Like anyone with an emulator, I dabbled with Seiken Densetsu 3, though I never got far. When the remake, Trials of Mana, was announced, I was dismayed by the lack of multiplayer support — I've been looking for something my wife and I can play together — but ended up picking it up later (I have a Steam Deck) when it was on sale.
The plot and the banging soundtrack are back, allowing players to finally officially experience this moment in JRPG history. You have six potential Player Party members and have to pick three; you have two chances to take Prestige Classes and can never undo them. Your choice of Main Character determines which of the Big Bad Ensemble you fight. This is an open-ended story with a lot of replay value, augmented by the campaign's merely-20-hour length, and it's fun to think about all the different things you can try. The character and enemy designs are whimsical and light-hearted. And all of this is enhanced by the 3D Unreal Engine graphics, bringing a 2D Action RPG into the modern age.
That said, the remake merely serves to lampshade on the game's age. Modern conveniences (like the ability to find out how each character handles, so that you don't have to restart the entire campaign over when you don't like your third character) are conspicuously absent, and the Action RPG lacks many of the bells and whistles that have been added to that genre — a wider combination of special moves, a deeper combat engine, a Block button, etc. Since we're adding in new features anyway (Limit Breaks, the Lil' Cactus Collection Sidequest, etc), we might as well upgrade — especially since the Button Mashing-oriented fights weren't that enthralling on the SNES. The plot is thin and filled with backtracking for padding. And the targeting system mandated by a 3D combat engine is an afterthought and makes certain fights harder.
Would I get this game? Only if it was on sale. You're getting a chance to finally experience one of the hallmarks of the No Export for You trope, and that's worth something, but it's also Exactly What It Says on the Tin: the original game, almost exactly as it came out in 1995, just with different graphics and camera angles. It's exactly what you would expect from a 1995 game, despite the 25 years that have passed in the meantime. Asking for more seems selfish, but the simple fact is that a number of opportunities were missed. And if you were merely going to straight port the '95 title, why not just translate it and re-issue it in 2D? Square Enix put in both too much work and not enough, and Trials of Mana exists in this weird limbo state of being simultaneously over-polished and unfinished.
VideoGame So close and yet so far.
Like anyone with an emulator, I dabbled with Seiken Densetsu 3, though I never got far. When the remake, Trials of Mana, was announced, I was dismayed by the lack of multiplayer support — I've been looking for something my wife and I can play together — but ended up picking it up later (I have a Steam Deck) when it was on sale.
The plot and the banging soundtrack are back, allowing players to finally officially experience this moment in JRPG history. You have six potential Player Party members and have to pick three; you have two chances to take Prestige Classes and can never undo them. Your choice of Main Character determines which of the Big Bad Ensemble you fight. This is an open-ended story with a lot of replay value, augmented by the campaign's merely-20-hour length, and it's fun to think about all the different things you can try. The character and enemy designs are whimsical and light-hearted. And all of this is enhanced by the 3D Unreal Engine graphics, bringing a 2D Action RPG into the modern age.
That said, the remake merely serves to lampshade on the game's age. Modern conveniences (like the ability to find out how each character handles, so that you don't have to restart the entire campaign over when you don't like your third character) are conspicuously absent, and the Action RPG lacks many of the bells and whistles that have been added to that genre — a wider combination of special moves, a deeper combat engine, a Block button, etc. Since we're adding in new features anyway (Limit Breaks, the Lil' Cactus Collection Sidequest, etc), we might as well upgrade — especially since the Button Mashing-oriented fights weren't that enthralling on the SNES. The plot is thin and filled with backtracking for padding. And the targeting system mandated by a 3D combat engine is an afterthought and makes certain fights harder.
Would I get this game? Only if it was on sale. You're getting a chance to finally experience one of the hallmarks of the No Export for You trope, and that's worth something, but it's also Exactly What It Says on the Tin: the original game, almost exactly as it came out in 1995, just with different graphics and camera angles. It's exactly what you would expect from a 1995 game, despite the 25 years that have passed in the meantime. Asking for more seems selfish, but the simple fact is that a number of opportunities were missed. And if you were merely going to straight port the '95 title, why not just translate it and re-issue it in 2D? Square Enix put in both too much work and not enough, and Trials of Mana exists in this weird limbo state of being simultaneously over-polished and unfinished.
Still, at least I got to play it legally.