Map Placement, Dross, and Miscellany
by Tim Gruszynske
This FAQ is available from GameFaqs in text format, and is also available in
HTML from http://www.iit.edu/~grustim/legend_of_mana_dross.html. Comments,
questions, and insights are welcomed at grustim@charlie.cns.iit.edu.
Index:
1. Introduction to this FAQ
2. Map Placement
3. Various Tidbits and Tips
4. Credits
1. Introduction:
A. Basic Principles: The farther from home Geo is, the higher the chances of
great weapons and minerals being sold there, which makes Normal mode a tad
easier, especially for a first game. Some quests and other little interesting
things are only available with certain Mana levels in certain lands, including
a few hard to find and hard to trigger events. Therefore, wouldnt it be nice if
some dunderhead took that into consideration, and drew you a map of what goes
where, and possibly even outline the minutae that you would ordinarily miss, so
you can get all 67 quests in a single game?
B. Say hello to a dunderhead; namely myself. Taking information gleaned from
GameFaqs and my own experience, I have devised a system which, while a little
tough, will allow anyone to complete all the quests, get all of the demi-human
pets, and essentially complete the actual quest part of this game the first
time through, so that the second time can be devoted to treasure hunting and
ability mastering, or whatever turns your fancy.
C. Two important notes: order does matter, both in land placement, and in quest
taking. Some events lock off other events, so to do all 67 you must be aware of
the conflicts. These are all listed in the Tidbits section. In land placement,
you want to insure the appearance of quests, of spirits, and finally, of rare
item monsters strong enough that they might give you something decent. Warning:
on No Future Mode, the hardest setting, rare items are still really rare. Dont
squander too much time searching for adamantite your first run, but dont forget
to engage in battles to learn abilities, special techniques, acquire common but
useful items, and, naturally, gain experience.
2. Map Placement/Placement Order
A. The area of map you select at the very beginning is very important in
determining how well this will work. I have a beauty of a land picked out on
the north east area of the map, with about three spots of water, one in the
upper left corner, one nearly in the upper right, and the third in the lower
left area. I suggest you find something where you have good expansion along one
axis of your house, with a clear path through to the opposite corner.
The important thing to remember when frustrated is you must defeat a boss in a
land before placing something next to it, unless it is a town, the Orchard, or
some other 'special' land.
B. Which area you pick will ultimately determine how much you have to
improvise, but make sure to place the Sword of Mana when there are seven of a
possible eight lands around it, as the eighth land will gain 'runoff' which
will make it very nearly perfect, if not actually perfect.
The ultimate possible design looks like this, with artifacts coded by order
placed, though you can advance 14 to 11 if so desired, and move 11 - 13 down to
the next place in the lineup:
------------------ 1 Mailbox 14 Bottled Spirit
|18| 4| 5|11|12| | 2 Colorblocks 15 Brooch of Love
|__|__|__|__|__|__| 3 Wheel 16 Moons Mirror
| 3| 1| 2|19|13|15| 4 Flame 17 Rusted Anchor
|__|__|__|__|__|__| 5 Jade Egg 18 Pirate's Hook
| 9| 8| 6| 7|21|16| 6 Firefly Lamp 19 Sword of Mana
|__|__|__|__|__|__| 7 Stone Eye 20 Frozen Heart
| |14|10|22|20|17| 8 Medallion 21 Trembling Spoon
|__|__|__|__|__|__| 9 Ancient Tablet 22 Skull Lantern
| | |23|26|24| | 10 Broken Doll 23 Dragonbone
|__|__|__|__|__|__| 11 Golden Seed 24 White Cane
| | | | |25| | 12 Torch of Coral 25 Tome of Magic
|__|__|__|__|__|__| 13 Desert Rose 26 Jumi Staff
I apologize for any who lost sleep over the first version of this FAQ, but I
have just recently found enough time away from classwork and other distractions
to determine the 'ideal map' is definitely not reproduceable, except for 'Debug
Room' games, whereas the current version is possible and desirable. My greatest
complaint is no place to buy Mercury and Sulphur, which I hope to one day fix.
C. If all goes well, you will be able to purchase IshePlatinum weapons in Geo,
with LorimarIron in the cafe. Additionally, a Chobin Hood, Mad Mallard, Tomato
Man, Sahagin, Succubus, Narcissos, and Goblin should all appear as 'free' pets
waiting for you to take them. The Sahagin is actually necessary for a quest,
and the rest are simply interesting and possibly useful. Finally, you should be
able to do any and all quests, assuming you do them in the proper order.
D. NEW!!! Look in this area for an ordered list of events and where to buy
certain items in version 2.0, coming soon.
3. Tidbits, Oddities, and Theories:
A. Quest conflicts, requirement worth noting: for two Domina quests, Seeing
Double and Pee Wee Birdie, it is necessary to have perfect Mana levels in
certain spirits. The first will trigger sometime after Little Sorcerors, when
you enter the center of town. The other will trigger after placing the Mana
Tree and visiting Yuka's inn. Both are cute and short, and the second gives you
the rare Revive Ring when you return and talk to Pee Wee. For the rare Duma
Desert quest, it is necessary to have high Dryad levels, and it will trigger
only after doing Blessed Elixir, after the placement of Geo. Also, leaving your
pet at home before triggering it will prevent you from having to run back, and
try not to fill your corral before, or you will have to sell a pet to do the
quest. Furthermore, to get all the quests, you have to do Siren's Song at
Madora Beach/Polpota/Lumina and Gilbert: Love is Blind before entering Geo's
Outdoor Fruit Parlor, the blue dot above the stairs, which means you have to do
the Gilber quests before Blessed Elixir, painful as that can be. Finally, if
you are serious about pet raising, you must go to Domina after Niccolo's
Business Unusual, talk to Daena, and help her out a minor amount. Doing so will
get you the rare and challenging to duplicate Forbidden Ring. The only other
item worth mentioning is Daddy's Broom, which usually triggers after 18 events.
It is a quick and cute romp through the Junkyard again, but some people have
had trouble getting it. You will know it is about to happen when Lil' Cactus is
missing, but Bud is healthy. Talking to Lisa is a good way to trigger the
event.
B. Pets are well covered in other FAQs, but I want to insure you get a chance
to have the rare beasties, so here it is again, courtesy of the Mastery FAQ and
insanerest@aol.com.
1. Chobin Hood - Jungle Dryad L.3 - Near entrance.
2. Mad Mallard - Lake Wisp L.3 - At the first bend, near entrance.
3. Tomato Man - Norn Peaks Sala L.3 - Near entrance.
4. Sahagin - Duma Desert Dryad L.3 - Near entrance.
5. Succubus - Fieg Snowfield Shade L.3 - South of the save point.
6. Narcissos - Junkyard Gnome L.3 - Near entrance.
7. Goblin - Lumina Dryad & Shade L.3 - At the Crescent Moon Alley.
C. A few quicktips: Polter Boxes should be fed two gold clovers per level up
for best luck gains, Dragon Steaks are worth 1000 lucre when you see what they
can do for your pet, a 'Plus file' (one with the musical note next to it)
usually gives you better items for completing events, but I believe it is
actually based on the amount of work in your previous game, though that is
untested. Go hunting for items on Aura day, try to play a variety of
instruments when serenading, and for superstition's sake keep the elements
harmonious instead of conflicting.
D. Next time: I have no idea what info might surface, but if someone could tell
me how to get back into the Ruins, I would greatly appreciate it. I don't
really want much down there, but I would like to see if there are any
interesting eggs down there.
E. This entire thing would not have happened were there a printed walkthrough
half as decent as the free ones online. Yes, I bought one... and I won't get
into the errors I found in a public forum, but if anyone wishes to recommend
one, please do.
4. Credits and Version History:
This FAQ is based on the work of several others, either directly or indirectly,
as they helped me along considerably, including Sean Kelson's, Matthew
Emirzian's, and the combined work of David Myers and Chris Richardson. To them,
and everyone else who supports the gaming community with time, talent, and
tenacity, I thank you. GameFaqs deserves a good dose of credit for being an
excellent forum for the exchange of ideas and information.
Online help and feedback was provided by Norn, and Lord Sephiroth.
Finally, and personally, my friends Nick, Cory, and Chris, for putting up with
me as I tried ever so hard to get a 9th orb for the Sword in Secret of Mana,
for putting up with my obsession over this game, and for teaching me so much
about so many things.
This FAQ is copyright 2000 by Tim Gruszynske.
Version:
1.0 - 08/16/2000 - Initial version, with the essential information
1.1 - 09/06/2000 - Included my last full map, plus a few minor notes
1.2 - 09/08/2000 - Revised after discovering no Holy Water on previous map
1.3 - 09/12/2000 - Included best working map I have achieved
1.4 - 09/20/2000 - Fixed an error on the map, thanks to Dave Young for catching
me
2.0 - ??/??/???? - Will include list of events and possibly screenshot
