MANA ANALYSIS TESTS – It’s also worth mentioning the least popular remake of the month!

April 2020 will certainly be remembered as the month of remakes for this generation. In addition to the long-awaited Resident Evil 3 and Final Fantasy 7We have two more that may have been slightly below the radar in the main segment: Sakura Wars and Trials of Mana. Now that we’ve passed the most popular releases of the month, it’s worth focusing our attention on at least one of these “smaller” games and seeing what it has to offer. That is why we did this analysis of Mana Trials! The remake of a JRPG that you did not ask for, but that deserves your attention.

History

Trials of Mana, in fact, is the third game in the Mana franchise, which in Japan is called Seiken Densetsu, something like “the legend of the holy sword”, in amateur translation. Therefore, the main element of the game is the Mana sword, a sword of absolute power that ends up becoming “McGuffin”, the element of a story that everyone wants, both heroes and villains. To reach the sword, they will first have to unleash the power of the Mana Stones around the world, putting heroes on a journey across the game map.

This main plot is nothing special. Villains want the sword to take over the world, the heroes want to stop them and save their loved ones. However, as I always say, the value of a story is measured not only by its content, but also by the how is it told. And that is the great differential of Trials of Mana.

The story is superficial, but told in a very interesting way.

Instead of the traditional fixed protagonist who forms a group of heroes with common objectives on his journey, the player has the opportunity to choose who will star the game and who will form your group. There are six playable characters and you can choose between three, a protagonist and two supports.

The format ends up resulting in some very interesting features. First, to allow you to choose any character as the protagonist, the developers have forced themselves to tell important stories to each of them, so that you can feel that each one has their own personality and interests, and that they join the adventure because their stories they cross. There is no feeling that the character was created as a simple supporting character or romantic interest with a total focus on the protagonist.

Also, when choosing three heroes at once, there is already one repetition factor. The main plot, with the villains’ goals and their impact on the world, is explained in the first campaign. But to know each character’s personal travels and their influence on the story, you need zero at least twice. This ends up giving a positive effect even on a first move. The world undergoes some changes that are not the direct consequences of our actions as a player, which helps to give a feeling of independent life to that universe and that we are having an adventure in it.

Choosing the protagonist increases the repetition factor of the game.

The format, however, has not fully exploited its potential, and I think a lot because it is a remake. The heroes interact very little with each other, probably to avoid a lot of additional lines of dialogue involving different combinations of protagonist choices. Sometimes the story of two heroes intersect directly and don’t comment on it, which is even a little strange. At other times, they may interact in this direction, but this inconsistency is striking. There are specific hero options that will spawn more of these interactions, and there’s even one Romance there in the middle Still, for today, it’s a bit limited. In a current triple A, these interactions would be much more complex.

Unfortunately, due to the short time we had with the game, I couldn’t go to the end of the story. But, having made 13 of the approximately 20 hours needed to close the game, I can say that the plot of the game is somewhat cliche and that the total focus on the heroes of the story, due to the format, takes away space to develop the game. villains, which end up becoming shallow, empty cliches. However, I still consider it a totally acceptable campaign and, mainly because of the way the story is told, it sparks enough interest to arrest the player to the end.

Gameplay

The gameplay of the Mana series is very important to the titles, especially at the time they were created. At a time when most of the JRPGs were on duty, Seiken Densetsu attempted to bring in a action game, but without abandoning the strategy and the use of spells and objects that consecrated the genre. Now, with the remake, we are already living a moment in which many JRPGs have already abandoned the current format, but the game still manages to offer an original experience, with its own style.

The combat of the game happens fluidly, when we find enemies, the fight begins immediately and an invisible limit is defined for the arena. The player attacks in a combined system that combines fast and strong attacks. Strong attacks cause enemies to release gems that fill the CS bar, which is used to unlock each character’s unique abilities. You can switch between the three heroes during the fight at almost any time and the player can also make use of items and spells.

Combat is a lot of fun, but AI could be better

Here we find another small downside to the format of letting anyone else play. If all the heroes can be protagonists, it is necessary that everyone can “turn around” in a fight, then the gameplay is quite similar between all the characters. Of course, some of you will focus more on spells than attacks, but the structure of combos and evasions is always the same. A little more variety in the game’s most fundamental mechanics would have been nice.

Another problem in combat is artificial intelligence from our colleagues, terrible. You can configure their level of aggressiveness, which enemies they focus on, how much they spend on resources, which is great. But they are terrible to defend against and dodge attacks, so much so that in combats that enemies influence the state, such as petrification and sleep, it is easier to ignore your companions and stay alone than to throw objects to heal them, since They will be petrified again in seconds.

Character progression occurs through levels, which release attribute points that can be spent on different characteristics. Investing enough in a role unleashes equippable abilities, offering a wide variety in how the player wants to build each character, which is very interesting. In addition, we also have a class system, in which you “evolve” the hero in different ways, which offers a new layer of options to progress, and it all adds up to many options on how build it your way, something always very positive in an RPG.

Hero skills and classes offer a lot of variety.

In the exploration part, the game is very free, since you can jump. And the game encourages the player to explore because, in addition to finding items and equipment, we also have Lil ‘Cactus, a cute little cactus that you find multiple times to free up some permanent bonuses for the game, like the ability to sleep for free in inns or run away from fights faster, for example. Another incentive for talking to NPCs is that, occasionally, unexpectedly, a simple NPC can unleash a skill that can be equipped by any of your team members, so it’s worth talking to people in cities. .

Graphics

It’s kind of complicated to talk about the Trials of Mana graphics because they’re beautiful, but limited. Very limited. You can feel the affection of the developers when creating the scenarios, the main characters and especially the monsters that we face. The game follows the “cute” aesthetic common to some JRPGs, especially the old ones, and the details of the animations make it even a shame to take on some of the cutest enemies.

But the game abuses “copy and paste”. The models of the trees are repeated exhaustively and the NPCs are almost always the same, just change hair colors and some clothes. In the case of creature villages like the Koropokkurs or dwarves, even this is not done: the exact same character model is used for all inhabitants.

The graphics have their charm, but they are limited and repetitive.

Children’s models are reused even for the protagonists, in flashbacks. The cities are very similar and the interiors of some buildings are even reused, ending the immersion. You are visiting a kingdom on the other side of the map and the house is like the first one you saw in the game.

Other texture and shadow effects are also quite weak. The fights are nice, but the water in the game seems like he didn’t even have a job at the top. Navigation seems to be dragged by a carpet.

Over time, those who enjoy the game will have no difficulty revealing these issues, but they are a thorn in the quality of a game that is generally very good. Better-ordered and better-ordered scenarios could have been an even greater incentive to explore the map, for example.

Audio

The audio of the game also suffers a bit due to the low investment of the new version. There is voice work for all the characters, in English and Japanese, which is already a great differentiator from the original release. As this is not a release of the same level of budget and importance as a Final Fantasy 7, I cannot complain about the lack of voice acting in Portuguese, but at least the menus and texts could have that option.

The dubbing work is quality and brings the characters to life, mainly in Japanese. In English you can feel that not all the actors have captured the essence of the game, and the acting style ends up varying widely between each person who speaks. We have the work of some great voice actors, but in Japanese the quality is more consistent throughout the game.

The soundtrack also abuses repetition

The soundtrack, in turn, is as limited as the graphics. Some songs are excellent, others not so much and all are repeated a lot. We only have one song for action, one for “fun times” and so on. Don’t be late listening to everything OST of the game and, in a JRPG, this is problematic because we still have many hours of game ahead.

I have nothing to complain about in terms of sound effects. They are proficient and the monsters have their grunts that aid in combat immersion. Weapons have a good feel of impact, especially when using each character’s unique special abilities, making it all the more satisfying when we land the right punch at the right time.

conclusion

The Trials of Mana remake is an “honest” game. It offers a very fun game, a satisfying story and with enough variety that it results in a strong repetition factor. The game was not released due to the traditional full price of the releases, which is fair due to its limitations in terms of graphics and soundtrack.

For those who are not so demanding on images and are looking for good hours of quiet fun in an unpretentious game and want to remember the good times of the most traditional JRPG, Trials of Mana is sure a great recommendation.

Trials of Mana is a great option for JRPG fans of yesteryear and can be a must in a promotion

Not only that, the game format shows very good potential. Who knows, if the remake is successful, Square Enix won’t be excited to make a triple A, continuing the franchise, and really exploring the possibilities of the multi-hero format, which can result in a game with hours and hours of fun only. to see how different characters interact, while trying various compilations and combinations.

I really recommend Trials of Mana for JRPG fans of yesteryear and, with the right promotion, you could even call the game “must have”. For those who want to try it, the game has a demo for PC, PS4 and Switch.