Visions of Mana feels like both a work of love and loss. I can't imagine how stressed the studio was near the end, knowing full well their studio's shutting down after this game. And you can feel, especially near the end.
@@PrettyGuardianI mean the game was actually boring, super easy, and literally none of the classes mattered at all. Used the same one class to dominate the entire game from start to finish. Great ideas, executed miserably. Literally everything about the game didn’t matter…when you play a game that makes things feel like nothing matters, it’s loses its edge. Glad the studio is dead, they keep putting out soulless games with no reason to play them. Now we don’t have to deal with it
I really enjoyed Visions of Mana. My favourite part was the build up to going to the mana tree, and then finally visiting it. The environments in that area are gorgeous and they made it feel really important. I agree that the game had issues elsewhere, but I can really see myself loading it up in the future just to hang out around the mana tree
This game has a ton of charm and heart, but you can absolutely see that it was running on a low budget and time for a lot of the mid-to-late sections. From the constantly having to revisit areas, and the cast looking like it had more than enough room to fit the other NPCs that could have been full party members. Despite that though; its a nice little distraction, that didn't overstay its runtime. Shame about the development team though; we finally get someone that really gets Mana, and the whole team got the axe. I really hope SE picks them up and has them make the next Mana game.
I personally liked YS X a lot, but it just did not compare to the heights of VIII and IX for me. Having only 2 characters really bothered me a lot, the different playstyles were my fav thing about 8 & 9 and I just don't personally feel like having less options is ever a good thing. On top of that, the sailing aspect of it just isn't interesting or fun to me, also the pacing is pretty bad imo and the amount of times characters want to talk to you is kinda crazy, and a lot of it is fluff text. 😭 With that said, the story and gameplay are great, even if I don't love the parry mechanic or the removal of Flash Move and Flash Guard. I'd still give it an 8/10 but the other 2 are in the 9 & 9.5 range. I just finished it a week or so ago, and am now trying Visions of Mana. 💖
I liked the game. I beat it some months ago so I don't 100% remember everything - but what I do remember is if you basically make your main the cat guy and go down the moon tree it was almost game breaking and you didn't really have to think much about healing or anything else. So if your main char is set to AI and has the ability to buff the weapons then you don't have to worry about weakness of bosses... your cat guy slows time and gets a ton of crits... then your 3rd char can be what ever DPS. Once you figure out how game breaking the slow time / crit is with the cat guy the game is basically done.
This game is pure joy, from the colorful settings and characters to the beautiful music. It’s one of my personal games of the year. I think people that enjoy Nintendo games and light-hearted RPG’s will love this. Also, guys like HappyConsoleGamer and MrMattyPlays-reviewers who love this style of game-sang its praises.
There are actually a lot of light hearted colorful games not on Nintendo these days. Astro Bot comes to mind immediately. Ratchet & Clank. Monster Hunter Wilds next month. For Zelda fans there is Horizon and Team Ico games. For Metroid fans there was Returnal. FF7 Rebirth was colorful and light hearted most of the game. I could never live on just Nintendo hardware, even though Zelda and Splatoon are my favorites.
Agree there was a pacing issue with the progression! I wasn’t expecting for it to take until postgame until you unlock the ability to make a freelancer style mix-and-match with all the base classes. I loved the idea of that, but had no reason or time to take advantage of it.
I don't think any of the Mana games are particularly incredible, but I absolutely love them all. Secret of Mana being my favourite game of all time, even.
Thank you for this video on Visions of Mana. I was curious about the game (since i enjoyed the last Mana game on PS4) but it released at a busy gaming time, when there were other game releases that peaked my interest more.
So glad to see you're taking the time to review this. It's 25% off in the Steam Sale right now and is one of the games I'm considering picking up with some Christmas money. I loved Trial of Mana a few years ago, but I'm not one to just instantly jump onto a game. Especially one with slightly more action-oriented combat, which can be hit or miss for me.
Straight back into the reviews Mort 😳. I was thinking the other day, when you do this for a living does it dampen your enjoyment for gaming as a hobby? Always remember being told never to "meet your idols" so wondered if it was like that? Might I suggest you try to 100% Rogue Legacy 2 if you ever have a couple of spare 100 hours to work through it 😅. I'm obsessed with it at the moment and the more I play the more I realise how masterful the design of the game and the procedural generation is. To have 15 characters, each with different weapons, and a secondary weapon each to unlock, but who (most of) feel viable to play once you practice with them is really something I am awe inspired at when I am playing it 😊
Love your content mate, even though i dont play crpgs it definitely makes me want to Also would like to ask if theres any possibility for you to make a video talking a bit about how you manage to complete so many games and keep yourself motivated through them, or managing your time through 2 or more different games at a time, since most people have alot of trouble finishing games in general. Would be really nice to get some tips on how you do it, and perhaps some tips as well to became a completitionist without burning yourself out.
I bought this for my 7 y/o and 4 y/o for Christmas on sale for $40 and we're enjoying it thus far. I wasn't expecting GOTY material, so I'm not disappointed by its shortcomings. We're enjoying the combat and exploration and that's been worth it.
The Mana series is truly unique, with the first iteration (in the West) being a timeless classic and every sequel hovering up and down between decent and mediocre.
I've never heard anyone refer to Final Fantasy Adventure (Seiken Densetsu) that way. Sounds more like you're talking about Secret of Mana (Seiken Densetsu 2).
Thanks for the review Morty!! Actually just picked up a copy last night and started playing a bit. Definitely just a fun game to play with some charm. The combat is cool and the visual style is pretty nice.. nothing more nothing less which im okay with 🔥 🎮
I was hoping the villain reason for wanting to kill the tree was that while he was off saving the world the love of his life was sacrificed to the mana tree.
How you describe the game sounds like a "it's okay, but nothing more" honestly. Fun combat and colorful graphics seem to do a decent job of initially covering up its weaknesses.
I remember a story that I never confirmed but have always loved. Final Fantasy was called such because it was their last chance to make something successful before they got shut down. It didn't fail though, and instead became so popular that they stayed open and the franchise sprang from there. I would like to think that could happen again, or for the first time if the story isn't true.
That story is an urban myth. "But what about that title? Sakaguchi says that even before figuring out exactly what to call their ambitious fantasy role-playing game, the team had already decided they wanted something that could be easily abbreviated using the Roman alphabet. They were also set on something that could be condensed into a four-syllable abbreviated version in Japanese, and FF (pronounced “efu efu” in Japanese), fit both criteria. Given the genre the game fell into, making one of those Fs “fantasy” was a no-brainer. But what about the other one? Actually, “Final” wasn’t the team’s first choice, as Sakaguchi says the initial idea was to call the game Fighting Fantasy. However, they had to nix that plan when they discovered there was already a board game called Fighting Fantasy, which was in turn based on a series of British gamebooks So with Fighting Fantasy out of the running, Sakaguchi and his cohorts settled on Final Fantasy. “To be sure, we had our backs to the wall when we were developing Final Fantasy,” Sakaguchi told the audience, “but really, anything that started with an F would have been fine for the title.”
Been waiting for this review for a while now and I must say: it's pretty good. Yeah man, I get it, VoM isn't perfect by any means but it is very solid in my opinion. For someone who's played the Trials of Mana Remake, I can see there was a lot this improved on. Yes, it could use a bit more polish (I'm praying another Square team does it) but you won't catch me out here saying it's some half-assed product. I mean, its development situation is a lot like Tales of Arise the difference being that game had a lot more to work with than Visions ever did.
I’m a huge fan of the Mana series all the way back to Secret, but I have to say this is a very fair and accurate review. I had a lot of fun with Visions, but it just didn’t feel like it lived up to its potential. The pacing issues are very noticeable and the story just feels like a missed opportunity. It’s an interesting premise that doesn’t pay off well.
I really did enjoy the game. I didn't expect chapter 4 to go the way it does. Sucjs that the studio close down, but no one bought the game despite the reviews out there
There was something addictive about this game, whether it was the combat or trying out a great combination of class skills and who was in my party. The characters themselves all had something fun to bring to the table, but some certainly had more development than others. And I personally found our main lad Val to be enjoyable but slightly bland - his one goal feels like his entire personality trait. Side content in the game was a let down for me, as the quests were usually one of three things: kill this thing 5 times, go here and speak to this person or find this item somewhere in this circle. I will say the battle towers were a lot of fun and did prove to be a challenge on one or two occasions. Combat was a bit button-mashy for the majority of the game but I found taking on much higher level monsters to be more fun and actually require clever resource management and skill usage. Finally the story for the game did actually surprise me with one or two twists I didn’t expect the story to follow. I think they took a bit too long revealing the antagonist (literally midway through the 50 hour campaign) BUT it does come at a point where you are feeling invested in why the characters are headed to the Mana Tree. Overall I had a good time with the game, I can’t say great for some strange reason as I think it was a safe choice for a JRPG. Something enjoyable for sure but not mind blowing.
I feel quite different on the story. I thought it was vibrant and flowing. The mana series is 100% dark!! Like, DARK, dark!! Visions is nothing different, and I found it to be solid. Nothing grandiose, but solid! This is, however, a great review though. My thanks for your contribution!
Honestly 100% achievement can be a nightmare in some JRPG's. The Japanese devs often go hard in making you really work for an achievement to the extent that when I fire up a JRPG Ill have a look at the achievement list and decide in advance what ones I can do and what ones would spoil my experience with the game if I tried to go after them. I love achievement hunting but I realised at some point that getting certain achievements, just the mental cost of obtaining them would damage my enjoyment of the game and I just stopped going for those ones.
Guess I'll get this one later in 2025 when I see it on a sale. The demo soured the game a bit for me, it felt floaty and the combat didn't pack the same punch as Trials of Mana. Wish they tried to follow the world style that was set up in Legend of Mana, that was my favourite and I felt like it was a pretty interesting setting to explore linear story as opposed to the "side-quest focused" loop that game had, but seems like Squaresoft is set on trying to do Secret of Mana again and again, which is solid but I think people hype it up a lot due to nostalgia.
As somebody who’s been pretty disappointed with Pokemon lately, this really filled the “lighthearted, colorful RPG” role for me this year. I thought this game was beautiful and fun, even if under the hood things were “just ok.”
I played the game in japanese so when I heard about the character with a thick southern accent I immediately assumed its Careena. She has a very charming Kansai-ben accent in the japanese version, but I'm pretty sure everyone in the village had it. Which is odd to think they didnt bother in the english version.
Hi Mortismal. This one I was not aware of but looks like a fun JRPG. I think I might check it out. Btw , do you plan to check the Ys series one day? They're actually pretty solid games and normally budget in comparison to most of the JRPG market.
Still doing the Lord's work lol. As much as I'd like to spend some of my precious time with this, the lackluster story plot is disappointing. I am looking forward to your FF VII Rebirth review. ✌️
In the movie Wonder Woman, the Big Bad gives a speech revealing his motivation. I remember thinking how much stronger the movie would have been if Wonder Woman had cut him off and said, "I don't care; let's fight." Worst part of a good movie. Sometimes the villain should just stay quiet and leave it up to our imagination.
The best of this series is Legend of Mana. Similar sort of aesthetic of bright and cheery juxtaposed against a story that gets rather dark at times. A lot more freedom and a better built and presented battle and character progression systems make Legend of Mana my recommendation when it comes to this series.
I wish Granblue Fantasy Relink had this kind of world and exploration. I loved everything about that game except for the old Monster Hunter style missions.
Good things: Environments are colorful and beautiful, postgame superbosses and Elemental Aeries were fun challenges, never really need to grind especially if you use the XP/Gald boosting items and find enough Lil' Cacti, character customization is strong, story has some surprisingly dark moments, Careena's southern accent, Julei's sassiness. Bad things: Some bugs like broken quest markers or invisible interactables, fast travel limitations can be tedious when quests start involving multiple continents, having an entire section of the ability tree locked to postgame limits some of the customization fun, 90+% of sidequests are terribly boring.
I didn't like the villain either so this is a rather halfhearted defense, but the way I saw him he wasn't quite as 'nonsensical' as he comes of here because: spoilers of course from what I remember the person he lost was his only real attachment to the world and the sole reason he agreed to save it in the first place. She died while(and because) he was still out doing exactly this and nobody even told him it happened, which does make it feel like he was tricked into saving a world he had already lost all attachment to. Not to mention I think its not so strange to be upset beyond that. He did protect an entire world while the person who charged him with this quest couldnt/didn't even protect one single person in exchange. I'd be at least a bit annoyed in his shoes XD
Personally, I liked the game, and I agree doing all the side content over levels you quite a bit. Another annoying aspect is mid to end game when you get an enormous amount of lucre the characters keep mentioning the same thing, Palamena want to buy a bunch of sweets or Val says upgrade gear constantly after battle lol. Also, the ending wasn't great, I don't want to say anything because spoilers but the way it closed out on Val was very limiting, I wanted to know about the other characters after, Val included up until the ending. I guess you got to only see still images of them but, still really? was kind of lazy IMO.
I really liked this game, it could have been a 9.5/10 for me with one change... MAKE QUESTS SHOW UP ON THE WORLD MAP. Having to go through every single area one by one every single time you finish a quest because it might have unlocked a new quest in some random area legit almost made me quit.
Thanks for the nice video! This was on my radar. Universal aside: Locking (certain) features behind a playthrough of games, especially linear narrative titles that take a long time to play, isn't a good design decision. Sadly, I rarely complete titles these days. When I do, even if I've enjoyed them, I'm not ready to jump back in again. There's something to be said for playing a game, finishing it and moving on. Games that are the Goldilocks length they need to be that you enjoy and put down. It seems a lot of developers are trying to mold their projects into some variation of a "live service" or rogue-like model - often at the detriment of the experience. Nested aside (ha): This sentiment can be repurposed for television shows, movies and books.
6:35 I don't think Diophoros's motivation is that bad. Keep in mind that the guy was the chosen one who was specifically picked by God to bring peace to the world. His whole task was to save the world (the HUMAN world), only for her love to be killed by some common bandits. Not even by a dark powerful devil from another world or anything, just common trash bandits. He doesn't want to seek the murderers precisely because his whole task was to "save mankind", as a whole. Having the love of your life being slaughtered by the very thing you were meant to fight for for eons can indeed break a dude mentally, i think, lol. It's a relatively classic vilain backstory, but it's not that bad i think. very good and complete video btw. Nice game, but it feels like most of its mechanics are not well used
This is exactly the kind of game I want to love bc JRPGs are my gaming heart and soul. But it is exemplary of what I’d deem “middling” Square JRPGs The visuals carry it because the presentation and colors and character designs are so striking and vibrant. And while the story premise is intriguing (“the prettiest tale of ritual sacrifice you’ve ever seen!”) it does fall apart and the characters are very inconsistent, leaning more towards being archetypes or caricatures at best Also the gameplay feel is just slightly out of step. The movement and combat feels just a half step too slow for most characters/classes, the RPG systems offer some choice but not a whole lot of depth, and while it does bring the Mana series forward a step - the genre as a whole has taken many many more steps beyond just that one in the generations since the last full mainline Mana entry Regardless, I’ve still found some fun once I got thru those slow opening hours but mostly as JRPG popcorn than a really memorable experience
Agree on the $40 sweet spot. I'm enjoying this game overall. It also helps if you have played the other Mana games as there are many fun throwbacks. It might be my favorite Mana game overall but I still need to finish it. I like the way it built on Trials of Mana and would want to see another game that builds further. Story and dialogue wasn't consistent and I find myself skipping a lot. Either enrich that or reduce it. If I see characters standing around like statues talking for more than 3 seconds it starts to feel very unnatural. I like the music but I don't understand why they don't bring back catchy remixed themes from previous games. Lots of other nostalgia in the enemies, location names, and characters but for some reason they never reused any music. Main villain should have been in the game earlier. He just sort of appears and his motive is very poorly written. Did they hire writers or is this yet another sad story of letting a decades old game dev turned producer write the plot?
Start with games that are really easy and/or short. Move up to bigger/harder games that you absolutely LOVE for ages on end. Then keep the ball rolling by checking achievements and/or guides before or near the start of a game you think you may want to 100%. Or in simpler terms. 1. Start by dipping your toes. 2. If you enjoy the game you'll be more willing. 3. Prepare and decide early for a smoother experience.
Is that something you need a plan or a switch for, being a completionist? You either care or you care not. Having a general plan just makes the proces easier and more effective.
Games that I found easiest to complete without getting bored were like Little Nightmares 1 ,2 and Inside and Planet of Lana , etc as well as games like Journey and The Pathless , etc. I also find Risen series easy to finish like Risen 1 and 3 The only one I didn't finish to the end of that series was Risen 2 because , I kind of found it boring personally ngl but still finishing it would still be very doable and it does have some interesting features , just didn't click with me. Same for Gothic series but Gothic games tend to feel longer than Risen ones. I also found the old Assassins Creed games like AC 1 , Ezio Trilogy and Kenway saga easy to finish but can take quite a while to 100% due to the many boring collectibles. The open world RPG ones like Odyssey is where it gets hard to complete them as they tend to be full of bloat. If you're into these sort of games , you might find them easy to finish to the end as well.
Well since most games make it extremly annoying to 100% complete I don’t think I could recommend trying. Unless you have tons of extra time you don’t want to use on something else or it is your job like Mort. I would say focus on just completing games as going for all achievements can ruin the fun of the game depending on the person.
The first third is great where they explore the sacrifice theme, especially with your girlfriend character. The villain in that first bit is very interesting, with more complex feelings about the sacrifice. But then they go and replace him with that terrible one dimensional big bad and ruin the last half of the game.
I think one interesting part of the story/villain is the contrast between him and the main characters. They handled similar situations far better. That said it is a pretty weak link overall. The sacrifice concept could have been more interesting if the game picked a response and stuck with it. Exploring an Aztec-like society where you were taught it was a good and necessary thing that overrode any survival instinct would be fairly novel. The game flip flops around and doesn't really address it very well before it becomes a non-issue as you save the world in the standard JRPG way. If you complained about it I must have missed it but fast travel only working for the continent(s) you were on was definitely an annoyance. Overall I enjoyed the game but getting it on sale is a good idea.
I was on the fence about getting this game. Almost all the reviews I could find of it were from JRPG fans (more so than you are), and because of that, they were all mostly positive towards this. However, after watching your review, I think I'm going to pass on this. I don't think I'd hate it, but I'd probably not think much of it.
Isn't the big bad's motivation basically just Dracula from Castlevania? I wouldn't say the motivation is all that flimsy tbh. It's pretty cliche and I'd say the presentation matters more. Maybe the presentation in this game wasn't all that great.
The story was a little bit baffling for me. I like the characters and it has decent moments but the whole "alms as a sacrifice" plot has been done many times over with games like FFX and I Am Setsuna, and yet they not only did nothing interesting or original with it but they didnt really even give their characters or world the freedom to interact with the idea in a way that felt genuine. It's like they had a decent (as in acceptable, not necessarily great) storyboard or outline but didn't actually flesh it out. Overall I really enjoyed the game though. The graphics were beautiful, combat was fun, and it makes me want to play future Mana games... Fingers crossed we get one.
I think I found this one a lot more disappointing than most people. The systems feel shallow and don't open up much at all til the very end game and even then need more like 3+ playthroughs to unlock everything. I feel like you can beat the whole game practically by putting Morey (sp?) on dagger and doing his hold attack where he darts all over. It's like a solid "7/10" passing-fine.
Pretty fun gameplay. The most bland story and character writing possible. The story being all "the human sacrifice actually was necessary, really" wad pretty wild but not handled with any real weight. Worst part is that the characters just don't have any interesting or particularly fun interactions or chemistry, and most of them are extremely static throughout the 30+ hours. I was struggling to motivate myself finishing it. Some of the bosses were pretty fun but there is not enough depth to the combat for the runtime. Camille has a thick Osaka dialect which is often translated into Southern dialect so I don't see an issue with that. I wasn't paying much attention but at least her parents spoke Osakan too.
Before even watching I will add this comment. This is a odd one for me. It's one of your reviews I've really been looking forward to ever since you talked about it the first time. Yet at the same time I have absolutely no interest in actually playing the game, nor do I care to watch any other videos on the game.
Its a shame what happened to dev's of this one. Good review though. It does make me wonder what Mortisimal would think of a trails game like Trails through Daybreak though.
This one broke my heart. Loved the mana games that got released in English and desperately wanted to like this one, but the demo was a big ew moment for me. Sure is pretty tho.
Visions of Mana feels like both a work of love and loss. I can't imagine how stressed the studio was near the end, knowing full well their studio's shutting down after this game. And you can feel, especially near the end.
I had no idea you also played JRPGs. I only saw farming sim content in my algorithm but that's neat! It's good to see you here.
@ deffo do! I love all RPGs in general (more so Western and now getting more into Japanese ones) 😍
It's sad that they made such a beautiful game only to be disbanded.
Did you manage to find all cactuses on your own Mort?
@@PrettyGuardianI mean the game was actually boring, super easy, and literally none of the classes mattered at all. Used the same one class to dominate the entire game from start to finish. Great ideas, executed miserably. Literally everything about the game didn’t matter…when you play a game that makes things feel like nothing matters, it’s loses its edge.
Glad the studio is dead, they keep putting out soulless games with no reason to play them. Now we don’t have to deal with it
Crazy that the studio closed right after this! It was a pretty nice game
I really enjoyed Visions of Mana. My favourite part was the build up to going to the mana tree, and then finally visiting it. The environments in that area are gorgeous and they made it feel really important. I agree that the game had issues elsewhere, but I can really see myself loading it up in the future just to hang out around the mana tree
Such a great review format. Thanks for doing this Mortim!
This game has a ton of charm and heart, but you can absolutely see that it was running on a low budget and time for a lot of the mid-to-late sections. From the constantly having to revisit areas, and the cast looking like it had more than enough room to fit the other NPCs that could have been full party members. Despite that though; its a nice little distraction, that didn't overstay its runtime.
Shame about the development team though; we finally get someone that really gets Mana, and the whole team got the axe. I really hope SE picks them up and has them make the next Mana game.
Would be cool to see your take on Ys X
Had he played Ys VIII yet? That’s the best one
I personally liked YS X a lot, but it just did not compare to the heights of VIII and IX for me. Having only 2 characters really bothered me a lot, the different playstyles were my fav thing about 8 & 9 and I just don't personally feel like having less options is ever a good thing. On top of that, the sailing aspect of it just isn't interesting or fun to me, also the pacing is pretty bad imo and the amount of times characters want to talk to you is kinda crazy, and a lot of it is fluff text. 😭 With that said, the story and gameplay are great, even if I don't love the parry mechanic or the removal of Flash Move and Flash Guard. I'd still give it an 8/10 but the other 2 are in the 9 & 9.5 range. I just finished it a week or so ago, and am now trying Visions of Mana. 💖
I liked the game. I beat it some months ago so I don't 100% remember everything - but what I do remember is if you basically make your main the cat guy and go down the moon tree it was almost game breaking and you didn't really have to think much about healing or anything else. So if your main char is set to AI and has the ability to buff the weapons then you don't have to worry about weakness of bosses... your cat guy slows time and gets a ton of crits... then your 3rd char can be what ever DPS. Once you figure out how game breaking the slow time / crit is with the cat guy the game is basically done.
This game is pure joy, from the colorful settings and characters to the beautiful music. It’s one of my personal games of the year. I think people that enjoy Nintendo games and light-hearted RPG’s will love this.
Also, guys like HappyConsoleGamer and MrMattyPlays-reviewers who love this style of game-sang its praises.
There are actually a lot of light hearted colorful games not on Nintendo these days. Astro Bot comes to mind immediately. Ratchet & Clank. Monster Hunter Wilds next month. For Zelda fans there is Horizon and Team Ico games. For Metroid fans there was Returnal. FF7 Rebirth was colorful and light hearted most of the game. I could never live on just Nintendo hardware, even though Zelda and Splatoon are my favorites.
@ totally. But Monster Hunter is a bit sweaty for me 😂
Agree there was a pacing issue with the progression! I wasn’t expecting for it to take until postgame until you unlock the ability to make a freelancer style mix-and-match with all the base classes. I loved the idea of that, but had no reason or time to take advantage of it.
That character also has a unique accent/dialect with the japanese voice over
Thanks for the awesome review, very insightful.
I don't think any of the Mana games are particularly incredible, but I absolutely love them all. Secret of Mana being my favourite game of all time, even.
Thank you for this video on Visions of Mana. I was curious about the game (since i enjoyed the last Mana game on PS4) but it released at a busy gaming time, when there were other game releases that peaked my interest more.
Yes, I did 100% on Visions of Mana.
You are wonderful.
So glad to see you're taking the time to review this. It's 25% off in the Steam Sale right now and is one of the games I'm considering picking up with some Christmas money. I loved Trial of Mana a few years ago, but I'm not one to just instantly jump onto a game. Especially one with slightly more action-oriented combat, which can be hit or miss for me.
I love secret of mana !
Straight back into the reviews Mort 😳.
I was thinking the other day, when you do this for a living does it dampen your enjoyment for gaming as a hobby?
Always remember being told never to "meet your idols" so wondered if it was like that?
Might I suggest you try to 100% Rogue Legacy 2 if you ever have a couple of spare 100 hours to work through it 😅. I'm obsessed with it at the moment and the more I play the more I realise how masterful the design of the game and the procedural generation is.
To have 15 characters, each with different weapons, and a secondary weapon each to unlock, but who (most of) feel viable to play once you practice with them is really something I am awe inspired at when I am playing it 😊
Love your content mate, even though i dont play crpgs it definitely makes me want to
Also would like to ask if theres any possibility for you to make a video talking a bit about how you manage to complete so many games and keep yourself motivated through them, or managing your time through 2 or more different games at a time, since most people have alot of trouble finishing games in general. Would be really nice to get some tips on how you do it, and perhaps some tips as well to became a completitionist without burning yourself out.
Ive made videos about it previously, should be able to find them in the channel FAQ playlist
@@MortismalGaming thank you very much
I bought this for my 7 y/o and 4 y/o for Christmas on sale for $40 and we're enjoying it thus far. I wasn't expecting GOTY material, so I'm not disappointed by its shortcomings. We're enjoying the combat and exploration and that's been worth it.
Looks like very solid action jrpg! Thank for review!
i love watching your videos!! ❤
Mortim just makes these video's only so he can tell us to wonder in wisdom and have an amazing day.
The Mana series is truly unique, with the first iteration (in the West) being a timeless classic and every sequel hovering up and down between decent and mediocre.
I've never heard anyone refer to Final Fantasy Adventure (Seiken Densetsu) that way. Sounds more like you're talking about Secret of Mana (Seiken Densetsu 2).
@azuarc Well, yeah. That is why I specified firdt iteration in the west.
@@jacoporegini8841 The first mana game was actually released in the west, as FF Adventure or Mystic Quest here in Europe.
@@jacoporegini8841 Both of them released in the west though.
And even that game hasn't really aged well. The need to hold down the attack button for dozens of seconds is just not fun.
Thanks for the review Morty!! Actually just picked up a copy last night and started playing a bit. Definitely just a fun game to play with some charm. The combat is cool and the visual style is pretty nice.. nothing more nothing less which im okay with 🔥 🎮
I would love this game... after a good rebalance.
Not going to happen. The studio was shut down right after launch.
I’m never gonna play this game but I appreciate you putting this together so I can see what it’s about lol
I was hoping the villain reason for wanting to kill the tree was that while he was off saving the world the love of his life was sacrificed to the mana tree.
Thats where I assumed it was going as it would have at least made more sense
How you describe the game sounds like a "it's okay, but nothing more" honestly. Fun combat and colorful graphics seem to do a decent job of initially covering up its weaknesses.
This is so accurate.
I remember a story that I never confirmed but have always loved. Final Fantasy was called such because it was their last chance to make something successful before they got shut down. It didn't fail though, and instead became so popular that they stayed open and the franchise sprang from there. I would like to think that could happen again, or for the first time if the story isn't true.
That story is an urban myth.
"But what about that title? Sakaguchi says that even before figuring out exactly what to call their ambitious fantasy role-playing game, the team had already decided they wanted something that could be easily abbreviated using the Roman alphabet. They were also set on something that could be condensed into a four-syllable abbreviated version in Japanese, and FF (pronounced “efu efu” in Japanese), fit both criteria.
Given the genre the game fell into, making one of those Fs “fantasy” was a no-brainer. But what about the other one? Actually, “Final” wasn’t the team’s first choice, as Sakaguchi says the initial idea was to call the game Fighting Fantasy. However, they had to nix that plan when they discovered there was already a board game called Fighting Fantasy, which was in turn based on a series of British gamebooks
So with Fighting Fantasy out of the running, Sakaguchi and his cohorts settled on Final Fantasy. “To be sure, we had our backs to the wall when we were developing Final Fantasy,” Sakaguchi told the audience, “but really, anything that started with an F would have been fine for the title.”
This game looks amazing.
It is. Check out reviews from people that love this style of game, such as HappyConsoleGamer.
Thanks for the video. This was what I was concerned with. It's an underbaked title that's overpriced. Onward to 400k. All glory to the algorithm.
Been waiting for this review for a while now and I must say: it's pretty good. Yeah man, I get it, VoM isn't perfect by any means but it is very solid in my opinion. For someone who's played the Trials of Mana Remake, I can see there was a lot this improved on. Yes, it could use a bit more polish (I'm praying another Square team does it) but you won't catch me out here saying it's some half-assed product. I mean, its development situation is a lot like Tales of Arise the difference being that game had a lot more to work with than Visions ever did.
I’m a huge fan of the Mana series all the way back to Secret, but I have to say this is a very fair and accurate review. I had a lot of fun with Visions, but it just didn’t feel like it lived up to its potential. The pacing issues are very noticeable and the story just feels like a missed opportunity. It’s an interesting premise that doesn’t pay off well.
I really did enjoy the game. I didn't expect chapter 4 to go the way it does. Sucjs that the studio close down, but no one bought the game despite the reviews out there
There was something addictive about this game, whether it was the combat or trying out a great combination of class skills and who was in my party.
The characters themselves all had something fun to bring to the table, but some certainly had more development than others. And I personally found our main lad Val to be enjoyable but slightly bland - his one goal feels like his entire personality trait.
Side content in the game was a let down for me, as the quests were usually one of three things: kill this thing 5 times, go here and speak to this person or find this item somewhere in this circle. I will say the battle towers were a lot of fun and did prove to be a challenge on one or two occasions.
Combat was a bit button-mashy for the majority of the game but I found taking on much higher level monsters to be more fun and actually require clever resource management and skill usage.
Finally the story for the game did actually surprise me with one or two twists I didn’t expect the story to follow. I think they took a bit too long revealing the antagonist (literally midway through the 50 hour campaign) BUT it does come at a point where you are feeling invested in why the characters are headed to the Mana Tree.
Overall I had a good time with the game, I can’t say great for some strange reason as I think it was a safe choice for a JRPG. Something enjoyable for sure but not mind blowing.
Nice see you reviewing the Mana series. How would this one stack up in your 2024 reviewed games ranking?
Probably lower middle, its mostly just okay
This game is really cool!
I feel quite different on the story. I thought it was vibrant and flowing. The mana series is 100% dark!! Like, DARK, dark!! Visions is nothing different, and I found it to be solid. Nothing grandiose, but solid!
This is, however, a great review though. My thanks for your contribution!
Honestly 100% achievement can be a nightmare in some JRPG's. The Japanese devs often go hard in making you really work for an achievement to the extent that when I fire up a JRPG Ill have a look at the achievement list and decide in advance what ones I can do and what ones would spoil my experience with the game if I tried to go after them. I love achievement hunting but I realised at some point that getting certain achievements, just the mental cost of obtaining them would damage my enjoyment of the game and I just stopped going for those ones.
I recently brought this here in the uk for the ps5 for £20 but I have not started it yet but I did complete the demo when it came out
thanks
Guess I'll get this one later in 2025 when I see it on a sale. The demo soured the game a bit for me, it felt floaty and the combat didn't pack the same punch as Trials of Mana. Wish they tried to follow the world style that was set up in Legend of Mana, that was my favourite and I felt like it was a pretty interesting setting to explore linear story as opposed to the "side-quest focused" loop that game had, but seems like Squaresoft is set on trying to do Secret of Mana again and again, which is solid but I think people hype it up a lot due to nostalgia.
As somebody who’s been pretty disappointed with Pokemon lately, this really filled the “lighthearted, colorful RPG” role for me this year. I thought this game was beautiful and fun, even if under the hood things were “just ok.”
Such a great game ❤️
25:36 damn this plot is giving me “The Wicker Man (Nic Cage)” vibes w/ anime coating
I played the game in japanese so when I heard about the character with a thick southern accent I immediately assumed its Careena. She has a very charming Kansai-ben accent in the japanese version, but I'm pretty sure everyone in the village had it. Which is odd to think they didnt bother in the english version.
All I want to say is I LOVE this game!!
Hi Mortismal.
This one I was not aware of but looks like a fun JRPG. I think I might check it out.
Btw , do you plan to check the Ys series one day? They're actually pretty solid games and normally budget in comparison to most of the JRPG market.
No current plans but maybe at some point
I wonder if good ol' Chrono Trigger will get a review. This review made me super nostalgic for some reason.
I dont think ChrononTrigger need a review of its own
It’s a masterpiece and any hardcore JRPG fan knew it
At the point where I watch your reviews for games I don't even want to play lol
Still doing the Lord's work lol. As much as I'd like to spend some of my precious time with this, the lackluster story plot is disappointing. I am looking forward to your FF VII Rebirth review. ✌️
I really liked this game. I dropped it about halfway bc I found my number 2 GOTY SMT V… but I will return someday.
I love this game
In the movie Wonder Woman, the Big Bad gives a speech revealing his motivation.
I remember thinking how much stronger the movie would have been if Wonder Woman had cut him off and said, "I don't care; let's fight."
Worst part of a good movie.
Sometimes the villain should just stay quiet and leave it up to our imagination.
I loved this game. Would have love better gear for ng+ but in general its a great game.
The best of this series is Legend of Mana. Similar sort of aesthetic of bright and cheery juxtaposed against a story that gets rather dark at times. A lot more freedom and a better built and presented battle and character progression systems make Legend of Mana my recommendation when it comes to this series.
Visions of Mana UA-cam Jazz 🎶
Wow that combat is giving me serious Ni No Kuni 2 vibes
Gronk!
I don't really like the artstyle but the combat animations does look beautiful. Would love to see your take on Romancing Saga 2 tho if possible lol.
OG Secret of Mana has a great place in my brain. Haven't beat 3 from the Collection on Switch. Skipping this one.
I wish Granblue Fantasy Relink had this kind of world and exploration. I loved everything about that game except for the old Monster Hunter style missions.
deadass
Good things: Environments are colorful and beautiful, postgame superbosses and Elemental Aeries were fun challenges, never really need to grind especially if you use the XP/Gald boosting items and find enough Lil' Cacti, character customization is strong, story has some surprisingly dark moments, Careena's southern accent, Julei's sassiness.
Bad things: Some bugs like broken quest markers or invisible interactables, fast travel limitations can be tedious when quests start involving multiple continents, having an entire section of the ability tree locked to postgame limits some of the customization fun, 90+% of sidequests are terribly boring.
I like seeing other culture's takes on American accents, cuisine, art, culture, etc. As long as it's not super insulting and thoughtless.
I didn't like the villain either so this is a rather halfhearted defense, but the way I saw him he wasn't quite as 'nonsensical' as he comes of here because:
spoilers of course
from what I remember the person he lost was his only real attachment to the world and the sole reason he agreed to save it in the first place. She died while(and because) he was still out doing exactly this and nobody even told him it happened, which does make it feel like he was tricked into saving a world he had already lost all attachment to. Not to mention I think its not so strange to be upset beyond that. He did protect an entire world while the person who charged him with this quest couldnt/didn't even protect one single person in exchange. I'd be at least a bit annoyed in his shoes XD
Personally, I liked the game, and I agree doing all the side content over levels you quite a bit. Another annoying aspect is mid to end game when you get an enormous amount of lucre the characters keep mentioning the same thing, Palamena want to buy a bunch of sweets or Val says upgrade gear constantly after battle lol. Also, the ending wasn't great, I don't want to say anything because spoilers but the way it closed out on Val was very limiting, I wanted to know about the other characters after, Val included up until the ending. I guess you got to only see still images of them but, still really? was kind of lazy IMO.
I really liked this game, it could have been a 9.5/10 for me with one change...
MAKE QUESTS SHOW UP ON THE WORLD MAP. Having to go through every single area one by one every single time you finish a quest because it might have unlocked a new quest in some random area legit almost made me quit.
Same thing happened with me in Dragon Quest 11. it was way too easy and you have to restart to change the difficulty.
YUMMY
Can you turn off damage numbers on console? All those numbers on screen are annoying and take away from the enemy art and spell art. Thanks.
Thanks for the nice video! This was on my radar.
Universal aside: Locking (certain) features behind a playthrough of games, especially linear narrative titles that take a long time to play, isn't a good design decision. Sadly, I rarely complete titles these days. When I do, even if I've enjoyed them, I'm not ready to jump back in again.
There's something to be said for playing a game, finishing it and moving on. Games that are the Goldilocks length they need to be that you enjoy and put down. It seems a lot of developers are trying to mold their projects into some variation of a "live service" or rogue-like model - often at the detriment of the experience.
Nested aside (ha): This sentiment can be repurposed for television shows, movies and books.
Stranger of Paradise also is an action rpg with an interesting class changing system.
I really liked a lot about the game. I just wish there was world navigation instead of basically picking a dungeon from a menu.
6:35 I don't think Diophoros's motivation is that bad. Keep in mind that the guy was the chosen one who was specifically picked by God to bring peace to the world. His whole task was to save the world (the HUMAN world), only for her love to be killed by some common bandits. Not even by a dark powerful devil from another world or anything, just common trash bandits. He doesn't want to seek the murderers precisely because his whole task was to "save mankind", as a whole. Having the love of your life being slaughtered by the very thing you were meant to fight for for eons can indeed break a dude mentally, i think, lol. It's a relatively classic vilain backstory, but it's not that bad i think.
very good and complete video btw. Nice game, but it feels like most of its mechanics are not well used
This is exactly the kind of game I want to love bc JRPGs are my gaming heart and soul. But it is exemplary of what I’d deem “middling” Square JRPGs
The visuals carry it because the presentation and colors and character designs are so striking and vibrant. And while the story premise is intriguing (“the prettiest tale of ritual sacrifice you’ve ever seen!”) it does fall apart and the characters are very inconsistent, leaning more towards being archetypes or caricatures at best
Also the gameplay feel is just slightly out of step. The movement and combat feels just a half step too slow for most characters/classes, the RPG systems offer some choice but not a whole lot of depth, and while it does bring the Mana series forward a step - the genre as a whole has taken many many more steps beyond just that one in the generations since the last full mainline Mana entry
Regardless, I’ve still found some fun once I got thru those slow opening hours but mostly as JRPG popcorn than a really memorable experience
Have you played Tales of Arise? That's a phenomenal action RPG that looks unbelievably gorgeous.
Not as of yet, but Ive heard good things
Hey did you end up liking drova?
I enjoyed it, was a good time
Agree on the $40 sweet spot. I'm enjoying this game overall. It also helps if you have played the other Mana games as there are many fun throwbacks. It might be my favorite Mana game overall but I still need to finish it. I like the way it built on Trials of Mana and would want to see another game that builds further. Story and dialogue wasn't consistent and I find myself skipping a lot. Either enrich that or reduce it. If I see characters standing around like statues talking for more than 3 seconds it starts to feel very unnatural. I like the music but I don't understand why they don't bring back catchy remixed themes from previous games. Lots of other nostalgia in the enemies, location names, and characters but for some reason they never reused any music. Main villain should have been in the game earlier. He just sort of appears and his motive is very poorly written. Did they hire writers or is this yet another sad story of letting a decades old game dev turned producer write the plot?
It really had a grand “vision” but you could feel the limited budget. A really good 7.5/10 game.
I'll get this for 10 bucks in a year or two
This or DA Veilguard? both are the same price atm
Veilguard is the better game by far even with the super cringe dialogue.
I like this more than veilgard
this by far
how does one become a completionist? any tips and recommendation would be much appreciated
Start with games that are really easy and/or short. Move up to bigger/harder games that you absolutely LOVE for ages on end.
Then keep the ball rolling by checking achievements and/or guides before or near the start of a game you think you may want to 100%.
Or in simpler terms.
1. Start by dipping your toes.
2. If you enjoy the game you'll be more willing.
3. Prepare and decide early for a smoother experience.
Is that something you need a plan or a switch for, being a completionist? You either care or you care not. Having a general plan just makes the proces easier and more effective.
Games that I found easiest to complete without getting bored were like Little Nightmares 1 ,2 and Inside and Planet of Lana , etc as well as games like Journey and The Pathless , etc.
I also find Risen series easy to finish like Risen 1 and 3
The only one I didn't finish to the end of that series was Risen 2 because , I kind of found it boring personally ngl but still finishing it would still be very doable and it does have some interesting features , just didn't click with me.
Same for Gothic series but Gothic games tend to feel longer than Risen ones.
I also found the old Assassins Creed games like AC 1 , Ezio Trilogy and Kenway saga easy to finish but can take quite a while to 100% due to the many boring collectibles. The open world RPG ones like Odyssey is where it gets hard to complete them as they tend to be full of bloat.
If you're into these sort of games , you might find them easy to finish to the end as well.
Not an answer to your question but I simply couldn’t do this even if i tried
Well since most games make it extremly annoying to 100% complete I don’t think I could recommend trying. Unless you have tons of extra time you don’t want to use on something else or it is your job like Mort. I would say focus on just completing games as going for all achievements can ruin the fun of the game depending on the person.
This game needs a bunch of rebalance patches, but the studio is no more and that is sad
I was down to try this game until I heard the battle voice lines and I don’t think I could endure that like I could when I was a kid.
The first third is great where they explore the sacrifice theme, especially with your girlfriend character. The villain in that first bit is very interesting, with more complex feelings about the sacrifice. But then they go and replace him with that terrible one dimensional big bad and ruin the last half of the game.
Just a baffling decision. It's not like the original villain was all that complex either.
I didn't like some of the localization voice actors, I played in with subtitles.
You played this game? My condolences
Sounds to me like he enjoyed it. There was more positive than negative in the review at least.
Would you explain the difference between JRPG''s and others, I am unfamiliar with JRPG's they look like the same thing.
@@azuarc IC thanks for the clarification.
The real question Mort: after 100% have you seen the visions of mana? Lol
I think one interesting part of the story/villain is the contrast between him and the main characters. They handled similar situations far better. That said it is a pretty weak link overall.
The sacrifice concept could have been more interesting if the game picked a response and stuck with it. Exploring an Aztec-like society where you were taught it was a good and necessary thing that overrode any survival instinct would be fairly novel. The game flip flops around and doesn't really address it very well before it becomes a non-issue as you save the world in the standard JRPG way.
If you complained about it I must have missed it but fast travel only working for the continent(s) you were on was definitely an annoyance.
Overall I enjoyed the game but getting it on sale is a good idea.
I was on the fence about getting this game. Almost all the reviews I could find of it were from JRPG fans (more so than you are), and because of that, they were all mostly positive towards this. However, after watching your review, I think I'm going to pass on this. I don't think I'd hate it, but I'd probably not think much of it.
Isn't the big bad's motivation basically just Dracula from Castlevania?
I wouldn't say the motivation is all that flimsy tbh. It's pretty cliche and I'd say the presentation matters more. Maybe the presentation in this game wasn't all that great.
"spikiness of progression" when talking about a cactus that increases your xp, I see what youre doing mort
The story was a little bit baffling for me. I like the characters and it has decent moments but the whole "alms as a sacrifice" plot has been done many times over with games like FFX and I Am Setsuna, and yet they not only did nothing interesting or original with it but they didnt really even give their characters or world the freedom to interact with the idea in a way that felt genuine. It's like they had a decent (as in acceptable, not necessarily great) storyboard or outline but didn't actually flesh it out. Overall I really enjoyed the game though. The graphics were beautiful, combat was fun, and it makes me want to play future Mana games... Fingers crossed we get one.
I think I found this one a lot more disappointing than most people. The systems feel shallow and don't open up much at all til the very end game and even then need more like 3+ playthroughs to unlock everything. I feel like you can beat the whole game practically by putting Morey (sp?) on dagger and doing his hold attack where he darts all over. It's like a solid "7/10" passing-fine.
Pretty fun gameplay. The most bland story and character writing possible. The story being all "the human sacrifice actually was necessary, really" wad pretty wild but not handled with any real weight. Worst part is that the characters just don't have any interesting or particularly fun interactions or chemistry, and most of them are extremely static throughout the 30+ hours.
I was struggling to motivate myself finishing it. Some of the bosses were pretty fun but there is not enough depth to the combat for the runtime.
Camille has a thick Osaka dialect which is often translated into Southern dialect so I don't see an issue with that. I wasn't paying much attention but at least her parents spoke Osakan too.
Trials of Mana has a superior story imho
Before even watching I will add this comment.
This is a odd one for me. It's one of your reviews I've really been looking forward to ever since you talked about it the first time. Yet at the same time I have absolutely no interest in actually playing the game, nor do I care to watch any other videos on the game.
You’re in love with him
@@HiLoMusic Why you gotta call me out like that man?
@@Minderz dudes you re making me laugh😂😂😂
Its a shame what happened to dev's of this one. Good review though. It does make me wonder what Mortisimal would think of a trails game like Trails through Daybreak though.
Mortismal must 100% review all Trails games tbh. That would be a delight to see.
When are you going to 100% No Man's Sky huh?
This one broke my heart. Loved the mana games that got released in English and desperately wanted to like this one, but the demo was a big ew moment for me. Sure is pretty tho.