Let's Talk About Trials of Mana (2020)

Last summer I took a look at the Collection of Mana, a compilation of the first three games in the Mana series, or the Seiken Densetsu series if you're a weeb. I really enjoyed the Collection of Mana and Trials of Mana was definitely the main highlight, not just because it was a great game but because it was the first time it had been released in the west after 24 years of being a Japanese exclusive title. But the thing is when the Collection of Mana was announced it was preceded with an announcement that Trials of Mana was getting a full 3D remake, so I guess they thought it was best to release the original so western gamers could compare and contrast, they were going to translate the remake so they might as well just use the script they had for that and transfer it over to the original which is what they ended up doing. No kidding if you compare the scripts for both versions they're almost identical so there's the explanation of why they finally released the original I guess. I was excited for the remake when I first saw it despite not being a big fan of the Mana series at the time because I do love a good action RPG and after becoming a fan through playing the Collection of Mana I was all the more excited to play the remake. The thing is, while I enjoyed the original Trials of Mana it did have some pretty noteworthy flaws that could have been ironed out and I was hoping the remake would do just that. There was some scepticism in how well they would do that given that previous Mana series remakes were, bad. Still I had hopes for it and after seeing some gameplay it helped alleviate any scepticism I might have had. But there's a huge difference between watching a game and actually playing it. So let's take a look at Trials of Mana and see whether or not it improves on the original. By the by, I would recommend reading my review of the original Trials of Mana first if you want to know more about it because I'll be referencing it a lot.

There are two ways of handling a remake, the first is to make it as close to the original to represent the original experience and the other is to act as a reimaging, taking things from the original but offering a new experience with the same world and characters. Final Fantasy VII Remake, which I reviewed last week, represents the latter category while Trials of Mana sits firmly in the former. From the story, to the world, to the basic gameplay mechanics, everything you remember from the original is represented here for better or for worse. I don't think either method is superior, both have their positives and negatives, and one of the positives of trying to represent the original as closely as possible is that new players get to see what they were missing out on while allowing the developers the chance to improve on the flaws of the original and that's exactly what Trials of Mana does. Though this does not apply to the story. Like the original the plot is fairly basic but it's basic by necessity. See Trials of Mana's story is split between six different main characters. Each character has there own motivations and who you choose to play as at the beginning changes how events play out and even determines who the main villain is. It was an ambitious story for it's time but it does show it's age. At the very least the story doesn't become convoluted and the characters have clearly defined motivations but that doesn't change the fact that the story is fairly simple with few surprises and some very weak villans. The Mana series isn't exactly known for it's stories, however, but the series does succeed in creating a childlike sense of wonder and nostalgia. Sure the story is too simple for it's own good but at the same time it's a game that lets you fly around on a magic dragon, talk to tiny woodland folk that build their homes in trees and befriend dwarfs, elfs and even beastmen along the journey. There is a certain charm to the world of Trials of Mana that's hard not to love. So while the story isn't the best the charming world and likable characters made it a fun one to experience.

The remake does not make any sgnificant changes to the story, as I said it's trying to represent the original as much as it is able, but it does add some new banter between the characters which is a nice, if minor, touch. No the main changes come with the gameplay and presentation. Gameplay wise it follows the same structure as the original and you'll visit all of the same locations. Now obviously it isn't going to have the same layout but it's very close and the new 3D perspective allows these locations to have added depth to them. The addition of a jump button, an oddity for RPGs, means areas have some additional platforming elements with a greater degree of verticality in the overall level design. To emphasise the added depth Trials of Mana now has treasure to find in the overworld. You'll find it lying on the ground but you will also find treasure chests with more substantial goodies. This makes exploring the games levels a lot more rewarding than in the original and as a result far more enjoyable as there's now a reason to go off the beaten path, though even with some of the added nooks and crannies the areas you explore aren't too dissimilar to what they were before. However while most of the towns and overworld remain mostly the same with a few changes here and there dungeons have been completely redesigned. They keep the same basic idea but the layouts and even some of the puzzles are brand new. Now for this playthrough I played through Kevin and Charlottes story, which was the one I didn't do in the original, so their final dungeon was unfamiliar to me, but the rest of the dungeons were different so I'm going to assume the final dungeons were different as well. The new dungeons are a little more interesting given some of the changes made to them but they don't change them so completely as to altter the original concept.

Now let's get into the meat of this game, the combat. Combat in the original game was fun but could also become confusing in it's more hectic moments and suffered from cheap difficulty spikes. This is no longer the case but before we get into the details let's talk about the basics. You now have two attack buttons, a light attack and a strong attack, that can be strung together into different combos. While each character plays differently they each follow a similar combo structure so you won't have to memorise new combo strings when you swap between them. The new combo system may not be the most intricate I've seen but it does help add an extra layer of depth to the games combat system and with jumping now being available there's even some minor aerial combat thrown in. Class strikes return but the way they work is a little different. You still need to build a meter in order to use them but now that meter does not deplete after a fight, it only goes down when you use a class strike so you can keep meter stored for when you need it. Building meter works differently too, rather than building it up by dealing damage you now build it by collecting crystals dropped by enemies meaning you won't necessarily be able to pull one of in every fight, or at the very least you won't be able to pull off higher level ones all the time. To compensate, class strikes are much more powerful, some of the higher level ones can devastate multiple enemies with one shot. Class strikes are flashy and cinematic but unlike the original, the game doesn't stop when these moves are performed, in fact unless you are directly controlling the character the move will not switch to a cinematic view at all. This extends to magic as well and to make it all the sweeter, the computer AI will now perform magic on it's own without any need for your involvement meaning you don't have to constantly stop the fight to give your spell casters commands. Combine this with the ability to quick select spells and items, with the added bonus of switching the quick select menu mid fight, and fights in the Trials of Mana remake flow so much better than in the original.

Thankfully fights are not as confusing due to fighting areas being more open and enemies not dogpiling you as much. Speaking of enemies, in my review of the original one of my chief complaints was that later on in the game enemies would often hit you with unavoidable attacks that dealt insane amounts of damage often leading to unfair game overs and requiring the player to grind for experience or money for better equipment. This has been fixed. Now, enemies have very obvious tells for when they are going to do a powerful attack and these can be avoided by getting out of the way, you even have a handy new dodge roll to help with this. While these attacks still do a decent amount of damage, the fact they are now avoidable is a much needed improvement and means I can go into fights without fear of getting nuked almost immediately. I've heard other reviewers say the game is too easy but I would disagree with that sentiment. Though the game is not what I would call hard, at least on Normal which was what I played, I would argue the game comes across as too easy because a lot of the bullshit from the original game is no more. Unavoidable enemy attacks? Gone! Overly long boss fights? Gone! Grinding for levels and money? Sweet jumping Jesus is that ever gone! I never had to grind once in this game and even if I needed to, there are new items to make that process quick and easy. So a lot of the tedious nonsense in the original has been removed which in turn makes the game feel a lot easier. Now I still had a couple of unfair deaths, but no where near as many as in the original. As you can see, combat has seen a significant upgrade, though it is not without it's flaws. Specifically I'm referring to the camera. While it is nice that I can adjust how far away the camera is, something that was also in Final Fantasy VII Remake, the fact of the matter is that the camera isn't great. What kills it for me is the inability to recenter the camera, having to rotate it manually during a fight was annoying and the lock on feature was useful on occasion but more times than not I avoided using it.

But a good battle system can only get you so far. In my opinion there are three aspects you must nail to make a good RPG, exploration, combat and customisation. We've already covered the first two so now it's time the third. Right from the get go you are given a choice of three of the six characters available characters you want to be your party. I already mentioned how the story changes depending on who you choose but the only one that matters in this regard is the main character, the others may provide extra details but they're mostly their to aid in combat. Each character has their own unique playstyles and use different kinds of equipment and weapons. Duran is a swordsman who has good attack and defence, Kevin is a brawler with powerful techniques, Hawkeye is a speedy thief, Angela is an offensive magic user, Charlotte is a healer and Riesz is a balanced fighter with no real strengths or weaknesses. As you can see they each serve different role and who you pick, or more specifically don't pick, will radically change your team dynamic. It's entirely possible you could create a team without any kind of magic whatsoever, fortunately the game is designed in such a way that it isn't too unbalanced no matter what kind of team you have. Don't have any offensive magic? There's a ton of items that can do similar things. Some might look at the large amount of items in the game and see it as excessive but it's excessive by necessity, the game is planned out in such a way that you aren't completely screwed no matter which combination you choose. This is good game design. While each character might appear to fit into simple RPG archetypes there is a way to change how each character plays.

At some point in the game you will be able to change the characters class to either a light class or a dark class and each class change will unlock new combo strings, class strikes and offers a very different playstyle. Take Riesz for instance, her light class gives her access to magic that can buff her entire party whereas her dark path gives access to debuff magic to debilitate her enemies. As you can see there is a significant difference in how each class works so there is some leway in how you build each team. There's also a second class change you can get later on and it isn't as annoying to get this time around. You still need to get class items from ??? seeds but they are much easier to get and it appears you get the class items in a set order rather than it being random, though I'm still not 100% accurate that is the case, could be I just got lucky. I'd still prefer it if the second class change didn't require them but at least it is handeled better here. There's also a new option to reset class classes but you won't get to do that until very late in the game. As you gain levels you will receive points that can be put in one of five different categories. This was the same in to the original but now you aren't forced to assign points after every level up, now you can accumulate them and assign them whenever you want. Assigning points isn't just a basic stats boost either, while you can get a stats increase you may also unlock new moves for combat or new abilities. Abilities are brand new for the remake and each character can equip up to six of them, though you only start with two and unlock more with each class change. Each ability gives different perks to each character and gives even more options for customising how each character plays. Trials of Mana isn't that long of an RPG, only took me about 25 hours to beat, but it makes up for that with tons of replay value. I mean you are only going to be able to play through the game with three characters at a time so you'll have to play through it at least twice to see every characters story and the class changes add to that. My team for this play through was Kevin, Charlotte and Duran who I had used previously in my playthroughs of the original but this time I used different job classes and found that they indeed played very differently. Now I want to do it with the others.

I'm going to be upfront with you all, in everyway that matters the Trials of Mana remake is a better game than the original. The combat has more depth, the customisation is richer, ther world is more fun to explore and there are other minor changes I haven't mentioned yet, such as the fact that seed planting is much easier or how you can chat to party members when visiting towns. Even the party AI has been improved, not only do they do more on their own but you now have the more options to tweak their behaviour in the way that you want. The original Trials of Mana was already a great game but if you were to twist my arm and only recommend one version, it would be the remake. There's even some new additional content. There's a brand new post game which I won't go into because of spoilers but it's a pretty good extra with some nice character development and then there's Lil Cactus. You'll see this guy around the world and if you find him enough times he'll reward you with some nifty perks, you'll have to go out of your way to find him at times but its worth it you do. And yet for all the new stuff added to the game, it still feels distinctively retro. In an age where RPG's are becoming more streamlined and linear Trials of Mana was a breath of fresh air. Not to say Trials isn't linear because it does start out that way but it does become more open as it progresses and while the new objective markers make it slower since you can't skip certain scenes, they do make it so that you never get lost. Trials of Mana is a fantastic game, but it isn't flawless.

Every game has a weak link, that one element that drags the game down a peg and in Trials of Mana's case it's the presentation. Not to say the game doesn't look or sound good because there are parts of the presentation that do shine but what the game critically lacks is polish. Let's start with the positives. First, the soundtrack is excellent. Featuring superb orchestral remixes of the original compositions, though if you aren’t a fan you do have the option of switching to the original soundtrack. Love it when games do that. The art direction is great. The graphics are bright and colourful and tthey managed to keep the original art styl intact while transferring to 3D. I even like that classes have new outfits rather than just be a pallet swap. Unfortunatley this comes at a cost of performance. I'm not talking about the framerate, th game runs at a consistent 30 fps on Switch, 60 on other platforms, only dipping in certain cutscenes and when things get too busy which isn't that often. No I'm referring to the textures and texture pop-in. Now I played it on Switch so this might not apply to the versions on more powerful systems but on Switch the texture pop-in is shockingly bad, like PS2 era levels. I get the Switch isn't that powerful but it is capable of so much more. Then there's the texture work, it's not as shocking as Final Fantasy VII Remake because this clearly had a smaller budget but there is still a clear lack of polish here which is disapointing. And then there's the voice acting. Not gonna sugarcoat it folks, it's bad. Like early 90's anime dub bad. It's not just bad line reads it's some of the voices they gave these characters. Who thought it was a good idea to make Lumina sound like he a stereotypical gay man? I know these voice actors have done better work so this has to be a fault of the voice direction. Combine the bad voices with some of the most awkward cutscene animations in recent memory and Trials of Mana almost becomes so bad it's funny, almost. Now there is an option to switch to the Japanese voices if you want, you know if you're a weeb, but that means you may miss what they're saying in the middle of battle since you probably won't have time to read the subtitles. And when I say the cutscenes are awkward, I meant it. In the original the story moved at a pretty brisk pace but here the cutscenes are often unbearably slow. It actually creates an interesting dichotomy. In the original the pacing was fast in the early game but slowed down in the latter half due to the grinding you had to do but in the remake it's super slow in the early game because of the cutscenes and the lack of grinding makes the second half a a breeze. Weird innit.

But these issues don't take away from the fact that Trials of Mana is an excellent game and a suberb remake. As I said earlier this is a superior game in almost every way. The only edge the original has is that it had co-op while the remake is single player only but that's a forgivible omission given the new gameplay changes. It honors the legacy of the original while improving on it's faults. It manages to be something new yet old-school at the same time. If you're a fan of the Mana series this is an easy recommendation but if you're new to the series this is the perfect jumping on point. It's accesible enough that anyone can get into it. I loved Trials of Mana, I already liked the original quite a bit and this new one felt like it took that original and improved it. I can't wait to play it again with different characters. But that will have to wait, for another game demands my attention. Next time we'll be looking at the return of a beloved series, with Streets of Rage 4.