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There's a new Visions of Mana demo out, and after playing it for a couple of hours, I realize what a fool I've been ignoring this beloved franchise my entire life.
I don't even have a good excuse for never playing a Mana game until now. I've known about the series, I've heard nothing but good things about it, and I'm a big fan of JRPGs and action-RPGs made by Japanese developers, but the Mana games have always inexplicably slipped right by my radar. I suppose it's fitting that in a year dominated by some of the best JRPGs released in recent memory, I discover a whole new franchise with several mainline installments, even more spinoffs, and modern remakes.
I won't even pretend to know fully what's going on Visions of Mana; the one criticism I have of the demo is that it just sort of thrusts you into the middle of everything without an explanation or tutorial to ease you into its systems. All I know is that it has a beautiful, vibrant open world that I'm genuinely curious to explore, a cast of colorful characters with their own unique abilities and spells, and a real-time party-based combat system that feels easy enough to learn but challenging to master. I'm reminded of when I fell in love with Dragon Quest after playing the brilliant Echoes of an Elusive Age and subsequently delighted in exploring all of the older games.
From a tactile perspective, Visions of Mana just feels good to play as well. I love that there's a double jump and air dash along with the sprint option to make traversal a little more interesting, and there's just enough weightiness and impact in both the melee combat and spellcasting.
Now that I know from firsthand experience that the Mana series bangs, my only problem is deciding how to start fixing my ignorance of the series. Do I do the obvious thing and start with the first game in the series, Final Fantasy Adventure on Game Boy? Or should I grab the Secret of Mana collection on Switch and start there? Would the 2020 entry Trials of Mana be a more approachable entry point to the series and lore? Lend me your guidance, Mana fans.
Maybe I'll just wait for Visions of Mana to launch on August 29 for PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.
In the meantime, here are the best JRPGs to play today.
