(Screenshots are mine, character illustrations are by Alix!)

Visions of Mana is my first real experience with the Mana series. I picked it up on a whim because a friend was excited for it… and because, I mean, c’mon… colorful characters with tails and ears and stuff! I almost decided against buying the full game after trying the demo though. It does not make a good impression. It overwhelms you with alllll the mechanics, and drops you in at a strange point in the story.

I’m so glad I didn’t ditch the game though, because it has firmly secured a spot in my all-time favorites. Some of my fondest gaming memories of the past are when I would linger in every zone of early 2000’s MMORPGs simply because I loved existing in those spaces. Visions of Mana is nothing like an MMORPG, but it is the first game since then to give me that same desire to endlessly exist in its world, combined with my more modern experience of staying up all night talking about the characters and world and story.

This game doesn't seem to be making as much of a splash as it should. It feels like it wasn’t even given a real chance considering a vast majority of the devs were laid off on the game’s release day. My most heartfelt and empathetic condolences to those devs. You all made something incredible, worthwhile, and touching – something that will stick with me for a long time. You deserve so much better than you got.

Okay let’s talk about Visions of Mana! This write-up is mostly spoiler-free and avoids most specifics; but do be aware that there will be:

We learn how the world works in the title screen cinematic. Every few years, one person from each village is chosen to be an Alm. All the Alms meet up and travel – along with a Soul Guard as their escort – to the Mana Tree where they give up their souls to keep Mana flowing throughout the world.

Pretty dark, but it’s portrayed as an honorable, joyfully-accepted duty. It’s been the way of things for millenia, so it’s ingrained and widely embraced in every village’s culture. Doubt and dissent is kept to oneself, spoken in whispers and hypotheticals. Understandably so, as the world has recently witnessed what happens to a village when their appointed Alm rejects this duty:

Annihilation.

In fact, we get to experience this moment of rejection and consequence first-hand in what is effectively the tutorial. We just learned about the honorable and sacred duty of Alms, but now we’re seeing through the eyes of a couple – one of them just appointed an Alm – saying the quiet part out loud:

“I don’t want to die! I want to live a full life with my loved ones!”

After witnessing the tragic conclusion of that story, we cut to the present day where we meet the first two main characters: lifelong friends Val and Hinna. They are brimming with youth and positivity. They are so clearly in love with each other, but it’s never made awkward or juvenile, and they are never mocked for it. Extremely refreshing, and the first of several ways this game ditches bad tropes of its genres. We soon learn Val is the Soul Guard for the Alms this cycle, and Hinna is appointed the Alm for their village. They accept these duties with grace and eagerness. They’re thrilled they get to go on such an exciting journey together. Their personalities are a bright light and cool breeze in what has been an extremely dark and heated year IRL. I just immediately loved them both so much.

The cheerful and innocent introduction to Val and Hinna.
The glimpse into the bleak reality of the recent past.
The tonal and thematic contrast between these two perspectives is the crux of the whole game’s story.

I will say now that the direction of individual scenes throughout the game was hit-and-miss. Some scenes still make me cry when I recall them, but some others fell pretty flat. Unfortunately, the ending is one of the parts that’s kinda clumsy. That said, the game still made me adore and get invested in every single main character, without fail, all the way through the end. If one character had a weak backstory cutscene, it was made up for in their present-day moment-to-moment dialogue. Every main character broke my expectations of what their personality would be. Each of their voices, styles of speech, and views of the world are drastically different. I LOVED the twang Rachel Rial gave Careena.

I was also struck by the parental/family side characters. Parents who don’t believe in their child. Homely parents that always know exactly what to say. Missing family. Found family. Unconventional family. We get all of these, and they are all incredibly compelling. I cried a lot at many of the moments involving these families. Tears of joy, sadness, and anger. I hope actual parents and would-be parents play this game and resonate with these stories. These moments are all contained in such short and simple segments, but they speak volumes.

So, about the side quests… a vast majority of them are just kind of nothing in terms of story, but usually the rewards are pretty useful depending on your builds. Late game, each main character has a special side quest of their own, and one side character gets a series of side quests. For the most part, those are the only ones that had any kind of compelling story. The game also doesn’t do a whole lot to help you track available side quests. I did all of them, but I had to frequently scan every single region’s map between main story events to see if any new quests popped up, plus check a guide right before the final boss to make sure I didn’t miss any. It was pretty annoying, especially since they were usually just another fetch quest or whatever. I recommend doing the main/side character specific ones, maybe do a few others if you feel under-equipped, but otherwise you’re probably fine skipping the rest of the side quests.

In terms of difficulty, I highly recommend playing on Hard if you like your RPGs to have any amount of resistance. I played on Normal for maybe 70% of the game, and it felt closer to what I’d expect Easy to be. I was able to win basically every fight without ever changing my party composition, but Hard forced me to think carefully about affinities and moves and party commands. I wish I had done Hard from the start. The bosses were meaty and scary after I switched, but I still wound up over-levelled for a couple of them, so be careful of that. There are some optional trials throughout the world that are pretty cool. They’re isolated little combat puzzle challenges, infinitely retry-able. They scale with your level too, so you really do just have to figure out the strategy. A couple of them were annoyingly specific in their solution, but otherwise they were fun.

Do be aware that there’s a frustrating bug where sometimes party members just… won’t use a consumable when you tell them to. This only lasts for the current battle, so it’s usually not a huge deal unless you get unlucky enough for it to happen during a tough boss. Sometimes it’ll fix itself if you stand completely still before trying to use the item again, but sometimes you’re just screwed. Sadly, I doubt this will get fixed since, y’know, THE WHOLE DEV TEAM WAS LAID OFF.

I can’t believe I’ve written this much without mentioning the visuals…

So uhh Visions of Mana is the most visually gorgeous post-PS2 game I have seen, full stop. It’s the only game I know of where the incredibly pretty concept art is not as pretty as the in-game art. While the animations (especially facial animations) can be minimal or stiff, the designs, lighting, color, and everything else make up for it and make the game just SOAR.

This is probably also the only game that was so pretty it made me care as much about the world as the characters did. I wanted to protect it, and I was ecstatic for the journey just like the party was.

There’s only one real visual issue I see, and it’s an issue a vast majority of modern games have… Tiny text. To all devs out there: PLEASE MAKE YOUR TEXT SIZE BIGGER! Or at least provide a setting for it. I don’t wanna have to squint and lean forward just to read an item description or my HP/MP! I am a lazy and aging couch gamer. Have mercy, I beg of you!

I wish I could play this game for the first time again, experience the anticipation and excitement of seeing a new part of the world, and just soak in the surroundings. Y’all some of these areas were so pretty they made me cry. This game’s journey absolutely tapped into the deep sadness that’s been with me since 2020 when travel stopped being safe or financially viable for me.

Of all the games to not have a photo mode…

I’m running out of things I can say without spoiling stuff, so I’ll quickly hit some last points.

Huge shoutout to the character designers. Here’s a very abbreviated list of the treasures they have given us:

Suave, compassionate, non-binary-colored, triple-dagger-wielding catboy
Fiery dragonfolk girl with a big ‘ol tail, visible permanent physical impairment, and beautiful dragon cub partner
Pretty lady WITH A SCYTHE and huge bushy tail. Wears revealing outfits just 'cause she wants to, wears them with confidence, and is never for a moment objectified by anyone.

Plus 8 unique and highly-detailed outfits per party member, and a ton of visually distinct weapons. Seeing new outfits was one of the things I looked forward to the most as I progressed!

The music is also lovely. I think it’s at its best in the cozy moments, but it still has its fair share of guitar boss theme bangers. I bought an external CD drive just so I could listen to the 5-disc OST + Arranged album (they aren't online anywhere yet). My favorite songs are prooooobably:

I love this game, and if you give it a shot I hope you love it too!