{"id":29005,"date":"2024-03-28T22:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-03-28T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=29005"},"modified":"2024-03-28T13:45:13","modified_gmt":"2024-03-28T04:45:13","slug":"visions-of-mana-devs-avoided-westernizing-identity-square-enix-rpg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/visions-of-mana-devs-avoided-westernizing-identity-square-enix-rpg\/","title":{"rendered":"Visions of Mana devs avoided \u201cwesternizing\u201d the identity of Square Enix\u2019s RPG series\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Visions of Mana<\/strong> is the long-awaited new entry in Square Enix\u2019s beloved Mana series (Seiken Densetsu). In our upcoming extended interview with producer Masaru Oyamada, he revealed how the development team focused on the core aspects of the series\u2019 identity, building upon the recent remakes to deliver the first brand-new mainline Mana game since Dawn of Mana (2006). We provide an overview of the legendary Japanese RPG series and a preview of Oyamada\u2019s comments regarding Visions of Mana. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Mana series started out with the Final Fantasy series spin-off Seiken Densetsu Final Fantasy Gaiden (known as FINAL FANTASY ADVENTURE in North America), that came out on the Gameboy in 1991. However, it was the 1993 SNES sequel, Secret of Mana, that brought color to the series and established the distinct style and world that the Mana games are known for. This is evident in everything from the whimsical and mysterious soundtrack, cute creatures, ring command system, lush graphics and Mana Tree artwork on the box.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Visions<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When making the upcoming Visions of Mana, which will be the series\u2019 fifth main entry, producer Oyamada was determined to make sure that it stayed true to the series\u2019 roots. To ensure that Visions of Mana was appropriately \u201cMana-like,\u201d Oyamada singled out the series\u2019 most emblematic elements and the original creators responsible for them, explaining: \u201cIt was these three key components of the Mana series that we used for Visions of Mana\u201d namely,  HACCAN\u2019s character designs, Hiroo Isono\u2019s Mana Trees, and Koichi Ishii\u2019s monster designs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the last decade, the first three games in the series have been reissued (as Collection of Mana) and subsequently remade, which allowed Oyamada and the current team to determine the direction in which to take the series. Oyamada also explains that the positive reception that these games received helped Visions of Mana to be greenlit, adding that the fans \u201cshowed a strong appreciation for what we were trying to create even though the original developers including Ishii and (Hiromichi) Tanaka had already left the company.\u201d Visions of Mana features character designs by series veteran HACCAN, with series creator Koichi Ishii acting as consultant for the project and supervising the monster designs. \u201cThe entire development team kept his advice in mind when making Visions of Mana,\u201d Oyamada explains. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Visions<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The westernization of aspects of Japanese games is a contentious topic among gamers- this can be seen in the arguments that sprang up back in January around Sega\u2019s take on localization (Related Article<\/a>). Speaking on the topic of the Mana series\u2019 identity, Oyamada explains \u201cThe unique atmosphere and design might make some people feel that it is a bit \u2018childish\u2019, however these are the strengths of the Mana series. Rather than changing these features (…), I hope that new players will come to like these games that have been popular in Japan for a long time\u201d. Even though the Mana series is not being adapted to fit overseas gaming trends, Oyamada adds that they \u201cwork on the games while bearing in mind that the Mana series is loved by fans from all over the world.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To discover more about the making of Visions of Mana and what the upcoming fantasy RPG has to offer, stay tuned for our upcoming full-length interview<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Visions of Mana is scheduled to be released in summer 2024 for PS4\/PS5<\/a>, Xbox Series S|X<\/a> and PC (Steam<\/a>). <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Producer Masaru Oyamada explains how Square Enix’s upcoming Visions of Mana stays true to the beloved Japanese RPG series’ roots.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":29014,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-29005","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"\nVisions of Mana devs avoided \u201cwesternizing\u201d the identity of Square Enix\u2019s RPG series\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Producer Masaru Oyamada explains how Square Enix's upcoming Visions of Mana stays true to the beloved Japanese RPG series' roots.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/visions-of-mana-devs-avoided-westernizing-identity-square-enix-rpg\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Visions of Mana devs avoided \u201cwesternizing\u201d the identity of Square Enix\u2019s RPG series\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Producer Masaru Oyamada explains how Square Enix's upcoming Visions of Mana stays true to the beloved Japanese RPG series' roots.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/visions-of-mana-devs-avoided-westernizing-identity-square-enix-rpg\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-03-28T13:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20240328-29005-header.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"506\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Verity Townsend\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Verity Townsend\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Visions of Mana devs avoided \u201cwesternizing\u201d the identity of Square Enix\u2019s RPG series\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST","description":"Producer Masaru Oyamada explains how Square Enix's upcoming Visions of Mana stays true to the beloved Japanese RPG series' roots.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/visions-of-mana-devs-avoided-westernizing-identity-square-enix-rpg\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Visions of Mana devs avoided \u201cwesternizing\u201d the identity of Square Enix\u2019s RPG series\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST","og_description":"Producer Masaru Oyamada explains how Square Enix's upcoming Visions of Mana stays true to the beloved Japanese RPG series' roots.","og_url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/visions-of-mana-devs-avoided-westernizing-identity-square-enix-rpg\/","og_site_name":"AUTOMATON WEST","article_published_time":"2024-03-28T13:00:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":900,"height":506,"url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20240328-29005-header.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Verity Townsend","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@AUTOMATON_ENG","twitter_site":"@AUTOMATON_ENG","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Verity Townsend","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/visions-of-mana-devs-avoided-westernizing-identity-square-enix-rpg\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/visions-of-mana-devs-avoided-westernizing-identity-square-enix-rpg\/"},"author":{"name":"Verity Townsend","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/d093b34094aa444f3b5cf8d2af3a6bad"},"headline":"Visions of Mana devs avoided \u201cwesternizing\u201d the identity of Square Enix\u2019s RPG series\u00a0","datePublished":"2024-03-28T13:00:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/visions-of-mana-devs-avoided-westernizing-identity-square-enix-rpg\/"},"wordCount":583,"commentCount":1,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/visions-of-mana-devs-avoided-westernizing-identity-square-enix-rpg\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20240328-29005-header.jpg","keywords":["News (Japan-related)"],"articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/visions-of-mana-devs-avoided-westernizing-identity-square-enix-rpg\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/visions-of-mana-devs-avoided-westernizing-identity-square-enix-rpg\/","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/visions-of-mana-devs-avoided-westernizing-identity-square-enix-rpg\/","name":"Visions of Mana devs avoided \u201cwesternizing\u201d the identity of Square Enix\u2019s RPG series\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/visions-of-mana-devs-avoided-westernizing-identity-square-enix-rpg\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/visions-of-mana-devs-avoided-westernizing-identity-square-enix-rpg\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20240328-29005-header.jpg","datePublished":"2024-03-28T13:00:00+00:00","description":"Producer Masaru Oyamada explains how Square Enix's upcoming Visions of Mana stays true to the beloved Japanese RPG series' roots.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/visions-of-mana-devs-avoided-westernizing-identity-square-enix-rpg\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/visions-of-mana-devs-avoided-westernizing-identity-square-enix-rpg\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/visions-of-mana-devs-avoided-westernizing-identity-square-enix-rpg\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20240328-29005-header.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20240328-29005-header.jpg","width":900,"height":506,"caption":"Visions of Mana"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/visions-of-mana-devs-avoided-westernizing-identity-square-enix-rpg\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"\u30db\u30fc\u30e0","item":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Visions of Mana devs avoided \u201cwesternizing\u201d the identity of Square Enix\u2019s RPG series\u00a0"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/","name":"AUTOMATON WEST","description":"AUTOMATON is a website that covers the Japanese gaming world. We bring you the news on video games from Osaka and Tokyo.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization","name":"\u682a\u5f0f\u4f1a\u793e\u30a2\u30af\u30c6\u30a3\u30d6\u30b2\u30fc\u30df\u30f3\u30b0\u30e1\u30c7\u30a3\u30a2","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/activegamingmedia_logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/activegamingmedia_logo.png","width":374,"height":190,"caption":"\u682a\u5f0f\u4f1a\u793e\u30a2\u30af\u30c6\u30a3\u30d6\u30b2\u30fc\u30df\u30f3\u30b0\u30e1\u30c7\u30a3\u30a2"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/AUTOMATON_ENG","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCabvYnvuUUbbGUrxkaFRgSA"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/d093b34094aa444f3b5cf8d2af3a6bad","name":"Verity Townsend","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/pz-WVnDc_400x400-100x100.jpg","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/pz-WVnDc_400x400-100x100.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/pz-WVnDc_400x400-100x100.jpg","caption":"Verity Townsend"},"description":"Automaton West Editor and translator. She has a soft spot for old-school Sierra adventure games and Final Fantasy VIII (yes, 8!). Can often be found hunting down weird forgotten games and finding out everything about them. Frequently muses about characters and lines from Metal Gear Solid and Disco Elysium. Aims to keep Automaton fresh and interesting with a wide variety of articles.","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/author\/verity-townsend\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29005","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29005"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29005\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29107,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29005\/revisions\/29107"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29014"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}