Visions of Mana: The First Hands-On Preview

Throughout every encounter, the occasion’s three heroes will be swapped out with the push of a button, utilizing their distinctive talents and strengths in accordance with particular enemies that have been within the battle. Val’s heavy assaults are helpful for combating massive enemies one-on-one, whereas Morely’s velocity is ideal for encounters made up of the next quantity of enemies. Careena serves as the best help function, not solely offering therapeutic however dispensing highly effective magic assaults like thunderbolt that deal area-of-effect injury that’s each highly effective and far-reaching.

Every time the opposite two characters aren’t being utilized in fight, the AI takes over seamlessly. Having all three heroes take part within the battle directly leads to a spread of combo strikes that deal vital injury, particularly when including Elemental Vessels into the combination. These mystical artifacts play an enormous function in Visions of Mana’s fight. Relying on who has which ingredient connected to them, their skillsets, stats, and weapon sorts will change drastically. On this preview, there have been two totally different Elemental Vessels: Moon and Wind. The first manipulates the stream of time, whereas the second controls air currents, lofting enemies off their toes whereas dealing injury.

Taking part in as Val’s Aegis class utilizing the Vessel of the Moon is a totally totally different expertise than when it is geared up to both of the opposite occasion members. On this state, he makes use of a Lance and Defend whereas additionally being able to control the stream of time, making for a terrifying one-two punch of slowing any enemy down to have the ability to dish out each high quality and amount along with his injury. Nothing was extra satisfying than utilizing this on the Gem Valley Ochoro within the first space of the preview.

This sturdy and quick enemy, who felt like a beefy Sonic the Hedgehog, was an absolute menace, that includes loopy velocity and excessive protection that made for a protracted and drawn-out battle. That battle grew to become a lot simpler after switching Val over to the Aegis class. Because of the Luna Globe, a time bubble is created that slows each enemy trapped inside it to a crawl, which is ideal for velocity demons just like the Ochoro. Whereas it nonetheless takes just a few makes an attempt, trapping the hedgehog within the bubble and whaling on it with a barrage of melee and magic spells resulted in a satisfying combat. With the ability to strategy battles by equipping totally different Vessels to totally different characters beforehand makes for an fascinating rock-paper-scissors fight mechanic.

The longer every battle progresses, the extra each character’s particular meter grows. Relying on what Vessel is supplied, constructing this as much as one hundred pc leads to a robust onslaught that works on particular person bosses and huge crowds alike to deal some critical injury and inflict. This potential makes Visions of Mana’s tougher fights, just like the facet quest mini-bosses, really feel extra manageable whereas sustaining its fascinating diploma of problem.

This temporary look into what to anticipate from Visions of Mana paints a picture of how thrilling it has the potential to be. Whereas it might look like a scary change, the action-focused fight and the introduction of gameplay components comparable to Elemental Vessels could be what the collection must deliver it again into the modern-day limelight.