Register a SA Forums Account here!
JOINING THE SA FORUMS WILL REMOVE THIS BIG AD, THE ANNOYING UNDERLINED ADS, AND STUPID INTERSTITIAL ADS!!!

You can: log in, read the tech support FAQ, or request your lost password. This dumb message (and those ads) will appear on every screen until you register! Get rid of this crap by registering your own SA Forums Account and joining roughly 150,000 Goons, for the one-time price of $9.95! We charge money because it costs us money per month for bills, and since we don't believe in showing ads to our users, we try to make the money back through forum registrations.
 
  • Post
  • Reply
Natural 20
Sep 17, 2007

Wearer of Compasses. Slayer of Gods. Champion of the Colosseum. Heart of the Void.
Saviour of Hallownest.


About the Game

Trials of Mana was an action RPG released in 1995 on the Super Nintendo by Square. Surprisingly, despite its popularity and the popularity of its predecessor, Secret of Mana, Trials, titled Seiken Densetsu 3, never saw release in the West.

It did, however, gain a cult following. Translated by fans shortly after its release, Trials gained high praise owing to its solid gameplay and unique features. A co-op mode, a rarity in most RPGs ensured that friends could enjoy the story together and a set of 6 characters, with varying storylines allowed for a level of replayability rarely seen in other RPGs of the day.

I was one of those fans, playing the game more times than I could count to see all the different plot variations and gameplay elements that had been lovingly woven into Square’s story.

I even went as far as to seek out romhacks for the game and chose Trials for my first ever Let’s Play, as I tackled Sin of Mana a Hardtype mod of the game.

And with that most fans were content, the game was great and a Western release, whilst pleasant, never seemed realistic.

However, almost 25 years after its release, Trials finally saw a true Western release and translation, with the announcement that the game would be released on Switch and PS4 in 2019.

That was not the only treat however as Square unveiled a full 3D remake of the game. Trials of Mana (2020) was announced to release on the game’s 25th anniversary, to the delight of many fans and the tremendous excitement of your truly.

About The LP

This will be a solo video LP. Owing to the global situation with coronavirus, my erstwhile colleague and best friend Yorkshire Tea can’t come and record with me, so I’ll be going it alone this time, which perhaps is appropriate given that Trials of Mana’s remake is single player only.

I’ll be running through the game on its “Hard” difficulty. I think I should be able to handle it with my knowledge from prior games, but we’ll soon see and I can turn it down if need be.

Spoiler policy is that you can mention things inside spoiler tags, but try to keep it at a minimum, the game has a neat story that I wouldn't like to see new people spoiled on.

Art is handled by the wonderful Bifauxnen.

Prologue

In case you want to know more about the characters I’ve created a series of Prologue videos so that you can get to grips with them.

Episode 0 is a quick run through, but in each of Prologue 1-6 I pick a character and run through their introduction so you can get an idea of what they’re like. The videos are around 20 minutes in length, which hopefully is enough that you can get to know who you’re voting for.



A quick introduction to all the characters!



Duran, Swordsman from Valsena. Specialises in physical attacks and defense.



Angela, Magician from Altena. Specialises in magical and elemental attacks.



Kevin, Beastman from Ferolia. Specialises in all out physical attacking and can transform at night!



Charlotte, Priestess from Wendel. Specialises in healing and buffing allies.



Hawkeye, Thief from Navarl. Specialises in fast attacks and debuffs.



Riesz, Amazon from Laurent. Specialises in long range attacks and support spells.

Episodes















































Natural 20 fucked around with this message at 11:57 on Jul 8, 2020

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

ThornBrain
Jan 25, 2011

Hi. I forgot your name. Whatever.
My... point is...
Hi. Your head's on fire.
I'm new to the Mana games (and several JRPGs in general) and I enjoyed the demo for this, so I'm looking forward to this.

Junpei
Oct 4, 2015

Although next time, you would be wise to heed the ancient Japanese proverb... phone first!
I was waiting for an LP of this!

Can't wait to see what characters you end up taking... for your first run.

Because let's be serious, you're gonna do multiple playthroughs, right?

Black Robe
Sep 12, 2017

Generic Magic User


I know just enough of this game to know that I don't know this game, so I'm here for this.

Cyflan
Nov 4, 2009

Why yes, I DO have enough CON to whip my hair.

Well, I sure wasn't expecting this thread already.
Still gotta wait until tomorrow to get the game for myself, unfortunately.
And, knowing steam's release times, probably not until the evening in Europe.

Had to vote for Chawwotte.

Cyflan fucked around with this message at 08:56 on Apr 23, 2020

akkristor
Feb 24, 2014

Oh god, this releases tomorrow? I'M NOT READY!

Also Angela FTW.

Commander Keene
Dec 21, 2016

Faster than the others



Your LP of Praeterius' Sin of Mana hack was basically all the experience I had with this game up until the Collection came out. Needless to say, I was a bit confused about some of the fiddly bits when I played...

I voted for Kevin/Duran/Hawkeye, because we didn't see much of Kevin or Duran in the original LP, and Hawkeye just because.

Torrannor
Apr 27, 2013

---FAGNER---
TEAM-MATE
Great to you LPing the game. The Sin of Mana hack LP was fantastic. I'm so excited for this game.

Blackbelt Bobman
Jul 17, 2004

I don't need friends! I've been
manipulatin' you since the start!
All so I can something,
something X-Blade!


For maximum suffering, pick Charlotte as your main and Kevin as your second. Maximum bad voice acting!!!!!!

For your third... Riesz or maybe Hawkeye.

turol
Jul 31, 2017
:spergin:

It's not an endless way to play the game...

If the order of the two companions doesn't matter we have 6 main characters and 5 * 4 / 2 = 10 ways to pick your companions for a total of 60 different combinations.

If the order does matter then we have 6 * 5 * 4 = 120 combinations.

And in the case where it doesn't matter which of the three is actually your main character we end up with (6 * 5 * 4) / (3 * 2) = 20 groups of three.

Also I found it very disturbing how the text in the character description kept jumping around. The line separation wasn't constant. It looks almost like line height isn't an integer number of pixels but they round every line start Y coordinate to integer, resulting in the fractional part getting spread around randomly. And now that I've said this you can't unsee it either.

gandlethorpe
Aug 16, 2008

:gowron::m10:
Voted speech impediment, most precious duo Kevin/Charlotte, with ice valley girl Angela to round it out.

Coolguye
Jul 6, 2011

Required by his programming!
While I understand why they didn't make this game co-op, it's still a goddamn travesty. :smith:

Rock and roll, Nat20. :)

Zurai
Feb 13, 2012


Wait -- I haven't even voted in this game yet!

I'm not sure whether it's the voice actor or the direction, but Kevin's voice is godawful. All. The incredibly. Long. Pauses.

Rabbi Raccoon
Mar 31, 2009

I stabbed you dude!
I'm on the fence about this game, and honestly the thing that'll tip me is if characters can use magic without having to go to the menu. It was definitely my biggest deterrent in the original, Secret of Mana, and Secret of Evermore, to which I can't seem to find an answer anywhere. But either way I'll be watching

Torrannor
Apr 27, 2013

---FAGNER---
TEAM-MATE
I didn't play Duran's part in the demo, and the flashbacks combined with the amazing soundtrack actually had me tear up a little bit.

Torrannor fucked around with this message at 19:31 on Apr 23, 2020

gandlethorpe
Aug 16, 2008

:gowron::m10:

Rabbi Raccoon posted:

I'm on the fence about this game, and honestly the thing that'll tip me is if characters can use magic without having to go to the menu. It was definitely my biggest deterrent in the original, Secret of Mana, and Secret of Evermore, to which I can't seem to find an answer anywhere. But either way I'll be watching

Great news, you can bind spells to a quick-cast slot, and activate them just like the tech attacks!

Bruceski
Aug 21, 2007

The tools of a hero mean nothing without a solid core.

Can we vote Chawwotte three times?

Folt The Bolt
Feb 21, 2012

Nothing exciting to see here. Move along.

Rabbi Raccoon posted:

I'm on the fence about this game, and honestly the thing that'll tip me is if characters can use magic without having to go to the menu. It was definitely my biggest deterrent in the original, Secret of Mana, and Secret of Evermore, to which I can't seem to find an answer anywhere. But either way I'll be watching

You have the ring menu which pauses the action to let you select an item or spell, but you can also set 4 spells/items to a shortcut menu (open ring menu, hold R and select the item you want to set to a shortcut by using the A, B, X, or Y buttons) which will let you instantly cast/use the spell/item by holding down R and using the A, B, X, or Y buttons (depends on which button you set it to).

megamariox
Jun 4, 2011
my votes go to Hawkeye, Charlotte, and Reisz

Anro
May 6, 2003
Oven Wrangler

gandlethorpe posted:

Voted speech impediment, most precious duo Kevin/Charlotte, with ice valley girl Angela to round it out.

same

Natural 20
Sep 17, 2007

Wearer of Compasses. Slayer of Gods. Champion of the Colosseum. Heart of the Void.
Saviour of Hallownest.


Halfway through the polls and everything to play for.

Angela has taken a command lead at the top with Riesz in a comfortable second, but Kevin, Hawkeye and Charlotte are in a near dead heat for that coveted third spot.

Duran unfortunately is lagging in last place.

Coolguye posted:

While I understand why they didn't make this game co-op, it's still a goddamn travesty. :smith:

Rock and roll, Nat20. :)

I had *desperately* hoped that this would have 3 player co-op so I could have had you as a special guest on the Yorkshire Tea and Nat20 train. Sadly that was not to be.

Tyberius
Oct 21, 2006

I'm voting for a waifu party setup. I plan to do the same, just not sure on which direction to take with their light/dark choices.

I think the safest is Light/Light Angela, Light/Dark Riesz and Dark/Dark Charlie.

Natural 20
Sep 17, 2007

Wearer of Compasses. Slayer of Gods. Champion of the Colosseum. Heart of the Void.
Saviour of Hallownest.

Tyberius posted:

I'm voting for a waifu party setup. I plan to do the same, just not sure on which direction to take with their light/dark choices.

I think the safest is Light/Light Angela, Light/Dark Riesz and Dark/Dark Charlie.

Ah the, "explode the unbelievers with ludicrous amounts of magic damage" party.

Commander Keene
Dec 21, 2016

Faster than the others



I'll laugh if the thread ends up giving you the same Riesz/Hawkeye/Angela party that (IIRC) you used for the previous LP. So far, at least 2/3 are probably going to be the same.

EponymousMrYar
Jan 4, 2015

The enemy of my enemy is my enemy.

Zurai posted:

I'm not sure whether it's the voice actor or the direction, but Kevin's voice is godawful. All. The incredibly. Long. Pauses.
It's the direction. It looks like they did the thing where they had the VA's try and match the timing of the character's lip movements which is why both Faerie and the Priest of Light also have heavy pauses in their dialogue.
Incidentally, I found their pauses way more annoying than Kevin's because Kevin at least sounds like someone who needs those pauses to work out this whole 'talking' thing :v:

The only VA I didn't like (in terms of acting) was Hawkeye's, strangely enough. Probably because every other character has a moment to get really emotional in their prologue and his has him sit there and grit his teeth, so I couldn't get a read on his range like I could the others.
It may also be because they carried the Neko dialogue style from the SOM remake forward for his cat person buddy and it made escaping from a hideout of ninjas that much more ridiculous :v:

Also I'll be playing this myself when it drops, so not sure how much I'll be following.

EponymousMrYar fucked around with this message at 00:40 on Apr 24, 2020

Kyrosiris
May 24, 2006

You try to be happy when everyone is summoning you everywhere to "be their friend".



Natural 20 posted:

Ah the, "explode the unbelievers with ludicrous amounts of magic damage" party.

When you have multiple orbital death cannons, every problem starts to look like... a nail?

CptWedgie
Jul 19, 2015
My vote's for Hawkeye, Duran, and Charlotte, preferably with Charlotte last, due to something I won't spoil (partly because I'm not sure I'm even remembering it correctly).

Not voting for Kevin because I've played him before in the fan-patch, not voting for Angela because cast times, and not voting for Riesz because, quite frankly, she doesn't interest me all that much.

...You know that someone's gonna vote for a Duran/Kevin/Hawkeye team at some point if they haven't already, right? Pretty sure that's the "all-out physical offense" party in the same way that Angela/Charlotte/Riesz is the "all-out magical offense" party.

Of course, I liked the original (which I hunted down because I played Secret), so I'll be following this LP regardless of team composition.

gandlethorpe
Aug 16, 2008

:gowron::m10:
Hawkeye's more of a caster than Riesz. Once Riesz casts her buffs/debuffs, she's pretty much a weaker Duran.

And why are you worried about cast times when spells are more streamlined?

Ciaphas
Nov 20, 2005

> BEWARE, COWARD :ovr:


Kyrosiris posted:

When you have multiple orbital death cannons, every problem starts to look like... a nail?

If Doom Eternal has taught me anything, it's that an awful lot of problems are solvable with pure rage and excessively explosive violence

Hammering nails, for example

Ciaphas fucked around with this message at 02:47 on Apr 24, 2020

Junpei
Oct 4, 2015

Although next time, you would be wise to heed the ancient Japanese proverb... phone first!

gandlethorpe posted:

Hawkeye's more of a caster than Riesz. Once Riesz casts her buffs/debuffs, she's pretty much a weaker Duran.

I'm sure a Dark-Hawkeye, Light-Riesz, Dark-Duran build would be fun, since it's about leveraging advantages: Riesz buffs the party, Duran lays down Sabers, and Hawkeye uses his Jutsus to debuff the foe, then ATTACK ATTACK ATTACK.

Shitenshi
Mar 12, 2013
I can't get behind the headgear Angela and Kevin are sporting in this one. In the original, I thought she was wearing a scrunchie/headband, and he was just wearing a bandanna, but these look like some kind of makeshift crowns. Which make sense giving their backgrounds, but they just look really weird.

gandlethorpe
Aug 16, 2008

:gowron::m10:
Kevin will always wear a fez to me :colbert:

His headgear does change as you change class, though. All his 3rd classes except the warrior monk are more bandana-y. Good thing I like group heals.

FeyerbrandX
Oct 9, 2012

It sucks that in order to experience Budget Brand Kefka that we have to either experience the dog murder story, owwowr Chawwote.

E: have some fan "art" https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/315364487882342401/703288992795197520/burn_to_the_ground.mp3

FeyerbrandX fucked around with this message at 18:01 on Apr 24, 2020

Natural 20
Sep 17, 2007

Wearer of Compasses. Slayer of Gods. Champion of the Colosseum. Heart of the Void.
Saviour of Hallownest.


Voting closes at Midnight BST, 7PM EST

If Angela/Riesz/Hawk wins, it will precipitate another (short) vote where I ask if we want Angela or Riesz as main character. This is because Riesz and Hawk on their own path would lead to a more coherent story than both of them on Angela's path.

Rabbi Raccoon
Mar 31, 2009

I stabbed you dude!
The thought that we might have a playthrough where the main character doesn't have their "partner" is giving me almost as much anxiety as a full glass of water on the edge of the table

Natural 20
Sep 17, 2007

Wearer of Compasses. Slayer of Gods. Champion of the Colosseum. Heart of the Void.
Saviour of Hallownest.


Angela has claimed her place at the top of the polls.

Riesz is in second.

And, so we repeat the party from the previous LP, Hawkeye has nudged Kevin into fourth place, 62 votes to 60.

I'm honestly a little stunned by the number of people who voted on this! So thanks everyone.

This does however mean we have a run-off poll.

Angela has won and is set to be our main character. However, without Duran she won't see the full story behind her realised.

Riesz and Hawkeye share a story path, so there will be additional dialogue and exposition if we play with both of them on their story.

So I'm going to put it to you.

Do you want Angela to lead or Riesz?

https://www.strawpoll.me/19862615

This will be a shorter poll that I'll keep open until I start recording on Saturday.

I'd love to hear the cases either way!

Junpei
Oct 4, 2015

Although next time, you would be wise to heed the ancient Japanese proverb... phone first!
Why are you not letting Hawkeye be the lead, out of curiosity?

Rabbi Raccoon
Mar 31, 2009

I stabbed you dude!
Probably because he was third

Natural 20
Sep 17, 2007

Wearer of Compasses. Slayer of Gods. Champion of the Colosseum. Heart of the Void.
Saviour of Hallownest.

Junpei posted:

Why are you not letting Hawkeye be the lead, out of curiosity?

Because he came third and I already feel a little cheaty saying that Angela doesn't immediately win.

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

Dreadwroth2
Feb 28, 2019

by Cyrano4747
I really enjoyed the demo a lot, I'm glad Reiz got in there because shes really cool what with the jumpin and spearin and whatnot.
Some of the VA they went with in a few places is really....... interesting.
I'm lookin at you, Lumina.

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • Post
  • Reply