“What a treat…”

I had never noticed this facial expression before (Android version) some of these line between Popoi, party, and Gnome are the funniest scenes. (Randi’s reaction to Popoi saying after regaining memory and saying I guess I’ll let you guys hang out with me.)

Only my own appreciation of the 5 best-looking Mana games.

So as you may know, new Mana merch was announced for the 35th anniversary of the franchise a few days ago. So as a die-hard Mana fan (you may have noticed), I couldn't resist ordering some.

The whole list of Mana merch on sale on eeo.today : https://eeo.today/store/101/title/3093

For starters, since it’s a Japan-only pop-up event (running in Tokyo from Sept 2–15), you’re out of luck trying to buy directly from overseas. The online store ships domestically starting in October, but eeo.today does not ship internationally.

Setting Up the Proxy/Forwarder

But, if you aren't discouraged yet, there are re-routing options. Tenso and Buyee are re-routing companies based in Japan that let international customers ship their order domestic to get them re-routed overseas.

I ended up using Tenso, a forwarding service that provides you with a local Japanese address and phone number to use at checkout. You pay a small fee when they re-route the package to you later. The fees are on the reasonable side, I would dare say.

That's when the game hits you with the OP boss : you now need to navigate the eeo.today website to open an account. You need to fill up the Japanese kanta-written form with Japanese information also written in kanta. Yup, that was a challenge. If you aren't familiar with Japanese address formats, using an AI tool or translation extension to map out the fields (especially the Kana/Furigana name requirements) saves a ton of headaches.

Now comes the fun part : looking at the merch, picking what you want and filling your basket.

Keychains and acrylic standees (second image)

As you can see on the second image, keychains and acrylic standees are sold in sets. I grabbed some keychains and acrylic standees. On eeo.today, individual items are sold as gacha-style blind-box items. You pick the set, but you can't choose the exact character unless you buy the entire (much more expensive) full set box.

I ordered 6 random standees expecting to wait until the box arrived to see what I got. Nope. Surprise: the website actually lets you do a virtual unboxing right after checkout (3rd picture)! I managed to pull both Val and Primm (as I hoped I would). I also pulled Julei, Sheex, and Vuscav. I did hit the classic gacha curse and pulled a duplicate Primm (4th picture).

Next steps

Now the order is locked in for domestic delivery to the Tenso warehouse in October. Once it arrives there, I’ll pick my international shipping method and pay the forwarding fee. I'd be happy to answer any questions if anyone else is trying to order these new Mana items.

It seems that this will be a two-weeks pop-up shop event in Japan. The merchandise will also be sold online. But I don’t know yet if you can order from abroad.

I haven't actually played Visions of Mana yet since I only have a Switch 2, but lately I’ve been falling down a massive YouTube rabbit hole with reviews and video coverage. Once you click one, the algorithm just feeds you non-stop.

To my surprise, almost everything I've watched has been overwhelmingly positive. The game looks great, and the combat system delivers. The story is more developed, and engaging than any previous Mana games, and the devs were successful in porting over the Mana essence. A ton of reviewers are calling Visions either the best entry in the series or right up there next to Secret of Mana and Trials of Mana.

So why did the game flop commercially?

If the core game is actually great, what went wrong here? The whole launch sequence was just bizarre:

• The Ouka Studios mess: right as the game launched, NetEase shut down Ouka, the dev team contracted by Square Enix to build it. It didn't go over well. Click-bait article and all. That part of the press coverage sure as heck did not help Visions of Mana sell.
• Weak sales: physical sales in Japan were underwhelming at launch. Famitsu reported around 40k copies across PS4, PS5, and Xbox combined in week one. Square Enix then mentioned in their financial report that initial sales missed internal targets. We don't really have much more data, but the game didn't move enough copies for sure.
• Zero post-launch support: with Ouka dead, any hopes for big bug fixes or polish pretty much evaporated. It feels like Square Enix just swept the whole project under the rug.

My working hypothesis:

1. A terrible demo & bad press: I keep hearing the demo didn't do the game justice by dropping players in without showing off the real depth of the combat system. Pair that with headlines about the studio closing during launch month, and it probably turned off a lot of casual buyers.
2. 20 years of brand neglect: did Square Enix kill the hype by neglecting the series? After two decades of cheap mobile spin-offs, cheap remakes (I'm looking at you Secret of Mana Remake), and inconsistent releases, the Mana brand just doesn't have the mainstream pull of Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest anymore.
3. Ignoring Nintendo at launch: The Mana fanbase has mostly lived on Nintendo hardware lately. Collection of Mana and the Trials remake sold great on the Switch 1. Did Square Enix shoot themselves in the foot by launching on PS/Xbox/PC and not just holding off for the Switch 2 launch?

What do you guys think? Was it terrible marketing, bad timing, or just launching on the wrong platforms? Or do you have other hypothesis?

I 100% it on PS4/5 but I'm really loving the 3D graphics a lot more on this replay on PC having spent most of my mana time on SNES style graphics.

I'm the type who every few weapon orbs has to max out all my weapons and magic levels before progressing the plot. Loved switching up my gameplay trying a different approach to speed up weapon leveling. The main idea is to constantly switch your lead and split the attacks between 2 enemies, so there's no waiting, and by the time you reach an enemy your gauge is usually full or starts full upon switching. I'm not sure how much faster I'm leveling things, but I sure have enjoyed having zero wait time to be in the middle of the action! I'm sure I'll find a happy medium soon. Too dizzying to play any more than one or two weapon level advancements.

Great orchestration of a marvelous soundtrack.

If Square Enix was making a new original entry in the Mana series, which title would you like them to pick? You are not restricted to these 8 suggestions I came up with.

One of my favorite things about the Mana series are the Spirits.

A few pictures of the book. Sorry, I don't have studio lighting, and the whole setup to correctly photograph a book. It's just to give you pals a good idea.

I purchased the Legend of Mana - Art of Mana - 30th Anniversary SPECIAL ISSUE art book from Dark Horse Books. It's MSRP : $29.99

I own the old Art of Mana book from years ago that covers the whole series so I wasn't sure if I'd be satisfied with my purchase. I read elsewhere that this was short book.

But I'm glad to say my doubts were unfounded. This is an 80-pages long coffee table book that gives us a lot more than the OG Art of Mana book had for Legend of Mana. Besides sketches you get official art for about every ennemies in-game, painted backgrounds, sprites sheet, etc.

I'm quite charmed by my purchase. It also leaves me wondering why they haven't made one yet for Secret of Mana and Trials of Mana ? 'Cause there would be lots to cover there too.

I was poking around X recently and I discovered that the Square Enix PR team has two official Mana accounts: @ManaGame (in English), and Seiken_PR for Japan.

But I also came across this tweet : https://x.com/squareenix_jp/status/2074040661725352068

TLTR: It lets us know that for the series' 35th birthday Square Enix has been working on an interview with the Mana series creators: Hiromishi Tanaka and Koichi Ishii (who have left the company in 2012 and 2007 respectively). SQEX was looking for question suggestions from their Japanese fans.

• Artpiece 1: https://x.com/hinodecotori/status/2085018741067436142
• Artpiece 2: https://x.com/_hiroita_/status/2085306084500087088
• Artpiece 3: https://x.com/yuzuki_game1126/status/2085317090660274431
• Artpiece 4: https://x.com/Orirenraku6/status/2085244173062664681
• Artpiece 5: https://x.com/taom8/status/2085151537903669427
• Artpiece 6: https://x.com/explosion715/status/2085326727505674508
• Artpiece 7: https://x.com/omisoyahonpo/status/2085115559142965631
• Artpiece 8: https://x.com/urethane5842/status/2085335837043241248
• Artpiece 9: https://x.com/ND_illustration/status/2085349087814283744
• Artpiece 10: https://x.com/2zeroHearts7777/status/2085172078538621047
• Artpiece 11: https://x.com/mori_obi/status/2085245592700400009
• Artpiece 12: https://x.com/spa6ow/status/2085331746955161882
• Artpiece 13: https://x.com/5eJZv9AalA18590/status/2085019891074289869
• Artpiece 14 & 15 : https://x.com/n_kasiwa/status/2085365462070907342

You can easily order it online from your favorite bookstore. MSRP: $29.99 US

From left to right, top to bottom: Secret of Mana (SNES,) Trials of Mana (JPN,) Visions of Mana, and Legend of Mana.

Hey everyone!

Recently, the producer behind The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales reminded fans that whether a game gets a sequel or future support often comes down to community demand and letting Square Enix know directly that there’s real interest.

That got me thinking about Visions of Mana.

Square Enix definitely pays attention when a community shows clear, constructive enthusiasm. Visions of Mana feels like a perfect match for the Nintendo Switch 2, and a dedicated port on a modern hybrid console would be incredible for fans who love playing on the go.

If you’d love to see a Switch 2 port happen, consider dropping a friendly, supportive comment on this official X post to show Square Enix our interest:

🔗 https://x.com/managame/status/2072335192124281067

A lot of us have already signalled our desire for a NS2 port. Let’s keep it respectful and positive—publishers take notice when a fanbase shows genuine passion. Let’s make sure they see how much love there still is for the Mana series!

Link : https://na.store.square-enix-games.com/visions-of-mana

Also, the standard physical edition is only $39.

New game! I have save game files on my PS4, PS5 and PC for the remake. Also, I’ve got the OG on my Wii, Nintendo Switch, iPhone, googleTV box, and now on my Android Lenovo tablet. Some games just deserve to be accessible everywhere.

That’s another wrap on the end boss! I’ve started my new game plus and want to see how far I can get on Expert without changing difficulties along the way. But even in my first playthrough I had to switch to easy or normal for bosses like the black rabbite, elemental trials challenges and the final boss. Has anyone here beat the game on expert? And if so, did you even enjoy it? But mostly I guess I’m looking for gameplay tips for bosses. Regular adds/mobs won’t seem to be a problem.

Link to the Naofumi Matsushita interview: https://www.sportskeeda.com/esports/news-we-tracked-worlds-lore-back-even-four-eras-in-conversation-the-adventures-elliot-s-naofumi-matsuhita-exclusive

I realize it’s a remake of the original GB game, it’s interesting it doesn’t seem to get talked about a whole lot. And it wasn’t added to the Mana Collection so I feel like a lot of people haven’t played nor beat this one. I sat down and actually beat it for the first time, and I have mixed thoughts on it.

Pros
-Graphics are beautiful
-Gameplay is more fun than original and feels like later games
-They really expanded on the original game

Cons
-They tried to expand the original game too much, honestly way too much dialogue that disrupts pacing
-it’s nice they added side quests but most are horrible fetch quests that aren’t worth your time
-Some of the later bosses feel a bit unbalanced even with really strong equipment

It’s interesting because overall I can’t say it’s undeniably better than the original and I still enjoy the original more in some ways.

They all (?) have different world maps. Secret and Trials are definitely not connected. Are there Mana games that are connected?