"It Just Becomes Bones?!" - PART 2 - Trials of Mana
4Don't we all, in the end?
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Trials of Mana, originally released in Japan as Seiken Densetsu 3, is a 1995 action role-playing video game developed and published by Square for the Super Famicom. It is the sequel to the 1993 game Seiken Densetsu 2 (released as Secret of Mana outside Japan), and is the third installment in the Mana series. Set in a high fantasy world, the game follows three heroes as they attempt to claim the legendary Mana Sword and prevent the Benevodons from being unleashed and destroying the world. It features three lengthy main plotlines and six different possible main characters, each with their own storylines, and allows two players to play simultaneously. Trials of Mana builds on the gameplay of its predecessor with multiple enhancements, including the use of a time progression system with transitions from day to night and weekday to weekday in game time, and a wide range of character classes to choose from, which provides each character with an exclusive set of skills and status progression.
The game was designed by series creator Koichi Ishii, directed by veteran Square designer Hiromichi Tanaka, and produced by Tetsuhisa Tsuruzono. Artwork was produced by manga and anime artist Nobuteru Yūki, while the music was composed by Secret of Mana composer Hiroki Kikuta. Although the game was only published in Japan, English-speaking players have been able to play Seiken Densetsu 3 due to an unofficial English fan translation, first released in 2000. Seiken Densetsu 3 received considerable acclaim from reviewers, who praised the graphics as among the best ever made for the Super Famicom and the gameplay as an improved version of its predecessor's. The plot received mixed reviews by critics, who found the overlapping stories to be interesting and to enhance replayability, but the characters and plotlines themselves to be flat and clichéd. Overall, the game is considered by some critics to be a Super Famicom classic.
In June 2017, the game was included in the Seiken Densetsu Collection release for the Nintendo Switch in Japan; the collection was released in June 2019 in North America as Collection of Mana with Seiken Densetsu 3 titled Trials of Mana. That same month, a remake of the game under that title was announced for worldwide release for Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, and PlayStation 4 in early 2020.
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