Visions Of Mana Is A 30-Hour RPG You Can Make Last Twice As Long

Square Enix’s Visions of Mana is an RPG, and if there’s one thing we know about RPGs, it’s that they tend to be long. If you’re looking to get the most entertainment per minute for your dollar, this is great news. For others, the thought of tackling days-long epics might inspire unadulterated dread. The most recent Mana games, such as Trials of Mana, have been on the shorter side by RPG standards. However, those have also been remakes of decades old games. So how does this brand-new Mana game compare?

Order Visions of Mana: Amazon | Best Buy | Humble Bundle

To cut to the chase, your run time in Visions of Mana will depend heavily on how much of a completionist you are. If you focus mainly on the main story with little appetite for side content, Visions of Mana will take approximately 30 hours to clear. Conversely, if you aim to complete the vast majority of optional content in the game, Visions of Mana will take about 50 hours. If you especially love the game, you may find ways to extend that playtime even longer due to a few surprises you’ll find at the end of the story.

If that’s not enough for you to decide if Visions of Mana is a good fit for your schedule, check out our (mostly) spoiler-free breakdown of the content in the game below.

How many side quests are in Visions of Mana?

Screenshot: Square Enix / Kotaku

There are an enormous number of side quests in Visions of Mana, which explains that massive jump in hours between a main story and completionist run of the game. Side quests start popping up as early as chapter 1, though most of these are structured like MMORPG quests. You’ll typically go to a marked location to gather some materials, deliver an item from one NPC to another, or just kill a bunch of monsters.

Some side quests do lead to larger quest lines with overarching stories to tell. For example, one woman will ask you to find locations that are depicted in paintings, which adds some light puzzle solving to the mix. Side quests in older areas will appear as you progress the main story, and some of them can even be completed while you’re way under-leveled for them. If you’re eager to fight some enemies that are 10 levels higher than you, periodically check older areas to see what they have in store.

Do you have to complete all the side quests in Visions of Mana?

Not at all. You can see what rewards a quest gives once you pick it up, and many quests simply give you money (which is abundant throughout the game). There isn’t even an achievement for completing all the side quests.

While you don’t necessarily want to miss quests that are part of overarching quest lines, you can stick to completing quests that award ability seeds and equipment. Frankly, many quests simply seem like excuses for you to go level up.

Are there any missable quests in Visions of Mana?

As far as I can tell, no. You temporarily miss the ability to complete side quests given on the game’s first continent for a while once you complete Chapter 1, but you’ll unlock the ability to return there by Chapter 4.

Also, Visions of Mana broadly doesn’t contain any absolute points of no return. Guest characters may be swapped in and out of your party depending on where you are in the story, but this doesn’t present any major ramifications in terms of gameplay.

How many chapters are there in the game’s main story?

Screenshot: Square Enix / Kotaku

The game’s main story takes place across nine chapters, not counting the prologue right at the beginning of the game. While the chapter numbers do help you gauge how far along you are, these can vary significantly in length. Excluding time spent on side quests, Chapters 1, 4, and 7 all run a bit longer than the others. Chapters 8 and 9 solely consist of the final dungeon and final boss respectively.

Is there any post-game content in Visions of Mana?

Screenshot: Square Enix / Kotaku

While I won’t give any story spoilers, consider yourself warned if you’d like to avoid all endgame and post-game discussion until you arrive at those points yourself.

After you complete the game, you will unlock a special 10th post-game chapter. This will warp your party back to before the final boss, so even this isn’t a point of no return. While this chapter doesn’t continue the main story, it is fully voiced with unique cutscenes and ties up a couple loose ends in the plot.

In terms of gameplay, Chapter 10 consists of a few boss rematches that award powerful weapons, the second half of a dungeon that you’ll encounter in chapter 7, and a brand new superboss. Protip: switch the game’s difficulty to Hard before fighting this boss to unlock an achievement (or trophy if you’re on PlayStation).

Chapter 10 does contain a few extra optional goodies too. Each characters’ final elemental plot and ability slot upgrades are found here, and you’ll find some extra quests and optional bosses here as well. I accounted for this in the 50 hour completionist time estimate.

Are there any New Game Plus options in Visions of Mana?

Screenshot: Square Enix / Kotaku

Just like the Trials of Mana remake, you do unlock New Game Plus upon defeating the final boss in Chapter 9. Additionally, the Expert difficulty option opens up here, which you can activate immediately on your current save file if you so wish.

To be clear, Expert mode isn’t a New Game Plus-specific difficulty a la Final Fantasy mode in Final Fantasy XVI. It’s brutally difficult in a way that seems tailored to repeated New Game Plus playthroughs (enemies in the prologue will kill you in one-two hits), but the low-level enemies in the beginning of the game still won’t stand a chance against your level 50+ characters.

By starting the game on New Game Plus, you’ll completely carry over your character’s level, stats, and even elemental vessels. The only things you’ll need to collect again are key items, such as the item used to summon the Pikul mount. All treasure chests and elemental plots will reset on the World Map, which means you can freely repeat the game to max out every character’s elemental plots if you so choose.

No achievements or trophies require playing the game on Expert or New Game Plus mode, so consider these to be fun bonuses if you’re eager to extend your stay in Fa’diel.

Order Visions of Mana: Amazon | Best Buy | Humble Bundle

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