Ahead of its launch this month, I had the chance to play a few hours of , Square Enix’s latest RPG. As the first new Mana game in decades, Visions has the unenvi༒able task of bringing this cult-classic series into the modern age. Visually, it succeeds in spades. Mechanically, it’s fun and frustrating in equal measure.
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In franchise tradition, there are eight elemental spirits: Fire, Water, Wind, Wood, Earth,💟 Moon, Light, and Dark. These spirits are both the cornerstone of Mana’s lore and the foundation of its gameplay; many attacks and buffs belong to a particular element, and the elements can affect aspects of the overworld as well.
The story stars Val, a Soul Guard who is tasked with defending the individual representatives of several of the eight elements as they gather on a global pilgrimage to the Mana Tree. There, the representatives, known as alms, will s🍰acrifice themselves to maintain balance throughout the land🎶. The Soul Guard just needs to get them there. Val sets off from his village alongside the alm of Fire, who just so happens to be his girlfriend, Hinna.
It’s a good plot hook, but cracks in the script are already showing. Second party member Careena is delightfully aloof and char🃏mingly giddy for adventure, but everyone else I’ve met is pretty cookie-cutter, and there’s not much wit between them. Several cutscenes have left me cold, with characters needlessly reiterating the sacred duties of alms and why the journey to the Mana Tree has to happen. Sometimes, someone will say something ‘funny’, and everyone will laugh, but the jokes just aren’t landing.
Trite stuff, but hey, Mana has never wowed in the narrative department. Plus, there&r🎐squo;s an appreciable degree of banter in the world, much of which i🐟s (oddly) written stronger than what the cast says in cutscenes. Maybe the story gets compelling further in.
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Battles are fun, fluid, and apart from occasionally bewildering camera mishaps, smooth enough that it’s easy to keep track of the numerous foes your party mows down. You can either lock on to an enemy, or you can keep things looser, swinging your weapon in t⭕he general direction of one or more monsters. I prefer this approach, as one of the most satisfying aspects of Visions of Mana’s combat is slashing multiple baddies in one fell swoop.
I also dig how offensively-focused it all is - you’re incentivised to keep the pressure on your enemy at all times. Hit your target rapidly enough, and they won’t h🔴ave a chance to retaliate. That’s not to say every encounter has been a pummel-fest, though. Regular fights are pretty easy, but there are optional “elemental aerie” trials🤪 with tougher-than-average fare. They include monsters capable of dealing heaps of damage after telegraphing unblockable attacks. Such situations involve a more hit-and-run approach, keeping things fresh.
There are also “nemeses”, powered-up forms of normal mon♛sters with cheeky names reminiscent of Xenoblade Chronicle𒁃s’ own unique fights.
These harder encounters are where Visions of Mana’s impress🐠ive cross-class mechanics come into play. I haven’t had to think much about party builds while traipsing across the world, but the special fights had me tinkering with assigned abilities and techniques for each party member before head🎃ing into the fray.
Each element has a plot-related key item, and there are eight classes to match, but you can only equip each of these “Elemental Veꦑssels” to one character at 🍸a time. If I want Val to use his Rune Knight class via the Wind Vessel, Morley can’t simultaneously be a Ranger.
This encourages experimentation. Whose Wind class is best suited to an elemental aerie trial that 🐬I’m struggling with is who I’ll equip𒈔 the Wind Vessel on. But since many class-specific techniques can be ported over to other classes once learned, I can take the Rune Knight’s Flame Saber, a skill that imbues Val’s blade with Fire while temporarily elevating his Attack, over to another class.
There’s still good reason to care about which class you’re using even when ♌you can move techniques between them. Certain perks, like powerfuꦚl passives, are locked to the active class.
Visions of Mana incorporates interac🍌tive elemental objects throughout its wide-open regions. Wind-related spots provide a whirlwind which can be leapt into to reach higher areas, for instance. Since you’ll slowly be unlocking the Elemental Vessels necessary not only to access new classes, but also to use these objects, there’s an ingrained motivation to backtrack and explore past locations.
However, those regions don’t have a lot going for them. Make no mistake, they’re gorgeous. Visions of Mana bursts with color. In Pritta Ridge alone, you’ll find golden-orange leaves on autumnal trees, followed by emerald hills rich with a rainbow assortment of flowers, followed in turn by a picturesque lake. Other areas aren’t always so diverse, but they’re sel🦹dom less than stunning. But they&rs✃quo;re all too big by half.
Massive chunks of the🦂se maps are little more than collectathons - dozens of eye-catching amber called Grizzly Syrup; oodles of breakable pottery that occasionally hides a Niccolo Coin; unending shining symbols storing small amounts of cash.So much of my time is spent searching for yet another collectible. I’m left wondering why Square Enix didn’t think to either downscale these zones or, ideally, add more compelling content.
Visions of Mana ♒has side quests, but at least up to my present point, they’re pretty baneful. Wander to a key item marked on the map, or fight a specific group of monsters - yeah, that’s pretty much it.
The other unfortunate side effect of these needlessly big locations is that battles are situated bizarꦦrely far apart. You’ll typically cross a great deal of ground between fights, which feels especially odd next to older entries like Secret of Mana which had plentiful enough monst𝔍ers in their stages that can easily gang up on you before long. That’s part of the charm, that sense of danger, but in Visions of Mana, most enemy formations are just that - formations, waiting for players to get up close and personal before they strike.
Even the cities in Vision🧸s of Mana conform to this notion that bigger is better. Again, this game is b⭕eautiful. There’s a wonderful city surrounded by water, with classically Greco-Roman architecture ranging from marble pillars to statues of Undine, Mana’s Water Elemental.
But apart from visiting a few standard-issue shops, the only thing you’ll be doing as you stroll through these locales is talking to NPCs who w🦩ill often regale you with commentary on how great a restaurant is, or how spectacular a bazaar is, or how refreshing the sparkling water is. T🍨oo bad I’ll never know!
None of this would bother me if these towns weren’t so vast; they’re built for greater purpo🔜se than they provide. And it’s telling that the game’s settlements and regions all mark their treasure chests on the map. This frustrating handholding is almost mandatory when these places are ceaselessly gargantuan. It’s a case of solving a problem that didn’t need to exis🌠t by robbing any sense of genuine accomplishment in exploration.
There’s a lot to like here. Sights to see, fights to fancy, builds to study. Oh, and pikuls, who are in the running for the cutest mounts of all time. But man, I just don’t know what Square Enix is thinking with the game’s scale. All these pretty places feel cold and eඣmpty.
A focused version of these early h🧸ours of Visions of Mana would be fantastic, but the bloated nature of it all leads to a strikingly uneven experience. I’m still enjoying my time overall, thanks to an engaging battle system and a cool customization suite. But Visions of Mana needs to continue delivering on these str꧒engths as I venture deeper on my journey toward the Mana Tree, or the shallow nature of its world will overshadow its accomplishments.
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