If you are a PC gamer, then you will know all about the power of mods. They allow dedicated fans to alter how a game looks or plays, which sometimes results in an upgrade to the base experience.
28.03.2024 - 21:43 / ign.com
While it's no secret that Mana has been spun-off a ton, it's shocking to realise that it's taken 15 years for someone to envision another mainline entry. For those of you unfamiliar with the era of parachute pants and 1993's Secret of Mana, it is fondly remembered as a legendary must-own for the SNES—an impressive feat given that system was teeming with JRPG GOATs.
Obviously, a modernisation of the franchise is a huge deal, and wild pikuls couldn't have held me back from my world's first chance to go hands-on with Visions of Mana.
I'm going to dive into those impressions in a sec. For now, though, I should probably list some purchasing options for you “mind’s already made-up” diehards who have pined for too long. If that's not you, bypass all the window shopping by skip clicking here to get to my extended thoughts.
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Fair warning before I begin: the time I spent with Visions was barely over an hour, which, in my long years of previewing, felt rather “wham bam, thank you, Mana.” Snooping through two areas of the game—Mt. Gala and Fallow Steppe, both of which are still under development—is not enough time to say if this game is worth your lucre. It is, however, more than enough time to get a feel for what I do and don’t like about where this title is heading.
As per always, the first impression is one of visuals, and Visions proves to be quite the vision indeed. I’m dropped into a sandbox that looks as colourful and vibrant as it is detailed and tickled by incidental movement (think: wind tech ruffling trees, grass, shrubbery, and the frilly lace trims on my four “person” party).
Vast and painterly, like Zelda Tears of the Kingdom, is the overriding opinion. I’m also mighty impressed by the scale of this Sound of Music-esque mountainside I’ve been plopped onto. You’ll have to take some time to crane your virtual neck upwards to fully drink in the snow-capped ranges that girt this sandbox.
That being said, after I poke around, the micro detail doesn’t outstrip the macro here—we’re not quite at TotK, “I can’t believe they put physics on that” levels of world interaction. No choppable grass and some random jars and crates being unbreakable makes my inner-Link sad. Not a huge deal, obviously, but rather another salient reminder that Nintendo has spoiled us all.
In no time, I’m right back to being impressed by the ludicrous detail lavished upon my party members. Obviously, there’s the outward appearance factor of insanely intricate costume designs, quaffs of technicolour hair, and some satisfying locomotion that feels like I’m in a weapons-inclusive 3D platformer instead of an RPG (double-jump and L3 sprint included).
More surprising, though, is how well rendered their
If you are a PC gamer, then you will know all about the power of mods. They allow dedicated fans to alter how a game looks or plays, which sometimes results in an upgrade to the base experience.
The (unofficial) theme of new TV this week: reality.
Looking to upgrade your smartphone? Now might be the perfect time with unbeatable discounts on Apple's latest iPhones. Whether you're an avid photographer or need high-speed performance, there's a deal for you.
CJI Chandrachud advocates ethical AI in legal research; AI investment to boost productivity and worker pay: BlackRock CEO; Instagram enhances content discovery with generative AI integration; Surat municipal schools to offer AI and coding courses- this and more in our daily roundup. Let us take a look.
Best Buy is always a great retailer to turn to if you’re looking for some savings. There are almost always Best Buy deals taking place on TVs, appliances, and devices we use to navigate the digital world. In fact, right now at Best Buy you can find some of the best TV deals, best laptop deals, and best phone deals that can be shopped, and we haven’t even mentioned the deals on tablets and home audio equipment currently taking place at Best Buy. We’ve rounded up all of the best Best Buy deals you can shop right now and categorized them for your convenience below, so read onward for some great opportunities to save.
The latest generation of the Xbox has some excellent upgrades, such as a quick pause-and-play function and the option to buy a cheaper digital-only option. Luckily, both the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S are easier to come by now compared to when they launched and stock was low. That means there are a lot of great deals you can take advantage of right now, and, much like with PlayStation deals, looking around for the best deals will get you much better prices. To that end, we’ve gone out and scoured all the big and small retailers for some of our favorite deals out there.
AI roundup: In a race to bring AI to smartphones, Oppo and OnePlus partner with Google to bring the Gemini Ultra platform to smartphones. This move will allow smartphone brands to provide improved integration of AI. In other news, Adobe is currently developing its artificial intelligence text-to-video generator for which it is buying videos to train the model. Know more about such AI news from today.
It’s a big week for TV! By which I mean, to me, there’s a lot of bangers this week.
Samsung is one of the most recognized electronics brands. Samsung’s monitors are regularly in contention to be among the best monitors, and it even has several lineups of gaming monitors that are often among the best gaming monitors. Whether you need the prowess of a gaming monitor or simply more screen real estate to get your work done, Samsung is a great brand to turn to. This is true if you’re looking for some savings as well. There are a lot of Samsung monitor deals currently taking place, and we’ve tracked them all down. Reading onward you’ll find savings on 4K and Full HD Samsung monitor options, as well as on Samsung monitors geared specifically for gaming.
The latest update for Helldivers 2 is here, and it ought to shake up the game in a fairly significant way. The big news is that the level cap is increasing from 50 all the way to 150. Meanwhile, Arrowhead Studios have also added a couple of new planetary hazards (blizzards and sandstorms), rebalanced a long list of weapons, tweaked the specifics of how certain missions work, and more.
Helldivers 2 releases a new and bigger update for players which brings new gameplay elements, balancing to missions and weapons, as well as general adjustments and quality of life tweaks. The live service shooter from Arrowhead Game Studios continues to evolve since its launch back in February. Helldivers 2 has managed to achieve this through a combination of new updates and a dynamic world that is constantly in flux thanks to the push and pull of the players and enemy factions across the map.
Dragon's Dogma 2 launched around ten days ago, earning a favorable reception from critics (I gave it an 8/10 in my review) but not equally enthusiastic from fans, especially on Steam. That was largely due to the microtransactions and technical performance, but there are other minor issues that PC users can easily fix with the help of mods.