Republished on Wednesday, August 10, 2022: Following the announcement of the PS Plus Extra, Premium lineup in August, I’m reviving this review from the archives. The original is below.
Trials of Mana is a full 3D remake of Seiken Densetsu 3, an action role-playing game developed by Square. collection of mana on Nintendo Switch. Clearly it doesn’t have the budget or talent of Final Fantasy VII Remake, but Trials of Mana is a faithful and fun recreation of his classic adventure.
Just to clarify, this is almost an exact remake. The story, characters and gameplay structure are the same as the original, only everything has been adapted to 3D. Full of the original game makes for an almost surreal experience if he is even slightly familiar with the 2D world. It’s all here as you remember, but you can freely move the camera around to explore every nook and cranny. The setting and its inhabitants have a certain charm.
However, being a faithful remake also means that the plot is trapped in a time when the genre lacked true narrative depth. It’s a tale of heroes fighting an unquestionable evil, with a twist. The only saving grace for Old School Story is that, even in 2020, the gimmick of featuring six different playable his characters remains somewhat unique.
In fact, at the start of the game, you can choose your hero and two companions who will eventually join you on your quest. Each character has its own prologue, offering insight into their often tragic motivations. Additionally, the later part of the story changes depending on who the player is playing as — depending on the perspective chosen. , encountering various villains and slightly altered plot points. This is a great system that goes a long way in giving Trials of Mana its unique feel and identity.
That said, the quality of the cutscenes leaves much to be desired. When working with such basic dialogue, motion cap cutscenes often look awkward and distracting. . It also doesn’t help that the English voice acting is questionable at best, enough to suggest using the Japanese voice option. You can, but honestly, I’d rather have a traditional text box than this one.
Luckily, the majority of this adventure consists of combat and exploration, making both aspects of the journey a lot of fun. As you can imagine, the structure of the game is predictably retro. Visit towns, stock up on new weapons and armor, hit the roads, work your way through a dungeon or two, defeat bosses, and reach the next settlement ready to start all over again. This is a basic but tried and tested formula. Aside from some annoying backtracking later on, the pacing feels just right, with very little downtime between one adventurous stage and the next.
Trials of Mana isn’t a particularly short experience either. It took him nearly 30 hours to reach the credits, but by the time he finished, he had the urge to play again with a different character. Needless to say, there is considerable replay value here. As mentioned earlier, the title’s simple pacing lends itself well to multiple runs. You don’t have to worry about rewatching lengthy cutscenes or skipping lines of dialogue just to get back into the action.
Speaking of action, Trials of Mana has a lot. The combat is, in a nutshell, basic, but it’s also relatable and deeply satisfying. All playable heroes have access to standard square button combos, heavier triangle attacks, and evasion rolls. As you progress, unlock additional character classes that grant you new magical spells and abilities, and expand your combat system to give you individual control over how your party fights.
Outside of the game’s many engaging boss fights, combat rarely feels overwhelming, but like the rest of the release, its simplicity makes it effective. When used, it adds a nice rhythm to more tactical skirmishes.
There are also different difficulty levels to consider. ‘Easy’ and ‘Normal’ are exactly what you’d expect. Elsewhere, ‘Hard’ is worth a try if you want a challenge. It’s brutal, but the AI-driven companions (who are fairly reliable in other difficulties) will certainly be frustrating as they refuse to fend off incoming attacks.
Conclusion
It may be a full 3D remake of the classic action RPG, but Trials of Mana sticks to the original game’s structure. As a result, its storytelling and characters are repetitive and almost forgettable — further hampered by awkward cutscenes and dubious English voice acting — but the fast-paced gameplay is what modern RPGs would do hundreds of times. It feels amazingly fresh in an age that tends to be protracted. time. Moreover, its simple but smooth and effective combat system allows for some more action. Overall, Trials of Mana is a fun throwback.
