Secret of Mana help

[8BitMagic]

So i just picked this up and am having a hell of a time. Is this game known for being really hard?? I just got to the point where i get magic and thought that would make it much easier but alas its almost as if i NEED someone to play it with because the AI just doesn't seem to cut it... or am i not switching characters enough? Hopefully its not a grinding issues, i haven't had this much trouble with a game in a long time.

Is it worth it to go for the iphone version?

Anyway, your tips on gameplay and strategy would be awesome!

[Xeogred]

Is it worth it to go for the iphone version?

Only if (I would imagine) you want the music quality utterly ruined and I hear the controls are very tedious for such a game.

SoM does have its tough moments, especially with the infamous lion boss early on at that witch castle. Magic levels up via using them, so if you're really having a hard time you could just spam some stuff, go back to an inn and rest up, rinse and repeat (and this is very easy to abuse with Cure). However, you should NOT rely on your partners to use magic at all. You don't really need to switch to the characters per se, you should be able to just go to the circular menu with the main character, then hit L or R or something to scroll over to the other characters and tell them to use magic.

I've cleared the game several times alone so it's very doable and I never really grind until the very end or so, leveling up the weapon levels, magic, levels in general etc, but yeah. You just have to be on your toes and managing all three characters at once pretty much. Granted I've heard the game is definitely 10x easier with someone else, but I still think it's perfectly fine on its own. The game is fairly tough around the first time you get magic though, but it gets easier as it goes for the most part up until towards the end.

Also always keep in mind what elements enemies are weak against, especially bosses. And something I never did in my first run or two was use the sword/weapon elemental spells that much... but they can definitely help out a ton. There's also one you get much later called Moon Saber where with every attack of yours that hits you gain a lot of HP back, a very nice way to keep your party healthy.

This is also a game where even a single point or two via upgrading armor can make or break battles. So make sure you are ALWAYS equipped with the best armor when available, and keep upgrading your weapons as well when you find orbs. Money is never too big of an issue, but it's definitely a game where you'll want to constantly sell back any armor you're not using.

The weapon charging is the only thing in SoM I don't really love, but it's very necessary. However the AI is never really successful with it. If you customize their AI to do this, I'd only make them charge up 2-3 levels at most. Maybe only do this with the girl, and leave the sprite alone so he can just keep hitting stuff... while you're the one that charges up the huge attacks. It's also pretty helpful to stick with a ranged weapon for one of the characters, I'd say the sprite on this one.

If it means anything, SD3 is very challenging at times too... haha. But at least in that game characters have these bars that fill up when they hit enemies, and after it's filled up to some certain points they can use a special powerful attack that the AI will almost always do... and later on in the game there's special attacks that characters get that hit every enemy on the screen.

Secret of Evermore is a tad bit easier management wise, since it's just you and your dog.

Hopefully this helps a bit. These games while flawed are probably my all time favorite real time fighting JRPG's. The only thing that gets tedious with SoM is the weapon charging, they got rid of that in SD3 and it isn't anything to miss at all. Evermore is also a lot smoother to play as well, though I think the story and atmosphere in SoM and SD3 is much better.

[MrPopo]

You probably want to keep control of the Boy if you're playing by yourself. This is because if you are controlling a character who uses magic you are unable to take any actions until you fully recover from spellcasting (which includes the spell taking full effect). If you control the boy you can do a technique called magic stacking. The way it works is that you hit X to call up the sprite, cast your spell, then as soon as the spirit disappears hit X again. You can now cast the same spell (or another one). You can repeat this over and over, and the benefit is the enemy will stay stunlocked for the duration. Just make sure you don't cast enough times that you'd do more than 999 damage, since it's capped.

[8BitMagic]

Woah, very helpful!

Ill keep this in mind and definitely keep my eyes peeled for a copy of Evermore.

I do wish i could get someone to play through it with as that sounds like the most fun way. Does have a bit of a learning curve for new players though. Probably a little bit too long for a multiplayer...

[VincentX]

Got a few more tips:

Always keep the Girl's Undine magic at the highest level so Cure Water can always heal as much as possible. The other spirits I'd recommend for her to power up would be Gnome for Defense Up and later on you'll get a spell that negates all physical attacks...for a limited time (I don't want to spoil anything in terms of characters and spirits).

The "Saber" spells can also be useful against elemental enemies; though personally I don't care for Ice Saber for normal enemies. The reason being that it will turn the enemy into a Snowman and during that time they can't be hit so it just makes some battles take longer.

If you don't think you're going to use a weapon, don't upgrade it; this will save a lot of cash in the long run. My personal set up is Sword for the Hero, Spear for the Girl and the Ax for the Sprite. I'd also recommend practicing with at least one of the following: Bow and Arrow, Javelin or Boomerang. All three of these can hit an enemy on a different height (like the Spikey Kitty when it jumped up on a ledge to use fire on you) so it's very useful for when you want to conserve magic instead of using it on an enemy that's impossible to hit with the Sword, Spear, etc.

I second the "Magic Stacking" as it will help build up a lot of damage on bosses and keep them from attacking as well. Plus you can use this for Cure Water.

Always keep a full stock of healing items and even keep a couple of Fairy Walnuts around just in case you run out of MP.

Since you just got magic I recommend leveling your magic and characters by fighting the fish right outside of the Water Temple. This way when you run low on MP and HP you can run back to Luka and a full recover for free. It does take a little extra time to get to her through the temple, but if you want to build up cash it's worth it.
Always level right near a town or a temple that you can be healed at so you can get back quickly if you start to run low on health.

Once you get it, Scan magic is invaluable as it tells you stats on an enemy such as HP amount and what they are weak against. Plus if you use it on a chest you can see if it is a trap or not; if the chest flashes red then it's trap free. It only costs 1 MP too so it's also easy to level up.

Don't buy items from Nico unless you absolutely have to. His prices are double what they are in shops. Though sometimes he has armor that no one else has.

Finally...just have fun. That's the best tip I can give for Secret of Mana, which is one of my all time favorite games.

[Xeogred]

Wow guys that's pretty hilarious, I just ran through the game a 4th time last year and completely forgot about magic stacking! Haha, yeah ... I remember that was extremely useful with cure and all.

I agree that Ice Saber sucks, don't bother with that one. I also agree sword for the hero and spear for the girl is a good setup, I sometimes switch up the sword with the axe for the hero though.

If you enjoy this game any bit 8BitMagic you should definitely check out Evermore! It's got some really unique magic and skills and some really great atmosphere at times. Jeremy Soule did the OST and it's incredible stuff and definitely has a unique sound, wish he did more on the SNES!

[o.pwuaioc]

Sword for hero, spear for girl, axe for sprite! Also, beware to not grind too much. One time I leveled up a good bit early on in the game. And I felt like the game, especially with magic stacking, never caught back up, never presented a challenge...at least not until Joch's cave challenge. I won't spoil it for ya tho.

[pakopako]

I'd also recommend practicing with at least one of the following: Bow and Arrow, Javelin or Boomerang. All three of these can hit an enemy on a different height (like the Spikey Kitty when it jumped up on a ledge to use fire on you) so it's very useful for when you want to conserve magic

I thought only the Bow and Javelin hit "higher" enemies? (The boomerang, like the whip, goes straight and doesn't "arc".) The Bow is stronger, but the Javelin (which you get after Spiky Kitty) has longer range.

Also take note of the upgrades you get; sometimes your weapon will get a special ability (stun enemies, do Holy damage, et al).

I second the "Magic Stacking" as it will help build up a lot of damage on bosses and keep them from attacking as well. Plus you can use this for Cure Water.

Magic Stacking makes these games broken, especially Evermore where you can accrue so many spells.
Heal is one of the best Undine spells out there; because it takes so long to animate, your characters remain invincible for awhile. Great if your enemy is raining doom on you.

Like MrPopo mentioned, control the boy as spell-lag means you can't spam spells while controlling a spell-caster.

...the AI just doesn't seem to cut it.

Change the AI settings; let them back off so they don't jump into enemy fire or be aggressive with quick attacks.

[VincentX]

I've hit Spikey Kitty with the boomerang while he's on the higher level before. It's harder to hit with but it does work. I prefer the Javelin over the other two, it's easy to hit with and it has the best range. Plus you can always overcome the weaker attack power with attack boosting spells.

As for the status effects, I believe the Javelin gets a "balloon" effect on one level.

I forgot about the AI settings.
Also a note on those: if you have them on backing off (bottom right), they won't use their charge attacks...but they will charge them. So definitely keep that in mind.

I also noticed that we haven't mentioned a certain glitch which can be a pain, though it rarely occurs:
Randomly an AI character can get stuck on either a background object or some random empty space. The only way I know how to un-stick them is to use anything that pulls all three characters to one spot; like Whip grapple points. If anyone else knows how to get out of this definitely put it out there.

Oh and if anyone is feeling adventurous, try a No-Magic game. I've done it and it gets very hard so if you want a real challenge, give it a shot. Obviously Magic Orbs require spell casting but other than that no magic.

[pakopako]

I forgot about the AI settings.
Also a note on those: if you have them on backing off (bottom right), they won't use their charge attacks...but they will charge them. So definitely keep that in mind.

Actually, you can control if your partners charge their attacks or not. (0 for no charge, 1 for level 1, etc)

So if they have a weapon that's level 8, you set the charge to level 3, they won't attack until level 3 is reached even if you have them under the most aggressive position.

Most times I personally keep the charge at 0, since charging a weapon slows their movement.