Mana series (Seiken Densetsu)

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Trials of Mana Solo Hawkeye Attempt Part 8


The first few grinding sessions were grueling for Hawkeye.  All the higher level enemies in the Gusthall disappeared after Dangaard died, so his only choice was to beat up advanced monsters like the Dark Assassin and Kid Drakonis in the Night Cavern leading to Dark Castle. 


Dark Assassins were particularly cruel because they would whip out Spirit Slash, sometimes before Hawkeye could reach them.  Each use of this Nightblade Class Strike sliced off most of Hawkeye's already low max HP.  Kid Drakonis could be relentless with lightning spells as well.


DEATH COUNT:  7


Eventually Hawkeye grew to Level 38 and used a ??? Seed to promote to his Light/Light class, the Nomad.  According to a site called The Seikens, the Wanderer is Hawkeye's weakest final class in terms of stats, but it does acquire some spells that can increase max HP, reflect enemy magic, and deal Wood damage with Poison Bubble.


The "supporting" characters continued to gain levels, but not as many as Hawkeye.  Spending most of the game dead deprives you of some experience, but not all of it, even regarding boss fights.  Angela and Duran were at 33 and 34 respectively when Hawkeye reached 40.  Duran also had more HP than Hawkeye in spite of being unpromoted and having less STA.  Maybe there's a base HP stat that is far more important to the formula than STA?


Hawkeye disappointed me when he leveled to 39 and put a point into SPRT in hopes of getting the reflection spell. . .only to gain the ability to cast Sleep Flower on all enemies.  It seems that in Trials of Mana, you can only learn one spell per level, even if you meet the stat requirements.  Upgrading existing magic to a multi-target version also counts as learning the one spell per level.


Information on Trials of Mana can be annoying to find because most English documentation uses the Seiken Densetsu 3 fan translation names.  For example, the Nomad class is called the Wanderer in the unofficial translation, and SPRT is referred to as PIE.  


For those who want to know, here's Hawkeye's stats as a Level 38 Ranger:


HP:  562
MP:  64
STR:  14
DEX:  14
STA:  15
INT:  14
SPRT:  11
LUCK:  12



Hawkeye as a Level 38 Nomad:


HP:  562
MP:  65
STR:  14
DEX:  17
STA:  15
INT:  14
SPRT:  15


It will still take a while before I can make any real progress, but I thought I'd go ahead and write a post.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Trials of Mana Solo Hawkeye Attempt Part 9


While leveling some more with Hawkeye in the Night Cavern, I decided to test a few things.  Class Strikes appear to use STR as part of their damage formula, as hinted by using the Nomad version against Kid Drakonis with and without a Drake Scale.  Without the Drake Scale, Hawkeye threw the rose and slashed for 419.  With the Drake Scale boost, the Nomad Class Strike dealt 619.


The damage formula for the Dark Assassin's (and Nightblade Hawkeye's) Spirit Slash must be strange.  They were hacking away at Hawkeye without success in melee for 1 damage, then maimed him for 360s.  Silence also disables Class Strikes gained from promotions, so perhaps they're treated as a kind of spell in the code?


Hawkeye gained some new gimmicks to play with as he grew to level 47.  Nature's Aura, aka Aura Wave in the fan translation, fully charges one character's Class Strike gauge.  This is the kind of move that sounds more useful in a party of 3 where you can cast it on the AI teammates.  The Thief Class Strike is more useful than the Nomad "upgrade" because you hit twice and can attach elements to it.  


Lunar Radiance, aka Life Booster, increases max HP but does not heal.  Maybe it could be useful when fighting the final boss Dark Majesty.


Crystalline, aka Trans Shape, makes a character immune to melee, but of course it doesn't work on Spirit Slash,  making it useless.  I wonder if the official translation is a reference to Super Mario RPG, where Crystalline is a defense increasing consumable item.  It would make sense, considering Super Mario RPG recycled so many sound effects from this game.


Wall, aka Counter Magic, reflects spells, with a few exceptions like Ancient Curse.  It appears to block more magic for player characters than for enemies, if GameFAQs is correct.  Otherwise Angela would despair.


Gear Seeds were useful in a Trials of Mana playthrough for a change.  Hawkeye got a +3 DEF and +1 MGC DEF Lucky Card, a +25 DEF Ghost Cuirass, and a +16 ATK Orichalcut.  These were all nice bonuses over his Pedda bought equipment.


Duran and Angela reached their unpromoted stat caps in the upper 30s.  When this happened, I wondered if the game would crash or something due to how glitchy Trials of Mana stats are.  The "pick your stat" menu still appeared when Angela or Duran gained a level, only to disappear when I pressed A since nothing could be upgraded.  Okay, so Trials of Mana has some coding issues, but nothing on par with some of the Generation 1 Pokemon bugs.



Hawkeye as a Level 47 Nomad:


HP:  642
MP:  74
STR:  16
DEX:  17
STA:  19
INT:  16
SPRT:  16
LUCK:  18


Hawkeye has already reached his Nomad STR and STA caps.  If he were a Nightblade, his STR would be 18.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Trials of Mana Solo Hawkeye Victory


After leveling to 47, the rest of the game was viable even for a solo character.  Hawkeye confronted Zable Fahr's 3 heads next.  Only the 3rd head was the "true form", but it didn't appear at the start of the battle.  First, he had to strike the other heads with 140s regular melee and 320s with his Thief Class Strike.  When the last head appeared, it resurrected the other 2.  But Hawkeye had accidentally discovered the trick of standing in a corner so melee would hit 2 heads at once, charging the Class Strike Gauge faster.  Throwing daggers at every target with the Ranger Class Strike was satisfying.


Zable Fahr's spells were typical for a Dark monster, like Evil Gate, 160s Dark Force, and Annihilate which was prevented by Hawkeye's higher level.  Dark Breath halitosis forced Hawkeye to reapply a Sahagin Chip after it decreased his magic defense.  I only remembered to use Wall late in the fight.  This reflected Evil Gate and Fetid Breath, but not every spell.  Southern Slice was the "true head" special move, removing as much as 359 HP.  A Demon spell hit for a more modest 167.  Hawkeye triumphed after eating all 9 Chocolates, 3 Honey Elixirs, and 1 Candy.


Malocchio the discount Dracula challenged Hawkeye with Grislwolf and Queen Succube companions.  These were no stronger than ordinary enemies, and were eliminated quickly.  Malocchio himself spent most of the fight floating around slowly and occasionally doing magic.  Each normal dagger attack slashed for 117, while the Thief Class Strike gouged him for 290s.


Malocchio's spells were no match for Wall's reflect, except for a 210s Psychic Blast that threw Hawkeye across the room.  The Nomad's unique spell dodged Dark Force, Ghostleader, and Black Rain.  Only 2 Chocolates were needed to win at Level 47.


Dark Castle had excellent graphics for the Super Nintendo and did not look like a generic Gothic locale like I thought it would.  The dungeon was straightforward compared to Angela/Duran's Dragonsmaw, making me think the latter was meant to be "canonical".  Fullmetal Hugger was one of the inevitable boss rematches, and fought much the same way it did before, only with higher damage values.  Bubbleblast, Holy Bolt, and Eye Beam bounced off Hawkeye's Wall, but Dive Bomb broke through with 260s damage.


After that victory, Hawkeye ran into a fatal encounter with a Black Knight who crushed him with Quakebringer.  Random enemies can sometimes be more difficult than the bosses if they pull out a spell or Class Strike out of nowhere.


DEATH COUNT:  8



Hawkeye had to battle Fullmetal Hugger again, but it was easier the 2nd time because I remembered to cast Wall sooner.  Peepers reappeared in Dark Castle as they did in every other final dungeon and tried to off Hawkeye with Roulette Spin, vindicating my decision to level above the monsters.


Zehnoa the demon statue door was another rematch.  Wall didn't reflect Trap 1 or Trap 2, but it was still worth using to knock away Fireball and Dissolving Wave.  It still summoned monsters just as before, but standing in the correct spot allowed Hawkeye to hit both the boss and the minions.  Hawkeye ate 3 Honey Elixirs and 1 Chocolate to win at Level 50.


Harcypete the Gusthall boss returned on top of a turret.  It was annoying to fight because it flew out of the way, but it was nice to avoid Cyclone and Supersonic with Wall this time.  About 3 Chocolates won the battle.


Belladonna, Hawkeye's main antagonist for the early game, was the final boss of Dark Castle.  She turned into a bipedal cat for some reason and started smacking Hawkeye in melee for about 28 per hit.  This doesn't seem like much, but she learned a few tricks from Street Fighter and set up combos. 


Belladonna only cast an offensive spell once:  the Hexas summon for 210s.  Her other magic trick was to apply Moon Saber to heal for a pitiful 5 HP per melee attack.  Hawkeye struck back with 100s regular attacks and 280s Thief Class Strike blows.  Belladonnawas about as difficult as a melee boss could be, and Hawkeye was forced to eat 5 Chocolates and 3 Honey Elixirs to defeat her and make her turret collapse.


The corrupted Mana Sanctuary was not much of a "dungeon", and Hawkeye got through most of it by cautiously backing away from the enemies until he reached the next screen.  There was one mandatory fight with some random enemies, but it was too easy to bother writing about in detail.


Dark Majesty transformed himself into a sort of giant flower with a pagan horned god on it.  Wall reflected a long list of spells:  Blaze Wall, Explode, Earthquake, Dark Force, Stone Cloud, and Stun Gust.  But enough of them got through to ensure a difficult fight.  Air Rush gashed Hawkeye for 270s, Gigantaburn roasted him for 200s, Hyper Cannon blasted him for 350s, Southern Slice cut him for 250s, Half Eclipse blocked his view of the moon for 380s, and Moon Spiral swirled for 400s.  Hawkeye's level of 51 saved him from an Annihilate that would otherwise have instantly killed him.


Still, Hawkeye hacked away at the stationary plant for 100s melee and 280s Thief Class Strike hits.  He made sure to apply the usual buff items, Lunar Radiance for more HP, and Lunatique to reduce Dark Majesty's max HP.  Lunatique had been used in a few earlier bosses, but I don't know how much it contributed to Hawkeye's victories.  After wolfing down 8 Chocolates, 1 Honey Elixirs, and 2 Candies, it seemed like he had won. . .until the 2nd form.


Hawkeye came close to running out of healing items by the end of the 2nd phase.  Dark Majesty often impaled him with a 300 damage sword that popped out of the floor.  Catastrophe was a flashy if less menacing spell that struck for 250s.  Wall was still worth it to reflect Fetid Breath.  More Drake Scales were required to counteract Demon Scream STR debuffs.    



Dark Majesty's final tactic was to cast Strengthen and Protection on himself, probably when he realized buffs were the only way a solo character could make it this far.  Hawkeye's regular melee damage was reduced to double digits, in the 50s if I recall correctly.  And the impaling sword attack now wounded Hawkeye for 500.  As the last Chocolate, all 9 Poto Oils, 6 Honey Elixirs, and 3 Candies disappeared, I wondered if Hawkeye could limp to the ending.  He did!  Turns out all this talk about "suicide teams" who don't have healing spells is bunk.  Hawkeye, a character who could never learn such magic, could win by himself with consumable items.


Wall was useful for the last bosses, but I'm not sure if the other spells like Lunatique and Lunar Radiance were worth giving up Dark class debuffs and a higher STR cap for.  If Nomad is truly the weakest Hawkeye class, that just means he's a good character as long as you remember to bring enough HP restoration and stat increasing items in your ring menu.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Trials of Mana Solo Angela Attempt Part 1


Before class changing at Level 18 during "Vuscav's Mana Stone Hunt" in the midgame, most Trials of Mana characters play similarly to each other.  Kevin, Duran, Hawkeye, and Riesz don't have any spells in their initial classes.  Charlotte is essentially a weaker melee character with access to healing spells at this point too.


Enter Angela.  My first Trials of Mana playthrough, back when I didn't know what I was doing, featured Angela with a full party.  The reason that was harder than the other variants was because I didn't use the Night Market items enough, and not knowing about enemies that countered spells with special attacks.


This Angela will not be the same class as the earlier variant.  I'll be trying out her Light classes this time, which have more spell variety.  She may regret the lack of Dark Force and Annihilate, but she'll enjoy having more elements to play with.



When Angela first reached Charlotte's hometown, she was at Level 4.  No matter how much she was tempted to eat one then, she knew that Chocolates were a rare delicacy in randomly dropped treasure chest and must be saved for boss fights.  Angela purchased a +3 ATK Staff and a +7 DEF Silk Robe in Charlotte's hometown.


Looking back at the Hawkeye solo posts, I now realize that Angela's weapons are weaker than Hawkeye's from the beginning.  Remember that Hawkeye slashes twice per A button press, and Angela only whacks an enemy with her stick twice.  Angela's starter Class Strike also only hits once, while Hawkeye's strikes twice.


Hawkeye defeated the crustacean boss Fullmetal Hugger at Level 5 while eating only 3 Candies.  Angela was not so fortunate.  Angela's rod bludgeoned the crab for about 14 damage, and her Class Strike smashed it for around 29.  Not much weaker than Hawkeye's knives, but it still only half the damage output, and Angela's single hits charged the Class Strike gauge half as fast.  Without any spells, Angela did not have the power needed to outlast the 19 power Eye Beams, 30s Bubbleblasts, 30s Holy Bolts, and a devastating 63 damage Dive Bomb.


DEATH COUNT:  1


Angela returned at Level 6.  I must have put the stat point into SPRT because it reduced Holy Bolt's damage to 27, and SPRT governs Light magic.  Why does Light have a separate stat from every other element?  Probably just RPG tradition.  Angela limped out of the arena after her 9 Candies and 1 Chocolate gave her a sugar rush of HP.


Duran's not the only Trials of Mana character to discuss game mechanics, as Angela mentioned wanting to "level up" to gain spells after meeting Lumina the Light elemental.  She got her wish on the yellow brick road west of Maia.  Maia itself had a disappointing selection of equipment, except for a +3 DEF and +2 MGC DEF Circlet.  This had the same armor rating as Hawkeye's version, as well as the body armor from Wendel.


Angela's new Holy Bolt killed everything on the yellow brick road in one multitarget hit, from neutral Chobin Hoods and Assassinants to the unholy Batmos and Zombies.  Probably because Angela had to overlevel to beat Fullmetal Hugger in the first place. 


She also managed to defeat the 2 Machine Golems on the bridge at Level 7.  Rocket Launcher blasted Angela for 90 damage, and their melee clobbered her for 9.  All of Angela's MP was required to smite 1 of the Machine Golems with Holy Bolt.  She turned to melee for the remaining robot.  A wooden stick probably shouldn't have worked, but 12 damage regular attacks and 31 power Class Strikes did the job.  Angela consumed 4 Candies.


Dwarf Village's weapon was weaker for Angela than for solo Hawkeye:  a +7 ATK Sorcerer's Rod vs a +8 ATK Baselard.  The +4 DEF Witch Robe was also disappointing compared to the +5 DEF Camo Cloak.  It was more difficult to kill off the other characters at the beginning than I expected, since Charlotte and Hawkeye kept surviving monsters.  The trick was to disable their basic Class Strike and to let them get poisoned.  Another problem was that to refill her HP, Angela either had to stay at an inn or heal at a golden goddess statue, which would also restore the other characters.  So some of the random battles weren't "pure" solo fights.


Hawkeye barely managed to kill Jewel Eater the mole at Level 7.  Angela had to wait until Level 9 to succeed.  On the 1st take at Level 8, Angela used the Slime Eye she got from a treasure chest to decrease Jewel Eater's STR.  Its 42 power Hard Hit dash and 67 damage Ground Slam were still more than she could handle, especially when they were used immediately after a 29 power Diamond Shards spell.  An unnamed spit attack debuffed Angela's DEF too. 


Holy Bolts seared Jewel Eater for about 69 damage each, but could only be used 10 times before Angela's MP was exhausted.  She was then forced to attack in melee for 9 damage and occasionally unleash a Class Strike for 30.  It wasn't enough.


DEATH COUNT:  2


Angela's Level 9 stat point went to STR, which made a noticeable difference.  Her staff strikes rose to about 13 with a regular attack and 36 with a Class Strike.  It took all 9 Candies and 1 Chocolate to do it, but Angela finally defeated the last pre-Night Market boss.


The ring from Valsena was the same for both Angela and Hawkeye:  +2 DEF, +1 MGC DEF.  Faerie Walnuts from the item shop were far more important.  They provided a renewable source of MP outside of combat, and an effective 180 bonus MP in battle.  Honey Elixirs and Chocolates allowed extra healing if Angela could survive hits.


Once the guards left Beiser's entrance, Angela stocked up on Drake Scales, Sahagin Chips, Bulette Scales, and one new item that Hawkeye never used in his solo.  Each Ice Coin could instantly cast Water magic, an element otherwise impossible to cast until meeting Undine in the Labyrinth of Ice.


Palo Port in the Laurent kingdom sold a +5 ATK Twisted Rod and a +1 DEF Sorcerer's Hood.  I didn't buy it, but I noticed a Charlotte armor item named Popoi's Gown after the Sprite from Secret of Mana.


In the Heavensway mountains, Angela grew to Level 10 and learned Diamond Shards, the spell reward for beating Jewel Eater.  This Earth magic pierced Harpies and Needlebeaks, though Holy Bolt was still more useful for the Imps, Zombies, and Copper Knights. 


Angela battled Harcypete in the Gusthall at Level 10, just like Hawkeye.  Diamond Shards clipped the boss's wings for 163 damage each, taking into account the Sahagin Chip INT bonus.  Enemy Cyclones felt more like zephyrs and dealt only 24 damage.  A Bulette Scale countered the Defenseless debuff when it appeared.  It was so short a battle that Angela didn't even need to eat a Faerie Walnut for MP.  She leveled to 11 and put a point into STA, but did NOT gain the Cyclone spell yet.  Apparently, she could only learn that once all the Sylphid cutscenes were done.


Angela fought her way through Laurent's castle on behalf of Riesz.  The ninjas were annoying, but Evil Swords could be purified with Holy Bolt.  Zehnoa the demon door was sturdier than that.  This was the occasion that Angela saved her Ice Coins for, and she threw all 9 of them at this boss.  Each chunk of ice that crashed into Zehnoa for 159 in single target, or 131 in all-target mode.  I hadn't realized that elemental coins could switch between modes like that during the first attempt until it was too late.  Once the 9 items were gone, Angela resorted to shining 78 power Holy Bolt.


Zehnoa preferred to send its Shape Shifter minions at Angela and augment their STR with Strengthen, but it also cast a few spells:  25 Trap 1 spikes, 40s Trap 2 rockfalls, and the Fire magic Fireball and Dissolving Wave that singed Angela for 17 and 30s respectively.  Change Form shrunk Angela to Mini status if she wasn't in her spell charge animation, but this was easily cured with the infinite use Minor Mallet.  The real danger was repeated regular attacks from the summoned monsters.


DEATH COUNT:  3


It was clear that Angela needed more STA to survive the minion melee, so she blasted Evil Swords with her Holy Bolt until reaching Level 12.  She also got the irrelevant Cyclone this way.  Trying to level up via the ninja enemies had disastrous consequences when they threw Thunder Techniques followed by Shurikens.


DEATH COUNT:  4


Bad enemy AI saved Angela on Take 2 of the Zehnoa battle.  One of the Shape Shifter monsters got stuck while trying to move past Charlotte's corpse, which I didn't think could happen.  All of the Ice Coins were used as single target attacks this time, as I should have done in the first place.  Zehnoa's new trick was Lunatique, which it must have borrowed from solo Nomad Hawkeye.  This reduced Angela's max HP from 172 to 138 for the rest of the fight, which wasn't as bad as it sounds.  Candies only healed 100 HP at a time anyway, and none of Zehnoa's attacks were powerful enough to take advantage of Lunatique.  Angela ate 5 Candies and 1 Faerie Walnut to win.


As weird as it sounds, solo Angela defeated Bil and Ben without casting a single spell at Level 12   This was done to avoid counterattacks triggered by magic.  She only needed 4 Candies!  It turned out that with a Drake Scale power up, each staff swing bonked the ninjas for 31 with regular attacks and 62 with Class Strikes.  A Bulette Scale and Sahagin Chip blunted the Shurikens to 21 and the dreaded Shadow Menace to 82.  Regular stabs from Bil and Ben only tickled Angela for about 2 each.  Spells and Class Strikes kill you in Trials of Mana most of the time, not normal hits.


That was a much better performance than the original Angela team playthrough, who only won at Level 18 after a protracted battle.  The true Trials of Mana challenge run is "no Night Market", not "solo character".    Angela somehow managed to do better than solo Hawkeye, who had to rise to Level 13 to win against Zehnoa.  Probably because he didn't have the INT to cast Ice Coin effectively.  Anyone reading this playthrough must have realized by now that even the "Black Mage" needs STR and STA for some circumstances.      



Angela Stats at Level 12
 

HP:  172
MP:  28
STR:  5
DEX:  2
STA:  5
INT:  8
SPRT:  8
LUCK:  4

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Trials of Mana Solo Angela Attempt Part 2


Once Nevarls' thieves fled the kingdom of Laurent, Palo Port sold their gear to Angela.  She bought a +5 ATK Pewter Staff and a +9 DEF Bat Coat.  (All ATK and DEF values here are relative to what she had before.) These were pitiful compared to Hawkeye's +8 ATK and +12 DEF Palo Port revisit equipment, but she had to accept what they offered her.


Since the Ghost Ship was cursed and the home of the Dark elemental Shade, all the enemies from Imps to Specters to Ghouls were "blessed" with Holy Bolts.  Ghouls were stronger Zombies and could endure one Holy Bolt before dying.  Charlotte was chosen as the sacrifice for the ghost possession because nobody can tolerate her speech patterns for too long.  At least Poshul from Chrono Cross is funnier!


Angela's magical duel with Gova occurred when she was Level 13.  Since the boss room came without a save point before it, she was not at full MP.  This didn't matter much when Angela only had to eat 1 Faerie Walnut and 1 Candy to win.  With enhanced INT/SPRT from the Sahagin Chip, each Holy Bolt smote Gova for about 150 damage.  


Gova's Ghostleader music hurt Angela's ears for 45, Evil Gate opened for 18, and Dark Rain poured down on her for 42.  Gova's other trick was an unnamed move that Silenced her, forcing her to apply 1 Medical Herb to cure it.  Even so, Angela would have been willing to repeat the Gova battle many times rather than put up with Beuca Island.


Beuca Island's Tomatomen frequently restored their own HP with Healing Light, to the point where spells were too slow to cause enough damage in time.  So she ran away from them after a while, and never looked back at the Eggatrices and Pricklebeaks.  No solo character should fight petrification monsters if they can avoid it!


The Tomatomen in Tomato Town were peaceful and willing to sell Angela a +5 ATK Ruby Cane and +10 DEF Tiger Two-Piece.  These were once again inferior to Hawkeye's versions that gave +9 ATK and +11 DEF.


Seaside Cavern was the slowest slog so far due to how weak the spells were relative to the Level 15 enemies.  Some relief came when Angela rose to Level 15, put a point into INT, and learned Evil Gate as a reward for saving Shade.  This starter Dark spell was "super effective" against any Tomatoman or Poto and killed them before they could heal their allies.  Tonpoles/Lizardons and Tezlas didn't seem to be weak to anything Angela had, since she hadn't unlocked any Fire spells.


Vuscav saved Angela, and she could now hunt the other Mana Stones or buy Night Market items whenever she wanted.  The Altenish town of Alrant on the frozen northern continent sold a +10 ATK Crystal Staff and a +10 DEF Flower Suit.  The armor was definitely weaker than Hawkeye's, but the weapon gave a slightly higher bonus than his?


Level 17 enemies in the Frostbite Fields, such as the misnamed Sea Serpent and the Sahagin, were predictably weak to Fire.  After too much time spent killing them with other spells, I got the idea to return to Beiser and purchase Flame Coins from the Night Market.  These instant cast consumable items cast Fireball, but even with a Sahagin Chip, it wasn't enough to kill them in one shot.  So Angela followed up the Flame Coin with something like Diamond Shards or Evil Gate. 


Wizards dressed similarly to Final Fantasy Black Mages, if they wore white robes instead.  Their high INT made them resistant to spells, and it was sometimes worthwhile to hit them in melee with Drake Scale enhancements.  They liked to cast the basic attack spells in a similar way to Angela.  The Poto made another appearance.


Frotsbite Fields was another chore because Angela needed to grow to 18 to class change.  The Mana Stone was right there, so it was pointless to delay it further.  The Darkshine Knight summoned 3 Machine Golem S as a miniboss fight just before Angela met Undine.  This boss room was inconvenient because there was no obvious "you should prepare here" room.  Angela didn't enter the fight with max HP or MP, or a full Candy supply.


This lack of preparation was irrelevant in the end.  Angela opened with an Undine Icon, a single use item that replicated Spike Freeze for 148 damage to a single Machine Golem S.  She spent the rest of the fight near the narrow entrance casting Cyclone repeatedly for 206 damage each.  The robots didn't have an elemental weakness, but it wasn't like I was going to see Cyclone's animation often.


Machine Golem S may have had magic, but the Altenish forces didn't program them with good AI.  One of the robots spent much of the fight running in place near Hawkeye's corpse close to Angela's position.  Angela had to endure 36 damage elemental spells like Explode, Earthquake, Spike Freeze, and Thunderstorm, but 3 Candies healed these injuries.  Her spell power was sufficient that she only had to eat 1 Faerie Walnut as well.


Angela upgraded to the Light class of Sorceress instead of the Dark class Mysticist.  This would make her play differently from the original Angela team run.  Her stats while fighting the Machine Golem S:


HP:  241
MP:  43
STR:  5
DEX:  2
STA:  7
INT:  12
SPRT:  8
LUCK:  4


Angela's stats after becoming a Sorceress:


HP:  243
MP:  43
STR:  8
DEX:  8
STA:  8
INT:  12
SPRT:  11
LUCK:  10


Angela had to spread her stats thin in her base class because she needed everything except DEX and LUCK.  The split between Light and other elements forced her to take both SPRT and INT.  STR was needed for bosses before Faerie Walnuts were available, and to avoid Bil and Ben's counterattacks.  Angela needed all the HP and DEF from STA she could get, especially in the vulnerable spell charge animation.  The rise to the "class minimum" for Sorceress provided free STR, STA, and SPRT points.


She fought her way out of Frostbite Fields and put another point into STA for the upcoming Bil and Ben rematch.  Level 19 gave her Ice Smash now that Undine spells were unlocked.  Apparently Trials of Mana gives unlearned lower level spells priority when gaining a level, rather than the stronger ones available through class change.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Trials of Mana Solo Angela Attempt Part 3


The Burning Sands was a treacherous desert for Angela, mostly because she stumbled into trap rooms where she was locked in with an Eggatrice.  She was never petrified, but she powered up with a Sahagin Chip and cast as many spells as possible in that situation.  Bulettes were weak to Cyclone, making these triceratops easy experience.


Bil and Ben were anticlimactic with a Drake Scale and a Bulette Scale.  Their Shadow Menace lived up to its name with about 136 damage per use, and they threw 2 Shurikens in quick succession for 42 damage each.  But they spent much of the fight poking Angela ineffectually with their knives for 1 damage.  Angela retaliated with 40 damage regular attacks and 100 power Class Strike beatings.  After this absurd situation of a "Black Mage" defeating 2 physical attackers with melee, Angela exited the arena with 2 fewer Candies and Chocolates.


Enemies inside Fiery Gorge weren't all weak to Ice Smash like you may expect.  Swordsters, this region's variant of the Copper Knight, seemed to be hurt more by Holy Bolt.  Their Hollow Slash copied Duran's Edelfrei powers and nearly hacked apart Angela.  The Tomatoman made another appearance, and was as weak to Evil Gate as the rest of the species.  Fire Drakes and Captain Ducks seemed to be good Ice Smash target practice, though.


There was no boss in the Fiery Gorge at this time, but Angela would have preferred that to fumbling through Eggatrice trap rooms in the Burning Desert on the way out.  In Mintas, she bought a +8 ATK Soul Staff and a +13 DEF Lapin Dress.  She would need that armor for the werewolf enemies in Duskmoon Forest, especially the Wolfmahn that was like an evil version of Kevin who stole his Class Strikes.  Angela roasted them with Fireball because it was a new spell, not because these Moon element enemies were weak to Salamando magic.


Ludgar the "general" of the beastmen would have countered Angela's spells with Kevin's special attacks, so she had to rely on her muscles once again.  With the help of the performance-enhancing Drake Scale and Bulette Scale, that is.  Angela would have been banned from any mixed martial arts tournament when the judges learned she took 1 damage from a werewolf punch and hit back with a wooden stick for 28 normal damage and about 94 with a Class Strike.


Ludgar wasn't a complete joke, as he sometimes remembered he had his own Class Strikes.  A Burst Slam piledriver slammed Angela for 103, and a Seiryu Strike split the screen for 170s.  Angela's fast metabolism allowed 2 Chocolates to heal her instantly.


Random werewolves succeeded where Ludgar failed.  I think it was a Wolfmahn who used 2 of Kevin's Class Strikes in a row.  Angela had no way of recovering from that with her abysmal max HP.


DEATH COUNT:  5


I suspected that fatality was a counterattack triggered by spells, so Angela clobbered many of the remaining werewolves with Drake Scale powered melee on the way out.  Trying to enter Lampbloom Woods made me realize I had forgotten to activate the cutscene in Chartmoon Tower, forcing Angela to fight more werewolves.  At least she got some experience out of it and learned the 2nd tier Light spell Lucent Beam!


Lucent Beam will probably be saved for boss battles or tough enemies.  5 MP may not sound like much, but the natural cap is 99 like in Super Mario RPG.  As a Sorceress, Lucent Beam can only hit one enemy, making it inefficient for frequent battles against minor opponents.  Sure, there are Faerie Walnuts, but managing the inventory out of combat can be a hassle in Trials of Mana.  Putting more points into INT and using the starter spells seems more efficient.


Angela will likely take some sections of the game more slowly than Hawkeye to keep up with enemy levels.  This will cut down on the grinding sessions later in the story, since she'll have to be at 47 to be immune to Zable Fahr's Annihilate anyway.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Trials of Mana Solo Angela Attempt Part 4


Lampbloom Woods was a relief for Angela when her Fireball spell killed most of the local wildlife with Sahagin Chip support.  The elf town of Dior sold a +11 ATK Rigid Cane, a +2 DEF Panther Hood, and a +13 DEF and +56 MGC DEF Owl Coat.  That last one isn't a typo.  On the stat screen, Angela's MGC DEF increased from 60 to 116.  I have no idea who was programming the Dior armor, but they all give much better magic defense bonuses than previous gear.  Hawkeye gets a more modest +29 MGC DEF from Dior armor.  His weapon has 3 more ATK, though.


Angela leveled to 22 to keep up with the monsters before facing the Grapplavine plant.  This Wood element boss liked to pop 60s damage Poison Bubble and summon poisonous Assassinants and Silkspitters to fight for it.  Lucent Beam shined for a disappointing 199 power, but a reduced strength multitarget Cyclone uprooted Grapplavine for 150s.  The single target Cyclone swirled for about 203.  Each minion yielded experience when killed.


Besides crowd control, another benefit to Angela's reliance on spells was that her charging animation blocked Sleep Flower.  This technique also dodges Mini, and even Silence only takes effect after a queued spell is cast.  When Grapplavine was low on health, it revealed its dragon head and started throwing multiple Hammer Buds in a row.  Hammer Bud decreased Angela's INT and dealt magic damage judging by the increasing power for hits after the debuff.  Sahagin Chips were used to restore Angela's "magic effects".


Near the end of the fight, Grapplavine borrowed Nomad Hawkeye's Wall spell, so Angela resorted to Drake Scale melee.  Each blow with the staff dealt 40 damage normally and 114 when it was a Class Strike.  Angela saved the last elemental named Dryad after eating 4 Faerie Walnuts, 4 Candies, and 7 Chocolates.


A combination of Earthquake and multitarget spells killed off the Rabites guarding the Mana Sanctuary.  When Angela returned to her kingdom of Altena, she bought a Mythril Staff for +11 ATK, a Comfort Robe for +13 DEF, and a Guard Ring with +3 DEF, +1 MGC DEF.  Drake Scale physical strikes clobbered the white-robed Wizards, Chess Knights, and Machine Golems in Altena's castle.  I didn't think it would be that effective!


Daria, the gemstone cave in the Molebear Moors, was the worst dungeon yet for Angela.  Prime Slimes sometimes decreased her STR with a special move, cast Poison Bubble for high Wood damage, and Half Drained her HP.  Needlions looked like the weak Molebears to conceal the power of their Endless Spin.  One of them was probably responsible for Angela's demise, but it was hard to see what killed her at the time.  Prime Slimes claimed responsibility for her defeat as well.


DEATH COUNT:  7


One reason this part was so tough was that Angela was underleveled, and had to grind to 28 to match the monsters.  Angela did Daria first because the enemies there sometimes have a glitch where they wouldn't scale above that level if other Benevodons are defeated first.  She made sure not to fight any Eggatrices, however.


Angela challenged Land Umber the Earth Benevodon at Level 28.  Her Sahagin Chip powered Thunderstorm struck for 438 damage, but this was actually harmful because the AI algorithm made it counterattack with Stone Clouds, sometimes multiple times in a row.  Earthquakes were weaker with the Sahagin Chip INT boost, and only shook Angela for about 86.  Hammer Punches smashed her for 123, and a final Hyper Cannon blasted for 219 in one attempt. 


DEATH COUNT:  9


Since bosses give no obvious cues that they are countering spells, it took me a while to figure out what Land Umber was doing.  Angela left Daria and fought her way back to the bottom with some Siren Claws from the Night Market.  With both the Drake Scale and this Wind element item, Angela's staff bludgeoned Land Umber for 170s power normally and 332 with a Class Strike.  Even Protection only decreased the power of normal attacks to 140s.


I couldn't believe the damage printouts when they first appeared.  Even the worst physical attacker in Trials of Mana can be good with this setup!  Black Mages in the Final Fantasy games must envy Angela.  She ate 2 Chocolates and won comfortably.  Immediately after Land Umber died, 2 cat merchants appeared outside Daria's entrance and sold Angela a +12 ATK Druid Staff, a +2 DEF Silver Circlet, a +13 DEF Manan Shift, and a +1 DEF Snow Crystal. 


As for the "companions", it's still hard to kill them off sometimes.  They dodge melee attacks and stagger random enemies, and sometimes monsters don't bother with them at all.  The ideal of the solo run is maintained somewhat when Hawkeye and Charlotte hit opponents for 1 damage with their initial weapons, and they crumple to the ground when enemies do attack them.  That's the reason they never get STR and STA until all other level up options are exhausted.  Right now, they're increasing INT, which isn't a problem because AI characters never cast spells.



Angela's Stats as a Level 28 Sorceress


HP:  370
MP:  65
STR:  12
DEX:  8
STA:  11
INT:  15
SPRT:  11
LUCK:  10

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Trials of Mana Solo Angela Attempt Part 5


Angela's 2nd stop on the Benevodon tour was Wandara Woods, home of the Wood element pumpkin Mispolm.  The enemies here were at Level 30 because Angela had already cleared one of these dungeons first.  The story justification for the level scaling was that the Benevodons were slowly regaining their former strength.


Mushglooms were easy to kill and even their Musheruption special move dealt moderate damage at worst.  Chobin Hoodlums threw Light element Silver Darts at the "companions", but never at Angela for some reason.  Their other technique was to cast Wall to reflect spells, but Angela resorted to Drake Scale melee anyway.  Queeneebs buffed their stats most of the time, once cast Summon Bees (?) for over 200 damage, and then pulled the same Grenade Bomb (?) trick that disintegrated solo Hawkeye.  Grenade Bomb, if that was the move's name, dealt over 450 damage if I read the printout correctly, which was substantially higher than Angela's puny 384 max health.


DEATH COUNT:  10


Angela dealt with this by leveling up to 30 against the Mushglooms and Chobin Hoodlums near the entrance of Wandara Woods, then fleeing from any encounter that generated Queeneebs.  Mispolm should have been weak to its opposite element Moon, but its true vulnerability was Wind just like the other Wood boss Grapplavine.  Who knows why the programmers made the boss that way, but it was good for Angela! 


Angela's initial Thunderbolt zapped the pumpkin for about 414, but the boss was wise and responded by setting up Wall to block future spells.  Angela then applied the Drake Scale and Siren's Claw to prune the plant with Wind melee.  After the "buff delay" seemed to expire, each regular attack hit for 190s, and Class Strikes smacked it for 370s.  Higher level Class Strikes above the function more like physical spells than the starter one that's an enhanced regular attack, so Angela abstained from Love Typhoon.


Mispolm's favorite spells were Poison Bubble for 108, Barrage Sting for 154, and much weaker Grumpkins.  Angela's high sugar diet paid off when she won after eating 4 Chocolates and 5 Candies.



Chartmoon Tower could have been much worse if Angela had participated in every battle.  Level 32 Grislwolves unleashed Suzaku Aerials that split the screen for 269 damage, a lethal combination with the Succube vampire women that reduced Angela's already low max HP.  Silverwolves on the higher floors cast Healing Light on themselves, and neither Drake Scale melee nor Sahagin Chip spells could defeat their defenses.


Angela barely held on with the help of Chocolates when she didn't flee.  It was obvious she was not going to stay until Level 32.  At 31, she put one point into her INT, which she needed for the next boss.  Dolan had no elemental weaknesses, so Angela's Sorceress spells only struck for 240s.  She settled on Earthquake because of its short animation.  She needed 7 Faerie Walnuts to triumph, and each Faerie Walnut had enough mana for 5 Earthquakes.  Not all of the Faerie Walnut MP was used at the end, but you have to keep in mind that Angela had around 70 MP at the beginning of the battle.  That's a lot of rocks to drop on a goat's head!


Dolan's offense was Moon magic and physical attacks such as a 161 power Gravity Crush, a 150s power Half Eclipse, and a 72 damage Howl.  The most dangerous of all was Moon Spiral, the first decreasing Angela's max HP to 327 for the rest of the fight in addition to removing 180s of it.  How tough was this fight?  Angela had to eat 9 Candies, 9 Chocolates, and 4 Honey Elixirs.  There was a real chance that she could run out of healing items if the fight dragged on longer. 


Dolan is one occasion where the Mysticist is better than the Sorceress.  Dark Force is the best 2nd tier spell for neutral targets, which partially makes up for the lack of elemental variety that the Sorceress has.  And Lightgazer in the Shimmering Ruins is weak to Dark.  The Sorceress fares better against other Benevodons like Dangaard and Xan Bie.


Angela Stats as a Level 31 Sorceress
 
HP:  408
MP:  72
STR:  12
DEX:  8
STA:  13
INT:  16
SPRT:  11
LUCK:  10


SPRT isn't necessary right now because Dark element enemies that are weak to Lucent Beam will reappear around the time of the final class change, where it will be raised to the "class minimum" anyway.  Angela's close to her Sorceress STA and INT caps, and about 2 points away from the STR max.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Trials of Mana Solo Angela Attempt Part 6


This episode may be short, but it was annoying to make.  Angela traveled to the Shimmering Ruins to hunt the Light Benevodon, only to run into Silver Knights who loved to counter her Evil Gate spell or Love Typhoon Class Strike with a jumping slash move named Magic Rend.  Then they pulled it out once when I was careful to avoid using those moves.  You can't win when you have such low max HP.


DEATH COUNT:  13


I was fed up with the Shimmering Ruins, so I made Angela fly to the Gusthall and battle the level scaled but still weak Imps, Copper Knights, and Harpies until she grew to Level 34.  Angela fled from enemies after returning the Shimmering Ruins until she reached the final save point there. 


In the room immediately outside that area, there were 2 Marpotos that sometimes summoned Parpotos.  Angela beat them with her staff in the hope of scavenging a ??? Seed.  But the Light monsters refused to give them up, even after she murdered enough of them to reach Level 35.  So much for a class change before the penultimate dungeon!


Lightgazer the Benevodon was a giant eyeball that looked like the Wise One from Golden Sun, if it hopped as much as a platformer mascot.  It smote Angela with 49 power Holy Bolts, shone 104 damage Lucent Beams on her, dazzled her with 227 power Gush Blast eye lasers, and transformed her into a Moogle about 5 times with a 215 damage Shackles. 


Angela was not Mog and therefore couldn't do anything other than use items in that form.  Good thing she prepared some Medical Herbs to cure herself!  Lightgazer occasionally decreased Angela's STR with an unnamed move without warning, so more than one Drake Scale was required to reverse it.


If you're not hitting an elemental weakness with a spell, Angela's magic will disappoint you as much as her mother the True Queen.  Her Earthquake rock with a Sahagin Chip buff only conked Lightgazer for 240s damage, less than her Drake Scale basic Class Strike that hit for 260s.  I now thought of Angela as a Final Fantasy 1 Red Mage who wasted all her spell slots on Black Magic, and had to rely on items to simulate Haste.


Even with the lack of the superior Mysticist spell Dark Force, Angela made Lightgazer explode.  But she had to eat 9 Chocolates and 4 Poto Oils to succeed.  Angela has no excuse when fighting the Wind, Fire, Water, and Dark Benevodons.  Her Sorceress spells had better work on those bosses, or she will be declared the worst Trials of Mana character without a doubt.  



Angela Stats as a Level 35 Sorceress
 

HP:  454
MP:  80
STR:  14
DEX:  8
STA:  14
INT:  17
SPRT:  11
LUCK:  10

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Trials of Mana Solo Angela Attempt Part 7


Angela revisited the Gusthall and picked up some new equipment from the cat merchants now that the Benevodon level scaling increased.  She bought a +14 ATK Yggdrasil Rod, a +1 DEF Snowy Veil, and a +19 DEF Dawn Dress.


Dangaard the two-headed bird dragon was an easy but slow battle.  The Wind Benevodon was weak to Angela's Earthquake, which bonked it on the heads for 450s per spell.  The problem was that Dangaard had so much HP that Angela had to eat 8 Faerie Walnuts to have enough MP to win.  Consider that each 20 MP Faerie Walnut gave 5 Earthquakes and that Angela had over 70 MP at the start of the battle.  Angela rued the day she auditioned for Trials of Mana instead of trying out for the role of Primm or Popoi in Secret of Mana.


Dangaard's attacks were never strong enough to overpower Angela's 8 Chocolates.  Its best moves were Thunderball which passed through Angela for up to 150s, and Air Rush which sliced her for 160s.  Cyclones and Thunderstorms were laughable with Sahagin Chip's boost to INT magical defense.  Four Sahagin Chips and Bulette Scales were required because each "phase" when Dangaard changed the scrolling from vertical to horizontal and vice versa counted as a separate battle in the code.


Angela's next stop was the Labyrinth of Ice near her home of Altena.  Some of the enemies were weak to Fireball as expected, like Petit Poseidons and Frost Dragons.  As for other enemies like Swordsters, Marmpotos, and Parpotos, she resorted to Drake Scale staff smacking.  Well, that and Evil Gates for the Light element Potos on occasion.  A Parpoto finally dropped a ??? Seed, making me wonder if the enemies being Level 38 gave them a higher chance to do so.




Angela leveled to 38 and put the final stat points into SPRT because she had already reached the Sorceress caps for STR, INT, and STA.  Fiegmund the Water Benevodon barely did anything but bounce around the arena at the beginning of the fight, making it an easy target for 450s power Explodes.  Explode was weakened to 320s when Fiegmund copied Angela and cast Mental Boost, which had the same animation and effect as a Sahagin Chip.


When Fiegmund leapt onto the underside of the ice platform, it cast Icicle to kill off Charlotte and 101 damage Spike Freezes.  Its best attack was Frozen Crack, which gave Angela 210 damage frostbite.  Fiegmund didn't have nearly as much HP as Dangaard despite its higher level and died after Angela ate 4 Faerie Walnuts and 2 Chocolates.


Both ??? Seeds became Esotera Books, so it looked like Angela was destined to be an Archmage.  I could have reset and fought a few enemies to change them to the other promotion item, since ??? Seeds are based on the experience total, but it wasn't worth the trouble.


Angela's final classes on the Light path are Grand Diviner if she chooses Light, and Archmage if she picks Dark.  Both are similar roles that gain area of effect bonuses for Sorceress spells, and have minor stat cap differences.  Grand Diviner has better STR and INT, while Archmage concentrates on better Light magic with higher SPRT.  (Why does the Light/Dark class has a better Lucent Beam than the Light/Light version?)


The real difference between Grand Diviner and Archmage is the final spell.  The former can summon a clone to cast a tri-elemental spell on all enemies, while Archmage has a rainbow-themed spell that hits all enemies.  I'm not sure about the mechanics of each, and I don't know their official names.  Guides tend to use the fan translation.


Angela's Stats as a Level 38 Sorceress

 
HP:  484
MP:  85
STR:  14
DEX:  8
STA:  14
INT:  17
SPRT:  14
LUCK:  10


Angela's Stats as a Level 38 Archmage


HP:  484
MP:  85
STR:  14
DEX:  14
STA:  14
INT:  17
SPRT:  17
LUCK:  14


In the first Trials of Mana playthrough, Angela became a Dark/Light Rune Master that had unique single target elemental + ailment spells like Stun Gust, and Annihilate to deal 999 damage to monsters lower than her character level.  Rune Master is designed to kill bosses, not groups of enemies.



Angela's last stop on the nonlinear Benevodon tour was the Fiery Gorge.  She killed most of the Level 40 enemies in melee, from Captain Ducks to Swordsters to the dreaded Evil Ninjas who had Shadow Menace. When Angela grew to Level 39, she put her point into INT to prepare for Xan Bie the Fire monster.  This boss was mostly a circle of flames that flew around with a horned demon head that sometimes appeared.


Xan Bie faced a Spike Freeze cold snap and took 490s damage from each spell.  It tried to start a heat wave with 100s Blaze Walls, 48 Explodes, and a 130s Lava Wave that killed Hawkeye after he survived a distressingly long time by doing nothing.  Xan Bie's Strengthen was pointless as it wasn't a boss that often attacked in melee like Dolan.  Angela only needed to eat 2 Faerie Walnuts and 4 Chocolates to survive.


Angela bought her final non-Gear Seed equipment when she traveled back in time to Pedda before the town was destroyed.  Her Eternal Wand gave the same ATK bonus of 14 over her previous weapon as Hawkeye's equivalent, and the Misty Veil was the same +1 DEF and MGC DEF headgear.  The Snowy Robe if anything was slightly better than Hawkeye's body armor, giving +19 DEF. 


One weird fact is that Archmage Angela has the same STR cap as Nomad Hawkeye.  Of course, Hawkeye is much better with physical attacks when he can hit twice per A press, but it still makes him look bad when he is as weak as the Black Mage.  (Other Hawkeye classes like Nightblade have better stat caps.)


Hero King Richard of Valsena had the same sprite in Pedda as he did in the present.  His backstory is the reason I think the Dragon Lord path is "canonical", since they fought against each other in a war that's mentioned throughout the game.  Duran is from Valsena, and he has a personal connection to the Golden Knight/Darkshine Knight.  In addition, the Dragon Lord was the one who destroyed Pedda, and you have to visit Pedda in the past to find out the location of the Dark Mana Stone.  The Masked Mage and Dark Majesty paths are almost afterthoughts in comparison.  


Expect to wait a while for the next update.  Angela has to grow to Level 47 before fighting Zable Fahr in order to avoid instant death from Annihilate.  All Trials of Mana solos face this problem no matter how strong the character.  Party playthroughs can get away with lower levels by reviving fallen allies with Cups of Wishes.