Is the healer’s stash of items and heal spells sufficiently topped up? Is the damage dealer able to exploit elemental weaknesses? Is the “tanky” character able to withstand an arena-wide, area-of-effect attack? Thankfully the party AI is reliable for the most part. Understanding each of the characters’ roles in the party becomes vital. Where Trials of Mana truly shines is in its creative boss battles. ![]() Each of them comes with different classes and accompanying outfits to choose from. Trials of Mana features six playable protagonists. The more the game opens up, the more exciting and strategic combat becomes. The fear that the combat system will stay overtly simple with light hits, hard hits, and simple dodges begins to set in, but players who stick with it will be rewarded when class changes become available after the characters hit certain levels and keep progressing. Combat for the first seven hours or so is simply a matter of hitting things with simple attacks and a few dodging mechanics. However, it’s a shame that the game holds the player’s hand for so long. ![]() A quick pause can be the difference between life and death, especially when playing on the hard difficulty. The game pauses, giving players the chance to assess the situation and cycle through available items. Some breathing room is given by bringing up one of the two ring menus, which pause the game and give players the chance to assess the situation and cycle through available items. Party management is an important part of successfully defeating enemies and is very responsive and slick, with players able to switch on-the-fly to any of the three chosen heroes. Trials of Mana keeps its roots in its real-time combat as well. The Japanese audio track is at least available for those who prefer to avoid the quirky deliveries of Charlotte, Kevin, and some of the nonplayable characters. The English voice acting is serviceable but some lines are delivered in a stilted or overdramatic manner. A majority of the original script is intact and features fully-voiced cutscenes. Listening to the same town theme and dungeon theme quickly becomes monotonous and a little more variety would have been welcome. However, while the quality is great, the soundtrack is limited. The music sounds familiar but fuller, reminiscent of going to a record store and picking up the orchestral version of a 1990s or early 2000s video game album. The modern arrangements don’t depart greatly from the originals. Trials of Mana’s soundtrack falls into the same style of many other modern RPG remakes and remasters by giving players the option to switch between the original 16-bit soundtrack and the remake. Trials of Mana features an updated, yet faithful reiteration of the combat from Seiken Densetsu 3. Frame dips aren’t present playing on a standard PlayStation 4, but there were noticeable delays in character rendering as armor, hair, and other details took a second to render clearly in cutscenes that featured quick camera jumps from one character to another. ![]() Capturing the beautiful 2D pixel art in the Unreal Engine gives Trials of Mana a shiny, colorful picture book aesthetic and the hyper-saturated shades really come through. The remake of the 16-bit Super Famicom classic shows that Square Enix knows how thoughtful the developers were with recreating the world. The title never saw the light of day in the west until it was released as part of the Collection of Mana in 2019. Known as Seiken Densetsu 3 in Japan, the original Trials of Mana came out in 1995. This boldness will ultimately one of the reasons why the game is so enjoyable. It injects a few modern tweaks here and there but boldly sticks to its roots. With each area painstakingly recreated, the game feels like a love letter to fans of the classic style JRPG narrative. The 16-bit remake shows that Square Enix knows how to transform a 2D game into a modern 3D RPG. Saturated in vibrant colors and an old-school video game charm, Trials of Mana deserves more praise and attention than it will likely gain. An Old-School Adventure Given a Modern Coat of Paint
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