I was relatively positive at PAX East and previews of Visions of Mana in August. Earlier this year, I played two games that I took more seriously: Final Fantasy 16 and Persona 3 Reload. It was great to move into something simpler and perhaps more welcoming with Visions of Mana. However, over time, Visions of Mana began to show cracks. What originally felt simple and cozy has become boring and lacks depth. Visions of Mana isn’t a bad game, but it doesn’t offer much satisfaction in either the gameplay or the story. It’s a well put together game, but the lack of narrative nuance and mechanical polish prevents it from being truly great. Once you reach a point in the game where you realize your budget is gone, it starts to become less fun. Am I missing the point? Or was this the goal? In any case, Square Enix distributed the entire game on GamingTrend for PC and PS5. This is what we think.
Visions of Mana was a new experience for me, as I had no previous experience with the Mana series. Some of the series’ staples are familiar to me through general internet penetration. The first Game Boy game was localized as Final Fantasy Adventure. We know that Secret of Mana on the Super Famicom has the iconic Mantis boss, and Trials of Mana on the Super Famicom was remade for modern platforms until Collection of Mana was released. It was not released in the West. Other than these and a few other trivia, I’m a newbie. I say this to prove that aside from a few small references in enemy and character design, Visions of Mana is completely unique. After about 25 hours of gameplay, aside from the aforementioned design similarities, the story and characters are set in their own world, which was great for a beginner. It was fun traveling through these vast regions and learning about the lore of this world.
The game begins with a nice scene detailing how the world of Qi’Diel is maintained. Every four years, fairies are sent to settlements around the world to name alms. They then each join the Soulguard and travel to other alms of various elements, eventually ending their pilgrimage at the Manna Tree, where the alms sacrifice themselves to sustain life. The flow of mana in the world. “There is no greater honor than to be nominated for an almshouse.” This premise reminded me of Final Fantasy 10, but the difference here is that instead of one dancing queen, the sacrificial character It’s about the whole party being present.
The characters all have different personalities and different dialects. You begin your journey with Val and Hinna, each a soulguard, and Alm of Fire. Eventually, you will encounter alms such as wind, water, and moon. Carina, the Wind’s Almighty, speaks with a typical Southern US accent, which is quite unique. Molly…does she speak with a slight Spanish accent? She goes back and forth so it’s hard to understand. It’s no surprise that there are so many different dialects and speech patterns, but they’re also inconsistent. Later characters don’t even have accents, but every line they say has a different intonation, making the sentences all sound like they were dictated by a different person. In fact, most of the voice acting is pretty bad, with many side characters sounding flat and not a single character having the same accent as the main cast. At one point, we see a flashback of a young Molly, and he has no accent at all. Don’t even get me started on the cat merchant trio who speak entirely in cat puns. That’s very unpleasant and contradictory.
The inhabitants of the world are basic, but the same cannot be said for the visuals. This is a very vibrant and colorful world. We found lots of unique locations, such as grasslands, ice mountains, and beaches, but the wild part was encountering things we’ve rarely seen in an RPG, such as a haunted village that reminded us of the ones seen in Luigi’s Mansion That’s when I did it. The diverse and varied landscape always allows you to discover new areas with unique melodies that perfectly fit the atmosphere of the place you are.
I fly around, exploring every nook and cranny picking up hidden treasures and items, sometimes blowing away small crowds of enemies in less than 5 seconds, and then immediately admiring the scenery or returning to the platform, which is the best part of the game. I noticed that. Treasure chests, loot, grizzly syrup, elemental stones, and even a cute friend named Lil Cactus. All of this was fun and worthwhile to explore and find for the first 40% of the game. But in the end, it all comes down to the fact that you’re grateful to Lil Cactus for giving you passive bonuses like equipment you find, syrup used as currency in the “special” item shop, and extra experience points. I found myself making an already easy game even easier.
Visions of Mana gives you most, if not all, of your combat options within the first hour or two. It was overwhelming and unnecessary, as combats with regular enemies can easily be completed in a matter of seconds. Having near-instant access to Class Strikes powered by uber seems like overkill. Most basic enemy encounters can be defeated with basic square or triangle attacks. Unlocking a second playable party member also introduces character swapping in combat using the D-Pad up and down. Your computer-controlled party members are all decked out with the same powerful equipment and skills as you, so you’ve never had to replace them. Even if it’s a late-game boss, you don’t have a chance.
Most encounters in the game will involve you dashing toward the center of a crowd of enemies using the Moon Spirit Vessel. This slows down time in a small area, allowing your entire party to clear out enemies in no time. Now, why not try avoiding the use of this powerful ability to make the combat more challenging? That doesn’t matter. All elemental vessels completely destroy any sign of challenge. There’s nothing wrong with simple games. I love Kirby games. The problem is that it gives you a moveset that destroys most enemies from the first second. Add in dozens of other options and you’ll never want to join in the exploration. What about the aforementioned 40% mark? At that point I stopped exploring completely.
I still fight enemies to level up my party, but I’ve reached a point where it’s no longer fun to participate in the game’s mechanics. Everything I did made the game so much easier. Lil Cactus was great, but the first benefit you get from him (which is forced on you) is that all treasure and Lil Cactus locations are displayed on the minimap. You can also turn off the minimap entirely, but that leaves you without a useful map. Enter the area, hit all the blue dots you can, defeat all enemies along the way, advance to the next story beat, and repeat. The sense of exploration is gone and now the only fun is forcing yourself to make the game no easier than it already is. Please note that there are multiple difficulty options. However, they can only be selected at the start of a new game and cannot be changed mid-way like in other modern RPGs.
I feel a little bad, I’ve become quite critical. Despite these complaints, Visions of Mana is a lot of fun. Elemental vessel equipment, which in other games is equivalent to class or job changes, serves as the game’s main gimmick. These abilities, such as the time-slowing Moon Elemental, are extremely powerful and can be cathartic when combined with party members and elementals. Each character has different weapon types and skills, so there’s an almost comedic twist to everything as you try out different combinations in speedrun battles, even if they all evaporate if you look closely.
While it’s certainly fun to set up your party to completely destroy everything in your path, it loses its appeal when you realize that just about any build can do the job. One of my favorites is Val as a tanky healer who uses earth vessels to buff the party, Karina as a debuffer and damage dealer with a ridiculously powerful water vessel, and Paramena as a fire or wind vessel. to kick everything into oblivion. Explosive tackle. If you play as Palamena and set the AI to do its best, the game basically plays itself. Once you get used to a playstyle you’re comfortable with, there’s no need to change, as the damage you deal is so high even when faced with enemies that resist your attacks. By the time you get your last party member, you’ll probably already have found your favorite one and will make him a permanent benchwarmer.
As with the class system and party building, the story has a few moments that stand out amidst the blandness. One twist that we were both hoping for worked out better than expected, but then another twist turned out to be a cool idea that could have been used in any foreshadowing. The cool locations are the game’s best feature, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have other good points. It needed more time in the oven to come together properly.
That’s definitely a problem with Visions of Mana. We needed more time to balance the game. It would be impractical to restart the playthrough by the time 20 hours have passed and review time approaches. However, Flynn played the opening on hard instead of normal. It’s as simple as everything else. The enemy may have more HP, or you may take more damage, but I couldn’t tell the difference.
Caitlin is a self-proclaimed queen of excitement. Whether it’s RPGs, gaming history, or stylish action, she’s here to build the hype and put it all into words.
David is the type of person who always shows his heart. Like someone who loved Star Fox Zero to death, he can find the positive in everything. You can see me playing and writing about all kinds of games, including AAA, indie, game jam games, and games of all genres. here. on this website. When he’s not writing or gaming, David can be found making music, playing games, or reading.
David’s favorite games include NieR: Automata, Mother 3, and Gravity Rush.
Visions of Mana is an emotional rollercoaster. The team at Square Enix has created a beautiful game with a solid mechanical foundation. However, the game balance is slightly unbalanced. What we have here isn’t bad, but it’s just unsophisticated and lacking a bit. If the mentioned issues with combat and story don’t bother you, Visions of Mana is worth your time. Why not try it with a slightly more difficult setting? We recommend at least trying out the free demos on all platforms. By doing so, you can get a feel for the controls and operation of the game. Visions of Mana is solid, but it hasn’t quite reached the heights it’s aiming for.
Pros Gorgeous environments Unique locals and characters Well-composed and varied soundtrack Game runs smoothly even on Steam decks at 720p 30fps Cons Unbalanced combat Exploration makes the game too easy Inconsistent voiceover Predictable and deep story
Unless otherwise noted, products in this article are provided for review purposes.
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