Review for Trials Of Mana. Game for PC, PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch, the video game was released on 24/04/2020
2020 seems to be the year of RPG lovers, given the amount of titles released or that will be released soon. In particular, the current month appears to be like a "dream or am I awake?" for all lovers of Japanese-style roles. Although these are not new games but technically renewed from head to toe, the Square Enix remakes of Final Fantasy VII and Trials of Mana, a title that we will examine in this review, are a panacea for a sub-genre that is not always kept. in due consideration. The Mana series has ancient origins: the first chapter of the saga, known in Japan as Seiken Densetsu, was published in 1991 on GameBoy. Trials of Mana, in Japan Seiken Desetsu 3, is the third installment in the series originally released on Super Famicon in 1993. The title quickly became an industry cult game. Fast forward to 2020: il Trials of Mana for PlayStation 4 returns as a remake. Will he be able to revive the series?
Trials of Mana is a role-playing action game which, abandoning the traditional original 2D top-down view, translates to a more modern three-dimensional third-person view. But let's go in order: in the world of Trials of Mana, the protagonist is… mana! In the fictional world of video games, mana is a very powerful source of energy. In the remote past of the title the Goddess of Mana, thanks to the creation of the powerful Sword of Mana, succeeded in the enterprise of creating the world by defeating eight very powerful monstrosities of destruction, called Benevodons. The goddess managed to trap the monsters in seven mana stalks, before falling asleep from the effort, ushering in a long period of peace.
But Trials of Mana, like any self-respecting JRPG, starts from the premises of "calm before the storm": the player will take up the pad just as the world risks plunging into chaos again, due to an evil plot that aims to bring back to life the most powerful beasts of destruction, in order to finally obtain the supreme power. If we wanted to judge the overall narrative, Trials of Mana keeps intact the hidden charm of a nostalgically wonderful past, even if it shows its side on more than a few occasions, especially when compared to modern productions, aimed at imbuing both the intrinsic characterization and the narrative interweaving of harsh reality. The plot will therefore be substantially enjoyable, in the arc of 25/30 hours of play per "run" and well developed, albeit far too linear and a little wavy as regards the overall biting.
Unsheathed the pad and clicked the fateful "New Game", after a primary selection of the game difficulty (the title will be quite challenging in Hard, but probably will not worry the most experienced players too much), Trials of Mana will present us with the first fundamental crossroads of his entire play experience: the choice of the party. In fact, we will have the possibility to choose between six heroes, of which a main and protagonist of the story, who will be accompanied by two other supporting actors. The first, peculiar feature of the game will be this: each character, in addition to being distinguished by different powers, abilities and attack strategy, will have a personal historical background which, on balance, will result in different pieces of history for each one, albeit the development of the plot will substantially soon redirect itself on common lines (in fact all will reach the Fortress of Jadd, the real beginning of the game).
An interesting addition is that, as soon as we will have the opportunity to meet one of the other two chosen supporting actors in the initial stages, the game will give us the opportunity to be able to undertake their very personal prologue, to know how the character has walked on our own path. The feature will obviously not be mandatory (in its place, in case, we will be able to watch a quick video summary), but playing these sections certainly adds a lot more thickness to the caliber of the characters which, although substantially well done, will turn out to be a traditional to fish from the classic clichés of Japanese manga culture (the abusive and quarrelsome warrior, the sorceress a little "dead cat" etc.).
Each of the six possible choices will offer a sample of moves and peculiar characteristics: each character will basically be based on six basic characteristics, namely Strength, Stamina, Spirit, Luck and Intellect. The mixture of these six elements will characterize each of the possible choices: we would not be wrong to say that each character is actually a real class that rests its conceptual foundations on the canons of the genre. The warrior, for example, will be a rather balanced character, while the sorceress will be able to cause devastating damage to enemies, although she will be able to count on a much lower defense. It is good, in principle, to choose your party wisely balancing attack and defense even if this need in the end will be felt more at the higher levels of the challenge (and even in that case, a player accustomed to action titles if the will succeed more than admirably).
Later in the game we will have the opportunity to evolve each of the characters, thanks to the presence of a Light / Dark system: for example Duran, the classic Warrior, will be able to opt for a sub-set of "Light" classes, which will transform him into example in a tough Paladin able to even heal his allies, or opt for the Dark path and become, among others, a Gladiator, able to unleash a devastating attack power thanks to the possibility of using elemental swords. This differentiation will be possible for each class in the game, which adds great replayability to the game just to experiment with all the possibilities. In addition, Trials of Mana will still allow us to reset any choice and return to the initial class, in order to explore all the alternatives.
Once the choice has been made, the game will immediately drag us into one of the prologues: for example, in the case of the warrior Duran, we will immediately find ourselves fighting against a robotic-like opponent in a single-handed tournament. A few moments later we will have very clear, pad in hand, how the combat system works: it is a simple and action fighting system, characterized by a free and dynamic movement. An immediate system conceptually, based on a heavy and a light attack, a dodge, a loaded heavy attack and different skills that will be usable with a rather simple combination of keys. Using the two basic attacks, the enemies will drop crystals on the ground that will allow us to accumulate useful energy to charge the very powerful special moves of the various characters.
A combat system therefore immediate and functional, but which will still be able to satisfy in large part even the most savvy, thanks also to the vast assortment of skills (there will be about 300) that we will be able to unlock during the game and based on the chosen class. As soon as, after a relatively short time, we will have the opportunity to fight with the entire party consisting of three elements, Trials of Mana will open completely or almost: as you can imagine we will control our character but, at the same time, we can opt to play in the the role of any of the elements of the party, with the others who, in that case, would be controlled by artificial intelligence.
AI that basically will behave very well in battle and that we can also orient according to our strategies, thanks to a simple and appropriate system for managing the "behavior" in battle. In fact, we will be able to define on which enemies the member of the chosen party will concentrate more, whether to prefer an "in your face" strategy or to keep further away and avoid direct contact with opponents. Of course, each fight will allow us to find various items, including flower seeds to plant in each Inn visited which will allow us to obtain different types of equipment and experience points which, at a predefined amount, will allow us to level up the character. Leveling up will not only result in an automatic increase in base stats, but at the same time it will allow us to earn training points to spend to actively and passively improve skills, as well as buy new ones.
It should be noted that, especially compared to the original, thanks to the renewed 3D action mechanics, the developers have added several new skills which could not be present in the original title for technical reasons, making the title attractive even for those who had already completed it at the time. In addition to the mere purchase, some peculiar abilities can be obtained simply by advancing in the game by deepening the s that exist between the various protagonists. Passive characteristics - i.e. Strength, Spirit, Stamina etc. - can be improved thanks to the above points. A mention also to the Boss fight, basically well done, challenging at the right point and which will be divided into "phases", as is the canon of the genre, which will engage us in finding the right strategy to face the arduous fight. At the end of our first adventure, then, a "surprise" awaits us: we will face another adventure, in this case a rather long dungeon, at the end of which we will unlock the coveted "New Game Plus", or the possibility to replay the title retaining all items, money and general skills unlocked during the first session.
Once the introductory phases are concluded, the game world of Trials of Mana will reveal itself in its overall features: in principle, although it cannot be concretely defined an open world, the title will be divided into a series of rather large areas, albeit clearly delimited and which will be progressively unlockable. From imposing fortresses to frozen valleys, passing through lush hills: our favorites will be able, in them, to move freely and interact both with any NPCs present, and with elements of the scenario such as vases or boxes, also using special "means of locomotion" , between winged dragons and huge turtles. The exploration, although present and with a weight, as befits a certainly important RPG, is however extremely linear: in principle, it will be enough to follow the main path to find everything that we will need, with the secondary environments that very often they will be empty. The maps obviously will not be trivial pratucoli for outings, but they will almost always be invaded by fearsome enemies. The fights will take place as said in real time: when we approach the opponents, the area immediately around the challenge will be delimited by a sort of ring, to create an invisible battle arena. The "dome" will be substantially impenetrable until the battle is actually over, but staying on the edge of it for a long time will result in an escape from the challenge.
Scattered throughout the course of the adventure, there will also be the inevitable dungeons which, to a very large extent, have kept the charm of the original title intact, even preserving even the puzzle mechanics. Here we would be called to direct a strong windy current to open a passage in one of the basements, or carefully avoid inflamed portions of the floor (the floor is lava!). These are certainly pleasant features that enrich an already vast and long-lasting package of contents. Content that, however, at the same time, seems to "scream" the need to have an at least local multiplayer component that, unfortunately, is not present: the presence of a cooperative mode, perhaps online, would have made the game splash into orbit, making it a must absolute for lovers of the genre.
Technically speaking, Trials of Mana is a chiaroscuro: to stylistically appealing design, manga triumph of the round and pointed style at the same time, with the soft eyes that have always distinguished the Japanese pencil, a concrete aesthetic is associated in Cel Shading with very thick colors. Overall, the visual rendering will be more than good, although the quality of the general detail does not exactly scream a miracle. In particular, the polygonal models will not always be flawless, showing some too many angles and details that are often “copy / paste” and rather anonymous. Even the environments, especially the outposts that we will visit, will be a high / low quality overall, with very successful details and others a little more cheesy, to which must be added the low level of interactivity we have already discussed.
As for the cleaning of the "code", Trials of Mana will run substantially well, although not free from programming defects. It starts with the animations, a little clumsy and not particularly elaborate, up to a continuous pop-up of the aesthetic details of the game elements. For example, it will be quite common to see the slightly delayed loading of the detailed appearance of the character models which, quite often, will appear for a moment without texture and then normalize a moment later. As far as performance is concerned, the PlayStation 4 version of the title, tested with a Ps4 Pro, has maintained a very large part of the 60 frames in a rather solid way, losing some ground for a few moments in some cutscenes and in some particularly animations " explosive "skills. The game, in addition, will run at a resolution of 1080p on both Pro and base version, which could make owners of the Sony flagship “on steroids” turn up their noses. An overall applause to the soundtrack of the game, well made and coherent companion of "softness" of the overall carefree that the game exudes. It should also be emphasized the possibility of being able to opt for the characteristic sounds of the original title, which will allow us an unexpected dive into the auditory past.
Trials of Mana is a high-level remake, able to revive a niche and, at the same time, cult title, in a sauce renewed from a mechanical point of view. A choice that makes it appreciable even by those who, hypothetically, had already played it previously. A dynamic, immediate and rather deep combat system frames a high longevity and a general pleasure of ludo. The refurbishment retains the charm of the past intact, but it drags some signs of aging and some technical problems. In addition, some features could be implemented / expanded just by taking advantage of the "substratic" renewal. A remake that definitely works and gives new impetus to the series.
► Trials Of Mana is an Action-Adventure-JRPG game developed and published by Square Enix for PC, PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch, the video game was released on 24/04/2020
