Visions of Mana - Review [Best in the Series?]

Yeah seems a bit hard done by with those scores but if you go in blind I'm sure it'll be enjoyed. Probably my favourite Mana game too since I have no nostalgia for Secret and it seems to be an improvement over the Trials remake.

I'll play it when it doesn't cost full price on steam.

Was fine. Enjoyed Trials more. Probably not worth the full price tag but I still enjoyed it.

I still haven't finished the game but i'm enjoying everything about it including the characters and story. My only minor complaint is that the game is showing me where all the treasures are so i mostly play with the mini-map turned off. I love the world they have made and i want to explore and discover its secrets on my own.

Shame about Netease closing the studio though. SE should hire the devs and make an internal Mana team.

Good balanced review.
Never got into Mana stories (played only Secret and Trails remake) but loved gameplay. Seems I'll enjoy this

I love the game but I still would only give it about an eight at most (and we really need to stop acting like 7-8 means bad). It has little issues here and there that I don't really want to ignore. I think the issue with reviewing this game is that even though it's great, the series isn't really a top-tier series as far as greatness. Trials was the only other really good Mana game. The rest are just good to really bad. Secret of Mana was nostalgic but far from an amazing game.

My point is for a current jrpg, 7-8 is perfectly fine and probably correct. As a mana game among the series? 9 - 10 is understandable.

planned on picking it up for steam

the demo didnt do it for me. MC's heavy sword feels slow and clunky to play. Mini puzzle while traverse is tideus. Not gonna get.

Am enjoying it right now.

best Mana game ive ever played! (Ive never tried another game in this series)

How is the party AI? It was fucking awful in Trials of Mana remake, and made the harder difficulties feel really cheap, because they would constantly die through no fault of your own. And you could never interrupt bosses' big charge moves because the AI wouldn't help, and you couldn't do enough damage on your own.

Love yours reviews so on point and no fluff

Fun take very fair as well

This game is fun. And whether or not something is fun doesn't seem to be a criterion that too maybe reviewers care about. Glad you do!!!

I've watched five different reviews for this game and yours is by far the best. Thanks!

The way you talked about it made it sound like you would give it a 7/10.

There are opinions that are indeed wrong, because it can be based on wrong assumption or even due to lack of knowledge/ability.

But that’s not your case, you based your opinion on solid foundations.

Only complaint I have is the characters eyes. Legit horrifying to me. Amazing game so far tho

Dope game but very underwhelming combat for an action rpg.

I haven't played this yet but you said the same thing as critic reviews I read. Bad story, boring characters, unengaging cut scenes and lackluster side quests are pretty unforgiveable in an RPG so that's why the metacritic scores seem so low. Good exploration and fun combat is a pretty low bar to set for an 85/100 given all it's other seemingly big missteps...

Asians don't have many facial expressions.

both ffx story and visions of mana story to me is the same in terms of how weak they are also mana games are for mostly the combat and there is extreme mode and post game fights

gameplay looks fun but the story and characters look like cliche anime archetypes with anime humor. so hmmmm idk

It's a Mana game, characters don't need to be deep as long as they're likeable. Like Secret & Trials. Same goes for the story, because at least the writers tried to make it a little more involved with more supporting characters. Yes, the progression is on the slow side, but class-change is available much sooner than Trials. Lastly, this was Mana's first time doing something vastly different in near 20 years, so give it a break. It's like Tales of Arise but with a smaller team & studio, so that should say it all.

Can't wait to play this game on the Switch 2.

I bought the game and am actually looking forward to playing it (finishing my first Persona 5 run right now though). However, despite being excited for it, I really do not like the shit eating grin that they gave the MC as he seems to be locked into that constantly. No idea why it bothers me as nothing like this has literally ever bothered me in my entire life but this one does for whatever reason. It won't stop me from playing/enjoying the game but something just looks odd and I cannot explain it.

I wish I enjoyed it more. I've only played 4 hours, but it still hasn't hooked me like Trials of Mana did.

I liked being able to pick my 3 characters from the start & have some variety, and having the smaller, more focused areas made exploring & traveling really fun. But these open areas in Visions of Mana all start feeling the same. I'm now just running around doing the same open world collecting, just trying to clear everything on the minimap.

Also feel like the dialogue is a bit silly so far. The characters have such nonsensical exposition conversations. Nobody talks like that to each other, and even though a lot of anime-looking games do this, it really sticks out more in Visions.

I'm going to keep playing, but I really hope it gets better soon.

Dude pls dial back your action movie fake radio station voice.

best in the series but has a bad story?

to me 7/10 is a good score, i'm at the end of the game and aside from a specific boss i really loved it
would probably be a 8/10 to me

No, the second half of the story is quite good. And its not about sacrifice, but grief.

Story is better than FFXVI or Rebirth

The studio has been shut down.

I don't know I played the demo and it was clunky the movement was off and also I couldn't shake the mobile games vibe

Too gay

A very cozy game 😊

Great review as always. Too bad it has poor character development and story :(

Mana has never had strong storytelling but to make a game that looks so good, a strong story is needed

Definitely the biggest thing I like about this game are the visuals, they're very stunning and gorgeous. Wonderful review man!

I stopped playing because the storytelling is sooo bad. The interactions between Eoren and the main character is soooo bad I wanna puke.

Not sure if this is normal in Mana series, but I am pretty sure that Tales series is so much better in storytelling and combat.

I HAVE PLAYED-Trials of mana and i liked it,so if this is better i will get it at a discount(the demo was sadly not great,i tired of game even before it ended n thats not good)BUt i also know this might be a game that kiks in after a few hours so if its like this it might be much better-great visuals

Great Review, cant wait to check this game out. Looks like a lot of fun.

Game is best yet

This is terrible at its best lol. I m dragging myself to finish this.

worse in the series, just beautiful and shallow. Trials was way better.

The best in the series is still the SNES original. They need to get back to having unique areas, faster pacing and unique music. Otherwise it will fade to beige.

The PS1 Legend of Mana was the first mana game I ever played and I enjoyed the game greatly and compare other mana games to it. Although I haven't finished the game yet, I already feel disappointed at buying it more than the full price, cost $90 for me to get in my country. If their ever comes a more darker themed mana game, I'll be giving the series another shot again.

The story hurts my brain whenever I try to think logically about it, if the alms are so damn important to the survival of your village/city why not have multiple guards escort an alm, why does a SINGLE novice swordsman have to protect a group of alms ? Why is everyone so happy about being becoming an alm? At least in final fantasy 10 there was a hint of a somber tone when someone chose to become a summoner.

I like the combat of the game but the big open plains makes walking from battle to battle a huge pain. The large environment doesn't look anything special, it looks like generic magical fantasy landscape and it just put there so you can collect collectable,s god I wish there was an option to make Val shut up when I collect honey.

So overall in my opinion it is an average game at best and buy it when it is cheaper.

I could not tell if he hated the game or loved it...

Sword of Mana on the GBA is amazing. Great game