Mana series (Seiken Densetsu)

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

After being annoyed with Chrono Cross, I thought I'd play a more relaxing game afterwards.  I had tried Legend of Mana a few times, but I was always frustrated with its cryptic mechanics.  Then I decided to do a more casual playthrough, using a guide to get through the more questionably-designed dungeons. 

This thread is labeled "Mana series" in case I want to play Secret of Mana on the Super Nintendo mini.  (Other people's thoughts on the series are welcome too!)


What Kind of Gameplay Does Legend of Mana Have?
 
-The combat looks more like a horizontal sidescroller "beat-em-up" than the top-down Secret of Mana style.  There’s no connected world map in Legend of Mana either.  Instead, you pick a region on a blank map and then place Artifacts that you get from quests to unlock new areas.  It’s a lot like Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, except you get to walk around the locations instead of the areas being pure battle arenas.


What’s Unusual About the Story?

-Legend of Mana doesn’t have much of a main plot, or at least not one I could identify on the past few attempts I’ve tried to get into the game.  Some players compare Legend of Mana to a collection of short stories rather than the novel format of most RPGs.  Many of the quests revolve around helping characters resolve their various problems.  For the most part, you keep doing sidequests until you get an ending.  Supposedly, there’s a “Dragon” route and a “Fairy” route, but I’ve never gotten far enough to tell what the differences are.




Here's Part 1 of what happened when I fumbled around with this game.  I wrote this in Microsoft Word as I was playing the game before posting it here.



Home

-I started by selecting the female character and keeping the default name of YOU.  What other game names the player character YOU?  I picked the Staff as the starter weapon for YOU, but I’ll probably experiment with other types as the game goes on.  As for the starter region, I went as far southeast as I could and went with that.  Domina was placed one space to the west of my house.
 


Niccolo’s Business Unusual


-A strange man named Elazul was asking a fairy vague questions in an intimidating manner.  YOU stood up for her by saying they were friends, and Elazul stormed off.  When I had my first companion, he later tried to force his way into my party.  Since I could only have one partner at a time, I refused him for now.  Besides, he was already creepy enough without him following YOU.
 
In the shopping district of Domina, the rabbit merchant Niccolo said there were bandits on the highway, and he was looking for a mercenary to get rid of them.  What RPG starter quest would be complete without bandits?  Niccolo told me to talk to his friend Teapo in the item shop building.  Niccolo tried to sell an Artifact for 50,000 Lucre (an exorbitant amount in this game) to her, but his pushy sales tactics failed.  Niccolo decided to let me place the Artifact instead.  Luon Highway went one space north of Domina.
 
Luon Highway had easy enemies, and was mostly a linear rocky path.  However, there was a fork in the road later in the dungeon.  Going south led me to the Wisdom of Earth Gaeus, a rock monster who gave out advice to travelers.  He told me to check an ancient tree near my house.
 
Going east at the fork led me to a boss.  (I had to look up the name after the fact.)  YOU offered the bandits candy instead of money, which led them to summon the Mantis Ant.   It barely qualified as a fight because each of my regular attacks kept stunlocking it.  The staff Special Technique Paint It Black sucked the boss into a black hole and spat it out for significant damage.  The bosses are huge in this game, so even the odd hitboxes for most weapons can’t save them. 


I’ll probably switch out the staff for something else because I don’t like its odd range.  I’d rather have something with a wide range than a long range.
Defeating the Mantis Ant made Niccolo give me several seemingly useless items (probably for crafting?) and two Artifacts.


 
The Little Sorcerers

 
-The mail carrier pelican went to my house and told me pumpkins were taking over Domina.  Of course, I had to investigate.  Before going anywhere else, I sold a few junk items and bought the weakest flail (more like nunchuks).  Two kids were hanging out in West Domina, arguing over what to do.  Bud gave himself the title “Bud the Malignant” and seemed to really think he could conquer the world with pumpkins, while his sister Lisa gave sarcastic comments about why that wouldn’t work. 
 

Bud challenged YOU to a fight after that conversation.  Since I was using a new weapon, I didn’t have any flail Special Techniques yet.  The flail’s range made more sense than the staff’s, but I still didn’t like how I couldn’t cancel a combo.  YOU was often flailing around after a miss.  Bud and Lisa sometimes cast spells, whose range was telegraphed by glowing lines while they were charging up.  The flail often stunned the two siblings, but the awkward combat made it so I had low health by the end of the fight.  When I won, they offered to become my apprentices, and I agreed to it.  Bud and Lisa now lived in my house, and the quest was over.


 
Huntin’ Du’Cate


 
-This was the worst quest so far.  It took place in the Jungle, which was the Lost Woods of Legend of Mana.  In this playthrough, the Jungle was to the north of Gato Grottos, or two spaces north of my house.  I had to follow a guide just to find out which screens I needed to go to.  The backstory involved a Sotherbee (aka Mr. Fuddy-Duddy) hiring hunters to bring him Du’Cate tails so they can pay back a slight portion of their 10,000,000 Lucre debt.  I brought Lisa with me for the sake of variety.  She spent most of her time casting various weak elemental spells with instruments. 
 

One character cast a spell on YOU to prevent her from getting lost.  Not that it did much good.  I talked to the Du’Cate hunters and agreed to help, then I headed all the way to the right where the boss battle was supposed to happen.  Nothing occurred.  I then knew I was facing the true enemy of all RPG players:  event flags.  Talking to one of the hunters and then going back to the arena led me to Du’Cate at last. 
 

Du’Cate was a giant Sasquatch-like ape.  It was as easily stunned as the Mantis Ant.  Occasionally, it would make things fall from the trees if it was able to move.  I used the Flail for this fight, and it had mixed results.  The Drunken Monkey Special Technique often failed to connect.  (Its animation is doing several somersaults before swinging the flail, in case you’re wondering.)  YOU’s overpowered staggering abilities defeated Du’Cate , and its smaller friends carried the boss away.  Sotherbee gave me 500 Lucre and Artifacts. 


It was hinted that I was supposed to give the prize money to the other hunters, but hey, I’m playing this as if I were a beginner.  For whatever reason, this was listed as Quest #8 instead of 3.  I guess I should have saved this for later?
 
 

Monster Corral
 
-A Beast egg was in West Domina, and I wanted to catch it!  A local gave me some advice on catching monsters.  Eggs would flee if they saw YOU approaching them , so she had to be stealthy.  I dropped a Citrisquid on the ground and grabbed the egg while it was eating.  The pelican mail carrier swooped down and took it back to the Monster Corral.  Some exposition revealed that I could have 5 monsters, and they could level up via combat or grazing.  Feeding monsters different things would influence their development.  Each egg could be one of several classes, such as Beast in this case.  They would hatch within “days”, whatever that meant in Legend of Mana time. 
 

Monster Corral was listed as Quest #57 despite appearing early in the game.  After the quest, I walked around a few spaces, since I guessed that was how time passed.  I was right, and the egg hatched into a Rabite, the rabbit-like monster from Secret of Mana.
 

 
Reach For The Stars
 
-Quest #36 took place in Duma Desert.  Two factions of wizards were fighting each other, and the evil faction’s leader Mephianse stole a spell book.  YOU agreed to help the good faction, and all the NPCs ran off.  Rabite came along as a companion, but its performance was underwhelming.  I guess I can’t blame a newly hatched level 1 monster for being weak! 


The bow was my weapon this time, and I think I’ll stick with it.  If I was going to button mash through the game, I might as well do it from afar.  The bow’s Trueshot Special Technique was good too.  It hit for reasonable damage and buffed DEX, which I’m guessing is the bow’s governing stat.


Several of the evil students tried to block the way or lie about what direction YOU should go.  Why bother with such nonsense when I had an FAQ to use as a map?  Mephianse said he was going to destroy the world by making stars fall after firing a cannon. 

 
Mephianse kicked me out of that room and summoned two Axe Beaks.  This was an easy fight, but satisfying with the bow.  Trueshot and regular attacks stunned them into submission, and Rabite made a good distraction at least.  When Mephianse’s cannon fired, the result was nothing more than fireworks.  The leaders of both factions were perplexed, and Team Good gave me more Artifacts as a reward for helping them.  This was a fun comic relief quest, and I can see why Legend of Mana became a cult classic.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Legend of Mana:  Confusing Dungeons and More Tutorial Quests


The Flame of Hope
 
-Quest #23 was in the cliff town of Gato Grottoes.  A Sproutling said his “tummy hurt”, and was running around everywhere bugging characters to help him.  The item shop had a better bow, so I sold most of my other weapons and bought that.  The Sproutling was infested with a Popo Bug known for its healing powers.  A Jumi named Rubens had a “petrified” girlfriend that he could cure with the Popo Bug, but he didn’t want to hurt the Sproutling to do so. 


A nun, or a thief named Sandra who pretended to be one, murdered Rubens to steal his gem core “The Flame of Hope”.  Jumi apparently look like humans, but have jewels for vital organs.  An Inspector suspected everyone, including YOU, of being Sandra.  Then I agreed to help as steam came out of his head.

 
A trail of leaves led me through a short dungeon with only minor random encounters.  This was more of a story than a combat mission.  There was no boss at the end because Sandra ran away.  The Sproutling was cured of his Popo Bug problem at least!  This was probably one of those quests with follow-up missions later on.
 

The Infernal Doll
 
-In this playthrough, the Junkyard was to the north of Duma Desert.  Quest #19 had an evil doll that was forcing toys to fight each other in their graveyard.  Various toys talked about their roles in “the war”, and hinted that the poet Pokiehl may have been involved.  I remembered Pokiehl because a Sproutling in Domina said that Pokiehl told him Sproutlings had no souls. 


At the end of the short dungeon, the doll brought several dolls to life with kanji and ordered them to attack.  They were easily defeated with regular attacks and Trueshot.  A character at the end said the toys believed “that to die is to be saved”, so he regarded it as a happy ending of sorts.  Then the mission ended.  What was that about?  Will there be a sequel later on?  Oh well, at least I got some Artifacts!
 



Teatime of Danger
 
-I had placed the Mindas Ruins to the north of Luon Highway, and now it was finally time to go there for Quest #12.  Teapo from the Niccolo’s Business Unusual quest was back, and wanted to look for tea leaves in the ruins.  The problem was getting inside the ruins.  I had just encountered one of Legend of Mana’s most convoluted puzzles, and I never would have figured it out without a guide.  Never play Legend of Mana without a map!  The Mindas Ruins wasn’t as bad as Phantasy Star 2’s dungeons, but it required talking to Flowerlings and getting them to move to specific positions to open gates.  As if that weren’t enough, there was a lot of backtracking too. 
 
When I finally got someone to use psychokinesis to open the ruins, I found Teapo and a bat trying to suck his blood.  Teapo was a teapot and had no blood, so the bat attacked YOU instead.  Of course, it was a vampire in disguise.  He said YOU was a  “filthy human”, and that he really wanted dove blood.  The vampire was easy like the other bosses.  I probably didn’t need Lisa and Rabite’s help to win.  All he did was occasionally try to cast a spell and then get stunlocked, or flying to the top of the screen and rain down bats.  Teapo’s friend told her it was good to live a life of adventure, and I received several Artifacts as a reward.    
 


Summer Lovin’

-David the pirate penguin fell in love with Valerie, and considered settling down with her once she mentioned an egg.  After that, I went through a cave with Rabite and killed fish and crabs.  Smashing crabs outside of combat was supposed to unlock a quest later on, but I only got 18 by the end, “not including” the crab who told me the results.  Oh well!  This isn’t a completionist playthrough.  Quest #27 ended with a giant crab boss.  It jumped and crashed into Rabite, as well as trapping my monster in a bubble.  Despite its size, it was as easily stunned as earlier bosses (or regular enemies).
 

Valerie told David she was only dreaming of having an egg, and suggested he go back to his pirate ship.  This was probably a lie, and she said something about raising the egg herself.  Then the quest ended.  The Cactus Diary entry for this mission was funny:  “Surprise lesson of the day:  penguins can fall in love!”  Be sure to talk to the cactus in your room at home after every quest before starting a new one.  Some of the diary entries are worth reading.
 



The Mana Orchards

 
-Quest #56 began while I was strolling around the areas near my house.  In the orchard, the boss music played and several plants attacked!  After killing these random enemies, Trent the tree immediately grew out of the ground and told me about planting seeds.  Plants generate oxygen with Mana in this world, not CO2.  Trent told me to return after several days so fruit could grow.  YOU plucked the fruit and placed it in the box, and then the quest ended.  Perhaps the tutorial quests are given higher numbers?
 


The Looking-Glass Tower
 
-I remember the Tower of Leires’s layout being confusing when I last tried to get into this game.  There were many similar-looking hallways combined with teleporter crystals and balconies to jump off.  Pearl, the Jumi Elazul was trying to protect, joined me for this dungeon.  She was trying to learn about her past by going to the Room of Fate on the top floor. 


After many unrewarding battles with swords, chess knights, and bats, YOU and Pearl reached the 11th floor and fought the Iron Centaur.  This was the toughest boss so far because it often had invincibility frames to prevent stunlock.  YOU died once because it was so hard to tell where the jumping attack was going to land.  Fortunately, Pearl and Rabite held out long enough for YOU to auto-revive after a minute or so.
 

Elazul yelled at Pearl as he always did, and then I had to go to the first floor.  The return trip was easier because I could jump down a few floors.  Sandra was waiting at the bottom to kill Pearl to obtain her jewel core, but YOU’s presence made her summon the Jewel Beast instead of dealing with the party directly. 


The Jewel Beast was agile, but not as tough as the Iron Centaur.  Trueshot dealt a reasonable amount of damage along with regular arrows.  Sandra fled by using her grappling hook, much like she did in Gato Grottoes.  The cactus said he was getting tired of writing diary entries in the entry for this quest, and I thought it was a good time to take a break too.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Legend of Mana:  Event Flags Strike Again


Mine Your Own Business
 
-Watts the blacksmith had left his shop in the Ulkan Mines, and only YOU could find him!  Well, one NPC did say he spent a lot of time away from his store.  Quest #14 was a fairly simple dungeon compared to mazes like Teatime of Danger, and a fairly typical cave.  Legend of Mana may have the prettiest graphics on the PSX, but creative dungeon design is not its strength. 
 
At the end of the mine, Watts warned YOU of danger, and then the tree (?) boss Labanne attacked.  Labanne was unusual in that its main body never attacked.  Instead, it used its HP to create flowers (?) that dropped to the ground and attacked.  After each one was killed, Labanne would sacrifice some of its health to make a new one, until it ran out and died.  Sometimes, a flower would cast telegraphed earth spells while still hanging onto the tree.  Arrows were extremely effective here, and I used the Change-up Special Technique to push the flowers back when they got too close to me.
 
The poet Pokiehl attempted to praise Watts once he returned to his shop, but the best line he could come up with was “You. . .haven’t really done that much. . .The End.”  Moments like this make Legend of Mana worth playing.



 
Can’t Look Back

-I tried to activate a quest in the desert city Geo, but apparently I hadn’t done enough missions or something.  All I could do was buy a new bow and some armor and go elsewhere.
 
-Fieg Snowfield’s designated quest was a personal story about Mephianse, the villain from Reach For the Stars.  He was hoping to revive his lost brother Nakratos, supposedly with the help of “fairy treasure”.  By the time YOU reached him, he was despairing that there was no fairy treasure.  After getting lost for a while due to misinterpreting the guide, I reached Mephianse’s camp in the northeast. 

Attempting to go to the boss was pointless because a fairy was blocking the way with the power of event flags.  Mephianse seemed to treat his students well while he was at his campsite, which was surprising given the generic “dark lord” characterization he got in Duma Desert.
 

Once Mephianse rushed off, I could now reach the boss.  The fairy told Mephainse that Nakratos gave up his mind to become a “snow monster”.  Mephianse wanted to send Nakratos to the Underworld so he could be with his wife, but felt doing it himself would be too painful.  So that’s where YOU came in. 


Nakratos didn’t get much for becoming a mindless beast.  His giant were-walrus form was easily stunlocked to death.  It only got in a special attack because I was trying to finish him off with a Special Technique.  He made snowmen fall from the sky, but I avoided them.  A random encounter earlier on was much harder than this!  (Really, YOU almost died after being turned into a snowman while fighting generic monsters.)  Nakratos went back to his family in death, and this character development mission ended.  The cactus diarist wasn’t too impressed with Mephianse’s tragedy and fell asleep.
 

Li’l Cactus
 
-The cactus diarist had good intentions, but this quest made me hate him.  Bud was lying on the floor of my house because he was sick.  The cactus disappeared to look for a cure, and left a note saying he was going to consult Gaeus the Wisdom.  When I got to Gaeus, he told me to look for Selkie in the Jungle.  Lisa had joined me for this mission, and asked Gaeus for help keep her feet from falling asleep.  He said something about being an 80 billion year old rock whose feet were always asleep, and said she would understand when she became a rock.
 
The Jungle was as annoying as always.  Remember that penguin that cast the spell on me to keep me from being lost?  That was Selkie.  I had to talk to her to cast the spell again so she could go back to the throne area and tell me where Li’l Cactus was.  If there’s one thing I hate most about RPGs, it’s playing “Guess the Event Flag”!  Selkie said the cactus went to Geo, and asked me to do her a favor and investigate what was going on with the fairies.  (The fairies up to this point hated humans and would always teleport them to the entrance of the Jungle to make them go away.)  This would begin the “Fairy Route”.

 
A student in Geo said that all wizards got Bud’s disease sooner or later.  Pirate potions were the cure, so the cactus went to the S.S. Buccaneer.  Why the magic school didn’t stockpile these potions when its entire student body would need them, I have no clue!  David on the S.S. Buccaneer said the cactus mailed himself home after getting the pirate potion.  The pelican in Domina said it was painful sending the cactus back to my house.  After talking to the cactus in my mailbox, the quest ended.  That was the most pointless mission in the game so far.  No character development or bosses.  Just annoying backtracking.

(Never go on the S.S. Buccaneer if you get motion sickness from video games.  It lurches up and down like a real ship.  It didn't affect me, but I imagine some players will have problems with it.)

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Legend of Mana:  Jumi Arc


The Murmuring Forest
 
-I started this quest accidentally while attempting to resolve Li’l Cactus.  Selkie told me to investigate the fairies, and YOU saw the cutscene where a man named Escad was slashing them to death.  After I finished that other quest, YOU returned to the Jungle to start the Fairy Route.  All it took was going west form the save point near the throne.  No confusing layout this time, thanks to a friendly psychic who teleported me to the right place.
 
The boss was the Punkmaster, a weak opponent who was easily killed with my bow. 
 

Instruments 101

 
-I thought it was odd that nobody had given me a quest for the Workshops yet, so I tried to walk inside to see if that activated one.  Sure enough, it did.  A student from Geo offered to teach me how to make magical instruments.  First, I had to use one of my existing instruments to attract an elemental spirit.  This would give me silver or coins, an essential crafting material. 
 
After doing so, the student suggested combining one of my existing materials (metals, woods, etc.)  with an elemental coin (e.g. Wisp Silver) to create an instrument.  Throwing random materials around gave me a 34 Power WndlHarp with the spell “Golden Sphere”.  I’ll try it out on future missions.
 
 
Drowned Dreams
 
-This was purely a story mission.  I had never gone to Polpota Harbor with my current character, so I went there to check it out.  The equipment was no better than what I had before.  The beach hotel turned out to be haunted, and the manager wearing a turban offered a reward for helping out.  YOU said yes, and began an investigation with Inspector Boyd.  After a lot of talking, it turned out Basket Fish had inherited a jewel called the “Blue Eye” that let him see what happened in the ocean. 


A sea hag (think “siren”) sank an imperial military vessel on a calm day.  This resolved Thoma the soldier’s subplot.  Basket Fish had enough Lucre to spend all his time at the hotel ogling a local dancer, leaving him unaware of danger.   Someone disguised as a ghost stole the Blue Eye, who was probably Sandra in disguise.  The cactus said “Basket Fish too weird!” after YOU told him about her day.  Well said, cactus!
 
 
The Lucky Clover
 
-One fault of Legend of Mana’s non-linear structure is that it’s sometimes hard to figure out what you need to do to advance.  Before getting this quest, I had to wander around the various towns talking to people before I finally found a mission.  I had to chat with that possessive Elazul.  Pearl went to my house, and going to Geo with Elazul somehow activated a Jumi quest. 


Esmeralda was looking for her 3 sisters who only lived as jewel cores.  Jumi tears could restore them later on if she did so.  YOU agreed to become her knight.  It took several in-game days to get the cores, because certain people would only help on specific days such as Dryad. 
 
Of course, Sandra was looking to hunt Esmeralda to steal her core.  Esmeralda stupidly went back to the magic school alone even after YOU told her to stay together.  One battle with a Jewel Beast later, Sandra killed Esmeralda, and the quest ended tragically. 


The WndlHarp was quite effective against the Jewel Beast.  Charging it up for longer periods seems to have more of an effect on range than power.  One well-written part of the mission was when Esmeralda compared a jeweler to a morgue.  That makes sense for a Jumi to say!  (The jeweler said he didn’t accept Jumi cores, by the way.)    
 

Cosmo

-This was another quest in the Jumi story arc.  Sandra had kidnapped Pearl from my house, so Elazul and YOU had to save her in the Mekiv Caverns.  Normally, you’d do a different quest with Elazul much earlier in the game, but I must have skipped that when I supported the fairy in Domina instead of him.  Sandra wanted the Jumi to cry, but they couldn’t do that anymore because of vague events in the backstory. 


 
Pearl became Lady Blackpearl and fought yet another Jewel Beast with me.  (Are they running out of bosses this early in the game?)  Lady Blackpearl’s warhammer did as much damage as my arrows, and the Jewel Beast was soon defeated.  Elazul was injured, and stayed in YOU’s bed until he found some hope of recovery.  Unfortunately, the bed is also where you save your game, so I had to go out of my way to find a save point in Geo from then on. 
 



Diddle’s Letter

 
-Capella and Diddle were two monkey musicians from Domina who normally performed near the fountain.  However, Diddle was now missing.  Capella believed Diddle attached a stamp to his head, and then the pelican mail carrier flew him off somewhere.  It turned out that’s what happened.  Diddle’s letter was in a fork in the road, and Capella read it, much to Diddle’s displeasure.  I had to go back to Luon Highway and fight my way through the caves to reach the boss. 
 


Giga Rex did not live up to its name.  It was one of the smallest bosses in the game!  My arrows and harp killed it without any trouble.  It turned out Diddle was looking for Capella, and didn’t encounter the Giga Rex at all.  Oops!  Oh well, another filler quest is done.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Legend of Mana:  Gugu Bub Bubu


Niccolo’s Business Unusual 2

-Completing Diddle’s Letter led to another round of “Find a Quest, Any Quest”.  I talked to almost the whole population of Geo and Domina, and found nothing.  Browsing around Gato’s Grottoes led me to Niccolo, who was planning on selling fresh “Greenballs”.  To do that, all that was needed was to go to the waterfall and wait for a while as Niccolo teleported around gathering invisible food.  A fairy appeared after a while and talked to YOU.  Niccolo couldn’t see the fairy at all, and thanked YOU for helping him.  After the quest ended, the cactus said Greenballs were like “locusts without the wings”.
 


Two Torches

-Gato Grottoes was once again fertile ground for new quests.  Escad, the knight who murdered all the fairies in the Jungle in The Murmuring Forest, was now in the Temple of Healing.  Escad was horrified to learn Matilda the priestess was aging rapidly while he was in the Underworld.  He immediately suspected Irwin the part-demon of using evil magic on her.  Their companion Daena offered to join me to investigate.  A “sealed room” in the Dungeon area was actually a trap by Irwin’s fake nun. 
 
She sent a Spriggan after YOU, but it didn’t look anything like you’d expect.  Spriggans are normally depicted as plant spirits in video games, but it looked more like a genie in Legend of Mana.  The most Spriggan could do was roll up a carpet and send it at YOU, causing her to fall asleep for a few seconds.  Spriggan was defeated with the harp and bow like several other bosses.  Matilda said she didn’t want to be a priestess, and Irwin was trying to free her from that job.
 
I like the Cactus Diary entry for this mission:  “A cat-eared woman and a long-haired man had a fight, and a grandma was kidnapped.  And then the two found the grandma.  I think this kind of story is getting old”.  As a reward, I finally got a new Artifact after a long drought.  This unlocked Lake Kilma.
 

The Gorgon’s Eye

 
-This quest was familiar to me because it came up very early in one of my failed attempts at this game.  (Each time I would abandon the game due to frustration, but this time I enjoy Legend of Mana once more.  It’s an acquired taste.)  The event flags that activate quests and Artifact rewards must be strange.
 
S.S. Buccaneer’s Cap’n ordered his penguin pirates to look for treasure.  What they didn’t realize was that the local fairies didn’t have any treasure, and that they were Space Racists who hated humans and penguins alike.  (The fairies thought penguins were a type of human.)  They disliked humans because they made “filthy stuff”, without specifying what that stuff was.  One more sympathetic reason the fairies were turning intruders to stone was that they believed they would die if the “master” died.
 
A wise old turtle said the fairies were mistaken, and that they wouldn’t die if the Gorgon Eye perished.  He offered to help the penguins even though they ran him over in a rush for non-existent treasure.  To motivate the penguins, the turtle threw the petrified Cap’n into the lake to draw out the boss.  The Gorgon Eye wasn’t weak to magic, so I stunlocked it with arrows.  The occasional Change-up Special Technique did major damage when my power bar was full.  Everyone turned back to normal once the spiky eyeball was dead, and I received the Artifact that unlocked the town of Lumina.  This was a fun comic relief quest.  The Cap’n was such a wimp that the crew had to tell him how to make proper threats to them!
 

Niccolo’s Business Unusual 3

 
-The shyster rabbit was waiting in Lumina.  He wanted to capture a psychokinetic Flowerling so he could get rich, so of course he had to drag me to the Mindas Ruins, as seen in Teatime of Danger.  This was still the worst area in the game due to its similar-looking hallways combined with gate unlocking puzzles.  It was bad even with the guide, and it was harder to leave than to complete the main objective.  The Flowering teleported away, so Niccolo declared it a fake psychic and told me to exit the ruins.  Niccolo can be rather dense.
 


 
Faeries’ Light
 
-This is one of the most infamous quests in Legend of Mana, and sometimes even appears in video reviews of the game.  It’s easy to see why.  A spoony bard named Gilbert was infatuated with Monique the lamp maker, and offered to sell her lamps so she could stay in town.  He would sell 3, and YOU would sell 3 to the Dudbears.  Dudbears didn’t speak English, but instead had their own cipher mostly consisting of syllables like “Dub”, “Bubu”, and “Dubababa”.  It would certainly leave an impression on any player!  A lot of the conversations went something like this:  “You Dudbear, me Dudbear?  No.  You me friends?  Yes.  Do you want to buy a lamp?”
 
Gilbert and Monique turned out to be incompatible once they decided to talk to each other.  Gilbert wanted to see the world, while Monique wanted to stay in Lumina.  The Dudbears consoled her by telling her they loved her lamps.  Gilbert left to find a “new love”.  He’s as unreliable as his FF4 namesake.  (Edward’s original name was Gilbert.  Other Final Fantasy references include Black Mage statues in Geo’s magic school and rumors that the Domina innkeeper is a Chocobo.)  The cactus said “Dub!” when I told him about the quest.  My next stop was the Underworld. . .

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Legend of Mana:  Dungeons and Combat?  Gak!


The Fallen Emperor

-YOU inspected an ominous gravestone, only to fall into the Underworld.  Larc the knight said he served Emperor Drakonis, and that he was going to test YOU’s worth as a warrior.  The Underworld didn’t have as much combat as you might expect, though there were plenty of similar hallways with a hellish theme to get lost in.  A “Baptism of Fire” created a pillar of flame around YOU, and then she could reach the boss. 
 

Hitodama was a small floating skull with an aura around it.  Hitodama was difficult to hit with the bow, so at first I cast Golden Sphere.  This stopped working after a while, and then I had to hit it with a bow.  Spinshot once did quite a bit of damage, and didn’t have to be aimed since its gimmick was hitting the whole battlefield.  Occasionally, Hitodama disappeared and shot lasers or ripples, but those were easily dodged by going to the left corner of the arena.  Emperor Drakonis, who looked a bit like Confucius, was satisfied with YOU’s combat skills.


He said three dragons from the surface world stole his rightful power, and that he was trapped in the Underworld in a weakened human form.  He then blackmailed YOU by saying she would fade out of existence if she didn’t serve him, because going to the Underworld made her a “half-spirit” or something.  I wouldn’t be surprised if it turned out Drakonis was lying about that.  Agreeing to Drakonis’s demands unlocked the Artifact for Norn Peaks.
 
 

The Seven Wisdoms
 
-Bud had wanted to start this quest for a while, but I rejected it until now because I didn’t have all the necessary locations available to complete it.  Now that the Underworld was on the world map, I could invite Bud on a world tour.  This mostly consisted of annoying backtracking through Luon Highway, Lake Kilma, the Jungle, Lumina, the Underworld, and Gato Grottoes.  Most of the Wisdoms told Bud stuff about respecting nature, instead of useful wizarding advice like “Pick up the experience point jewels after you beat an enemy, dummy!” and “Read a crafting guide and make overpowered instruments.” 

 
Legend of Mana could really use a “exit map” spell like Dragon Quest.  Having to go through identical corridors with mandatory random battles was frustrating.  You may have noticed that I only listed 6 locations.  That’s because there were only 6 Wisdoms despite the title of the quest.  The cactus thought “Maybe they can’t do math”.
 

 
Daddy’s Broom
 

-As soon as the Wisdom quest ended, Lisa found out her broom was missing.  This was a memento of Bud and Lisa’s father, and the cactus said he threw it in the Junkyard.  In case you needed any more reason to hate the cactus besides him falling asleep during your stories and sending you on wild goose chases looking for pirate potions. . .
 

The boss of the area was a Gremlin that looked like a small imp.  Stunlocking with arrows was the way to win once again.  The most it could do to me was shrink me with a weak attack and disable my magic for a few seconds.  Bud and Lisa had some amusing dialogue about how their dad was really an awful wizard who was only accepted to the worst magic school around.  His advice to his kids was “discretion is the better part of valor”, except with “discretion” changed to “cowardice”.  Bud vowed to fix the broom, and then the quest ended. 
 

 
The Guardian of Winds
 

-Larc was in front of the Underworld entrance tombstone waiting for me to start hunting the three dragons.  The first was on the top of Norn Peaks.  Larc and YOU massacred a village of birdlike Windcallers who attacked with spells without any invincibility frames to protect them from arrows and axe slashes.  The Windcallers said Larc and YOU were being duped by Drakonis, but they pressed on regardless.  It was interesting to be the villain of a Legend of Mana story.


 
The plot was much better than the boss, the dragon Akravator.  Akravator was more challenging than previous fights, but that was because he was given way too many invincibility frames rather than good boss design.  Some attacks were also hard to dodge because characters in this game move in an odd slow sliding motion during combat. 


This fight really highlighted the flaws in Legend of Mana’s battle system.  Most fights are too easy, and the ones that are more difficult are that way because of questionable game mechanics.  If you're expecting even Secret of Mana quality combat in this game, you'll be disappointed.  After Akravator died, I received another Artifact, and Larc collected the dragon’s mana to give to Drakonis.  It was a good time to save and take a break.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Legend of Mana:  Sudden Ending


The Ghost of Nemesis


-According to the guide, I needed to bring a pet to complete this mission, so I took a Basilisk.  Its beam attack could turn enemies to stone and drain their health.  Like many RPGs, the player character had to fall for a trap in order to advance.  The guide helped me find the party members once they were separated.  After that, there was an easy boss battle with a lich Deathbringer, and then two more with the skeletal Dragon of Knowledge, Jajara. 


Jajara’s first form attacked with lightning breath, while the second form put statue busts on top of itself and rained down objects from the ceiling.  Neither were difficult with arrows and Larc’s powerful axe swings.  Taking the Mana Stone would doom the Bone Fortress’s ghosts, and give Drakonis more power.  The final dragon was in the White Forest, available through the Artifact reward at the end of this quest.
 
 

The Dragon Princess
 

-All it took was a short stroll through the White Forest and a few random encounters to find the last dragon.  I used the guide, but Larc confirmed I was going in the right direction due to his sense of smell.  Larc didn’t have to battle the dragon Vadise to get a Mana Stone, but Larc’s sister Sierra and Vadise challenged YOU anyway to test her strength.  It was a typical stunlock-fest.  The most Vadise could do was summon telegraphed magic circles to attack.  Did Vadise even move at all during that fight?  Vadise told me to go after Larc.  Chances are Drakonis has nothing good planned for him. . .
 

 
The Crimson Dragon
 

-The final quest of the Drakonis arc had two parts.  The first involved taking Sierra to the bottom of the Underworld to meet Larc.  Drakonis gloated about how he was going to rise again and make Larc into a powerful warrior.  He then changed Larc into a skeletal centaur and sent him to attack YOU.  Centaur Larc wasn’t hard at all.  The only thing to watch out for was the hooves turning into guns.
 

After Larc was defeated, Drakonis made his fortress rise out of the Underworld.  A scene on the world map showed the Underworld turning into the Flames.  Drakonis’s castle required the party to climb stairs and fall through several floors.  Several easy bosses guarded the doors needed to get to Drakonis.  The dragon emperor turned into a giant generic red dragon.  Drakonis’s true form was so large, it was hard to see YOU sometimes when he was flying around.  Drakonis abused invincibility frames much like Akravator, but was otherwise easy.  The arena burst into flames after Drakonis was defeated, and the Flames changed back to the Underworld.
 

Larc was supposedly cursed to remain in the Underworld with Drakonis for 1000 years.  Sierra would acquire the curse if she touched him.  Through methods not explained by the story, Larc managed to escape early.  Akravator and Jajara were resurrected too, and the Mana Stones returned to the earth. 
 

 
The Cage of Dreams


-A Sproutling was lying on the floor outside my house, and a few others were nearby.  They said all Sproutlings were really one being, and part of the Mana Tree.  The cactus was involved too.  However, one obstacle prevented the Mana Tree from being revived.  That was Nunuzac, the magic circle.  Nunuzac taught at Geo, so he knew much about world history.  He said every time the Mana Tree was reborn, humans would fight over it and cause the world to go back to a dark age.  (He’s right.  Remember Secret of Mana?  Or the similar storylines in Tales of Phantasia or Tales of Symphonia?)  Pokiehl said some nonsense about the Power of Love.  (At least it isn’t the Power of Friendship. . .)

 
Nunuzac imprisoned a Sproutling inside a dream made of. . .generic cave graphics and random battles.  He must have had really uninspired dreams at the time.  Going through a few hallways let YOU reach the Sproutling and acquire the final Artifact, the Sword of Mana.  Placing it on the map revealed the Tree of Mana.
 
 

The Legend of Mana
 

-The final quest was a linear dungeon.  After all, it was climbing a tree.  I brought Bud with me, because what better way was there to use my apprentice to revive the source of magic?  At the top of the tree, there were ruins in a grid.  Bud, Basilisk, and YOU fought about 4 groups of random monsters, and were then teleported to the Mana Goddess.  The Mana Goddess gave a speech about fighting her dark side, and then challenged the party.

 
The Mana Goddess wasn’t too hard, but her spells hit a wide area and were hard to dodge.  Bud and Basilisk made good distractions for her various melee range abilities.  She wasn’t much bigger than a regular enemy, so she was hard to hit with arrows sometimes.  Bud got in the final blow with a Gnome spell that tossed a boulder at the Mana Goddess.  All the Sproutlings rejoined the tree, and the game ended. 

 
Legend of Mana was a strange experience, and perhaps the name “Kawazu” in the credits gives a few hints as to why.  It’s weak as a game, but the subplots make it a good “experience”, if that makes any sense.  The combat feels a bit like Tales of Phantasia, if the developers added width to the battlefield at the last minute without adding width to most attacks to compensate.  Dungeons are bland rooms and corridors, which will confuse you without a guide.  The mechanics surrounding Artifacts, quests, crafting, and raising monsters are vaguely mentioned within the game’s text at best. 

 
This wasn’t a variant like most of my Realms Beyond posts, but I hope you’ve enjoyed this playthrough.  You may want to watch a few YouTube videos if you’re deciding whether to play Legend of Mana or not.  Do NOT expect it to play like Secret of Mana.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Trials of Mana:  Angela Part 1


Collection of Mana for the Nintendo Switch is the first official English release of what had been known as Seiken Densetsu 3, a Super Nintendo RPG popular with emulator and import players.  I'll refer to the game as its new title Trials of Mana from here on out.


The game begins with a prompt to pick the player character and 2 AI companions out of a cast of 6.  Magic was always good in Secret of Mana, so I selected Angela the princess of Altena. 


Her story began with narration and flashbacks explaining that Mana was slowly vanishing from the world, causing the True Queen of Altena's magical power to diminish.  This was bad because Altena was located in a frozen region artificially kept warm by the monarch's spells.  Angela for some reason did not have the magical talent of her ancestors.  (Possibly foreshadowing a plot twist where she's NOT the True Queen's daughter?)  Since her mother did not show affection and her father was absent, she became a prankster to get attention.


I had a tough time navigating Altena's castle at the beginning, and had to look up a guide to get past the dreaded EVENT FLAGS.  (The eternal foe of any JRPG player.)  Most of the NPCs in the area were blonde girls with witch hats, indicating something about the graphic designer's preferences.  Talking to one of them in a seemingly random place triggered an event with Angela's friend Victor, telling her to reach the throne room which was previously closed off.


Inside the throne room, the True Queen and the Crimson Wizard schemed to invade the other countries in Trials of Mana's world to get their Mana Stones and cast a forbidden spell in an attempt to keep Altena warm.  The problem was that this forbidden spell required a sacrifice, and Angela was the designated victim because she was such a disappointment to her mother.  Angela spontaneously teleported into the snowfield outside the castle for reasons that would probably make more sense later.


Combat in Trials of Mana is different from Secret of Mana.  Melee attacks still seem to have a cooldown period, but not as long, so the flow is better.  Perhaps that's because I'm playing as Angela rather than a dedicated physical attacker.  Don't expect to run around and dodge attacks like in Tales games, but rather position yourself carefully to take the minimum damage.  It's a bit hard to explain without seeing it in action for yourself.  So far in the playthrough, no one has magic yet.


The first treasure chest Angela encountered featured one strange characteristic of this game:  "Trap Roulette".  Sometimes when opening chests, Angela had to press A to stop a roulette wheel of sorts and hope not to land on a trap.  No matter what, she still got treasure from the chest, but when she rolled Spikes, she took some damage.  This was very bad because the next battle was against a group of Sahagins?  They knocked her out, seemingly causing the first DEATH COUNT. . .


But it turned out to be a scripted event.  Angela woke up in the town of Alrant.  Her only clue there was a fortune teller who said human lives were 99% destiny and 1% "hope".  The fortune teller suggested going to the Holy City of Wendel and talk to the Priest of Light.  One NPC said that this was proof the fortune teller was  a fraud, since he got the same response when he asked the soothsayer whether his kid would be a boy or a girl.


Inns had the same dancing turban men as Secret of Mana.  They asked whether to wake Angela at AM or PM, indicating that a day/night cycle would be important.  When Angela sailed for Jadd Stronghold, the opening credits played during the world map cutscene.  One amusing category was Boss Monster.


Farolian "beastmen" had conquered Jadd Stronghold and started oppressing the local humans.  Weapon and armor shops were unavailable because the occupiers took all the equipment.  The trick was to leave through the south gate at night because the beastmen would become werecreatures and be distracted.


Rabite Forest was the first "real" combat area, filled with Level 1 Rabites and Mushbooms.  Most were easy.  When Angela leveled to 2, she needed to pick one stat to raise.  I chose Intellect because of her magic specialty.  On her status screen, she had the possibility of becoming a Sorceress or Mysticist after developing her starting class Magician high enough.  But that wouldn't happen until much later.


Fortunately, goddess statues provided both a save point and HP/MP healing.  The only way to go was south to the village of Astoria rather than east, where a force field blocked the cave to Wendel.  The innkeeper there did NOT ask for AM/PM, making me suspicious.  That was the event flag for a fairy appearing in the town and flying north.  Angela chased down the fairy who collapsed in Rabite Forest due to the low Mana.  She was the only candidate for the fairy's mission, and the fairy became a voice in Angela's head to the princess's annoyance.  


The fairy opened the way to the cave.  Astoria was mysteriously destroyed when Angela backtracked there, as anyone who's played a Japanese RPG could have guessed.  Some rooms in this dungeons were traps that sealed Angela inside until she defeated all the enemies.  Angela had to wolf down 2 healing Candies to survive one such encounter with Level 3 Mushbooms, who also had a sleeping move.  


Angela reached Level 3 and picked Stamina because Intellect was forbidden this time.  Maybe that was meant to prevent new players from either minmaxing or messing up their build permanently with bad decisions?


Charlotte the Cleric was the 1st companion, and talked like Elmer Fudd (or Pip from Chrono Cross).  She was related to someone important in Wendel, making her useful to Angela.  Having an extra set of HP and more melee attacks was good too.  She joined at Level 4.  Angela could temporarily switch control to Charlotte by holding down R, but changed back as soon as I let go of the button.


I wonder if Trials of Mana companions have fixed levels when they join, or whether they scale to the player somehow.  When Angela grew to Level 4, both Intellect and Stamina were banned, so I took Strength.  It was a good time to end the session last night when the cast reached Wendel's inn.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Trials of Mana:  Angela Part 2


The Priest of Light in Wendel was Charlotte's grandfather, though she left the party temporarily before the meeting.  (Probably so players wouldn't be required to bring her to talk to him, even though it would make sense regarding the story.)


The fairy told the priest that the Mana Tree was withering, which meant the seals on the Mana Stones would break and the Benevodons would be released.  Angela was stuck with the fairy because fairy bonds lasted for life, even though the priest would have been a better choice than the failed princess.  Angela agreed to get the Sword of Mana because the True Queen wanted it, and she believed her mother would acknowledge her again if she obtained it.  The forbidden sacrifice spell wasn't always that way.  Different countries fought each other in a war to keep each other from accessing the portal to the Mana Sanctuary, and the survivors cursed the ritual so it wouldn't be used again.


Our fairy said there was a loophole if she intervened with the Mana spirits.  So it was back to Cascade Cavern to find Lumina.  (i.e. the one trapped on the gold island in Secret of Mana).  Using the fairy from the ring menu allowed Angela and Charlotte to fly across a gap near a waterfall to a new area.  They weren't ready to fight the giant crab boss Fullmetal Hugger, however.


DEATH COUNT:  1


Fullmetal Hugger had a variety of attacks that couldn't be dodged.  I then realized it was better to think of Trials of Mana as more of a fast-paced turn based game rather than an action RPG.  Angela and Charlotte whacked the boss for 10 damage with normal melee, and 24 with their B button "limit break".  Eye Beams zapped a character for 21 damage, and Holy Bolt had a similar effect for 29.  Dive Bombs crashed onto the whole party for at least 35, and Bubbleblasts soaked them for about the same amount.  Stockpiling 9 Medical Herbs cured the poison inflicted by the boss's breath.  When the crab lost one eye, it healed itself for 88 once with Healing Light.


The key to victory was upgrading Angela's armor to the Silk Robe, which made a difference even in random battles.  This wasn't Dragon Quest 3 where I could get by with minimal defenses for much of the game.  Stamina upgrades from a level up may have helped too.  Fullmetal Hugger was an endurance contest with the help of Candy healing.



Magic in Trials of Mana showed up sooner than in Secret of Mana.  When Fullmetal Hugger died, Lumina appeared and granted Angela the Holy Bolt spell, which cost 2 MP and could hit multiple enemies for far more damage than melee.  Trials of Mana attempted to balance magic by giving it a charge time similar to Tales games, but this would probably be mitigated by the other party members distracting enemies.


Beast Ludgar ambushed Angela and Charlotte on the way out, reducing their HP to 1 and tossing them in jail in Jadd Stronghold.  The 3rd party member Riesz the Amazon was trapped too, but soon tricked a beastman guard into opening the cell by telling him that someone was digging in the back.  Riesz's stats seemed to be more melee oriented than the other characters.  She joined at Level 4 with a Long Spear equipped.


As far as other branching classes go, Charlotte can become a Priestess or Enchantress, while Riesz will be a Valkyrie or Rune Maiden.  Don't know what any of those mean yet.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Trials of Mana:  Angela Part 3


After Team Angela fought its way out of Jadd Stronghold by killing wolves, they took a ship to the town of Maia.  This episode should have been titled "Follow the Yellow Brick Road", because sure enough there was one to the west guarded by many enemies.  The ants were poisonous, but poison always wore off after combat ended, so it wasn't too dangerous.


Riesz explained at some point that she was the princess of Laurent, a kingdom that was conquered after thieves tricked her brother Elliott into disabling the protective winds.  They then killed the king and kidnapped Elliott, and Riesz's quest was to take back the country with the help of the Mana Stones.


Several guards blocked off the town to the south because they thought Angela was a spy for Altena.  (Well, she is their princess, but she wasn't on good terms when she left. . .)  The party had to take a detour to Stonesplit Gap, where several blonde witches released 2 robots that hit with Rocket Launcher for over 100 damage.  You can guess what happened next.


DEATH COUNT:  2


Although the party was overwhelmed, this wasn't a scripted loss.  The trick to winning was casting attack magic repeatedly as if I were playing Secret of Mana, and occasionally using Charlotte's Healing Light spell that she learned after fighting more random enemies.  A Cup of Wishes occasionally revived fallen characters.  The robots' regular attacks were much less dangerous than their Rocket Launcher "spell".


When defeated, the robot exploded and destroyed the western bridge.  So Team Angela returned to Maia and hoped the cannon transportation was ready.  Unfortunately, the alchemist Von Boyage still needed some nitronyte, and that was only available in the Dwarf Village in Stonesplit Gap.  More backtracking across the yellow brick road ensued.


Dwarf Village sold some new armor, though Watt's offer for the nitronyte wasn't so cheap.  He demanded 5000 GP, but was willing to settle for 3000.  Both prices were far out of the party's range.  He heard something than ran off in Gnome's direction.


The boss preventing the party from talking to Gnome was the Jewel Eater, a giant mole with massive HP.  Angela ran out of MP for Holy Bolt long before the boss was dead, and Charlotte's healing ran dry too.  Candies and Cups of Healing were exhausted because the team could only carry up to 9 into battle.  Somehow near the end of the fight, Angela had her MP restored.  Possibly an effect of the Cup of Healing?  Charlotte was dead, but Liesz and Angela lived on to barely claim victory.


Jewel Eater's attacks were earth themed, such as Diamond Shards for around 36 damage, Hard Hit to everyone for 30s-50s, an avalanche move to everyone for 30s-50s, and a 16 damage rock shot.  Impediment lowered evasion, and Jewel Eater buffed its defense near the end of the fight.


I felt underleveled when I won, so I checked Strategy Wiki.  According to that, it's recommended to fight Jewel Eater at at least Level 6.  My characters were 7-8.  Maybe Trials of Mana is meant to be much harder than Secret of Mana.