• Light/Dark
  • Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.

Trials of Mana |OT| Seiken Densetsu 3-D

Woylie

Woylie

Member
May 9, 2018
1,849
For someone who hasn't played this or Secret of Mana before and is feeling curious (I played Sword of Mana on GBA as a kid and liked it, though that seems to be the black sheep of the series) - what's the best jumping-in point? Should I try this game out or get the collection next time it's on a sale and play SoM first?

I was also curious what everyone thinks of the remake compared to the original game as featured in the collection. Does the low-budget stuff like the voice-acting and some weird writing choices (Charlotte's dialogue for example) hinder the experience enough that it would be worth playing the SNES version for a first playthrough instead?
 
MikeProtagonist

MikeProtagonist

Member
Oct 26, 2017
7,300
It's a tiny bit annoying that I can't understand most of the fight banter, but I'm not going to change the language.

I do enjoy that there's quite a bit of dialogue between the crew even though Duran and Angela are just tagging along on Riesz' story for now. Either the lines are cleverly written or there's specific ones for any combination.

Woylie said:
For someone who hasn't played this or Secret of Mana before and is feeling curious (I played Sword of Mana on GBA as a kid and liked it, though that seems to be the black sheep of the series) - what's the best jumping-in point? Should I try this game out or get the collection next time it's on a sale and play SoM first?

I was also curious what everyone thinks of the remake compared to the original game as featured in the collection. Does the low-budget stuff like the voice-acting and some weird writing choices (Charlotte's dialogue for example) hinder the experience enough that it would be worth playing the SNES version for a first playthrough instead?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

For what it's worth, I dropped the SNES version (and its lovely spritework) for this to get the modern convenience. The original is really modern in some ways but stupidly archaic in others, and there's a ton of backtracking. So when the game for the Xth time asked me to go back to random town and I hadn't played in a while and forgot where that even was, I just stopped.

It's also quite buggy, there's no real treasure to find and the pause menu seems very unfinished, like an early alpha release. It's obvious that they hacked it together to get it out the door before the SNES was completely forgotten.
 
-Pyromaniac-

-Pyromaniac-

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,362
Woylie said:
For someone who hasn't played this or Secret of Mana before and is feeling curious (I played Sword of Mana on GBA as a kid and liked it, though that seems to be the black sheep of the series) - what's the best jumping-in point? Should I try this game out or get the collection next time it's on a sale and play SoM first?

I was also curious what everyone thinks of the remake compared to the original game as featured in the collection. Does the low-budget stuff like the voice-acting and some weird writing choices (Charlotte's dialogue for example) hinder the experience enough that it would be worth playing the SNES version for a first playthrough instead?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
absolutely can just jump into this

and no this is a great remake, story and voices are whatever but everything looks great and it's feel good gaming.
 
skeezx

skeezx

Member
Oct 27, 2017
20,128
Woylie said:
For someone who hasn't played this or Secret of Mana before and is feeling curious (I played Sword of Mana on GBA as a kid and liked it, though that seems to be the black sheep of the series) - what's the best jumping-in point? Should I try this game out or get the collection next time it's on a sale and play SoM first?

I was also curious what everyone thinks of the remake compared to the original game as featured in the collection. Does the low-budget stuff like the voice-acting and some weird writing choices (Charlotte's dialogue for example) hinder the experience enough that it would be worth playing the SNES version for a first playthrough instead?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

IMO the original SD3 (now "Trials") is a pretty mediocre game. in the mid 90s it was quite the sight to behold and super ambitious, absent from the west so that added to its "unplayed gem" mystique but brass tacks the game was basically Press A for Awesome

remake takes the foundation (of which was blueprint of an amazing jrpg) and adds actually playable mechanics

wouldn't hurt to mess around with the collection first, time and money willing (secret of mana is IMO a GOAT but first timing in 2020 i dunno how fervently i'd recommend it) but if you're simply in the mood for a jrpg that doesn't suck going into this dry should be a-ok
 
Arcus Felis

Arcus Felis

Unshakable Resolve
Member
Oct 26, 2017
3,123
skeezx said:
IMO the original SD3 (now "Trials") is a pretty mediocre game. in the mid 90s it was quite the sight to behold and super ambitious, absent from the west so that added to its "unplayed gem" mystique but brass tacks the game was basically Press A for Awesome

remake takes the foundation (of which was blueprint of an amazing jrpg) and adds actually playable mechanics

wouldn't hurt to mess around with the collection first, time and money willing (secret of mana is IMO a GOAT but first timing in 2020 i dunno how fervently i'd recommend it) but if you're simply in the mood for a jrpg that doesn't suck going into this dry should be a-ok
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I second this. While the original was loved, it never "clicked" for me, gameplay-wise. It had very cheap mechanics (hellooooo deadly counters if you dared to use magic), a lot of down-times between attacks and was very repetitive. While I can see the repetitiveness showing its ugly head after a while in this remake too, I dare say the gameplay is very fast-paced and engaging. It feels like they polished a jewel by getting rid of half-baked ideas and enhancing what worked. And it is fantastic so far.

I was afraid the game would be a little too easy, especially after reading everyone's impressions (well, most reviewers agree that the game is too easy on normal), but I just had a huge difficulty spike against a level 20 boss (second boss since I changed classes; playing on Hard), and I enjoyed that fight quite a lot. If I had one criticism, it is that the camera is a pain to handle, especially in close quarters. You just don't see the action very well.
 

Skulldead

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,450
Arcus Felis said:
I was afraid the game would be a little too easy, especially after reading everyone's impressions (well, most reviewers agree that the game is too easy on normal), but I just had a huge difficulty spike against a level 20 boss (second boss since I changed classes; playing on Hard), and I enjoyed that fight quite a lot. If I had one criticism, it is that the camera is a pain to handle, especially in close quarters. You just don't see the action very well.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

i think this is where the game start to get fun, this is the point i was like, happy to see hard mode is actualy challenging.
 

Deleted member 8852

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
3,896
So far I'm loving the game with a slight negative being the weird shortcuts they're taking in cut-scenes. (lack of sfx, cut to black)

About level 25 now playing on hard and haven't really ran into a difficult fight, I messed up my class changes tho and ended up with 2 dark debuff classes so I'll have to change one of them to light later.
 
super etrian odyssey

super etrian odyssey

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,560
This game is still beautiful on the Switch. Might not be as beautiful as other platforms but I find myself enjoying the visuals a lot.

Really cool game. Comfy as heck.
 
BeefTengoku

BeefTengoku

Member
Jul 9, 2019
2,190
If I want to Platinum this, what party or parties should I choose?

I guess the main question is - do you get the trophies for completing a character's story for all the characters in your party, or only one of them?
 
robotzombie

robotzombie

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,853
Is there anything special you can do once you have the turtle flute, or should I still just follow the stars straight to the next story stuff? Any sidequests or hidden areas?
 
Pyros Eien

Pyros Eien

Member
Oct 31, 2017
1,974
robotzombie said:
Thanks

Does anything bump up MP? Or is that only gained through levels
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
There's a +10mp skill pretty early on(talk to the king of jadd after whatever quest brings you there to get it), and other than that generally changing class will massively improve stats(not sure at which point you are).

I think other than Angela though no one has a great time with mp management and it's more of a game of using your mp sparsingly or using items to gain mp back every now and then. If you have Angela in your group though you can spec into Reclaim which gives mp back for every power attack(triangle button), and if you get both Reclaim I and II, you get 3mp for every triangle attack so you can spam that to get back to full pretty easily, and just in general gameplay if you weave attacks inbetween spells you basically have permanent mp. I'm playing Angela atm and basically spamming a lot of aoes, makes combat a lot smoother(bosses also dies a lot faster when you spam spells on them).
 

veras

Member
Oct 27, 2017
183
Have a question about character choices/endgame/trophies, mild spoiler:

I know there's three different end bosses depending on your character choice, can someone explain how this works please without spoilers? Just want to plan my playthroughs out
 
super etrian odyssey

super etrian odyssey

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,560
Are people here playing through introductory chapters of the two characters you're adventuring with or saving those stories for future play throughs? Conflicted about what to do.
 
Hassansan

Hassansan

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,125
I know nothing about the Mana franchise but so far am really loving the ost and the combat, everything else leaves a lot to be desired.

Disliking how each party member feels like they are on a different plane.
 
Disclaimer

Disclaimer

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,463
veras said:
Have a question about character choices/endgame/trophies, mild spoiler:

I know there's three different end bosses depending on your character choice, can someone explain how this works please without spoilers? Just want to plan my playthroughs out
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

There are three routes, each involving a pair of characters, and which you get is dependent on who your main is: Angela/Duran; Riesz/Hawkeye; Kevin/Charlotte. Each of these has its own antagonists and corresponding dungeons. If either your second or third character (doesn't matter which) is the story pair of your main, they'll interact in the story a bit more. If not, their involvement will be less, and their own story truncated.

As for trophies, it's a bit unclear? I'm on Switch and haven't looked at any trophy lists, but I believe a reviewer said that you got a 'character completion' for all three characters in your party, so if that's true, perhaps you could get away with 2 playthroughs each with 3 different characters, as far as trophies go. Dunno.

Hopefully that makes things clear?
 
60fps

60fps

Banned
Dec 18, 2017
3,492
lazygecko said:
Tried the demo. Yeah, I'm not feeling this at all. I actually liked the feel of the combat in the original game, and that's just totally gone in the remake. The combat feels completely weightless with no sense of feedback at all. And the overall production values are just low enough that all of the "upgrades" feel like it detracts from the experience rather than add to it. Things like awkward voice acting, simplistic 3D environment details, animations etc. just stand out and distract me a lot more in how lackluster it feels compared to the more refined 16-bit presentation of the original game.

It basically feels like it would have been an okay remake from 15 years ago that in hindsight aged a lot more poorly than the original, if that analogy makes any sense.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
That's exactly the impression I got from gameplay videos so far. Have to try the demo and see.
 
eddiemunstr

eddiemunstr

Member
Jan 20, 2019
1,530
So whats the deal with Charlotte and the way she speaks? It just seems so strange since they sad she isnt a kid but is actually 15. Then she herself says how she isnt a kid during her intro. If she were a child I could at least understand the baby talk stuff being part of a small child character trope or something like that. Its also kinda inconsistent with the voice and the subtitles; sometimes certain letters are "baybyfied" with the W sound other times they pronounce it just fine but the subtitle suggests otherwise.
 

veras

Member
Oct 27, 2017
183
Disclaimer said:
There are three routes, each involving a pair of characters, and which you get is dependent on who your main is: Angela/Duran; Riesz/Hawkeye; Kevin/Charlotte. Each of these has its own antagonists and corresponding dungeons. If either your second or third character (doesn't matter which) is the story pair of your main, they'll interact in the story a bit more. If not, their involvement will be less, and their own story truncated.

As for trophies, it's a bit unclear? I'm on Switch and haven't looked at any trophy lists, but I believe a reviewer said that you got a 'character completion' for all three characters in your party, so if that's true, perhaps you could get away with 2 playthroughs each with 3 different characters, as far as trophies go. Dunno.

Hopefully that makes things clear?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Thanks, this is exactly what I wanted to know. I think there's a trophy for doing all three routes, so it sounds like I just need to plan one run with a main from each pair.
 
Menome

Menome

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,404
Tried out the demo for a couple of hours on Steam this evening as I happened to get the pop-up advert, and quite enjoyed it, with no previous experience with any Mana game before. Maybe because I'd been going through the worst voice-acting thread in the morning, I didn't find most of it that egregious in comparison...aside from Charlotte.

Will pick it up on payday next week and hope GMG still has that small discount on it.
 
N64Controller

N64Controller

Member
Nov 2, 2017
8,329
DarkJedi187 said:
Do you only get the option to play the character intro for you second character? Just met my third character and didn't get asked to play the intro. Really enjoying the game.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

You don't get asked that immediately for the third character, it doesn't trigger in the prison. I had the prompt but later.

The load times to change class are killing me
 
Last edited:
Neki

Neki

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,793
I feel Riesz has the best level 1 class strike. It covers so much real estate and it hits air units pretty well too. I just spam that over and over lol.
 
RPG

RPG

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,075
Colorado
Just started playing tonight. The music, the sound effects, are really triggering some great nostalgia.
 
Hecht

Hecht

Too damn tired
Administrator
Oct 24, 2017
9,731
Still on the fence about picking this up (I loved SD3) - or at least whether I wait for a sale. All that said, I'm glad Powell sounds good. Favorite song from the original.

 

Diagol

Member
Oct 25, 2017
198
Hecht said:
Still on the fence about picking this up (I loved SD3) - or at least whether I wait for a sale. All that said, I'm glad Powell sounds good. Favorite song from the original.

Click to expand...
Click to shrink...


Personally, I'm loving the game. And the soundtrack is amazing! I think if you loved SD3, this will be right up your alley.
 
Niceguydan8

Niceguydan8

Member
Nov 1, 2017
3,411
Arcade55 said:
The 30FPS nonsense on Switch convinced me to buy it on PS4. Action RPG's need them frame rates to feel great.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Totally disagree. Although obviously I'd prefer 60 (or 144), I've been playing through the game on Switch and it's totally fine. The combat is slow enough where I don't think the framerate is some huge gamebreaker.
 
PlanetSmasher

PlanetSmasher

The Abominable Showman
Member
Oct 25, 2017
115,529
I had to change the controls. Basic attack as O and dodge as Square was just too weird for me.
 
Bit_Reactor

Bit_Reactor

Banned
Apr 9, 2019
4,413
I'm thinking I've locked in my team, Hawkeye (Nightblade), Reisz (StarLancer I think??), and Kevin (Warrior Monk).

I couldn't figure out how to sub Angela in place of Kevin sadly.
 
Slaythe

Slaythe

The Wise Ones
Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,839
PlanetSmasher said:
Yup. That's exactly what I just did.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I initially was fine as it was kingdom hearts controls but after playing ff7 I had muscle memory for it so I changed it to that too lol.

My only issue with controls is that right and left dpad are useless and I'd rather use that to switch characters and use R1 for lock on. That or just like they patched Dash to make it good they can patch lock on and make it target next enemy in line when one dies and lock on is turned on.

Otherwise it's pretty tight. I like how you get more stuff with class changes too.
 
DarkJedi78

DarkJedi78

Member
Oct 25, 2017
562
OH
I really hate missing things... Guess there is a missable ability from Watts. You need to pay him the first time you meet him to get it.
 
Slaythe

Slaythe

The Wise Ones
Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,839
QisTopTier said:
I freaking love the rework on the stat system and classes
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I'm so impressed with it.

How they let you make unique builds and how classes radically change characters and are all unique and they work without glitch this time.

I made a save near the mana stone to try a bunch of stuff ahah !

Btw do we know what the max level is ?
 
Disclaimer

Disclaimer

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,463
PlanetSmasher

PlanetSmasher

The Abominable Showman
Member
Oct 25, 2017
115,529
When do I unlock full Cannon Travel capabilities? I missed a bunch of Li'l Cactus appearances in the first couple areas and want to go back and get them without running straight back the whole way.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.