also carry across to the retail game.

My thoughts

• Graphics are decent. it's a big step up from the Secret of Mana remake and now resembles a top-tier Switch game rather than a mid-tier mobile game. The PS4 version appears to have some super-sampling and increased draw distance, but it's definitely a switch game first and foremost, so despite running on the same engine, doesn't even come close to FF7R. Animations are a bit bare-bones, no real facial animations as such so it's all quite stoic.
• Frame-rate is unlocked 60, but it seems to struggle to maintain it and hovers around the 55fps a lot of the time. To me this felt worse than FF7R due to the unlocked framerate and lack of motion blur, which is pretty nuts when you think about it. I hope they sort it out for release or allow a 30 locked option. It's not a big deal really, more of an "I expected better" thing. I noticed my PS4's fans really hated the game and would ramp up during cutscenes.
• Combat is fun and stays extremely close to the original, with the addition of 'jumping' which only seems to serve as a way to knock down flying enemies in combat, and some other quality of life improvements like more bindable hot-keys. Feels like a Mana game, which is exactly what I want out of it.
• I loved the UI. It looks fresh but is as intuitive and familiar as the SNES titles in the series. I really dislike how modern games often obfuscate and overcomplicate things to the extent you cannot even tell which items are better without memorising a bunch of numbers. So seeing the classic green (better) and red (worse) arrows show up in the item shops was a real relief. Equipping skills, understanding classes and altering AI behaviour is also synch due to the clear sign-posting and tooltips.
• The story, well it's the same old Seiken no Densetsu 3 story from what I can tell.
• Music, you can toggle between classic and composed music on the fly, and even the demo lets you switch to Japanese voices. So they smashed it out of the park with all these options.

I'm definitely getting it, not sure if it'll topple my love of the original as I'm a whore for pixel-art, but as a stand-alone game and a modern way for people to get into the series, it's almost spot-on.

Playing this really does make me sad about how the Secret of Mana port went, I wish that had the same amount of care and attention spent on it.

 

[Dazrael]

I quite enjoyed it. The graphics were nice if a bit fugly in places, but the music was fantastic. It wasn’t really on my radar at all but I might pick it up sometime.

Also I thought that the character design evoked images of Mushihimesama Futari and wasn’t surprised at all when Haccan popped up in the credits.

 

[teezzy]

Played on Pro. The visuals are nice. The framerate is not. The cutscenes stutter like a wild man in heat. And the voice acting is..... not great. Probably better in Japanese though. In its current state I'll grab when price drops.

Dang, Switch port must play like ass if this is the case.

 

[JimboJones]

I thought the mountains in the background where a bug, they look like untextured polygons in some parts but there the same on PC
Performance and IQ honestly seem pretty acceptable on Switch and RPGs on portables are handier, I've only played handheld mode though I assume it don't look good blown up on TV.
120fps on PC is nice though
Will give PS4 a go tomorrow.

 

[7roject28]

2560 x 1440p at 120hz on PC is where it's at. Also have it on my SSD so don't really notice any load times. I'm enjoying it.

 

[darth.shrimp]

So, what's in the demo exactly? I'm downloading it right now but won't be able to play until later.
Can you choose any of the 6 characters, or are some of them locked? How far does it go?

 

[Belmonte]

For those playing the demo: is there a way to turn off elements of the UI? The game seems great but there is too much noise in the screen.

 

[cireza]

So, what's in the demo exactly? I'm downloading it right now but won't be able to play until later.
Can you choose any of the 6 characters, or are some of them locked? How far does it go?

Beginning of the game until first boss, you can pick all characters.

 

[Lanrutcon]

So, what's in the demo exactly? I'm downloading it right now but won't be able to play until later.
Can you choose any of the 6 characters, or are some of them locked? How far does it go?

Not far: primary character intro, second town, secondary party member recruit, first dungeon, first elemental unlocked.

 

[lyan]

Steam demo is great. Runs like silk, loading is like...20s? too long for my taste.

Totally buying this.

Hm loading was only like 5s on my end (plain HDD), seems like unintended behavior, hope it gets fixed at laucnch since the game is great.

 

[Lanrutcon]

Hm loading was only like 5s on my end (plain HDD), seems like unintended behavior, hope it gets fixed at laucnch since the game is great.

It was inconsistent for me. Some maps loaded in a few seconds, sometimes they were much longer. I think my initial statement of 20s was a bit extreme: I'd say my loading times were anywhere from 3s to 12s, off an SSD. Didn't bother me much. I was getting major nostalgia vibes from the story beats (which are faithful to the original).

 

[Marchiott]

Played through the demo on the Switch (Duran, Angela, Charlotte) and I'm quite happy with the remake thus far - definitely lots of nostalgia (you can choose between Original or Remake soundtrack), including little details like the dancing innkeepers.

I'm not particularly picky about frame-rate but didn't notice any performance issues while playing the game. The remake does a fantastic job of maintaining the spirit of the original despite the transition to 3D. The ring menu is intact and hotkey binding provides a nice QoL improvement.

Spoiler: Plot details

The demo only goes far enough to unlock Wisp (Lumina), hence only light spells will be available at the tail end of the demo.

 

[Threeshotgamer]

I was excited to try this but I have to say i'm fairly disappointed. On the PS4 Pro the load times were fairly inconsistent and the cutscenes a little choppy. Also the Voice Acting was off putting especially for the Kyle starting story.

 

[Trogdor1123]

Was playing the demo last night and rather liked it. The voice acting remains awful but the game itself is great.

Will play more but I'll probably grab it now.

 

[LegendOfKage]

 

[TLZ]

Anyone else's Pro about to take off like mine?

 

[Lanrutcon]

Anyone else's Pro about to take off like mine?

Turn on vsync.

Oh wait.

CONSOLE PEA...I have no idea. Time to clean the thing with some compressed air?