Trials of Mana

I consider myself a pretty big Mana fan despite having missed a few entries in the franchise, Secret of Mana is one of my all-time favorite games. That game just has so much soul, the whole thing just has so much feeling and it's not something I've seen recreated to that effect in any game. I've also played the original via emulation, we called it Seiken Densetsu 3 back then and it was one of the first ROMs to get fully translated. I found that one to be great too, although a little lower than the Mana title. I've enjoyed Sword of Mana for the GBA too. But this remake? It's really mediocre as hell.

There's just so much that isn't great here. The first thing that is apparent is the models in the cut scenes look really bad, they look like they were generated by AI with the most emotionless look. The writing is completely average with the most generic dialog, and the voice acting isn't all that much better. Most of all the voice acting doesn't even match with the characters movements, it really feels like they are completely disconnected. This is just on the presentation side, but I feel it really brings down the game and it's hard to get into any of it.

So gameplay wise (which at least looks a lot better than the cutscenes) the game transitioned into full 3D, like most modern Action JRPGs have done now. That is technically fine on paper, but it's also trying to be true to the original 95-like systems which quickly shows the games limitation. The combat is just really 2 attack buttons and a dodge, there's really not much more to do. Get a few hits in, dodge an enemy attack and then repeat all again. You might have a choice of 3 of the 6 different heroes, but once they are picked they are no different types of weapons for them and all your new gear will be the same sword (or whichever weapon that character uses) and just with a few more attack points. The moves aren't introduced til further down in the game and they don't really add much, just getting enough bars and unless that power attack which does slightly more damage than your regular attacks. You get the choice of where your stats go (5 categories), but there's not much to decide as your warrior type will obviously focus on strength and stamina... the unlocked effects are quite minimal and don't feel like they change much in the game.

The exploration is close to non-existent, you always have a yellow marker to tell you what direction to go to and you might have a choice to not follow it and get a treasure chest (most of them with pretty lame contents). It's kinda mindless like that. The battles are not random encounters, but generally enemies block the paths so you need to take them on. And if you decide to run away, you'll quickly be behind in levels... so you are kinda forced to do all of them, as tedious as they are. Oh and what you clear the area and it's boss? Well you gotta walk all the way back and face all the enemies again (again make sure to not skip them, or you'll get behind in levels). Speaking of bosses they are totally bullet sponges with way too much health, they really don't have enough varied attacks to justify the 10 minute battle with them... yeah you'll get hit a few times, but just heal up with items (or the eventual unlocked healing spells). Most of them feel really too long and aren't really greatly designed (the art on some of them is rather lackluster too).

Like I get it it's a 1995 game that's getting redone, but hell this is the same year that Square Enix released Final Fantasy 7 Remake! They are like complete opposites here, this feels so cheap. It's like they just focused on making the transition to 3D without really bothering to change most other things. And compared to other modern party Japanese Action RPGs? Without even thinking about FF7R, it's really behind games like Ys IX, Scarlet Nexus or Tales of Arise... like yeah the game really can't compete in just about every aspect. While nothing is downright awful, the game is still playable but just about everything is just generic and mediocre. It was nice to revisit the classic enemies (nostalgia for me), but I feel it's really missing the classic top down view of the original games and just tried to put those original systems in a 3D version of it without really thinking about it much. I am still looking forward to Visions of Mana, but hopefully it takes every single element of this game and throws in the trash and starts it from scratch with new ideas.