History YMMV / TrialsOfMana

* CameraScrew: The 2020 remake's targeting system is poorly implemented. Pressing a button, typically the one under the right stick, allows you to designate a target, but at that point the function ''of'' the right stick changes from "Change camera angle" to "Change your target," meaning it's very easy to switch targets on accident when the camera clipped through a wall. The logic behind which target you switch ''to'' is hard to use, especially in a fight where enemies are switching places rapidly; this includes acquiring the enemy (the game thinks) you are trying to target, as [[ArtificialStupidity it might not be the only enemy that is actually onscreen]]. Sometimes the game will just not target anyone even if you press the button. And, once the foe in question is defeated, the game ''will not'' auto-switch to targeting someone else; you have to press it ''again'', at which point all these problems come back into play.

###Shadow Angela, battled as Angela's MirrorMatch DuelBoss to obtain her Class 4 item. Shadow Angela will [[MyRulesAreNotYourRules spam multiple magic attacks in a row, faster than Angela could ever cast them]]; getting hit by one spell will usually leave Angela to get hit by every other spell in the chain. And since Shadow Angela hits like a truck, this will deplete Angela's health very fast, since Angela is a GlassCannon. The arena is small and prone to CameraScrew, even if you lock on to Shadow Angela. Even worse, Shadow Angela likes to use Annihilate, which is practically a guaranteed OneHitKO if Angela doesn't evade it; even if Angela survives the hit, another spell chain will start almost immediately, leaving very small windows to heal. And Angela can only use items to restore her health since she doesn't get a healing spell from any of her class changes, meaning what healing Angela does have is finite. No wonder Queen Valda warns Angela that nobody has passed this trial for centuries. To put into context how frustrating this boss is compared to virtually every other boss fight in the game, this boss can take off half of Angela's HP when player!Angela a few levels over the boss with one of her magic combos... in ''Beginner'' difficulty[[note]]This is the easiest difficulty designed to let players steamroll the game[[/note]]. At normal or higher difficulty she can potentially OHKO Angela. Combine this with an extremely small arena and the boss having really low downtime, and it's clear that the boss was massively overtuned.

* AssPull: At the very end of Kevin's storyline, it's revealed that the death of his dog, Karl - his entire reason for going on the quest in the first place and something that, contrary to what he was told, the Sword of Mana wouldn't actually be able to fix - was "an illusion created by evil magic", allowing him to have a happy ending. There was no hint of this previously.

* AuthorsSavingThrow:
** The lack of a weapon gauge was either a ScrappyMechanic or an AntiFrustrationFeature depending on who you ask. In ''Secret'', you could technically attack at any time, but unless your stamina bar was at 100%, the attack would likely miss or [[NoSell not deal enough damage to overcome the enemy's defense]]. (And in the SNES version, the game couldn't tell you which.) ''Trials'' avoids this by simply not allowing you to attack [[CombatantCooldownSystem until your character is 100% ready]]. But this also makes the game feel slower and more deliberate if you're used to ''Secret's'' hack-and-slash gameplay--especially if you're using a single-hit melee character, like Duran or Riesz. The remake split the difference: it takes even longer to charge Techs (now called Class Strikes), but you can freely combo your basic attacks.
** There were also several changes in the remake that addressed issues that the original version had:
*** The developers removed time-freeze from techs and magic in the remake and replaced the time-freeze with AOE markers. This removed a lot of the damage players were forced to take take in the original, and allowed more aware players to avoid getting damaged in most situations.
*** Level 2 and Level 3 techs no longer get automatically countered by the majority of endgame mobs and bosses, who had made said techs AwesomeYetImpractical in the original games due to flattening your characters any time you used any tech over level 1. The higher-level techs also got significantly buffed so you have a reason to use them.
*** Many of the dungeons are now shorter because the developers cut out parts that were clearly there only to pad out playtime.
** After the critical disappointment which was the ''VideoGame/SecretOfMana'' remake, fans rejoiced when Creator/SquareEnix announced a full-fledged remake of the third game built from the ground up instead of another ShotForShotRemake like the previous two. And then it getting revealed alongside an English release of the ''original'' game, ensuring that English-speaking fans wouldn't miss out on anything from a more ambitious re-imagining of the game.
** And just to show how ambitious the remake is going to be, Square-Enix not only announced that not only the game will feature NewGamePlus, but also a new post-game episode, a fourth Light/Dark Class, a new sidequest involving Lil' Cactus from ''VideoGame/LegendOfMana'', and [[spoiler:the return of GreaterScopeVillain Anise from ''VideoGame/DawnOfMana'' as a new main antagonist and a BonusBoss after the main character's story has been completed, tying her to ''VideoGame/HeroesOfMana'']].
** After the remake was released, some players were unhappy that the NewGamePlus forced any reused characters to retain their levels, feeling that it sucked a lot of challenge out of the game. A later patch added the option to reset the party's levels while still keeping everything else.

** Excepting stat buffs and debuffs, the StatusEffects (i.e. Poison, [[ForcedTransformation Moogle, Shrink]], [[TakenForGranite Petrification]], and Silence) don't stack; the most recent one takes precedence. Over the course of the plot, you get an item called the Minor Mallet, which either inflicts or cures the Shrunken status on your party. So, if a party member gets hit with one of those other statuses, [[HealingShiv just hit them twice with the Mallet]] (once to Shrink them, and again to cure it), and he/she will be right as rain. No need to waste inventory space or mana on any status-curing items or spells. This was fixed in the remake, as the Minor Mallet is a key item, and can't be used in battle.

** Likewise, one of the Benevodons is named {{Webcomic/Dolan}}. Depending on who you ask, they could be thinking of a [[NamesTheSame different]] [[WebAnimation/PlanetDolan Dolan]] as well.

** Excepting stat buffs and debuffs, the StatusEffects (i.e. Poison, [[BalefulPolymorph Moogle, Shrink]], [[TakenForGranite Petrification]], and Silence) don't stack; the most recent one takes precedence. Over the course of the plot, you get an item called the Minor Mallet, which either inflicts or cures the Shrunken status on your party. So, if a party member gets hit with one of those other statuses, [[HealingShiv just hit them twice with the Mallet]] (once to Shrink them, and again to cure it), and he/she will be right as rain. No need to waste inventory space or mana on any status-curing items or spells. This was fixed in the remake, as the Minor Mallet is a key item, and can't be used in battle.

** In the remake, changing Hawkeye's class to Ninja lets him learn his elemental Diversion moves as soon as he meets the stat requirements, rather than needing to find the corresponding elemental spirits first like in the original game.

** In Angela's route (or Duran's route if Angela is also in the party), Angela sees her mother after [[spoiler:the party has defeated the Crimson Wizard in battle, and thus the True Queen is no longer under mind control]]. Angela is supposed to sound like she's on the verge of crying after seeing what's happened, but the line read makes it sound like she's mildly annoyed.

** Any team which doesn't include any healers is referred to as a "suicide team" because any mistake can lead to a party wipe. [[DifficultButAwesome They're also tremendously fun to play]], because they rely on a lot of debuff spells and high-damage output (usually by stacking the party with Dark classes), leading to quick deaths both ways. To go even further, a team comprised of Angela/Hawkeye/Riesz is sometimes called a "Final Destination team" because there is no skill-based healing available no matter what class you pick.

###Shadow Angela, battled as Angela's MirrorMatch DuelBoss to obtain her Class 4 item. Shadow Angela will [[MyRulesAreNotYourRules spam multiple magic attacks in a row, faster than Angela could ever cast them]]; getting hit by one spell will usually leave Angela to get hit by every other spell in the chain. And since Shadow Angela hits like a truck, this will deplete Angela's health very fast, since Angela is a GlassCannon. The arena is small and prone to CameraScrew, even if you lock on to Shadow Angela. Even worse, Shadow Angela likes to use Annihilate, which is practically a guaranteed OneHitKO if Angela doesn't evade it; even if Angela survives the hit, another spell chain will start almost immediately, leaving very small windows to heal. And Angela can only use items to restore her health since she doesn't get a healing spell from any of her class changes, meaning what healing Angela does have is finite. No wonder Queen Valda warns Angela that nobody has passed this trial for centuries.
*** To put into context how frustrating this boss is compared to virtually every other boss fight in the game, this boss can take off half of Angela's HP when player!Angela a few levels over the boss with one of her magic combos... in ''Beginner'' difficulty. At normal or higher difficulty she can potentially OHKO Angela. Combine this with an extremely small arena and the boss having really low downtime, and it's clear that the boss was massively overtuned.

*** Level 2 and Level 3 techs no longer get automatically countered by the majority of endgame mobs and bosses, who had made said techs AwesomeYetImpractical in the original games due to flattening your characters any time you used any tech over level 1. The techs also got significantly buffed so you have a reason to use them.

** The Rainbow Seeds, which have the highest chance to get the top tier gear [[note]]Gold and Silver Seeds also drop them but at far lower rates[[/note]], are no better. And in the Remake may be even ''worse''! Not only is the drop rate rather low, with only certain enemies dropping them and only occasionally, you're also at the mercy of the RandomNumberGod when you use them because the item is ''always random'', unlike the ??? Seeds which will mercifully give you all six class items if you wait to use them. It's entirely possible to have maxed out your inventory capacity and ''still not get all of your gear'' because it just hands you duplicates of stuff you already have. Even more frustrating is that the Rainbow Seeds ''also'' generate mundane useables. Nothing like planting 60 Rainbow Seeds only to get 40 pieces of chocolate. And like the ??? Seeds, the item is determined when the Seed is dropped so you can't boost your chances with SaveScumming. ''And'' you have to go through the whole thing ''twice'' since Class 3 and Class 4 gear only drops from Seeds! The fact that there's no way to simply buy said gear while the Lucre bank keeps on growing as a result of sold duplicate gear is just more salt in the wound. This process can be improved if you get the Lil' Cactus reward that greatly enhances the quality of Seed Drops - making the equipment drop more often even from lesser seeds - but the reward is only given if you find the little cactus 45 times. If you've not been paying attention to the Lil' Cactus quest as you played through the game, [[GuideDangIt good luck remembering which locations you haven't found him in yet]].

** The Rainbow Seeds, which are necessary to get the top tier gear, are no better. And in the Remake may be even ''worse''! Not only is the drop rate rather low, with only certain enemies dropping them and only occasionally, you're also at the mercy of the RandomNumberGod when you use them because the item is ''always random'', unlike the ??? Seeds which will mercifully give you all six class items if you wait to use them. It's entirely possible to have maxed out your inventory capacity and ''still not get all of your gear'' because it just hands you duplicates of stuff you already have. Even more frustrating is that the Rainbow Seeds ''also'' generate mundane useables. Nothing like planting 60 Rainbow Seeds only to get 40 pieces of chocolate. And like the ??? Seeds, the item is determined when the Seed is dropped so you can't boost your chances with SaveScumming. ''And'' you have to go through the whole thing ''twice'' since Class 3 and Class 4 gear only drops from Seeds! The fact that there's no way to simply buy said gear while the Lucre bank keeps on growing as a result of sold duplicate gear is just more salt in the wound.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: [[AwesomeMusic/WorldOfMana See here.]]

** In the 2020 remake, Duran's DuelBoss fight with the Golden Knight for his Class 4 item. It's one of three Duel Boss battles for Class 4; one of the others is ThatOneBoss against Shadow Angela, and the third -- Kevin's fight against the Beast King -- isn't quite as hard as Angela's, but it's still pretty rough. By contrast, the Golden Knight is nowhere near as hard as the other two Duel Bosses. The Golden Knight's area-of-effect attacks are massive, but they take so long to fire off that Duran can easily dodge out of the way because of how much the Golden Knight telegraphs his moves. And even if the attacks land, Duran's a StoneWall; the boss's attacks don't hurt that much, and what damage they do cause can be recovered easily with a casting of Heal Light. Even equipping a low-level skill to recover MP means that Duran will recover enough magic to cast Heal Light virtually at will. Story-wise, it also lacks an emotional impact for Duran, since [[spoiler:the spirit of Duran's father Loki is the Golden Knight, back from the dead after being killed as the Darkshine Knight for one final fight to see if his son is truly worthy of the next class change. After losing, Loki says a few final words to Duran before suddenly fading away, leaving a lot of questions and little emotional payoff]]. This all adds up to a Duel Boss that can feel rather underwhelming once it's over.

** Of the three, Dragonsmaw and Mirage Palace are the most annoying of the exclusive dungeons.

* HilariousInHindsight: A guy named [[Creator/HeathLedger Heath]] is captured by [[spoiler:and eventually joins forces with]] a MonsterClown. He also shares a game with a character named the [[Film/TheDarkKnight "Dark[shine] Knight."]]

** Depending on whose story you chose, Darkshine Knight/Belladonna/Deathjester gives a short speech in which they lament their imminent death at the hands of the Big Bad. If you picked Hawkeye as a supporting character instead of your lead, it's an especally anti-climactic end to his arc! (In spite of the campy voice-acting, Belladonna manages to sound genuinely heartbroken and having nothing left to live for.) It's oddly-touching to see all these [[HateSink despicable people]] suddenly facing their mortality. And your party just kind of stares at them since, well, at least you don't have to fight them later.

** The Rainbow Seeds, which are necessary to get the top tier gear, are no better. And in the Remake may be even ''worse''! Not only is the drop rate rather low, with only certain enemies dropping them and only occasionally, you're also at the mercy of the RandomNumberGod when you use them because the item is ''always random'', unlike the ??? Seeds which will mercifully give you all six class items if you wait to use them. It's entirely possible to have maxed out your inventory capacity and ''still not get all of your gear'' because it just hands you duplicates of stuff you already have. Even more frustrating is that the Rainbow Seeds ''also'' generate mundane useables. Nothing like planting 60 Rainbow Seeds only to get 40 pieces of chocolate. And like the ??? Seeds, the item is determined when the Seed is dropped so you can't boost your chances with SaveScumming. ''And'' you have to go through the whole thing ''twice'' since Class 3 and Class 4 gear only drops from Seeds!