If you’ve followed Visions of Mana at all, you probably know that it’s the fifth mainline entry in Square Enix’s Mana series (also known as Seiken Densetsu). Fortunately, you won’t miss anything by skipping right to Visions of Mana. Each game in the series typically takes place in its own world, so you aren’t missing any context that would help you understand this one better.
The main point of confusion is that, much like how Legend of Zelda take place across different iterations of Hyrule, Mana games all feature different incarnations of the same world of Fa’Diel. Bosses, locations, and characters will reappear in each game, but they have no connection to their appearances in past games. Similarly, “Sacrifice” tends to be a recurring theme in Mana games, which might make the premise of Visions of Mana make more sense as you’re starting out.
