Trials of Mana (Seiken Densetsu 3 remake)

[Goratg]

Just ran through the demo on Switch. I like it.

Graphics are quite good for Switch, especially given it probably had a miniscule budget. Art direction is faithful to the SNES version and original character designs.

Had Kevin as main and his opening was a bit boring (and the environments were a bit ugly). That may have been the case in the original too. Since then it's been a blast.

Combat reminded me somewhat of the FF7 remake - kind of loose and all over the place, but it's fun and flowing. The changes to stats and skills seem good so far.

I think I will pick up the full version.

Complaining about the plot in a game like this is pretty lame. It keeps things moving and is unobtrusive. It was a long time ago, but I recall that I found the original was fine to play without the fan translation. Just skip through everything lol.

 

[Machocruz]

The AI companions sound like Rogue Galaxy. A severe lack of self preservation instinct.

 

[jungl]

sins of mana mod okay for the original game. all the bug fixes and class balance is nice but the default difficulty of the mod is way too autistic and definitely feels wrong and not designed for this type of game. Constantly having to open up the radial menu needing full inventory of candy and some chocolate to make it and survive first boss in game is goofy asf.

 

[Siveon]

This game reminds me of the kind of remakes you'd see on the PS2, like Dragon Quest V. A literal 3D remake that doesn't change much but is novel for doing that to a 2D game. Helps that the gameplay reminds me of PS2 games as well, playing it makes me nostalgic for these kinds of lower budget Action RPGs from Japan.

I wish devs did that more, the higher budget ones tend to have too much story.

 

[Grampy_Bone]

Beat the main story; fun if simple game. Class combos and ability unlocks are just interesting enough to keep you invested for the 25 hours or so, plus I'll probably replay with the other characters at some point.

Challenge largely vanished with Magus Angela meteoring everything. Fenrir Riesz was okay but nothing special, just makes her debuffs permanent. Paladin Duran I was torn over. On the one hand his room-clearing level 3 attack was great, but his Holy Saber was only useful on a couple of bosses, and the lack of a group heal sucked. I may respec him to Liege.

 

[AliceAlcina]

Fun, fast paced, class oriented, and played the shitton out of it. Really diggin it.

 

[Lincolnberry]

Just finished it. Bought at full price and think it was well worth it.

I think it's single biggest strength is the pacing - doesn't waste your time and become a slog in the mid to early late game like a lot of JRPGs do. A little on the easy side but plenty of replay value. Story is nonsense and there to push the game along and does it adequately.

Overall one of the best JRPG experiences I've had in some time, easy recommend.

Characters:

Kevin (main): Went Dark-Dark and he was fantastic. Went debuff/crit build and he was doing crazy amounts of damage. Very fun as a melee lead.

Riesz: Light-Dark. Nothing special - thought she was actually pretty boring and wouldn't have any trouble leaving her behind in a replay, unlike the other two.

Angela: Dark-Dark. I have to think she's the best character in the game. Once she gets a full complement of spells and MP items she's pretty unstoppable.

 

[Shaewaroz]

The original is a masterpiece, but I dunno about this one. Maybe I'll try the demo.

 

[Shaewaroz]

Damn, nostalgia is one hell of a drug. I've been listening to the Remake OST today and have tears running down my cheeks. I think I have to buy this just for the feels.

 

[Jasede]

OST was a real banger and it's nice to see these more faithful remixes, as opposed to the ABOMINATION that was the Secret of Mana rerelease.

 

[rashiakas]

installed, no ultrawide suport, didnt detect my ps3 controler, refunded

 

[GhostCow]

>using a ps3 controller without software to emulate xinput

 

[Shaewaroz]

Did anyone get fatal error when trying to launch the game? I get a black screen for 3 secs and the game shuts down with a fatal error.

 

[aweigh]

Some mods that people here might find useful:

1. No texture pop-in (will increase VRAM usage): https://www.nexusmods.com/trialsofmana/mods/17?tab=description

2. Selection of wider FOVs and zoomed-out cameras: a) https://www.nexusmods.com/trialsofmana/mods/35, and b) https://www.nexusmods.com/trialsofmana/mods/36

3. No ugly huge orange line indicating an enemy attack: https://www.nexusmods.com/trialsofmana/mods/20

 

[AliceAlcina]

No ugly huge orange line indicating an enemy attack

Check you system, it's red for me.

 

[Shadenuat]

why does every merchant does crab dance

and how do i get my magic missile, without it I am just an elf with nice titties

nvm, you need to kill giant crab for it.

but how do I get even sluttier dress

 

[GhostCow]

Outfits change with class changes. Dark/Dark gives you the slut outfits

 

[Mangoose]

Playing it now. Chapter 5-ish. Got my 3rd classes. Hawkeye (Ninja Master), Riesz (Dragon Master), Kevin (Warrior Monk). Hawkeye + Riesz because I wanted to main Hawkeye and Riesz is of the same storyline, which adds some inter-companion flavor dialogue. As for Kevin,I wanted a healer with AOE heals and not Carlie, and Liege looked boring (and I wanted to switch characters every now and then for fun).

TBH I'm maining Ninja Master to fulfill my Naruto fantasies, otherwise the Nomad looks better (Nightblade and Ninja Master just don't match up to Kevin/Duran/etc). I'm doing the Ninja Master Jutsu +SP Boost so I can do a Class Strike every few seconds (and Class Strikes increase damage lol).

I also took some chain skills from Dragon Master: Super Stat Down II, for obvious reasons. And. Opposite Effect, where debuffing a stat on an enemy also buffs the stat on myself. I may use Leaf Saber from Warrior Monk to keep the MP up.

So since the Dragon Master isn't doing the debuffing anymore, Riesz is just all in for summons and high attack. Dragon Master has really good defense, so she'll stay alive lol (I'll go into the AI below). I probably should've picked Duran instead of Kevin because I'm maining Hawkeye.. and Kevin really doesn't have any roles but being the main. This is mainly (heh) because the AI sucks at damaging...
---

Anyways, there are three problems (in other words, everything else is fine<->great):
- AI
- Difficulty
- Class/subclass balance

The AI sucks at melee damage. Magical attacks they're pretty good with and also debuffs. Buffs... the AI doesn't know what to buff and gives the wrong ones. Healing is super inconsistent... granted once you get an AOE heal it's not hard to command him to heal every now and then.

In fact, it kinda matches my experience. If I control Kevin, the AI masterfully uses my gimmicky SP-building Hawkeye. Riesz ironically works because she's a summoner, and the AI actually uses summons... Not something I intended but yay.

Difficulty... Hard is a little too easy... Haven't dug into Expert mode but that doesn't unlock until later.

Class-wise, everybody does have at least one or two level subclasses that work good. But it's annoying when the ones that are good are dumb (Grumpkin Spamming Rogue) and the ones that are meh are fun.