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Combat inVisions of Manais - for the most part - fun, fluid, and filled with possibilities. It’s a sterling example of “easy to learn, difficult to master.” As your strategic options open up, your arsenal of choices can get a tad overwhelming. But we’ve got faith you’ll figure it out - more styles work than otherwise.
What we’re here to discuss with you today pertains more so to the early hours of the adventure. Visions of Mana can catch players off-guard with some of its eccentricities, and more than that, there are a handful of best practices to make battles a breeze.
Don’t Always Auto-Target
While auto-targeting (R3 on PlayStation controllers) can be handy tomaintain your focus on one enemy at a time,it can also imperil your camera to an extent. Since the game willtilt the camera angle to accommodate your aim, it won’t always actually display your target well at all.
Get into the habit ofenabling and disabling auto-target as necessary. Remember that it’s there to help guide you, butwhen you’d prefer to move around more freely, the forced angles can be more disorienting than reorienting.
Boss fights are a good deal different. You’ll probably want tomaintain auto-target against bossesin order toensure that you’re pummeling a potential weak spotrather than another, sturdier, body part.
Have Your Allies Target Other Enemies
There will be exceptions to this rule, but by and large, we’ve found the most rapid success in battles bygoing into the strategy settings and ensuring that your uncontrolled party members go after other enemiesrather than your current target.
This comes down to a few things. Perhaps most importantly,the player is naturally going to be at least a bit more efficient at precisely-coordinated strikes. Furthermore,you can rely upon your party to serve as “crowd control"to an extent if they’re occupying enemies elsewhere.
Last but not least, we’ve found thatPalamena,the most powerful mage,often does a better job striking multiple targets at once if she’s allowed to go after targets of her own choosing.
Be Mindful Of The Edge
Here’s a weird one. Perhaps your mileage will vary. But in our experience,it can be frustratingly easy to accidentally escape from battle.This happens when you"press” against the barriers of the battlefieldfor too long.
Since fights against single targets caninvolve pushing your foe backward repeatedly, the game may misinterpret your actions as a means to an abbreviated end.Keep a sharp eye on the blue-colored escape time meterto avoid any, er, misunderstandings.
Plot Expansion Can Change The Paradigm
As you progress through the story, you’ll findElemental Plot expansion items that unlock additional nodes for each character’s classes.
These unlock another two to three nodes for all classes at once, so you’ll only need three expansion items total -one for the first additional three, and then two more for a pair of extra nodes apiece.
Sincepassive skills can’t be transferred between classes(unlike active abilities, which can be),you should factor the passive effects most heavily when choosing your party’s current classes.
However, you do want tokeep an eye toward the future. You can check presently-locked nodes at any point, and there are somelate-bloomer classes whose passive skill synergy comes into far greater focus toward the end.
If, at first, a class doesn’t seem worth the effort, remember to monitor where it’s all going, because you might just find it well worth your late-game while.
Start With A Leap Or A Spell
In many fights,especially those with aerial foes and/or many enemies bunched together,it can be advantageous to begin by eitherusing a melee-oriented characters to leap into the air and come down with a multi-hitting swing, oruse a mage to strike with a wide-range spell.
There are no designated “area of effect spells” in Visions of Mana,but some spells are far better at dealing damage to multiple enemies at once than others. When in doubt, experiment!
Of course,different weapons have varying degrees of effectivenesswhen it comes to downward thrusts. But just about anything will hit more broadly on descent, and you’llget an early start against those pesky aerial monsterswhile you’re at it.
Use Your Elemental Vessels
When you acquire anElemental Vesselfrom the storyline,a slew of new classes matching that element will unlock. But more than that,you gain the ability to use that Elemental Vessel im combatso long as you have the matching class equipped.
These run on a usage timer. You’re going to find thatyour party members will use theirs pretty often. Perhaps too often at times.
Nevertheless, it’sgood practice to always be alert to when you’re able to use them yourself, and tofactor in how their effects might synergize with your current arsenal of abilities.
