Square Enix revealed new features in the upcoming Trials of Mana remake. We have details on the characters' growth, Costume Change, Class Reset, Additional dialogues between the party, the Magic Pot system, and other details, like regarding the game's difficulty. We translated all the details below. New screenshots are available as well and in English.

As a reminder, the Trials of Mana remake launches on April 24, 2020, on PC via Steam, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch. This is a remake of Seiken Densetsu 3, released in Japan on Super Famicom/SNES in 1995. Seiken Densetsu 3 is the follow-up to Seiken Densetsu 2/Secret of Mana. Seiken Densetsu 3 was officially translated and released outside Japan for the first time during E3 2019 via Collection of Mana on Switch, and it was named Trials of Mana. The remake is named identically, making things slightly confusing. In Japan, the remake is ingeniously titled "Seiken Densetsu 3 Trials of Mana" to differentiate it from the original game. I'd suggest checking out the game's trailers, artwork and previously revealed details like the Class system before delving into this article.

Characters' Growth

Characters in Trials of Mana have the following basic stats: HP, MP, ATK, DEF, MGC ATK, MGC DEF, STR, STA, INT, SPRT, LUCK. These stats increase automatically when the characters levels up. Moreover, when leveling up, characters now obtain Training Points. You can allocate Training Points to stats to learn new Abilities, Moves, and Skills. The stats you can allocate Training Points to are Strength, Stamina, Intelligence, Spirit, and Luck. There is a certain place in the game (purposefully unspecified in the Japanese press release) that will allow you to reset and reallocate Training Points. The Skills you've learned can be set as shortcuts to the Command Ring in battles. Using Skills and Magic consumes MPs.

The Trials of Mana remake has a brand new 3D battle system, with many new elements, balance adjustments, and new ways to use each Class. All of this is quite different from the original game, which is reputed among fans to have some pretty useless Classes.

Trials of Mana New Features: Ability System

Abilities grant your characters various bonuses. There are over 300 abilities in the Trials of Mana remake. Some Abilities are character-exclusive, and some are Class-exclusive. Certain Abilities are called Chain Abilities (Link Abilities in Japanese) and can be equipped by other characters besides the character who learned it. You can learn new Abilities by allocating Training Points, and by interacting with certain NPCs during your adventure. When your characters evolve to higher Classes, the maximum number of Abilities they can equip will increase. Lastly, certain Class-exclusive Abilities are automatically learned and equipped when the character switches to that Class.

Trials of Mana New Features: Costume Change & Class Reset

As the characters in Trials of Mana level up, they can Class Change. You can Class Change between a Light and Dark Class at Level 18, and between 2 other Light and Dark Classes at level 38. The two Classes available at the level 38 Class Change varies on whether you picked Light or Dark at the Level 18 Class Change. Meaning if you include the initial Class, a character has seven Classes in total.

The characters' costumes and weapons' appearance changes when they change Classes. In the remake, you can keep using a previous class' costume. This is different than in the original game, where the characters' sprites would change permanently.

As you can see in the screenshots above, Riesz is at the Vanadis Class but is wearing her initial Amazon Class costume. Angela is in her Magus Class (we can know because she's using the Hotshot skill) but wearing her original Magician Class costume. The Angela screenshot is also interesting as it shows a level 53 party. This makes us realize once again how different the game balance in this remake is. In the original game, by the time you reach level 38 and the 2nd Class change, you're probably about to finish your run.

The remake also includes a new function named Class Reset. By using a special item called "Goddess' Scales" you can make a character go back to their initial Class. The Class Reset menu is available at Mana Stones, just like the Class Change menu.  With the Class Reset system, you can now try out all of a character's Classes in a single run. The Japanese press release mentions Goddess' Scales items are hidden in very hard to obtain treasure chests, which seems to imply it's a very rare monster drop.

Trials of Mana New Features: Encounters with friends

When entering the towns and cities of Trials of Mana, your protagonist character will act alone. Your party members will be living their own lives in the city, and you can chat with them if you encounter them while exploring. This is a brand-new system, confirming new dialogues between the characters have been added. This is personally one of the features I'm looking forward to the most, as the original game doesn't feature that many dialogues between the party members.

Seeds and Magic Pot system

At the entrance of each inn, you can find a Magic Pot. By planting Seeds in these pots, you can obtain items and equipment. Seeds are obtained by searching around and through monster drops. There are five different types of Seeds: Item Seeds, Silver-colored Item Seeds, Gold-colored Item Seeds, Rainbow-colored Item Seeds, and ??? Seeds.

The rarity of the items you can get depends on the Seed's color, with Rainbow-colored Item Seeds growing the best items and equips. Certain rare equipment can only be obtained through Rainbow-colored Item Seeds. Meanwhile, ??? Seeds grow items needed for the level 38 Class Change. These ??? Seeds can be obtained via monster drops in dungeons, and their drop rate was adjusted compared to the original game.

The same feature was already in the original Seiken Densetsu 3. The Seeds system overall is a recurring feature of the Seiken Densetsu/Mana series. This remake, however, introduces the Magic Pot level. As you keep planing Seeds, the Magic Pot's level will rise, increasing the chance to grow rare items and increasing the drop rate of monsters dropping seeds.

Trials of Mana New Features: Other new and useful functions

This remake includes items that can temporarily boost the amount of experience and Lucre (the game's currency) you get at the end of battles. There are also items that can increase your stats. You can get all these items in cities or through treasure chests in town and fields.

Next, the game has a new Shortcut System. you can register up to four items or Skills in the Command Ring, to use them immediately. Outside of battles, there's also a Full Recover shortcut function which will use all items and Magic available to fully restore your party's HP. If you're trying to save MP and items, you can use the Almost Full Recover function instead.

Next, the Trials of Mana remake has four different difficulty levels. They affect how strong the monsters are, and there are no changes to the story regardless of which difficulty you play. The difficulty can be changed in the options menu. The easiest difficulty is Very Easy Mode, which allows you to get revived and continue fighting if your party gets wiped out. Very Easy Mode is recommended for players who aren't used to games or just want to enjoy the story.

Lastly, we learned that Trials of Mana has 12 different save slots. The original game had 3. There is also an Auto-Save feature. And the number of save points, which are Mana Goddess statues, have been increased in fields and dungeons. Which makes sense as the fields and dungeons are now in 3D and bigger than in the original.

All of these functions are the usual quality of life functions included in nowadays' JRPGs, who weren't in the original Seiken Densetsu 3 from 1995. The Full Recover function, for example, works the same as Auto Recover in Persona 5 (Royal). The new features are particularly promising too like the Class Reset system. This is a proper, refined remake unlike the Secret of Mana remake from 2018, which I personally found incredibly disappointing. As a huge fan of Seiken Densetsu 3 and the series as a whole, Trials of Mana is definitely the remake I'm looking forward to the most this year, above Final Fantasy VII Remake.

Trials of Mana was announced at E3 2019 with a first trailer and gameplay. We previewed Trials of Mana at two different events here and here. A demo was also listed on the PlayStation Store but wasn't officially announced nor released yet.

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