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. 

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 design looks like this, with artifacts coded by order placed: 
------------------                      1 Mailbox         14 Bottled Spirit 
|26| 4| 5|11|12|  |                     2 Colorblocks     15 Brooch of Love 
|__|__|__|__|__|__|                     3 Wheel           16 Moons Mirror 
| 3| 1| 2|17|13|15|                     4 Flame           17 Sword of Mana 
|__|__|__|__|__|__|                     5 Jade Egg        18 Frozen Heart 
| 9| 8| 6| 7|18|16|                     6 Firefly Lamp    19 Trembling Spoon 
|__|__|__|__|__|__|                     7 Stone Eye       20 Skull Lantern 
|  |14|10|20|19|  |                     8 Medallion       21 Dragonbone 
|__|__|__|__|__|__|                     9 Ancient Tablet  22 White Cane 
|  |  |21|25|22|  |                    10 Broken Doll     23 Rusted Anchor 
|__|__|__|__|__|__|                    11 Golden Seed     24 Tome of Magic 
|  |  |  |  |23|24|                    12 Torch of Coral  25 Pirate's Hook 
|__|__|__|__|__|__|                    13 Desert Rose     26 Jumi Staff 
 

It is hard to get this, but if you have the brooch down, and have defeated the 
boss therein, you need only see if your tree looks mature before you can acquire 
the Sword of Mana. The Golden Seed you can place earlier, if its spot is 
available, but you really ought to place it next to where the Mana Tree will be 
placed later, or in other words, where I put it, basically. Also worth 
mentioning is 22 - 26 are all optionally placed, although the Tome of Magic is 
definitely wanted as far from the Mailbox as possible. 

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. 

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. 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 - ??/??/???? - Revised version, with your assistance 
