lomappreciationblog

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2nd mermaid post for Mermay, this time featuring Seamoon from Children of Mana!

It seems she was designed by Ryoma Ito, according to the notes, who also worked on the art for Heroes of Mana.

I always found it cute she just lounges in a bathtub haha. I never noticed her fish-designed arm wraps, what a neat detail.

I'm pretty sure Seamoon has a personal sidequest where she asks you to throw a ring from an implied ex back into Star Lake, but I can't remember all the details. Aside from that, she serves as an NPC who tells you how to play the game.

#children of mana #ds games #videogame art #mermaid

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All the spirit art from Children of Mana!

The lead character designer for both Dawn of Mana and Children of Mana is Nao Ikeda, who also designed the NPCs for Legend of Mana. Her work is very beautiful and detailed, and I think it shows especially with the Elemental Spirits in Children of Mana, especially if you compare them to how they look in other Mana titles.

Not that any of the other Spirit art is bad (in fact they're really charming!) but I think Ikeda drew them the most detailed. Say, Wisp isn't just a simple fireball, but also has a facial marking and this two crystalline "arms" in this title. Also, I just adore the way she stylizes fire differently for Salamander and Wisp, Salamander looks more rounded and puffy, Wisp's has these whorls and sharper peaks. And just the way her art flows for Undine! Ah, I'm in love.

Personally, I always went with Wisp, I played this game solo and healing is always good to have on hand.

I find Children to be a very underrated title, in fact I was looking for the sprites and such but the only ones I could see uploaded were the enemy and boss sprites. Which is too bad, it would be nice to have a database of all the art in this game.

#children of mana #mana series #videogame #ds games #i also always went with tamber for no real gameplay reason #it does get funny equipping her with magic gems tho

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Oh hey it's Mermay!

So here's a Flameshe singing for a timely post. I think I like Dream of Distant Days' original version a bit more than the rearranged version in HD, though I appreciate that in the HD version, you can hear Flameshe struggling with some notes easier - and yes, by comparison, Monique and Elle's versions flow more smoothly.

Flameshe will actually acknowledge that if you bring Elle!

If you don't bring Elle, Flameshe stops at the first text box, but if you did bring Elle, they have a short but sweet exchange.

When I haven't done the complete siren quests I never found out who Elle was, and I thought Flameshe reads as complaining when she says Elle is a better singer, but after having replayed this quest a bunch of times, I realize Flameshe is genuinely in awe of Elle's singing. It's so sweet, you really can feel the sisterly bond Monique, Flameshe and Elle have.

#legend of mana #lom #lom flameshe

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All the Tomtes I have currently unlocked in Egglia: Rebirth, alongside their gift plushies!

I think I might still be missing one, though, based off the unlockable gallery art...

That little fellow off to the far right, with violet on them? I don't have that Tomte yet.

So, to get any of these in your town -

Spoiler alert!...though the loading screen tip kinda spells it out...but if you want to figure out yourself, don't read past this!

Tomte will come to your town if you place lot of furniture with a particular color in a room of your house. Can be any room and any furniture, just make the majority of them one color (blue to get Skye, green to get Leif, and so on). They'll pop up in your town soon after that, you might have to go on one quest and come back to load them.

So as to get the multicolored one, I guess it's the same and I either put a lot violet furniture in my room or place a bit of every color, I have yet to try.

Funnily enough I only got the Tomtes after I've finished the complete main story, when I could finally freely craft furniture I like and I got a whole lot of furniture from Osiria. The Egg series and Redcap series of furniture easily fulfill the yellow and red color requirements.

#egglia #egglia rebirth #can never get enough of this game's art style #the dolls are especially cute!

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Random, but I always found Big Baby so cute among the enemy designs - it just looks so squishy and cute!

On an emulator I was able to actually get its Monster egg and had it as a pet, but so far no luck on my LOM HD file, I think it's one of the rarer Aquatic eggs. Also, I think some monsters appear as eggs based off the spirit influence on the location, so it might be my current map is lacking. Don't quote me on this though, a lot of the technical aspects of LOM flies by me haha.

I do wish Big Baby retained its enemy colors as a pet, the violet+green combo is nicer than the orange+purple colors pets have. Pets in general aren't actually too useful in battle admittedly, but I like how they look. I always kept the very first Rabite you hatch (which I now name Riri), and on an old emulator file I eventually got my favorites, a Big Baby, Poto, Sky Dragon and Kid Dragon. Of these, only Sky Dragon is competent in actual battle since their ice breath gives enemies a Snowman status, which also drains health. I always wanted Chocobo, but it only appears if your system detects a FF7 save file, I think? So I'm not sure how to make it appear in LOM HD. On my LOM HD file I almost always bring my dear Riri, and I think the pet AI may have been tweaked a little because I feel like Riri lands attacks more consistently now, but again, not really good on LOM's technical aspects.

#legend of mana

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Being true to yourself and having the freedom to do it is a major recurring theme among Legend of Mana's cast, and I think the ending to A Siren's Song best showcases it.

I already said a lot about this in my Monique appreciation post, but it's just striking to me that Monique is a character who's unashamedly herself, and she makes a clear point about it in her quest appearances, telling Gilbert to not downplay her humble dreams of being a lamp maker and wanting Elle to be freed from her imprisonment. Although she wants the same freedom for Elle, once you achieve that freedom, Monique never smothers Elle in her way of living, reassuring Elle it's okay to be a coward, too, if that's what she wants to be, as long as it's by her will.

The idea of being true to yourself is also present in the three major arcs and arguably what kicks off the biggest problems in Fa'Diel, especially when you take a look at the antagonists. Some cases ARE more sympathetic than others (say, Larc compared to Irwin) but that's part of what makes LoM endlessly fascinating for me.

#legend of mana #lom #elle #monique #i already said this before but gosh I want to be Monique so bad

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In celebration of 2024 being the year of the dragon, here's a few art I found related to dragons of Legend of Mana! These are all from the Art of Mana illustration book, which I have been recommending forever on this blog for all people who love the Masa series. Even if you don't play the games, it has some of the most beautiful art I know, so check it out if you like fantasy illustrations!

Here is the concept art for Sierra and a chibi of her in the Mana series anniversary art! Both of these are made by Nao Ikeda, who is the character designer for LOM's NPCs and main artist as well for Children of Mana. Her work is simply gorgeous and the way she describes her design choices is music to me. Just read the notes for Sierra here! In case you can't read it, the note on top is:

The look of her armor is of something like "for many brave warriors, the aftermath of dreams." It's a fossil of a sacred dragon, covered in vines.

The bottom note is:

A wolf who serves the white dragon Vadise. Her master is the guardian of the forest, so she has vines wrapped around her armor. She's a wolf, so I was conscious of giving her cool colors to make her feel more dignified, mature, and feminine. (Ikeda)

Unfortunately, while the art book is pretty extensive covering the cast of LOM, there is little information on the characters of the Dragon Arc, aside from Sierra here, which is a shame as I wanted some design notes on Vadise, too, but I also understand as the Jumi and Star-Crossed Lovers characters are given more explanations.

That being said, there IS a cut character from the Dragon Arc which I found:

The notes, from top to bottom, are:

Before becoming an angel, she belonged to a rare race of aggressive "sea dragonewts." Usually, her eyes are covered by her bangs. This character was going to appear in the Dragon Killer chapter. She has a motif of a seahorse. (Ikeda)

This character design is amazing and I wish we could have seen her in game, but I do wonder where she would have fit in. Perhaps there originally was supposed to be a sea-themed dragon, and Battle Angel Valkyrie her dragoon? But also, her being an angel conflicts with the winged motif Escad was going to have (this trait was later passed to Daena), so I understand why she was cut out.

A cute li'l Windcaller from the same anniversary art as Sierra earlier!

I always felt bad for these guys and I don't blame the one who's very sniffy towards us after the end of the Dragon Arc.

And here's a character who's not a part of the Dragon arc, but is a dragon nonetheless - it's our resident "don't go into this area mechanism", Boink!

I love how goofy these guys are.

#legend of mana #legend of mana sierra #sierra the dragoon #concept art

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Legend of Mana is just so silly.

Ok, but the fact that Serafina/Shiloh literally lets Dovula take a couple of bites is just so funny, especially while Teapo warns you it's happening.

And after our MCs politely let that happen?

Immediately after we get to throw down with Dovulla, almost as if our MC was insulted by the filthy human remark lol.

#rip dovulla for literally appearing once and never again #dude got beat up so bad he probably hid from us #legend of mana #legend of mana hd #teapo #count dovulla

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Oooh new Mana game?

Admittedly the only Mana games I've played and finished are Legend of Mana and Children of Mana. (I have played Sword of Mana on emulator, but I haven't finished it yet...but I will get back to it sometime!)

I don't have the consoles or the PC to play this though....I only have a Switch, and it seems doubtful this game will be ported to it. It definitely looks beautiful, and seeing our familiar Elemental Spirits make me smile. I'm just guessing here, but I think HACCAN is the character designer and/or character artist, since looking at the characters it's similar to the art he's made for the Mana series.

The main character does give me Shiloh vibes, love the poofy hair haha. It does make me wonder, will we ever get a full game in HD featuring Shinichi Kameoka's art style? Egglia shows its possible for his characters to be in 3D, after all.

Though it seems I won't be able to play this game, it's still nice to have new titles for the Mana series! It also looks like this is what Dawn of Mana should have been, if it hadn't been plagued by development and technical problems (that being said, the art im Dawn of Mana is godly though, Nao Ikeda's work is gorgeous.)

I am thinking of playing Children of Mana again since it also has beautiful art, so maybe I'll post about it soon.

#not lom but all mana games are loved and appreciated! #Fa'Diel in Visions of Mana looks beautiful ngl #Youtube

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Part 3 of hidden dialogue involving a Jumi character in special circumstances! Last one is Diana.

As with the last two posts - this contains massive spoilers for the Jumi Arc in Legend of Mana as a whole - I highly encourage to only see this post if you've already completed the Jumi Arc!!!

Unlike Rubens and Esmeralda, Diana doesn't have any unique conversation on her own...because she's reverted to her statue form in the Underworld.

You can, however, interact with her by talking to her, which she will acknowledge by making her core gleam and she also blinks.

Bring Pearl or Elazul along, however, and you can still get a special interaction (Elazul interactions will have to be on another post, I don't have any record of it on my current playthrough).

It's interesting to me here that once again the MC has a dialogue choice, but rather than relay Pearl's message to the dead Jumi, here Pearl asks you directly if you think Diana has given up.

And you can say yes or no - but I picked no this time.

Diana being a statue could be an indication of despair, but like I mentioned in the initial post, the Underworld is a place for souls clinging to life, so the fact that she's here seems to indicate she's holding on, same as the others.

This one's a shorter post, but there's really not much to delve into here.

I don't know if it's possible to bring Blackpearl here as there's a limited amount of circumstances when Blackpearl takes control and is your companion. Once Teardrop Crystal is done, the dead Jumi are revived, so there's no reason to bring her here anymore.

#legend of mana #lom hd #jumi #legend of mana diana

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Part 2 of hidden dialogue from Jumi in special circumstances! This time with Esmeralda.

As with the previous post - this contains massive spoilers for the Jumi Arc in Legend of Mana as a whole - I highly encourage to only see this post if you've already completed the Jumi Arc!!!

Esmeralda is my cinnamon roll and I'm sure for a lot of other players, seeing her get killed in the Lucky Clover quest stings a lot. So it's very bittersweet seeing her in the Underworld, knowing we were unable to protect her...but she's fine as she can be despite being dead, and is still pretty upbeat even, not intimidated by being in the Underworld.

In fact, she might even have made friends with the Shadoles!

Like Rubens, Esmeralda doesn't let her circumstances get her down, and also strongly believes in the Jumis' continued survival. She does show a bit of doubt and fear in asking if we think the Jumi will die out, but rather than dwelling on that thought, she tries to hold onto her hope.

If you bring Pearl along...

(Terra is the name I use for the female MC, since she reminds me of Terra Branford from FF 6)

Also Esmeralda saying that is a stab to my poor heart, thank you LoM :'D

This conversation really is just plunging daggers into my chest.

Pearl saying not being able to talk is too much...gah.

I do find it curious that the dead Jumi can tell another Jumi is nearby even while dead, but none of the Jumi ever sense Sandra for what she is, a fellow Jumi. Though it is possible that Jumi can diminish their presence to other Jumi, seeing as Elazul had difficulty finding Pearl in Mekiv until the coast was clear and she showed herself. That, or Sandra, being of alexandrite core, has a special ability to hide herself.

Same as with Rubens, Pearl asks you to pass along a message, and we can actively do so!

don't mind me just lying down in a puddle of my tears.

Here's a recording of the latter part of the conversation.

It's a small thing, that animation and sound of Jumi cores resonating, but ughhhhh it's so good.

#legend of mana #legend of mana hd #esmeralda #jumi

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A collection of dialogues you can get from Jumi in special circumstances, shall we say. This post turned out long, so I will focus on Rubens in this one!

This contains massive spoilers for the Jumi Arc in Legend of Mana as a whole - I highly encourage to only see this post if you've already completed the Jumi Arc!!!

I wrote this before my previous post, so sorry for repeating some points, but I think this post is clearer with those!

The special circumstances is...throughout the Jumi Arc, several characters die, these being Rubens, Esmeralda (my bby...) and Diana. However...if you go to the Underworld after their deaths, you can actually find them in separate rooms.

Which in itself is already a significant fact, because as Pokiehl explained in in Diddle's Had It!...the Underworld is not a place of rest, but a place for souls who "still cling to life." With that in mind, being able to find Rubens, Esmeralda and Diana in the Underworld meant that they are also souls clinging to life, and happily, their faith will be rewarded at the end of Teardrop Crystal.

Rubens and Esmeralda are able to perceive and talk to the protagonist, while Diana stays silent as a statue, but her core will respond if you talk to her. If you happened to bring along Pearl or Elazul, the dead Jumi can sense there is someone near, but they cannot see the living Jumi.

Pearl and Elazul can see them, however, and they have unique responses too, one of the reasons I love LOM so much - the devs actually took the time to put in unique responses for characters in certain scenarios that are often out of the players' way!

Rubens is the least spoiler-y since he dies in a very early Jumi quest, but Diana and Esmeralda especially are significant plot developments, and the best way to experience LOM' stories is to get in blind is what I believe, but here are the dialogues if you've missed them:

I feel like poor Rubens get the worst end of the stick for being killed so early, but as can be seen here, despite being killed, his death has only given him renewed determination. It's kind of heartbreaking, since in A Flame of Hope we only see Rubens as a broken man who can't care to live up to his title, and Sandra breaks him further (metaphorically and literally) when she accuses him of not caring any more for Diana when he couldn't bring himself to hurt a Sproutling for a possible cure.

But one of the themes of the Jumi Arc is that brutal violence is not a solution to an already ongoing cycle of tragedy and violence - for all we know Sandra was lying about the Popo Bug being a cure, so Rubens refusing to hurt the Sproutling wasn't a weakness, but rather an indication that he is still a noble, compassionate character, with the kindness the Jumi were known for. And though Rubens died to Sandra in the bleakest circumstances possible, he persisted in the Underworld and even believed that the Jumi will go on.

There's something poetic in that - Sandra stole his core, the Flame of Hope, because she deemed him worthless and only fit to fuel the Lord of Jewels, but stripped of his core, Rubens actually regained his hope. What I'm saying is Rubens deserved better and I wish the anime did him justice, though we at least saw a little more of him there.

If you brought Pearl along...you will find this extra conversation.

(I was gonna upload the individual screenshots but it's a lot, luckily I did have a video of it).

The first couple of things Rubens say didn't get included though, so here are screenshots:

There's something bittersweet in that Rubens recognizes the player characters and that he doesn't say any word of blame for us being unable to prevent his death, but does tell us to look after the other Jumi.

Also the fact that we actively can pass along Pearl's message of consolation...awwww.

Sadly I don't have records of Elazul's special responses, but I am replaying LOM HD with Shiloh as the protagonist this time, so when I find all Elazul responses I will collect them in their own post!

#legend of mana #legend of mana hd #rubens #jumi

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I was going to make a collection of posts regarding some interesting characters you can meet in the Underworld, but before that, I think I have to talk about Pokiehl's explanation of it in the Diddle's Had It! quest.

This might seem a bit weird because the optional meeting you can have with Pokiehl in Lumina, he asks this:

And you have three responses:

If you choose yes....

So it seems contradictory that in Diddle's Had It, Pokiehl says the Underworld is for souls who cling to life, instead. (I'm not sure what Pokiehl say to the other two responses, I'll see in another playthrough!)

But Diddle's Had It! kind of explains the two things he says.

Yes, the Underworld is no place for the living because if you do go there without the proper steps, you will turn into a Shadole, amd will no longer be able to return to your previous form, effectively erasing your existence.

At the same time, the Underworld isn't the end place for souls - it seems to be indicated in some dialogues that in Fa'Diel, souls can get reborn, and the only non-Shadole characters in the Underworld are souls who, for some reason or another, are clinging to life.

Rather neatly, this also explains characters who appear....and don't appear in the Underworld.

So, some speculation and thoughts about this below, but warning: major spoilers for all three major story arcs! I will discuss characters who die in the Jumi Arc and the Star-Crossed Lovers Arc!

The most obvious example of this "souls clinging to life" is in the Dragon Arc, what with Larc and Drakonis chilling out in the Underworld needing their unfinished business to be done lol.

Larc because he wants to see his sister Sierra again, and Drakonis because he is a dumb dragon wanting to take over the world and also he's obviously evil, lol. In this arc, you kill Akravator, Jajara, and Larc himself, but you don't meet their souls mostly because Drakonis absorbed them, but also because for the duration of The Crimson Dragon quest, the Underworld is temporarily replaced by Drakonis's castle, The Flames. Once Drakonis is defeated, all three are freed, and you can even choose to rematch Akravator at Norn Peaks if you wish.

So why didn't these characters stay dead? Presumably being a Dragon of order gives them loopholes to come back, but also none of these characters wanted to die, so they don't actually belong in the Underworld. Well, except for Larc because of the whole dragon-dragoon curse and even then he seems to have found a workaround.

Now for the Jumi Arc - as this story progresses three Jumi will be killed. Rubens, Esmeralda and Diana will fall to Sandra's hand but...if you chose to go out of your way, you can find all three of them in the Underworld, in separate rooms. Rubens and Esmeralda talk to the player character (which is ouch, bittersweet) while Diana reverted to her statue form, but will make her core gleam and blink if you talk to her.

There's another neat part to this - you will get additional interactions if you bring either Pearl or Elazul along! Developers' foresight is always so cool to see in action. I'll detail their appearances more in a separate post, but again, keep in mind what Pokiehl said. These three characters are definitely dead, but despite the circumstances of their deaths, they still hope for the Jumi to come back and so are clinging to life - and their faith can be rewarded once you finish the Teardrop Crystal!

Now for the Star-Crossed Lovers Arc, and this is where the speculation comes in:

At the end of this arc, Irwin is killed (...by us) and appears in the Underworld, where he and Matilda meet and have one final talk. At the end, Irwin disappears...where he goes we cannot truly know, but he did say he wished to be reborn as a demon again, though my interpretation of this scene is that he wasn't being totally honest....but that's a long, loooooong, discussion for another day of my character analyses for the Star Crossed Lovers Arc.

But this much is clear - considering what Pokiehl said about the Underworld? Irwin accepted his death - he wasn't a soul who clung onto life.

But there is something else...

Depending on who you side with, either Daena or Escad will die at the conclusion of the Star-Crossed Lovers quest. You'll be forced to go with someone here, even if you choose the "I can't pick a side/This doesn't involve me" option, the game will just choose one for you and the fight goes on. Whoever you side with, you have to defeat the other, which presumably kills them - because they will NEVER appear again after this quest.

I always side with Daena because I think she makes the most sense in this whole arc, but I did accidentally pick Escad's side on one playthrough, but it's been a while since it happened.

Oh, and additionally, in the following quest, Heaven's Gate, you finally get to fight Irwin, and the game again provides a choice whether you want to go with Escad or Daena, whoever survived with you in Star-Crossed Lovers. You can choose NOT to accompany them and go by yourself, or go with another companion (Bud, Lisa, etc. - which again, results in an additional interaction, because your companion will react to Irwin! I think I brought Bud once and he went "You're not destroying the world!" or something.)

If you do decide not to accompany Escad/Daena...when you reach the top of Lucemia, you'll get to see them die by Irwin's hand. And I do mean die, I'm pretty sure you will also never see Escad/Daena if you let this happen. But if you did accompany them, once the quest is over you can find the last survivor in Gato and make them come with you like usual.

So why am I bringing this up? Because in any case, whoever dies, Escad or Daena (or both if you chose to not accompany them)...they don't appear in the Underworld. I'm sure I checked this in the HD version - I sided with Daena, again, so it was Escad who died in my playthrough, and I checked through the Underworld to see if he was there, but he isn't.

Also makes sense, because Matilda also won't come looking for whoever died at the conclusion of Heaven's Gate, she just goes to Irwin. And considering Matilda gained something like omniscience/omnipotence, I'm pretty sure the fact that she doesn't mention Escad/Daena meant that whoever died in the previous quests is also absent from the Underworld.

So what I'm thinking it means is this:

If it was Daena who died at Star-Crossed Lovers, she wouldn't stick around the Underworld because she either has been driven to despair by the events of the arc, or she accepted that her wishes for Matilda weren't what Matilda wished for herself. In any case, she doesn't see any reason to stick around.

If it was Escad...things get interesting. Remember, Escad practically grew up in the Underworld - when Irwin stole Matilda's elemental powers (which Matilda wanted), Escad tried to interfere and accidentally got transported to the Underworld for his trouble. There, he spent ten years training with Olbohn to wield a blade. So Escad must know all about Shadoles and souls staying on.

Also, while I do think Escad is a large part of the fault in this arc (not that he was wrong, but again, that's for the character analysis) you get to see why he's such a knight templar in wanting to exterminate demonic/evil creatures, I do think he went a little loopy staying in the Underworld so long. Everyone needs therapy in this arc, really, but anyway - I do find it interesting that if Escad died....he doesn't reappear at the Underworld.

It seems out of character for him to stop fighting Irwin simply because he died, and as the Jumi characters, Larc and Drakonis show, being dead doesn't stop you from clinging onto your unfinished business in Fa'Diel. But Escad does stop fighting - so either he gave in to despair when he gets killed, or he realized that his grudge wasn't worth fighting for, anymore. So perhaps, he also got peace once he died, for real.

#legend of mana #extremely long post i am so sorry

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:')

You know, love is a major theme of Legend of Mana, and while some quests do involve love of the romantic kind, plenty of quests also highlight the power of platonic love. Diddle and Capella show that, and so does Elle's, Flameshe's and Monique's sisterhood, the friendship the main character eventually forms with Elazul, Pearl and Esmeralda...all are very precious and sweet!

#legend of mana #legend of mana hd #diddle #capella

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The quest for Diddle's Had It! hits hard, man.

#i know I usually put like a kilometer long commentary in my posts but #in this case i think the screenshots speak for themselves #legend of mana #legend of mana hd

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The Elemental Spirits don't really play a huge role in the active plots going on in Legend of Mana, but I love the sense that these spirits are busy going about their business with flavor text like this.

I still want to find out the "perfect" map layout on my own, one in which all lands are maxed out with elemental spirits. There are several ways to do it, I think. For the longest time I used one website as a guide in particular for quests and techniques I got stuck on, which also gave one of the possible perfect map layouts, but I never followed its 100% completion guide since I want each playthrough to be my own experience.

That being said, I am very much clueless when it came to tempering lol, and so I can't really use the Spirit coins to full effect, but I enjoyed playing music for the Spirits anyway.

Idk, it's just so charming to be able to bust out a full ensemble and then watch as the spirit you're charming dances to the music!

#legend of mana

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I have all the screenshots for assorted quests I've finished, so here's to posting some!

The Pursuit of Wisdoms is a very tricky quest to finish, and it took me many, many replays of the game to find out how to do it, and then how to do it the optimal way.

Fortunately, four of the Wisdoms are always in the same place. These being: -Gaeus/Gaia at Luon Highway -Tote at Lake Kilma -Olbohn in the Underworld -Rosiotti in the Jungle

The Gorgon Eye will always be triggered when you enter Lake Kilma, while to go freely to the Underworld requires you to finish The Fallen Emperor at least, but once those quests are out of the way it's easy enough to find the Wisdoms in that area (Tote is always on the cliff after The Gorgon Eye!)

However, the last two members of the Wisdoms are much more tricky to find as they only appear in certain quests or moments.

Pokiehl always appears the first time you go to Lumina, so I highly encourage those wanting to finish this quest to keep that in mind. He will disappear after that, but if you missed him there, he appears in a couple other quests, so don't fret. He appears in: Diddle's Had It!, The Cage of Dreams, Pokiehl Dream Teller, and Mine Your Own Business (I suggest this one to catch him since he doesn't move). Technically, Pokiehl also appears in Legend of Mana, but you have to go back home to finish the quest, so this won't count.

The last one, Selva, is the most obscure and probably the most aggravating, because he only appears in Gato once you do a number of quests in the Star-Crossed Lovers arc, and even then he'll disappear after a certain quest. I can't remember for sure, but in my folders he appears just before the Star-Crossed Lovers quest, but a guide will probably be better at explaining when and where he appears. For sure, he appears at Heaven's Gate quest, but if you bring along Bud that means you'll have to let go of either Daena or Escad, depending on your choices, which will kill them. And if he was your last Wisdom, and you talk to him with Bud at the Heaven's Gate quest, this might lock you out of a Lil Cactus diary for Heaven's Gate, so as much as possible talk to him when he appears before the Star Crossed Lovers quest.

All that in mind, my personal advice for this quest is to leave one of the permanent Wisdoms as your last one and prioritize getting Pokiehl and Selva. Unless you're confident in what you're doing, jumbling the order of quests involved with these characters can lock you out a Li'l Cactus diary, so be careful! Speaking of which, the Li'l Cactus quest can interfere with this too, so be aware of that.

With that in mind, here's the dialogue for each Wisdom encounter!

First one is is Gaeus/Gaia.

If you check the World History tome, Halciet is the last mage who fought against Annuella, but when the mages he led began to fought amongst themselves, he left the battle in disgust. It's interesting to hear this from Gaeus/Gaia, because Annuella was the one who brought him to life, but in spite of this he speaks well of Halciet. Just like Gaeus says, Halciet has been largely forgotten, as he doesn't appear again in the history tome after he defected from the Mage-Faerie War.

Next is Pokiehl:

Pokiehl's dialogue is interesting, because it seems like he encourages us to question the Mana Goddess. But if you look at it with the bigger picture in mind that the Mana Goddess is Love, there's a whole theme going on in LoM about the choices we make for love and its consequences, but that love itself isn't a bad thing and in fact makes our lives rich. Pokiehl speaks about this more in The Cage of Dreams.

With that in mind, it seems like he's encouraging Bud, and Shiloh/Serafina as well as the player, to find out our own reason for loving.

Next is Tote!

It's short and sweet, but also I love how consistent this is to Tote's characterization. He is perhaps the humblest of the Wisdoms and in The Gorgon Eye, he even says he's just a turtle.

Next is Rosiotti:

Rosiotti's advice seems more straightforward as advice to a mage. I do love the variation in their responses and how it fits each one's personalities.

As for Olbohn:

His is also more of life advice. I do like the sentiment for his, it's that you have the potential, but never forget about the others around you, too.

Last one is Selva!

As annoying as it can be to track down Selva, he's got a really good point. Where Pokiehl's dialogues have a theme around choice and love, Selva speaks about change, and in fact is the only Wisdom who addresses the events unfolding in all three arcs - the world changing.

Once all Wisdoms are talked to, go back Home to finish the quest!

Heh, but the Li'l Cactus commentary for this one.

Oh, you sneaky Li'l Cactus.

#legend of mana #legend of mana hd #pokiehl #bud #olbohn #rosiotti #tote the turtle #selva