6 Things I Wish I Knew Before Starting Visions of Mana

I’ve spent a good number of hours playing Visions of Mana on PS5, and while it’s been a fun, colorful adventure, there’s a lot the game doesn’t explain upfront.

If you’re just starting out, or even a few chapters in, here are the things I learned by actually playing. I think they’ll help you enjoy the game more without getting stuck or missing cool stuff.

Here are six things that made a big difference for me.

1. Elemental Vessels Are More Than Just Story Items

The first time you get an Elemental Vessel, it feels like a story moment.

But here’s the thing: these aren’t just key items—they actually unlock new ways to explore the map.

Each Vessel is linked to an elemental spirit, like wind or earth. Once you get one, you’ll start seeing glowing marks on the ground or walls called Elemental Triggers.

For example:

• Wind Triggers let you ride air currents to reach high places.
• Earth Triggers move rocks and make paths.
• Light ones reveal hidden bridges.

So whenever you pick up a new Vessel, it’s worth going back to older areas. You’ll often find shortcuts, hidden treasure chests, or even secret bosses that the story doesn’t point you to.

If I had known how useful these were, I would’ve backtracked more often. Find discount offers for Visions of Mana on the PlayStation Store (PS5)

2. Don’t Be Afraid to Switch Classes Often

Each time you get a new Vessel, it also unlocks at least one new class per character.

Classes change the way your characters fight. They come with different stats, weapons, and even outfits. What surprised me was how easy it is to switch between them—even mid-battle.

There’s no penalty. You just go into the menu and change it.

For example:

• I switched Val between a heavy Gladiator for strong melee attacks and a faster Windblade for air combos.
• Careena could swap between being a healer (Oracle) and giving buffs (Dancer).

Later in the game, you can use a craftable item to fully respec, so don’t worry about making the “wrong” choice. You can change things around whenever you want.

Also, don’t hoard your skill points. Spending them unlocks combo finishers, which make boss fights a lot smoother.

3. Before Big Bosses, Farm Elementite, and Ability Seeds

Whenever the game sends you to a new continent or area, boss fights get noticeably tougher.

What helped me was taking a short break to collect two things:

• Elementite – These glowing crystals are usually found in caves or cliffs. Each one gives you 5 Elemental Points, which you can use to unlock new skills or spells.
• Ability Seeds – These drop from mini-bosses and side quests. You can socket them into your skill tree to add passive bonuses, like more damage or better defense.

You don’t need to farm endlessly. Just grabbing a few of each can really help smooth out the next big boss fight. It made a big difference for me when I ran into the first Benevodon boss, which otherwise would’ve been a long, slow battle.

4. Use the Mounts—They’re Not Just for Speed

As the map opens up, the game gives you three mounts to help with travel:

• Pikul – A land mount you get pretty early. It’s fast and can knock down smaller enemies while running.
• Vuscav – A sea creature that lets you cross oceans. It can be summoned with the Ferry Flute.
• Flammie – A flying dragon that shows up later. With Flammie, you can fly to hidden plateaus and drop straight into towns.

What I didn’t realize at first is that these mounts aren’t just for convenience. They’re actually the only way to reach certain areas, some of which have rare loot or secret dungeons.

So if you get stuck or feel like you’ve explored everything—try using your mount to reach places you couldn’t before.

5. Side Quests With “Stat Boost” Are Worth Doing

At first, I ignored a lot of the side quests. The rewards upon completion were gold and a few items.

But then I noticed some of them are marked “Stat Boost.”

These are the ones you want to prioritize. They give you permanent upgrade items like:

• Power Petals (boost strength)
• Mind Petals (boost magic)
• Ability Nuts (unlock extra skill tiers)

One early quest called “Color Me Famous” only took a few minutes, but the reward unlocked a new ability for me way earlier than I expected.

Later side quests also give you things like status resistance. That means you can avoid being frozen or poisoned by certain bosses, which saves you healing items and frustration.

They’re quick, they give you XP, and they’re often along the main route. I usually accepted them if they were nearby and bookmarked the others for when I had time.

6. You Can Adjust Difficulty and Party Settings Anytime

One of the best features in Visions of Mana is how easy it is to tweak the game to your comfort level.

There are four difficulty levels to start with (Beginner to Hard), and a fifth one called Very Hard that unlocks after finishing the story.

You can change difficulty anytime outside of combat—no need to restart the game.

I played most of the story on Normal, bumped it to Hard for boss fights (they get longer stagger windows), and then dropped back to Normal for cleanup. There’s no penalty, and it doesn’t affect your trophies or progress.

Also, don’t forget to adjust your AI companions in the Party Strategy menu.

You can tell them how much MP to use, how aggressive to be, and whether to use Elemental skills as soon as they’re ready. I found setting them to “Conserve MP” helped during longer fights so they didn’t waste all my ethers.

And if one of your characters is about to go down, you can quickly switch to them and dodge away. That saved me more than once.

Overall, Visions of Mana Feels Magical 

Visions of Mana is a great game especially if you like fantasy RPGs that aren’t too serious. It looks beautiful, plays smoothly, and gives you a lot of freedom without being overwhelming.

But it also hides a lot of systems behind colorful visuals. If you take time to explore, try out new classes, and make use of all the tools the game gives you, it becomes a much richer experience.

I hope these tips help you get more out of the game and avoid some of the mistakes I made early on.

Happy adventuring.