Trials of Mana

A remake of the (for a long time) never localized sequel to the SNES classic Secret of Mana, this game is, despite its many modern QOL features, still a SNES action RPG at heart. Very faithful to the original version, which hails from the days before RPGs required over a 100 hours of content, Trials of Mana is a quick and fun action romp that takes between 20 and 25 hours to beat per run. The plot (and dialogue) are rather simple cookie-cutter JRPG-fare. Your character's homeland is either attacked by a hostile nation or is taken over by one of the antagonists and is forced to attack another nation while you escape and flee to the Holy City to ask the priest of light for advice. In order to return peace to the world, you'll have to find all 8 Mana spirits, seek out the Mana Sanctuary and claim the Sword of Mana. It's a simple premise that has you constantly on the move and with no sidequests to distract you, the plot keeps moving forward with a steady pace as you travel between towns and battle through dungeons. Controls are simple. Your character can run, use items, attack with strings consisting of light and heavy attacks, can jump, dodge-roll and after collecting a few spirits, most of them learn attack or support spells as well. (plus a handful of special attacks that use the meter that fills up as you attack) Your party consists of three characters at pretty much all times and the companions you recruit stick with you for the entire game. That's where the game's most notable aspect comes in. The game has no fixed team of heroes. At the start of the game you're asked to select a hero and two companions from a selection of 6 distinct characters. (the 3 characters you don't pick occasionally appear in the story as NPCs) The game has three antagonistic factions, three mid-game dungeons, three final dungeons and three final bosses and what faction ends up making up the final challenge depends on who you pick as your primary hero. (the knight and the mage share a faction, the warrior monk and cleric share a faction and the amazon and thief share a faction) In addition to the primary antagonists and several dungeons differing depending on who you pick as primary hero, there are also two points in the story where your characters get the opportunity to upgrade their class to an offensive or defensive branch (for a total of 4 branches per character) and depending on what branch you pick, your heroes will end up with a different set of abilities and passives that can be built and customized with training points you gain as you level up. The combination of 6 heroes, 3 antagonists and 24 class branches makes each run feel different and gives the game a degree of replay value that was unheard of at the time and is still solid today. While the game was clearly not made with an AAA-budget, its graphics are charming and colorful, its set of locations is extremely diverse, its controls are fluid and responsive and its soundtrack (a solid and faithful remaster of an already amazing SNES soundtrack) has a great deal of memorable melodies. The game's draw is not really the story or deep character interactions. The script is practically unchanged from the original SNES game and it shows. This game's draw is a fun and breezy 25 hour journey through the magical world of the Mana games that's quick to pick up and play in short bursts. Recommended to anyone who grew up playing the Squaresoft classics on the SNES or anyone who enjoys action rpgs in general.

Whomever is responsible for all of these Square Enix releases on GOG, keep them coming!

I've already got several different versions of this game already and I plan to dip in again and get it here on GOG. If you've been considering giving the series a try, this is a great entry point into the series. The combat is fun and fast-paced, the remade soundtrack sounds amazing, and the replayability is high. If you have any experience with the SNES/SFC version, they do play differently but you'll get the hang of it in no time. The stats work a little bit differently (and IIRC, the Luck stat actually works in this version).

Trials of Mana was lost for a very long time; it was a Japan-exclusive title until Square Enix released the remake for PC in 2020, 25 years later. One of the best game in the series. The game features 6 characters to start with, each with its own prologue and unique story. Every character has a specific progression system, different paths, and unique bosses. This gives the game huge replay value—playing with only one hero is simply not enough. The best thing is that even when you choose different heroes, your story is never exactly the same. It is an incredible game Visually, the game looks amazing, built in Unreal Engine 4 with a fantastic art style. Playing on GOG Galaxy was an amazing experience; this version runs at a constant 120 FPS, which gives a much better, smoother experience. Thanks to SquareEnix we can enjoy this incredible game as it ment to be played. Also personal thanks to team on GOG for making this possible. Trials of Mana is an important part of gaming history.