This is a vast improvement over Secret of Mana, and adds a whole slew of new and complex features that keep it interesting (like a day/night cycle and an expansive class system), but a lot of the flaws of that game are still present here.
In my SD2/SoM review I mentioned how "dead" the environments feel in that game, and how limited your options for interaction with them are. SD3/Trials is sprawling compared to its predecessor, with huge locations for you to explore... but with no reason whatsoever why you'd want to explore them. Every time you end up in any kind of castle, for instance, you find yourself with dozens of completely empty rooms to run through (occasionally peppered with a handful of NPCs who provide incredibly generic flavor text dialogue).
Likewise, while the variety of expendable items you start getting access to once you reach the Black Market were really cool, the equip-able gear follows the same simple pattern as in the previous game, with each new town offering new weapons, armor, and/or accessories that boost one of your stats by a few extra points. It would have added so much more to the game if there had been a little more variety to the gear, with different items offering different buffs or debuffs in addition to the stats, so you'd have to strategize a bit on what gear to equip and what gear to keep or sell.
I loved how they played up the arcade beat-'em-up vibe: the "VICTORY!" message after clearing a screen, the roulette wheel when opening a chest, etc. But at the same time, the melee combat leaned a bit too much toward mindless, repetitive A-button smashing, while at the same time also maintaining a lag between attacks that slows down the combat (the charge bar from SD2 is gone, but the lag is still there - only whereas in SD2 you could attack before the charge bar filled for a lesser amount of damage, here there's a hard limit to how frequently you can attack). Just about the only element of strategy in melee combat is if and when to use your tech, although very often you'll end up clearing the screen before your tech even activates.
Oh well. It is what it is, I suppose. Overall, this was a bit of an odd mix of overly simple and needlessly complex elements for me. I can see why people love this game. I had fun playing it, but eventually got bored.
In my SD2/SoM review I mentioned how "dead" the environments feel in that game, and how limited your options for interaction with them are. SD3/Trials is sprawling compared to its predecessor, with huge locations for you to explore... but with no reason whatsoever why you'd want to explore them. Every time you end up in any kind of castle, for instance, you find yourself with dozens of completely empty rooms to run through (occasionally peppered with a handful of NPCs who provide incredibly generic flavor text dialogue).
Likewise, while the variety of expendable items you start getting access to once you reach the Black Market were really cool, the equip-able gear follows the same simple pattern as in the previous game, with each new town offering new weapons, armor, and/or accessories that boost one of your stats by a few extra points. It would have added so much more to the game if there had been a little more variety to the gear, with different items offering different buffs or debuffs in addition to the stats, so you'd have to strategize a bit on what gear to equip and what gear to keep or sell.
I loved how they played up the arcade beat-'em-up vibe: the "VICTORY!" message after clearing a screen, the roulette wheel when opening a chest, etc. But at the same time, the melee combat leaned a bit too much toward mindless, repetitive A-button smashing, while at the same time also maintaining a lag between attacks that slows down the combat (the charge bar from SD2 is gone, but the lag is still there - only whereas in SD2 you could attack before the charge bar filled for a lesser amount of damage, here there's a hard limit to how frequently you can attack). Just about the only element of strategy in melee combat is if and when to use your tech, although very often you'll end up clearing the screen before your tech even activates.
Oh well. It is what it is, I suppose. Overall, this was a bit of an odd mix of overly simple and needlessly complex elements for me. I can see why people love this game. I had fun playing it, but eventually got bored.