7 Things You Need to Know Before Starting the Beautiful RPG Visions Of Mana

Visions of Mana is a vibrant and charming role-playing game that harks back to the classics that many of us grew up with, offering hours of enjoyable exploration, character customization, and storytelling. As you dive into this new adventure in the Mana franchise, here are some tips for your journey so you can make the most of your first hours with the game.

The goal is to have fun, so choose a difficulty level that suits you best

Visions of Mana offers four difficulty settings, and you should definitely choose the one that offers you the level of challenge you desire, as fun should be your top priority here. Beginner difficulty is designed for those who simply want to experience the story with little concern for combat. Easy, Medium, and Hard each increase how demanding the experience will be, with the sweet spot for most hardcore RPG fans likely being Medium.

Remember that all trophies or achievements can be unlocked on any difficulty, and you can be sure that you will encounter battles that will definitely require some extra strategy or level grinding to overcome, even on Easy or Medium. Additionally, you can change the difficulty at any point during your adventure in the settings if you feel like the one you’ve chosen is too breezy or too hard.

Yes, all yellow items are worth picking up

You’ll see glowing yellow item pickups everywhere in every zone you enter, which can feel a little overwhelming. It can get a little boring at times, but if you’re wondering if all of these items are worth picking up, the answer is unequivocal Yes. Pick them up. Pick them all up.

While these spots sometimes only give you a small amount of money, they often give you useful healing items that can make a significant difference in tougher fights. But most importantly, these spots often give you Golden Clovers, which are a hugely important item for upgrading your characters and making them more powerful in battle. More on that later.

These colored crystals have a use later in the game

As you progress through each zone, you’ll undoubtedly notice small crystals of various colors that don’t seem to have any use. Don’t worry, as you unlock new Elemental Vessels, they’ll become available, and you’ll be awarded Elemental Points that you can use to level up your Elemental Plot. Unfortunately, this means that you’ll have to return to areas with crystals that match your newly unlocked Elemental Vessels throughout the game to earn as many Elemental Points as possible.

Collect all the Grizzly Syrup you can find

Very early in the game you’ll discover that Grizzly Syrup is, well, everywhere in the zones you explore. This syrup can be traded with Dudbear shops, the first of which unlocks a few hours into the story, and is well worth collecting. Dudbears often sell extremely useful items, including elixirs that permanently boost the stats of the character you give them to.

The first Dudbear shop offers a nice selection of these elixirs (up to three of each!), so finding every Grizzly Syrup in the opening zones can help you quickly buff up a few of your early-game characters. The stat boosts may not seem like much on paper, but they definitely provide a small advantage in battle.

Convert your Golden Clovers to Elemental Points

It can cost a lot of Elemental Points to unlock a full Elemental Plot tier for each character. If you want to score certain unlocks, you can convert the Golden Clovers you find into Elemental Points to earn those extra chances to expand your Elemental Plot. See, didn’t I tell you how important picking up all those yellow items can be?

Save your healing items by breaking pots instead

If you’ve collected all of the items in the overworld (are you seeing a pattern here?), you’ll have a ton of healing items at your disposal during the opening hours of the game. Still, you don’t need to use them if you don’t absolutely have to, especially on higher difficulties. So keep an eye out for the pots scattered throughout each area.

Breaking these pots will often provide a quick heal that will prepare you for upcoming fights without having to deplete your supply of restoratives. You’ll often even find them in boss arenas, allowing you to stay in the action while healing up a bit.

Beware of high level enemies in the starting areas

As you explore some of the early zones of the game, you’ll come across ruins that you can explore to obtain items such as treasure chests, Grizzly Syrup, or yellow item spots. However, you’ll notice that some of these areas have groups of level 50+ enemies hanging around. You’ll be able to come back and fight these much later in the game, but for now, keep your eyes peeled to stick to the outer edges of the ruins to avoid starting a fight you’re not prepared for.

Okay, hopefully you’re a little more prepared for what’s ahead Vision of Mana‘s opening hours, so I hope your time with the game is absolutely amazing. And hey, you know what I’m going to say next: pick up all those damn yellow items. Don’t make me remind you again.

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