Is this game worth it?

[Hurricane]

I swear I thought Mana series is a big one, not final fantasy/dragon quest level but still, never played any but even I heard of secret of mana, but this game? I see that it has daily max like 600 players, that's terrible, I never heard anybody talking about this game positively, never saw any big streamer or YouTube playing it, I never ever saw a review popup or idk, I only heard that combat sucks, besides this nobody talks about this game, is it bad?

[Koby]

The mana series really isn't that big. All of them combined have only sold like 9 million total in like 30 years, but it's true that the first week sales of Visions were reportedly some of the lowest of the entire franchise. The only titles performing worse were the two mobile games.

Reception is largely that Trials of Mana Remake was better than Visions. But hey download the demo and play it and make your own decision as to whether to buy the game or not. No one can make that decision for you and the sales of the game shouldn't be a deciding factor imo.

[Hurricane]

Originally posted by Koby:

The mana series really isn't that big. All of them combined have only sold like 9 million total in like 30 years, but it's true that the first week sales of Visions were reportedly some of the lowest of the entire franchise. The only titles performing worse were the two mobile games.

Reception is largely that Trials of Mana Remake was better than Visions. But hey download the demo and play it and make your own decision as to whether to buy the game or not. No one can make that decision for you and the sales of the game shouldn't be a deciding factor imo.

Oh ye forgot about the demo, alright thanks

[Minneyar]

Originally posted by Hurricane:

I see that it has daily max like 600 players, that's terrible,

This isn't a multiplayer game, the number of concurrent online players doesn't matter.

It has over 1,000 reviews on Steam and 80% are positive, so you can probably skim through them to get a better idea of the general consensus than a few forums posters can give you.

I think it's a very good game that starts off a little rough but get consistently better over the course of the game. I'd recommend it if you like action JRPGs and want to explore a whimsical, colorful world that has a serious story underneath the surface. I think the combat's a lot of fun, but you need to experiment with all of your options and find out what works for you; the people I see who don't like it are also usually the people who just use what the game gives them right at the beginning and never experiment with other characters.

[Axelhander]

# of concurrent players in a single player game is a measure of absolutely freaking nothing.

As for whether it's worth it, as someone in the final dungeon: probably not. Clumsy mess at everything from mechanics to storytelling. If the demo doesn't do it for you, move on, because it doesn't get much better.

[legaiaflame]

Well, if you want masterpiece storytelling, the Mana series never had that. This game's story in fine for what it is, a more kid friendly version of Final Fantasy 10. And the graphics are simply a work of art. Music is really well done as well. So, there's that. And the gameplay/battle system is similar to Trials of Mana and better imo, with all of the class options.

[Syndicate]

Based on the demo, it feels a bit soulless when compared to DQ11, which is why I haven't bought it.

[Minneyar]

Originally posted by Syndicat3:

Based on the demo, it feels a bit soulless when compared to DQ11, which is why I haven't bought it.

This is a completely different type of game than DQ11, so I don't know if it makes sense to compare it to that.

But for what it's worth, the general consensus is that the demo is also not a great representation of the full game. It drops you in at a point early in the game (but not at the beginning) with no explanation and basically just gives you a big area to explore, a small town, and then a boss fight. It doesn't really give you any plot details, and being limited to early gameplay is annoying when, as mentioned elsewhere, the game has quite a bit more complexity to offer the further you get into it. The demo is mostly just useful for seeing whether your PC can run the game or not.

[mpcgannon]

I find the combat to be fun. I enjoy it more than Ni No Kuni 2. I do enjoy Ys VIII a little more but I think Visions looks better hands down.
For exploration, I disable the mini map and go around blind. There is light platforming / collecting that I find REALLY satisfying. Again, this game is gorgeous.
Story for me is meh. But I'm the kind that's fine making my own story in my head when I'm not drawn in.
For me, this game is gameplay > narrative, I'm fine with that, and I really like this game.

[urantia007]

Secret of Mana on the SNES was my all time favourite game. I didnt even know about Visions of Mana until a few days ago!! Looks like its made by the old veterans of the SNES SOM also! After a few days of playing Visions of Mana, I'm definitely feeling some of that magic again. I think they have pulled it off, its not perfect (the English voice matching with the characters is not perfect as expected) but its still a masterpiece in my opinion. I count myself lucky the game devs/artists/musicians etc were able to create this with the budget and time frame etc. its a cut throat industry.

[Jean]

The reason that Visions is selling so eh is because it did not release on Switch, which is where most of Japan's playerbase is. Once it is ported there I'm positive it will at least do a reasonable amount. But no, Mana games are not really sellers, lol.

[legaiaflame]

This game would have looked like hot garbage on Switch. Everything would of had to be compromised: textures, geometry, load times, etc. Everything would have been a blurry mess! And I severely doubt Swtich 2 will be as powerful as a PS5...

[Minneyar]

Originally posted by Jean:

The reason that Visions is selling so eh is because it did not release on Switch, which is where most of Japan's playerbase is.

I find it increasingly funny when people say this kind of thing, considering that:
1. The PC market in Japan has been rapidly growing every year, and as of 2023, it's bigger than the PlayStation side of the console market, and it's almost as big as the Switch
2. This is a global release, and the US and EU markets are much larger than Japan
3. This game already struggles to run well on the PS5 and high-end PCs; If this game gets a Switch port, which is unlikely considering that most of the development team was laid off and the Switch is due to be replaced by a successor very soon, it's either going to look or run like absolute garbage

[Veeshan]

Definitely immediately stop gauging a game's potential by number of players or hype. Just look up footage, that's infinitely better.

[essen]

It's a well built Mana game. The world building, music, graphics and gameplay are all there. Of course, like all Mana games, there's a bunch of more controversial design decisions. If you're a fan of the Mana series you'll likely enjoy it.

[Drake]

Originally posted by Syndicat3:

Based on the demo, it feels a bit soulless when compared to DQ11, which is why I haven't bought it.

For what it's worth, the demo doesn't do any justice to the game. They really chose to put the player at a point where nothing is happening besides a small boss at the end.
I understand they did it to not spoil any of the game, but it really doesn't help.