Beginner tips? World map location?

[Greywolf]

So yeah was a big fan of the Secret of Mana and Seiken Densetsu 3 as a youngun but I had no idea this game even existed. But that said I just started and am already confused by the part where you select your area of the world map, what does this do? Also best starting weapon and tips for what to focus on in regards to build and leveling?

[RighteousRahl]

I would suggest going to https://legendofmana.info/walkthrough/maps/ it has a placements guide and a lot of information on quests and in what order to do them so you get access to all of them and other stuff.

[Revelence]

World Map is largely for aestethics, just make sure you have some water for the few water areas, it should force you to have enough.

The game isn't too difficult and stats are heavily overshadowed by equipment bonuses so i wouldnt worry much but for a very simple build sword and shield works, high attack growth and the shield is always a nice option. 2h sword or hammer to double down on strength growth also work well. You *can* optimize, but trust me the weapon and armor you equip are waaay more important than your stats as any weapon type once smithed well one shots the whole game, so I'd say buy one of each weapon and just pick one you like the combos/look of.

[Rocko]

Here's the optimal placement to get every event and item: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2526704249

[Yekkusu]

Don't worry too much about map placement, this game has a very big replayabillity, it was actually made for you to replay it learning with your mistakes. Make the most of your money with it this way. If the part of the map you select doesn't have enough land for land only artefacts the game will not let you select the area so you can select any part you want.

Now if you want to know how to put artifacts on land to have the quests done, all of them, you just need to leave a space between Domina (Colorblocks) and Duma Desert (Sand Rose) and put the Sword of Mana between them. That will max out all spirit levels on the four adjacent lands and that will sufice for the extra missions on both places.
And, I know there is one mission you can lose if you do another, and it's the Gilber's mission. I think it's Love is Blind, it can be missed or failed if you start if but finish Gilber: School Amour first. Then again, you can always replay this game, NG+ acutally gives you a lot of replayabillity there. xD

[Hyper Realistic Blood]

The best advice is to just not overthink it

[Greywolf]

So is there a main plot thread to follow or is it just wander around till you find a side mission then get more artifacts and wander around those areas and get more side missions? Also if you don't do the side missions in a certain order or dont place artifacts in certain spots on the map that are arbitrarily decided by the game you can apparently miss out on content despite it giving no hints or information that this will happen?

Don't want to use a guide as that spoils things but I am just trying to understand the underlying mechanics here? So far nothing I have done seems to be connected to any sort of overarching plot and I just feel like I am doing side missions and placing artifacts with no real concept of what is supposed to be happening?

[Meira]

Originally posted by Greywolf:

So is there a main plot thread to follow or is it just wander around till you find a side mission then get more artifacts and wander around those areas and get more side missions? Also if you don't do the side missions in a certain order or dont place artifacts in certain spots on the map that are arbitrarily decided by the game you can apparently miss out on content despite it giving no hints or information that this will happen?

Don't want to use a guide as that spoils things but I am just trying to understand the underlying mechanics here? So far nothing I have done seems to be connected to any sort of overarching plot and I just feel like I am doing side missions and placing artifacts with no real concept of what is supposed to be happening?

There are 3 big quest lines, the Jumi, the Faerie and the Dragon. There are some few smaller questlines as well. If you follow the artifact placement guide you can't miss any event. For a bigger of understanding what the heck you are actually doing in the game there are some vague clues being dropped here and there but it is up to the player to find it and connect the pieces together

[team.malice]

There are 3 main quests that lead up to the final artefact/goal of the game (you actually need to complete only one of them). You can't really miss these or mess them up. Two of them, you can start very early. For example you meet Elazul in Domina and can choose to start the story arc for his people (Jumi) there. Same goes for the Faerie arc, which can also be started right at start of your game (Daena in Domina). The last one starts much later, but is more or less unavoidable (unless you don't place the artefact at all).
Just follow one or more of these main quests and place the artefacts in whatever way you want. Talk to NPCs and revisit the towns (e.g. Domina, Gato Grottes and such) for new quests. You can also disable enemy encounters and just explore the maps (makes backtracking so much easier).
Will you miss some side quests? Yes. For a complete run you will need either a guide or a lot of free time. But you can do that on your second play (new game+).

Here are some tips to avoid missing quests or mess them up:

1. There are some side quest lines where you can mess up because you finished a later part of that quest line before the earlier parts (e.g. completing sub quest 3 before 2). You can't know about this without a guide or playing through the game multiple times and noticing yourself that you missed a quest. It's unavoidable because the random artefact rewards/order.
The only tip I can give you without spoiling is, place and visit the cities in the following order:
- Domina/Colorblocks
- Gato/Flame
- Lumina/Firefly Lamp
- Polpota/Rusty Anchor
- Geo/tome of magic

2. Revisit these towns and check the NPCs for new quests often. That way you will get most quests.

3. Some quests won't play out fully (or even start) if you give the wrong answers to NPCs (your decisions matter :-) ). Be nice and help people if they are in need and you should be good.

4. Some quests need you to leave a screen or town and go back in just to advance/see the next scene play.

5. There are a handfull of quests (3 or 4 I think) that need specific mana-levels in certain areas/placed artefacts to trigger. You can read up on that in any guide (think of them as secrets/bonus content).

6. Since you are playing the remaster you have the benefit of saving your game (mostly) where ever and when ever you want. Make use of this at the start of a quest and reload if you think you messed it up. Also use 2 slots as long term saves, so that you can go back a bit further if needed.

I would avoid advanced crafting for weapons and armor, pet raising or golem building in your first game run. These topics get extremly complex and time/resource intensive. A lot of the better materials you need/are recommended will be much easier to get on your 2nd game run. Some are only available in new game+ anyway. Most of the stuff you could craft/raise will be overpowered on the 1rst game run (yey you can kill a boss in one hit).

Also, don't worry about leveling. You will get to a place near the end of the Jumi story arc (relatively late in the game) where you can level up extremly quickly all the way up to max level. So don't waste time on grinding.
One last thing, placing things farther away from your home will make the monsters there stronger (better EXP/rare drops) and the shops in towns there will also have higher quality items/materials/equipment.

[Greywolf]

So what is the deal with the cactus guy? Do I have to go back to him after each quest to get him to record it and is there any reason I need to do this? It seems completing 2 quests or more before coming back he will only record 1 of them.