Trials of Mana Remake

[Karifean]

With the release around the corner I think this deserves its own new topic.

Sooo this is coming out in three days, and the demo's been playable for a while now. Who's gonna pick it up? Gonna play it on PC, Switch or PS4? Who will be your main party (for your first playthrough at least)?

I'm definitely gonna dive in right as it comes out. The demo's been scratching some of that Ys VIII itch and I've heard so much good about the classic game. I'm thinking of going with Duran main and Angela+Charlotte sub, but haven't quite decided yet. Also pretty interested in giving Hawkeye a whirl.

[Wolf Kanno]

Once money isn't an issue, I'll definitely be picking it up. I had a blast with the demo. The VA is still very rough, but thankfully the Japanese language is still available as a language option. I really love the gameplay and UI changes, and fully appreciate the fact they remade the game as a 3D experience as opposed to the previous two Mana remakes which were straight remakes with 3d graphics. The music arrangements are also pretty good. I still need to finish my original playthrough, but for the remake, I may run the same team just go Light/Light for the job classes.

[cheesesteak]

I'm really excited for this one. More than I was for Octopath Traveler or Romancing SaGa 3 remaster. I don't think I've been this excited for a JRPG since...FF13 or a 3DS game like M&L, Radiant History remaster, or Alliance Alive (PC player here, so no Switch/PS4 JRPGs for me). And it's the replayability that has me super excited for this one. Which is nuts b/c even if a game has a real incentive to be re-played, I never re-play games. It sorta goes against my "rules". But this one...I dunno. It's just pulling me in.

Given that I'm reading it takes under 30 hours to beat, that's not too bad to re-play for a different party story path. Yeah, I'm aware the main story is the same, but I still want to see the 3 separate party paths. Plus w/ the original and remade OST, the re-plays will still stay fresh w/ the music and even changing between English and Japanese VAs. Just...a lot of reason for me to play multiple times, which I never do for any game.

So I'm kinda planning my team comps/builds right now. Coming up w/ a formula of 1 healer, characters matching their story paths, at least 1 waifu, etc.

[Karifean]

Just made it to the Ghost Ship. This game has been a pure bundle of charm so far. The killer door in Laurent was quite a leap in difficulty which nicely showed this game can get quite challenging as well. I love it so far.

[Wolf Kanno]

Yeah I loved the Ghost Ship sequence in the original. I'll have to wait like SoM, but I can't wait to dive back into this game.

[Wolf Kanno]

Also, for those who don't know who to start with, the main website has a personality quiz to help you determine who your lead should be. I apparently should have gone with Riesz as my starting character.

[cheesesteak]

Also, for those who don't know who to start with, the main website has a personality quiz to help you determine who your lead should be. I apparently should have gone with Riesz as my starting character.

Ugh, I'm having a hard time picking my 1st team! I have 3 teams planned for all 3 story paths, just not sure which to go w/ first!

Btw, the teams are as follows:
- Charlotte, Kevin, Angela
- Kevin, Hawkeye, Riesz
- Duran, Angela, Riesz

Guess I could just roll for it... Kevin, Hawkeye, and Riesz won.

[Wolf Kanno]

That's a pretty good boss killing team depending on your classes. Kevin is easily the best damage dealer of the six and Hawkeye and Riesz have classes that specialize in buff/debuff spells so they tend to be really good at destroying bosses, though healing might be a problem...

Course in my playthrough of the original, I'm near the end and I rolled a team with no healing magic as well and it's not that hard to do.

[Karifean]

I believe that to get all 3 story paths, your second team needs to have another MC. (ignore this if the first char you listed isn't MC)

Finished the game last night. Well, beat the Dragon Lord anyways. It was super fun and I'm going to dive into the postgame and probably start another run in the following days.

I admit I hope there's yet some way to up the difficulty as even playing on Hard I almost never had to really try hard and since I had a healer I capped out on healing items halfway through and never used any besides Cups of Wishes. Though like I mentioned on the discord, trying for the exp multiplier for not getting hit in a fight served as a nice secondary challenge and incentivized learning enemy patterns even still.

[WarZidane]

Beat the post-game myself now, the game's definitely easy even on hard, never had a game over and there were only a couple of boss fights that made me use items (as i had no healer).

Still, I don't mind an RPG being on the easy side so I'm not bothered by that, had a lot of fun. I'll do some last-minute postgame cleanup next time i boot the game then probably start an NG+.

Team was Angela (pure light classes), Duran (pure dark classes), Riesz (pure dark classes). Angela started out weak but by the end she's just a chain-casting powerhouse with infinite MP. Riesz turned out to be a great debuffer with decent attacks and Duran started as my main attacker and kept that up a while with saber spells, but in the end became my meatshield and source of party-wide MP regen abilities

[Karifean]

Yeah, while I did die a couple times myself (always due to being stunlocked with quick multihits when I didn't expect it) the game was pretty easy through and through. I kinda hope they patch in an extra difficulty setting eventually, but I also agree that despite that it was a super fun time all the same, since the combat just feels great.

Doing another run with Hawkeye, Kevin and Riesz. Not doing New Game Plus since it's more fun for me to start from scratch.

[Wolf Kanno]

I can't say for the full game, but with the demo, I saw they made the game much easier than the original. The original doesn't have random pots filled with HP/MP restoration orbs and bosses like Fullmetal Haggar (the first crab boss you fight to save Wisp) is a stationary boss who has attacks that are nearly impossible to dodge since your space is limited unlike in the demo where you have a fairly generous arena to dodge.

On the other hand, combat is more robust in the remake compared to the original, the A.I. can actually use spells without your guidance, and the character building is much deeper and and more interesting. The sheer fact Agility and Luck stat upgrades actually do something is cause for celebration. They are vendor trash upgrades in the original, but the game has a soft cap on stats for classes, so you do eventually have to pour points into the stats despite not working in the original.

Also note the original is more difficult, but I wouldn't call it a difficult game. Maybe compared to SoM and and certainly against Legend of Mana, but I've been doing a no healer run in the original, and haven't ran into any issues. If you want to play a fun boss killing team, Go with Hawkeye, Riesz, and Duran. Make Hawkeye go full dark path, Riesz goes full light path, and Duran goes Dark/Light to gain Swordmaster. You won't have any healing magic but you'll have access to every major buff/debuff/elemental weapon skill which completely crushes bosses in this game.

[cheesesteak]

I believe that to get all 3 story paths, your second team needs to have another MC. (ignore this if the first char you listed isn't MC)

Right. My first character on those teams is actually my designated healer lol. I'm aware of the proper 2-character combos for the story paths. Still unsure who to actually select as MC for the other groups.

Still in the middle of my first playthrough and enjoying it. Need to play more frequently, cuz I REALLY want to do my Duran, Angela, Riesz team and go Dark/Dark for the ladies since that means they'll just walk around in bikinis for the game...

[tidus79]

Looks pretty cool! I'll buy it ^^

[Christmas]

I realized that a berserker (Dark-Light) Duran can solo everything in the game with his high crit chance plus moon saber (life leech).