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[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

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Previews:

IGN

Now that I’ve experienced the early and middle parts of Visions of Mana, I simply can’t wait to sink my teeth into what the full game has to offer. The first preview showcased how good the combat and RPG elements are once they are established, and the second highlighted just how good the build-up is for the characters, setting, and ever-evolving tactics. Here is to hoping the story continues to develop as much as the gameplay does as the story reaches the later parts of the game.

The Gamer

There’s a lot to like here. Sights to see, fights to fancy, builds to study. Oh, and pikuls, who are in the running for the cutest mounts of all time. But man, I just don’t know what Square Enix is thinking with the game’s scale. All these pretty places feel cold and empty.

A focused version of these early hours of Visions of Mana would be fantastic, but the bloated nature of it all leads to a strikingly uneven experience. I’m still enjoying my time overall, thanks to an engaging battle system and a cool customization suite. But Visions of Mana needs to continue delivering on these strengths as I venture deeper on my journey toward the Mana Tree, or the shallow nature of its world will overshadow its accomplishments.

Rappler

The slice of 'Visions of Mana' we played through was an enjoyable experience, as this portion of the game felt simpler, yet better explained than the demo.

For an action-packed JRPG, Visions of Mana’s visuals feel light and breezy, compared to something like Tales of Arise or perhaps Scarlet Nexus. The art style feels more hopeful in the early-game than in the desolate wastes in Arise or the weird cityscapes of Scarlet Nexus.

I enjoyed exploring volcanic-inspired tropics and a windy city, and it felt vibrant, even if I’m slaying cute little monsters and double-jumping and airdashing the map looking for treasure while I meander away from the quest-designated destinations.

Compared to the demo, the directions for different actions and attacks you can take are better explained, especially since it’s not all thrown together at you in a series of short tutorials, but rather more piecemeal.

Press Start Australia

While there are definitely some questions to be answered, based on this sizable chunk of the early game I’m more than excited to see the entire Visions of Mana journey through to its conclusion, especially to get a feel for the rest of the classes and how they synergise, and to explore even more of this gorgeous world. If the momentum keeps on, and the early simplicity makes way for some more engaging dungeons and battles, this could turn out to be a bit of a treat for JRPG fans in 2024.

Tech Raptor

One of the most surprising parts of Visions of Mana was the open-world areas. The game isn’t open world, though some areas are large enough to have multiple fast travel points. Traveling through these areas was both satisfying and rewarding. There’s a lot to collect, including money. Considering the prices of items in-game, the currency alone makes exploring worth it.

The movement and banter between characters are part of what makes exploring so fun. Jumping and running is so smooth that it felt like I was constantly racing myself. Plus, a lot of rewards can be obtained just by running over them, adding to this feeling. The banter between characters is entertaining and kept me laughing while I did this. Combined with great sound design, exploring may have been my favorite part of the preview.

Visions of Mana has a lot to love, and while parts of it might take some getting used to, it’s worth it.

RPGFan

Who had the majestic return of the Mana series on their 2024 bingo card? I certainly didn’t. And yet, I’ve spent nearly eight hours with Visions of Mana, and I couldn’t be happier with its direction. Visions of Mana is Mana at its utmost, a game oozing with charm, vibrancy, and an underlying melancholy.

Noisy Pixel

When taking the first chapter and such into account, Visions of Mana may not immediately grab you due to its familiar story premise and aforementioned gameplay pacing. Still, what’s presented sets the stage for intricate worldbuilding and a deeply involved combat system. We’re eager to share our full thoughts ahead of Visions of Mana’s full release on August 29, 2024.

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[Gaiff]

Sounds really promising. The Mana series is one of the most inconsistent ones out there. Some gems like the first one and Trials but also some real duds like Dawn.

 

[Dorfdad]

for someone who never played them what’s the best ones to get and are they self contained stories??

 

[Gaiff]

for someone who never played them what’s the best ones to get and are they self contained stories??

The closest one to this one in terms of gameplay is Trials of Mana remake.

Otherwise, I’d recommend Secret of Mana (the original SNES version, not the trash remake).

The original Trials of Mana is also great, but you need a Switch for the localized port or you need to play it on an emulator.

Finally, Trials of Mana remake is fantastic, but the VA kinda sucks in English.

I like Legends of Mana, but it’s very polarizing and generally liked only by the fans of the series.

 

[sigmaZ]

Glad to hear they improved somethings from the demo. Still not loving the music which was the big draw of the series for me back in the day. The town and field music just sound so generic and lack any kind of rhythm or tension. (The battle music is classic mana though?)

I might have to listen to Guar Plains or something as I explore the overworld areas lol

 

[cash_longfellow]

Best JRPG of 2024?

 

[Hrk69]

Banger incoming

 

[JimboJones]

Probably wait for a price drop, Trials games are generally solid but they aren't mind blowing.

 

[jshackles]

Already pre-ordered this ages ago, can't wait to finally play it.

 

[Mister Wolf]

Already preordered. Hopefully these guys are smart enough to include a shader compilation before starting the game.

 

[SantaC]

Best JRPG of 2024?

I am sorry but FF7R already has that locked up

 

[ShadyAcshuns]

I liked the demo well enough, but I just have way too many other games to play right now. I'll get this one on a sale, or perhaps on Switch 2 next year.

 

[Danjin44]

I enjoyed demo and playing Trials of Mana made me even more excited for this game.

 

[Shadowstar39]

Disapointed no switch release. Trials looked and played great on the switch and this doens't look much different in terms of graphics quality, so not sure why they aren't doing a port.
These games fit the switch nicely.

I guess I'll wait for a sale on steam for the deck, or see if a switch 2 release comes out as this is a game I would play in handheld like other jrpgs.

 

[Rentahamster]

The demo was alright, but I think I'll wait and see.

 

[Buggy Loop]

Already preordered. Hopefully these guys are smart enough to include a shader compilation before starting the game.

Not sure if this is new (?) but the demo is out on Steam. Downloading now to see performances.

 

[Mister Wolf]

Not sure if this is new (?) but the demo is out on Steam. Downloading now to see performances.

That unfortunately does not have a shader compilation. Prepare yourself for UE stutter city.

 

[sloppyjoe_gamer]

Interesting.....i felt the demo was a bit sluggish in both combat and movement. I'll wait and see how the final reviews turn out.

 

[Tarnpanzer]

The closest one to this one in terms of gameplay is Trials of Mana remake.

Otherwise, I’d recommend Secret of Mana (the original SNES version, not the trash remake).

The original Trials of Mana is also great, but you need a Switch for the localized port or you need to play it on an emulator.

Finally, Trials of Mana remake is fantastic, but the VA kinda sucks in English.

I like Legends of Mana, but it’s very polarizing and generally liked only by the fans of the series.

U forgot Secret of Evermore for SNES:

 

[cash_longfellow]

Probably wait for a price drop, Trials games are generally solid but they aren't mind blowing.

Wrong series

 

[RoboFu]

U forgot Secret of Evermore for SNES:

not a mana game. its a good game but its not the same series. done by a western team.

 

[JimboJones]

Wrong series

DOH, was thinking of Trials of Mana when I was typing it lol

 

[SkylineRKR]

The closest one to this one in terms of gameplay is Trials of Mana remake.

Otherwise, I’d recommend Secret of Mana (the original SNES version, not the trash remake).

The original Trials of Mana is also great, but you need a Switch for the localized port or you need to play it on an emulator.

Finally, Trials of Mana remake is fantastic, but the VA kinda sucks in English.

I like Legends of Mana, but it’s very polarizing and generally liked only by the fans of the series.

I say Legend is the best one. I hated SoM because of the AI, stunlock and kind of clunky controls, always found it kind of overrated. SD3 was good though, but had its problems as well.

But Legend is very unique, and when I beat the remaster again, like 20 years after the original, I still found some stories I never played before. The crafting sucks ass, but the game is so easy it doesn't matter. The remaster was done very well compared to FFVIII and others.

Its OST is probably top 5 for me.

 

[JayK47]

This looks interesting, but at about 16 hours I had to stop playing Trials of Mana. I was just not enjoying it and I hit a part where it was a grind fest. I was just not enjoying the characters, the combat, or the story. I was surprised how much I did not like it. So here I am wondering if I should even bother with this one. Will it fix the issues I had with Trials?

 

[cash_longfellow]

DOH, was thinking of Trials of Mana when I was typing it lol

I actually realized you probably meant that, but enjoyed the chuckle at work

 

[cash_longfellow]

This looks interesting, but at about 16 hours I had to stop playing Trials of Mana. I was just not enjoying it and I hit a part where it was a grind fest. I was just not enjoying the characters, the combat, or the story. I was surprised how much I did not like it. So here I am wondering if I should even bother with this one. Will it fix the issues I had with Trials?

I think so…me personally the story and gameplay felt a little dated with Trials, even though it was a remake (felt like they were trying to stay semi-true to the OG). I feel like this one, with a fresh slate, is going to rectify that. And plus, previews sure sound like they are impressed with gameplay and the story with what they were able to play.

 

[Exentryk]

I did have fun with the demo to be honest. There was just enough RPG aspects in the demo to keep it interesting, and left me wanting to see more about end-game builds. Not that convinced about the world and exploration though.

Think I will get around to playing it. But it might not be at release since Black Myth Wukong is coming out close to it.

 

[Danjin44]

 

[Krathoon]

This does feel like a fully realized Mana game. They are at the point where the game art matches the cover art.

I used the cash back on my credit card and pre-ordered it on Amazon. Got the PS5 version.

 

[sigmaZ]

Looks nice and I'll play it, but man did they botch the music hard. Sounds worse than RPG Maker music.
Even arguably the worse game in the series had great music.


Hope they prove me wrong in the end...

 

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

Some good stuff from Square here

 

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

Square has shared a couple of mobile wallpapers of Palamena via their Twitter account.

 

[sigmaZ]

Square has shared a couple of mobile wallpapers of Palamena via their Twitter account.

Looks like they made this one especially for you.

 

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

Here's the new Visions of Mana key art made by character designer HACCAN:

 

[Danjin44]

Here's the new Visions of Mana key art made by character designer HACCAN:

HACCAN also did great job with Trials of Mana’s characters designs.

 

[darth.shrimp]

Otherwise, I’d recommend Secret of Mana (the original SNES version, not the trash remake).

Having completed it again recently... it has aged atrociously bad. It's hard believing it was made by the same team as Seiken Densetsu 3, and for the same console.

 

[Variahunter]

My hype has completely deflated since the demo.

No indoors, no houses explorable. In what JRPG world is this ok ? Especially for a Mana game.

I'm the biggest fan of Mana here, but even Trials of Mana did it with much less budget, and had a day and night system. Here we get nothing besides semi open field, and the combat system is not much improved from Trials which was very basic and repetitive.
I'm so disapointed.

 

[digital_ghost]

Have it preordered on green man gaming. They had a discount code for gold tier members and I got it for $40 something.

Can't wait. Loved the Demo.

Comes out the day before my birthday.

 

[sigmaZ]

Tried the demo again yesterday just to see what the update did and the performance was much better than before. Even the draw distance and pop-in was vastly improved.

 

[jshackles]

I'm going to be making the OT over the next few days, hit me with your best titles

 

[Krathoon]

Have it preordered on green man gaming. They had a discount code for gold tier members and I got it for $40 something.

Can't wait. Loved the Demo.

Comes out the day before my birthday.

Ah. There is a demo?

 

[digital_ghost]

Ah. There is a demo?

Yes there's a demo on PS5 and Steam.

Visions of Mana Demo

Explore a world of elemental spirits and adventure

store.playstation.com

 

[Krathoon]

I may pull it down on the PS5 and give it a spin.

 

[Danjin44]

My god this game is absolutely gorgeous!

 

[sigmaZ]

My god this game is absolutely gorgeous!

Yeah. Just watched this. Looks a lot better. They must've been working hard on that last minute optimization. Day one for me. I just REALLY hate this thing they are doing by getting people who pay an extra 40 bucks to play early. That pisses me off more than microtransactions and cosmetic DLCs which I'm fine with.

 

[darth.shrimp]

My god this game is absolutely gorgeous!

Same video with English subs:



The Japanese site has also been updated with some new NPCs: Val's friend we saw in the demo (Eoren or something), his mentor as a soul guard (Ryza, best girl already ) and the guy we apparently see picking up the mana sword in that trailer (text says he's the former hero that defeated the god-beasts in the past... my guess is he'll end up like Mythos in Tales of Symphonia ).

 

[manzo]

HACCAN also did great job with Trials of Mana’s characters designs.

HACCAN makes really good art. At least the women have hips unlike a lot of other JP artists' works these days.

 

[manzo]

My hype has completely deflated since the demo.

No indoors, no houses explorable. In what JRPG world is this ok ? Especially for a Mana game.

I'm the biggest fan of Mana here, but even Trials of Mana did it with much less budget, and had a day and night system. Here we get nothing besides semi open field, and the combat system is not much improved from Trials which was very basic and repetitive.
I'm so disapointed.

A bit different creating a game with existing assets and designed world. Seiken 3 already existed, the map design complete and the whole scripting done. Just convert this to a new engine, open houses and all.

Now the team had to make a new game from a scratch with only assets from previous games. As mostly the houses don't have anything of value, I'd rather take closed cities instead of every house being explorable without anything there to see. I absolutely hated houses in Start Ocean 6 for this reason, most of the houses were completely empty or a few NPC's that didn't even have any lines. Complete waste of time; better to have a tight package in a closed space than an empty world that just wastes the player's time.

 

[Variahunter]

A bit different creating a game with existing assets and designed world. Seiken 3 already existed, the map design complete and the whole scripting done. Just convert this to a new engine, open houses and all.

Now the team had to make a new game from a scratch with only assets from previous games. As mostly the houses don't have anything of value, I'd rather take closed cities instead of every house being explorable without anything there to see. I absolutely hated houses in Start Ocean 6 for this reason, most of the houses were completely empty or a few NPC's that didn't even have any lines. Complete waste of time; better to have a tight package in a closed space than an empty world that just wastes the player's time.

Ok si your argument is : when houses are bad then it’s useless.

Who said that houses had to be bad exactly ?

At this point why does this game has a combat system ? It’s mid at best so why bother ?

With this kind of mindset everything you can add to a game is useless.

 

[Shake Your Rump]

I keep digging my hole deeper.

Started with Blue Dragon, which got put on hold for...
Trails through Daybreak, which got put on hold for...
Octopath Traveler, which got put on hold for...
Let's Go Pikachu, which will get put on hold for this.

I'm trying my best to unwind all of this. Astro Bot will squeeze in somehow. Fortunately, the next two RPG releases are ones that I am in no rush to play (Reynatis and Fantazio). So, I have some breathing room until Ys Nordics.