RPGs sometimes market themselves with grand, epic stories. Others on their intricate, well-developed warfare systems or their distinctive take on real role-playing. Though after spending some time in its universe, I found that Visions of Mana doesn't really lack in these areas, its appeal is more about comfortable, familiar surroundings.
After spending around forty-five minutes tearing through a two-part demo at PAX East 2024, I was taken aback to discover that was the main lesson. To be clear, I never played the Mana series as a child, thus I don't have any special fondness for it. My strongest personal relationship is to the Secret of Mana box art, which is, if ever there was one, an all-timer.
Every story has a hero and every tree
.The protagonist of Visions of Mana, Val, is a protector of his elemental alm and best friend from childhood, Hinna. The two set off on a pilgrimage to the Tree of Mana, where they will probably encounter many dangers and difficulties.Visions of Mana gave me a vague idea of the plot, except for the fact that we visited the Tree of Mana and had to deal with a number of elemental affinities along the way. To be honest, I didn't really need a tale to convince me of this either. The universe and its characters convey much of the setting and mood.Mana's Visions is cheery and bright, especially in chilly places like the snow-capped Mount Gala. I fought my way through. Characters that stand out are Morley and Careena, who are in my party with Val. The world deliberately includes a lot of the Mana iconography you may anticipate, as Mana producer After the demo, Masaru Oyamada gives me an explanation in an interview."We really started with the visual of the Mana tree and built things around that in terms of the world building," Oyamada remarked. "Rethinking the extent of the expansive field we aimed to create with this game." Our first approach was evaluating the technology aspects and their viability, which ultimately led to the creation of the game and its virtual environment.Screenshot courtesy of Square Enix
Running about in the broad fields is enjoyable, whether you do it on foot or on the back of the pikul, cute dogs that serve as the party's mounts. They are flawless, and I promise to keep them safe at all costs.This implies that there are several tasks to do throughout the globe, both via side missions and the main route. Oyamada claims that because of the many navigation possibilities provided by the world's elemental triggers, there will also be a reason to turn back. Because the Wind elemental, for instance, is the vessel of Sylphid and has the ability to direct air currents, an elemental trigger may create new pathways over rocky outcroppings that lack numerous spots to platform across.Time to scrape
I also had the opportunity to explore the action-RPG combat in Visions of Mana, whereby your group of three battles against foes and monsters in real-time. Simply said, in Visions of Mana, combat is enjoyable. The move sets are rather basic, consisting of two basic assaults and a few additional techniques that are assigned according to your class. Anyone who has played an action RPG recently will feel right at home.When you start accounting for courses, the customisation and skill application begin. Each character may access new classes with different elemental vessels, which alter their attack repertoire and allow them to use elemental effects in their blows. Time may slow down in some places, such as the Moon Vessel. Careena became a Moon Charterer when I had her take up the Luna Globe. She dropped little pockets of delayed time, much like Dio from JoJo's, freezing opponents so Val and Morley could defeat them.Screenshot courtesy of Square Enix
But every character has a unique sense of identity. Morley is a skilled knife and blade user who sometimes makes me think of Vergil from the Devil May Cry series. Val, on the other hand, exudes strong protagonist energy; he often leads the charge and offers defensive choices while playing. Careena's movements seemed to vary a lot throughout courses, so I didn't really get a sense for her, but she came off as technically proficient and able to use elemental effects well. According to Oyamada, the crew made a conscious effort to ensure that every character's behaviors reflected their unique personalities and traits.Although there are many choices, none of them ever seemed intrusive. Even the level of difficulty seemed perfectly calibrated; battles had a fair amount of pushback and challenge, yet I was still able to breeze through them with little to no problem. I did come across a group of really powerful enemies at a lower level region, which suggests that there's either a purpose to go back or a challenge waiting for those who are brave enough to take it on.