Introduction
Today we will be looking at the sequel of Secret of Mana called the Trials of Mana! This game follows the action role-playing elements of Secret of Mana but improves each and every aspect! As well as the sound and graphics. In this game, the mouths of characters even move when talking! If you like games like Octopath Traveler, you will be right at home with the Trials of Mana as there are three main different story lines depending on which character you choose as the main character!
What did I think before playing Trials of Mana
After the bad time that we had with Secret of Mana we were looking forward to a good Mana game! We had hoped that Trials of Mana would be better, the graphics looked better as well as the gameplay beforehand. I have never played the original Trials of Mana, but we are also planning on doing that in the future! For more information, we decided to visit the PlayStation page!
The PlayStation Page
https://store.playstation.com/en-us/product/UP0082-CUSA17050_00-TOMPS4APPNA00001
We had to look at a different site for gameplay and videos, but we learned that the story is set in a different universe but with the same Mana tree and elementals. You have the freedom to create your own team by choosing from six different characters, whom all walk their own path. The three characters that you choose will cross paths and form a party to try and claim the Mana sword before evil does!
Rating
I rate Trials of Mana with a 9.5 before playing.
Even though we had huge issues with Secret of Mana, we were stoked to see what Trials of Mana had in store, our first main character was going to be Duran from Valsena!
Story
The story changes depending on whom you choose, but the main story plots remain. However, all characters have a different reason to stop evil and claim the Mana Sword.
Mana is depleting from the world and the seals that hold the Benevodons, ancients beast that can destroy the world, are weakening. It is your job to claim the Mana sword and restore Mana before the world gets destroyed!
Rating
I rate the story of Trials of Mana with a 10.
There are three main story lines and even an extra chapter that is added to the remake!
Gameplay
Trials of Mana has excellent gameplay, but sadly I cannot compare it to the original as I have never played that version. You start out with your chosen main character and the game teaches you quickly how combat works. You also have class strike skills which are powerful, but you need crystals to use these skills. Depending on which character you have chosen, you will either need to use magic or normal attacks, but beware magic will only be learned after rescuing elementals!
There is a wide variety of enemies to destroy to gain experience points. At certain levels, you can choose a new class for your character! First at level 18 by visiting a Mana stone which has a benevodon sealed inside. Then again at level 38 but this time you need to visit the Mana statue in the Mana sanctuary. To change to the third class, you need class specific items which you can find by planting ????? Seeds. Seeds can be found everywhere and either planted in the inn for new items or at the Mana Sanctuary! These seeds can give the best equipment in the game, do not neglect them!
Every time that you plant a seed, your pot will gain experience pots. This will result in better items and the ability to find more seeds. When changing classes, you can either choose light or dark, this will not change the story, but it will alter the skills that you can learn. In this remake there is also a fourth class which you can unlock after defeating the end-game boss!
Whenever you level up, you will gain training points, which you can allocate into attributes! This is an amazing way to gain new skills, the best part is that you can even see which skills you are going to learn! Every time that you change into a higher class, the amount of attribute points that you can spend in a single attribute skill will be increased! If you have made any errors, do not worry as you can simply reset your training points at the night market.
Rating
I rate the gameplay of Trials of Mana with a 10.
There are a lot of gameplay elements that I have not mentioned yet, like unlocking new skill slots when reaching a new class or finding all the Little Cactus characters. You can also buy new weapons and armor in every town, or make sure that your party members do what you want them to do! We have put in almost 45 hours and have just started a third play through on no future, the highest difficulty!
Sound and Graphics
Graphics
The graphics are a huge upgrade compared to the original footage from what I saw, not that there was anything wrong with that. However, comparing it to the Secret of Mana game, these models are perfect. The new costumes with class changes is great as well. Even though the enemies here can also shoot diagonally now, you can roll away in this game! The fact that there are also three different end game dungeons is amazing as well! There are a lot of cutscenes which are just a little different if you have a different party setup!
Sound
The soundtracks and sound effects are amazing. The English voices are done properly, and their mouths actually move this time. The story is also intriguing and different, depending on which characters you have chosen.
Rating
I rate the sound and graphics of Trials of Mana with a 9.4.
If you are looking for a game that sounds and looks pretty, Trials of Mana is the game that you are looking for!
What did I think after playing Trials of Mana?
My wife and I both had a great time while playing Trials of Mana and taking turns. Our first party consisted of Duran, Charlotte and Hawkeye. This was a great team to start out with, and we enjoyed the story! There is a lot of character development while sticking to the personalities that you see in the characters! Charlotte starts as a little cry baby but ends up being a formidable healer who does not cot cry anymore!
After playing the Secret of Mana we were surprised how rock solid the mechanics are in Trials of Mana! We still need to finish the no future mode, but we are working on that! We made a video of the gameplay on hard mode while destroying the endgame dungeon that was added in the remake of this game!
Rating
I rate Trials of Mana with a 9.5 after playing.
If you are looking for a good Japanese role-playing game with action RPG elements, I would suggest buying Trials of Mana!
What are my personal thoughts about Trials of Mana
Trials of Mana has amazing gameplay mechanics like choosing your own party before the beginning of your journey and changing the game depending on which party you have chosen!
Rating
The personal rating for Trials of Mana is a 9.6.
We had a amazing time while playing this game!
Last Words
Pros
- Experience one of the three stories lines to defeat evil and find the sword of Mana!
- Amazing graphics and soundtracks
- Choose your own party before even beginning the game!
- Fight epic bosses and try to learn their patterns or simply out DPS them with raw power!
- Gain level ups to switch to a higher class, can you reach class 4?
- Allocate attribute points in what you see fit, you can even see what skills you are gaining beforehand!
- There are many classes for each character!
- The party members are actually useful if they have good equipment!
- Trials of Mana has a huge replay value!
- You can complete the story three times to learn about all the storylines!
- Trials of Mana has great character development!
- Unlock many skills to upgrade your character, talk to everyone who knows, you might get a new skill!
- Can you defeat the ultimate boss? The cute Black Rabite!
Cons
- No future mode is only for the hardcore gamers!
- You cannot use magic immediately with magic characters, but this is explained in the story
- Co-op was scrapped due to having no top-down perspective anymore.
If you like games like Octopath Traveler where you can see the story from different points of views when you play with a new character, this is the perfect game for you!
Final Rating
9.7
Let me know what you think of Trials of Mana in the comments!
I hope you enjoyed reading this review, I hope to see you in the next review!
If you liked reading this review, maybe you would like to share this review with your friends!
long shade
Good review for a good jrpg game. Watching YT videos, i do think that the english voice acting is good, but the japanese is better. PS: Happy anniversary!!!
supersven
thank you! Compared to some other games, the English voice acting is great!
Simone Krijgsman
That is on me, I don't like it when I cannot understand the language and I have to read everything.
And thank you for the congrats!!
krutarth
Japanese voice acting>>>>>>
Nice review! & happy wedding anniversary! 🙂
supersven
Thank you!
I do not like Japanese, I want English 😛
jett cameron
cool furry characters but too bad i don't like the fantasy settings
Jaromir Krzyszczak
WOW, a great remake of a very good game!
supersven
Indeed!
DonCarlos
This had a deeper darker story than what the characters looks like. Although it’s cliche we always need this kind of stories.
supersven
Stories are good for your imagination.
Halil KAPLAN
There was such a nice game.
jon doe
i hope to play it someday
Javier del Ríos
Never played the original (or any of its contemporaries, I never had a PSX or PS2), but it looks really good.
supersven
We also want to review the original eventually!
Mateusz
A remake done well, that's refreshing.
supersven
Some remakes are very good!
fano23
Looks like a fun and good game, pretty complete review
supersven
I hope you might play it in the future!