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Trials of Mana launches April 24, 2020

McCheese

Member
I've been playing this for a few days and it's a fun old school RPG, I'm quite impressed by just how polished everything feels, solid 60 fps gameplay, really pretty menus and some minor (but welcome) quality of life improvements. It's a massive improvement from the Secret of Mana remake which really felt like a mobile phone budget game on a home console.

As a huge fan of Secret of Mana, I never got the chance to play Seiken no Densetsu 3 properly on a SNES, and the borders on the Mana Collection put me off playing it on the Switch. So I'm glad they went with making this a very accurate re-creation of the SNES version rather than a remake or reimagining.

It was a little odd starting this straight after FF7R. The battle system in FF7R is pretty much the defacto system and how I would want all action RPGs to approach combat in future titles. So going back to the SNES style charge attacks and ring-system was a bit "what year is this?" - but to its credit, ToM actually has a jump button so aerial attacks are not a complete pain the arse.

The only real negative I have is how truly horrific the English voice acting is, whoever directed (is that the term) the dub must just have wanted to get the fuck out of there asap as it feels like half the lines of dialogue are delivered completely wrong, and it's so jarring, to the extent that it doesn't even feel like it's the characters in the game talking. But the game has Japanese voices, plus it has incredible music to drown the shitty English voices out if you insist on keeping them enabled. So it's easily solved.

It's priced at £44, compared to £59 for FF7R; my gut feeling is that they should probably have priced this at £39.99 to get peoples expectations to the right level. But I'd recommend picking it up, it's a nice palette cleanser after the heavy FF7 remake.
 

Danny Dudekisser

I paid good money for this Dynex!
I've been playing this for a few days and it's a fun old school RPG, I'm quite impressed by just how polished everything feels, solid 60 fps gameplay, really pretty menus and some minor (but welcome) quality of life improvements. It's a massive improvement from the Secret of Mana remake which really felt like a mobile phone budget game on a home console.

As a huge fan of Secret of Mana, I never got the chance to play Seiken no Densetsu 3 properly on a SNES, and the borders on the Mana Collection put me off playing it on the Switch. So I'm glad they went with making this a very accurate re-creation of the SNES version rather than a remake or reimagining.

It was a little odd starting this straight after FF7R. The battle system in FF7R is pretty much the defacto system and how I would want all action RPGs to approach combat in future titles. So going back to the SNES style charge attacks and ring-system was a bit "what year is this?" - but to its credit, ToM actually has a jump button so aerial attacks are not a complete pain the arse.

The only real negative I have is how truly horrific the English voice acting is, whoever directed (is that the term) the dub must just have wanted to get the fuck out of there asap as it feels like half the lines of dialogue are delivered completely wrong, and it's so jarring, to the extent that it doesn't even feel like it's the characters in the game talking. But the game has Japanese voices, plus it has incredible music to drown the shitty English voices out if you insist on keeping them enabled. So it's easily solved.

It's priced at £44, compared to £59 for FF7R; my gut feeling is that they should probably have priced this at £39.99 to get peoples expectations to the right level. But I'd recommend picking it up, it's a nice palette cleanser after the heavy FF7 remake.

Sold.
 

jshackles

Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the capability to make the world's first enhanced store. Steam will be that store. Better than it was before.
It's priced at £44, compared to £59 for FF7R; my gut feeling is that they should probably have priced this at £39.99 to get peoples expectations to the right level. But I'd recommend picking it up, it's a nice palette cleanser after the heavy FF7 remake.
Gotta agree here, the price seems pretty steep (in the US it's $50, whereas FF7R is $60). That being said it's entirely possible that this game will actually have more playtime than FF7R, significantly so considering it has a lot higher replay value.

I'm definitely picking this up either way, but $40 would have been the ideal price and I believe that was the MSRP on the Secret of Mana remake as well.
 
I've been playing this for a few days and it's a fun old school RPG, I'm quite impressed by just how polished everything feels, solid 60 fps gameplay, really pretty menus and some minor (but welcome) quality of life improvements. It's a massive improvement from the Secret of Mana remake which really felt like a mobile phone budget game on a home console.

As a huge fan of Secret of Mana, I never got the chance to play Seiken no Densetsu 3 properly on a SNES, and the borders on the Mana Collection put me off playing it on the Switch. So I'm glad they went with making this a very accurate re-creation of the SNES version rather than a remake or reimagining.

It was a little odd starting this straight after FF7R. The battle system in FF7R is pretty much the defacto system and how I would want all action RPGs to approach combat in future titles. So going back to the SNES style charge attacks and ring-system was a bit "what year is this?" - but to its credit, ToM actually has a jump button so aerial attacks are not a complete pain the arse.

The only real negative I have is how truly horrific the English voice acting is, whoever directed (is that the term) the dub must just have wanted to get the fuck out of there asap as it feels like half the lines of dialogue are delivered completely wrong, and it's so jarring, to the extent that it doesn't even feel like it's the characters in the game talking. But the game has Japanese voices, plus it has incredible music to drown the shitty English voices out if you insist on keeping them enabled. So it's easily solved.

It's priced at £44, compared to £59 for FF7R; my gut feeling is that they should probably have priced this at £39.99 to get peoples expectations to the right level. But I'd recommend picking it up, it's a nice palette cleanser after the heavy FF7 remake.

thanks for the impressions. I’m pretty sold on it, might wait for a sale just because I’m so occupied with other games at the moment
 

jshackles

Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the capability to make the world's first enhanced store. Steam will be that store. Better than it was before.
Wait Walmart has the physical version for $41.88. That seems like a good price.
 

McCheese

Member
Gotta agree here, the price seems pretty steep (in the US it's $50, whereas FF7R is $60). That being said it's entirely possible that this game will actually have more playtime than FF7R, significantly so considering it has a lot higher replay value.

I'm definitely picking this up either way, but $40 would have been the ideal price and I believe that was the MSRP on the Secret of Mana remake as well.

Playtime wise, maybe - it depends. I finished it in 28 hours, and there is some post-game stuff that I'm told is around 4-5 hours that I've not done (as we're not allowed to even discuss it in the reviews). FF7R, on the other hand, took me 48 hours. And I played both games the same way, so trying to do a much as I can on the first play-through.

Given the "pick 3 out of 6 characters" approach, it's clearly designed to be played through twice. But given it's 90's Squaresoft storyline, and I just played off the back of another RPG, I'm not really all that eager to do another playthrough just yet, but might do in the future.

It definitely feels like I got more bang for my buck out of FF7R, but that was a pretty exceptional game. £44 for the defacto version of a SNES classic isn't too hard to swallow. But let's be honest, this is the type of game that'll be on sale for 30% off in a few months so the question is do you want to play a classic squaresoft game using the lockdown or after.
 

KàIRóS

Member
Given the "pick 3 out of 6 characters" approach, it's clearly designed to be played through twice. But given it's 90's Squaresoft storyline, and I just played off the back of another RPG, I'm not really all that eager to do another playthrough just yet, but might do in the future.

Actually It's meant to be played at least 3 times, there are three different stories depending on who you choose as your protagonist, Duran and Angela are the protagonists of one story, Hawk and Lise another story and Kevin & Carlie share the last story (BTW I know some of the names have been changed, I'm just very used to their SD3 names) add to all this the fact that dialogue changes depending on your other party members and that they all have various different classes and you have an overall very customizable journey for each playthrough, I've played the super famicom version probably more than 15 times and each playthrough felt different, this game was way, way ahead of it's time in 1995, the replayability was massive back then, especially because it had multiplayer.
 
Conclusion:
The Trials of Mana remake feels like one that has clearly grown as a result of progress made with its predecessor. The AI is more competent, the callbacks feel more grounded, and it gives characters some freedom to move around a bit and have their own time. It isn’t completely perfect, as there are times when it doesn’t always feel like it uses space effectively. It it definitely feels like Square Enix learned from the Secret of Mana remake.

Nintendo Life's take:
 

KàIRóS

Member
I'm surprised Gamespot ended up posting this terrible review, so full of misinformation.




"Charlotte is the only healer" wrong.
"Classes are randomized" wrong.
"The story pieces don't relate to one another" wrong,

And obviously he never tells the viewers this is a remake of a 25 year old game, wow, good thing the comment section is already destroying the reviewer, I wouldn't be surprised if Gamespot ends up taking down this mess.
 

Northeastmonk

Gold Member
I put it on Japanese language almost immediately. The game is very enjoyable. All those small conversations that get you to the right location are all pointed out to you on the map. It definitely feels like a Super Famicom JRPG turned into a 3D game. I’m about an hour in and it’s been pretty good. It runs pretty well on the Switch.

I don’t know about the English dub. Dawn of Mana didn’t exactly have good English dubbing and this is regarded as a much better game than Dawn was. This game is very enjoyable to look at. I wish they did this with more 2D JRPGs.
 

martino

Member
i agree so far, despite lacking ambitions visually, there are lot of staging and the game is super effective where it matters : gameplay.
 
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Deleted member 17706

Unconfirmed Member
The demo was great, so I'm looking forward to picking this up eventually, but just too many games I'm trying to work through right now...
 

sublimit

Banned
I knew this game would have been good just from playing the demo. Good to see it's also getting good reviews.
 

Yamisan

Member
Amazon copy just came :D Patch downloading and its game time. I loved the demo but I think I'm gonna start fresh since I can barely remember most of the story, lol.
 

UltimaKilo

Gold Member
I have trouble with modern reviews since I find them far too lenient. I’ve never played the original so can someone give me the scoop?

How’s the soundtrack? Is it orchestrated?

How good is the story? Xeno level full of mystery, plot twists and gripping storytelling?

Is the battle system engaging?

Is it fully open world or world map?

Thanks!
 

manzo

Member
I started my playthrough today. Had to fucking hunt a copy in southern Finland since I wanted to keep a copy of this on disc.

It’s currently been a very faithful adaptation. Played through the original and translated Snes versions on the real machine and it’s like the old game converted to 3D. The remake OST has been stellar. In the opening credits I started to smile when I saw that Tsuyoshi Sekito has done some of the remixes, that’s why the boss tunes are bangers. He makes insanely good boss themes.

Excellent.
 
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Mista

Banned
I have trouble with modern reviews since I find them far too lenient. I’ve never played the original so can someone give me the scoop?

How’s the soundtrack? Is it orchestrated?

How good is the story? Xeno level full of mystery, plot twists and gripping storytelling?

Is the battle system engaging?

Is it fully open world or world map?

Thanks!
Soundtrack is alright and sometimes great. Story from so far of what I played is very basic and nothing special

Battle system unfortunately is on the easy side and not fun. Not to me at least. It isn’t fully open world but any area you step in you can explore it with some restricted areas
 

Vawn

Banned
I phink the game is vewwy good and the chawactews awe not annowing at aww.

Do not make the mistake I did and pick Charlotte for your party.
 

KàIRóS

Member
There is one boss that is a fucking nightmare, way harder than even the final game bosses. Unless I was missing a trick.

Is it one of the Benevodons? I think i know who it is.

How’s the soundtrack? Is it orchestrated?

You can choose between the new rearranged or the OG soundtrack in the options, here's an example of the same track:



How good is the story? Xeno level full of mystery, plot twists and gripping storytelling?

There are 3 different stories, or rather 3 different villains and 6 different prologues, depending on who you choose as your protagonist, Duran and Angela share one story, Kevin and Charlotte the other and Hawkeye & Riesz the last one, if you pair up the 2 characters that share a villain they get much more dialogue together like take for example Hawk and Riesz, they start as enemies between their nations but will ultimately team up to take down their villain, your 3rd character also gets much more dialogue compared to OG Seiken Densetsu 3, now with that said, the story is still mostly basic 90s JRPG 101 story but it gets the job done.

Is the battle system engaging?

Absolutely, however it will take some time to really get the awesome stuff, until you get your first class change you will mostly be using normal attacks, but after that and especially after you get 3rd classes the battles really become engaging, also new to the remake is a 4th class for each character I can't say much about those though, I haven't gotten to that part.

Is it fully open world or world map?

Neither, if I had to compare it to other games Dragon Quest VIII or XI are a good comparison, areas are big enough to explore but every thing is interconnected and mostly linear but later on you will get the typical methods of transportation (ship and airship) and the game becomes somewhat nonlinear.

Battle system unfortunately is on the easy side and not fun.

The difficulty increases as you unlock more classes, but it's certainly nowhere near the difficulty of OG SD3 it's mostly because you now have a dedicated dodge though if that wasn't there it would be as hard.

I'm 12 hours into the game, this remake is extremely faithful unlike the other one released a few weeks ago by Square Enix, I'm very pleased so far.
 
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UltimaKilo

Gold Member
Soundtrack is alright and sometimes great. Story from so far of what I played is very basic and nothing special

Battle system unfortunately is on the easy side and not fun. Not to me at least. It isn’t fully open world but any area you step in you can explore it with some restricted areas

I may end up skipping this game for now and rather, finally pick up DQXI on Switch. Might circle back to it in a few months.
 
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UltimaKilo

Gold Member
Is it one of the Benevodons? I think i know who it is.



You can choose between the new rearranged or the OG soundtrack in the options, here's an example of the same track:





There are 3 different stories, or rather 3 different villains and 6 different prologues, depending on who you choose as your protagonist, Duran and Angela share one story, Kevin and Charlotte the other and Hawkeye & Riesz the last one, if you pair up the 2 characters that share a villain they get much more dialogue together like take for example Hawk and Riesz, they start as enemies between their nations but will ultimately team up to take down their villain, your 3rd character also gets much more dialogue compared to OG Seiken Densetsu 3, now with that said, the story is still mostly basic 90sJRPG 101 story but it gets the job done.



Absolutely, however it will take some time to really get the awesome stuff, until you get your first class change you will mostly be using normal attacks, but after that and especially after you get 3rd classes the battles really become engaging, also new to the remake is a 4th class for each character I can't say much about those though haven't gotten to that part.



Neither, if I had to compare it to other games Dragon Quest VIII or XI are a good comparison, areas are big enough to explore but every thing is interconnected and mostly linear but later on you will get the typical methods of transportation (ship and airship) and the game becomes somewhat nonlinear.



The difficulty increases as you unlock more classes, but it's certainly nowhere near the difficulty of OG SD3 it's mostly because you now have a dedicated dodge though if that wasn't there it would be as hard.

I'm 12 hours into the game, this remake is extremely fateful unlike the other one released a few weeks ago by Square Enix, I'm very pleased so far.


Thank you for this!
 

hybrid_birth

Gold Member
I got this game for like $30 thanks to Swagbucks. I've never played any Mana games before. I am enjoying it. I tend to enjoy and play most jrpgs.

I think part of the appeal for me in jrpgs is leveling up and becoming powerful. Also getting better and better weapons / armor.

The stories are pretty good too.
 
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Lanrutcon

Member
Yeah...game is pretty much over when you get the third classes.

I'm getting No Damge Taken on the 8 beasts. Black Curse + Strength Up All + Holy Saber.
 

manzo

Member
Just had to come back and say that at least for me with about 10 playthroughs of the original, the soundtrack is making me smile. This takes me back to my teenage years and the reason why these games get remade is exactly my generation. It’s our way to reminiesce our childhood and for that, money is irrelevant.

it really shows that the games I’ve most enjoyed during this generation have been remakes of games made in the 90’s.
 

TwoDurans

"Never said I wasn't a hypocrite."
Thus far this is a really good remake. I don't get the criticism that they left in the old school RPG tropes. Isn't that the point of a throwback like this?
 

manzo

Member
Thus far this is a really good remake. I don't get the criticism that they left in the old school RPG tropes. Isn't that the point of a throwback like this?

I don’t think most of the reviewers were even born when the original came out, I don’t really expect them to like the game. Like with most of the remakes of games from the 16-bit era, quite a lot of the charm rides on nostalgia. I wouldn’t recommend the game to any of my friends who haven’t played this or Secret of Mana before.
 

TwoDurans

"Never said I wasn't a hypocrite."
I don’t think most of the reviewers were even born when the original came out, I don’t really expect them to like the game. Like with most of the remakes of games from the 16-bit era, quite a lot of the charm rides on nostalgia. I wouldn’t recommend the game to any of my friends who haven’t played this or Secret of Mana before.

I would, but I would make sure to caveat that if seeing a character's dialogue bubble only contain "..." doesn't make you smile then you might not enjoy this very much.
 

KàIRóS

Member
I've been using these guides for Cactus and NPC chain abilities locations, just wanted to share:


 

Lanrutcon

Member
So I'm in postgame now, and unlocked class 4 for my Paladin: Divine hero. Unlocks a lot of passive buff auras, a new single target special and a LOT higher stat caps.

I think I'll become grossly overpowered before hitting the black rabbite.

Divine-hero.png
 
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D.Final

Banned
I've been using these guides for Cactus and NPC chain abilities locations, just wanted to share:



Amazooooooon!
Where's my copy :messenger_loudly_crying:
 

Lanrutcon

Member
Postgame done (I think), and the Black Rabite down. He's hard this time around because the AI is completely stupid.
 

KàIRóS

Member
Finally finished my first playthrough, I think this might be the best remake I've ever played, and it's my favorite game so far this year, easily a 9/10 game with only the multiplayer missing from the original, but everythiing else made better while still keeping the charm of OG Seiken Densetsu 3, the 90s JRPGs really just had that extra something oh and it made me realize all over again how much I miss job/class systems in most modern JRPGs.

If Square Enix is seriously thinking on remaking Chrono Trigger they should give it to this dev team, hell just give them any 2D RPG they will probably end up doing a good job, they nailed the transition from 2D to 3D.

Time to start a second playthrough, this time I'll go with: Kevin, Charlotte and Angela.

Postgame done (I think), and the Black Rabite down. He's hard this time around because the AI is completely stupid.

Yeah no kidding I almost used all my healing items, he could one shot my Hawkeye so I had to control him for most of the fight and I even had to use Duran's new provoke passive ability, but the battle was epic.
 
I'm currently at the Mana Sanctuary after speaking with Belladonna again and that black knight with my party consisting of Duran, Angela and Reisz.

Loving this game. Angela is so hot. People say this game has terrible but for me it feels like typical JRPG performances.

This fucking.... thing, though....

uTdkf0Y.jpg
 
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Postgame done (I think), and the Black Rabite down. He's hard this time around because the AI is completely stupid.
I haven't finished the game but I have seen it online.

Kind of cool how they are connecting with the other games like Dawn of Mana. Heroes of Mana which takes place specifically in the Trials of Mana world, explicitly even references Dawn of Mana and mentions there are parallel worlds.

Yeah I've done my homework on the lore surrounding the Mana games.
 
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