Visions of Mana! The long awaited next entry in the oft forgotten Mana series. As much as I love Final Fantasy and many other JRPGs, I can't forget the colorful high fantasy of the Mana games. Visions of Mana is like if you took a cozy blanket and turned it into a game.

There's a few things that are wrong, and it's ONCE AGAIN with the mixed english voiceacting and writing. You're either going to get sick of it fast, or get used to it. I got used to it in Trials of Mana, so of course I did for this game. It's not entirely bad, some of the voiceactors give it their all, and there is some heart to the story. The plot is pretty standard, but bursting at the seams with charm, and I definitely like the themes it tackles. There are a few surprises in the story that almost made me cry, so be prepared!

There's an extensive class system that has dizzying depth. You can learn abilities that can be used with any class, along different "elemental plots". But there are some abilities, like class abilities, that can only be used when a character becomes a class associated with an element, by equipping an "elemental vessel". The sheer number of classes is absurd, and I love it! No character shares the same class, and it's quite unusual to see this sort of variety, but it exceeds Trials of Mana's class system in every way. Unique and beautifully designed outfits for every class, and at least 2 to 3 kinds of unique weapons that each character can use depending on class. You can also get more abilities by equipping "ability seeds", They're spells, abilities, or passive bonuses. When you remove an ability seed, the ability is removed.

The locales are pretty huge, probably the largest in any Mana game to date. Well, besides Dawn of Mana. The places you go to are breathtaking in Visions of Mana, and I want to explore them as much as possible. You'll sometimes run into enemies that are too powerful to defeat, encouraging you to come back later, and they're often in ruins. Elite enemies keep you on your toes and up the challenge. "Elemental aeries" provide a timed combat challenge that will test your skills. There's tons of items and collectibles just laying around, even in towns. It just activates some kind of kleptomaniac gremlin within! I did hear that these areas "lack personality". Sometimes, there's plenty of fantastical landmarks and regional uniqueness, such as the windswept pine trees of the wind elemental region, to the gloomy fog and bizarre architecture of the dark elemental region. Your mileage may vary, but I find many of the towns gorgeous beyond belief and bursting with detail. The best looking and biggest Mana game to date! It's only hurt by one thing. You'll eventually find incomplete terrain and holes in terrain geometry, but it's rare and in out-of-the-way locations. I'm just surprised they even put in this much effort!

Side quests aren't good in this game and they're not interesting, involving collecting a certain amount of items, killing a certain amount of monsters, or finding an item/location/person. However, even if the side content is throwaway, they can be done QUICKLY making them an okay excuse to explore the breathtaking locations for awhile longer before leaving.

The combat isn't remotely sluggish. It was a concern I had during the demo. But it appears they have enhanced it, and attacks combo together more fluidly, and even into spells. The battles aren't as tight as the combat in Trials of Mana, but there is a lot of class and ability expression in Visions of Mana that keeps the action exciting. The bossfights are fantastic and present us with the same kind of MMORPG-style mechanics I enjoyed so much from Trials of Mana.

Once you beat the game, new game plus is unlocked and there's an entirely NEW endgame chapter unlocked with powerful gear to get, just the cherry on top of a pretty cozy JRPG!

Also, if you love dragons as much as I do, Visions of Mana will appeal to you with the dragonfolk, Ramcoh, and also Flammie. There's more than one sacred beast dragon?! Well, now I've seen everything and I love it! Ramcoh is a sweety after my own heart!

Visions of Mana is a fantastic return of a neglected JRPG series. People tend to focus a lot more on what else Square creates, such as Final Fantasy or Kingdom Hearts. So it's great to see this B series return in such a beautiful form! Adventure awaits!