secretofmana secretofmana secretofmana secretofmana secretofmana secretofmana secretofmana secretofmana secretofmana secretofmana secretofmana secretofmana secretofmana secretofmana secretofmana secretofmana secretofmana secretofmana secretofmana secretofmana secretofmana THE C O M P L E T E G U I D E T O secretofmana secretofmana ________ ________ ____ ____ secretofmana secretofmana / \ / \ / \ / \ secretofmana secretofmana | _____/ | __ | | \/ | secretofmana secretofmana | |_____ | / \ | | | secretofmana secretofmana | \ | | | | | |\__/| | secretofmana secretofmana \_____ | | | | | | | | | secretofmana secretofmana \ | | | | | | | | | secretofmana secretofmana ______/ | | \__/ | | | | | secretofmana secretofmana / |_ | |_ | | | |_ secretofmana secretofmana \_________/(_) \________/(_) \___/ \___(_) secretofmana secretofmana secretofmana secretofmana S E C R E T O F M A N A secretofmana secretofmana secretofmana secretofmana secretofmana secretofmana secretofmana secretofmana secretofmana secretofmana secretofmana secretofmana secretofmana secretofmana secretofmana secretofmana secretofmana secretofmana secretofmana secretofmana secretofmana secretofmana v1.0 - Aug. 16 secretofmana secretofmana secretofmana secretofmana (C) JD Cyr, 1998 secretofmana secretofmana secretofmana secretofmana secretofmana secretofmana secretofmana secretofmana secretofmana secretofmana secretofmana secretofmana secretofmana secretofmana secretofmana secretofmana secretofmana _____________________________________________________________________________ THIS DOCUMENT IS BEST VIEWED USING NOTEPAD AT A 640x480 RESOLUTION _____________________________________________________________________________ DETAILS This guide, I must admit, was released pretty late. I know hardly anyone plays this game anymore, but making this document was just something I had to do for some twisted psychotic reason. If you are one of those who still enjoys playing the NES/SNES RPG classics, then I hope you enjoy this file and find out something new. And hey, maybe someday Square will rerelease SOM and this guide won't be useless after all! I personally like getting mail, so if you have anything to ask about the game or any Squaresoft RPG, leave me an Email at Reznoryte@Hotmail.com (I keep saying that but never find anything new in my mailbox). Anywho, not to WASTE any more of your time... _____________________________________________________________________________ Table of Contents: I. Characters II. Walkthrough III. Tricks of the Trade IV. FAQ V. Epilogue Etc. _____________________________________________________________________________ I. CHARACTERS hero (boy): Young hero, marked by the gods and decendent of the Tribe of Mana. Father is legendary swordsman and mother is guardian of all Mana. Taken in and raised at an early age by the Elder of Potos village. "Your sword skills will become unequaled. When a weapon is in your hand, you will be unstoppable". specialty weapons: Swords, Pole Arms most powerful armor: Amulet Helm (def. +155), Power Suit (def. +250), Amulet Ring (def. +95) ally (sprite): Young sprite native to the Upper Land, knowing the language of the Moogles. Carried away by a river and raised by the Dwarves of Gaia's Navel. Aggressive and quickly excels at casting attack spells. specialty weapons: Boomerangs, Bows most powerful armor: Cockatrice Cap (def. +155) Vampire Cape (def. +250) Watcher Ring (def. +98) spells: -Gnome- Earth Slide ;3 MP. drops large ball of mud on enemy Speed Down ;1 MP. vines grip and slow down enemy Gem Missile ;2 MP. shower of sharp jewels shreds foe -Undine- Freeze ;2 MP. send ice raining down on enemies Energy Absorb;2 MP. enemie's hit points transfer to you Acid Storm ;3 MP. corrosive rain weakens foe defenses -Salamando- Fireball ;2 MP. blazing fireballs pummel enemy Lava Wave ;3 MP. tide of molten rocks drowns enemy Exploder ;4 MP. blow up enemies using this spell -Sylphid- Silence ;2 MP. foes will become strangely confused Air Blast ;2 MP. 3 gale-force winds blast the enemy Thunder Bolt ;4 MP. burn up the foes with this sizzler -Luna- Change Form ;5 MP. shift enemies' shapes randomly Lunar Magic ;6 MP. unexpected effects follow the spell Magic Absorb ;1 MP. steal your foe's magic points -Shade- Evil Gate ;8 MP. a wave of night sweeps over enemy Dispel Magic ;4 MP. stop enemy's effect spell Dark Force ;2 MP. orbs of darkness attack the enemy -Dryad- Burst ;4 MP. ultraviolet rays crisp the enemy Sleep Flower ;2 MP. send your foe into a deep sleep ally (girl): Gentle but strong-willed young lady having studied the arts of healing and ways to strengthen others. Born in Pandora, where father works as counselor to the king and who'se mother died when very young. In search of her boyfriend abducted by the empire. specialty weapons: Gloves most powerful armor: Faerie Crown (def. +155) Faerie Cloak (def. +250) Imp's Ring (def. +98) spells: -Gnome- Stone Saber ;4 MP. give weapons the power of stone Defender ;2 MP. improve your party's defense skills Speed Up ;3 MP. increase hit and evade points -Undine- Ice Saber ;2 MP. transform enemies into little snowmen Cure Water ;2 MP. restore ally's hit points partially Remedy ;3 MP. cure poison and abnormal status -Salamando- Flame Saber ;2 MP. puts the power of fire in weapons Blaze Wall ;4 MP. cast a wall of flames upon enemies Fire Bouquet ;3 MP. reduces enemy attack power -Sylphid- Thunder Saber;3 MP. weapons strike with thunder's might Analyzer ;1 MP. sniff out enemy traps and weak points Balloon ;2 MP. imobilize enemies with a baloon -Luna- Moon Saber ;3 MP. increase hit points as you topple foes Moon Energy ;2 MP. raise number of your critical hits Lunar Boost ;2 MP. allies focus on attack, not defense -Lumina- Light Saber ;5 MP. weapons gain the power of light Lucid Barrier;4 MP. protection from weapon attacks Lucent Beam ;8 MP. blast enemies with rays of pure light -Dryad- Mana Magic ;10 MP. fully energize the sword of mana Revify ;10 MP. restore life but not hit points Wall ;6 MP. make a barrier that wards off magic _____________________________________________________________________________ II. WALKTHROUGH 1- The Rusty Sword After your character falls off the log and into the pond, find the way onto the path and follow it up to a point where it is blocked by underbrush. Enter the pond to the left, and retrieve the sword. Use the sword to get through and follow the path which leads to the village. Kill everything along the way. I recommend reaching at least level 3 before entering the village. At the village, go to the store and buy a bandana, equip it. Now save and go talk to your friends at the elder's house (top right). You fall into a hole and encounter the Mantis Ant. This is an easy boss, simply time your attacks so that it doesn't hit you back right away. If it casts a spell, while the spell is hiting you, use a candy - this is a trick I learned that if timed right, will allow you to heal yourself instead of receiving damage from an enemy. After this fight, Jema, a knight adresses you. Go talk to the elder and visit the basement for the items it contains. Now you must head north to see Luka, the guardian of the "water" mana seed. 2- Luka at the Water Palace You can either use canon travel just southeast of the village, or take the long way around by walking. The canon travel is free, but level bulding is important in this stage of the game, so I recommend walking. If you walk, just go past the bridge and turn left then go up. There are signs to guide you, so you should have no trouble. Right before the palace is a troop of soldiers, talking to them is basically pointless. In the water palace, activate the switch that lets you pass across the bridge and go talk to Luka. After you re-energized the seed and receive the spear, you must go to Gaia's Navel. 3- Taken alive! Head south back from where you came from. Along the way, some carnivorous orcs capture you, but are rescued by a girl who flees before you have the chance to ask her her name. Keep going south and enter Pandora. From here, follow the west boundary of the village until you get to a bridge, cross it and follow the path. It will lead you to Gaia's Navel. This path is rather long and full of enemies, and is a good spot to practise with your new weapon and perhaps up it's level. 3- Gaia's Navel At the end of this path is a village; visit it for new armor and items then exit. Go up to Gaia's Navel, a pond in the center of cliffs. Follow the path down to the pond. Don't go up to the enchanted forest yet. At the bottom, enter the pond and then take the LEFT cave entrance to avoid trouble. 4- The Caves of Gaia In this cave are strange blob enemies that keep multiplying as long as one of them is kept alive. This place is especially good for level gaining; just kill the Blats and kill one blob at a time. Explore the cave and grab whatever you find along the way. At a certain point you will be blocked off by lava... find a skull switch on a wall and hit it to drain the lava. Cross the new area and keep exploring, you will find another skull switch, hit this one too. In one cave, two orcs guard a chest; kill them and open the chest to receive the Magic Rope. You eventually make your way into an undeground village of dwarfs. 5- Village of the Dwarfs Explore the village, save, and make your way to Watts the blacksmith, who will reforge your sword for 100 GP. Visit the rooms to the right. You are asked to pay 50 GP to see a short play, then an extra 100 GP. Pay, then visit the back room to get a refund. After this, the ground starts to shake, go into the main room, and you are engaged in a battle against Tropicallo, an underground beast. To beat him, keep moving to avoid his attacks, and as soon as he sticks his head out of the ground, hit it! You receive the spear orb for beating him, and the sprite joins you, bringing along a boomerang and a bow. Visit the blacksmith again, and reforge the spear. Now make your way to the canon travel area in the north west section outside Gaia's Navel. Here, equip the sprite with the bow, and yourself with the sword. Step on the teleporter pad at the top of this area and you will enter a misty forest. 6- "So, we meet again!" / Elinee's Castle In the forest, guys with bows are shooting at you; cut the bushes surrounding them and pound them dead. The sprite will be more efficient with the bow here. At one point you enter a ring where the girl you met earlier is getting beaten up. Help her and kill the two enemies. She will join your team and bring along a new weapon; the glove. Another way to meet her would have been to visit her at Pan Dora castle, though that would have taken slightly longer. So, keep exploring the haunted forest until you get to Elinee's castle. Enter the castle and follow the simple maze. Make sure to rescue the soldiers and save with Neko (translates as "cat" in japanese). Now go up until you reach the boss of this area; Spikey. Equip youself with the bow when he is on the ledge and with the sword when he is on the ground. When he uses magic, use the same trick as for the Mantis Ant. He uses Fire Bouquet and Flame Breath; both are quite powerful. This is a very difficult boss. When he is beaten, you receive the boomerang orb, then the whip and 50 GP. Head back to the water palace. 7- Undine At the water palace, Luka tells you about her friend Undine, an elemental that might be able to help you. Get out of the palace and turn right into the pond. Here are some rather tough enemies. Enter the cave at the end of the path. Inside, you must fight Tonpole. Crowd him and set all the characters on their most agressive level and no charge attacks, then keep hitting him not to give him any time to attack or to heal. He dies and gives you the Glove Orb. Undine then appears, gives the girl and the sprite the ability to use magic, then gives you the Pole Dart. Again, return to Gaia's Navel and enter the cave on the right to get your glove and your boomerang reforged. From here, enter the passage at the end of the main hall. In the room you entered will be an orb; use the sprite's magic on it. 8- Crystal Cave / Underground Palace This is a very difficult area; stock up on every healing item then dash through the whole dungeon, first heading right and down from the first large room to hit a switch, then left to hit that one, then back to the large room and up the new staris that have appeared. Lot's more attend so be carful. This dungeon usually takes more than one try to get through, even at very high levels. At the end of this place is Gnome and another Mana Seed. You must beat an ogre to get to the seed. The ogre is easy, simply attack him as soon as his physical shape appears, and use the girl to heal. For this you get a new orb and Gnome gives you his powers - you also get to seal a second mana seed. Exit the cave and make your way out of Gaia's Navel and back east to Pandora village. 9- The Pandora Ancient Ruins Once in Pandora, save and go to the southern exit of the town. The girl's friend Phanna will be there then disapear. Now go to the ruins, where weird people are wearing masks and being very quiet. Walk up to the gate and talk to Phanna. She disapears into the castle. Enter the castle and go through the maze, killing anything along the way. The path is long, but uncomplica- ted. At the end is a large room with a staircase; climb the staircase and talk to Thanatos. You then fall into a room below, in which you must fight a wall. Use the sprite's Gem Missile against the middle eye and continuously attack the side eyes while evading their attacks. Direct the girl's attacks to the middle eye and use her to heal whenever needed. If the battle lasts too long, the wall will start advancing to crush you against the back wall. If this happens, keep whacking it with normal attacks. After the fight, exit that area and head to the Pandora castle and to the throne room, where the treasure room is free for you to explore. Inside are orbs and gold. After taking these, head to the Water Palace. 10- The Mana Thief! At the water palace, you learn that someone has stolen the seed. Head to the dwarf village, where Jema is, and hop into the moon-shaped hole in the ground. In here, grabe the orb along the way and you will make your way into a room where you must fight the enemy lord Kilroy. This robot spins around, causing damage and transformations to the heros. Physical attacks work well on him. After you recover the seed, return to the water palace. There, some other thieves want the seed. You will have to fight a 3-headed monster; he is quite easy. just stay away from him, then approach, strike and retreat. Do this until he is dead. After another "cut scene", Jema tells you that you must go to the Upper Land. Use the canon travel centre near Potos for this. 11- The Upper Land This is home of the sprites and moogles. It seems a troop of pebblers have taken over a nearby moogle vilage; find it and kill the pebblers. The moogles will move back in, and Watts and Neko will also be there. The sprite remembers a saying: "walk the seasons from spring to winter, spring again and we can enter". Do just that; walk counter-clockwise around the 4 areas that represent the 4 seasons. For help, follow the flying beasts that can be seen hovering above you once in a while. When done, a new passage is revealed. Save and return to it to fight the boss. The boss is a bird, attack him with spells and normal attacks and use the bow when he is on a ledge. Finished, head north past the abandoned village and enter the temple. There will lie the sprite's granpa. He will heal you and let you save. Activate the seed and with your new magic (sylphid), exit and head southwest until you reach a crystal orb. Use the sprite's Sylphid magic on it to pass. Keep walking until you reach a cave. 12- Home of the 'Shrooms Enter the cave and finish off the enemies, then turn left and enter the passageway. You are now in Matango, a place where peaceful mushrooms reign. Visit the shop and purchase new armor, then see Watts to get your weapons upgrades and finally, visit the king. After you have spoken to the king, use the Inn and save, then exit through the previously inaccessible door and go through the outdoor mushroom maze. Enter the cave, and follow the path as in any other cave to finally reach a clearing outside, where a giant snake resides. Attack the snake and heal when needed. After the battle, go up and enter the new cave where you will see a baby dragon. Talk to him and you will apear back in the king's throne room. After the talk, return to the canon travel guy right before the Matango cave, and head to Kakkara desert. 13- Kakkara Desert You will land in the barren desert not knowing where you are. Head as north as you can and in a matter of minutes you will fall upon a tasnican sandship. They take you in as workers. As the boy, talk to the pirate in the engine room and do as he says. Once escaped, head to the left area of the ship and down a staircase leading to the kitchen. In here, the sprite joins you. Now near the front of the ship, enter a door. Inside, choose the left branch to save then go back down and enter the room at the end of the hall. The ship comes to a stop when the empire shows up. Gehstarr and his bike will attack you. Strike him from above to avoid being attacked and use Gem Missile for good damage. After the fight you will end up in Kakkara. From here you need to take canon travel (right of village) and go to the Ice Country. You land right in the middle of a christmas village. 14- The Ice Country Here, buy armor and visit Watts in the blacksmith shop, then save and exit the village. Here are some tough but rewarding monsters. Follow the trails, which all ultimately lead to the same place. About midway, you will come across a house with a frantic deer running around. Inside the house is and Orb. Keep following the path and you will reach a "tropical" village. Check out the fireplace in the center of the town to gain Salamando magic. From here, head north and when the trail branches, go left to meet Neko and save. If you want, save an extra log here, it might be useful when you restart a new game (see section 26). Go back and take the right trail to go to the Ice Palace. Inside, follow the simple maze and you will come face to face against a Frost Cigas. He is weak against fire, so use Flame Blade and the sprite's fire spells. It turns out the Cigas was santa! Seal the seed and head back to canon travel to go to Kakkara. 15- The Fire Palace Back in Kakkara, save and exit the village. From here, go south once, then west, then north to get to the Palace. This place is somewhat complicated and pretty long. Go through it using Salamando on all the orbs but the last one which uses Undine. After fighting the boss, you get to re-enegize a new seed. After this, go back to Kakkara and talk to the town leader near the dry well, he is glad you've returned the seed, but says he needs a sea hare's tail. Now visit Watts once again and you know what to do, then enter the canon travel center and go to the Empire. 16- The Empire The Empire is composed of three towns; North Town, South Town and the Gold Isle. You've landed in Southtown. What you must do here, is find a way to get to North Town. Find the far northwestern house where an old lady / tasnican spy resides. She says the code to sewer access is 364, so now go east until you find the sewer access gate. Go through the sewers and kill the slimes and fish to eventually find yourself in the resistance's main base. Here you will talk to Krissy, then exit the house and buy new equipment, since the armor here, while being expensive, is fairly good. Now save and go north east to the ancient ruins. 17- The Empiral Ruins Go up until you meet Phanna, and the girl will get pissed and slash at her. Krissy will show up and take her to the hospital. Now enter the ruins, which this time around are about 3 to 5 times as large as the previous ones. Make sure to find the 3 treasure chests containing weapon Orbs. At the end, you will come across a large room where Dyluck is standing. Talk to him. After a bit, you will have to fight a giant vampire. He is not specifically difficult but the battle is very long. He casts attack spells often, but eventually runs out of MP. He jumps around the room when he's not flying, which is when you have to hit him - time your attacks well. After this area, in the Resis- tance's base, Krissy is invited to the Emperor's tower... follow her there (after saving of course). 18- The Emperor's Tower This is situated at the far north end of Northtown. The first time around, everyone seems very nice, but after meeting the emperor, you find yourself in a jail cell. Talk to the guards, who will throw you in a pit to find a hydra. After killing the beast, make your way back up and deliver the members of the resistance, then find a way up the top of the tower. Note that this is a great spot for level building - simply go to the room with a chest containing an orb and kill the Armored Men, then exit and re-enter the room to kill them until you've gained a good amount of levels. Atop the tower, Ghestar and his bike will attack you again. Beat him and the tower will start to crumble. At the last minute, an old friend shows up and rescues you. He tells you to drop him off at home. 19- Flammie the Dragon Now that you have Flammie, you must learn to properly "use" him. To call upon him, select the drum from the inventory and press B. He will dash out of the sky and pick you up. Controlling him is easy - simply hold forward to make him go forward and use the arrow pad to move him around. He can also fly towards the screen. When you get close to the ground, the view changes and you are above Flammie. To obtain this effect high in the air, press L. To use Flammie's map of the world, press -start-, and a complete model of the world will appear. To see the map as a flat illustration, press L while in map mode and a slow-loading screen will appear (it loads slow because it must figure out the relative distances of everything, not to mention the SNES is only a 3 MHz system). To test him out, find the small island shaped like a diamond, then lower Flammie over a nice landing spot to visit the island. From there, visit the shop and obtain the sea hare's tail which you will bring to Kakkara village and trade it against the Moogle Belt. Now visit Gaia's navel and speak to the dwarf behind the large hole in the ground. He is so happy to see you that he gives you a Midge Mallet. Now head for Tasnica. 20- Tasnica and the Empiral Spy Tasnica is just off a mountain range on a large chunk of land attached to the main continent. Land on the tower protruding into the sea. Here, you learn that there is an Empiral Spy inside the castle. There are no items of interest in this place as of yet, so just head straight for the throne room. Talk to the king and find out who the spy is - I think you'll be pleasently surprised! Kill the Dark Stalker (spy) and explore the castle if you wish. The only thing you may want to visit is a shop which is hidden in a room. To get to thsi shop, go to the room that has a bar and two stories. Enter the bar (the whiskey type bar) and go down. You will enter the wall! Go right alot, then up then left and talk to the dancing person. There's nothing that great for sale, but you know. Now exit this place and do has Jema told you; in the Lofty Mountains, find Sage Joch who will teach you true courage. For this, on the main continent, find a village and land there. 21- A Lot of Stuff to Do... In this mountain village is a shop selling excellent gear for now. Buy what you need and save. If you want, visit the temple to the north of town, but head south to advance in the game. Follow the path and kill the easy-looking but pretty hard monsters along it. You will cross a cave - it is the Shadow Palace of something... you can beat it now or nevermind it and come back to it. Anyhow, if you decide to beat it now, see section 21a. If not, keep climbing the mountain. At one point you MIGHT find Neko. His stuff is too expensive, so just save. My personal favorite enemy is here, the eggatrice - he's hilarious and fun to kill. Keep climbing and enter the cave. Go up and talk to "jehk" who tells you that Sage Joch is out to the Palace of Darkness, right below the mountain. Ok, here it starts!... 21a. Enter the cave, where some medium-hard enemies will attack you. Simply kill them and make your way across this difficult maze. There are many rooms that are hard to access and some that contain weapon orbs. Make sure to find them. Once up a certain flight of stairs, you must fight a Cigas (i think that's what it is), and after that you can enter the seed room and meet shade, who will give his power to the sprite. Return to the top of the mountain, talk to Jehk and he will now say that Joch is gone to the Gold Isle. 21b. Visit the Gold Isle, which is close to the main continent of the Empire - it is easy to distinguish since it glitters. Here you must visit the tower up north, but you need the key! Visit southtown and find the spy again, who will give you the key to the tower. Back at the tower, go through it like anything else, beat the boss and you will receive Illumina for the girl. Go back to the mountains and find Jehk, who tells you that now Joch's at the Moon Palace. 21c. Go to the Kakkara desert, in which a large black void fills one area. Land as close to the void as possible and walk up from the Kakkara desert to a ship who will transport you to the Palace. In here is a super large empty room with no walls. You must find a crystal orb, and use the appropriate magic on it. To find it easily, start off at a landmark (a monster for example) and run diagonally until you reach that same monster again. From here, go up a screen's height and run in the same manner. You will eventually find it and be sent to a room with a giant blob. He is easy, just keep close and keep regurlarly attacking it's "heart". When it dies, the magic users gain Lunar magic. Go back to Joch's. Once back, Jehk introduces you to Joch, who speaks the ancient tongue. He says that you must find your inner courage. Answer YES when he asks if you will do it, then take the newly accessible path. In here, the monsters are like nearly impossible to kill, so just pass by everything (there's no special items in this area). Use the whip to cross ravines and use the axe to clear the path of rocks. You'll come across a group of clones of yourself. Once they're dead, Joch reveals his true identity. After all this, use Flammie to make your way to the Tree Palace (bottom of map). 22- The Tree Palace The monsters here are very hard, so make sure you have at least the Tiger Suit and/or Tiger Bikini equiped. Just go in the main room where you will encounter 3 tonpoles. Kill them all and go grab Dryad's powers downstairs. After this, the REAL Palace surfaces. Jema and some troops are down there securing the area, but needs help getting inside. Go down the stairs and through the waterway to get to a flight of stairs. In this area things block you, and waterfalls prevent you from walking up in some areas. In the first small room, use the axe to get through, then the high-stepper to reach the second level. Open the chest and enter the door. Here's there's a million things growing out of the ground. Chop them, but don't hit the switch in the middle of the room unless you want them all to grow back. Make your way all the way up then left, where a waterfall will block your path. Try to run across and it won't work, but while being trapped in the current, there's a switch somewhere along the left wall of the waterfall, hit it! Now do the same for the next one, the switch will be on the right wall. Go through the door and fight the enemy lord (a new version of Kilroy) then keep going up. and exit the area flicking any switches along the way. You are now outside and can access a new door. From here, you should use Flammie to go save then return here. Go through the door and enter one of the 3 biggest mazes in the game (here's the order: Tree Palace, Pure Land / Mana Volcano, the Empire's Ancient Ruins). This maze is too complicated to explain, so just go through hitting switches and killing monsters. The things that look like little brick walls; you can only go down them, not back up, so make sure that's the way you want to go! At one point, there are four colored switches along a north wall. I think the order varies but I hit them in this order; 4, 1, 3, 2. This opens the gate to the subway station. Get in and you'll reach a train. The enemies in the train are all easy except for the last ones; an eggplant and some spiny things that kill you in one shot. For your sake, ignore them. Keep going and you will finish this darn maze with a faceoff with a snapdragon who keeps healing himself. Corner him and keep whacking him until he's dead. Same area at one point (I may have missed this detail), the Empire's evil group stands in front of you. Sheex transforms into Agragropillon, which is easily killed using constant Gem Missles. Go down to the left room and get Dryad's powers. A new Ghestar shows up with his bike, and he's a bit harder, but just stay out of his way and keep charged-attacking him. You fail to revive the sword in time and the Mana Fortress appears. You'll be riding Flamie now; ignore the Mana Fortress and go back down to the Tree Palace to speak to Jema and Phanna (inside) and most importantly; to buy armor from Neko (you'll need it). Neko sells you the best stuff you can buy, but you need at least 350K to buy it all, so you might need to sell some of your old stuff first. Jema teaches you that there's still hope - just find the "Mana Volcano" (it's really called the Pure Land, but looks like a volcano) and find the Mana Tree itself. Save and find the thing he's talking about and land right in the middle area where it looks like you shouldn't be able to land. 23- The Pure Land The monsters here don't even compare to the ones in the Tree Palace, in fact their all as strong as the 1 enemy you encountered in there that probably nearly killed you - in fact, that enemy IS here! Now, go through the long maze, taking ANY course because there are no special items along the way. The first enemy boss you encounter will be a giant snake. Kill him like any other, but this guy's always hiding so he's pretty tough. After this, you'll come across a "save point" that says "If you can beat the dragon to the right of this area, you can pass". Do just that. A hint!: The bosses that are "announced" by these "save points / passes" have the same weakness as the previous monster. This is an Frost Dragon and is weak against Salamando (just like the snake, get it now?). Keep going afterwards and come across a giant Axe Beak, weak against Undine; kill him then keep going and save the the save spot. Go left, kill the Dragon weak against Undine then return, save and go on. The next enemy boss is an extremely powerful Cigas that's weak against Gnome (Gem Missle). Do not let him hit you, because chances are you'll just instantly die. Pummel him with Gem Missles (level 6 or higher recommended) and attack with the other characters. After this guy, you'll come across a NEW save point. Save and go left to kill the dragon who's weak against Gnome. Go through the pass thing and you'll have found the Mana Tree. Now you're ready to beat the fortress. 24- Intermission / Training Because you're now ready to take on the Mana Fortress, you should try to get your weapon and magic levels up. The best spots for gaining easy weapon levels (and magic levels for the sprite), I found are; the area before Potos Village (where you start off the game), the Upper Land summer area, and the Wolf Forest in Ice Country. To get to the area before Potos, walk up to the guy guarding the gate and keep hitting -select- to switch characters. Event- ually one will make it through, then switch to him and the rest will follow across. An easy way to gain the girl some magic levels is to go to the Wind Palace (where the sprite's granpa is) and to keep casting low MP cost spells on whoever, then when she's drained, to talk to the old guy. For easy character levels, the easy place is obviously the non-boss areas of the Mana Fortress and the Pure Land. Beware of fighting too long in the Mana Fortress, sometimes characters will get stuck in walls and you'll have no way out and will have to restart it all! 25- The Mana Fortress Pretty standard maze. The crystals blocking your path can be chopped down with either the sword or the axe. Equip one character with one of these, and another with the whip to get across the gaps. Not too far in the maze, you have the choice of going down past a gap using the whip, or going left. Go down, the left path leads to nothing. The first boss is a Vampire and very easy to beat. Simply pummel him with Gem Missile and Lucent Beam, and attack him when he lands. After this boss, you can go left or right. Both paths lead the same way, but the right path is much less troublesome. One area you will have to go up passed a gap, or down to a maze of new rooms. Go up, the other way leads nowhere. The second boss is a giant slime imune to all physical attacks. Use Shade spells on him, or Gem Missile - he is fairly easy. After passing through the areas where Terminators are situated, a room will be shaped in a "no entry" type design. When you enter the warp plate in the middle, you are in a large room and can return. When you take the right tele- porter in that room, you have no choice but to beat the game. The Dark Lich (thanatos's soul) is weak against Lumina, and nearly useless without his magic, so have the girl cast Lucent Beam and the Sprite use Magic Absorb or Gem Missile for a quick victory. After a dramatic sequence, you come face-to- face with a huge mana beast. Equip the sword and have both cast Mana Magic on it to revive it. It is possible to kill this beast without the sword, but it takes VERY long! Use Defender and Speed Up on the boy and attack the beast when it flies close enough to be hit. That's it. Many normal monsters in the Mana Fortress give away great armor and even weapon orbs, as well as lots of experience. The orbs the monsters give you varies from game to game, but I have found that axe orbs can be obtained from the Fiend Heads and Whimpers, and (sometimes 2) glove orbs from the Wolf Lord. If you fight in the area until about level 80, you should have all but 1 or 2 extra orbs. 26- The End / Restarting a game Once you kill the Mana Beast, sit back and enjoy the great (but rather sad) ending. It's such a great game, there's no doubt in my mind that you'll play it through again someday. You might want to just restart the game normally, but there's a trick (not cheat) that will let you start off with all the Sword Orbs! It's like the SOM equivalent of Chrono Trigger's New Game Plus option (not as good, but it's not even a legit trick). Now to do this, you'll have to have play partially through at least once, and you need to use a save log at Neko's from the Ice Country (which you either already have, or must return to Neko's to create). Load this save log, and use the reset code (hold r,l,start,select). Start a new game and beat the Mantis Ant, then save over the Neko save log and use the reset code again. Keep doing this until you have all 9 sword orbs! This trick might work with other bosses, but I haven't tested it yet. _____________________________________________________________________________ III. "TRICKS OF THE TRADE" These aren't so much as tricks as they are rules and tips to use throughout the game. You can live without them, but using them make the game that much easier and maybe even more fun to play. 1- SAVE OFTEN!!! this is definitely the most important tip here. at some points, Secret of Mana can be quite a hard game, and it is extremely frustrating to play through a dungeon and beat an incredibly hard boss, only to head to the next big event and die. everything must be restarted. also, if unsure about a decision you've made or are about to make; save on a new log. make sure to save at every save point unless you are in terrible shape and know there is no way you can complete an area anyhow. 2- GAIN LEVELS EARLY also important to make the game much easier. the earlier you gain the levels, the easier the game will be. a few level's difference can make an incredible difference on the difficulty of enemies and bosses. this rule also goes for magic and weapon levels. the spell effects multiply in power at every level up, and high level spells are much more effective than low level spells. weapon levels, i believe are nothing but an added touch to the game; they are needed at very few bosses and are virtually pointless on normal enemies... but fun to watch, no? 3- BUY THE BEST ARMOR often the reason monsters seem so difficult is because the player hasn't updated his "armory" in a while. any armor that seems a decent bit better than yours should be bought. if you can't afford it all right away, still buy as much as possible and either return when you have the money, or go on and find a new weapon dealer - trying not to die along the way. remember, armor and inexpensive items are all you need to buy in the game (also reforging weapons), so don't try and save your money to see how much you can end up with at the end of the game. that would be pointless. don't miss out on Neko's sale at the Tree Palace before you go to the Pure Land! 4- STOCK UP ON ITEMS even candies can be useful near the end of the game; they don't cure much, but if you have a character at less than a hundred hit points and are completely out of MP, it could save his life. same goes for Royal Jam, Chocolate, Faerie Walnuts and Cups of Wishes. i find a full stock of Faerie Walnuts is extremely important later in the game, where spell fights usually determine the outcome of the battle. The only items that i find not needed fully-stocked are the barrels (very rarely used), and the medical herbs (effect spells from enemies usually run off quickly, and the girl has a spell that does just the same thing). 5- UPGRADE THOSE WEAPONS have Watts reforge your weapons whenever you acquire a new orb. having upgraded weapons not only allow you to up their attack levels, but actually ups their very power and sometimes changes a characteristic. for example, when certain weapons are upgraded, they have secondary effects on the enemies (such as Tangle, Space Out, Petrify, etc...) some even raise character stats. 6- USE THE SPELLS! what good are 43 spells if you only use about 5 of 'em? take advantage of enemy weak points (check them using Analyzer), then blow them away using attack spells. use weapon-enhancing spells that work against enemies of a certain area (use the reverse element of the area; in Ice Country, use Salamando - in the Fire Palace, use Undine). use effect spells like you don't care; ever notice what a combination of Wall, Lucid Barrier, Moon Energy, Moon Saber, Lunar Boost (who cares if you don't have any defense, you've got a Lucid Barrier!) Speed Up, and Defender do? with all those spells, you can kick any boss's ass in no time! an enemy just casted Lucid Barrier on himself? reverse the spell using Dispel Magic then blast him to hell! one of the best spells in the game is Luna's Magic Absorb - using it, you never have to worry about the sprite's MP. economize the girl's magic in long maze areas, but go nuts in places you know you can regenerate after. make sure you keep a full supply of Faerie Walnuts, and have a blast! 7- EXPLORE!!! this one's pretty simple: look around everywhere - you don't want to miss any good items and orbs! you should end up with all weapons level 8 upgrade before the Mana Fortress, and level 9 for everything but the Axe later on. you should have the Midge Mallet, Moogle Belt and Magic Rope too. don't just zip through dungeons; explore. _____________________________________________________________________________ IV. FAQ just made this to answer questions about SOM that people frequently ask me. the veteran SOM player probably will want to skip this section, as all it does is help with certain areas and describe certain stuff. some questions are pretty goofy, so just ignore them please. For help getting through areas not covered here, read my quick walkthrough above. Q. I keep dying at the bosses and even get killed by normal monsters! what can I do to prevent this? A. Spend an hour or so gaining levels, switching weapons whenever it's level is maxed out, then use your new money to buy the best armor you can find. Q. I finished with my axe at only level 8 even after getting it's orb from an enemy in the Mana Fortress, did I miss an orb earlier on? A. I don't think so since I don't know anyone who's finished with a level 9 axe, but sources say one enemy in the fortress gives 2 axe orbs. The glove is also often only upgraded to level 8 because of an apparent missing orb; If you are missing a glove orb, you must have missed it exploring earlier. Q. Where the hell did Watts go? A. Like... everywhere, man! Q. Sometimes I use Analyzer on a boss, and it says he is weak against a certain elemental, then I use that elemental and it only takes off 1 HP from him! What's going on? A. Ok, when this happens, you're probably not using the right spell from that category. Say it says that a boss is weak against Salamando, then you use Fireball, and nothing happens - use another spell, like say, exploder. If that doesn't work either (and sometimes it doesn't), then I'm stumped. Q. Is there such thing as a money-doubling trick? A. No. Q. Where do I get the Magic Rope, Midge Mallet and Moogle Belt? A. The magic rope is in a room in the caves at Gaia's Navel, the two other items you can learn to get by reading my walkthrough above (section 19). Q. Where do I get the Black Rock? A. Wrong game, dick rod! Read my Chrono Trigger Walkthrough. Q. I can't manage to land Flammie on the "volcano" up north! I know I'm supposed to go there, but it won't work. A. First off, you can't land there any time before the Mana Fortress is floating in the air, so go beat the Tree Palace and try again. Second, it seems that everyone just tries to land beside the volcano, or on the stream running down it's side; try landing on the green fuzzy area that looks like you shouldn't be able to land on instead, then it'll work. Q. Should I buy the Magical Armor? A. Sure, if you want! (Note that Armored Men sometimes drop this when defeated). Check out the instruction books to see if you want to buy any other armor (they're all listed along with their defensive capabilities) and LEAVE ME ALONE!!! What am I, a f*cking investment advisor? Q. How do I use the Magic Rope and what does it do? A. You can only use it in caves and mazes, not including the Mana Fortress and a few other places like that. If you know how to use any item, you know how to use the rope (you're probably just not in the right place). When in a cave or maze of some sort, just use it as you'd use any item! Q. How come all my god damn games got erased!!!??? A. There seems to be a battery backup problem with certain Square games. In SOM, although rare, the games will sometimes get erased for no reason at all. It happened to me... 3 times!!! Once I was playing on my "level 99 character / level 8 magic / level 8.9 weapons" savelog, and all of a sudden the screen just fizzled out, and when I resetted, every save was gone. It happened twice ever since, and once to my friend (who started crying like a girl). It also happened with FF2 and FF3 so I think it's the way Square backs up their games on SNES. What can you do. Shit happens. Q. I think swords are cool and I want to make one and be like the Mana Knight and I want to lob people's heads off randomly for no good reason! Ok? A. Ok! Read my Weaponsmithing Guide from my Knowledge Is Power collection and you'll be on your way in NO time! Q. Is this stupid FAQ over yet? A. Yes. _____________________________________________________________________________ V. EPILOGUE ETC. Well, I guess that just about sums everything up. I could have made charts and graphs and lists and complicated crap to make this file a little bigger, but no one's reading this anyways so what's the point. If you ARE reading this, I thank you very much for reducing my feeling of having WASTED hours of my life typing all this crap up. If you enjoyed it, I'm impressed! But anyways, I hope this answered some of your questions and I hope you read MORE of my delicious text files. I would like to thank the old Squaresoft (the one that made NES/SNES titles) for making this and many other great games. Let me say that until a few years ago, you guys rocked! All that has to do with Squaresoft that's represented in this file is copyrighted to, and probably patented to Squaresoft. One last word of advice; when you walk around outside in your backyard or whatever, you may come across strands of grass and bushes that you may be tempted to cut down. Don't spend too much time doing this as chances are you won't find anything of interest. Thank you and goodnight! _____________________________________________________________________________ IV. FAQ (cont.) Q. So, the guide's over, right? A. Nope, just ONE more line... (C)JD Cyr, 1998