Grassy green JRPG Visions Of Mana gets free demo a month ahead of release
As the first Something Of Mana game to come out in 15 years, Visions Of Mana is bound to be exciting some of you out there. Well, funnel all that anticipation into your mouse-clicking finger, because developers Square Enix have just put up a playable demo of the bright JRPG on Steam. I'm not sure how much the demo offers, as we're only told it includes "a section of the story, battles and exploration." But that's better than nothing, and with a full month before release, you have plenty of time to scope it out.
Playing the demo will also get you some flashy weapons when it comes time to play the full game, say Square Enix in an accompanying post. The Gladius, Falx, and Horn Lance will unlock at certain points in its full release, provided you have the data from the demo on your PC. However, actual progress from the demo won't carry over to the full game, we're told. This is the one thing that stops me playing demos - the gnawing fear that I will have to repeat something I have already done. An absolutely bone-shattering debilitation to have when one is a games journalist. Never mind.
In Visions Of Mana you play as Val, a young lad from the local "Fire Village", as he travels to the Tree of Mana with his Val pals, exploring "semi-open" environments and donking enemy monsters in party-based real-time combat. So far it looks very colourful and cheery, if a little conventional. It's still one of our 75 most anticipated games of the year. Our Jeremy has fond Mana-ly memories, for example, and is interested to see what Squeenix do with the first original game in the series since 2007 (we're not counting all the remakes). He's excited that Flammie, the Falcor-inspired mascot of the series, seems to be a party member in this entry. You can see the fluffy little dragon guy fighting alongside our heroes in the trailers.
The full game is due out August 29th. We may have more thoughts on it then. You should always check back when we have more thoughts. You have no idea how many
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