Huh. That's quite the reinterpretation indeed. Does it still have a cave within?
-
Welcome to Talking Time's third iteration! If you would like to register for an account, or have already registered but have not yet been confirmed, please read the following:
- The CAPTCHA key's answer is "Percy"
- Once you've completed the registration process please email us from the email you used for registration at percyreghelper@gmail.com and include the username you used for registration
Once you have completed these steps, Moderation Staff will be able to get your account approved.
I'm playing through the classic Mana games! Let's all go plant trees!(Now playing Secret of Mana)
- Thread starter Second Duke Revier
- Start date
As expected, this dungeon is a minecart riding level, where the main "puzzle" is in triggering these levers at the right time to change its course. If he doesn't do so, the cart keeps looping around, running him into spiders and their poisonous spit.
Getting it onto the "right" track sends him hurtling down a chasm. Uhhh, that can't be right, can it?
Fortunately, Revi's amazing legs keep him safe, and he even finds Watts! They set out to find a way out of this cave.
Watts is essentially a portable item store; he offers to sell his wares whenever he's "ASK"ed. His most useful item, aside from the required mattocks and keys, is the advanced curing potions, which heal back an enormous amount of HP and effectively make the Cure spell obsolete.
I also find a healing spring! These fully restore HP and MP when approached from the bottom, and while this one wasn't placed in a very useful spot, I could certainly see them coming in quite handy in the future.
The cave past the minecart section is honestly pretty straightforward, and it's not long before we reach our third boss, this oversized caterpillar. Frankly, it's such a snoozefest of a fight it barely warrants mention. It has no real attacks save for covering area with its body, and between liberal supply of X Cures and chain whip swings, it doesn't take terribly long to kill it.
The caterpillar drops a chest of silver ore on its death. Well, that's one way to find it...
We then get dropped outside the cave, and Watts leaves us, informing us that he'll be forging armament out of it and that the weirdly snobby cave will let us in if we wear silver gear.
Sure enough, it does! The cave itself is pretty small and unremarkable however, and it's not long before we show up on the other side.
Where Bogard shows up again! He informs us that Julius' airship is docked for refueling at the northern lake, and finally joins us.
Unfortunately, he's the most useless companion yet - he has no cool ranged attacks, and his "ASK" only brings up a rather outdated piece of tutorializing. Though his phrasing is rather curious; is he saying Revi is a Gemma Knight? Who decided that, and on what basis?
The northern lake is quite sparse on land, necessitating a lot of chain zips.
We board the airship without much fuss. The airship is a nice change of scenery, even if the enemies are similar to the foes on land, and largely pushovers.
Curiously, the airship crew is willing to talk with us, and even drop hints for us.
The airship's interiors are oddly quite stony.
They also feature the toughest enemies we've fought yet, in the form of these eyeballs. They fire their energy rings quite rapidly, and, besides doing a fair bit of damage, they can also inflict petrification. Or worse, moogling. Moogling turns Revi into the cutesy Final Fantasy mascot, which, contrary to what you may think, offers no advantages. In fact, it drops his defense to nothing and locks him out from attacking, casting spells, or indeed, doing anything besides walking around. Nasty!
Yet more bizarre conversations with the airship crew...
We find Luna's cell! But, of course, it's locked, and we don't have the key. Luna suggests trying the window from outside, and Bogard stays behind to ostensibly guard her, leading to this unintentionally humorous exchange:
We also get Julius' backstory here for some reason. Apparently he was a baby found near the waterfalls leading to the Mana tree. Not sure how that fact's significant to anything.
Revi gets to the catwalks outside Luna's cell's window, and Luna gives him her pendant, but Julius catches up to him and burns them down, sending Revi falling again!
Poor Revi just can't catch a break.
Fortunately, he's given shelter by one of his former cellmates. And still has his amazing legs.
Unfortunately, Amanda steals the pendant, and Revi has no clue where he is. Gotta say, the situation just went from bad to worse.
Next time, we explore Amanda's town and try to figure out where to go...again.
RANDOM MANA TIDBITS!
Secret of Mana, aka the next game, doesn't have a Wendel. This is probably a side effect of the Water Temple becoming its "holy city"/Mana base, but it still shakes out to a lack of Wendel. I also don't think there's a Wendel of any kind in Legend of Mana... but it is difficult to inventory everything that can be in that one...
If you see a healing spring, half the time it is a gameplay crutch. In this case, you cannot leave the mine until it is completed, so this is the only "free inn" possible if you saved, but are limping around with no gold, MP, and a sliver of health. In some future dungeons, it will serve the purpose of topping off your MP when there's a puzzle that 100% requires magic.
I can't remember "how"/if it is part of the scene in the OG Gameboy version, but the Vita/Mobile upgrade presumably draws more closely from the original translation, and Revi is named a knight in deed for protecting Luna up to that bit in Wendell just before Julius strikes. This only really exists to lay the groundwork for a scene a little later where Revi "refuses the call" for all of ten seconds, so have that in the back of your mind when that eventually happens.
Secret of Mana, aka the next game, doesn't have a Wendel. This is probably a side effect of the Water Temple becoming its "holy city"/Mana base, but it still shakes out to a lack of Wendel. I also don't think there's a Wendel of any kind in Legend of Mana... but it is difficult to inventory everything that can be in that one...
I also find a healing spring! These fully restore HP and MP when approached from the bottom, and while this one wasn't placed in a very useful spot, I could certainly see them coming in quite handy in the future.
If you see a healing spring, half the time it is a gameplay crutch. In this case, you cannot leave the mine until it is completed, so this is the only "free inn" possible if you saved, but are limping around with no gold, MP, and a sliver of health. In some future dungeons, it will serve the purpose of topping off your MP when there's a puzzle that 100% requires magic.
I can't remember "how"/if it is part of the scene in the OG Gameboy version, but the Vita/Mobile upgrade presumably draws more closely from the original translation, and Revi is named a knight in deed for protecting Luna up to that bit in Wendell just before Julius strikes. This only really exists to lay the groundwork for a scene a little later where Revi "refuses the call" for all of ten seconds, so have that in the back of your mind when that eventually happens.
Violentvixen
(She/Her)
I had misremembered that Wendel was the city you see destroyed in the history crystals at the top of the mountain. It looks like I completely made that up and they don't mention the name of the city. Huh.
You're not hallucinating! They added that for the 2018 remake with a few other random changes. The American version even traded a "history crystal" Jeopardy reference for a "is that your final answer" reference.
(I'm not complete a Mana encyclopedia, I swear, I just played through all the Mana games recently for other reasons)
(I'm not complete a Mana encyclopedia, I swear, I just played through all the Mana games recently for other reasons)
Violentvixen
(She/Her)
Oh thank goodness, I was wondering why I'd imagine something so bizarre. So it's indirectly in that game sort of
Welp. At least we now know where we are...kind of...not really. Well, at least we know the name of this town.
The town mostly talks about Amanda, telling us about how she's been worried, how she has a little bard brother in Jadd, and how she left in a hurry. She must've been quite popular here.
The two pieces of non-Amanda dialogue point to a Chocobo in the north and a hidden magic Ice tome in the desert. Weird meta hints aside, I'm certainly interested in both the bird and the spell.
The shops have upgraded their wares, I stock up on x-cures and pick up a fancy wind spear.
Aside from having high attack power, the spear has almost as much range as the chain whip, and looks awesome. Revi easily slaughters all the enemies in the desert, and traverses it without much fuss.
His next town, Jadd, has an utterly amazing town greeter. It is also oddly silent.
It turns out Davias is not particularly popular. He turns people into animals, and was born to Medusa herself! Naturally, many people also talk about finding her lair and collecting her tears to uncurse his victims.
They also talk about some gas that filled the northern valley when Lester stopped playing. I really don't know how the two could be connected, but hey.
Davias himself is oddly quite forthcoming with information, though he ominously hints at Amanda being quite likely dead. Revi can't interact with his bird, but given all of the dialogue and foreshadowing so far, it's fairly obvious that it isn't a regular bird, and there's something very wrong with his mansion.
This boy claims to know the way to Medusa's cave. But he's holding out until we give him a bag of Fang. Where do you get this? Good question! I don't know either.
After spending half an hour fruitlessly combing the entire desert, I reluctantly give up, and look up a guide. Turns out, those are a drop from the dragons roaming the desert. Sighing, I end up grinding them, until a chest drops. Elated, I open it...
Only to be met with immense disappointment.
I don't get it. Were they trying to troll players? Was this their idea of extending "playtime"? Or incentivizing selling their guides? Yes, 1991 was a long time ago, but I don't understand how anyone could've possibly thought this was a good idea.
Thankfully, I soon find the real deal, and hasten back to Jadd. Let's see what our reward for reckless dragon slaughter is!
Errr...okay? Perhaps he wants me to count the trees at each oasis?
Here's our first oasis. Definitely more than 8 trees.
The second oasis, which has less than 8 trees.
The third oasis, which definitely has too man-wait a second. Those solitary trees look mighty suspicious.
Sure enough, futzing with them opens a cave in the cliff!...Yeah, I dunno what the boy's hint meant, looks like grinding out that Fang was a waste of time.
We finally meet Amanda within the cave. Turns out she'd taken the pendant because Davias promised to release her brother if she gave it to him. He did release him...but as a bird. Angered by his show of poor faith, she decided to take matters in her own hands, and hunt Medusa down for her tears. Sounds quite metal when put that way, honestly.
Did this game seriously give two lame companions in a row? Amanda at least has throwing daggers, but her special ability, as witnessed here, is so weak it might as well not exist. Granted, petrification is quite obnoxious, and it can leave Revi quite vulnerable on occasion, but those alone aren't enough to make it worthwhile.
This room inside is quite bizarre. The dead trees can be chopped with the axe, and it looks like there's something at the center, but there isn't.
Also notable is this room, which has the first mildly clever puzzle I've seen since...checks notes...the creepy vampire castle. Step on one of the button tiles to open the door, then zip to the pole to avoid closing it with the second button.
We are rewarded with the Ice spell. Ice is...interesting, even if somewhat underwhelming as a combat spell. The thing is, it's just a bit too slow to be reliably used in fights. A shame, too, as its projectile can be directly controlled, and it turns its victims into cute, harmless snowmen, both of which would be amazing qualities for a spell.
The game uses it for puzzles almost immediately; that snowman there is an enemy Revi had to freeze to push it onto a button tile. Without it weighing it down, the door immediately closes.
There's not much of the cave left beyond it, and before long, we run into Medusa! She's not very impressive, she just hurls snakes from time to time. Said snakes can petrify, but are easily dodged or destroyed, and she has no other means of attack. Revi and Amanda easily defeat her.
Of course, defeating her isn't exactly helpful to their goal - they came here to get her tears, and she isn't very forthcoming about supplying them, even at her death...
Amanda and Revi futilely look around, and then prepare to leave, when she suddenly starts feeling pain. Turns out, she was bitten by Medusa, and will now turn into a petrifying monster herself! She beseeches Revi to kill her and collect her tears.
He hesitatingly obliges. And yes, they did draw new sprites for her for this one moment. It is tragic indeed, but one has to wonder why it was only Amanda who was affected by Medusa's poison and not Revi. Ah well.
Next time, we head back to Jadd, save Lester, and confront Davias himself. There might yet be hope for Revi's quest.
Last edited:
Sure enough, futzing with them opens a cave in the cliff!...Yeah, I dunno what the boy's hint meant, looks like grinding out that Fang was a waste of time.
This is one of the worst godamned clues in gaming, and one that completely stumped my friend back in the day until I provided the (Nintendo Power) answer. Anywho, technically the "futzing" you did with the palm trees was walk around in a figure eight, which is theoretically what you are supposed to gleam from the hint.
Incidentally, my friend that had no idea how to open this dungeon managed to level up to Level 40 while wandering around the desert with no idea how to proceed. I think that is biblical.
He hesitatingly obliges. And yes, they did draw new sprites for her for this one moment.
Fun fact: if you "touch" Amanda while she is Medusa'd, you will take damage. Repeatedly running into her is maybe the saddest way to die in the franchise.
Also, I know you should honor Amanda by curing one bird, but maybe go looking for another mentioned bird first...
FelixSH
(He/Him)
I had borrowed this game as a kid, and that part was where I couldn't continue. No matter, how often I ran around these two trees in an eight (or others I found in the dessert), nothing would happen. I guess I did it wrong here, because replaying it later, it works pretty well (I think). But back then, this was the stopping point. I only managed to open the cave once, but then my batteries died.
Don't remember the hint with the fangs at all. I only remember looking for palm trees.
Violentvixen
(She/Her)
I can't remember if I struggled with this or not...
Sure enough, futzing with them opens a cave in the cliff!...Yeah, I dunno what the boy's hint meant, looks like grinding out that Fang was a waste of time.
Well that's a silly typo.
That is both a cool and weird design choice.
Huh, wow that's a really bad hint then. Was it a translation issue, or just intentionally vague hinting?
That is both cool and goofy lol. Wish I had run into that myself.
Good catch lol. Though, Madusa is a fun punny name for a villain.
Revi hurries to Davias' throne room, but the coward has already fled!
Thankfully, Amanda's tears do work, and Lester is reverted to his true self. He is eager for vengeance, and immediately joins Revi.
He even reveals the hidden stairwell leading to the rest of Davias' mansion! By singing, somehow. Apparently bard songs are just magical in this world.
Somehow, Revi's companions keep getting lamer. Lester's special ability just changes the music to random tracks. This is so useless it doesn't even warrant mentioning.
We run into Black Mages, who are by far the strongest opponents Revi has faced. They rapidly shoot fireballs which do a lot of damage, though they can thankfully be blocked by Revi's shield or attacks. For some reason, however, they are exceptionally durable, often taking five swings of the lance to go down. They also don't seem to be affected by any spells. They are extremely dangerous, especially in groups; Revi is lucky they don't team up much!
Besides them, however, the dungeon is mostly unremarkable, and Revi and Lester soon run into Davias! Who turns into this weird squid wizard thing.
Davias denies melee attacks with his four fireball aura, and periodically shoots a huge fireball at Revi. And...that's the extent of his attacks. He's the hardest boss so far, granted, but that's not a very high bar to clear, and Revi and Lester still turn him into mincemeat effortlessly. Or is that squid meat?
Davias mocks their efforts even as he dies, informing them that he's already sent the pendant to the evil empire. His villainy truly knows no bounds.
Lester goes back to playing his harp, and, amusingly, teaches Revi the Mute spell. Turns out, his harp tune was the town's theme. Huh.
With his business in Jadd done, Revi continues eastward, eventually finding himself at a waterfall.
Then he enters a cave, which is fairly short, and runs into this weird crab at its end. The crab "attacks" by dancing around and sometimes switching sides. Boss fights are not this game's strength.
On the other side, Revi ends up in a bizarre land full of thorns and landfish.
He also finds the next armor upgrades, which are apparently carved out of opal. They provide another significant defense boost, making him nigh indestructible.
His adventures lead him to...yet another cave. Boy, how exciting!
He quickly stumbles on a golem that...doesn't take damage from anything. How odd.
The cave has an obnoxious forest maze style mechanic, where going the wrong way magically sends you back, but besides that, and the presence of some axe throwing minotaurs, it doesn't have much to talk about.
Oh wait, it also has a second boss, in the form of this cyclops. He swings a huge chain and looks metal as hell, but only charges in straight lines, making him extremely predictable and avoidable. I really don't think this game does bosses very well, they exist more as climactic bookends than anything else.
The Cyclops does drop the star flail upon its death. I recall the red mage talking about it being able to break walls, like a mattock.
What it does do is boost Revi's attack tremendously and wreck the Golem, who also tends to charge in straight lines. He is rewarded with his third offensive spell, Lightning. It hits even harder than Fire, but doesn't home, only travelling in straight lines, and is quite slower than Fire, besides. Meh, pass.
Revi crosses a bridge that gives away behind him, and ends up at...the imperial castle's surroundings? Huh.
Next time, he figures out where he is? I guess?
Violentvixen
(She/Her)
I completely forgot Fullmetal Hugger was in this game! I'm glad you're doing this LP, it's neat to see so much groundwork being laid this early.
Then he enters a cave, which is fairly short, and runs into this weird crab at its end. The crab "attacks" by dancing around and sometimes switching sides. Boss fights are not this game's strength.
FelixSH
(He/Him)
If my memory is correct, the bosses never get really good in this series. I think you are never able to actually avoid magic, in SoM and SD3.
I vaguely remember having trouble with that squid-mage boss, because of him being invulnerable to physical attacks? Don't remember the details, but there was a boss in this game who was a huge pain for me, on top of a castle.
I vaguely remember having trouble with that squid-mage boss, because of him being invulnerable to physical attacks? Don't remember the details, but there was a boss in this game who was a huge pain for me, on top of a castle.
Violentvixen
(She/Her)
You get the barrier and reflect spells in the series and Visions had some other resistance or maybe null mechanics I can't quite remember right now, but overall it's definitely a series where everything is still going to hit you in some fashion.
The Golem can be killed by Mattoks, since that and the morning star share a "breaks walls" flag, or something.
He quickly stumbles on a golem that...doesn't take damage from anything. How odd.
The cave has an obnoxious forest maze style mechanic, where going the wrong way magically sends you back, but besides that, and the presence of some axe throwing minotaurs, it doesn't have much to talk about.
Oh wait, it also has a second boss, in the form of this cyclops. He swings a huge chain and looks metal as hell, but only charges in straight lines, making him extremely predictable and avoidable. I really don't think this game does bosses very well, they exist more as climactic bookends than anything else.
It takes a lot.
Because one of the two passages before the golem looped back on itself I assumed the other did too, as a kid. So I went back and forth buying mattocks and trying this fight, failing and selling stuff for room for more until I had enough to win.
So you can get past here without the morningstar. It just makes later parts of the game very painful (I eventually went back and got it).
I definitely noticed the mattocks doing considerable damage to any enemies unfortunate enough to cross its path. I wouldn't be surprised if the star flail was essentially an infinite use mattock in the game's code.
The castle gate is curiously wide open. Is this a deliberately engineered trap, or plain laziness?
Revi soon enters the castle's sewers, which is oddly the most beautiful, or at least the most detailed area so far. It's certainly a welcome break from the constant monotony of grey stone walls and plain, dull floors in every other dungeon!
Somehow, he quickly ends up on the castle's ramparts, where he faces a chimera. The chimera is more threatening than most other bosses, though that isn't saying much. Mostly, it just seems to rely on zig zagging through its little rooftop, making Revi sustain some mild injuries. Laaaaame.
Immediately afterwards, he runs into Luna! She points him in the direction of Dark Lord's room, and rejoins him.
The imperial army, consisting of black knights and black wizards, is oddly considerably weaker than the opposition in the preceding dungeons, though the knights sometimes block Revi's attacks, and the wizards can sometimes petrify him.
As if to mock him, the game serves up this rude room, where he has to injure himself to proceed. I know that Luna can provide infinite healing, but this still comes off as needlessly dickish.
This room exhibits a rather unflattering quirk of the engine - projectiles cannot cross pits! This keeps Revi safe from the black wizards, but also forces him to engage with the knights at close quarters. Not that it makes the room difficult, it just makes things a tiny bit more interesting.
This room is a cute and rather unique challenge. Revi has to carefully place his swings so as to not destroy any of the chests around. The werewolves are no real threat, but I still admire the spin on a classic, simple puzzle.
Revi picks up this sword, which, true to its name, leeches blood and heals him with every successful hit! Between this and Luna's healing, the enemies struggled to even dent him. That being said, I switch between it and the star flail fairly often, as there are some enemies which are immune to it.
Several nondescript rooms, and a mildly annoying ice puzzle room later, the two emerge at the balcony right outside Dark Lord's throne room. There, they run into the darkly lordly man himself, who taunts Revi with some fine childish taunts. Revi, in one of the dumbest moves ever, tells Luna to leave because it "is too dangerous here". As if she could actually take damage!
One reluctant exit later, Revi duels Dark Lord! Unfortunately, it is extremely anticlimactic, though given this game's track record with bosses, I wasn't really surprised. Dark Lord has naught but a sword as armament, and while he can sometimes surprise Revi by charging him abruptly, Revi can easily stay out of his range and harmlessly strike him. Soon enough, he, like many of Revi's enemies, falls.
Oh, but plot twist! His pendant was fake all along!
Back outside, he discovers that Luna is now under Julius' influence, and casts the spell to reverse the waterfalls and reach the Mana tree! Welp, so much for defending it.
Julius hurls Revi down the cliff! Remarkably, Revi actually gets wounded by this fall, and also ends up in some strange crystal filled desert.
Fortunately, a chocobo finds him and carries him off!
It enters a city nearby, where people make odd comments about it and Revi "falling".
He wakes up next to Bogard! Bogard too had fallen off the airship, but had miraculously survived. Does he, too, have amazing legs?
Revi has a little emo moment where he thinks he's not good enough to defend the tree. Considering how easily Julius thwacked him away, I completely agree.
Bogard attempts to give an inspirational talk, but it falls completely flat, and Revi instead dares him to go play the hero, leading to Bogard yelling at him. It's all kinds of hilarious, and it's unfortunate that I went through the dialogue a bit too fast to capture his lines; he legit sounds completely and utterly DONE with him and his whining.
Outside, Revi finds that Bogard has been hyping him up to the townsfolk. Umm, yeah, no pressure here at all.
She also hilariously tells him that Bogard and the chocobo convinced her that he was the savior of the world. Yeah, again, no pressure at all.
Revi talks with the rest of the townsfolk, and learns that he is in Ish. He also runs into some wonderfully stilted dialogue.
He gets pointed to Bowow, so he visits him, and finds that he has mechanized the chocobo! Somehow, this makes it amphibious now.
Bogard gives him his next objective - find the legendary sword, Excalibur. Course, he himself doesn't know where it's now. But perhaps Cibba in Wendel knows more.
Wait, Wendel? How do we get there?
Hmm, alright. He also says that going north from there should lead to Wendel, and going south to "the Ammonites". Whoever they are.
Sure enough, the Chocobo works as amphibious transport that can travel at ludicrous speeds. Looks like the game is opening up big time now!
Next time, we head back to Wendel and try getting Cibba's sagely advice...again.
Last edited:
Violentvixen
(She/Her)
I do not remember that. That's so weird.
Best mode of transport. I need to see if there's any official art of this, I don't know if I've ever seen any. Although I don't know if they've ever answered exactly how the legs work on the sea as you noted...
The Mana Maniac has logged on.
I feel like this is just the "are you using anything but the morning star?" room. It is super easy with the blood sword, but damn near impossible if you are swinging your vampire killer around. Of course, the werewolves are "no real threat" with their relatively low attack power relative to this point in the game, so you can just power through at will.
Okay! So that is not a chocobo, that is supposed to be your chocobo. You are supposed to find a chocobo egg in the north before you enter the desert/medusa region, and then you have a chocobo companion from there until you enter the full metal hugger (crab boss) cave. But you missed it! You missed your beloved chocobo! Of course, the game carries on and contains no dialogue that you must have encountered this bird before she rescues you (just the implication that this bird really seems to like you), so you can skip that chocobo discovery without any issues. This is just a noble chocobo, regardless of if you were around for her birth.
THAT SAID
I am half convinced the terrible figure-8 palm puzzle, and the silly "go get a fang drop in the desert where you sometimes find empty chests" is all meant to encourage you to get frustrated with "where to go" so you go off and find the chocobo on your own at that point in the game. There is nothing requiring finding the chocobo, but you can find the chocobo at the point the plot is the least straightforward across the entire game.
Also, the Vita/Mobile remake added a tiny, broken bridge that only the chocobo can cross right before the desert area. It is one of the few overt design changes to the game, so it is clear someone noticed this issue.
Speaking of which, the Vita/Mobile version includes dialogue from this villager that emphasizes that Bogard has broken his back from the fall, and would go save the world himself if he could leave his bed. I don't know if that is a translation upgrade or an after-the-fact explanation for why he is no longer going to walk around with you dispensing charging advice.
I always assumed the Chocobo's legs were upgraded to Looney Tunes levels of speed, so Chocobo is now just fast enough to Flash-run across the top of the water.
Oh! Also this character's name is supposed to be translated to something closer to Professor Boom or Bomb. This brings him in line with the later Cannon Brothers in Secret of Mana, or Bon Voyage in Trials of Mana. This name is supposed to be emphasized with how you enter his home to explosion sounds.
Actually, with that in mind, maybe the chocobo's legs are 100% combustion based...
This room is a cute and rather unique challenge. Revi has to carefully place his swings so as to not destroy any of the chests around. The werewolves are no real threat, but I still admire the spin on a classic, simple puzzle.
I feel like this is just the "are you using anything but the morning star?" room. It is super easy with the blood sword, but damn near impossible if you are swinging your vampire killer around. Of course, the werewolves are "no real threat" with their relatively low attack power relative to this point in the game, so you can just power through at will.
Fortunately, a chocobo finds him and carries him off!
Okay! So that is not a chocobo, that is supposed to be your chocobo. You are supposed to find a chocobo egg in the north before you enter the desert/medusa region, and then you have a chocobo companion from there until you enter the full metal hugger (crab boss) cave. But you missed it! You missed your beloved chocobo! Of course, the game carries on and contains no dialogue that you must have encountered this bird before she rescues you (just the implication that this bird really seems to like you), so you can skip that chocobo discovery without any issues. This is just a noble chocobo, regardless of if you were around for her birth.
THAT SAID
I am half convinced the terrible figure-8 palm puzzle, and the silly "go get a fang drop in the desert where you sometimes find empty chests" is all meant to encourage you to get frustrated with "where to go" so you go off and find the chocobo on your own at that point in the game. There is nothing requiring finding the chocobo, but you can find the chocobo at the point the plot is the least straightforward across the entire game.
Also, the Vita/Mobile remake added a tiny, broken bridge that only the chocobo can cross right before the desert area. It is one of the few overt design changes to the game, so it is clear someone noticed this issue.
Outside, Revi finds that Bogard has been hyping him up to the townsfolk. Umm, yeah, no pressure here at all.
She also hilariously tells him that Bogard and the chocobo convinced her that he was the savior of the world. Yeah, again, no pressure at all.
Speaking of which, the Vita/Mobile version includes dialogue from this villager that emphasizes that Bogard has broken his back from the fall, and would go save the world himself if he could leave his bed. I don't know if that is a translation upgrade or an after-the-fact explanation for why he is no longer going to walk around with you dispensing charging advice.
He gets pointed to Bowow, so he visits him, and finds that he has mechanized the chocobo! Somehow, this makes it amphibious now.
I always assumed the Chocobo's legs were upgraded to Looney Tunes levels of speed, so Chocobo is now just fast enough to Flash-run across the top of the water.
Oh! Also this character's name is supposed to be translated to something closer to Professor Boom or Bomb. This brings him in line with the later Cannon Brothers in Secret of Mana, or Bon Voyage in Trials of Mana. This name is supposed to be emphasized with how you enter his home to explosion sounds.
Actually, with that in mind, maybe the chocobo's legs are 100% combustion based...
Violentvixen
(She/Her)
He's also in Legend of Mana, totally missed him when I first read this post but yeah, absolutely the recurring character.
Thank you! I felt like something happens before this and this isn't the first time you see her but didn't trust my memory.
Oh, huh, yeah that would make more sense. I was wondering what they meant with supposed sightings of chocobo eggs in a supposed northern forest when the game was guiding me through a desert, and later a mountain. Most likely I missed an area connected to it.
Well, that's an...interesting way to do things. Does the remake make either the "puzzle" or the fetch quest less terrible?
Sarah here does mention Bogard's broken back, but in one tiny, throwaway line. I'll get a screenshot of it from an LP(EDIT: Got one).
But honestly, not surprised he isn't joining the adventure. The old geezer is likely in no good condition to fight, broken back or not.
Last edited:
The directions to Wendel are pretty awful. You see, when Bowow said, "go north after going east from our dock.", he actually meant, "Go east, go north to reach the beach around Wendel, then keep hugging the coast eastward to find a dock". The chocobo can only enter and exit water through docks, for some reason.
It also can't enter towns and cities, much to my chagrin. I wanted to show off my shiny new mount, damnit!
No sooner than we enter Wendel, we get redirected. Once again, the directions leave out some vital information, this time the whole bit about needing to go westward after going south, then entering an inlet to find a dock.
The chocobo can't enter the snowfields either. This bird is looking a lot more limited than it would seem.
Also, I goofed up. Lorim isn't in the snowfields, it's south of them. Which is to say, it's down a winding path in the cliffs that lies south of the snowfields. Are you confused yet?
Lorim doesn't offer a meeting with Cibba. Instead, Revi is subjected to even more redirection; go find Kary in the Snowfield, defeat her to unfreeze the city. Argh! Why couldn't Bogard just be straightforward about the sword's particulars?!
Kary's cave has this mildly cute puzzle. Step onto the button to trigger an ice tile propelling the snowman, then move out of the way and push it onto the button. It was nice to see the game offer some new and refreshing spins on its own concepts.
The cave's depths have imperial soldiers stationed, curiously enough.
They also have the minecart gimmick return, with ice conveyors in place of minecart rails.
After many, many confounding rooms involving ice conveyors, Revi finally faces Kary. Yes, that is, indeed, the same Kary as in FF1, only a lot more..icey. She also has no real attacks besides charging in straight lines, and thus is an awfully one sided battle.
Revi finally gets to meet Cibba. Who tells him to go upriver from an "Ammonite Coast", visit "Floatrocks" and open a cave with his key there, without bothering to elaborate on any of those places. And just when I thought the game couldn't get any worse with giving directions!
I spot a land with floating rocks, but do not see a way to dock.
Instead, after a few abortive attempts to ford the world's rivers, I stumble across this dock leading to a land of big shellfish. Hmm. Is this what Cibba and Bowow meant by "Ammonites"?
They do lead into the region with floating rocks.
After a long, convoluted route, Revi comes across a cave which does open with Cibba's key. Thank God!
Unfortunately, that grand expedition left me tired for today, so we shall explore it tomorrow. Hopefully it will end up worthwhile and not a wild goose chase, unlike the last few quests.
It also can't enter towns and cities, much to my chagrin. I wanted to show off my shiny new mount, damnit!
No sooner than we enter Wendel, we get redirected. Once again, the directions leave out some vital information, this time the whole bit about needing to go westward after going south, then entering an inlet to find a dock.
The chocobo can't enter the snowfields either. This bird is looking a lot more limited than it would seem.
Also, I goofed up. Lorim isn't in the snowfields, it's south of them. Which is to say, it's down a winding path in the cliffs that lies south of the snowfields. Are you confused yet?
Lorim doesn't offer a meeting with Cibba. Instead, Revi is subjected to even more redirection; go find Kary in the Snowfield, defeat her to unfreeze the city. Argh! Why couldn't Bogard just be straightforward about the sword's particulars?!
Kary's cave has this mildly cute puzzle. Step onto the button to trigger an ice tile propelling the snowman, then move out of the way and push it onto the button. It was nice to see the game offer some new and refreshing spins on its own concepts.
The cave's depths have imperial soldiers stationed, curiously enough.
They also have the minecart gimmick return, with ice conveyors in place of minecart rails.
After many, many confounding rooms involving ice conveyors, Revi finally faces Kary. Yes, that is, indeed, the same Kary as in FF1, only a lot more..icey. She also has no real attacks besides charging in straight lines, and thus is an awfully one sided battle.
Revi finally gets to meet Cibba. Who tells him to go upriver from an "Ammonite Coast", visit "Floatrocks" and open a cave with his key there, without bothering to elaborate on any of those places. And just when I thought the game couldn't get any worse with giving directions!
I spot a land with floating rocks, but do not see a way to dock.
Instead, after a few abortive attempts to ford the world's rivers, I stumble across this dock leading to a land of big shellfish. Hmm. Is this what Cibba and Bowow meant by "Ammonites"?
They do lead into the region with floating rocks.
After a long, convoluted route, Revi comes across a cave which does open with Cibba's key. Thank God!
Unfortunately, that grand expedition left me tired for today, so we shall explore it tomorrow. Hopefully it will end up worthwhile and not a wild goose chase, unlike the last few quests.
Yes! Ammonites were ancient sea creatures that looked like a squid stuffed into a spiral-shaped shell like the ones in the screenshot. They were abundant prior to and during the age of non-bird dinosaurs, so their fossil shells are pretty common.
Oh! I meant to say that the original release of Final Fantasy Adventure came with a fold-out map. I feel like that was one of those essential pack-ins, as the zoomed-in world of FFA is not great for globetrotting. Oh well, you're pretty much at the end of the "big" exploring at this point.
As a kid I was struck by how alien these later areas of the game feel. The snowfield and ammonites and floating rocks are all so surreal when compared to the forests and rivers of the early game. (These areas have strange enemies too--which is not to say that the game isn't populated by weirdos from the get-go, this is Mana after all--but here we get things like Duck Soldiers, Turtle Knights, and Griffin Hands). What's cool is this effect is achieved through simple ornamentation of the screens with a couple new landscape sprites. No need to make a whole new tile-set for different regions when you can slap down some prehistoric shells or levitating limestones and have a whole new biome. Part of what makes this technique effective is how the ocean cuts through the middle of the map. This not only adds to the surreal quality by making you get to these later areas by unnaturally wrapping around the map's edges but also lets the game tease the later areas early. You're progressing along normally when suddenly you enter a screen where a tantalizing ammonite lies on a far beach and you can't help but become curious and anticipatory for distant, more fantastical, lands.
The environmental art is doubtlessly excellent, it's just a shame the level and quest design gets so convoluted at this point, to no real benefit, as far as I can tell.