  
WALKTHROUGH
1- The Rusty Sword
After your character falls off the log and into the pond, find your 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 and equip it. Now save and go talk to your friends at the elder's house (top right). You will 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. No need to worry about this battle since you'll get revived if ever you die. 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. *TIP* Most enemy spells can be blocked as follows; right before the spell hits you, use a candy. If timed right, you will heal yourself instead of receiving damage. This trick is useful throughout the entire game. You can substitute candy for any of the girl's effect/heal spells.
2- Luka at the Water Palace
You can either use canon travel (which is free for now) just southeast of the village, or take the long way around by walking. The canon travel is free, but level building is important at 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. You'll come across Neko, a feline items seller; don't buy from him it's too expensive, but he'll be helpful later in the game. Right before the palace is a troop of soldiers, talking to them will teach you about Dyluck and about the witch Elinee. 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. The path 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. *NOTE* If you decide to explore PanDora and visit the castle, the girl will join the team. This is not in your favor since the quest ahead will direct you straight to a more difficult area.
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 winding path down to the pond. Don't go up to the Enchanted Forest yet (near he Canon Travel). At the bottom, enter the pond and then take the LEFT cave entrance to avoid trouble.
4- The Caves of Gaia
The "drop" enemies in this cave will keep multiplying as long as one of them is kept alive. This is especially good for level gaining; just kill off any Blats and Kid Goblins that look threatening, and eliminate one drop at a time. Make sure not to let your HP get too low, heal with candy. 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 small subcave of the lava-filled room, two Kid Goblins guard a chest; kill them and open the chest to receive the Magic Rope. You eventually make your way into an underground village of dwarfs.
5- Village of the Dwarfs
Explore the village, save, and make your way to Watts the blacksmith (top left cavern), 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 exit and visit the back room (via the right branch of the hall) 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- The Haunted Forest
"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. Neko will be sitting near a ledge, you should save here. At one point you enter a ring where the girl you met earlier is getting beaten up by two wolves. Help her and kill the two enemies and she will join your team, bring- ing along a new weapon; the glove. After the teleporter, take the right path and kill the Eye-Spy, then take the teleporter a bit further. Smash the statues there with the axe, and return and take the left path. Keep exploring the forest until you get to Elinee's castle. Enter the castle and follow the simple maze which is crowded with difficult enemies. Rescue the soldiers in the basement and save with Neko (translates as "cat" in japanese!). Also make sure to buy everything you can, including the cups of wishes and Royal Jams; the next enemy is extremely tough! 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 power- ful; reverse their effects using a Medical Herb. When he is beaten (this may take a few tries), you receive the Boomerang Orb, then the Whip and 50 GP. Head back to the Water Palace quickly by going across the gap with the whip.
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, best kill them with the whip. 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. To get close to him, approach him at an angle so he can't lash at you with his tongue. 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 a dark 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 back to the main room, and down and left to hit the other. When both switches are activated, go back to the large room and up the new stairs that have appeared. Ignore the horse-like monsters, in fact I would advise to ingore all enemies but those in your way. When you reach a gap, quickly cross it with the whip. This dungeon usually takes more than one try just to get through, even at very high levels. At the end of this place is Gnome and another Mana Seed. You must beat the Fire Gigas to get to the seed. The Gigas is easy, simply attack him as soon as his physical shape appears, and use the girl to heal. For this you get an Axe Orb and Gnome gives you his powers - you also get to seal a second mana seed so now you can raise your magic levels to 2. Exit the cave and make your way out of Gaia's Navel and back east to Pan Dora 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 linear. 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. You get a Bow Orb for this battle. After the fight, exit that area and head to Pan Dora castle and to the throne room, where the treasure room is free for you to explore. Inside are each a Spear and Sword 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, grab the Whip 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 and get the Javelin Orb, return to the Water Palace. There, some other thieves want the seed. You will have to fight Jaberwocky; he is quite easy. just stay away from him, then ap- proach, strike and retreat. Do this until he is dead. You'll receive a Bow Orb. After another "cut scene", Jema gives you a Glove Orb and tells you that you must go to the Upper Land. You can go to the Upper Land via the Canon Travel centre near Potos Village.
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. Grab the Axe and Whip Orbs in the chests. 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 Spring Beak with spells and normal attacks and use the bow when he is on a ledge. He gives a Boomerang Orb. 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 dark orb. Use the sprite's Sylphid magic on it to pass. The next area may seem confusing, but just keep going north until you find a cave. You'll also notice that the nearby Canon Travel is unoperational for now. *TIP* Steamed crabs in the Upper Land sometimes give the expensive Faerie Walnuts when defeated. Very useful early on when you don't have much cash.
12- Home of the 'Shrooms - Fung Castle
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 north through the outdoor mushroom maze. Enter the cave, and follow the path, hitting switches along the way to finally reach a clearing outside, where the Great Viper resides. Physically attack the big snake, and heal when needed. Gnome's spell Thunderbolt works well on this enemy. After the battle you get the Sword Orb. Go up and enter the new cave and talk to the creature. After you appear back in the throne room and are done talking, go grab the Javelin Orb, then visit the Canon Travel center in front of the caves of Matango. Talk to the canon guy there, destination: Kakkara desert.
*EXTRA* A SoM "secret area" is situated in the INN of Matango. Simply scroll the walls and the characters will walk through and end up behind the counter!
13- Kakkara Desert
You will land in a barren desert at an undisclosed location. Head as far north as you can (you will have to take a few left turns) and in about 3 minutes of travel 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 right 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. Gehstar and his bike will attack you as Mech Rider. Strike him from above to avoid being attacked and use Gem Missile for good damage. After the fight you get a Whip Orb but are again stranded. Talk to everybody and you will eventually end up in Kakkara. Nothing of interest for now, just take Canon Travel (right of village) and go to the Ice Country. You land right in the middle of snowy a christmas village.
14- The Ice Country
Buy armor and visit Watts in the blacksmith shop, then save and exit the village. Here are some tough but rewarding monsters; the wolves give lots of experience, but try to avoid the floating puffs. 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 a Spear Orb. Keep following the path and you'll reach tough boss Boreal Face. Charge your attacks cause he's nearly immune to all magic. Thunderbolt will inflict a little damage. Heal often. When he dies you receive the Bow's Orb. Go north to 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. Go back and take the right trail to go to the Ice Palace. Inside, follow the path which will split; go right to get the Glove Orb (the only "good" item in this place so don't break your head searching). Follow the maze, you'll get to a room with 3 mini-boss type monsters. They don't all wake up if you don't bug them so try to kill them seperately. Keep going and you'll come face to face against enemy lord Frost Cigas. He is weak against fire, so use Flame Blade and the sprite's fire spells. Killing him will get you a Boomerang Orb. Seal the seed and head back to Canon Travel to go to Kakkara.
*NOTE* If you want, save an extra log where Neko is, it might be useful when you restart a new game (see Part 4 : Find Every Orb).
15- The Fire Palace
Back in Kakkara, save and exit the village. From here, go south once, then west once, then north to get to the Palace. This place is somewhat compli- cated and pretty long; cast Salamando on the first 2 dark orbs, and Undine on the last one. There's an Axe Orb in this dungeon, make sure not to miss it. In the room with the pillars, walk between the only 2 lit lanterns and you'll fight Minotaur. Keep away and pummel him with magic, and make sure to use the healing trick since his magic is very strong. After fighting the boss you'll get the Javelin's Orb, and you'll get to re-enegize a new seed. 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 once again visit Watts to upgrade your weapons, then enter the Canon Travel center and head for 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 old lady Mara / tasnican spy resides. She says the code to sewer access is 364, so go east to find the sewer access gate. Go through the sewers and kill the slimes and fish (pretty tough, heal often!) to eventually find yourself in the resistance's main base. Here you will talk to Krissie, then exit the house and buy new equip- ment, since the armor here, while being expensive, isn't half bad. Save and go northeast to the Ancient Ruins.
*EXTRA* There is an infamous SoM "secret area" in Southtown. At the bottom of town where the trees are, scroll along the edge to find a crevice the character can walk around in! Not too shabby!
17- The Empiral Ruins
Go up until you meet Phanna, and the girl will get pissed and slash at her. Krissie 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 (Bow, Spear, and Sword). These are situated in the left and right towers, and in a small room along the way (the door to this room is surrounded by spikes; hit a switch on the bottom floor to deactivate them). At the end, you will be in a large room where Dyluck is standing. Talk to him. After a bit, you will have to fight Doom Wall; kill it as you did the other Wall to get the Whip Orb. But now you have another problem, a giant Vampire. He is not specifically difficult but the battle can be 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. You'll get the Boomerang Orb for beating him. After this area, in the Resistance's base, Krissie is invi- ted 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 fight the Metal Mantis. This beast can effect-magic your characters, but has fairly low HP. Whack it with all you've got for a quick victory and a Glove Orb. After killing the beast, make your way back up and save the members of the resis- tance, then find a way up the top of the tower. Don't miss the long room containing the 2 chests! This room is in the right wing of the tower and is accessed from the outside. In the first room is a chest being guarded by 2 Embermen; this contains a Whip Orb. Keep going up and WALK INTO THE WALL, you will enter a new room with an often missed Axe Orb! The last area is tricky, first go left and trip the right switch. You'll appear to the right. There's a near-invisible switch on the wall, hit it so you can pass. Atop the tower, Ghestar will attack you again as Mech Rider. Beat him easily by constantly hitting him with random spells, and hit him when he's close. You'll get a Javelin's Orb. The tower will start to crumble, but at the last minute, an old friend decides to show up for a visit. Drop him off at Matango.
*TIP* The Emporer's Tower is a great spot for level building! Embermen give loads of experience AND gold! Plus they sometimes drop armor! In 30 minutes of fighting these guys, you'll gain about 10 levels, not to mention 50000GP!
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 the camera angle is set 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 3D 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). Head for Tasnica.
*NOTE* Now is a good time to get the Moogle Belt and Midge Mallet. Find the small island shaped like a diamond, then lower Flammie over a nice landing spot to set you down. From there, visit the shop and obtain the Sea Hare's tail and bring it to Kakkara village to trade it against the Moogle Belt. Now visit Gaia's Navel and speak to the dwarf behind the large moon-shaped hole in the ground. He is so happy to see you that he gives you his Midge Mallet. Another interesting site is the Lighthouse Island, try to find it!
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 (the spy - he gives you a Sword Orb), 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 this 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 mountain range of the main continent, find the small village and land Flammie.
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 Palace of Darkness... you can beat it now or nevermind it and come back to it. If you decide to beat it now, see section 21a. If not, keep climbing the moun- tain. At one point you MIGHT find Neko. His stuff is too expensive, so just save. This is my favorute area of the game, very beautiful... My personal favorite enemy is also here, the eggatrice - he's hilarious and fun to kill since he goes "pop" when he dies. Climb and cross the gaps, and finally enter the cave. Talk to "jehk" who tells you that Sage Joch is out to the Palace of Darkness, right below the mountain (the cave you saw earlier is the palace). So go back down the mountain and enter. Ok, here it starts!...
21a. Enter the cave, which has some medium-hard enemies. This area is a little too complicated to chart out verbally so I'll just give you some pointers; start off by going RIGHT, check all the rooms for treasure chests (one contains a Glove Orb), and after you remove the barrier from the main hall, don't go back down right away - go find a gap to cross with the whip and hit the switch, then use the Magic Rope to go back. Once up the last flight of stairs, you must fight the Lime Slime. Go right for his core and whack away at it, healing constant- ly. You'll get the Javelin's Orb when you beat it, and after that you can enter the seed room and meet shade, who will give his power to the sprite. Make sure to get the Orb, many people miss it! 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 Mara again, who will give you the key to the tower. Go back to the tower, and follow its pretty linear path. Oh yeah the guys are pretty tough so make sure you've got good armor. Make sure to find the chests containing the Axe and Spear Orbs. The boss here is Blue Spikey; he's extremely tough. Pummel him with Gem Missile and keep healing! His demise will get you a Boomerang Orb. You also have to beat the Gorgon Bull (next story of the tower), who is easier but still a threat. Zap him with your best spells and whack him as he runs by, you'll get Bow Orb. The girl will receive Lumina. Seal the seed and go back to the mountains and find Jehk. He tells you that now Joch is 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 Lumina 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 (the landscape loops). 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 where Luna is. She'll give the girl and the sprite her magic powers. 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. The monsters in here are nearly impossible to kill, so just pass by everything (no special items in this area, no need to search). Use the Whip to cross ravines and use the Axe to clear the path of rocks. You'll come across the Dopplegangers, clones of your group. 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
Suffice to say I don't like this place. It's the biggest maze I've ever seen (followed by the Pure Land and NorthTown Ruins) and has no save points, so if you die, you have to restart. This maze is complicated to explain but I'll do my best. I'll divide this long area into 4 parts;
PART A: Fortress Rising The monsters here are very hard, so make sure you have at least the Tiger Suit and/or Tiger Bikini equiped. When you first enter, the Emporer, Sheex and Phanna. Sheex is pissed so you have to fight him as Aegagropilon. Dispel his Wall and blast him to get your Spear Orb, and after the battle go left and down the stairs to get Dryad's powers. After the continent rises, use Flamie to go save somewhere, then go back to the continent and decend unto it. Jema and some troops are down there securing the area, but needs help getting inside.
PART B: Entering The Abyss From outside, go down the stairs on the left and through the waterway to get to a flight of stairs. In this area little plants block you, and waterfalls prevent you from walking up in some areas. In the first small room, use the axe to get through, then take the high-stepper to reach the second level. Open the chest to get the Boomerang Orb, and run to the door on the left. Here's is 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 waterfall, but the switch will be on the right wall this time. Go through the door and fight the enemy lord Hydra, a 3-headed monster. Attack it physically and with your best magic, and it should die easily, and will give you a Whip Orb.
PART C: One Hellish Maze One tip for this maze, there are little borders around the place which let you go down but not back up, so make sure which way you're going. Anyhow, start by going downstairs and through the middle door, then take the left elevator down. Go through the hidden door on the left and hit the switch to get rid of the barrier, which you go through to get to a room where the Re- sistance is staying. Krissie will heal you and Watts can upgrade your gear, but you can't save. Go through the corridor to an elevator, and press the switch on the right (this removes a barrier in a main room). Go through the corridor until you get to a plate of 4 dots on the floor. Step on it to shut off a barrier. Keep going until you get to the 4 colored light switches. Flick them in this order: RED, BLUE, YELLOW, GREEN. Now go down. Hit the switch where the 2 Kimono Wizards are BEFORE going down or else you'll have to restart everything. You'll get to the subway station. The enemies in here 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. When you exit the train... well what do you know! Face to face with Kettle Kin, just kill him like you did Kilroy and you'll get a Bow's Orb. Exit this dump.
PART D: Faceoff Now you're outside. Talk to Jema and go through the entrance into the Grand Palace. This place actually isn't that bad, just cast the appropriate spells on their dark orb to remove the barrier in the main area. Don't miss the Sword Orb in a chest near the Lumina dark orb. When you get out of this place it's time to end this darn maze with a fight with the Snapdragon. Easily killed with fire spells, or else just do the same trick as with the guy in Undine's cave. You'll get a Javelin Orb for his defeat. Go downstairs where you'll find the Emporer dead. When Hexas fights you, just whack at it and you'll easily win and get a Whip Orb. After one hell of a cut scene, you'll be riding Flamie. 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 your game, and find the thing he's talking about. 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 Dragon Worm. Hit him with all you got when he's in plain view and you'll get an Axe Orb. 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. This is an Frost Dragon and is weak against Salamando (just like the previous boss). He'll give you a Bow Orb. Keep going you'll come across an Axe Beak, weak against Undine; kill him to get the Javelin's Orb then keep going and save at the save spot. Go left, kill the Red Dragon (weak against Undine), get the Glove Orb then return, save and go on. The next enemy boss is an extremely powerful Thunder Gigas 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 dies and gives you the last Sword Orb, save at the NEW save point, and go left to kill the Blue Dragon (who's weak against Gnome). You'll get the Boomerang Orb. Go through the pass thing and you'll have found the Mana Tree. Now you're ready to beat the fortress.
*HINT* In case you didn't notice, the pre-bosses in the Pure Land give away the weakness of the upcoming boss, the ones announced by the save spots (ie: Dragon Worm is weak against Salamando, and so is the Snow Dragon) Got it?
*NOTE* This is the only place in the game you can obtain the boy's best helm, the Griffin Helm. This rare item is dropped by Griffin's Claws at 100/1 odds.
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 immune 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. Ok next fight's tough; the faceoff with Geshtar. Charge your attacks and forget magic because it'll mostly be use- less. You might need to revive a few times. When you win you'll get the Spear Orb. When you take the right teleporter out of this 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 magic users cast Mana Magic on it to revive it. It is possible to kill this beast without the Mana 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!
*NOTE* Many non-boss monsters in the Mana Fortress give away great armor and even weapon orbs, as well as lots of experience. Every character's best armor can be found here (excluding the Griffin Helm), simply by fighting enemies, who sometimes drop things when they die.
26- The End Once you kill the Mana Beast, you've done it! Sit back and enjoy the great (but kinda sad) ending. Hope you had fun! I'm sure this isn't the last time you'll be playing SoM. Well... not unless you rented the game that is.
(C)JD Cyr, 1998
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