Visions of Mana’s class system sticks to the series’ roots while still feeling fresh

This story is part of our Summer Gaming Marathon series.

I really appreciate Square Enix taking risks to revive dormant franchises with new entries while also continuing its flagship Final Fantasy series. Over the past few years, we’ve gotten Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince, SaGa: Emerald Beyond, Star Ocean: The Divine Force, and Theatrhythm Final Bar Line. Now the Mana series is the latest one to get Square Enix’s treatment with Visions of Mana.

After about 10 hours with the game, I’ve come to realize that it takes a lot of inspiration from its real-time combat and open-world RPG contemporaries like Tales, Xenoblade, and modern Final Fantasy. But what makes Visions of Mana stand out is its excellent class system that offers unrivaled flexibility and unique combat mechanics. It’s a different approach to classes compared to past Mana games that had more linear progression, but it allows Visions of Mana to stick to its roots. The game also extends this with a simple plot with some relatively predictable twists.

Old roots, new story

Games in the Mana series always share similar plots, typically involving a magical tree, and Visions of Mana is no different. Here, it follows a young boy named Val, who is chosen as the Soul Guard and must make the pilgrimage to the Mana Tree. Along the way, he also must protect “Alms,” special residents in each village who have been chosen to sacrifice their lives to the tree in order to keep the world safe. It’s a rather simple plot, but it immediately sets up the stakes and gets straight to the point. There’s no slow burn that takes forever to know what the protagonist’s goal is, and I really appreciate that.

The story has been somewhat predictable so far. RPGs with religious tones or themes surrounding tradition usually have characters who start to doubt the original mission. Visions of Mana certainly falls into these tropes, but its cast of characters is at least charming enough — with a surprising amount of depth — to keep the