Visions of Mana review: the RPG comfort food you’re craving

Visions of Mana MSRP $59.99 Score Details Pros

Fun combat and class system
Great character development
Gorgeous art direction
Flawless performance

Cons

Predictable story
Dull sidequests
Average open world

Whenever it’s late at night and I’m still feeling a bit hungry, I always go to my local Taco Bell drive-through to pick up a Build Your Own Cravings Box: Crunchwrap Supreme, Crunchy Taco, Cheesy Fiesta Potatoes, and a medium Diet Pepsi. I know it’s not the healthiest food for me, complete with high sodium, calories, and cholesterol, but I’m not going to sit around not feeling satisfied after I eat it. It’s comfort food!

That’s how I felt about playing Visions of Mana. Here, Square Enix had the items already picked out for me: good combat, a flexible class system, fantastic art direction, and compelling characters. Much like comfort food, Visions of Mana is fun to play when you’re feeling the itch for something familiar — even if you know there are better options out there. I could’ve played an RPG with a less predictable story and fewer dull sidequests, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy the taste all the same.

Breaking the cycle

In Visions of Mana, people around the world must send one person from their respective elemental villages to sacrifice their lives to the great Mana Tree every four years — otherwise, disaster will fall upon their homes. Those people chosen to make the pilgrimage are called Alms, and Val is assigned to be the Soul Guard, the person in charge of protecting them and making sure they make the journey unscathed.

It’s almost like playing an old -chool Final Fantasy game.

The story sets a nice foundation, but most of the plot twists along the way are rather predictable. It’s very much reminiscent of Xenoblade Chronicles 3’s story where romance is a huge motivator between characters. It gets to a point where it becomes a bit too heavy-handed, leaving no mystery about it’s antagonists’ motivation. It all builds to a boring conclusion.