Visions of Mana
Last updated: 2025-04-11
- Visually stunning, vibrant world.
- Extensive character customization options.
- Recommended for Mana series fans.
- Deep, customizable class system.
- Tedious exploration, unrewarding quests.
- Clunky, shallow combat system.
Verdict
Mixed
Summary
Positive 70% · Negative 30%. Score: 30 / 100
Positives:
- The game features stunning visuals, detailed environments, and a vibrant color palette, creating an immersive and visually appealing world. Many reviewers praise the art style, drawing comparisons to classic Mana games and fairy tales. This point is consistently mentioned and specific, indicating a significant strength of the game.
- The game offers extensive character customization options through a flexible class system, skill trees, and ability seeds. Reviewers appreciate the freedom to experiment with different builds and create personalized characters. This point is specific and consistently mentioned, indicating a significant depth in character customization.
- The game is designed to be accessible and enjoyable, with a balanced difficulty, helpful quality-of-life features, and a smooth progression system. Reviewers appreciate the game's user-friendly design and its ability to avoid unnecessary frustration. This point is constructive and specific, indicating a well-designed and accessible gameplay experience.
- The game is a great addition to the series, showing respect for older games in the franchise. Reviewers appreciate the hard work and dedication the team has put into each new installment. This point is specific and consistently mentioned, indicating a strong connection to the series' roots.
- The game provides a relaxing and pleasant experience, suitable for unwinding and enjoying a lighthearted adventure. Reviewers appreciate the game's cozy atmosphere, vibrant colors, and whimsical elements. This point is specific and consistently mentioned, indicating a significant strength of the game.
Negatives:
- Exploration feels tedious due to unrewarding chests, repetitive quests, and excessive backtracking. The world feels empty despite its size, and the story is interrupted by frequent, unnecessary cutscenes. Many reviewers felt that the game does not respect the player's time, and some even stopped playing due to boredom or frustration.
- Combat is often described as clunky, slow, and lacking depth, with poor AI for party members. Many reviewers found the combat system to be a significant weakness, especially when compared to other games in the series. Some players also reported visual clutter and performance issues during battles.
- The English translation and voice acting are often criticized as subpar, with dialogue differing significantly from the original Japanese. Some reviewers found the voice acting to be obnoxious or cringeworthy, and the lip-syncing is often off. These issues detract from the overall presentation and immersion.
- The game's art style and character designs are often criticized as unappealing or inconsistent. Some reviewers found the character models to be awkward or lacking in detail, and the overall aesthetic to be childish or outdated.
- The fast travel system is inconvenient and restrictive, often requiring multiple steps and loading screens to reach different areas. This makes exploration and side quest completion tedious, as players cannot easily travel between continents.
Gameplay:
- The game features a deep and customizable class system with elemental affinities, unique skills, and varied playstyles. Players can experiment with different builds and party compositions, adapting to challenges and expressing their preferred combat style. However, some classes may be unbalanced or less viable.
- The game features a semi-open world structure with large zones, encouraging exploration with collectibles and side quests. Some areas are gated, requiring specific skills or progression to access, adding a Metroidvania-like element. However, some reviewers found the world design linear despite its size.
- Many reviewers noted the game's strong resemblance to previous Mana titles, particularly Trials of Mana, in its combat, ring menu system, and overall feel. While familiar and enjoyable for fans, some felt it lacked sufficient innovation to stand out.
- The game features an ability seed system, similar to Materia, allowing players to customize characters with various skills and stats. The system offers flexibility in character building, but some found it overwhelming or felt that it made character building less meaningful due to the ease of respeccing.
- The game features a job change system based on spirits, offering visual changes and new skills. However, some reviewers found the differences between classes less impactful, with shared skills diminishing the uniqueness of each job.
Performance:
- The game's performance is inconsistent, with reports of smooth gameplay on various systems, but also instances of stuttering, frame drops, crashes, and optimization issues, especially in specific areas, cutscenes, and on the Steam Deck. Some users have found workarounds or experienced improvements with updates, while others still struggle with performance even on high-end hardware.
- The game features impressive graphics and decent textures, but some reviewers noted that the visuals don't always justify the performance demands. Some also pointed out that the art style seems dated, with PS2-era facial expressions and a lack of modern rendering features.
- Many reviewers reported that cutscenes are locked at 30 FPS, which is jarring compared to the smoother gameplay. Some found workarounds to unlock the frame rate, but this highlights a lack of optimization and attention to detail.
- The game lacks support for ultrawide resolutions and has limited resolution options, resulting in black borders and a less immersive experience for users with ultrawide monitors. This is a notable omission for a modern PC game.
- Several reviewers encountered bugs and crashes, some of which were resolved by restarting the game or applying updates. However, the frequency of these issues and the potential for progress loss due to infrequent autosaves detract from the overall experience.
Recommendations:
- The game's appeal is heavily tied to prior experience with the Mana series. Long-time fans are more likely to enjoy it and overlook its flaws, while newcomers may find it less impressive or even disappointing. Some reviewers explicitly recommend it only to Mana fans.
- Several reviewers express disappointment with the game's story and/or characters, describing them as uninteresting, generic, or morally objectionable. Some suggest that the story detracts from the overall experience, while others recommend skipping cutscenes or focusing on gameplay instead. Some reviewers mention that the story is geared towards children.
- Many reviewers suggest waiting for a sale before purchasing due to the perceived value not matching the full price. Some recommend specific price points (e.g., $30-$40, 50% off, $20 or less), while others advise checking Game Pass or waiting for deep discounts (70-80% off).
- Some reviewers found the game to be boring, shallow, and lacking depth. They describe it as a decent time-passer with solid visuals but lacking the polish needed to make it exceptional. Some reviewers felt the game was not memorable.
- Several reviewers mention technical issues such as crashing, freezing, stuttering, and audio problems. Some reviewers were forced to refund the game due to these issues. These issues contribute to a sense of the game being rushed and unpolished.
Miscellaneous:
- The game's development studio was shut down shortly after release, casting doubt on future updates and support. This is a major concern for players as it impacts the long-term viability of the game. Some reviews suggest this was due to NetEase closing Ouka Studios.
- The game contains numerous references to previous Mana titles, rewarding long-time fans with nostalgic callbacks and deeper lore connections. However, newcomers may find some story elements confusing without prior knowledge of the series. Some maps and monsters are reminiscent of the second and third games in the series.
- The game features a bright and colorful art style with cheerful character designs, creating a lighthearted atmosphere. This contrasts with the surprisingly dark undertones and mature themes present in the story, creating a unique juxtaposition. The game avoids offensive themes common in some JRPGs.
- The game avoids microtransactions, online services, and built-in shops. All achievements can be obtained in a single playthrough, eliminating the need for New Game Plus. The game has a New Game Plus mode.
- There are two distinct categories of players approaching this: longtime fans, and players who are newly or more recently introduced with the series. Some reviewers approached the game wanting to recapture the feeling of carefree enjoyment experienced in childhood.
Similar games
Blend with other games
96%Trinity Trigger
96%Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes
95%Beloved Rapture
95%Chained Echoes
95%Terra Memoria
95%Ys X: Nordics
95%The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak II
95%FANTASIAN Neo Dimension
95%STAR OCEAN THE SECOND STORY R
95%Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero
95%Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
95%DRAGON QUEST® XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age™ - Definitive Edition