Add to these consumable items that can be used to deal damage to enemies, the ability to switch between party members on the fly, and magic spells which can be used by some characters, and you have quite an impressive arsenal. You also have a power attack, which can be used sparingly providing you have enough charge. Each character has two primary attacks: light and heavy, which can be chained together for maximum damage.
As soon as you cross an enemy, it’s time to draw out your weapon.įor the most part, combat is fast and fluid. Pleasantly, combat blends seamlessly into exploration there are no annoying announcement screens or loading times. Enemies densely populate each area, so you’re never a few seconds away from entering into another fight. Not that you get a whole lot of time to take in your scenery anyway, because you’ll be spending a huge amount of your time in combat. It’s a shame, because Trials of Mana‘s world is beautiful, but the linear nature of the story makes it feel like much of it is wasted. It’s not a game that overloads you with side quests outside of a non-essential objective to find little cacti hidden around the world, there’s not much else to do. There’s little point in exploring, however.
You don’t have to head straight to your destination if you don’t want to you can take time to explore the game’s wonderful and quirky villages.
With both of these creatures at your disposal, you finally feel like Trials of Mana‘s world is yours for the taking. Soon after, you’ll also be able to summon flying creature Flammie, with whom you can travel through the skies. He’s a huge turtle-like creature who can ferry you across Trials of Mana‘s oceans, reaching new areas. You’ll be given the Ferry Flute, a magical item that allows you to summon Vuscav. It’s not really until the half-way point that you’re given any semblance of freedom. You’ll come across enemies to fight, sure, and the odd fearsome boss, but you’ll also get bored of seeing the same few areas. The first several hours feel very linear, and you’ll find yourself travelling up and down the same paths, feeling little more than a messenger than a hero. Plus, there’s the fact that it takes a while for Trials of Mana‘s gameplay to open up. The main meat of the game remains unchanged so other than a few different cutscenes – and some different combat moves for your characters – there’s nothing worth making a second 20-hour playthrough for. But it’s not enough to make me want to play Trials of Mana again with different characters.
It’s a neat touch, knowing I might not have fought the same hulking boss at the end of the game had I chosen a different party. As such, each character has their own story beats, and who makes up your party will influence how the story plays out. Lion-haired warrior Duran wants to avenge his father, for example, while fair maiden Riesz wants to find her younger brother. Though no matter who you choose you’ll follow a similar path – to retrieve the Sword of Mana and ultimately save the world, blablah – but each character has a slightly different reason for wanting to do so. You’ve got six party members to choose from and, in what’s perhaps the most intriguing thing about the game, its story will differ slightly depending who you choose. Trials of Mana starts by having you choose your three protagonists. Still, it looks nice, plays smoothly, and it’s got an excellent soundtrack so there is all that. But as a modern game, it feels bogged-down by old-fashioned systems and offers very little that’s new or exciting.
#Trials of mana story paths series#
As a modern revival of a classic game, it feels faithful to the series and to the genre. If you’re looking for a good, old-fashioned Japanese RPG adventure, you really can’t go far wrong with Trials of Mana.
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