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Trials of Mana Demo Impressions Thread

Slaythe

Slaythe

The Wise Ones
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Oct 25, 2017
15,828
piratepwnsninja said:
So to get everything out of the game, you need to play it three separate times, yeah? Once with Duran, Angela and whoever, once with Kevin, Charlotte and whoever, and once with Reisz, Hawkeye and whoever?
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Pretty much yes. It's not mandatory but there are 3 big main plots.
The fact characters and classes change their gameplay helps keeping it fresh.

The general quest is going to be the same, collecting beast powers and saving the mana tree, but the beginning point and final act vary, on top of character interactions obviously.
They added a new epilogue chapter with classes tier 4, and a new game+, we're not sure how it works yet.
 
Mercador

Mercador

Member
Nov 18, 2017
2,840
Quebec City
Slaythe said:
You can do light light, light dark, dark dark, and dark light. For your classes, for each character. You can mix and match with each member of course.

My two main parties will be Duran Angela Hawkeye, Hawkeye Riez Charlotte. They're the stories/interactions and party set ups I prefer !
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You can mix dark/light within the same game? I'll go finish the demo.
 
Slaythe

Slaythe

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Oct 25, 2017
15,828
Mercador said:
You can mix dark/light within the same game? I'll go finish the demo.
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The demo stops long before you get to pick anything of the sort !

But yes you can mix and match however you please.

Synohan said:
Do we think they'll add a harder difficulty mode down the line?
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We're not sure yet. all we know is that there is a new game +.

It's also possible they made the beginning of the game very easy because you have literally no powers and abilities, which are the main way to fight in this game.
 
TheDeadlyHound

TheDeadlyHound

Member
Sep 22, 2019
255
I just tried the demo and the combat felt really bad like there is no weight to it. I saw the original and obviously this looks miles better, but not enough for a full purchase. Those the gameplay evolved or will it remain mostly unchanged throughout the game?
 
Synohan

Synohan

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,959
Slaythe said:
The demo stops long before you get to pick anything of the sort !

But yes you can mix and match however you please.



We're not sure yet. all we know is that there is a new game +.

It's also possible they made the beginning of the game very easy because you have literally no powers and abilities, which are the main way to fight in this game.
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Disclaimer said:
I don't know about that, but we know there's a NG+ in this, so the challenge could scale appropriately. It also remains to be seen whether Hard gains teeth as it goes past the prologue. I'm pretty hopeful that it does.
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Gotcha, i'll go in with some hope. Perhaps things change after the prologue or in NG+.
 
Yu Narukami

Yu Narukami

Unshakable Resolve
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Oct 26, 2017
5,130
I have pretty much decided to start with Riez/Hawkeye but don't who to pick for 3rd, Duran or Kevin.
 
Aquiel

Aquiel

Member
Feb 8, 2020
264
Xavi said:
Hey, with the game being released soon I was hoping we could get a good OT title. I have 0 creativity with that stuff.

Edit: reply to this message if you come up with one, thanks! : )
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''This is complete. Remake Seal of Approval.''
''Only this Part. I promise.''
''Secret of Mana 2 - There will be no SoM 2-2''
 
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Xavi

Xavi

Member
Oct 27, 2017
14,771
Lightning for Smash
By the way, seems like someone on GameFAQs got the game super early. Here's some "analysis" about the game difficutly

Theres Beginner - Easy - Normal and Hard modes.

Anyway, difficulty-wise I definitely think it's gotten tougher, but not to the point where I've really had to grind. The first boss (the one in the demo) was honestly a joke, I didn't even get hit. The second boss was way harder at least, and nearly killed both of my teammates, as well as myself, so I actually had to use healing items (then again you have quite a few of those).

Since then it hasn't been that difficult to be honest, but at least more challenging than the demo-segment. Your mileage may vary, but I think I'm slightly overlevelled due to exploring and looking for chests, which means I run into enemies more than I would otherwise. So that could be it. I feel like it's mostly a matter of keeping an eye on your teammates HP, since they aren't the best at evading enemy attacks.

I feel like the game might start putting up a fight soon though, or at least I hope so, and I'll come back with an update later.
Nothing else has been posted.
 
Slaythe

Slaythe

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Oct 25, 2017
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Since it's so satisfying to engage in battle and kill things, then see the direct effect of your stats builds, I think we're all gonna be overleveled ahah.

That's fine though. Sometimes making things explode is fine too.
 
Disclaimer

Disclaimer

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,457
Xavi said:
By the way, seems like someone on GameFAQs got the game super early. Here's some "analysis" about the game difficutly

Theres Beginner - Easy - Normal and Hard modes.

Anyway, difficulty-wise I definitely think it's gotten tougher, but not to the point where I've really had to grind. The first boss (the one in the demo) was honestly a joke, I didn't even get hit. The second boss was way harder at least, and nearly killed both of my teammates, as well as myself, so I actually had to use healing items (then again you have quite a few of those).

Since then it hasn't been that difficult to be honest, but at least more challenging than the demo-segment. Your mileage may vary, but I think I'm slightly overlevelled due to exploring and looking for chests, which means I run into enemies more than I would otherwise. So that could be it. I feel like it's mostly a matter of keeping an eye on your teammates HP, since they aren't the best at evading enemy attacks.

I feel like the game might start putting up a fight soon though, or at least I hope so, and I'll come back with an update later.
Nothing else has been posted.
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They're presumably on Hard?
 
Mercador

Mercador

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Nov 18, 2017
2,840
Quebec City
Slaythe said:
The demo stops long before you get to pick anything of the sort !

But yes you can mix and match however you please.
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Thank you very much Slaythe. I noticed that it is released THIS week, I thought it was the 28th.

I don't know if nvidia optimize its drivers but I can run the game at 4k@~60fps now, only in towns it goes lower. Now if I can find why there's no sound on Big Picture...?
 
Knightsoftheround

Knightsoftheround

Alt Account
Banned
Mar 7, 2020
376
I quite liked the game but the character designs are going to put me off getting this game. At least on launch.

They were all bad. Hawkeye was just about the only one that I thought was OK.
 
Zephy

Zephy

Member
Oct 27, 2017
6,162
Seems very fun overall and I like the character design.

The one thing that bothers me is that the ability meter takes ages to fill up. Like, a simple ability you should be able to use several times in a battle, actually takes several battles to fill up. I don't understand.
 
PLASTICA-MAN

PLASTICA-MAN

Member
Oct 26, 2017
23,560
What I didn't like is the forced combat and monsters respawning after you beat them and the combat itself is not that fun or advanced. eveeyrhting else, story and characters are great and push you to continue.
 
Slaythe

Slaythe

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Oct 25, 2017
15,828
Zephyriel said:
Seems very fun overall and I like the character design.

The one thing that bothers me is that the ability meter takes ages to fill up. Like, a simple ability you should be able to use several times in a battle, actually takes several battles to fill up. I don't understand.
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So as you go on, you get a lot more abilities, these are like "limit breaks". In the skill trees you will be able to gather energy faster if you choose it.

Using charged attacks also drops more energy.

Speaking of which, in case you guys didnt know, there are charge cancels in this. It's mostly used to use the strong attack without triggering the push back or AoE combo. Hawkeye makes great use of it since he has a poison passive on strong attacks that you can get.
 
Slaythe

Slaythe

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Oct 25, 2017
15,828
PLASTICA-MAN said:
What I didn't like is the forced combat and monsters respawning after you beat them and the combat itself is not that fun or advanced. eveeyrhting else, story and characters are great and push you to continue.
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I personally didnt mind the respawning rate since encounters are swift.

As for combat, the demo is the game at its most barebone shape.
There's a lot of little subtleties and it will only give you more options at time goes on.
 
skeezx

skeezx

Member
Oct 27, 2017
20,120
man i can't get over how much i enjoyed this demo, one of the few times a demo actually sold me as opposed to being a "preview" of something i'll buy anyway

playing this back to back with FF7R will be a surreal treat. i feel like the 90s me died and went to hog heaven, what did i do to deserve this
 
Zephy

Zephy

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Oct 27, 2017
6,162
Slaythe said:
So as you go on, you get a lot more abilities, these are like "limit breaks". In the skill trees you will be able to gather energy faster if you choose it.
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That's the thing though, if we take FFVIIR as a comparison, these cost a lot like Limit breaks, but feel about as powerful as combat skills like Braver or Triple Slash. They are very underwhelming for the amount of time they take to build up.
 
Slaythe

Slaythe

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Oct 25, 2017
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Zephyriel said:
That's the thing though, if we take FFVIIR as a comparison, these cost a lot like Limit breaks, but feel about as powerful as combat skills like Braver or Triple Slash. They are very underwhelming for the amount of time they take to build up.
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Like I said, this is the beginning of the game.

You get a new limit break tier every time to switch class.
They have different utility and more damage, use more gauge etc...

You eventually have options in the skill tree to build the energy faster.

And since in the demo they one shot everything that isnt the boss I'm not sure what you mean by underwhelming. If you mean in terms of spectacle, cross slash is literally the same as what Hawkeye does, but it's only the first basic lb you get out of 4.
 
nikos

nikos

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Oct 27, 2017
2,998
New York, NY
Slaythe said:
Pretty much yes. It's not mandatory but there are 3 big main plots.
The fact characters and classes change their gameplay helps keeping it fresh.

The general quest is going to be the same, collecting beast powers and saving the mana tree, but the beginning point and final act vary, on top of character interactions obviously.
They added a new epilogue chapter with classes tier 4, and a new game+, we're not sure how it works yet.
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For our two supporting characters, will we see their introductions as if they were our main, when they join the party, or will they just join in?
 
Slaythe

Slaythe

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Oct 25, 2017
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nikos said:
For our two supporting characters, will we see their introductions as if they were our main, when they join the party, or will they just join in?
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When they are about to join your party, they ask you whether you want to play their introduction or have a flashback video of it instead.
A god send for replays.
 
Mejilan

Mejilan

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Oct 27, 2017
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Apologies if it's been asked already.
But are there any bonuses for playing the demo, or can I skip it and go straight into the main game.
I know saves transfer over, which give you a bit of a leg up, but if there are no special bonuses, I'll just wait for launch.
Thanks!
 
Burt

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Oct 28, 2017
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Having to hit every stat w Angela to get her spells has me hmming

I really wanted to go Dark/Light to see the level 3 elementals, but it seems like if you don't spread your stats well before then you might be in trouble
 
sensui-tomo

sensui-tomo

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I'm gonna say the main attribute to why the game feels easy is one thing. Dodge/roll, it seems to break the game single handily and it doesnt look like they made attacks to account for it. Still getting the game day one mind you.
 
sensui-tomo

sensui-tomo

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I just hope the game does well enough so we have a chance of seeing a new Legend of Mana port.
 
Slaythe

Slaythe

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Oct 25, 2017
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sensui-tomo said:
I just hope the game does well enough so we have a chance of seeing a new Legend of Mana port.
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Well they said they wont touch legend of mana.

If this does okay the next step is a new original Mana game. Even better !
Yu Narukami said:
Apparently the game gets harder on hard. 🤔
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Awesome !
Since all the unique battle aspects of this game come from abilities and classes, I guess they had to lower difficulty until you get some stuff since your only option would be to spam item.

Burt said:
Having to hit every stat w Angela to get her spells has me hmming

I really wanted to go Dark/Light to see the level 3 elementals, but it seems like if you don't spread your stats well before then you might be in trouble
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From what the Square cm said, it seems Angela is designed around the new stat reset mechanic. Basically have one build for general exploration, and then custom builds that fit where you're going.
Mejilan said:
Apologies if it's been asked already.
But are there any bonuses for playing the demo, or can I skip it and go straight into the main game.
I know saves transfer over, which give you a bit of a leg up, but if there are no special bonuses, I'll just wait for launch.
Thanks!
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You can skip it.

The month 1 purchases come with a pendant you can equip, that doubles XP until level 10.

So you wont even miss the headstart of the demo.
 
piratepwnsninja

piratepwnsninja

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Oct 25, 2017
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I started the demo this evening. Ended up going with Duran as the main character, Angela as the 1st companion, and Charlotte as the 2nd companion. Didn't get to play too much yet, as my 3yo wants to watch me play and it was close to his bedtime when I started, but it seems like it's exactly what I needed after FF7R.
 
Slaythe

Slaythe

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Oct 25, 2017
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Xavi said:
Seems like we are getting a day 1 patch.

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Bug fixes and performance improvements.

And new dash options :

Normal : Press the button to sprint, your speed returns to normal during battles and after you stop moving

Continue : You stay sprinting until you click the button another time, sprint if kept on after you stop moving or after a battle ends

Automatic : sprint triggers 1 second after you start moving
 
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Xavi

Xavi

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Oct 27, 2017
14,771
Lightning for Smash
Slaythe said:
Bug fixes and performance improvements.

And new dash options :

Normal : Press the button to sprint, your speed returns to normal during battles and after you stop moving

Continue : You stay sprinting until you click the button another time, sprint if kept on after you stop moving or after a battle ends

Automatic : sprint triggers 1 second after you start moving
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Oh thank god, running was annoying in the demo
 
ConfusedOwl

ConfusedOwl

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Oct 27, 2017
2,125
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Enjoyed the little bit I played of the demo. Not sure if I want to go with the party I played the original with or start fresh with a different set of characters. I'll likely play through it more than once anyway since Xenoblade won't be coming out till the end of may.

Between this game, FFVII, RE3, and Xenoblade, almost every game I've been excited for this year has been a remake.
 
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