The latest issue of Weekly Famitsu includes a short interview regarding Trials of Mana, the PS4, Switch and PC remake of classic SNES RPG Seiken Densetsu 3, with producer Tatsuke Shinichi and Seiken Densetsu series producer Oyamada Masaru.
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The interviewer starts with pointing out how the 2018 remake of Seiken Densetsu 2 (Secret of Mana) remained faithful to the original, while Trials of Mana seems to be taking things in a different direction, and asking the reason for this. Oyamada says that this is primarily because, as Seiken Densetsu 3 had never been released overseas, they wanted to make it as a game that would be accepted as an entirely new title by foreign players, and that it is the result of feedback for the 2018 Secret of Mana remake.
Tatsuke says that they did test out the game with the original battle system, and that it felt lacking, feeling increasingly mismatched with the game the more modern the graphics looked. They thus added features like combos and jumping to make it the most action-centric game in the series. It is still an action RPG however, and the ability to level up makes it so that the game can be enjoyed even if one is not skilled at action games.
Each character also plays differenty, meaning that choosing different party members makes for a different experience. This also applies to the story, and Oyamada says that due to the “triangle story system” (a feature in Seiken Densetsu 3 where the three party members chosen by the player determines how parts of the story play out) being a huge part of the original game, series creator Ishii Kouichi requested that they put something related to it in the remake’s title, and after discussing it with overseas stuff, they settled on Trials, which has “tri” in it.
Finally, the interviewer asks if Trials of Mana will include additional content not in the original, such as new story sequences. Tatsuke neither confirms nor denies this, only saying that there is a lot of information that they have not announced yet, and that as a fan of the SNES version of Dragon Quest III, he is hoping to make Trials of Mana into something like it, that can be enjoyed both by fans of the originals and new players.
Trials of Mana will be released for the PS4, Switch and PC (Steam) in early 2020.
