Visions of Mana Review: A Glorious Return! (PS5) | Backlog Battle

After playing through it, Visions of Mana became one of my favorite RPGs of 2024 - and it's got a lot in common with two of my favorite games of all time! Find out what these games are and how Visions of Mana stacks up in my review!

Thanks to Square Enix for providing this PS5 game code!

0:00 - Intro
1:15 - Meta Info
1:55 - Combat & Class Systems
7:19 - Rough Edges
10:02 - Exploration, Presentation, Story (Spoiler-free)

Get Early Access to videos and support the channel!

Featuring gameplay from:
@RetroGameLog
@Dansg08
@ChronosPlays

#visionsofmana #manaseries #mana #squareenix #actionrpg #rpg #jrpg #actionjrpg #videogames #gaming #finalfantasy #dragonquest #nonbinary #tales #starocean #nonbinary

[mindblockandroid]

You nailed the feeling of the combat in this game. I am your case study 😂. I recently started playing Tales of Arise, and it is a bit overwhelming for my 42 year old reflexes. It’s this huge uncontrollable flashy chaos a lot of the time! But when playing the Visions of Mana demo, I always felt in control, and had time to take strategic decisions!

[LarkandLegend]

Thank you so much for this video! I’ve been going back and forth on this one after playing the demo, and your video helped me make up my mind. The only thing that struck me as eh in the demo was the vocal inflections of dialogue not always matching up with the tone of the other folks in the conversation. But that’s such a small thing next to the enjoyable combat and beautiful world. I haven’t played a Mana game since Children of Mana, so I’m now super pumped and hopeful about this one. Also, love your review style, and your cadence and voice are both super enjoyable to listen to!

[bestgamer-st]

After completing the game and preparing to upload my analysis of it, I believe this review is the best and closest to my opinion. This game is absolutely revolutionary in terms of action RPGs and has many creative ideas, and without a doubt, it's underrated for me.

[MaximumSpank]

FF10 mix with YS8 is all i needed to hear... That sounds like a dream come true

[kevinhardisty]

Just wanted to say that your difficulty level discussion coupled with the game’s appeal to turn based players (me) was extremely helpful. This game will be perfect for me.
So many reviews skip over difficulty.
Thanks

[joebarrett]

Yea this review sold me. Man there has been so many good games this year. The backlog is intimidating at this point

[HanaNoMaude]

Great review, appreciate your take as always! Looking forward to a new Mana adventure as my comfort JRPG of the fall, can’t wait!

[Weremole]

No timed blocking or perfect dodge feature? Hell yeah.

[vongvatka]

Thank you for this being spoiler-free! :)

[IamYasha]

Finally. An ARPG that I can sink my time. Trials of Mana on switch was the last Mana game I've played. Plus the fact that you described it as YS8 and FF10 made me even more excited to play it. Thank you for the wonderful review.

[petermertens]

How long did it take for you to finish it? I heard everything from 20 to 70 hours.

Btw: best review i`ve seen !

[sikevillain]

Thanks for the review 🔥 my friend was playing it on stream and it looked quite good. I might have to pick this up. 🎮

[sombrego]

it's been so long since I saw a JRPG where I genuinely love all the designs. I often find the main protagonist boring to death and I quite like Val in general. Same goes for the damsel in distress that you have to carry around she seems to have her own personality and the Yuna parallels are interesting (I still find it super bizarre that she's not a regular party member despite being an Alm like the other party members).

It's not fan-service-y to the extreme, they have bolder choices with Morley, Palamena and Julei, crazy outfits, colorful combinations and it just works. I'm so excited to discover all 45 outfits and mix and match my teams on the fly!

[AlexMuchacho]

Hello Alex ..my name is also Alex...and thanks to you, I started playing Trials of Mana and bought Visions of Mana. My backlog is out of control! Really glad I found your channel!

[cloverraven]

This game is going to look great for a long time

[makasete]

It’s interesting you compared it to Ys 8 since I got the physical recently and visions of mana comes tomorrow. Cool comparison! I think this review reassured me that Visions is just what I’m looking for.

[pixelbrolee]

Amazing review, brother! I was hesitant, but I respect your opinion, so I was excited to see what you said!

[Wickedpopsoul]

Hell yeah! Perfect timing on my commute to work :D

[sor]

9:10 Frame drops and slow down are two different things though. I actually prefer slowdown than making everything choppy, it almost makes it feel like as things get more hectic the game goes into "bullet time". Dropped frames will make it harder to see what's going on in all the melee. However, game reviewers still panned any game that had slowdown, I've never actually heard of any kid having a problem with it.

[iveybullard]

I am really enjoying this game so far. The class system is really neat imo. Cant wait to see where to story goes, im in chapter 4 now.