Legend of Mana: 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