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The political landscape of 2024 has been a mess. The gaming landscape? That’s an entirely different story. There have some amazing new releases this year and there seem to be more on the horizon. Visions of Mana is another one of those new releases. Seiken Densetsu’s high fantasy world and whimsy are the perfect escapism from the dumpster-fire that is political reality. I’ve been a fan of the Mana series for years. Decades, even. Ever since Secret of Mana caught my eye while I was chilling in a now defunct toy store, the series has had its hold over me. Doubling as a love letter to the series, seeing Vision of Mana reference history feels correct. (Note that anyone can jump into Visions of Man because the game is great. I just got extra excited when homage was paid to titles of yesteryear.)
The story of Visions of Mana centers around the Mana Tree and the Goddess of Mana. But. There’s more than just a “journey to reach the tree while wielding the Sword of Mana.” This time, the tree needs sacrifices. Eight of them, specifically. Faerie, a representative of the Mana Tree, travels throughout the world of Qi’Dial to find denizens worthy of becoming elemental alms: people that give up their souls to keep the Mana Tree stabilized. In doing so, the world remains free of natural disasters. En route to the Mana Tree, the alms are protected by the soul guard. In the village of Tianeea, the new soul guard was dubbed to be Val: a feisty youth with a love for his village, his world, and his swordplay. He has also has love for his childhood sweetheart and the newly named alm of fire: Hinna. Val and Hinna journey from their tiny village across the world to gather the remaining elemental alms to satiate the Mana Tree.
Those story points might lead you to believe that Visions of Mana has a narrative similar to Tales of Symphonia or Final Fantasy X. At a glance? Sure. Take your time to get to know Val, Hinna and all of the alms and you’ll get more. A lot more. Visions of Mana is an emotional rollercoaster of a game filled with surprises. The series has always relied on its quirkiness and high fantasy to tell its stories, and while that’s true here, things bubble to the surface not long after Val takes it upon himself to be the soul guard. The alms that join him are a varied, unique bunch. They feel right at home in the Mana world. While I like all the characters, my favorite is Palamena, the queen of Illystana and the alm of water.
Traveling across Qi’Dial will offer comfortable familiarity. Every area is self-contained, yet unique and often massive – just asking to be explored. Towns are bustling. Farms are filled with animals and crops. Mountains and caverns are teeming with wildlife. Throughout the journey, Val and his friends will obtain a variety of goodies that keep the game fresh. Sure, there’s the usual weapons, items, and armor for purchase. However, there are also Ability Seeds. Lots and lots of Ability Seeds. When equipped, these let your team access new magics and new passive traits. You obtain these from chests, and from Core Stones. Val has a unique ability to turn monsters into Core Stones. The story explains this phenomenon, but a random beast getting converted after a battle is based on luck. There’s also Grizzly Syrup scattered around the world. Val can trade syrup at a Dud Bear shop for unique items.
The real fun with Visions of Mana involves the spirits and their respective Elemental Vessels. These can be equipped to a character to change their class. This alters their appearance, their weapon choice, and their abilities. Each class has a set of skills that can be learned using Elemental Points (EP) from gaining levels and fonts called Elementites. There are also Gold Clovers scattered throughout the world that can be converted into EP. This elemental class system shines bright as Lumina. All told, there are five characters that have nine classes available. The choice paralysis is real in all the best ways possible. One of the reasons I clocked more hours than most (55 hours for the main story – 60 hours for the platinum trophy) was because I kept fiddling with the different class options, ogling their new outfits, seeing how they performed in combat, re-specking as needed, and taking control of different party members. There were a few lesser classes, but most of them had a certain something that made them useful in combat.
Which, brings me to combat. Visions of Mana’s action combat is another bright spot. As usual, it starts simple enough: there are weak attacks, strong attacks, dashes, double jumps, etc. But, as you continue your travels, you unlocks elemental attacks, Elemental Breaks, and Class Strikes. As much as I want to, I won’t get into too much of a Rabite-hole describing these. I’ll just say that the game slowly but surely eases you into new options. Combat itself is frenetic and fun. I did experience some camera issues during a few of the boss fights. Outliers aside, boss fights were probably the most exciting aspect of combat. Regular encounters were fine. At their worst, they’re repetitive. For the most part, the game was on the easier side even on the Hard setting. The difficulty could be changed at anytime.
I added some screenshots to the review, but they’re not enough to explain just how gorgeous this game is. It’s graphical perfection. I don’t say that lightly. To think of it another way, if Legend of Mana was the most beautiful 2D game, then Visions of Mana was the most beautiful in 3D. There’s so much color, detail, style, and personality at every angle. Presentation has never been an issue with this series; even in games where the gameplay was subpar. So, it makes me scratch my head as to why the audio didn’t get the same treatment. The music was fine, but the voice acting felt about as phoned in as it did in Trials of Mana. This especially applied to the voice direction of Careena. Her actress gave her a “southern” accent despite no one else in the game (key characters from Careena’s hometown included) having one. Japanese language options were available, but character names were lost in translation.
There were a couple other issues that I’ll note. First, the jump button is the same as the examine button. So, if you try to open a chest or talk to a townsperson before the game is able to “catch up”, then you’ll end up jumping. It takes less than a second to correct itself, but still. It’s annoying. Second, there’s a delay with opening the Ring Menu or shortcut menu after a battle. In the event a character is poisoned or burned, you don’t want them to deal with that crap any longer than necessary. Accessing a Medical Herb or the Twinkle Rain spell, again, requires the game to “catch up.” Dealbreakers? Not at all. But, they were noticeable in an otherwise polished package. Obviously, I highly recommend Visions of Mana. Longtime fans will enjoy a reimagined world. New fans will get a taste of what’s been in development for decades. It has something for everyone. A few missteps aside, this is another journey to Mana Tree that is worth taking.
Overall, 9/10: Visions of Mana is a shiny package that combines modern gaming with the series’ fantastical style and a generous helping of tradition.
