?Manamon Guide Warning: This guide is a work in progress. Most of what you see here should be accurate as of the writing of the guide, but things can change, and I'm human and thus prone to make mistakes sometimes. I'll try to be as thorough and accurate as I can, but please understand that in the meantime, as the guide grows, it's going to be patchy in places. If you're okay with that, and you're still here, on with the show! Disclaimer: While I have seen and owned every manamon in a previous save file, I have not yet experimented with all of them. For that matter, other players have found things that I've overlooked. As this is a work in progress, their additions may be incorporated into the guide. I am not trying to claim them as my own, but rather than put a reference to a player or person during every tiny thing I've missed or didn't know, I'm putting this general disclaimer here. To all the people who have already contributed information or positive criticism to this project, thank you very much. Your effort is appreciated in the interest of making this a fuller, more fleshed-out piece of work. Part 1: What is Manamon? If you're new to this sort of game, then here's the section where you come to learn. The manual in the Manamon folder will cover some of this, but it's pretty sparse, so I'll fill in some of the missing pieces. Manamon is, in essence, a clone of the popular pokemon series. You capture and level up creatures of various types, and may carry up to six on your person at any given time. You move around a map fulfilling story objectives and battling rival manamon tamers, with the end goal being to collect all of the stadium keys, thereafter to become the stadium master yourself. The similarities between this game and pokemon are really quite staggering, but even being a pokemon fan I've had a great deal of fun with manamon. It's likely that if you liked one, you'll like the other.Each manamon has up to four types (yes, four, although there's only one of those, and you won't get it till way, way later so don't worry about it), and each of those types has an interaction with other types. Manamon learn moves of various types when they level up. Some do damage, some heal, some protect the user, some inflict nasty status on the foe. When damage is dealt to one manamon by another, the type of the move, the type of the user and the type of the target are all taken into effect. For example, if a Flammia, a flame type, uses Fire Breath on a Cacone, an insect type, it will do a lot of damage because insects are weak to flame, and furthermore because Flammia is a flame type. Conversely, if a Banyardan, a plant and earth type, tried using Claw Swipe (a standard type attack) on an Autoson (an electric-steel type), steel resists standard attacks and Banyardan is not a standard type, so the damage would be pitifully low. For more information on which types are strong and weak against which, please see the manual. Part 2: Some basic do's and don't's 1. Do try to have a balanced team. This means capturing manamon of many different types in order to deal with the sheer variety of tamers you will find. 2. Do try and keep your team reasonably close in level. There are artificially scaled fights a little before the halfway point in the game which can be unnecessarily tough if one or more of your manamon are much stronger than the rest of your party. 3. Do talk to everybody. Most people say nothing useful, but every so often you'll get a clue about something you maybe didn't know before. 4. Do save often. You can save at any time when you're not in combat, so feel free to use the feature liberally. I do. 5. Don't feel bad if you end up dropping a manamon from your team after using it for awhile. Playing games like this is a constant learning experience, a matter of figuring out who's good and who's not. I'll try and help with that so you can cut out some of the legwork. 6. Don't raise a team of six flame types and expect to win in an earth-type stadium, or the like. You may not necessarily know your opponents before they fight you, but that's all the more reason to be well-prepared for anything if you can. Part 3: Status Many manamon can inflict each other with various types of misery via effects which persist after being used. Below is a list of those effects. Major Paralysis: A paralyzed manamon will sometimes be unable to attack at all. Can be cured by resting or with any number of items, such as Total Cure, Paralysis Vaccine or Medical Miracle. Freeze: The manamon is completely frozen and cannot attack at all. I believe this can wear off on its own, but often won't, but it can be cured with a total cure or a medical miracle. Oddly, there is no item I have yet seen which specifically cures freezing, but it's also the most uncommon status effect because of how debilitating it is. Scorch: A scorched manamon will take damage on every round, and quite a lot of it. Cured with a Scorch Ointment, Total Cure or Medical Miracle. Poison/Toxic Poison: Both of these do the same thing, damage over time once used. Toxic poison gets worse though. They can be cured with an Antidote, a Total Cure or a Medical Miracle. Sleep: The manamon is unable to act; will wear off anywhere from 1-5 turns after successfully landing, or can be dispelled with Smelling Salts, Total Cure or Medical Miracle. Note: All major status effects will persist after a battle if a battle ended without that effect being cured. A manamon may wake up on its own if a battle lasts long enough, but if he ends the fight asleep, he will start the next fight asleep unless healed first. Minor Confusion: Sometimes, a confused manamon will attack itself instead of following orders. Horrified: Sometimes, a horrified manamon will be too terrified to take action. Recoil: This lasts for one turn only; certain attacks can make a manamon recoil, which means they miss their next attack for certain; worse, when a manamon recoils, you as the tamer cannot necessarily react in its stead by healing it. There is no way to prevent this affliction and no need to heal it. Berserk: The manamon starts using its moves at random and cannot be controlled or healed or switched; goes away on its own, but due to its nature cannot be avoided when it happens. Implanted: When affected by the move Implant, a manamon will have his health drained gradually away and fed back to the foe. Goes away when battle ends or when the manamon is switched out. Desoul: Same as Implant, but undead type instead of plant type Unending Curse: Same as Implant and Desoul, but this move does a little damage each time it's cast, and is ghost type. Note: Minor afflictions go away if the manamon is switched out or if the battle ends. Secondary note: Major status afflictions can't stack. You cannot put something to sleep and then paralyze it. Once a major status affliction is laid on a foe, that foe cannot be afflicted with more major status afflictions unless the first is healed somehow. With those brief basics out of the way, let's get on with the show! When you start a new game, you'll be prompted for your name. Enter it as you see fit (be careful, you don't get to edit it once you put it in), then read the little cutscene, and before you know it, you'll be in your very own room. The whirring sound is a vent. You can walk on it, and some vents in the game have things hidden on them if you click on them by pressing the C or enter key. This one, though, is boring and empty, so ignore it. The rustling sound nearby is a bed. Right now it means nothing, but whenever you find these, it will heal all manamon in your party, including status effects and use points of all moves. Very very handy. For now, just head past it to the north wall. The clicking noise to your right is a chest. These usually hold items. Go on over and open the chest to receive an herb. Very handy, you can probably use this coming up shortly. Now that you're near the chest, you can probably hear that there's a book-sounding thing to your right. That's a bookcase, one of only two in the game I think. Click on it, and you'll pick up a flyer. Flyers can be written on and dropped to use as landmarks. If you like this notion, they're easy to come by and can save you from getting lost. With all that out of the way, head to the south wall and west till you hear the door. Head through it to be in the main room of your house. Your father and sister are here, so talk to them if you like. There are a lot of items in this room, including a table, a fireplace and a trash can, but the only important one is the chest. Go almost all the way to the south door, then head west and a bit north. The chest holds 25 gold. Sweet! Now head out of the house. You'll get a short cutscene introducing your sometimes rival, Sierra. she'll tell you to head to her mom's house. it's the only other house in town, so head there. Actually, no, don't. There are a few items to be had. For example, if you go out of your house, east a bit, north till you're into the grass and then west till you hit the wall, you can follow the west wall northward tapping enter till you get a hidden revive. There are lots of these hidden items in the game, but I don't know them all. I'll mention the ones I know about as I find them. Revive in hand, head east. Work your way to the northeast corner and head about five spaces down and four west. Click to receive a hidden 1500 gold! Now head straight down the east wall into the southeast corner of town, and open the chest to receive a mananet. Now it's time to head to the doctor's house. It's the eastern one. Enter, and you'll get a short cutscene. It doesn't matter how you respond here, the response doesn't affect anything. When you're free to move again, head north and east toward the door to the doctor's personal office. You'll get another cutscene, and then it's starter time! Spotlight: The Three Starters You have to make a choice here which will largely define your gaming experience for awhile. Don't worry, there's no wrong choice here. There are a flame, a plant and a water type for you to choose from. I'll give some details on each below. Spotlight: Flammia As its name entails, this is a flame type. It transforms into first Flammerick and then Tylovile, picking up a shadow type in its second evolution. I'm afraid it doesn't have the best stat distribution, and it doesn't learn any strong special fire moves except for Flame Blizzard way, way later on. Its special attack is somewhat higher than its attack, and it's pretty quick, so there's potential here if movesets are ever changed or if special-based shadow moves are ever introduced. For now, your best bet is probably to ignore the special side of things, and crank up Flammia's attack, to run a Scourge Tail and Blaze Rampage set. Many manamon you will encounter have this problem (a high stat with nothing good to use it for), so this is something you should get used to as soon as possible. I say again, there are no bad choices here. That said, Tylovile might be the weakest of the starters, but it's not a bad manamon. It could simply be better. Get used to seeing this. I am a particularly critical player, and this is a very common refrain of mine in this game, I'm afraid. Spotlight: Aquaffe A very sturdy pure water type, which transforms into Girmarine and Fauntozaur. It has a lot of HP, good defenses and solid special attack, which it can use to fairly good effect. It gets some interesting support moves in Pummel and Mud Ball if that's your thing, also picking up Dissonant Chime to shore up its defenses while slowing it down. This is a very solid choice, and might arguably be the best starter available. Spotlight: Leefox This plant-earth type is arguably the best of the three starters. It has good physical attack and high speed, and it learns fairly strong attacks as well as a self-buff move called Sharpen (raises attack by one stage) and many disabling moves such as Sleep Spray, Stun Spray and Toxic Spray. Topped out with Photosynthesis (self-healing) and Earthquake (for earth-type coverage), this guy is tough to beat. He has a huge weakness to ice, however, and that's going to be a problem sometimes. Still, if you can plan around that issue, you can't really go wrong with Leefox. Update: Either this guy has been nerfed, or else he wasn't quite as good as I thought. None of his stats are bad, but none are mind-blowing either. Getting Earthquake at level 56 will really make this guy shine, but if you don't have the patience for that, you may end up choosing a different plant or earth type down the road. Okay, starter in hand, you'll notice that Sierra takes the one that's strong against your starter (example, if you took Aquaffe, she takes Leefox). There's nothing you can do about this, so learn to live with it. Heh. And now she wants a piece of you before she'll let you leave. That's all right. Let's get ready for our first battle! Tamer Sierra Manamon: level 5 starter that beats your starter Remember that herb you got in the chest in your room? Well, that herb pretty much guarantees that you won't lose this battle. Just plug away with whatever attacking move you have. if Sierra uses a move like Tail Wag or Cute Eyes or Sneer, take it as a free turn to hit her. If your health gets below about 7-8HP, use the herb from the inventory menu. You never know when a critical hit will end your day. Note: it doesn't matter if you lose. The game goes on. But if you win, you get enough experience to reach level 6, plus some gold, both of which are never a bad thing to earn more of. Win or lose, you can feel free to...oh wait. Hold up. The doctor gives you a manapedia and some mananets, which will keep track of the manamon you've seen and allow you to capture manamon, respectively. With all that new gear in tow, feel free to save your game if you want, then head out of the doctor's house and south to the gate to Mentosa Prairie. Mentosa Prairie For a prairie, this place really isn't very wide open at all. Heh. Manamon Available: Squirmunk, Murkit, Wormer Spotlight: Squirmunk If you're a pokemon fan, you might be expecting this little guy to be a standard (normal) type. He's not though. He's a pure holy type, and he's actually not half bad. He gets some nice stat debuffs in Exorcise (special attack lowered by 2 stages) and Condemn (both defense and special defense down by 1 stage), plus he'll eventually learn White Lance, a rather powerful physical holy attack. His ability, Benediction, raises his attack by one stage whenever he kills something, so this could potentially improve White Lance to dangerous levels...a useful thing, considering that it's a very strong move with very few usage points. None of his stats are amazing to begin with, but he's a worthy enough addition to any early-game team. He's one of many holy types who also gets Divine Protection for some reason, so if you find that your team lacks physical defense, this guy may be able to help out. Squirmunk transforms into Miterosier around level 25 or so. Spotlight: Murkit This cute little kitten packs a mean bite. It's a pure shadow type with high attack and high speed, and it eventually gets some pretty mean attacks in the form of Oblivion Slash and Black Mana (which can only be used twice but which will remove half the foe's max HP, which is more than capable of killing him if he's below half health). Murkit is fairly frail, however, and caution must be exercised when levelling him, because he doesn't get his first shadow move, Fear Feed, until somewhere around level 13. Still, he might make a good addition to a team that wants a reliably hard-hitting and speedy shadow type. Murkit transforms into Evillion around level 25 or so, then again into Tigrath at level 35. This guy gets overshadowed fairly quickly, unfortunately, but his attack really is first-class. If he got Scourge Tail, or Slash, or other moves to take better advantage, he'd be even more dangerous than he already is. His defenses may make him too great a liability to raise. Pick your spots, though, and you may have a competent shadow type, especially early in the game. Spotlight: Wormer Another fairly typical pokemon-like trend is to have an insect type very early in the game which transforms twice in rapid succession. Wormer is no exception. It transforms at level 9 into Globular, and then again at level 15 into Skirial, where it becomes insect-poison-air type. Skirial wrecks things at low levels with its combination of Wind Force, Stun Spray and Subliminal Radio Wave, but eventually becomes outclassed by other sources of damage that don't die reliably in two hits from almost anything. A Skirial can reliably take on the first stadium by itself if it's level 16 or 17, so by all means pick up a Wormer if you want one and use Skirial while you can. Its stats are all decent but not amazing, and it only starts showing its redundancy around level 30-35. Before that, it's hard to top this poisonous butterfly. Feel free to catch what you want here. They're all level 2 or 3, and it may not hurt to grind your starter up a level or two. Now, for progress. First, start by going all the way left to the wall, then down until the wall on your left opens up and the one on your right starts up. Head left here, hug the north wall until you end up in a corner, then go south and hit enter for a couple of mananets somewhere along this west wall. Now head east, then south and a little east toward your first non-rival tamer battle. Lad Howard Squirmunk level 2, Squirmunk level 3 Reward: 12 gold With Howard out of the way, head south past him (he'll be on your left and above you now) then head generally south through a slightly more open patch of long grass till you can hear your next tamer fight. Lass Amelia Murkit level 3, Wormer level 3 Reward: 14 gold Head west of Amelia, then immediately south. Hear that chest below you? Make a beeline for it; inside are 2 Antidotes. Nab them and continue west from the chest. The path will open up to the south shortly, so head that way. You should hear a tamer to your southwest, so let's have another battle. Don't worry if you're getting a little weak. We're almost at the next town. Lad Steven Eagala level 3 Reward: ;10 gold Eagala is a pure air type From here, feel free to head south along the stone path toward the things that sound like wind chimes. That's the entrance to your next town. Amica Town This town isn't very big, and there's not much of interest here. There are two buildings, the nearest of which is the Manamon Hotel. Go ahead and heal your manamon, then come back outside. You should be able to hear a chest nearby to the right. Head over there and grab 3 Scorch Ointments, then head left and down around the building and enter to find the Manamon Marketplace. Shop list: Mananet: 100 gold Herb: 300 gold Antidote: 50 gold Scorch Ointment: 50 gold Paralysis Vaccine: 50 goldSmelling Salts: 50 gold Flyer: 30 gold In other words, not too much of interest yet, though herbs each heal 50HP, so they're good to have a few of just in case you get into trouble. When you're done here, head back outside, then head due west over the clanking manhole toward another chest. Open it to find a Paralysis Vaccine. Directly north of this chest is yet another, this one containing 50 gold. Score! Now head east till you hit a wall, go a bit north and then east until you hit a new area, indicated by the wind-chime sound and some new, soothing music. Taiketsu Trail Note: This area is completely optional at this stage of the game, but it has a few low-level tamers and a couple of encounters you may want. Remember it for later, because you'll definitely be back in awhile. Manamon Available: Fyste, Jackanaipe, Squirmunk Spotlight: Fyste If you want fighting-type attacks, this guy's a sure bet. He gets a lot of them...maybe too many. His attack is quite good, as is his speed, surprisingly enough, but his other stats are average at best, and he's next to helpless against manamon who resist fighting moves. He transforms into Fyrate around level 27-28 I believe. A solid early-game fighting type. Spotlight: Jackanaipe Oh, this fellow is a pain. He knows a move called Teleport, which will let him vanish from the battlefield. It doesn't matter how weak he is; if he's awake and attempts this skill, he'll disappear, rendering all your attempts to capture him moot. Jackanaipe have good special attack and great special defense, but there's a drawback. As a pure magic type, you'd expect that it might use its special attack a lot, but the only special-based move it gets for awhile is somewhat unreliable and unpredictable. It's stuck with physical moves running off its weak strength stat until it finally gets Meteor Rush around level 43 or so. This is a very strong magic-type move that is special-based as of an update sometime in August 2016, a change that many magic manamon were crying out for. With this, Enchandithol becomes much more viable. It does transform at level 27 into Enchantethol and gains respectable defenses, but there are better magic types out there as it stands right now. Okay, so now you know what you can catch here, so let's get exploring. Head due north, then east once you hit the wall, then north some more when the path opens up. You should now be walking on hard-packed dirt or gravel instead of stone. Head west into the long grass and face a tamer. Lass Pam Wormer level 3, Squirmunk level 4 Reward: 16 gold From here, head north to the wall and follow it east until the path north opens up. You should hear a tamer nearby, so head up that way for another fight. Lad Abraham Tadder level 4, Boibul level 3 (note: Tadder is a water type, Boibul a standard type) Reward: 24 gold Head east from Abraham. Notice the water nearby that you can't walk in? This is important later, but for now, just remember where it is. Head south once you can't go east anymore, and grab the Skill Drink from the chest. A Skill Drink returns some lost use points to an attack when it is used. I honestly recommend holding onto these for when the game's areas get larger, and trips to a manamon hotel are fewer and further between. With the skill drink stowed away, head south. The wall will take a couple of little jags, but just follow it south to another tamer. Lad Isaac Jackanaipe level 4, Murkit level 4 Reward: 23 gold Now you're done with this area for now, so feel free to find your way back to Amica Town. Heal up if you need to, then exit the hotel and make your way west out of the town. But wait. Hold up. There's a short cutscene here before you can enter the woods. Follow along, then proceed when you're ready. Amica Woods This place is pretty big and fairly easy to get lost in. If you have issues remembering which way you've come from, this might be a good place to use flyers. Manamon available: Wormer, Jiminar, Owlaw, Cacone Spotlight: Jiminar This rare pure electric type is something of a one-trick pony. It uses electric attacks quite well with a potent special attack, but that's about all it does. It's also quite fast, and has a decent HP stat, but its defenses are fairly frail. It transforms twice, first into Jiminite at level 24 I think, and then into Jimitron with the use of an item called a Lightning Element. This is not a bad manamon, but there are better/more balanced electric types out there. It may be worth picking one up, though. Spotlight: Owlaw This air and sound-type owl is another average manamon. It takes a little while for it to get going, but it does learn some crippling moves like Sing and Magic Lights to mess with opponents. If you like somewhat more status-oriented and tricky play, this bird may suit. It has surprisingly good attack when fully transformed, but its defenses are both fairly low, so the status strategy for which it was designed can be much more risky than on something with better tanking ability. It transforms once at level 23 into Owlex, and then again at level 42 into Fowliture. Spotlight: Cacone This is another fairly rare manamon in Amica Woods. A pure insect type, Cacone struggles early with a lack of strong moves, but eventually learns Fang Drain, a fairly weak insect-type attack which also heals the user a little when it hits. Cacone picks up a second type, undead, when it transforms into Bombusect at level 20, and becomes quite adept in early to mid-game due to its combination of Fang Drain, Black Bite, Horrify, Toxic Spray and Desoul, all moves which can really hassle your opponent. Bombusect's only real shortcoming is its health, which is rather low, and means that it dies fairly easily if it's hit too hard. Nevertheless, this little guy can be quite a good manamon and possesses a lot of staying power with his various forms of per-round healing, so he's not just a throwaway. Okay, now that we've gone over the new manamon here, let's get on with exploring these woods. Head west, and soon you should hear the distinctive sound of a tamer. Lad Arnold Wormer level 6, Globular level 8 Note: Globular can't hurt you, so if you don't mind taking forever to kill it, feel free to bring in a weaker manamon if you have one, and slowly chip away at it. Reward: 40 gold Once you're done with this guy, head to the left into a narrow little path. The chest at the end has 2 Antidotes and 15 gold for you to take. Once you do, backtrack to Arnold and start heading up. You'll notice crackling sounds nearby. These are trees, and mostly just decoration. Head up and open the chest you hear to receive another Skill Drink. Head due east, and you'll find another chest, this one containing Smelling Salts. Now make your way back left and down to Arnold, but this time keep going down till you hit the wall. Start heading left, and keep going till the path opens up below you. This is a dead end with nothing in it as far as I know, so instead of heading down into the long grass, head due west. If you go up from here and then to the right, you should find a chest containing a Revive. There are a lot of trees around here so it's easy to bump into one and get a little turned around. Personally, I'd save this revive and not use it; they sell for 2000 gold at Manamon Marketplaces in any city or town, and right now that gold goes a lot further than the revive would. Once you're done getting that chest, backtrack to where I told you the long grass started, and head just a little to the east, and then north. You should hear some trees on your left, but feel free to ignore them. Heading north will eventually put you within hearing of another tamer. Head straight up to battle her. Insect Collector Jessa Wormer level 3, Wormer level 5, Cacone level 7 Reward: 43 gold Head north past Jessa till you hit the north wall, then left for another battle. Lady Janine Murkit level 7, Owlaw Level 5 Be aware that this murkit knows Bite, which will hit a little harder than you're probably used to. Also, Owlaw has the move Magic Lights, which is probably your first taste of the confusion status. Reward: 43 gold If you head due west from Janine, you'll find someone who will heal up your manamon for free! From this helpful person, keep heading to your left. Depending on how close to the wall you are, you may hear something bumping and rattling below you. This is just a bench, completely useless except as a navigational aid. It's not hiding anything, so skim on past it. You're roughly at the halfway point of the woods now, so just push on a little further. Okay, so you're past the bench, still heading west. The path will appear to open up to the north, but don't go there yet. It's only a few spaces, and what you want is westward from here. Instead, keep heading west, and you should hear another tamer nearby. Time for another fight. Gentleman Alex Wormer level 10, Jiminar level 7 Jiminar can paralyze you with Electric Shock. Be careful if you own an Owlaw or an Aquaffe; the attack isn't particularly powerful, but it can surprise you. Also, if Alex has a level 10 Wormer, I want to know how he did it. Wormer is supposed to transform at level 9, and in this game there is no way to stop level-based transformation as far as I know. Reward: 58 gold So Alex is defeated. From here, get to the south wall and head a long ways west. You'll start to hear a weird metallic rattling sound. This is a helpful sign with a tip, which reads: "Head forward from here if you are headed for Hazeldale City". Forward means up, by the way, but we're not going that way right yet. Instead, get back to the south wall if you did choose to investigate the sign, head west, and open the chest you hear to receive 3 Herbs. Score! Just north of the chest is a man blocking a little path to the west. This is important later, but for now just skim past him and head north, then east, then north when the path opens up again. You should hear the sign nearby. So, heading north, with the sign fading behind you, hug the east wall as you travel. Eventually you will hit a corner, with a chest directly to your right and a sign somewhere off to your left. Open the chest to receive 100 gold. Now head left toward the sign. This one reads: "Hazeldale City is left from here". That's not quite true, but it does mean we're getting pretty close to the end. From the sign, head up to the wall and then start going to your left. You'll hit a wall, so start going down. This is why I said that the sign wasn't quite correct. You're going to have to sort of loop around before you hit the city. Keep travelling downward, following the west wall, and eventually you'll come across another tamer. Or not. It's just a helpful person who's telling you about the signs I've already touched on. Go ahead and travel to the south wall, then start going west again. Eventually the path will turn north, then west. Keep hugging the wall as it bends, and before you know it, you'll be heading north into Hazeldale City. Hazeldale City This is definitely the biggest city you've been to so far, and there's a fair bit to do before you can leave. The first house you're likely to come across has a couple of people in it. One of them wants your Jiminar in exchange for his Feruddae. Feruddae is a fairly defensive pure steel type which takes awhile to really come into its own, and Jiminar is quite rare. If you've got a spare Jiminar you don't want, go ahead and make the trade, but it's possible to catch Feruddae later, and quite easily, so I would personally skip this one unless you have a burning desire to have this manamon early in the game. Leave this place, and head west over the clanking sewer grate until you come to another building. This is the Manamon Hotel, but as soon as you enter, you get jumped by a boy who wants to battle. Don't worry though. He talks for awhile and then stands right next to the door waiting for you to talk to him. Feel free to head straight up and heal your manamon first, then go back and talk to Yavin to experience your first two-on-two battle. Manamon Tamer Yavin (double battle) Fyste level 9/Eagala level 9 Eagala is a pure air type, and Fyste, you will remember, is a pure fighting type. Neither is particularly threatening, but don't waste a lot of time trying to set up. Just kill them both quickly. This fight isn't too difficult. Reward: 67 gold Now that Yavin is gone, go ahead and heal up again since we're right here anyway. Can you hear the person nearby to the east? This is the stat checker. He can tell you roughly how good your manamon is in all its stats. It's free and painless, so go ahead and talk to him. Spotlight: The Hazeldale Stat Checker At the beginning of the game, it doesn't matter so much, but if you later want to battle competitively or make the absolute most of your manamon, you'll be visiting this guy a lot. He ranks your manamon's stats and tells how good they are. When a manamon is generated, it is given a random number in a given stat between, say, 0 and 7. This number is hidden, except from this person, and the number determines roughly where a manamon is strong and where he's not. An example: AT level 100, a Squirmunk who has a higher number here in special attack will have greater potential for higher special attack through its lifetime. The differences aren't enormous, and don't fret or restart if you have, say, a Leefox said to have terribly underdeveloped attack. You may never be able to fix that deficiency, but you don't need every single point of stats you can get in order to finish the game either. I feel this needs saying, what with all the rampant misunderstandings going on in playthroughs and board posts I've seen. Train points, as given to you when you level up, have absolutely nothing to do with this stat checker. If he says your attack is underdeveloped, nothing in the world you can do will change this. If you put train points into that stat, it will rise, of course, but it will never be as high as it otherwise might have been. The values the stat checker fixates on are set when the manamon is generated. Please be clear on this. The stat ratings are below: 0 = terribly underdeveloped 1 = not so good 2 = decent, but a bit lacking 3 = decent 4 = decent, more great than not 5 = well-developed 6 = remarkable 7 = perfect Yeah. The middle three are kind of similar, eh? I personally tend to accept stats that are 4 or better only when trying to breed competitive manamon later on, but for now, it's mostly a point of interest. Feel free to leave the hotel, head around its west side and go north. You'll hear a building eventually. Head inside, and you'll find out that this house has a back door which leads out toward the belltower. Do you remember someone talking about the theft of a bell before you entered the woods? Well, now that we're here, we might as well investigate, right? First, though, there are some goodies in here. Talk to the person in the far northwest corner for a Paralysis Vaccine. Open the chest in the southwest corner and commit a little theft, to the tune of 200 gold. Finally, go to the east wall, go left once or twice, then tap enter while going up toward the northeast corner. Somewhere in this area, on the right side of the house, is yet another hidden Revive. Now that you're done looting this high-traffic home, head through the house, out the back door and.. Belltower Front Manamon Available: Squirmunk, Vibragen Spotlight: Vibrogen This little guy is a sound and poison type and transforms around level 22 or 23 I think into Recobrah. He has high attack and special attack, coupled with decent speed, but his defenses are fairly low and he's weak to a fair number of types. He's great in the early game and learns some very powerful moves, but he tends to get killed rather easily later in the game. Nab one if you want one, then head into the interior of the belltower. Or don't. This is actually a really excellent place to train a level or three. The Squirmunk here are usually level 7 or 8, and sometimes attack in pairs. In fact, the only way to find a Vibrogen is if you find it with a pair of Squirmunk; it will never appear on its own. Onward! There's a hidden Smelling Salts along the south wall of this small area, fairly near the southwest corner. There is also a chest to the left of the belltower itself containing 3 Flyers. When you're ready, enter the building. If you came here before defeating Yavin, there's someone blocking the door. Belltower F1 Manamon available: none throughout this area This floor isn't very large. You'll hear a couple of people and a clanging sound that's actually a ladder to the next floor. Head east and then north of the old guy who talks about the ladder, then slip a little further east to grab a Smelling Salts just lying loose on the floor. With this in hand, feel free to retrace your steps to the ladder and climb up. Belltower F2 As soon as you climb the ladder, head straight down to the wall, then west a bit and pick up the hidden Super Encounter Down by hitting Enter. This item, when used, stops encounters with feral manamon for awhile. I personally never use these, but I know a lot of people who swear by them. With your new item in hand, head up and fight the tamer who accosts you. Genius Roy Chingle level 5, Chingle level 5 Reward: 60 gold You're going to be seeing a lot of Chingle. It's a pure sound type, and some of them can use Sing to put your manamon to sleep. Thankfully, Chingle isn't too dangerous at low levels, so this is fairly easy experience for the most part. After defeating Roy, head west and then north to face another tamer. Genius Janna Chingle level 7, Chingle level 8 Reward: 73 gold Now, let's backtrack a bit. Instead of heading up the ladder near Janna, go back down toward the ladder down to floor 1. Head east of the ladder, then north. Hear that item? It's a Total Cure, which will heal any status ailment when used. Pick it up, then feel free to head up to floor 3. Belltower f3 Head east and a bit south, and pick up the Antidote. Then head further south and face a tamer. Detective Bill Chingle level 10 Reward: 36 gold Head east, south, and another tamer will jump you. Lad Joey Murkit level 10 Reward: 28 gold With Joey out of the way, go just north of him and then east to find a chest. This one contains a Strong Herb, which heals up to 100HP. You probably won't need it yet, but keep it on hand for later. Strong Herb in hand, backtrack to the west and head south, then east. You should hear a tamer to the east, so make a dash in that direction for another battle. Lad Joshua Squirmmunk level 10 Reward: 27 gold With Joshua defeated, the only thing to do is take the ladder up another floor. Don't worry, we're nearly done. Belltower F4 From the ladder, go north, east and then hook south for a chest containing an herb. Backtrack to the ladder, then go north a ways until you're spotted by another genius dying to prove his superior battling skills and intellect. Waste him. Genius Perry Chingle level 10, Jiminar level 8 Reward: 83 gold Once the genius is out of the way, head north and then to the west into a dead end. Press Enter here to pick up a hidden Rare Jewel and 100 gold! Now go east and enter the narrow pathway heading vaguely east and south. As you approach the ladder, pick up the item, which is another Rare Jewel. These are used only for earning money, but they sell for a lot of gold, so snatch it up and continue. Belltower f5 head to the west wall and swipe the item you can hear. This is a Daedalus Dust, which will transport you out of certain dungeons when used. Hold onto it for now, and continue on. The only other thing to do up here is to talk to the man you can hear. He's your toughest fight so far, so get ready. Bellmaster Sagose Chingle level 10, Murkit level 13, Chingle level 12 Reward: 227 gold After a little more talk, Sagose will give you your very own Chingle! Spotlight: Chingle This is a pure sound type for now, and doesn't have an easy time of it at first. He doesn't learn a lot of good attacks for awhile, and when he transforms into Belaard at level 30, he picks up a holy type and a significant stat boost. The Chingle family is not a bad choice, but it has a few problems. It has nice attack and special attack, but its speed is mediocre at best, and its physical defense is a little problematic (especially since it is doubly weak to both ghost and undead, which generally use physical attacks to deal damage...and trust me, you're going to see quite a bit of those eventually). Holy types should ideally be able to combat undead, but Bellaard usually can't. Bear this in mind, and use it or put it away in the transportal as you see fit. Now that you've finished this place, feel free to either walk out or use your newly-acquired Daedalus Dust to get back to Hazeldale City. head back through the house, and once you're into the city proper, go to the hotel and heal your manamon. We're going to visit the marketplace first, but after that, it's stadium time! Now that we've dealt with the belltower, the Hazeldale stadium is open, and it's high time we got that first key. But first, the marketplace. It's just below the hotel, so let's have a look, shall we? Shop list Mananet: 100 gold Herb: 300 gold Antidote: 100 gold Scorch Ointment: 50 gold Paralysis Vaccine: 50 gold Smelling Salts: 50 gold Encounter Down: 175 gold Bone Dagger: 500 gold Flyer: 30 gold Spotlight: Equipment We haven't come across this yet, but here's our first example. The Bone Dagger is a piece of equipment you can give to a manamon. In this case, it will raise attack by 5 points and lower special attack by 3 points when equipped. If you have a physical manamon like a Leefox or a Murkit, picking one or two of these up is a really excellent idea. 5 points doesn't sound like a lot, but at the early stages of the game, it's nearly a 20% increase. While you're here, make sure to sell your rare jewels for a cool 3500 gold apiece. And if you think you might want more gold for herbs, mananets or the like, go ahead and sell the revives you picked up too. Between the two rare jewels and the revives alone, plus your starting gold and the little caches you've found, it's possible to have over 16000 gold if you haven't spent any yet. Buy what you think you'll need, then leave. Now that we've visited the market and have equipped ourselves, it's time to explore the rest of Hazeldale. Remember the house in the east with the guy who wants your Jiminar for his Feruddae? Behind that house you'll find a gate to a placed called Sqien Path. You'll be going here soon, but for now the gate is locked, so ignore it and continue north. And here we have... Hazeldale Stadium Type Specialization: Sound You might have guessed this was coming, but here we are in our first stadium. Some stadiums have puzzles or tasks you have to complete, but this one only presents two lesser tamers before you can face the stadium leader. The first one can be fought by heading straight north from the entrance. Musician Jack Vibrogen level 10, Owlaw level 11 Reward: 77 gold After beating Jack, head north and a bit west, and the second tamer will demand a fight. Musician Bella Chingle level 14 Reward: 46 gold Now it's time to face the stadium leader. Make sure you're fully healed and ready for a tough fight. Save your game, then head north and speak with the person you find. Stadium Leader Odin Vibrogen level 12, Owlaw level 13, Hydrake level 15 Odin starts with a fairly standard Vibrogen. It's pretty frail, so you shouldn't have any serious issues taking it down. It can use Glare to paralyze your manamon though, so be aware of that. Next up is Owlaw. It has both Sing and Magic Lights, but is otherwise not a threat. Honestly, the first two manamon are quite tame compared to her ace, so take them down with as little fuss as you can. Hydrake is the star of this show. A manamon with three types (water, plant and sound), Hydrake also has a special ability which will damage you a little whenever you hit it physically. Air, poison and insect attacks do decent damage to Hydrake, so you might find that the best way to bring it down is with a combined assault. It has the special-based plant move Power Leaf, which spells danger for Aquaffe users and will do respectable damage to the Leefox line as well because of Leefox's secondary earth type. It also possesses Bubble as a weak water move and Sucker Root, a weak physical-type plant move for another way to gain its health back slowly. if you're really struggling with this fight, and have taken the time to catch and raise a Wormer or Globular into Skirial, a Skirial will utterly destroy Hydrake even at level 15. Reward: 870 gold For beating her, Odin gives you the Amplify Key, the first of the seven keys you will need in order to complete your journey. She also hands over a Megaphone, which will boost the power of sound-type moves if it is equipped. After you're done here, head out and have a little rest at the hotel. You've earned it. But first, you're bumped into by a person who tells you that online functionality is possible now. He also gives you the Battle Recorder, which as of the writing of this guide I have as yet never used. Yay! Online battling and trading are now possible. Just head up, then all the way to the right and all the way up, and talk to the man to your left. Spotlight: Online Functionality Manamon possesses some online functionality which lets players connect to each other in order to battle or trade. These features still have some kinks to iron out, but they both do work so long as at least one participant in the trade knows how to forward ports 15000 and 15001. Online trading and battling also requires that someone's IP address be known, which some may see as a serious security risk. There are a few manamon which transform only when traded, and there is no way to get the other starting manamon once you've chosen your own, but in general, trading is not at all necessary to play through the game successfully. You will also notice in your menu an option called Unknown Gifts. This will allow you to connect to VG-Storm directly and receive whatever promotional item or manamon they are offering at the time. In the past, a Jiminar with Power Surge and Stun Volt was being offered, as well as a Monja with some new attacks and perfect defenses (that is, the Hazeldale stat checker will say that the defenses are perfect). For quite awhile, the Unknown Gift was a Gronk with a few moves it doesn't normally have (Laser Arm, an electric and steel move, and Daring Comeback, to name two), plus a free Revive. Most recently, the gift manamon was a level 15 Feefeye with a Smoke Element; the Feefeye got Call to Arms and Poison Dart, the former of which is an excellent move (raises attack and defense by 1 stage each) and the latter of which is a wasted moveslot. The current offering is a level 10 Loonis with Wing Slash and Inner Healing. Mine had pretty bad stats across the board, sadly, so this is a serious gamble. Inner Healing makes Sacroloon borderline unkillable in the hands of a player who builds it properly, and Wing Slash is...well, it's not a bad move, but Loonis is not known for its attacking prowess. Heaven's Winds is probably better in most cases. Feefeye, Loonis, Monja and Gronk will be covered in a little while, but in due time, more gifts are likely to be available. You can only ever receive a gift once per playthrough, however, but there is nothing stopping you from playing the game again and taking the same gift you got last time. Old gift manamon are no longer available, unless you can find them in trade. When you're done here, heal your manamon in the bed, and you'll get a short cutscene. Once that's done, head out of the hotel, then go east. Now, you have a choice to make. Do you remember I told you about a man blocking a path in Amica Woods? Well, you have your stadium key now, so he'll move out of the way. You can go back and see what he was blocking, or you can proceed with the game. It's your choice; there's no wrong option. I will cover the detour first though, before heading to Sqien Path. A little backtracking Hint: bring nets So, you've made it back through Amica Woods, and the man previously blocking you is gone. Head west, and open the treasure chest to receive... What? Spotlight: Pandourbit It's essentially a mimic, in the form of a level 10 Pandourbit. This ghost-earth type is quite slow and does take awhile to get going, but he does get some good attacks at higher levels and possesses a fairly high attack stat. There is one other Pandourbit in the game, considerably later, but there are no wandering versions of this manamon, so you have two chances to catch it. This one knows Soul Split, which will remove half of your remaining HP when used (which means it will take many hits to kill you), Copy (which lets Pandourbit copy the most recent move used on it for the remainder of the battle) and Roar, which raises Pandourbit's attack by one stage. It can be a bit of a pain to catch, so you can decide whether you want it or not. Regardless of the outcome of the fight, you'll get 500 gold afterword, presumably dropped by the Pandourbit when it fainted or was caught. And now, on to Sqien Path! Sqien Path Manamon Available: Eagala, Tadder, Globular, Sapple, Finaut (shallow water only) Spotlight: Eagala This eagle is a pure air type, and transforms twice, first into Eagawk at level 19 and then into Martiagle at level 39. This manamon is fast and hits hard, but its defenses (especially special defense) are below average and it's weak to a lot of common types, such as electric, stone and ice. To slightly compensate for this, the Eagala line does get the plant move Batter Branch to help deal with its stone-type weakness and to give it some extra coverage. If you're looking for an air type early in the game that isn't Skirial, Eagala is by far the best choice, and Martiagle is a very solid addition to any team. Its lower defenses won't matter much when it's tearing teams apart. Spotlight: Tadder This little water-type tadpole also transforms twice, once at level 15 or 16 into the water-electric Friggle, and then again with a Lightning element into Frorgerel. Frorgerel gets a good water move in Drench, but its electrical options are a little limited (you get to choose between Power Surge and Lightning Bolt, put it that way). Its stats are fairly well balanced and it is not weak to too many types, making it a solid if generally average addition to a team. If you don't have an Aquaffe, this guy would make a perfectly serviceable water type for your squad. Spotlight: Finaut This trout is a pure water type, and it's one of the few early-game manamon I haven't played with. It's a little uncommon at this stage of the game, and its stat spread is a bit peculiar. Its defenses are decent, but most of its water attacks either require you to charge up (Storm Rush, at higher levels) or will hurt you when you use them (Water Bomb, at lower levels). Because of its ability, it is absolutely immune to water-type attacks, and does learn Divine Barrier, which cuts the damage from special-type attacks for several turns after being used. It transforms into Fingon at level 30, and it may be worth a try. There are certainly better water types out there, but this guy might have enough redeeming points to be worth using. A peculiarity: he learns Hone Blades, a two-stage attack boost, but literally the only move he learns naturally to take advantage of this is Suffocate. Spotlight: Sapple If you didn't pick Leafox, you might want to nab this pure plant type. It's fairly slow, but it has lots of HP, good defenses and high attack, plus it learns some good physical plant-type attacks. One drawback is that it does not transform into Sprucel until level 25, then does not transform into Junanchel until level 42. It gets a nice self-buff move called Solar Conversion, though, which raises attack and defense both by a stage. With the standard-type move Assault Tackle for some extra coverage, this sturdy tree might be a welcome addition to your team if you're in search of something to handle earth, stone or water types. If you feel threatened by all the scary plant types out there (read: very, very few of them), this line also gets a neat combo in Aerial Vision (5 stages of accuracy) and Uproot (instant-kill move on any manamon that is plant or part plant type), meaning it has a really easy way to deal with a plant-based team. Too bad there...really aren't many of those. First things first. As soon as you go through the gate, head north and wade through the shallow water. The item you hear is a Revive, so grab it. From here, go east till you hit a wall and then turn to the south. Eventually you'll find a tamer. Gentleman Rick Eagala level 15 Reward: 42 gold After you finish thrashing this gentleman, head south of him and then east into the long grass. You'll hear an item shortly; pick it up to find that it's an Encounter Down. Now head south and west, then more south, and you'll find another tamer itching for a beat-down. Lad Billy Wormer level 15, Globular level 12 The Globular is another example of a manamon which is completely harmless; beat it up with whichever member of your team can do damage and needs experience the most. Reward: 70 gold As an afterthought, I wonder where Billy got his level 15 Wormer, and why his Globular is actually a lower level. Just west of Billy is yet another tamer. Lass Shelley Owlaw level 14, Chingle level 16 Reward: 81 gold Head a little more west, then south as the path opens up. Yet another tamer is looking for trouble. Lass Lucy Sapple level 14, Sapple level 14 Reward: 79 gold After defeating Lucy, head past her, then hook around to the right and head east. Eventually you'll hear an item and a tamer on your right. The item is an Antidote, so add it to your collection before heading east to the tamer. Musician Alma Tadder level 17, Eagala level 14 Reward: 92 gold With Alma out of the way, continue east. You'll need to find a small gap in the east wall, but it shouldn't be hard. Enter this narrow path and follow it eastward. You'll come to someone who says they'll heal your manamon for 250 gold. If you've got a fair amount of spare funds, this is a really excellent place to train a few levels if you think you need them. You can run back and forth in the grass here, gaining levels and occasionally getting your team healed for less than the cost of a single herb. When you're done here, go past the healer, up to the wall, then west (so now the healer is below you). Press enter to find a hidden level-up herb. I strongly recommend you save most of these till later, since levelling is not a particularly tedious process, and level-up herbs are really quite rare. With your new prize in hand, keep heading east, then turn north when the opportunity presents itself, at which point you'll find another tamer who wants a piece of you. Notice the different and more ominous intro music? That's a bad sign. Double battle: Shadow Apprentices (sorry, I'm not sure of their exact names, they're random jibberish) Vibrogen level 15/Zinbat level 14/Cacone level 15/Zinbat level 14 Zinbat is an air-magic type; it's quick, but not horribly threatening. Reward: 169 gold Go back west to heal if you need, but when you're ready, continue heading north. Warning! Warning! There's a very, very tough boss fight coming up. You know you're close to it when, while walking north, you notice you're no longer on gravel and have switched to wood. If you're not ready or don't want to proceed, turn around right now and go train or something. It should be noted, however, that this boss fight does not need to be won. I will note the manamon here and their levels so you know what you're up against, if you feel so inclined to overlevel your team in order to win. You are expected to lose here, so don't feel bad if you do. Beating this boss will mean that your team will be rather over-prepared for the game for quite awhile, so decide for yourself if it's worth grinding out enough levels to win this stacked fight.Anyway, go north, get a cutscene, and meet the main antagonist of the story, who's confident that he can put you down. Shadow Leader Octoross Murkit level 24, Zinbat level 25, Tadder level 25, Vibrogen level 28, Ratsal level 25, Recobrah level 28, Eagawk level 30, Skirial level 30, Flammerick level 28 Reward: 1720 gold Whether or not you win, Octoross knocks you out and takes all your manamon! Don't worry, you'll get them back, but for a short while you're going to have to make do with what you've been given. Spotlight: Ratsal Ratsal is a standard-poison type. It has decent attack and speed, but all of its other stats are average. It transforms into Ratiera around level 35 or so. I personally don't much care for this manamon, and I use the gift Ratsal only as long as I must in order to progress the story. To put this in perspective, Ratiera's strongest poison-type move is Venom Shot, which it has when you obtain it at level 15. Venom Shot is 45 power, and a special move; special attack is this line's weakest stat. Its strongest standard-type move is either Bite or Shred, depending on how lucky you are. Apart from those moves, it gets Roar, Tail Wag, Pollution Solution (causes poison that slowly gets worse) and Bizarre Illusion (causes berserk). It also gets Power Fang, which will halve the foe's current HP when used, but this isn't nearly enough to make up for a terrible movelist. The point is, its movelist (which is the only source of moves it's ever going to get) is brutal, and its stat distribution is such that it needs to be a sweeper to survive. Busted. Ratsal in hand, head toward the bed and try to rest. You'll get a little scene, so hit the bed again just to be sure. Then save your game, and let's get exploring your new surroundings. Mineruff Tunnel F1 Manamon Available: Zinbat, Leonra, Monja, Granate, Murkit Spotlight: Zimbat You've seen this guy before once or twice. He's an air and magic type, known more for annoyance moves than anything else. His speed and special attack are fairly high, and his attack isn't too shabby either, but his defenses and HP mean that he's easy to kill.. He transforms into Zintrabat somewhere around level 24, and can then be transformed into Orystar whenever you wish using an item called a Star Element. Zintrabat will learn Wing Slash at level 25, a physical air move and pretty much the only air-type move you're going to get, so if you want it, don't transform into Orystar right away. Orystar will get Tri-Beam at level 34 (that aforementioned unreliable special move that Enchandithol also relies on for awhile), and then eventually get Meteor Rush, which is now a special-type magic attack, so it has at least something going for it. This is not a bad manamon; just be aware of its weakness, and play to its strengths. Spotlight: Leonra This earth-standard type has all the tools it needs to do its job well. It gets Battlecry (defense -2 stages) Roar (attack +1 stage), plus Slash and Earthquake later on for coverage. It doesn't have any coverage beyond its two types, but it's quick, hits fairly hard and is not hideously frail. As of the writing of this guide, the Leonra line is perhaps the best earth type I've seen so far. Others may possess more bulk, or more sheer attack, but the Leonra line is just an example of a manamon built properly. It transforms into Lonar at level 20 or 21, then again into Leonatar around level 33. Spotlight: Granate This is the game's only earth-stone type, and many players who know pokemon may think it analogous to the Geodude line from that series because of its typing and its general moveset. Granate has nice attack and defenses, but remains quite slow, as you might expect. It gets Stone Throw (which funnily enough used to be a special move), and eventually picks up Quake (not Earthquake, but a weaker version with a slight accuracy penalty). It will eventually learn Shatter, a move which drops the foe's accuracy by 5 stages but kills the user, plus Mudslide, a relatively inaccurate but powerful earth move. I don't think they get any good stone-type coverage beyond Rock Throw, so this might be yet another manamon cursed by bad moves and thus relegated to minimal use. It transforms into Promolder at level 28 I believe, then again into Cragalem at level 40 or 41. Surprisingly, unlike pokemon's Geodude line, you don't have to trade this guy to get his final evolution. If he ever gets better moves, he might be a worthwhile addition to a team, but as he stands, he's weak to too many things and doesn't have enough power in his two types to be effective. I'd give this rock a pass. Spotlight: Monja This is a fighting-shadow type with so, so much potential that never gets tapped. He's very fast and has respectable attacking stats, but is cursed with a largely irrelevant moveset, learning things like Black Bite (an undead move) and Poison Dart (a special-based poison move that can scorch) in lieu of good shadow or fighting-type moves. To put this in perspective, I've been told that at level 60+, the best fighting move this line gets is either Blind Rush, a 120-power 60-percent-accurate fighting move which will lower your accuracy when you use it, or Rookie Kick, a 50-power 90-percent-accurate fighting move. As of a recent update, the Monja line also picks up Shadow Claw, a 50-power physical shadow move. The gift Monja comes with a couple of niche moves like Stone Fist (stone-fighting attack) and Tri-kick (fighting attack which is weak but can hit three times and lower defense), but the real answer here is stronger moves pretty much across the board. You'll see a lot of Monja and its transformations on foe teams and in the wild, so take advantage of the fact that they probably aren't living up to their potential and destroy them. I can't recommend this manamon until or unless it's given better moves. It does transform twice, however, into Nyomanja at level 28 and then into Ninjarkon at level 45. Okay, so this place is fairly large and has a history of confusing players, so I'll try to be as thorough and straightforward as I can be. In the interest of not getting people lost and not missing items, I'm going to follow walls here even when it might be possible or even easier to cut corners. Here we go. Get to the west wall below the bed and head down. Get to the corner, go east, then slip through the gap in the south wall. The path bends east, so keep following it. In a few steps, the area will open up a bit. Immediately go south (ignore the tamer you can probably hear, at least for now), and keep going south till the path bends west. Follow it as it does, then make another south turn when you can. You should be able to hear a chest faintly when you get to this southwest corner, so head due east to find it. Inside is 500 gold. From the chest, head east, and follow the wall until you hear a couple of tamers nearby to the north. Get into their line of sight, and both will challenge you. Alternatively, get a space or two from the east wall and move straight upward to fight them one right after the other. Cool Kid Priscilla Leonra level 15 Reward: 43 gold Immediately afterword, you'll get jumped. Cool Kid Cora Leonra level 15, Murkit level 15 Reward: 84 gold Sneak past the tamers and head north. There's a chest here containing a strong herb. Now you get to do some backtracking. Head south past the tamers, but don't go all the way to the south wall. Instead, head left, then north to bump the north wall, and follow that instead. It takes a little jag near that chest you opened earlier, but keep following that wall, and eventually you'll be able to go north. Do so, then turn east when the path takes a turn. The wall should now be below you as you move east. After six or seven spaces, there'll be a little entrance to the south, so head that way, then east when the southern path ends. Keep travelling east until you get a cutscene. Yavin has joined your party. You could've come here right away, but I like to get the two chests down below and the two tamers out of the way first, because Ratsal and whoever else you may have caught can certainly handle them, and Yavin may suck valuable EXP away if he's killing things. Now that you have him, though, you're on your way toward getting out of this place. Note: All encounters with feral manamon will now be double battles. Yavin has a Fyste, an Eagala and a Friggle he will use to help you in any fights you may come across. From the point where you get Yavin, head east. Eventually you'll hear a couple of tamers and an open chest behind a wall. Been there, done that, so head back out of this dead end, go five spaces west, then start going north. Continue until you hear a tamer to your left. Nip over and have a battle. Cool Kid Simon Jiminar level 15/Fyste level 13 Reward: 88 gold Rmember: every battle is going to be a double battle, so Yavin will make this a cakewalk even if he doesn't always use great moves to help out. With Simon crying for his mommy, head north for another throw-down. Musician Kelvinn and Guitarist Jenny Squirmunk level 17/Zinbat level 17/Monja level 16/ Reward: 145 gold Head between the tamers and go north. When you get the opportunity, head to the east (following the wall to your south as a guide), then go north. That rumbling is a statue; feel free to investigate it to find out that there are some chips missing. This will be important later, but for now, detour around the statue by going west a little, then start trekking north again. You should now hear a ladder. You're almost home free. Just as you're about to get out of these accursed tunnels, though, you find a familiar face. Looks like it's another battle. And he's got your manamon, too! What a dirty rotten...anyway, let's teach him who's boss. Note: Don't worry too much if you had a really excellent team which will now be used against you. For some reason known only to Octoross, he's let all your manamon remain quite weak, and they should be quite easy to kill. If you're having trouble, you can always catch and train a bunch of manamon from the area, to even the odds a bit. Shadow Leader Octoross Uses your team, in the order you had them in, at the levels you had them at Reward: 1471 gold After your victory, you'll get your old team back, and they're fully healed! Sweet! Listen to the cutscene, then head through the now-unblocked ladder into Hansha Village. Hansha Village There are a few things you can do here. This is another fairly big place (a village larger than a city, who knew?), and there are a few things you can pick up plus one thing you absolutely must do before continuing. Let's work our way through. The building right near the ladder is this village's Manamon Marketplace. Let's have a look-see, shall we? Shop List: Mananet: 100 gold Meganet: 300 gold Herb: 300 gold Strong Herb: 700 gold Antidote: 50 gold Scorch Ointment: 50 gold Paralysis Vaccine: 50 gold Smelling Salts: 50 gold Encounter Down: 170 gold Power Dagger: 4500 gold Speed Anklet: 4500 gold Small Shield: 2000 gold The Speed Anklet is a case of blatant false advertising. It raises speed by 10%, as advertised, but instead of just lowering defense by 10%, it actually lowers both defense and magical defense by 20% each. Total rip-off, avoid it like the plague. Now that we're done here, leave the building and go around its west side. Sneak behind it by going east when you can get the chance, and pick up the item on the ground. It's a Bone Dagger v2.0, an upgraded version of the Bone Dagger. It comes with no drawbacks, so if you've got any manamon currently using a Bone Dagger, go ahead and swap this out. There's literally no downside. Okay. Get out from this little dead end, get in front of the Manamon Marketplace and head south, then east into a little dead end. Hit Enter to score another hidden level-up herb! Now head west until you can hear a house above you. Enter the house and raid the trash can for a free Daedalus Dust. There's nothing really of interest in this house, except a telephone, which we may come back to. There are other phones in other houses in the game, this isn't the only one, but I'm mentioning it here so you know what your options are when the time comes. Leave the house, and keep going west. Shortly after going into the long grass, you'll hear a door, which is the Manamon Hotel, to your north. Head in and heal or switch up your team if you want - the manamon you may have caught in Mineruff Tunnel are now in your transportal, by the way - but when you're done, come back out and...yup, you guessed it, keep heading west. When you can't go west anymore, head north and nab the Max Skill Drink just lying in the gravel. From here, you should be able to go west a bit, so go ahead and do that. The building right north of you is the Highbrew Pub. Let's have a look in here. You'll be back here at least once, but there's no harm in coming here now. This place is fairly large, and there are tables everywhere. Some of the tables have items or gold on them. More specifically: 1. A table in the upper right corner has 1 (yes 1) gold left on it. You should be able to hear a hungry Ratsal nearby. 2. A table just to the north and east of that first one has a revive on it. 3. The table to the far northwest has a Power Potion lying on it. These items can be bought later at considerabl annoyance, and you'll find a few of them on your journey as well. They raise the attack stat by two stages when used, so I'd hold onto this one for a bit. 4. The table on the left edge, one table up from the southwest corner, has 50 gold on it I think. Okay, feel free to leave the pub for now, and head west and then north across a bridge. Hold on, here's a cutscene. It's sort of touching, really. Remember I said there was one thing you had to do before you could leave? Well, this is it. If you don't activate this cutscene, there's going to be someone in Mineruff Tunnel blocking your progress. Yes, I'm afraid you do have to go back pretty soon. So, cutscene over, continue to head north across the bridge. You're not quite done here. The building on the right you'll come to is the arcade. Right now there's not a whole lot to do here, so step through the door, get a cutscene, and your very own Arcade Case. This will store your tokens and credits. You can find out how many tokens or credits you have by selecting the Arcade Case from the Other Items pocket of your inventory. You can also ascribe a hotkey to it via the inventory if you wish. Spotlight: The Arcade This area is chock full of mini-games to test your skills and reflexes. You buy tokens with gold, use the tokens to play games, and earn credits depending on how well you do. Different games open up with different stadium keys in your possession, so for now your options are going to be pretty limited. The inventory sold by the arcade for credits will get longer as you complete more of the game, so pop in from time to time if you want to see what's available. Just a note: the manamon Autoson is available here, but you can get it elsewhere. Placebot, on the other hand, cannot be obtained any other way as far as I know, so if you want a Placebot, you'll have to save up those credits. Spotlight: Autoson This thing is a little difficult to get going, but it's not a bad manamon once it does. At level 36 it will transform into Titomaton. Both of these manamon are electric-steel type, which means they have a huge weakness to earth attacks. They don't get a whole ton of attacking moves, but they do get a fairly early SuperSpark (level 39 I think), and their ability to tank is rather impressive. Good HP and solid defenses, combined with half-decent special attack and speed, make this one decent enough. A wall that can also attack is never a truly bad thing. Try him and see. Spotlight: Placebot I want to like this thing, I really, really do...but I can't. Its stats are all average at best, and all the add-ons you can buy from the guy next door to the arcade, while novel, aren't going to change things. You can double Placebot's attack, or you can double his special attack, or you can double his speed, or you can boost both his defenses by half. Those all sound pretty good on paper, but the stats that aren't raised are still pretty low, and Placebot doesn't have a whole ton of HP to play with. As a standard-steel type, it's got a huge fighting weakness (which isn't common in this game, believe me), and to its credit, it does get a fairly decent level-up move list, including such notable moves as Slash, Hammer Head, Power Surge and Tri-Beam. I believe it also gets Iron Guard to help shore up its physical defense. Were I you, and thinking of trying this fellow out, I'd buy the add-on which doubles his special attack or attack, keep Iron Guard to at least give him some extra defense, and go for a mostly attacking set off a pretty respectable attack or special attack stat. The add-on which gives him all those high-powered moves, by the way, is arguably trash. Placebot has better things to do, and most of those moves are either two-turn, inaccurate or both, so don't waste your time. Arcade case tucked away, leave this place and head to the west. The guy in this building is actually a shopkeeper. If you have Placebot, he'll sell you various pieces of gear that Placebot, and Placebot only, can use in order to boost stats or gain extra moves. Here's the kicker though: they cost credits. Getting Placebot optimized is no easy task, let me tell you. Also in this house is someone who wants you to play a little game. Save before trying, though, because you only get one shot at this little prize. He wants you to guess a number between 1 and 70, and you get five guesses. With each wrong guess he'll tell you whether his number is greater or less than your last guess. If you guess his number within your allotted five guesses, you get 3000 gold. Otherwise, you get squat. Given the odds, you can probably do this in five or six tries if you care about the gold. Note: I think this kid's number game changes somewhat at random. Once he asked me to guess a number between 1 and 50, and he only gave me 1000 gold when I figured it out. I'm not sure if the number of guesses, the range he's using or both will contribute to your prize money. Experiment and find out if you're of a mind. Just save ahead of time. There's also someone else here who will give you a vague tip about the upcoming stadium. They're deciding which fighting type to train, so you can bet that the stadium has some sort of fighting-type weakness. When you leave the house, you'll hear a gate to the west. It would be nice to go that way, for the experience and the new manamon you'd find, but alas! It's currently blocked because of unpredictable volcanic behaviour in the area. Uh-oh, unpredictable volcanic behaviour? Let's get out of here! Head back across the bridge to the south, go east, then make your way back to Mineruff Tunnel. Mineruff Tunnel F1 Okay, time for another plunge into the depths. When you were near here last time, you might have heard someone to the east telling you about a dangerous rockslide. Well, both he and the rockslide are gone now, so head east right away, hugging the north wall. Before long, someone familiar is going to pop out of nowhere and demand a rematch. Remember, her starter is the one that's effective against yours. Tamer Sierra Eagala level 17, Bulpine OR Flammerick OR Girmarine level 19, Larvae level 16 Reward: 146 gold With Sierra gone, immediately head north till you bump into a wall, then go east. The ladder you hear will take you out to Sqien Path, the place where Octoross first attacked you and brought you into this place. Ignore it for now. A tiny alcove in the north wall holds two hidden Revives, so scoop them up, then keep going east. Tamer time! Gentleman Paul Leonra level 16 Reward: 44 gold Head south of Paul for another tamer battle. Lad Jared Sapple level 16, Monja level 16 Reward: 87 gold Head west of Jared, past the ladder to get out of here to Sqien Path, then head south. Someone else wants a battle. Lady Susan Monja level 15, Monja level 17, Eagala level 16 Reward: 138 gold Head east a couple of spaces, then south a little, then east till you bump the wall. Start heading south now, and when the path opens eastward, head that way. Hear the tamer? She's moving. Get close enough and she'll fight you. Geologist Veronica Granate level 19 Reward: 58 gold Keep forging eastward past Veronica, following the north wall until the path turns north. Head that way, and you'll hear an item on the ground. Pick it up to discover that it's 2 Smelling Salts. Bonus! Being asleep is never fun. Head back south, all the way to the south wall, and go east a bit. An explorer has found you and wants a challenge. Shall we oblige her? Explorer Judy Sapple level 18, Granate level 14 Reward: 96 gold Judy runs off after you defeat her, so head south, a little east, then further south for yet another tamer battle. Detective Luke Friggle level 17, Leonra level 17, Leonra level 17, Zinbat level 18 Reward: 185 gold Heh. He says he'd be interested in trading, yet he disappears. What a guy! With Luke out of the way, head east and then north a bit. You might've heard this explorer before, but you couldn't get at her. Well, here she is! Explorer Tammy Larvae level 20 Reward: 50 gold Backtrack south-ish to where you fought Luke, and keep going south into a very long and narrow passage. It will open up eventually, so head west to the wall, south, then east, then south again. Follow the wall east now until you can't anymore, and you should hear a ladder far to the north. Make that ladder your next priority. Mineruff Tunnel f2 Manamon Available: Same as F1, but with Larvae as well Spotlight: Larvae This pure flame type transforms twice, once into Lavalan at level 27 or 28, and then again into Magmazire with the use of a Smoke Element. It does get the flame moves Torch and Fire Stream eventually, and has good special defense. However, it does appear to be a little slow, and its attacking stats are not overwhelming. Try him out if you don't have a Flammia, by all means, and see what you think. Right away on floor 2 you'll hear a chest just to your left. Open it to receive a Bone Dagger. Equip it, or hold onto it for a quick sale in your next city. Either way, head north to the wall, then west for a tamer battle. Genius Morgan Vibrogen level 17, Murkit level 18 Reward: 110 gold Incidentally, this genius is silly. Predicting his odds of victory when he doesn't even know your team. That's not genius, it's guesswork. Heh. With morgan humbled, continue west, then south into a narrow passage. Follow it as it turns east, then nab the item you'll eventually hear to pick up a Meganet. With your new capture device tucked away, continue east. Quick note here: I just took you through a bit of a loop, where you could have come directly south from the genius to pick up that Meganet. I'm doing this to hopefully get the habit of following walls really and truly ingrained. It will save your bacon in mazes like this. Anyway, eastward. Past the chest, past the ladder, then turn south when you get an opportunity to do so. There should be a wall directly on your left as you move south. A priest is blocking your way and wants to battle. Priest Mackenzie Squirmunk level 18, Squirmunk level 20 Reward: 93 gold Sure doesn't act much like a priest, does he? Anyway, he's gone now, so continue south. In an alcove directly to the west there are a hidden 3 Giganets and 400 gold! Swipe those, and head east. Follow the wall north, then take the little gap to the east, then hook south. The turns are kinda tight in here, but now you should hear a tamer below you as you move toward him. Battle time. Geologist Peter Autoson level 18 Reward: 57 gold Autoson is electric steel type, and fairly tankish, so watch it. Just south of Peter is another moving tamer. Wait for her to get close, and she'll challenge you. Musician Caroline Ratsal level 17, Fyste level 16 Reward: 101 gold Head west a couple of spaces, then immediately north till you bump the wall. Follow the wall west, then south two spaces, then further west. Eventually you'll have to go south a bit, but you can go west shortly thereafter. Another moving tamer to trounce. Geologist Josh Granate level 15, Granate level 17, Granate level 19 Reward: 161 gold Head around the geologist and keep going west, following the north wall. If you can hear the sound of water dripping, that's just part of the ambiance, don't worry about it. When the path opens to the north, go that way, with the wall directly on your right. Bump the north wall, then head west. After awhile you'll hear an item; it's quiet and you'll have to be close before you stumble on it, but this is the engagement ring your new friend Daxton back in Hansha Village lost. You'll need to return it eventually, but just hold onto it for now. You'll be back to Hansha eventually, and you can visit the pub and give back the ring then. Ring in hand, head west to the wall, then follow the wall all the way down to a chest with 350 gold. Relieve that chest of its tiresome golden burden, then go around the chest and keep moving south till you touch a wall. Turn to the east, follow the wall till it opens southward, go south, and follow the wall on your left. You'll hear the ladder now, so make a beeline for it. No need to follow walls when you're this close.. There's a Star Element in a chest northeast of the ladder, and a hidden Stone Guard and 200 gold right north of the ladder as well. Get those first. You might want to save your game before going up that ladder though. It's nothing particularly ugly, but you've got a fight coming. Highpark Road Before you can do anything, you're surrounded by a bunch of manamon you've never seen before. A helpful woman nearby says they're all her manamon, but have run amok and need calming down. This means a battle. You have to face 8 (count 'em, 8) level 9 Wizz. Wizz is a fairly frail and fairly speedy magic type which shouldn't be able to do much to you just yet. They do have the move Stifle, which will shut off special moves for a couple of turns, and all of them know Suffocate, which is a move that does low damage but will do a little more damage every round for awhile. Most of these Wizz should die in one or two hits if your team is anywhere decent, so even though it's at best for you an eight-on-six battle, it isn't too difficult. Thrash those little weasels! Reward: 192 gold With that out of the way, you can explore Highpark Road. Highpark Road Manamon available; Wizz, Jackanaipe, Fyste, Boibul Spotlight: Wizz I covered this little guy a little before now, but here's a little more info. Wizz are peculiar little creatures, possessing low-ish HP, rather high speed, decent magic attack and magic defense, and not a whole lot else. They seem to specialize in trapping/annoying the foe, but they don't transform into Wizzell until level 37, and they're pretty frail till then. They do learn Manatize (magic attack and magic defense both up by 1 stage) and Demanatize (magic attack and magic defense both down by 1 stage to the victim) when they transform, and at high levels they can learn Eternal Vortex, which is a trap move similar to Suffocate which does damage every round. They do have the ability Slippery Skin, which means they can't be trapped in battle by any means, and can switch or flee without restriction. If you want to fight with one, you'll be relying on Starfall and Suffocate for damage right up till level 30, when they learn Tri-Beam, a huge improvement. For me, though, the jury's out on this one; try him and see what you think. My general opinion is that there are better magic types out there; a moveset such as this line possesses would be better suited on a tank, and Wizzell is not a tank. Spotlight: Boibul This appears to be your bog-standard standard type. The puppy has the Dishearten ability, which lowers the evasiveness of a foe who sees it by 1 stage. Boibul and its transformation Bayowoof appear to learn almost exclusively standard-type attacks, so they're dead meat against ghosts. However, from the little experience I have with them, they do appear to have nice attack, HP and special defense, so they might be worth using purely because they aren't weak to much, and can deal solid damage to most manamon you come across. This is yet another example of lacking knowledge, so give it a try and see what happens. Okay, exploration time. Head right to the wall, then up, and you'll face a tamer. Magician Lennox Jackanaipe level 17, Wizz level 15 Reward: 121 gold Straight north of Lennox, who's mysteriously vanished, is a Max Skill Drink just lying on the ground. Go ahead and give it a new home, then head west. Bump the west wall, then go south and you'll find a Paralysis Vaccine. Continue heading south, then east a little, then further south, to face another priest. Priest Theresa (triple battle) Murkit level 16/Chingle level 17/Eagala level 16 Reward: 133 gold Head south past Theresa, then east to find someone who's really, really impressed with their muscles. Prove that brawn isn't everything by thrashing this athlete. Athlete Brenda Fyste level 18, Jakanaipe level 20, Jackanaipe level 20 Reward: 172 gold Head south from where Brenda is standing, and you'll shortly come across another moving tamer itching for a battle. Magician Bianca Zimbat level 18, Owlaw level 21 Reward: 107 gold After Bianca is beaten, head to the west, then a bit north, then further west. The item you hear is a Scorch Ointment. Once you've got it, head due east until you're between Brenda (to the north) and Bianca (to the south), then keep going south. We're going to cut a bit of a corner here, but only in the name of grabbing the item you can probably hear to your south. Even though the path to your right is open, just head south and grab the Smelling Salts on the ground. Now that you've also found a wall, follow this wall to the east, and you'll eventually come across another tamer. Wants to break your legs, does she? Well, let's show her what happens to people who make threats. Tough Girl Kendra Fyste level 22 Reward: 64 gold Just a little east of Kendra is the gate to Avalette City. Avalette City This is another large city with quite a lot to do. It's also the home of your second stadium, and it's a fairly tough one. Better yet, there's not a ton you have to do in order to open it up. Let's get cracking. First, head straight south to the fountain, and click on it to receive 50 gold. Can't hurt, right? Now head eass and then a little south to skirt the fountain, and keep going east till you hear a sign. The sign isn't important in any way, unfortunately, so just use it as a navigational aid if you're ever unsure of where you are. Keep going east, then enter the Manamon Hotel, which is the building above you. Rest up, get a short cutscene, then leave. Sneak up the eastern side of the Manamon Hotel, and hit Enter to find another hidden item, this one a second Stone Guard. Now head east (you can probably hear a door there) and enter that building. In here is a newspaper, which seems to say different things at random from day to day. Aside from that, there are four people, none of whom say anything remotely interesting in my opinion. If none of this interests you, feel free to just glide on past and head south. If you want some more freebies, though, go west instead of south first, and follow the wall west. Eventually start hammering Enter and you'll get 3 Ultra Encounter Downs. I sell these, but you can feel free to keep them if you want. Just to the west of those hidden items is a guy who wants your Lonar (transformation of Leonra) for his Autoson. You can use this to advantage if you have a Lonar you don't want, and are interested in getting Autoson or Montor early in the game. Whether or not you're interested, you'll have to double back to that building with the newspaper and stuff inside. Now you'll have to go around the building here, but it's another house. In here is another telephone, plus a dude who wants your level 25-29 Autoson in exchange for his Montor. This is actually a good trade if you want Montor early in the game, but you can get Montor later on if you're not interested in having it as a member of your party now. Feel free to take him up on it, or leave, as the spirit suits you. There's a house in the very southeast of town, but again, there isn't anything useful in here. Just a couple of people who say fairly irrelevant things, and a couple of dead-end empty rooms which by all rights might have hidden things in them. Thing is, I've looked very closely at them, and didn't find anything of use. So again, feel free to ignore this building if you want to. This concept of houses being useless is only going to get worse as the game progresses, I'm afraid. Anyway, when you want to keep exploring, get to this house and follow its west wall to the north. If you keep going, you'll find the stadium. It's blocked right now, but it won't be for long. Remember this location (east side of the city), then work your way around the stadium's west side. If you tap the enter key when you're west of the stadium - explore a bit, and you'll figure it out - you'll find a hidden Full Revive and Power Dagger. Score! Feel free to cut straight north, as the only thing in the northeast of this unnecessarily large city is a clock which tells the date and time. I didn't find any hidden items up there. Directly above the stadium is the Manamon Marketplace. Let's go in and have a look. Shop List Mananet: 100 gold Meganet: 350 gold Herb: 300 gold Strong Herb: 700 gold Antidote: 50 gold Scorch Ointment: 50 gold Paralysis Vaccine: 50 gold Smelling Salts: 50 gold Encounter Down: 170 gold Power Dagger: 4500 gold Shadow Dagger: 3000 gold Gas mask: 2000 gold Padded Vest: 2500 gold Small Shield: 2000 gold Buy, sell, leave. You know the drill by now. I personally am a huge fan of the Power Dagger because 12 strength at this stage of the game can mean a heck of a lot; the -5 to both defense and magic defense can be a bit worrisome, however. Okay, now that you're back outside the marketplace, head west, and then go north once you're no longer in front of the building. The area to the north of you is... Avalette Graveyard Manamon Available: spirost, Ghoulad Spotlight: Spirost This ghost and shadow type has decent stats across the board, with a slight specialty in special attack. It doesn't really get any good special attacks until PsychoTrick though, and its only disabling moves are Subliminal Radio Wave and Stifle. It transforms into Aperishian at level 26, and then into Mortrex if you trade it. This is one of only three manamon that transforms by trade, and Mortrex makes a pretty solid addition to a team if you can find a friend to help you out. Spotlight: Ghoulad Ghoulad starts by being defensive, but slowly develops a respectable attack stat. It learns mostly undead moves, being a pure undead type, but it also picks up Crunch as solid standard-type backup which has a chance to lower defense if it hits. It transforms into Morghoul at level 26 I think, and then it can be forcibly transformed into Fiendour with a Soulless Heartstone. This manamon is very slightly on the slow side, but all its other stats that it uses (bar special attack, which is pretty bad) are quite good. It's very solid, has two immunities (poison and magic) and undead hits a lot of types for at least neutral damage. A very solid option for just about any team, and one of the few undead types in the game. If you're looking for something to destroy everything in one hit, forget it; if you're looking for something to survive a few hits and probably end up victorious because it outdamaged and outlasted the foe, Fiendour is one of your better bets. Armed with your new information, head north into the graveyard. There are almost certainly some hidden items around here, but I've never found more than two of them. Along the east wall fairly near the south corner is a hidden pile of gold, 1000 in total. Somewhere on the west side of the graveyard, but not against a wall, is a hidden Bone Club. I hate this piece of equipment, and think it's another example of penalties far outweighing positives, but feel free to grab it to sell or something if you can find exactly where it is. Your only real goal here is a person who's standing near the back of the graveyard, sort of in the middle. Your best bet for finding him is to go all the way to the back (by heading north, I mean), then retracing your steps about fourteen or fifteen south, then heading due east or west till you hear him. This is actually the stadium leader, and he'll have a little chat before returning to his stadium. Feel free to explore the graveyard if you want, but you're done here as far as the plot goes. You can read the gravestones if you want; they're the rumbling things that click when you bump into them. If you click on enough of these, and then talk to the person near the entrance who mentions that he likes to read headstones, he will give you a free headstone amulet. This is a really excellent piece of gear which can only be worn by undead manamon; it makes them immune to holy attacks, holy being one of their weaknesses. Very nice. If you talk to the guy and he gives you nothing, try examining more headstones. This is one area where following the walls will not specifically get you what you need, but I still can't stress the importance of following walls enough. Learn it now while it's still relatively easy. You will thank me later. Leave the graveyard, then head due south. You may hear an item, so grab it to find that it's a Bone Dagger. Now heal up if you've been using the Ghoulad and Spirost to train on, and head to the stadium when you're ready. Avalette Stadium Type Specialization: Standard Unlike Hazeldale, this stadium has a little puzzle you'll have to complete in order to reach the leader. Don't worry though, it's not too hard. Go north, and you'll hear a weird musical humming noise and a sort of bumping rustling noise. The bumping and rustling is a box, the humming is a teleporter or something. The aim is to push the boxes you hear onto the teleporters. If you push a box the wrong way, you can always leave the stadium and come back to have the box's position reset. This first box needs to be moved to the left, so stand with the box on your left and hit enter. You should hear a weird sound; that's the box disappearing. Feel free to go west and then north to encounter your first stadium tamer. Tough Guy Joseph Ratsal level 18, Ratsal level 18 Reward: 119 gold With Joseph out of the way, head north, east, then when you try to go north some more with this new box on your left, you'll be spotted. Lady Chiara (triple battle) Leonra Level 18/Leonra level 17/Leonra level 18 Reward: 142 gold Head east from Chiara, then a bit north, to find a third and (as far as I know) totally optional tamer to test your strength against. Lass Cassandra Boibul level 21 Reward: 51 gold Now head back to the west, toward that box. Get to the north wall, then head west so the box is below you to your south. Hit enter on it, and you'll push the box south into the teleporter where it belongs. Now head south yourself, then west into the newly opened path. Now you'll hear a box to the north of you, so push it north until it vanishes. Somewhere along here, you'll be jumped again. Explorer Danny Ratsal level 20, Boibul level 20 Reward: 112 gold Head north to find your last box puzzle. This one has two boxes, so you'll have to be a bit more careful. Head a little east, bump into the box (don't worry, you can't move it from this side right now), step south, then east so the box is directly above you. Shove it north onto the teleporter. Now retrace your steps a bit by going south, go east, then go north so that the one remaining box is directly to your left. Shove it to the left and out of your way, then go west a space and straight up. You should enter a narrow little path that opens up into the last room of the area. Noel is here, so let's take him on. Stadium Leader Noel (triple battle) Lonar level 23/Erroir level 21/Domestress level 24 All manamon have the Spirit Staff equipped, which means they can hit your Pandourbit or Spirost with their standard or fighting type attacks. Be aware of that. You haven't seen Erroir or Domestress yet. Erroir is a standard-electric type with high attack and the move Power Surge, which is a fairly weak special-type electric move that'll hit every one of your manamon on the field. Domestress doesn't hit particularly hard, but she can use Sing to put your manamon to sleep, plus her ability, Domesticate, will lower the attack and magic attack of anyone who sees her by one stage each. Definitely on the annoying side. She also uses the moves Slam and Rookie Kick for damage. Lonar is a standard-earth type which can use Quake (single-target earth attack) and Bite (standard attack) on a fairly high attack stat. All of these manamon are fairly dangerous, and a strong assault will be necessary to win here. You're very likely going to lose at least one of your manamon here, so be prepared with a team of more than just three who can fight. Personally, I prefer to use Stifle on Erroir to stop Power Surge, and Restrain on Lonar if I've got it to stop his physical attacks. If both of these manamon are shut down a little, they tend to be less threatening. Domestress is more of a pain than a first-class terror. If you don't have or don't want to use either of those moves, I recommend taking Erroir down first. He's the monster of the team, and he's at the lowest level as well, so he'll have slightly lower defenses and HP than he otherwise might. Pick on him with earth, fighting or magic type attacks till he goes down. Lonar is weak to plant, water, ice (which you almost certainly don't have) and fighting. Domestress is weak only to fighting, I believe, but she's not particularly bulky, so she should die to two or three strong hits of just about anything. I don't have more specific strategies than this, but with a little trial and error you should be able to find a way to victory. Reward: 1240 gold You'll also get the Classic Key and Classic Shield for winning. Head out of the stadium and... Hey, it's Yavin! Don't worry, he doesn't want a fight. He just wants to give you something useful. It's the Pocket Copter, an item which will make travel throughout the world of Tangeria - at least the parts you've already visited - one heck of a lot easier. Take his gift, and fly back to Hansha. Listen to the rather disturbing and peculiarly acted cutscene - I mean seriously, doesn't that seem like an awful lot of gears? - then head in and heal up. Remember that gate being blocked due to unpredictable volcanic behaviour? Well, I guess in the minutes, hours or days it took you to beat the last stadium leader, that's all been cleared up. Gotta love convenient geology. Anyway, that gate's where we're headed, so feel free to head northwest, across the bridge, then west through the gate. Alternatively, now that you're back in Hansha with the engagement ring, this is a very good time to deal with it one way or the other. Daxton is hanging out in Highbrew Pub, so feel free to head there and talk to him if you want to further his story. The item he gives you in exchange for his ring may not seem useful now, but you will need it in the postgame if you want to capture all manamon. Warning! Warning! It is possible to sell the engagement ring in a shop. If you do this, and Daxton finds out you've done it, he will challenge you to a battle. I'm not sure of the details of this battle, as I've never done it myself and always just give him his ring. Winning the battle (plus the sale of the ring) will give you a nice little handful of gold, but from what I can gather it also means that you never receive the Holy Medallion you'd otherwise get, and is thus a great way to screw yourself out of some of the postgame events you'd otherwise have access to. In other words, if you're really curious, save before selling the ring, then go ahead and fight him if you feel like it. Then reload your game and do the right thing. There's nothing even close to making this fight worthwhile as far as I know, so it's just one more way you can screw yourself over (there are, I'm afraid, a couple of these throughout the game, which exist with no great benefit to the player, and I'll note them as they come). Whether or not Daxton is out of the way, it's time to head onward. Hedra Way Manamon available: Hydrobird, Loonis, Erroir, Fyste, Eagala, Friggle Spotlight: Erroir This standard and electric type is probably the third-best non-mythical electric type I've yet seen. It has solid HP and high attack, with average defenses and speed, plus it gets the physical electric move Sparking Tail for excellent power. It does also get Lightning Bolt, a 125-power 75-accuracy special electric move, around level 32 or 33, but personally I think Sparking Tail is superior in just about every way due to Erroir's stat distribution. He also picks up Bite, Shred and eventually Slash and Powerfang for standard-type coverage. If you want an electric type that packs a wallop, look no further than Erroir. It's a touch on the uncommon side, but if you hang out in Hedra Way for awhile, you should find him before too long. Spotlight: Hydrobird This little guy is the embodiment of the philosophy that you have to really work with something before it's worthwhile. It's not near as bad as Magicarp from the pokemon series or anything, but it's fairly frail, and relies largely on Waterbomb (a special-type water move that does recoil damage to the user) to do damage. At level 32, it transforms into Dramagon, and drops its air type for a dragon type, making it water-dragon instead of water-air. Dramagon is a solid addition to most teams, with respectable attacking stats on both sides of the spectrum, good defenses and HP, plus average speed. He'll pick up Drench for water-type coverage, and eventually gets Dragon Fang and Draco Breaker, as well as Rehydrate for some passive healing every round. I've used Dramagon in the past to great effect, so feel free to pick one up. Spotlight: Loonis This air-holy type is a bit of an odd one. Its attack and defense aren't too high, its special attack is fairly decent, but its special defense, HP and speed are all quite high, making him a fairly reliable special wall. Add to that the fact that he gets both screen moves (Divine Protection and Divine Barrier), and this holy loon makes a very good supporter. He transforms into Sacroloon around level 34 I believe, and eventually gets access to the move Heaven's Winds, an air and holy type special move which suits both his types well. I often prefer a more aggressive strategy than this bird is built for, but there's really nothing wrong with him at all. In fact, I'd have to say he's one of the better holy types out there, the sort of manamon who is really, really good at the list of things he does well. If you need a special wall, or a dual-screen manamon, and if you have other manamon who can cover Sacroloon's many weaknesses, he will make a great addition to your team. Okay, here we are on Hedra Way. Head north to the wall, west a little until the north wall disappears, then head north. There are quite a few tamers in the area, and we're going to clear them all out. Start with the one who accosts you and tells you to "prepare to die". Right, lady. Let's rock. Lady Cindy Friggle level 22, Hydrobird level 23 Reward: 125 gold Yeah, you bet you jumped the gun, Cindy. Now head back south and a bit west to find someone who isn't supposed to be out this way. Well, let's give him another reason to run along home. Lad Nathan Larvae level 21, Eagawk level 21 Reward: 108 gold Now head north of Cindy, then west to the wall, then north until someone decides to insult your clothes. Give 'em whatfor. Genius Sandra Montor level 24, Wizz level 22 Reward: 140 gold Now detour a little to the east into the gravel. Head north, then west, and a genius will try to beat you with...his ability to memorize pi? Okay then. Genius William Autoson level 22, Jackanaipe level 22 Reward: 130 gold He starts spitting binary. Just ignore him. Actually, don't. When the battle ends and you're back in control of your character, talk to William again. Write that number down: 1-888-777-4554. Remember those telephones? Well, now there's something you can do with them. Spotlight: Telephones If you try and dial the number William gave you at any telephone, you'll get a weird little cutscene. It opens something up far later in the game that you don't need to worry about now, but why not do it when you have a chance? A few other things you can do are dialing 911 or 999 for the North American or British emergency service, each of which gives a little scene. You can also dial 1-800-626-2666 (or 1-800-MANAMON) and you'll get a nice bonus of gold for finding an easter egg. Okay, with the phone business out of the way, continue west past William, then go south when the west wall blocks further westward progress. Explorer Melanie Sapple level 23, Recobrah level 22, Friggle level 23 Reward: 204 gold Head west into the long grass now, and you'll hear an item. Pick it up; it's a Meganet. Now go back east and then head south, till you are jumped by a rather belligerent tamer who wants you to get out of his way. Tough Guy Jared Eagawk level 22, Monja level 23, Eagawk level 22, Monja level 23 Reward: 283 gold I think I've seen a Jared elsewhere in the game... With Jared out of the way, head just a bit south, then east. Get into a corner where you're blocked by a wall to your north and one to your east, then hit enter for 3 (yes 3) Revives! Then slide south along the wall, west a bit, then south to nab another item, this one an Encounter Down. With those goodies out of the way, feel free to head west now along the south wall. Go north, then west when you get the chance, until you meet a really, really annoying tamer who thinks he's cool. Let's prove that he's really not. Cool Kid Terrence Hydrobird level 26 Reward: 66 gold This whole hashtag thing is nauseating. Head west. Eventually you'll hear a tamer above you and an item to the west. The item is another Revive, so grab it, then make a dash for the tamer. Cool Kid Terence Sprucel level 25, Friggle level 24 Reward: 145 gold Damn right your brother is annoying. You're not so bad though, Terence. Head west from Terence. We're almost at the next area. Only one or two more loose ends to see to. Heading west, you'll come across an area where you can go south into long grass. I don't think anything's there, so just head west till you find a tamer who hates the piano. Battle her. Pianist Hope Chingle level 25, Sluggugg level 23 Sluggugg is pure flame in type. You'll see him soon. Reward: 154 gold You can probably hear Mt. Cinder very near to the west, but don't head there just yet. Instead, go north and then a bit west. There are still a few items you can grab. The first you'll come across is a Rare Jewel, great for improving your funds when sold. Going all the way west and then a little south will net you a Skill Drink. The item off to the east from here is 950 gold. the chest far to the south from the pile of gold contains a Bone Dagger v2.0. Now you're ready to get out of here, but before you retrace your steps entirely and try to enter Mt. Cinder, try to get as far northwest as you can. If you do, you'll find a chest with a Spirit Staff. Remember how the previous stadium leader could hit ghosts with fighting and standard moves? This is the piece of equipment which let him do it. Not a huge find, in my opinion, and you'll see at least one more in the game, but hold onto it for now, and feel free to make your way generally back easth, south, then west to the entrance to Mt. Cinder. Mt. Cinder Manamon Available: Sluggugg, Larvae, Granate, Gronk, Teddiburn Spotlight: Sluggugg This pure flame type appears to have high defenses, incredibly low HP, modest attacking stats and fairly low speed. It does not transform, but does get some neat attacks in Toxic Spray, Rage Bug, Hibernate and Black Bite, just to name four. It also gets a relatively early Flame Blizzard, but I'm not sure how useful it is; I only know that when I see Sluggugg, I usually kill them in one or two hits. They might have what I generally call Bombusect syndrome (that is, nice moves, decent attacking stats, terrible HP and no survivability). Try if you want, but personally I avoid this guy like he's got the plague. To put this in perspective, a Sluggugg with a decent HP stat (according to the stat checker) had 86HP at level 46, which is far, far, far too low, even if he does get Flame Blizzard at level 39, and Hibernate only a few levels later. Great defenses don't matter if you don't have the HP to back them up. Bombusect is usable; Sluggugg really isn't. Spotlight: Gronk If you can be patient, this earth-magic type gets fairly good. Its physical attack, off which it uses such things as Scourge Tail, Tunnel and Aura Master, is quite respectable. It's none too bulky and is weak to a fair number of types, but its HP and defense/special defense are high enough that it's not fragile. This is good, because even though it transforms twice (into Groller at level 20 and Grandlan at level 40 I believe), it's still weak to quite a number of things. Early on, its moveset is going to be pretty terrible, but if you can get it into the high 20s or low 30s, things start looking hopeful. There is also a piece of equipment far far later in the game which can help augment its attacking capabilities a fair bit. Do note, however, that the item in question, Grandlan Clay, gives a penalty to both defenses without actually warning you (as in, the n key doesn't mention that penalties will apply, but other shortcut keys will tell the truth. Very, very sneaky. Try Grandlan if you want a bit of a challenge, and don't mind waiting for a payout in your investment. It should be noted that Grandlan can be taught Blaze Rampage, Toxic Tail and Piledriver via the Orianda move tutor, who we'll be coming across later in the guide. Considering he also learns Scourge Tail, Tunnel, Aura Master, Metal Fist, Copy, Zap Slam and Meteor Rush on his own, Grandlan really is a long-term but worthwhile investiture of your time. Whether I use Grandlan or Leonatar depends on my mood. Spotlight: Teddiburn This strange little teddy bear is a pure flame type, and to be honest, its bleat always puts me more in mind of a sheep than a bear. It transforms at level 30 into Merembear, keeps modest and well-rounded stats, and learns both Slash and Torch (special 95-power flame move). This is noteworthy because most types do not boast a 100-accuracy 95-power move, and Merembear gets his at level 31 or 32. Drench (the closest water equivalent) has a small accuracy penalty, though a few manamon do learn it relatively early as well. In any case, Teddiburn might be your best bet for an early flame type, though you're going to have to deal with Lava Lick (a very weak flame move) for damage for awhile, unless you want to switch to Shred and miss out on a same-type-attack bonus. Merembear's special defense is moderately low, and so is his speed, but he eventually gets access to Roar, Slash and Blaze Rampage, allowing him to use the higher of his attacking stats to do respectable damage. There are better flame types, but this one's not bad. Note: There is a trade far later in the game where you can use a level 45 Merembear to get something you'd need to trade with a friend otherwise, so even if you take Teddiburn now, make him a member of your team and later discard him, there's always that option of levelling him up to the appropriate level and trading him away so that you're not suffering a dead loss. Here we are, and the first thing we're told is that there are open flames around. You should hear them crackling merrily away nearby. If you step on them, your manamon will take damage, starting with the one in the front of your party and switching further down when that manamon eventually dies. Each time one of your manamon cries out, it'll lose about 10HP, so it's not instant death or anything. Much more dangerous traps and hazards will come later in the game, so this is only the beginning, I'm sorry to say. There is absolutely no reason to step in the flames (no hidden items as far as I know, no places where you must wade across them to get to a secret area), so just walk carefully and follow directions, and you'll avoid being scorched. Don't bother going north. It'll just lead you to a dead end with flames on your left, and I'm pretty sure there are no hidden items up there. There are flames to the south, so instead, just head west. Bump the wall, head north, then take the west path and curve north. Those flames to the north, the ones I said would block you into a dead end if you'd gone north from the entrance, are now safely on your right, and you can move away from them by heading west along the north wall. You'll have to go a little south as the wall bends, then skirt a pool of flames by heading south of it while still forging westward, but you should eventually come to an item, which turns out to be a Scorch Ointment. Very much in theme with the area, don't you think? Head south till you hear a weird flapping-footstep-like sound. These are stairs which will take you to the next level of Mt. Cinder. When you're ready, head up them, but be prepared for a battle right away. Mt. Cinder f2 Shadow Apprentice Ghoulad level 24, Ratsal level 25 Reward: 126 gold Directly east of the stairs is a hidden Gas Mask, which will make a manamon a little more resistant to poison. Head west, then a little south, and you'll find a kind soul willing to heal your manamon for free. This is a really excellent place to train, as long as your members can handle flame, stone and earth types. There's no limit to the number of times you can use this fellow's services, so feel free to abuse them to your heart's content. The manamon available here are the same as those found on the main level of Mt. Cinder, and will never change no matter where else you go in the mountain. When you're done training, head west of the healer, then follow the wall north. There are some items this way (some hidden, some not), and I'll mark them as we go. Along the northern wall near the northwest corner is a whopping 6000 gold! Don't miss this. Way down the west wall is a Strong Herb. To the southeast of that Strong Herb is an Encounter Down. Almost due north of the Encounter Down is 600 gold in plain sight. You might've heard this on the way down. Following the east wall back up toward the north, you'll discover a hidden level-up herb. Get back to the healer, refresh if you need to, and now head east past the flame pit to your south and stairs to your north. Keep going east till you find a wall, then head south along it. You'll hear flames to the east, so be careful. Eventually a wall will start up again on your east side, so head back north one square to avoid this wall, and head east. You should now be going east with a wall directly to the south and fire right above you to the north. It's a narrow path, but follow it east, then a tiny bit south toward the sound of another tamer. Shadow Apprentice Monja level 26, Zinbat level 23, Murkit level 24, Murkit level 22 Reward: 236 gold Just a little east of that bozo is another. This one hates gun control. Oh brother. Shadow Apprentice Ratsal level 27 Reward: 70 gold Cheapskate. Probably couldn't afford a gun anyway. Ha. With him out of the way, head north and east, eventually toward a chest containing a Giganet. Now head to the south, then west, then...a long way south. Your next tamer battle awaits just to the east, near the fire. Shadow Warrior Torgesvas (or something like that) Morghoul level 26, Monja level 25 Reward: 360 gold 360 gold is much more like it. Now head east with all the roaring flames just to the south of you, and eventually you'll find the stairs to the next floor. Mt. Cinder f3 Head east to find that there are indeed other tamers besides those belonging to evil organizations hanging out inside this volcano. Geologist Randy Groller level 24, Groller level 24, Sluggugg level 25 Reward: 230 gold Well, that's the only one, sadly. Great big volcano, and there's one geologist in here. Oh well. Just to the east of Randy, we return to our regularly scheduled programming, which consists of incompetent villainy. Shadow Apprentice Ratsal level 25, Friggle level 24, Zinbat level 23 Reward: 193 gold head north and then east, hugging the north wall till you can't go east any further. Now head south for another fight. Shadow Warrior Mayin Recobrah level 24, Zintrabat level 24 Reward: 363 gold Take the eastern path just south of the now-departed Mayin, but this time make a beeline for the south wall and follow along that one instead. You'll have to eventually come a bit north before once more turning east, but that's no problem. If you want, you can take the southern path nearby, head east for a long detour, and pick up a Smoke Element in a chest. If you choose to do this, just retrace your steps toward the fork, then Just keep following the path east into a very narrow corridor, and you'll eventually find: Shadow Warrior Largara Zintrabat level 24, Zintrabat level 24, Ghoulad level 25 Reward: 422 gold Head east, toward the stairs you can probably hear, for one last fight. Shadow Warrior Halstei Pandourbit level 28 Note: Pandourbit has the Entrap ability, so you can't switch; send the manamon best equipped to kill it out first. Reward: 309 gold It will warn you when you try to head up these stairs that something big is coming. This is true, but not quite in the way they mean. If you head up the stairs, you won't immediately be jumped. All the same, get prepared for what might possibly be your toughest boss fight yet. Mt. Cinder f4 Head directly north (the flames on either side of you force you to walk a pretty straight path), watch the cutscene, and have a battle. Warning: You can't use your inventory in this battle, for a reason that will be fairly obvious if you watch the cutscene. Shadow Administrator Kage Morghoul level 26, Zintrabat level 26, Skirial level 26, Deciced level 27 Deciced is ice and shadow type Reward: 852 gold After the next cutscene, you'll find yourself in new surroundings. San-CotBeach Manamon Available: Hydrobird, Loonis, Reefe (shallow water only), Bergan (shallow water only) Spotlight: Reefe This pure water type starts out very underwhelming, relying on only Headbutt and Bubble for damage right up until level 26 or 27, when it learns HydroFang, a physical water attack. It eventually transforms at level 35 or 36 into Submenno, a water-ice type, and starts picking up physical ice moves like Ice Cutter and Frigid Touch, plus Slash for some backup coverage. At higher levels, he'll pick up Powerfang, which is always handy for getting in a cheap shot against stuff that isn't ghost type, and Execution, a 30-percent-accurate one-hit-kill move which I tend to ignore outright. Submenno's attack and speed are decent, but all of its other stats are average-ish or slightly lower, making it something of a glass cannon. Its ability causes it to be immune to water attacks, which can be handy in some niche situations. As both a water and an ice type, this guy is a little underwhelming. He isn't a bad choice, exactly, but there are better examples of both types out there. Spotlight: Bergan Here's an interesting water-ice type who can transform by two different means. If you leave him to transform naturally, he'll eventually transform into Arctana, who has high speed and fairly decent special attack to use such moves as Bubble Burst, Ice Tempest and Storm Rush. If you're ill-prepared, the odd foe Arctana throughout the game is going to show up and potentially ruin your day. If an item called a Soulless Heartstone is used on Bergan at any time, however, he will instead become the ice-shadow type Deciced, will gain a lot of strength instead of special attack, and will get a different moveset. Be aware of this if you decide to catch and use Bergan; you'll have to manage his moveset carefully, and realize that if he transforms into Arctana, he can no longer transform into Deciced. Yet again, there are better examples of water, ice and shadow types out there, but Bergan might be good enough to carve out a niche on a team, depending on what that team is lacking. He's a step above Submenno, at least. Deciced, in particular, can do a ton of damage with its ice attacks. Just watch for holy, fighting and steel attacks, which will kill it in an instant. So here you are, dumped onto a beach which is presumably at the base of Mt. Cinder someplace. It's a pretty big wide-open rectangle with San-cot City on its east edge. You start out just a little southwest of the path into the city, but there's someone there blocking your way at the moment (surprise, surprise; get used to being arbitrarily blocked by people or obstacles in this game). For now though, that's okay. Your manamon have been healed somehow, and there are no tamer fights on the beach. The wild manamon should be easy enough for you to kill with most of your team that there's no real threat to your safety. Head north, and eventually you'll get a cutscene that threatens to be a little emo. There's a lot more emo where this came from, but at least this kicks off another story arc. Once you've witnessed the end of this slightly saddening little scene, you can feel safe to enter San-cot City. That, or you can train on the beach, catch a Bergan or a Reefe if you wish, and hunt up hidden items. I will note the location of a couple of non-hidden items, roughly at least, in case you want to pick them up. Have you noticed the big building on the sand? That's someplace you'll want to remember for later. For now though, the only thing relevant to it is a Meganet lying in the shallow water just to the west of the building. You'll miss this if you're following walls. There's a Power Dagger lying in the sand to the north of the factory. There's a Skill Drink in the sand southeast-ish of the factory as well, I believe. So far, that's all I've found. Make your way to the now-unblocked path into San-cot City. San-Cot City ...or as I jokingly call it, the town of getting stuff. Seriously, there are over a dozen items lying around in various places in this city just crying out for a new home. The very first thing you'll do when you enter is to hear a weird little cutscene. I was confused by this until I asked about it and was pointed at a later chain of events which will cause this one to make sense. Just remember it for later. It has no direct bearing on what's happening. Head into the hotel, which is just southeast of the entrance to the city, and heal up your manamon. You'll get a little cutscene when you do. If you talk to the people in the hotel, two of them talk about the Cranvels and their enormous house. One of them suggests you go there. This is a good idea, so let's make tracks. The manor takes up the northwest portion of San-cot City, so it shouldn't be hard to find. Leave the hotel, head east and then far, far north. You'll get another cutscene as you enter the dining room, which introduces Seinarus Cranvel and his family in more depth. When the awkward scene has played itself out, do as the man suggests, leave via the door you came in (don't worry, you will most certainly be back), and head to the east till you find the church. As a quick editorial aside, this is, for me at least, the point where the game's story really starts to show both its complexity and its weaknesses. Seinarus Cranvel is a great idea, but his execution feels immature and unlikely. The cutsscene said he was both a priest and a well-respected stadium tamer, and I'm sorry, but I just don't buy his attitude and the way he talks about his daughter, or the way he treats her even. This could have been handled with so much more delicacy and maturity, and really blown the story wide open in a good way. Instead, it falls a little flat. I'm apt to do this from time to time, sticking my own commentary in here when we've got a spare moment. Anyway, now that we've been invited to church, head inside and listen to the info-dump of a cutscene. Just be patient. There are a lot of goodies in here to pick up when the sermon's done. You've been invited back to the house for dinner, but for now, you've got the church to yourself. In no particular order: 1. If you head west along the south wall, you'll hear both a chest and a rumbling sound. The chest contains 500 gold, and the rumbling is a statue you'll be wanting to remember for far, far later. 2. There is a Spirit Staff lying on or just to the north of the third floor-vent on the left side of the church. 3. There is a Total Cure lying forgotten on the southwest pew. 4. There is a flyer just south of the pew second from the bottom on the right. The pews are in two rows with a center aisle. 5. There is some Daedalus Dust on the middle vent on the right-hand side of the church. 6. There is a Revive just south of the northeastern pew. 7. There is a pile of 320 gold just north of the northwestern pew. 8. Remember that chest? Go seven or eight spaces up from its west side, then west a square, and you should find a hidden MegaMic. This piece of equipment can only be worn by the Chingle family, but it lets them use the move Audioblast. At this stage of the game, it's a powerful move, so if you've got one, feel free to give it this customized piece of gear. Only a few manamon get gear like this, and nabbing this one means you don't have to spend tokens in the arcade, where it's also available to purchase for credits. Okay, you're done here. Leave the church, and head back to the manor. We have more stuff to loot...er, I mean, we have a dinner engagement to keep. That's right. Dinner. This time, when you go back toward the house, slip north between the house and the church, then head west. About twenty steps west of the church is a hidden stash of 2000 gold for you to re-appropriate. Keep going west, ignore the first door below you for now, and enter the second. You'll know it's the right one if you're walking on stone or marble when you enter. Now you're in Cranvel Manor's kitchen. The garbage bin has 600 gold lying in it, so snap it up. Just to the south of the bin are 10 flyers, hidden of course. Get to the southeast corner of the kitchen, and yoink a Strong Herb right off the oven. Now head north a bit, then west into the laundry room. A couple of items in here. It's cramped, so they should be easy to find. A Mighty Herb is hidden one space south of the northeast corner. A level-up herb is hidden north of the dryer, right near the northwest corner. A pile of 300 gold is just south of the washer; this one's not hidden. Leave the laundry room, cross the kitchen and enter the dining room. Talk to the person here. It's Rina's mother, who tells you to go check up on her. Let's not do that for awhile. There are still tons of things to...um...borrow. On the dining room table is a Skill Drink. Now head northeast toward the exit to a new area. Right near there is a hidden pair of Power Potions. Grab 'em and head north into Cranvel Hall. First of all, head north and then west into the Cranvel living room. The only item here is a non-hidden Speedy Potion in the southwest corner behind the sofa, so scoop it up, then head back out into the hall. Hug the south wall for now, and head east. You'll come to the master bedroom first. In here, head west, north and then west, then scoop the Rare Jewel just lying in plain sight. There are no other items I'm aware of in here, so make a beeline for the bathroom. It's on the east wall, near the southeast corner. There's not much in here, but do pick up the hidden Lightning Element along the south wall right near the toilet, plus a perfectly visible Encounter Down near the sink, before you leave. Feel free to exit the master bedroom as well, then continue east along the southern wall of the hallway. When you reach the end of the hall, the door to the east leads into another bathroom. There's nothing in there, so ignore it. Move south, and you'll come to another room. In Isaac's room, you'll find the lad himself; he says his room is under construction, but I don't really see any evidence of such except that there's no bed to speak of. Anyway, there are two things to find in this large room. One is a Daedalus Dust in a chest sorta near the northeast corner of the room. The other is a mighty herb in another chest toward the southeast corner. Leave Isaac's room, then head north and find the door to Matthew's room. The large chest in this room contains a Soulless Heartstone, which can be used to transform a few manamon. There's a desk with a transportal on it on the right-hand side of the room, but unless you need to swap party members, don't worry about it. Just leave the room and start heading west. The next door is Rina's room. You're about to have a triple battle, so prepare accordingly. Enter the room, see a disturbing and emotional cutscene, and...have a battle? I'm not quite sure how this works, but okay. Lass Rina (triple battle) Reefe/Teddiburn/Montor This battle is scaled, meaning that for some random/unknown reason, Rina's manamon will all have the highest level of your top three. If you have a level 26 and two level 22s, all three of Rina's manamon will be level 26. Just take her down. She's not tough. Reward: 241 gold Rina runs off once defeated, but feel free to not chase her right this instant. There is still a little more you can do here. Nothing but a bed and a vent in Rina's room though, so heal up if you want, then leave. Head west along the hall till you hear a chest to the north. Open it to find a Total Cure. Now keep heading west, and you'll come to a door to the north. We'll go there in a sec, but first, head west along the wall toward the entrance to the living room. There's a hidden full revive somewhere along this north wall. That door I mentioned just a second ago will lead you outside, near where that hidden gold was earlier. Your next goal is to find Rina, and she's out on the beach where you encountered her for the first time, so let's head that way. Watch the cutscene, and listen to the adolescent try and fail to sound like an adult. This scene never fails to make me cringe, both because of its poignancy and because of its hamhanded delivery. Again with the editorializing, I know, I know. Anyway, when you're done here, feel free to head back to the Cranvel Manor and enter the dining room. Another moving cutscene, more evidence that Seinarus is an immature and awkwardly written jerk who desperately needs to be brought down a peg or three. Here is also some evidence where I think the game creator forgot how old his protagonist was supposed to be. I have never heard a twelve or thirteen-year-old talk about stigmatization this way, among other things, much less have the sheer audacity to stand up to a man with as much sheer ferocity as Seinarus Cranvel. Don't worry, we'll get to him in a minute. The stadium is open now. Did you notice the little interjection of Matthew, and mention of his sixth stadium battle and all that? Yeah, this puts me a little in mind of the pokemon franchise, but I'll explain why later. Just remember Matthew, that's all I'm saying for now. Okay. Leave the house, head south, then east. There is a market here, and I'll hit that first, but then it's stadium time. If you want a little challenge, head just southwest of the Manamon Hotel, and talk to the girl. She wants to challenge you. Cool Kid Gemma Lavalan level 27 Lavalan is the next transformation of Larvae. Gemma will use at least one healing item on it (a Mighty Herb), so watch it. Reward: 69 gold The market is east and a little south of the hotel. Shop List: Mananet: 100 gold Meganet: 350 gold Herb: 300 gold Strong Herb: 700 gold Antidote: 50 gold Scorch Ointment: 50 gold Paralysis Vaccine: 50 gold Smelling Salts: 50 gold Total Cure: 550 gold Encounter Down: 170 gold Torch Hammer: 4500 gold Marine Cannon: 4500 gold Willow Hammer: 4500 gold Padded Vest: 2500 gold Small Shield: 2000 gold You know what to do by now. There's no one else of interest in here besides the shopkeeper, so once you're done buying and selling, feel free to get out of here. If you head to the east from the marketplace, you might notice a trail to the south. This is Brightwater Trail, and we'll be here soon, but right now there's a feral Promolder blocking your path. It won't move, and it won't fight; it just growls without end and impedes progress, so ignore Brightwater Trail and instead set your sights on the stadium to the north. Brightwater Stadium Type Specialization: Holy Yup, you probably saw that coming. This place requires that you find five sacred relics, which are strewn all over the stadium. The stadium itself is sort of like a maze, with an east wing and a west wing of sorts. The stadium leader is north of you when you start, but you can't go that way. I usually start by going west, but the choice is yours, really. If you go west, you'll get jumped pretty quickly. Priest Agatha Miterosier level 27 Reward: 72 gold When Agatha is defeated, head north and west, pick up the Sacred Relic just lying on the ground, then double back to the east and head north for another battle. Priest Miranda Loonis level 27, Palador level 27 Palador is a holy-fighting type Reward: 131 gold North of Miranda is your second relic, so snag it and travel west, then south to face the choir director. Musician Margaret Palador level 25, Squirmunk level 24, Squirmunk level 24, Squirmunk level 24 Reward: 242 gold Just to the southeast of Margaret is your third relic. Pick it up, and backtrack to the start of the stadium before heading east. Priest Adam Loonis level 28, Miterosier level 27 Reward: 137 gold Just to Adam's northeast is the fourth relic. From here, go south, east, then north and a bit west to face the last tamer of the area. Guitarist Julian Myaneko level 29 Myaneko is holy-magic type Reward: 92 gold The last relic is just to the west of Julian. Swipe it, then backtrack to the entrance of the stadium. This is a really excellent time to leave and heal if you don't want to use up more items than you strictly have to. When you're ready, head north from the doors, talk to the person who was blocking you, and he'll move aside, allowing you access to the third stadium leader. Stadium Leader Seinarus Loonis level 28, Paladine level 28, Myaneko level 30, Bellaard level 30 Reward: 1772 gold Seinarus's Loonis shouldn't be too difficult. It does have both of the screen moves, so if it uses them, be prepared to do less damage. Loonis is best taken down with physical attacks. Paladine is the second form of Palador. It can use Restrain to stop your physical attacks, and Takedown for some modest standard-type damage. But it doesn't really have any fighting attacks, plus its best holy attack, White Lance, is still many levels away. It's doubly weak to magic, ghost and sound, surprisingly enough, so rip it apart. Next comes Myaneko. This weird cat has bad attack stats, bad defenses and a ton of HP. Just kill it quickly. His last, Bellaard, is the star of the show. As you might remember, it's the transformation of Chingle, and it's got a few moves to mess you up. Subliminal Radio Wave can confuse, Sing can put you to sleep, and I believe it's got Heaven's Winds to do damage with. Bellaard doesn't have amazing stats, but it's no pushover either. I personally feel this stadium is easier than the last one, but that's just me. Once you've defeated Seinarus, he'll grumble for a bit and hand over the third stadium key, plus a Holy Necklace, which makes the user immune to shadow attacks while boosting their holy attacks a bit. Quite nice, actually. You'll get some sad music to replace the normal stadium track, and as you leave, you'll get one tiny cutscene. And now, all that's left to do is visit the Manamon Hotel, heal up, get a very short cutscene, then head out to Brightwater Trail. Brightwater Trail Manamon available: Trumer, Reefe (shallow water only), , Finaut (shallow water only), Myaneko, Eagawk, Squirmunk, Boibul Spotlight: Trumer It's sad when an insect-poison type is both the best insect and best poison type in the game...sadder still when it hardly even uses its poison attacks. Trumer gets Tunnel, and made me think he was some sort of earth type. He is, in fact, an insect-poison type, and does not transform. He'll get Rage Bug (strong insect attack) later on, and he seems to be pretty tankish, but that's about all I know for now. His HP is high, his defenses are decent, his attack stats are just a hair below average and his speed is about the same. I'm not amazed by this one as an insect type; Skirial has better type coverage, and Bombusect has more advanced tricks. And yet, it's Trumer I'd rather use in a fight, because his large-ish HP and Tunnel means he can surprisingly kill flame types if he's lucky, something the other two have much more trouble with. Insect and poison manamon got a raw deal in the design phase, let's just leave it at that. Spotlight: Myaneko This holy-magic type is one you've seen a time or two before. It's rare, fairly hard to catch, and knows Teleport to boot. Its attack and defense stats are pretty bad, but it has a ton of HP. It also gets what seems like a Myaneko-only move called Retribution, which will deal more damage the lower Myaneko's health is. I'm unsure of the exact mechanics. In any case, this peculiar cat isn't seen too often and appears to have too many stat deficiencies for serious play, but go ahead and try him if you like. I personally think he's another example of a busted manamon, however. His typing makes him weak to a lot of things, his attacking stats on both sides aren't high enough to warrant long-term use, and all the HP in the world won't save this poor kitty from getting the stuffing knocked out of it. On the plus side, when tamers use them, they appear to give a ton of experience, so beat on them for easy levels. The first thing you'll have to do if you want to go any further is to get rid of that growling thing nearby. It's a level 30 Promolder, and you can kill it now. For some unknown reason, you can't catch this thing. Maybe it belongs to someone? If so, the owner never comes and claims it. It's the second form of Granate, and is terribly susceptible to both plant and water. Just waste it and be done. Now that Promolder is out of the way, feel free to go south. Someone who likes birds wants a battle. Bird Watcher Donna Eagawk level 28, Owlex level 27, Owlex level 27 Reward: 240 gold South of Donna is another annoying cool kid to trounce. Cool Kid Rachel Chingle level 29,, Evillion level 28, Jiminar level 28 Reward: 222 gold The way these cool kids talk is not only uncool but unrealistic. Ugh. Moving south and west will eventually bring you to another tamer battle. Lad Vlad Promolder level 27, Lonar level 27, Niamanja level 28, Fyste level 26 Reward: 284 gold Just north of Vlad is an Antidote. Pick it up, then go south past Vlad onto the hard-packed dirt until you find an insect collector. This guy can wreck whole teams that aren't prepared. Be careful. Insect Collector Jimmy Skirial level 30, Bombusect level 27 Reward: 163 gold Just to the south of Jimmy is a very narrow path that goes eastward; follow it, then go north when you can. The item you'll hear is a Paralysis Vaccine. If you travel far to the east, you'll find another item, this one a Strong Herb. From here, go pretty much straight south until you find another tamer. Gentleman Drew Niamanja level 32 Reward: 88 gold If you move further south, you'll eventually hear an item to the west. It's a UP Restorative, so take it and double back north. There's still a ways to go southward, but there's nothing down there, it's just a dead end. If you go west when you get a chance, you'll soon be able to go south into some shallow water. This is where you can find Reefe, Finaut and Bergan if you want them. There are also a few tamers to be encountered here, and I think they all move. Here's a list. But first, head to the southeast corner of this rectangle of shallow water, then make a dash for the item you'll hear. It's 950 gold. Okay, on to the tamers. Genius Darren Hydrake level 32 Reward: 101 gold Fisher Ruth Fingon level 30, Bergan level 29, Bergan level 29 Reward: 255 gold If at any time you start travelling up the west side of this rectangle of water, you might hear the chimes that signify a new area. If you get too close, Sierra will jump out and demand a rematch. She'll heal you up first, don't worry. Manamon Tamer Sierra Eagawk level 29, Bulpine/Flammerick/Girmarine level 30, Lavalan level 28, Pythor level 30 Pythor is an electric-poison type Reward: 304 gold When Sierra runs off, head immediately west to enter a new area. You'll get a cutscene with an old man named Eleazar, who wants you to come into his house to talk about research. There are a bunch of hidden goodies in the area around the house though, so how about we get those first? Hidden roughly in the center of the northern edge of the area is a Razor Talon, a piece of equipment for air-type manamon. Too bad it doesn't actually help much. About halfway along the southern edge of the area is a hidden level-up herb. A few spaces below the entrance/exit of this area, right along the east wall, is a hidden Master Herb. Directly west of the area's entrance/exit, about seven or eight spaces, is a hidden Life Tonic. These items are quite rare, and they will cause a manamon to have the maximum amount of train points they ought to have at a given level. These are very useful if you catch a high-level manamon you want to use, but don't feel like getting it into dozens or even hundreds of fights to make it earn train points. I think I've found six or seven in the game all told, so don't squander them lightly. Okay, I think that's it for items. Feel free to nip on into the cluttered house of Eleazar and have another cutscene. This one gets interrupted though, as Rina shows up and gives you a letter from Yavin. For some reason he wants to see you back in the Hansha Arcade. We'll go there, but there are a few things we should do first. Start by exiting Eleazar Housefront and heading north along the west wall of that rectangle full of shallow water. Eventually you'll be able to go west and to start walking on stone. There's a hidden Rare Jewel along this south wall, so don't miss it. From where you picked up the jewel, keep going west till you're blocked by a wall, then turn to the north. The item in the chest you'll hear is a Power Potion, and the item lying loose on the ground is an Update Installer. This item will allow Montor to transform into Mondevol. As far as I know, there are only two in the game (unlike other transformation items, which can eventually be bought). In other words, don't lose this one if you want to complete your manapedia or want to upgrade the Montor you've got on your team or sitting in reserve. The area to the west, Dimbranch Jungle, is currently off limits because a feral Lonar attacked and killed an underlevelled tamer. There's no explanation as to who exactly blocked it off, or why, it's just...blocked. Ah well, just remember it for later, because you'll be back. Double back eastward, then move north onto hard-packed dirt when you get a chance. If you follow the path north, then east, an old lady will decide she doesn't like the way you're looking at her. Lady Wanda Merembear level 30, Sluggugg level 29 Reward: 173 gold North of Wanda is that narrow path you took awhile back. This means you've completed a circuit of the area, so feel free to use your Pocket Copter to fly to Hansha Village. Visit the marketplace, heal up, do what you need to do, then make your way to the arcade. Now that you're here, move toward the southeast corner of the arcade, and get ready for an enormous Pokemon homage. See that poster? If you opt to tear it down - which is what you have to do for story purposes, of course - stairs will appear behind it, letting you enter a secret hideout. This is very, very strongly reminiscent of the Rocket Hideout in the original Pokemon games. Anyway, head down, and get ready for a fairly long and difficult area with a lot of fairly challenging tamers. Secret Hideout A quick note before we start: even though you're clearly underground (you went downstairs in a building presumably at ground level), you can use the Pocket Copter to get out of here if things start going badly. And they very well might. First, go south and have a battle. Shadow Child Sandra Bombusect level 30, Bellaard level 31 Reward: 201 gold Helpfully, the Shadow Children will disappear when you defeat them. Go back to the stairs, then nip to the west for another scrap. Shadow Child Ricky Evillion level 30, Lonar level 30, Myaneko level 30 Reward: 262 gold Further west and a little south is another tamer battle. Shadow Child Desmond Eagawk level 33, Paladine level 32 Reward: 184 gold Considerably south of Desmond is a level-up herb and 200 gold just lying in plain sight. Don't miss them. Make your way back to the stairs, but this time go east of them, then north for yet another fight. Shadow Child Erin Friggle level 32, Jiminite level 30 Reward: 177 gold Turn west and move behind the stairs. Here's another tamer, but this one's patrolling, so she'll probably come right to you. Shadow Child Nancy Niamanja level 32, Paladine level 32 Reward: 184 gold If you head a good ways west and then south when you get the chance, you'll eventually find a shadow child with a toy gun. Ooh, scary. Shadow Child Charlie Owlex level 32, Fyrate level 33 Reward: 192 gold If you follow the path generally eastward, hugging the wall, you'll come to a chest in the northeast corner containing a Bone Dagger. I expected more for this great a detour, but oh well. At least there's a chest to the south of here with 650 gold in it as well, so scoop that up too. Head all the way west, then all the way north. You should hear a tamer now. Head that way for yet another battle. Shadow Child James Skirial level 34 Reward: 85 gold Keep going north, then turn east. Hear that door? If you get too close, you're going to be thrown into a boss fight without warning, and you might get seriously wrecked. You will be healed before the fight, however, so just save your game before you get too close, and see what happens. Junior Administrator Cody (scaled battle) Merembear, Lavalan, Sluggugg, Lavalan Cody's manamon will all match the level of the highest manamon on your team. This is an artificial mechanism implemented to apparently keep your team in some semblance of balance. Having beaten the game numerous times, I can tell you two things. First, the rest of the game won't punish you if you have one or two manamon that are much stronger, as long as most of your team can pull its weight. Second, if you have more than a five or six-level differential here between your weakest and strongest, you're going to struggle. On my first playthrough, I was being reliably one-shotted because my highest level was weak to Cody's preferred type (flame), and nothing else could stand up to the punishment. So hopefully you've done as the game has suggested till now, and kept your team fairly balanced. If you're really stuck, toss a higher level manamon into the transportal. This will lower Cody's levels accordingly, and may make the fight winnable. Reward: 1126 gold Well, at least the first of these ridiculous fights gave a good payout. Yup, you heard me right...the first of these fights. There are two more of them in this area. After that, thankfully, there are no more scaled encounters, so you can rest a little more easily. Cody locks the door, and you'll have to play an obnoxious game to open it. Before you do, nab the hidden Super Encounter Downs just to the east of you in the little dead end. Now, to that aforemention mini-game. You'll have to memorize a series of numbers, which are associated to manamon cries. The "more info" button will explain how the game works. I believe you have to get a sequence of five correct before the door unlocks. Good luck. Secret Hideout F2 Head west, north, then west through the little passage. There's a hidden Smoke Element and 500 gold along the south wall of this little area in a dead end, and a fully visible Purple Ring if you double back from the dead end a bit and go north. Purple Ring in hand, make your way back to the door and travel eastward. That weird noise is a teleporter. As soon as you step into it, you're gonna get jumped. Shadow Child Lester Promolder level 30, Zintrabat level 30, Bayowoof level 30, Erroir level 30, Bombusect level 30, Zintrabat level 31 Reward: 538 gold If you find a long narrow path to the north, don't bother, it's a dead end. Instead, just go east a bit, then head north. You'll eventually come across a chest with a Giganet inside. Now come back down the eastern wall, follow it as it jags a little to the east, ignore the teleporter as you pass it on your left, and head east when you get a chance. Shadow Child Madison Dramagon level 32 Reward: 96 gold Follow the wall by heading north, then east, then north again. Now here's Kage's daughter, trying to do what her daddy couldn't up on Mt. Cinder, I suppose. Shadow Child Makaylaa Loonis level 33, Loonis level 33, Recobrah level 31 Reward: 257 gold North of Makayla is another tamer begging for a beat-down. You'll have to head a little west to encounter him once the path opens up a bit. Shadow Child Mikey Groller level 32, Promolder level 32, Ratsal level 32 Reward: 266 gold Directly to the east of where Mikey stood, in another little alcove, is a Revive in a chest. Grab it, then go back west a little and then go north. Your next scaled battle awaits. her intro speech makes me cringe. Junior Administrator April (scaled battle) Fingon, Friggle, Arctana, Friggle Reward: 1154 gold Like Cody before her, April will lock the door. This time, the game's not quite so annoying to play. Read the info the game gives you, and start shooting down ships. I'm pretty sure your goal is 30 ships, as I've heard someone fail with 29 and I've succeeded with 31; thus, the goal's not too easy, but not viciously hard either. Once you're done, you'll be in... Secret Hideout F3 Just to the east is another Shadow Child wishing to prove her worth. She fancies herself a ninja. Shadow Child Lula Fyrate level 35 Reward: 104 gold East of Lula is...yup, you guessed it. Shadow Child Steve Eagawk level 34, Skirial level 33 Reward: 187 gold Come east a little, and you'll encounter a guy who tells you about resetting boxes and stuff. Uh-oh, it's another box puzzle. And this one is a little tricky. If you keep coming east, you'll probably start hearing all kinds of sounds. There's a rumbling sound, the unmistakable clunk-clunk-clunk of a door, a ticking sound and the distinctive rustle-thump of a box. The rumble is a statue which is blocking the door. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to find a way to remove that statue. Who am I kidding? You're stuck until you figure this out, so let's get a move-on. Find the box, get above it, and push it down twice. Then get on its left side, and push the box east four times. You'll hear a sound, which means something good has happened. In this case, a teleporter has been generated. The next phase of the plan is to get that box into the teleporter. You'll accomplish this by circling around the box so you're on its east side and pushing it west eight spaces, then north onto the teleporter. Follow the box through the teleporter, get around its southern side, and push it north twice onto the switch you'll hear. This will remove the statue, but it also alerts the last of the Junior Administrators. As soon as you step through the teleporter you used to get here, you're going to be jumped. Don't worry about healing though; just like the other two scaled battles, you're healed automatically before this shindig gets underway. Junior Administrator Charlotte (scaled battle) Jiminite, Autoson, Mondevol, Autoson Reward: 1136 gold Anyone reminded of Elesa from the pokemon series? Electric specialty, supermodel? Bah, maybe it's just me. Now that the three scaled fights are out of your way forever, you can have a look at the door Charlotte locked. Another mini-game, I'm afraid. Nah, I'm just kidding. It's true you have to play the slot machine, but this one's rigged. You'll get through on your first try, and immediately be treated to a cutscene followed by your last battle in this long, long area. Manamann Tamer Yavin Fyrate level 34, Eagawk level 33, Frorgeril level 33, Sprucel level 33 Reward: 1406 gold So we just did all of that because Yavin couldn't be bothered to wait for us. Scaled fights, silly mini-games, the whole bit. Get used to this sort of thing, guys. But it might be worth it. Now that you're back in the arcade, the Secret Hideout is empty of all threats, and there is a veritable treasure trove in Yavin's office. Make your way back down there. Secret Office The chest in the southwest corner has another Spirit Staff. The item you can hear after opening the chest, just to the northeast, is a pile of 1500 gold. The chest in the northwest corner is holding a Shadow Dagger. If you go east of that chest, then north when you get a chance, you'll find a chest with 3 Mighty Herbs in it. Just to the east of the chest with the Mighty Herbs in it is a chest containing 3000 gold! Right in the corner next to that chest (the one that had 3000 gold in it) is a pair of level-up herbs. They're hidden. I'm pretty sure that's it, but I think you'd have to agree that's a pretty good haul for such a small area. You can use the Pocket Copter to get out of here, and return to Eleazar Housefront. Heal up in the man's bed (or wherever you please, it doesn't matter), then prepare to head back onto Brightwater Trail. Remember Dimbranch Jungle, whose gate was blocked because an underlevelled tamer was eaten by a Lonar? Well, now you, too, can be eaten by a Lonar, because there's nothing blocking the gate. Enter the jungle. Dimbranch Jungle Manamon Available: Lonar, Evillion, Pythor, Guerrerrol, Hydrake, Trumer, Torto (shallow water only), Friggle (shallow water only) Spotlight: Pythor Pythor is another snake-like manamon, and is poison-electric type. This means he has a crippling weakness to both magic and earth attacks. To be perfectly honest, I have had very few problems killing Pythor and its transformation, Thundron, at any point in the game, and they do not appear to get too many good attacks. They do receive Restrain and Knockout Venom (small damage, decent chance to put the foe to sleep), but beyond that, I see little to recommend this line. At higher levels, they'll pick up Tunnel and Thunder Hammer (sort of like Sparking Tail except it lowers Thundron's defense), as well as Toxic Storm. They used to get Toxic Tail at some point (a tamer far in the future has a Thundron with Toxic Tail), but no longer. Personally, you can do much better for an electric type, and poison types are a liability, so stay far, far away from this one. Spotlight: Hydrake Hydrake is a manamon you've seen before, on the first stadium leader's team. It is water-plant-sound in type, does not transform, and possesses an ability which causes a manamon who hurts it physically to take small damage. Hydrake's stats appear fairly well-rounded but not amazing, but its coverage is nice. It gets Power Leaf, a special-based plant move, quite early in its development, and gets both Drench and Volume Level, special-based water and sound moves, respectively, before level 35. It does have a few weaknesses to watch for (such as air, insect and poison), but in general it does look like it might be worth using. Peculiarly, this guy also gets Power Kick for coverage. If only other manamon were fortunate enough to have viable attacking moves from four different types in their move list. Spotlight: Guerrerrol This plant-fighting type has some serious potential, with a good attack stat and decent moves like Power Kick, Slash and Gammadrain to use it with. It also gets Implant, a move which will begin a gradual HP transfer from the foe to Guerrerrol. With an ability called Seedy Heart, which boosts plant-type moves at 25 percent of its HP or less, Guerrerrol can do a freakish amount of damage with Gammadrain, healing itself in the bargain. After some extensive use, I can say that this is a clear winner when it comes to grass or fighting types, but one thing to watch for is that Guerrerrol's typing makes it particularly weak to air attacks (I've been utterly destroyed by Toxic Storm more than once). If you stay away from that weakness, however, this guy's surprisingly good. Spotlight: Torto This water-poison type will show up a bit later in the game in its transformed state, Turoison, but my impressions are fairly underwhelming. It appears to die in two or three hits to anything, and does not appear to do high damage in return. Its speed stat is not overwhelming either, leading me to believe this poisonous turtle is going to forever be forgotten in the vast recesses of mediocrity. If any of you have had particular luck with this line, please do let me know. Its only selling point seems to be Toxic Storm, which is just not enough to save it from the scrap-heap. It bears mentioning, before we get started, that this jungle is very large, and pretty easy to get lost in. Please follow directions carefully, and remember to follow walls as well. Straight west of the entrance is your first battle. Lady Roslyn Pythor level 35, Skirial level 34 Reward: 172 gold Go south, then west, and have another battle. This girl is trying to collect every manamon, and she's got a pretty good team so far. Genius Rochelle Bellaard level 33, Hydrake level 33, Guerrerrol level 32, Bombusect level 33, Owlex level 32, Lonar level 33 Reward: 609 gold Don't worry. That's probably your hardest battle in here, and you've already gotten it out of the way. From here,, go west to the wall, then north till you find someone else who wants a demonstration of your skills. Fisher Dan Arctana level 34, Reefe level 34, Reefe level 34 Reward: 272 gold Now go a little north, then west out of the shallow water onto more well-packed dirt. Someone else is looking for a good time. Bird Watcher Benny Sacroloon level 34, Dramagon level 32 Reward: 193 gold Double back south, and you'll find another tamer to fight. You almost certainly heard this one on your way up to find Fisher Dan, and might have been wondering how to get to him. Well, here he is. Bird Watcher William Owlex level 35 Reward: 96 gold South of William are two chests. The rightmost has a couple of Giganets in it, and the left one has a Max Skill Drink. Take your prizes, and move south path the chests, then west into a narrow westerly path. At the end is a chest. Pandourbit level 25 Remember me saying there was another Pandourbit in the game? This is it. He's your last chance to get one, if you didn't nab the first one. Whether you catch it or kill it, you'll get a Mighty Herb. Now that you've captured or killed Pandourbit and gotten what it was guarding, retrace your steps back all the way to Fisher Dan, then start going north. A tree on the very north edge of the area here will drop 1500 gold if you interact with it. From here, go west, then a little south, then west into a dead end, where 800 gold is hidden. Grab it, then double back to the east. Go a little south, and you'll find Bird Keeper Benny, who's talking about whistling in a certain way. Go south past him to where William is standing, head west a bit, then south till you bump a wall. Don't worry, the tree you hear right nearby has nothing in it. Travel westward along the south wall I've guided you to, then go north when the west wall blocks you from going further west. The tree north of you is special, and you should try and remember where it is because there's something you can do here later. For now, detour around the tree and keep moseying northward. Geologist Henry Sprucel level 33, Promolder level 33 Reward: 193 gold Just east of Henry is another battle. Explorer Carolyn Lavalan level 34, Friggle level 34, Guerrerrol level 34 Reward: 270 gold Get over to the east wall, follow it north and then east, and interact with the tree to get a Revive. Score! From here, a tamer is due north of you, complaining about the humidity. Lass Jodi Merembear level 34, Merembear level 34 Reward: 185 gold True to her word, she literally disappears. There is a hidden level-up herb somewhere in a niche on the west wall near here. I misremember precisely where it is, but it's not too far north of the tamers that are standing almost next to one another. Before going further north, double back to the south, head west past the tree (nothing in it, then nip north and pick up two hidden Skill Drinks. Don't worry about the path to your west. It's an empty dead end. So now, feel free to go back east and then north into that narrow path that Lass Jodi was blocking before. When the area opens up a little, you'll hear an item nearby. It's another Skill Drink, so snatch it up before heading back to the wall and following it north. You'll come to a chest with a Bone Club in it. Grab it (it's good to sell, at least), then go west into the long grass. Keep going (it's a long way), and eventually you'll have to go south. Tamer time! Guitarist Bryan Titomaton level 36 Titomaton is the transformation of Autoson; it's steel-electric, and it does possess the move Shatter, which will kill itself but lower the accuracy of the target by 5 stages; since it's Bryan's only manamon though, a viable enough strategy is to wait for his AI to use Shatter, if you want Reward: 108 gold Just east of Bryan is a path that turns to the south. Follow the east wall southward, then bend west, south and further west as the path turns. Eventually you'll end up in a very narrow path heading westward, and you'll hear a tamer. This fight is unavoidable. Priest Max Domestress level 34, Trumer level 34, Ratsal level 33 Reward: 252 gold Max vanishes as well, leaving the pathway open. Get to the west wall and start heading north. You'll find some trees. The third one, I think, has 661 gold in it, so be sure not to miss it. Eventually you'll end up in shallow water (I like to think of these as streams or shallow rivers you have to cross). Head west, north, then east until the path opens northward. You can go east instead of west at the start of the shallow water too if you want to; there's nothing either way. In fact, once you feel comfortable with the area, you can save steps by just going due north and not following walls at all. Eventually you'll be heading north onto dirt again. We're getting close to the end, by the way. Keep trekking north, and you'll come across a tamer apparently dying of thirst. Athlete Robert Sprucel level 34, Eagawk level 35, Guerrerrol level 34 Reward: 299 gold If only Robert knew about the stream just south of here, eh? Ah well. Now that he's out of the way, continue heading north, then bend west as the path does. Loop around to the north and then to the east, and eventually you'll hear the gate that leads into the next area. You're not quite home free yet. Save before you get too close to that gate. You've got one fight left. Listen to the cutscene, then get ready for a fairly easy battle. Terruffalo level 35 Terruffalo is a pretty solid earth type. You can't catch this thing, so just take it down with plant, ice, water or normally effective type attacks. When that's done, watch another very short cutscene, and head south into Brightwater City. Brightwater City This place is big, and the first thing you might notice is that you've got water on your left and right. Heading south will let you ford the river at a shallow point and give you access to the rest of the city. Go west when the first chance presents itself, and you'll eventually hear some buildings. The first one is the Brightwater Superstore. There are three separate salespeople in here. I'll note the shop lists of each. Equipment (rightmost person) Bone Dagger: 500 gold Bone Dagger V2.0: 4000 gold Power Dagger: 4500 gold Shadow Dagger: 3000 gold Holy Ring: 6000 gold Torch Hammer: 4500 gold Marine Cannon: 4500 gold Willow Hammer: 4500 goldd Spirit Staff: 7000 gold Small Shield: 2000 gold Gas Mask: 2000 gold Padded Vest: 2500 gold Nothing really new under the sun except the Holy Ring, which is actually pretty sweet. Feel free to grab anything you might be interested in. You should have more than enough gold unless you've been squandering it on Encounter Downs and stuff. General Goods (middle person): Mananet: 100 gold Meganet: 350 gold Giganet: 1000 gold Flyer: 30 gold Encounter Down: 170 gold Super Encounter Down: 400 gold Ultra Encounter Down: 950 gold Daedalus Dust: 1000 gold Daedalus Dusts and Giganets make this guy worthwhile. Buy and sell as needed. Medicinal Goods (leftmost shopkeeper): Herb: 300 golb Strong Herb: 700 gold Mighty Herb: 1500 gold Master Herb: 2200 gold Scorch Ointment: 50 gold Paralysis Vaccine: 50 gold Smelling Salts: 50 gold Total Cure: 550 gold Medical Miracle: 2700 gold Revive: 4000 gold Oh mann, Medical Miracles and Revives are now for sale. A Medical Miracle will heal all status and restore all HP, so maybe pick a few of these up if you've got spare cash. Revives are expensive, and you should have half a dozen or so unless you've been gobbling them up. The Mighty Herb and Master Herb are probably more healing than you frankly need just yet, but stock up as you see fit, then exit the Superstore. If you head west, you'll soon hear another building. This is the stadium, and you can go there right away, but I recommend heading north between the stadium and the superstore. We're going to grab something else while we're up here, something that might make training weaker manamon a whole lot easier. Travelling west and then north will bring you to a guy who's going to give you an item called the EXP Pal. If this is given to a manamon, he'll get some experience every time other manamon fight and earn experience. It's not quite as much as he'd get for winning the fight, but it's a very easy way to catch up a weaker member of your team without constantly having to swap them around. Be aware, though, that a manamon holding the EXP Pal doesn't get train points unless he's actively involved in the battle. This isn't a huge deal, but it's something you need to be conscious of. With your new EXP Pal in hand, go north past that helpful fellow to a chest with a Full Revive in it. These Full Revives, by the way, are never for sale, so hold onto them as long as you can. Slightly to the southeast of that chest is another house, and this one's important. Spotlight: The Manamon Breeder The guy in this house will, for a reasonable fee of 5000 gold, breed one of your manamon for you. This will give you a level 1 of that manamon's first form. This is a really excellent way to get manamon with better stats, since you can create a few level 1 manamon, check their stats in Hazeldale, then reload if you get nothing you like. This guy is also useful because he will give you access to a few manamon you can't get any other way. 1. If you bring him a Redonkeus and a Steelion (both of which you probably don't have yet, unless you took that guy's Feruddae in Hazeldale), he will create a baby steel-fighting type called Remullion. 2. If you ask him to breed a Donnammer, he will give you a baby Electrist. 3. If you ask him to breed a Bearran or Grizzlord, he will give you a baby Ampheakub. You can't breed mythicals, so don't bother. But if your starter had bad stats and you want to do the rest of the game with a better version of that same starter, for instance, this is a really good chance to do so. I use this guy a lot, particularly when trying to make better teams late in the game. Spotlight: Remullion This steel-fighting type does not transform, and is, as stated above, obtained by breeding a Redonkeus and a Steelion. It has the ability Heavy Hitter, which makes its moves that have 90 power or higher get an additional chance to confuse. Remullion has good stats across the board, particularly its attack. Nothing is mind-blowingly high, but absolutely nothing is bad either...not even special attack, which Remullion doesn't use. It will eventually get access to moves like Power Kick, Slash, Battlecry, Steel Horn and even Laser Arm, giving him quite a few options to take down enemies. This is one of the better fighting types in the game, which really isn't saying much, unfortunately. I've recently been told that Remullion possesses some interesting mechanics. Since you get it by breeding Redonkeus and Steelion, you can apparently give it different moves at level 1 by rearranging the moves Steelion and Redonkeus have in their first slot. I don't know all of the possible combinations, but I've seen a couple of really bizarre ones. For instance, it's possible to get an item called Dimbranch Club later in the game, which allows the holder to use Batter Branch; as such, it's technically possible to make Batter Branch the first move in either Steelion or Redonkeus's movelist, and thus add it permanently to a level 1 Remullion when you breed it. Have fun with this one. I'd personally love to see Quake (from Redonkeus) on this guy. Once you're done with the breeder for now, get to the west wall and follow it all the way south. You'll hear someone nearby, but it's just another one of those things plunked in your way so you can't go where you aren't supposed to...in this case, someone trying to get an Owlaw out of a tree. Be glad, though, because even if you could climb that tree - which you can't yet anyway - you'd get destroyed by the first wild manamon or tamer you came across. Remember it for later though. After the master Stadium is defeated, you'll be back here. For now, just head to the south wall, and start going east. Eventually you'll hear a house to the north. Enter if you wish. There's not much of interest in here, except a newspaper and a guy who'll let you rename your manamon, if that's your thing. The service is totally free, so go ahead and avail yourself of it if you wish. Leave the house when you're done here. Keep heading east, then north till you bump into a building. This building's door is in its west wall, and it leads to Tangeria Tower. For now, ignore it and continue north past the building. If you're hugging the east wall while travelling north, you'll eventually hear an item, a Medical Miracle. Don't let this one pass you by. A bit north of that Medical Miracle is a Star Element, so liberate it from the long grass it was lying in. Now it's time to head back south. To the west of the house that leads to Tangeria Tower is the Manamon Hotel, so zip inside and heal up. You probably need it by now. When you're ready, make your way west across the city from the Manamon Hotel, bypass the store and head into the stadium, which is right next door. Brightwater Stadium Type Specialization: Earth This stadium is refreshingly simple. All you have to do is find Dustin at the northern edge of the room, talk to him and defeat him. Dustin can either be a terrific challenge or a pushover depending on your team, so let's do this. Stadium Leader Dustin Terruffalo level 36, Leonatar level 35, Promolder level 35, Pandourbit level 35 Terruffalo starts out Dustin's lineup. It's got a lot of HP, solid attack and good defenses. It knows Quake and Takedown, both of which will hurt if you don't resist them (and most manamon don't resist both attacks). It should be noted that a ghost-air type called Chiroperta, which can be caught wild outside the Tangeria Tower east of Brightwater City, is immune to all of Terruffalo's attacks that I've yet seen, if you're really struggling to take this big beast down. Next comes Leonatar, the final transformation of Leonra. He's not as bulky as Terruffalo, but he makes up for it by being a little faster and hitting a little harder. Strong water or plant attacks are the way to go. Promolder is probably Dustin's weakest manamon. Its earth-stone typing makes it doubly weak to both plant and water attacks, while giving it single weaknesses to fighting, sound, earth, ice and steel. It does have standard resistance and electric immunity, but with all those other weaknesses, you're bound to have something to do big damage against it, so it's dead meat. Take it down. Dustin's last manamon is his Pandourbit. You've seen a couple of these by now. You won't be able to switch back and forth between manamon to weaken this thing; whoever you call out is in for a fight to the death. Be sure it's his, not yours, by using ghost, ice, undead, plant or water attacks for a fairly quick KO. Pandourbit is pretty slow, so you shouldn't have a ton of trouble dealing with it. Reward: 2049 gold You'll get the Silt Key, your fourth stadium key, for winning, as well as a piece of equipment called the Gravity Magnet. Check it out, and you'll see that it's a nifty piece of gear which will let your earth-type attacks hit air-type manamon, and for super-effective damage to boot. I've used this to great effect many times, and there's really no drawback, so don't lose this one. The short scene which follows should tell you where you're headed next. Agree with Dustin (you can't proceed if you don't, and he won't let you out of the conversation, so there's really no point anyway), then leave the stadium, head to the hotel for some much-deserved rest, then make your way east, into and through the house that leads to Tangeria Tower. Oh, nearly forgot. Just southeast of the hotel is a chest with 500 gold in it. By now you might've found it on your own, but if you haven't, now is a good time to obtain it. Tangeria Tower Front Manamon Available: Pythor, Recobrah, Evillion, Lonar, Eagawk, Loonis, Chiroperta Spotlight: Chiroperta I'm afraid I don't know too much about this one. It's ghost-air type, learns some disabling moves like Sing, and Glare, and it's pretty quick. It transforms into Ghoperto at level 31, from memory. Its stats are all fairly decent, and it later gets both Power Fang and a move called Night Terror, which will do significant damage every round to a sleeping manamon. Combine this with an ability called Avenging Spirit (boosts both defenses plus speed when hit below the 50% HP threshold with a super-effective attack) and the move Fly (like tunnel, but for air types), and you've got the potential for a serious annoyer. One thing to note is that despite being part ghost type, I don't think this one actually gets any good ghost type moves except for Tricky Gaze, which is the move it starts with. Spirit Force would be extremely welcome on this guy. First things first, as you come into this area, go just a bit north and pick up a hidden Rare Jewel right against the wall. Better still, there's another hidden Rare Jewel just south of that door, so zip south and pick it up. Around the right side of the tower building itself is a perfectly visible Medical Miracle. Along the bottom of the area is a chest with a Full Revive in it. Okay, I think you're done collecting out here. Level away if you want - the encounter rate is pretty high - or head into Tangeria Tower itself. Tangeria Tower F1 Right away, you're introduced to a puzzle. There are four of these in this tower in total, but this first one isn't too bad. The aim of the game is to push stones around so they spell a word and open a door. I will give you specific instructions about how to push the stones, but I will not give you step-by-step instructions on how to find each one. It should also be noted that there are quite a few ways to do these puzzles, and mine is only the one I personally use. There might be a more efficient way, or a way that you prefer, and if so, I invite you to do as you please here. Still here? Okay then, let's get on with it. The word you need to spell is "open". Right above you is the letter n. For the sake of getting it out of the way, I always push it north once, then right once so it's against the wall. Put it there, and you'll be able to move around it on all sides that matter. I just don't like it being right near the door you came through, as it's possible to step out the door and reset the whole puzzle if you're not careful. So the letter N is placed. The letter E is far west and a bit north of where your N is placed, and you might find O when you're over there. E is just to the northeast of O. Push E to the east about eight steps, then get above it and push it down twice. At this point it ought to be lined up with your N, but if you want to be sure, get on the right side of the letter E and move right. If you bump the n, then double back west and bump the E, you're in business. In that case, get around to the left side of the E and push it to the right until it bumps something. That's two letters done. The P is nearby, just to the northwest. Push it down three spaces, get around to its west side, then push it east twice. That should make three letters. You only have an O left. The O is, if you'll remember, off to the west, near where the E was. Go that way, and you'll find it. Push it down once if you're following my directions, then shove it all the way east until you hear a cracking, breaking noise. This is the door unlocking, so feel free to go north through the now-unbarricaded door. Tangeria Tower f1 Manamon Available: Dormanoid, Aperishian, Chiroperta, Zintrabat, Donnammer, Feefeye, Palador Spotlight: Dormanoid This guy is pure undead in type, but doesn't get too many good moves. His ability, Entrap, is fairly useful in that it stops someone from fleeing or switching, but beyond that, he's pretty average except for a surprisingly high attack stat. He'll have to use Black Bite for damage instead of Clobber. I can't think of too much to recommend him, and Fiendour beats him eight ways to Sunday as far as undead types go. Spotlight: Donnammer This guy is electric and fighting in type, and I believe it gets some fairly heavy-hitting physical electric and fighting type moves (such as Hammerhead and Sparking Tail). I don't know too much about him beyond this, though. He looks like he might be worth a try, particularly as he has a nice-looking special defense stat. There are probably both electric and fighting types which hit harder, but Donnammer may still be worthy of a spot on your team. An interesting note: Donnammer's pre-transformation, Electrost, can only be found by breeding. You'll never see one on a tamer team, so the only way to add it to your manapedia is to catch a Donnammer and breed it. Spotlight: Feefeye This flame-fighting giant transforms twice, once into Foefum at level 36 and then again into Garganchan if you use a Smoke Element on Foefum. It has high attack and decent defenses, but its HP is actually a shade below average and its speed is terrible. With a flame-fighting combination, this line has a lot of defensive problems, and coupled with bad speed it seems like a recipe for disaster. It does get Earthquake when it becomes a Foefum though, which is pretty sweet. Give him a try if you want, but get him out of any combat where you think he's going to take a lot of damage, because he just can't take it. It should be noted that this line gets Power Kick very early, picks up both Trample and Charge Tackle, and gets Blaze Rampage at level 52. It might be the hardest-hitting flame type out there, but it does come with its fair share of checks and counters. Play carefully. Spotlight: Palador This holy-fighting type is one you've seen a few times before, but this is the first time you can catch him. He's possessed of decent attack and fairly good defense, gets White Lance (high-powered physical holy move) quite early, plus Restrain to shut down physical attacks on the opponent's manamon for a couple of turns, but...that's about it, I'm afraid. Quite literally his only fighting move outside of Piledriver (which does damage based on your level and stops being effective around level 40 or so) is Rookie Punch or Rookie Kick, I misremember which. He transforms into Paladine at level 30 and then again into Tenshaino at level 47. Tenshaino does learn Inner Healing, which is neat, but this is yet another example of a manamon crying out for same-type attacks. Without it, and without a little more coverage, the Palador line is dead meat. Update: The Palador line now gets Power Punch, which improves its chances slightly, at level 47. It also gets Hone Blade, which will raise its attack by two stages, at level 68 (no, that's not a typo). With low-ish speed and a lot of weaknesses, this guy still has a lot of problems, but at higher levels he might be extremely threatening as long as you keep him away from sound, ghost and magic-type moves. Follow the east wall north, then nip into the narrow passage heading east. Go south when it opens up a bit, then turn to the east. Eventually you'll have to go north again, but you'll soon be able to resume eastward progress. There is probably a quicker way through here, but we're following walls so as not to get lost or turned around. Head north when the east wall starts up again, then west, then further north through the door. In this next room, follow the east wall north. This is a long, narrow room with boulders or fireballs or something whizzing around in certain places. If you're hit by one of these, your lead manamon will take damage. It's not a lot, but it will add up over time. The goal here is just to get to the top edge of the room and through the door, so do that in whichever way you think is best. Be warned that there is a line of actual fire at the north end of the room, so you'll have to line yourself up with the door. The path to the door is one space wide and perfectly safe. In this next room, get to the north wall and start following it westward. It'll bend a little from time to time, but just keep going. When you do get the chance to go north, resist temptation, and instead start going west. There are five or six dead ends, and I believe the third or fourth passage is the one you want. Count them, and take the third or fourth one, as I've mentioned. This one is not, in fact, a dead end, but will eventually open up in basically all directions. I personally usually head east from here. Ignore all the little paths that open up to the east, they're all dead ends. Aaron has really become enamoured of such things, it seems. Just go north, then bend east, ignoring the few paths you hear to the south. Eventually you should be heading east, then north, then east through a gap and further south. There's a chest down here with a Max Skill Drink and 250 gold in it. Pick it up. From the chest, get to the east wall, travel due north for awhile, then go west. You'll hear a ladder nearby. Don't get too close, as there's a huge fight coming up. Heal, save, do what you need to do, and prepare for a scrap. Shadow Apprentices (full-party brawl) Niamanja level 35/Aperishian level 34/Zintrabat level 34/Wizz level 35/Recobrah level 35/Pythor level 34/Zintrabat level 33/Dormanoid level 34/Evillion level 34/Lavalan level 33/Lonar level 34/Morghoul level 33/Evillion level 34 Reward: 1167 gold I haven't noted what each apprentice has, but this battle isn't so much difficult as time-consuming. Go up the ladder. Dustin will heal your manamon for you. It's another stone puzzle. This one requires you to spell the word "Next". If you head up to the door, then go west, you'll find the N. Get onto its east side and shove it against the west wall. That's one letter down. If you want to make things a bit safer, shove the N all the way down into the corner. The letter E is back down near the door you used to get in here, but way to the west. Push it about sixteen or seventeen spaces east, then about fifteen or sixteen north. Check that it's on a line with your previously placed N by getting on the left side of the E and heading west. If you're not quite in line yet, then push the E a square or two further north, then get around it on its east side and push it to the west until it thumps against the N. Watch it. The letter T is hanging out near here too, so it's possible to think you've got N and E next to each other, when in truth you've got E and T next to each other. Just be aware of that. Two down, two to go. Now we're after the x. You might have heard it when you were chasing after the E, actually. Push the X about eight or nine squares to the east, then seventeen or so north so it's in line with the E to the west. Then shove it west till it won't move anymore. Now only the T remains. I personally push the T up a square to get it out of the way, but you don't have to. Push the T two spaces to the right and straight down, and you'll complete the puzzle. Head through the door into the next room. This one's timed on your first visit. The time limit isn't super-tight, but you can't dawdle. I'll take you through the best path I know of. And yes, you can definitely do this place by folllowing walls. Go through the door, get Dustin's little speech, then immediately head east along the south wal. Go north when you can't go east anymore, then hook west. You'll hear a narrow pathway to your north open up. Take it. Bend east when you can, then north, then west (we're following walls, remember). You'll have to start coming south here, and you're probably being pelted with fireballs or whatever they are. Listen closely for a narrow path that will open up on your left. As soon as you find it, make a beeline for it, because it leads to the ladder to the next area. Head east from the ladder, then a little south and east to find a very peculiar tamer. Dead Tamer Manderstal (double battle) Dormanoid level 35/Aperishian level 35/Zintrabat level 35/Feefeye level 35 Reward: 576 gold Don't worry about the chest you can hear. It's behind a wall and you can't get it yet. Instead, go south to the wall and travel eastward. The path will bend north, east, north, and east again, and you'll hear a whole bunch of stepping sounds localized around a tamer. Battle time. Dead Tamer Perta Feefeye level 35/Feefeye level 35/Foefum level 36/Foefum level 36 Reward: 574 gold Going west from Perta will lead to another tamer. This one's out for blood! Dead Tamer Orpha Ghoperto level 34/Feefeye level 35 Reward: 378 gold From here, go a little west, south, west and then south into a dead end. Hear the chest? Now you can nab the Full Revive inside. Now go back north, hugging the west wall and following it around to the east eventually. You'll come east, south, east into a narrow pathway, south, further east and further south. Then go a little west (stilll following the wall), south, east into a gap, then north into a dead end with a chest containing a Revive. Score. Backtrack out of the narrow pathway, head west, then south into another narrow pathway. Follow the wall when it bends west, then go a bit north and west toward another tamer you can hear. Dead Tamer Mason (double battle) Aperishian level 37/Aperishian level 37 Reward: 414 gold Directly west of Mason is yet another dead tamer. Dead Tamer Galara Bayowoof level 38/Niamanja level 36/Paladine level 37/Foefum level 36 Reward: 590 gold After defeating this mad tamer, go west a bit, then get ready to go a long way south. When you hit the south wall, turn east till you hit the east wall, then start going north. You might be thinking you just went up a very long dead end for nothing,but you haven't, don't worry. There's a gap in the east wall which leads to yet another tamer. Dead Tamer Jack Pandourbit Level 35/Feefeye level 35/Foefum level 37/Garganchan level 36 Reward: 616 gold I know I say you should follow walls, and you can if you want, but you can also go straight east and then a little north from where you fought Jack to get within sight range of yet another tamer. Last one, and you'll hear the door behind her signifying that you're nearly through this huge room. Dead Tamer Sarbrian Mortrex level 42 Reward: 350 gold With Sarbrian gone, you're free to go through the door. Another stone puzzle. And this time you have to spell the word "death". There are lots of ways to do this one, but here's mine. D can be found a good deal west and a bit north of the entrance. Find it, shove it west against the wall. That's one out of the way. The letter E can be found near the blocked door on the north side of the room, but somewhere off to the east. Bring it down about fifteen or sixteen spaces, then shove it to the left. Do the lining-up check I taught you in the first puzzle to ensure that D and E are aligned, then shove E all the way to the left so it bumps against D. Two gone, three to go. The A you've probably already seen. It was right near the entrance of the area. Push it up about four spaces, then push it west till it bumps against the E. Easy stuff. The letter T is found northeast-ish of the entrance to the area. All you should have to do is push it north three spaces, then all the way west. Double-check to be sure. The H is easy. It's located slightly southeast of all your other letters. Find it, push it five spaces north and one west, and you should unlock the door. Feel free to find said door and go on through. Don't worry, we're nearly done with the tower now. There's one more big puzzle, one relatively tough boss fight, and that's it. The next room is quite small. Just make your way north across it, and then head for the ladder you'll be able to hear. Last puzzle time. And this one is mean. You have to spell the word "shadow", which isn't hard in itself, but some of the stones are in really awkward places. To make things harder, there are some moving fireballs in one area, and a pit of flames very near one of the letters, so stay sharp. Again, there are many, many ways to do this puzzle. I'll go through mine. Okay. Rather than get all the letters in order one by one, I like to get the more dangerous letters out of their spots first, sort of collecting all the letters in the safe area and then manipulating them. To that end, here's what I do. The letter O is hardest to get. Go west of the ladder, watch for the fireballs, ignore the second ladder you hear (it's blocked right now), then go north, east, and a bit further north. You'll hear more fireballs plus an actual flame pit to the east. The letter O is near here. Get above it, push it down three spaces, then nip over to its right side and push it west until you hear the south wall run out. Immediately get above it and start pushing it down (you may get nailed by a fireball or two here). When the east wall runs out, start pushing the letter O eastward. Once you get it sorta near the ladder you used to get in here, that's good enough for now. Leave it, and let's go retrieve another semi-dangerous letter. The letter A is just to the west of the entrance, past a roving fireball. Get on its west side and shove it about twelve or thirteen spaces east, out of danger. Two more dangerous letters, and the hardest parts are done. Head back west, past the fireball, then north toward the blocked ladder. The letter H is hiding near here. Just shove it like you did with the letter A, past the roving fireball. With this done, head west again, past that same fireball, but go north now, with the blocked ladder clanging away on your left. The letter D is up here, past another fireball. Get above it, shove it down till the east wall runs out, then shove it east past the roving fireball. Now all your letters should be safe. I don't know exactly where each is in relation to the others, because I don't know how far you pushed them. You've done this sort of puzzle before, though, and now all of the letters are safe (meaning you never have to get hit with fire or anything again). So from here, I'm going to leave it to you to spell "shadow" with your six boulders. You'll find the letters S and W considerably above the starting point, if that helps. Okay. Once you're done spelling the word "shadow", get healed up and head toward the formerly blocked ladder. It's boss time. Shadow Administrator Kuro Orystar level 37, Dormanoid level 38, Deciced level 40, Mortrex level 38 Reward: 977 gold Ugh, I dislike Kuro. Not because she's a tough fight (mostly she isn't) but because of the simpering way she deals with such an obviously evil and irredeemable villain. People...just don't talk that way. Never mind my gripes, though. You're done with combat, so there's no need to heal. Just head up the ladder. Watch the cutscene, and that little clip you saw coming into San-cot City should make sense now. This is where the story sort of comes into its own, and we figure out what Octoross is doing. All the clunking and thumping in the cutscene after his speech is done has always confused me. It sounds like this poor god he's trying to raise is stuffed in a giant wooden crate and is desperately trying to get out. On an editorial note, I've never understood the villain who's out to do nothing but destroy the world, honestly, it's always felt shallow and pointless. Anyone else notice that Octaross now mentions Satan directly, just as he's about to jet on Irroadium? Also, where's he getting his gammanets from? Also, since when is Dustin old? This was never, ever mentioned before. He seemed perfectly willing and able to run around the tower with you. This feels a little like an excuse to ramp up the emo factor to me. Incidentally, I really do think it would've been better if the manamon who saved you was an air type of some kind. Having an earth type somehow run you out of a collapsing building, particularly a building this big....I don't buy it. Having an air type fly you to safety, though...I could've gotten behind that. Oh well. Watch the scene regardless of your opinions on the subject, and before you know it you'll be back in Tangeria Tower Front. Head west through the house, and you'll get another scene. When that's done, fly back to Hazeldale, heal up, then move to the east of the manamon hotel. You should hear an obnoxiously loud clanging. This is the manhole which will let you into the Hazeldale Sewers. Hazeldale Sewers Manamon Available: Ratsal, Sansuran, Promolder, Zintrabat, Donnammer Spotlight: Sansaron Sansuran is a pure poison type who transforms into Sansurgion around level 36. I know very little about this manamon except that there are only a few on tamer teams in the game, and they don't seem to be very useful. With better moves, this guy might be quite good, but its attacking stats are only average, while its defenses are both fairly good. It gets Ooze Blast and Pollution Solution, as well as Takedown, and...that's basically it, I'm afraid. If anyone's used this manamon and finds it particularly good, please do let me know. Spotlight: Ratsal If you really want one of these standard-poison types, now's your chance to own your own. The gift Ratsal is either on your team, put away in your transportal or released back into the wild depending on what you've done with it. This little guy transforms into Ratiera around level 35-36, but it's still not really worth using. It seems to die in two hits of virtually anything, and doesn't hit hard enough to justify its low-ish defenses and HP. I'd avoid this one. Right away, start going west from the super-loud manhole. Get to the dirty water blocking your westward progress and follow it north, then east when you hit the machine that's pumping water. You'll end up going south and then east through a narrow pathway, then south to a tamer. Lad Carson Friggle level 36, Terruffalo level 35, Groller level 35 Reward: 273 gold And no, there is no super-rare manamon here, so don't pay attention to that guy. Head south, then west, then south some more. If you hear a person nearby, don't worry. it's not a tamer. Just move along past him to the south, then hook around east and north eventually. Just keep following the wall, and it'll lead you east, south, west, then south some more. You'll start walking on stone instead of metal piping, and then... Cutscene time. Octoross is at it again. Amica Town is now in ruins. If you wander around for awhile, you may come across a manamon haunting the town. Spotlight: Viralite I know very little about this guy except he's a ghost-air type. He could just as easily be a ghost-poison type. He's fairly quick and has abilities that let him become more evasive, but he appears extremely frail and not too effective. The few Viralite I have fought were quite easy to kill. Pick him up if you want to try him out, or just need him in your manapedia, but don't expect much. At level 44-45, these manamon have less than 40 in both defenses, and only around 100HP or thereabouts. They pack many good annoying moves, but they'll die in one hit of virtually anything. Avoid like the plague. You can fly someplace to get healed up if you need to, then fly back to Amica Town and head out the now open south pathh. I do not understand why this path wasn't even visible at the beginning of the game, but oh well. Orianda Fields Ruins Manamon Available: Niamanja, Feruddae, Drabao, Feefeye Spotlight: Feruddae I've mentioned this one before, but only in passing. Feruddae is a pure steel type, which transforms into Steelion at level 33 or 34 I think. It's the only pure steel type in the game, and one of only five in the game in total. Steel is terribly under-represented, right alongside undead and insect as far as types go. Feruddae has an ability which makes him resist physical attacks but be a bit weaker to special attacks, which means he dies pretty quickly to common things like Drench, not to mention super-effective attacks like Fire Stream. I really can't recommend this one; while many of its stats are decent, its pure steel typing, plus its lack of a reliable steel move till around level 30, plus weaknesses to fairly common types of attacks, relegates him to minimal usage. He'd have to have better stats, better moves or both in order to really be viable. Spotlight: Drabao Drabao is quite rare, and you might spend quite awhile trying to find one (hint: try running back and forth just south of Amica Town). It's a pure dragon type which transforms into Dragetull (dragon-air type) at level 35, then into Dragomier (dragon-air-flame type) at level 55. He's primarily a physical attacker, but sadly his only physical dragon move comes in the form of Draco Breaker at level 75. Just to put this in perspective, Dramagon gets this move twenty-one or twenty-two levels earlier, and also gets Dragon Fang to boot. Give this guy Dragon Fang before level 45, and you've got a potential winner; he does get a physical air attack in Wing Slash (only 60 power though, I think) and a physical flame move in Blaze Rampage. Backed up by some weird type coverage like Stun Volt (paralysis) and Tidal Wave, the Drabao line puts one in mind a bit of the Dratini line from pokemon. He might be worth having on your team, since none of his stats are bad and he can hit quite hard at high levels. Watch out for his low-ish defense though, as many of the moves to which he is weak will hit this stat and wreck him in the blink of an eye. Personally, Dramagon is the better dragon for me. Before I go any further, I should warn you that this next area is quite the slog. You're going to be a long, long time between Manamon Hotels. Pick up some healing items. This might also be the time to bust out those skill drinks when your use points start running low. There are many feral encounters, and quite a few tamers, and the area has multiple parts. You'll see what I mean once we get started. Also, is it just me, or is that brittle crunching noise with each footstep going to get awfully grating awfully quickly? Start by heading south, then west onto more solid ground. You'll hear a tamer nearby; don't worry, you'll reach him soon enough. Detective Anthony Fyrate level 38 Reward: 105 gold Past Anthony, a bit to the southwest, is a chest containing one lousy flyer. From here, go east and follow the southern wall as it bends. You can go east-northeast here and fight a tamer. Tough Girl Tanja Bayowoof level 37, Myaneko level 37 Reward: 211 gold To the east of Tanja is a Life Tonic. Nab it, double back to where Tanja is standing, then go southwest back toward that chest that once held a flyer. After heading south a bit, you'll find another tamer. Explorer Peter Bellaard level 36, Promolder level 36, Embird level 38 Embird is flame-air type Reward: 305 gold West of this last tamer is another manhole. Yup, you're back in the Tangeria Sewer system again. Why are there manholes and sewers in fields? Anyone know? You're gonna be doing this for awhile, so get used to it. Tangeria Sewer System Travel generally east until you find a tamer. Explorer Patrick Groller level 38, Donnammer level 37, Montor level 37 Reward: 299 gold Travel east of Patrick, then hug the east wall as you go south. Another cool kid wants a piece of you. Cool Kid Jordan Sansurgion level 39 Reward: 100 gold Continue east of Jordan until you find another manhole. Orianda Ruins Go west into the shallow water, then journey south and east, following walls. Eventually, a small path will open up heading west, so go that way. You'll eventually come across a non-Tangerian tamer. Tough Guy Bruno Hydrake level 38, Fingon level 38, Fingon level 38 Reward: 330 gold Go west past Bruno, then north to find another tamer. Athlete Mike Erroir level 40 Reward: 120 gold After thrashing that athlete, get to the west wall and head south. Athlete Britney Sprucel level 38, Eagawk level 37, Trumer level 38, Trumer level 38 Reward: 406 gold Heading east of Britney will put you in the line of sight of a moving tamer. Cool Kid Steven Fyrate level 38, Bayowoof level 39 Reward: 199 gold To the southeast of the cool kid is a tamer trying to find one of their lost mananets. Lad Chris Arctana level 37, Ratiera level 38, Embird level 38, Embird level 37 Reward: 370 gold From the place where you fought Chris, get back to the western wall and proceed south. When you hit the southwest corner, you should hear a tamer to the right. Head east and fight. Geologist Harriet Guerrerrol level 39 Reward: 112 gold Head a long way south, then a long way east, and you'll reach yet another manhole. Tangeria Sewer System Head east, then north when the path opens up. Starting to feel boring yet? You'll know you're going the right way when you get a cutscene involving Octoross and Yavin. I absolutely love this music, I'm not sure why...but the writing here, while it furthers the story in an interesting way, doesn't do it for me otherwise. When you have control again, the next manhole is just to the north, so make tracks in that direction. Orianda Field Ruins We're more than halfway through, at least. From where you pop out above ground, travel to the south, then east over broken glass, then further south. You'll hear a person nearby, but they're not a tamer, don't worry. There are two chests to the north-ish from here. One has a Medical Miracle and 200 gold, the other just has a Medical Miracle. Scoop 'em up, either way. The chest near here to the south contains a Level-up Herb. The chest to the east of this one contains 1545 gold. Lots of goodies out here, at least. Keep going south past the chests, and you will encounter another tamer. Lady Jane Sacroloon level 37, Myaneko level 38 Reward: 199 gold Just east of Jane is yet another tamer. Apparently, being worried about insurance doesn't preclude wanting to throw down with you. Lady Virginia Deciced level 37, Owlex level 37, Niamanja level 36, Sacroloon level 36 Reward: 397 gold South of Virginia is a chest with a Master Herb in it, and east of her is...yup. Detective Tony Bayowoof level 38, Niamanja level 37, Niamanja level 37, Dragetull level 35 Reward: 389 gold After you finish Tony off, go south of him, then hook around to the east. The path will slowly bend northeast, so just follow it, being sure to hug the walls. You will come across an item, a UP Restorative, so pocket it before continuing. Going due east of where you got the UP Restorative should put you close to another item, this one a Charm Potion. From here, heading a long way straight south will bring you to yet another manhole, but I've got good news. This one is the last one. Tangeria Sewer System Just head east through this boring area, and you'll find the way out. Orianda Fields Manamon available: Owlex, Eagawk, embird, Loonis, Hydrobird, Friggle Spotlight: Embird This air-flame type is another manamon I don't know a whole ton about. It appears kind of frail, but quick, and doesn't appear to get a lot of good moves except Rev-Up. Someone with more experience will have to chime in here. It transforms into Vultaire if a Smoke Element is used on it. Vultair can learn Flame Blizzard, and this line also gets Suicide Dive. What's more, Vultair's attack is actually pretty scary. It's a pity the only move it can really use with it is going to hurt it badly. Still, with Rev-Up and some pretty powerful attacks, this bird might be dangerous if played well. Yay, no more slog! Go south and east from the manhole. The chest contains a Skill Drink. Most of these trees are completely useless, by the way. You can investigate them if you want to, though. Go east, then south. Once you're walking on stone, you're on the home stretch. You might've passed a tree all on its own; remember this tree, because we'll be back to it momentarily. Head south along the stone walkway and talk to the man there to receive a rope. This key item lets you climb to places you couldn't before. The guy tells you that there's a tree nearby you can climb. Head back north and investigate that odd tree I just finished telling you to remember. Climb it and you'll be in a very, very small new area. Gilbert's Treehouse Huh. Guess that dude's name was Gilbert. Good to know. It will at first appear there's nothing in this small area. You'd be wrong, though, it's just that the items are hidden. One space from the top edge of the room and about three steps from the west edge is a cache of 3 Max UP Restoratives, plus 12 gold. This might be somewhat randomized, I feel like my gold amount has changed from game to game. There's a hidden Rare Jewel to the right of the entrance, and 500 gold one south and two east of the entrance I think. You're done here. Climb back down, then move along south to finally, at long last, reach Orianda City. Spotlight: The Rope Now that you have the rope and have reached Orianda City, you can revisit a couple of old areas for some new manamon, including your first mythical. The rope isn't used in dozens of places, but the few areas you can make use of it will all yield something good. Let's start with Dimbranch Jungle. Do you remember, quite awhile ago, I told you about a weird tree you couldn't do anything about? Well, now you can. Make your way back there (start from the Eleazar Housefront side, it's quicker), and climb up the tree. New area! Sky Plains Manamon Available: Roazah, Terruffalo, Eagawk, Jackanaipe, Wizz, Domestress (3) Spotlight: Domestress You might've been wondering where this odd manamon lived. Well, here's your answer. This area's not too large, and there are no items in it as far as I know, but at three fixed points as you travel west through three different patches of grass, your character will get sleepy, then get startled by a manamon. This is Domestress. Its ability, Domesticate, lowers the attack and special attack of whoever sees it by one stage. Domestress can be fairly quick, but unfortunately none of its stats are all that good, and it relies on either Slam or Rookie Kick to do damage. Being a pure standard type with only standard and fighting moves means it's utterly helpless against ghosts. It does get a few good support moves in Inner Healing, Sing and Power Pacify (5 use points, but lowers attack and special attack by 2 stages each), but that's about it. With slightly higher stats or some different attack options, Domestress might be an excellent candidate for team cleric or annoyer; as she stands, though, this manamon, like many others before it, simply falls short. Catch one so you can say you've got one (remember, once the three are gone, that's it), and call it good. Spotlight: Terruffalo If Dustin's Terruffalo is any indication, these beasts are bulky, fairly speedy and hit with a fair amount of attack. I'm pretty sure Terruffalo never gets Earthquake, but instead relies on Tunnel, Mudslide and Takedown for damage. I suppose this is where that random wild Terruffalo stumbled down from. On my first playthrough, I remember wondering how in the heck that Terruffalo attacked you at the gate to Brightwater City when there were none in the jungle. In any case, Terruffalo is pure earth type, and may be worth a look. I don't know too much about it, so give it a try. Spotlight: Roazah This plant-poison type has the same ability as Hydrake, harming foes who touch it with its thorny body. It also gets moves like Sleep Spray, Acid Slap and Nature Dance. I think it transforms into Thornita around level 33-34, but I might be wrong. I'm not too sure how this manamon will fare competitively, but its stats all appear to be average or above-average at least. If Acid Slap is its strongest poison move, then its poison typing is going to be more hindrance than help, but this one may still be worth using, especially given that it does get Nature Dance, Solar Conversion and Sleep Spray. May be a better plant type than the Leefox line because of Nature Dance. Once you've had your fill of the Sky Plains, rest up, stock up on nets if you need 'em (the bigger the better), and bring a team that can handle fire. Your first mythical awaits. Return to Hancha. Mythical Spotlight: Kinidul Ever wonder what you might have found if you hadn't been hurled off Mt. Cinder? Well, now you get to find out. Make your way west out of Hansha Village, through the path, then up to Mt. Cinder F4. Head straight north, and eventually you'll hear stairs. You'll be given a choice to either climb the stairs with the rope, or fall down to the beach. For heaven's sake don't go down, because you'll have to fly back to Hansha and do it all again. Up you go. The only thing in the chamber you'll now find yourself in is the mythical manamon, Kinidul. It's pure flame in type, and appears to have fairly balanced stats. I don't know much at all about this guy, including his overall moveset, so I'll hope that eventually others may chime in with more info. Catch him by lowering his health as much as you dare, inflicting sleep or paralysis, then chucking giganets till you get him. You might get him with your first one, you might spend fifty trying to catch him. It's up to you how much time and money and effort you want to spend, but just remember that no, it's not impossible. It's just supremely luck-based. Once you've got him, feel free to take the stairs down to land on the beach. Then pat yourself on the back, if you can reach. You've just caught your first mythical! With Sky Plains and Kinidul out of the way, feel free to continue with the main story. Rope tricks are done for now. Orianda City Immediately go east, and you'll soon pass by a building to the north. This is Orianda Stadium, which you can come back to anytime, I think. For now, ignore it and keep going east. The Manamon Hotel is here, so rest up. You probably need it. I know I do. The house to the east of the hotel belongs to Grandma, so head inside and have a cutscene. When that's done, go due north and up the stairs, then down the hall and into Melanie's room. There's an item near the northwest corner of the room; it's a Total Cure, and Melanie sure doesn't need it. There's a poster of you on the east wall. You can leave it alone or rip it down. If you rip it down and then examine where it was, you'll get 1000 gold. I don't know of any true downside to ripping the flyer down other than a pang of guilt you might feel. It doesn't change the story or anything. With this out of the way, feel free to leave Grandma's house entirely. You can definitely challenge the stadium now, but let's explore the rest of the city first. Backtrack to the entrance of the city, then head a little west and a good way south. You'll eventually be able to go to the east, and the first building you'll come across is the Manamon Marketplace. Shop List: Mananet: 100 gold Meganet: 350 gold Giganet: 1000 gold Herb: 300 gold Strong Herb: 700 gold Mighty Herb: 1500 gold Master Herb: 2200 gold Total Cure: 550 gold Medical Miracle: 2700 gold Revive: 4000 gold Encounter Down: 170 gold Super Encounter Down: 400 gold Ultra Encounter Down: 950 gold Holy Ring: 6000 gold Torch Hammer: 4500 gold Marine Cannon: 4500 gold Willow Hammer: 4500 gold ...in other words, absolutely nothing new. No nifty equipment, no level-up herbs, nothing unique. Brightwater has better stuff. Buy what you need, and get out. That loud metallic rumbling to the east is the entrance to Starwalk Mountain. This is a large area, but you can't go anywhere just yet, so just leave it alone for now. Head back west, then north, and then a little more west so you're walking on dirt instead of stone. There's a house right below you, which you can enter by going around its west side. Inside this house is a girl who will give you a free Lightning Element. There's also a guy who, for 3000 gold a pop, will teach manamon moves they may have forgotten. Use his services as you will, then leave the house. There's also a phone in there if you need it. We're coming up on the point in the game where that weird little cutscene you got from calling that random 1-888 number is going to come to something. Just hold tight. Now that you've left the house, go to the east wall and a bit south to pick up two Skill Drinks. You might've heard this item when you were on the other side of the wall, wondering how to get here. Well, now the goods are gotten. If you head straight down the east wall, about four steps from the south edge you'll find 5 hidden Ultra Encounter Downs. A little to the northwest of that hidden item is a perfectly visible chest with 1000 gold in it. Just to the south of the move tutor's house is another slightly smaller building. In here is a person who has been hurt, and wants to see various manamon, starting with a Murkit. After that, you must show them, in this order: Lavalan, Zintrabat, Feefeye, Jiminar, Embird, Autoson, Drabao, Erroir and Pandourbit. If you can do this, you'll get a gifr manamon, a Mutmo. Spotlight: Mutmo This manamon isn't terribly impressive on its own, bringing to mind Eevee from the pokemon series. It can transform in one of three ways: Elvond (magic type) with a Star Element, Blazond (flame type) with a Smoke Element, and Duskond (shadow type) with a Soulless Heartstone. From personal experience, I know only that Elvond is a magic type that actually gets special-based magic attacks; none are too powerful, but Elvond's magic attack is pretty high, as are its speed and HP. I'm fairly impressed with Elvond so far. Duskond is, I'm sad to say, rather busted. It gets a couple of physical shadow moves, and has both high attack and special attack (the latter of which it never uses), but its defenses and speed are lackluster, making it more of a liability than a solid team member. Tylovile is better, put it that way. Blaizond, on the other hand, is a monster, probably the best flame type in the game (possibly including Kinidul). It has attack to rival Garganchan, decent speed and excellent special defense, with average HP and defense and a serviceable special attack. If you leave it as a Mutmo, it will learn attacks like Sharpen, Takedown and Slash (level 49). If you transform it with a Smoke Element at level 49, it will learn Blaze Rampage right away, which is far and away its best move. If you need or want a flame type, you really can't do better than this guy. With all these things out of the way, you can now feel free to explore the park. It's to the south. Orianda Park Get to the very west edge, ignore the northernmost tree, then head south and grab the 500 gold you'll see there. There's a little pond that you can't swim in, but there's someone standing on its east edge. This is Preston, the guy you called without fully realizing it. If you talk to him and follow the prompts, you'll have a manamon battle with him. He's no pushover, and this is, I'm afraid, yet another scaled battle. I know, I know, I said there were no more. I lied, but this one's totally optional. Musician Preston Tylovile, Fauntozaur, Banyardan, Bearran, Miterosier, Viralite Bearran is standard type, you've likely never seen it before; you should be at least passingly fammiliar with all the others Reward: 855 gold After winning, Preston will give you three pieces of gear. You'll be able to buy these eventually, so feel free to sell them if you want the cash, but they're fairly good. Go past the pond, get to the west wall and start making your way south. The fountain has nothing in it, and the person you'll hear nearby is a scam artist. Don't give him any gold, you'll just be wasting it. Go east, bump into the bench, then start heading north. I don't know of any hidden items around here, but there's a really shifty-looking fellow you'll bump into who wants you to steal him some manamon right after claiming he's an officer of the law. Just remember this guy for later. He's important. You're done here. Go back and heal up, then get ready for the fifth stadium. Orianda Stadium Type Specialization: Magic Yup, bet you didn't see this one coming. Largely because no one outside the stadium actually talks about it. That's one thing I wish was a bit more well-advertised. There should be someone in every town or city with a stadium who actually mentions what the type is -before you go inside. Ah well. We're here, and most magic manamon are either badly handicapped by secondary types, badly handicapped by a lack of special-type magic moves, or both. Use it to your advantage. You should have a field day in here, unless your entire team consists of Drabao or something. So, this stadium has a gimick. You'll have to make it from one designated point to another in a certain time. There are speed-boosters and speed-reducers at set points on the ground; if you run over them, your footspeed will be increased or reduced, respectively. There are only a couple of tamers in here, so don't worry too much if you think you've missed somebody. You probably haven't. Start by going dead north. You'll be stopped and told the stakes. As soon as you hear the word "go", head straight up and get the speed increaser. Further north and a touch to the east is another one. Then head north, west, and north, and you should make it in plenty of time. A tamer awaits you nearby. Magician Kim (double battle) Zintrabat level 38/Zintrabat level 37/Zintrabat level 39 Reward: 283 gold Going north past where Kim used to be will get you into another double battle. Magicians Dale and Sean Wizzell level 38/Enchandithol level 38/Zintrabat level 38/Wizzell level 37/Sullorb level 37/Enchandithol level 37 Sullorb is a magic-stone type Reward: 566 gold If you head north from here, you'll get your second and last speed challenge of the stadium. This one is a touch harder than the first. Run straight north till you hit the wall. Then move west till you hit the wall, then north. Start running east, but go down one square before you hit the speed-reducer to the east. As soon as the southern wall is gone, veer straight south, and you should make it with a couple of seconds to spare. Now that you're here, the stadium leaders (yes, there are two of them) are off to the southeast. This is putting me seriously in mind of Liza and Tate from the third generation of pokemon, right down to psychic being similar to magic in a lot of ways. Get ready for a fairly long fight. I hope you have good ways to deal with magic types, because you're about to face a handful of 'em. Stadium Leaders Hans and Greta (double battle) Wizzell level 42/Enchandithol level 42/Orystar level 40/Sullorb level 40/Grandlan level 42/Elvond level 40 Nothing really jumps up and bites me about this fight. Elvond has a lot of HP and decent magic attack, and its Magic Wave will hit all opponents on the field. Wizzell can use Manatize and Demanatize, as I think I said when I spotlit it earlier in the guide. Grandlan has a pretty decent physical attack stat, but it dies to nearly everything under the sun, so just destroy it. Sullorb is sort of tankish and can do nasty things like paralyze your manamon, but it, like Grandlan, is weak to a lot. Be aware that Sullorb levitates and cannot be hit by earth-type attacks. Enchandithol could be so, so much more dangerous if it was able to use its special attack well, but Tri-Beam, Toxic Tail and Scourge Tail are all it's got, and two of those three attacks just aren't dangerous. Reward: 3680 gold You also get the Bewitch Key (not Bewitched, that's not a typo) for winning, and a piece of equipment called a Broomstick. The Broomstick will make your manamon immune to earth attacks, so this fits really nicely on a flame or electric type who wants to alleviate one of their weaknesses. Head east between the two stadium leaders, and you'll eventually hear a teleporter. Take it, then go south and out the door of the stadium. Cutscene time. Pay attention here. Your next destination is that locked factory on San-cot Beach. First things first. Go to the factory door, and you will see that yes, it is indeed locked. You'll get a tiny bit of dialogue about how you should look for the key. Go due south of the building and you'll hear someone nearby. Talk to him, and he runs off. Now go back up to the factory, to find that this shifty character is hanging out sorta southeast of the door. Talk to him again. Unfortunately, he's now run off into the city itself. Enter San-cot City itself, and go northeast. You'll find the guy sorta in front of Cranvel Manor, near its east side but a few steps south. He runs off again. Just one more time, and we'll have what we're after. This time he runs himself right against a wall by the church. Talk to him and have a battle. Shadow Apprentice Niamanja level 40, Tigrath level 40 Reward: 222 gold When you defeat this guy - watch out, his Tigrath is mean - he'll give up the key you need to enter the factory. When you're ready, make tracks for the factory. Manalith Factory This first level of the factory is pretty wide open. There's a machine sorta in the center of the floor which will heal all your manamon if you interact with it, and there are three offices in the northern half of the area. The teleporters in each corner just zip you around the main floor and aren't really useful for anything. Of note on this floor, however, are the Montor and Autoson you can find. There are at least two of each, so kill them or catch them as you see fit. Bear in mind that you can get Autoson in a trade earlier in the game, and you can get Montor if you give up a level 25-29 Autoson, so if you kill these ones without catching them, and haven't done those trades I'm talking about, there's still hope. Spotlight: Montor This is a magic-electric type, and it's a tank. Tons of HP, solid defenses and average but not stellar attacking stats on both sides of the spectrum. It gets both Aura Master and SuperSpark for damage, as well as Laser Arm and Vulnerability Scan later on. Transform it with an Update Installer, but be warned; there are only one or two of these in the game, and no way to get more of them, unlike other transformation items. Mondevol all by itself can take out about 60% of the manamon on the last five competitive teams you face before the end of the main game, though it won't do so by doing enormous damage. I'd definitely keep your eye on this one, as it's one of the more reliable electric types in the game. Your first goal is the door just above the healing machine. Enter and have a battle. Get used to this, there are a lot of tamers in here. Kage's Office Shadow Warrior Galdricker (something like that, anyway) Pandourbit level 38, Friggle level 40 Reward: 436 gold Rake in the dough. These guys are pretty loaded. To the west is another tamer. Shadow Warrior Chipidee Morghoul level 39, Sluggugg level 40, Submenno level 40 Reward: 541 gold There's nothing else in the rest of the office, so go ahead and climb the ladder. Manalith Factory F2 The gimick here is guards. They'll patrol in straight routes, and your goal is to time your run so you slip past them when they're not close to you. It will take some trial and error, but thankfully they're not super-fast. There are a couple of guards later in this area which are much, much tighter. I'll mention them when we get there. For now, get to the south wall, head a few spaces west, then stop and listen. You should hear someone run up close to you on your left. As soon as they start running away, make a dash to the left, then stop several spaces later. Repeat the process twice more. On the third guard, you're going to have to be a few spaces up from the south wall though. You'll know you've made it home free when you run west past the guard and hit carpet. The guy to the west isn't another guard, it's a tamer wanting a lesson in humility. Shadow Warrior Dalmon Trumer level 40, Trumer level 40 Reward: 416 gold A fair distance to the north is another shadow warrior. Shadow Warrior Dalmona Skirial level 40, Skirial level 40 Reward: 420 gold Brother and sister maybe? Or perhaps two insect collector-type tamers just fancied similar names. Who knows? Anyway, go west across the steel floor, and then back onto carpet. Head north. Shadow Warrior Vivy Sansurgion level 40, Viralite level 42 Reward: 440 gold Walk onto the marble floor and travel northwest for another tamer battle. Shadow Warrior Gerunda Tigrath level 40, Tigrath level 40, Deciced level 40 Reward: 574 gold East of here is some broken glass for some reason, and a ladder. Prepare for a boss fight before you go up that ladder. You're in Kage's office, remember? Shadow Administrator Kage Morghoul level 42, Orystar level 40, Skirial level 41, Deciced level 43 Reward: 1073 gold After Kage is defeated and runs off, you should take the Full Revive from the chest in the northeast corner. No need to heal or anything, just go through the teleporter. It'll put you back on the main floor near the Manalith machine, which will heal your manamon fully if you interact with it. Feel free to do that. Okay, one office down, two to go. The next belongs to Kuro, and it's a bit to the east and slightly south of Kage's office. Enter and, yet again, have a battle. Kuro's Office Shadow Warrior Rafael (something like that) Thornita level 41, Friggle level 41, Morghoul level 40 Reward: 569 gold If you can hear the ladder and make straight for it, you're gonna get jumped by the person you can probably also hear. That's okay. We're here to kick some shadow tail, aren't we? Shadow Warrior Crossicus Hydrake level 41, Sluggugg level 42 Reward: 482 gold Up the ladder, and you're in Manalith Factory F2. Manalith Factory F2 Don't worry, no guards this time. The name of the game this time is teleporters. Start by going west and north into the teleporter. You'll be apprehended immediately. Shadow Warrior Duonno Frorgeril level 42 Reward: 347 gold Unlike basically all the other warriors, this one doesn't run away. That's all right. Sneak past him and nab the Total Cure in the chest, then go back through the teleporter and go southeast so you're past the ladder. Enter the teleporter, ignore the humming thing above you (it's a broken healing machine), get to the south wall and head past the teleporter, then north to a tamer fight. She says your good looks are distracting her. That's kind of disturbing, given the age of your character and the likelihood that she's an adult, but whatever. Shadow Warrior Chechik Turoison level 41, Thornita level 41 Reward: 457 gold Aha, so they have changed their names, but then why did she change her name to something ugly? Does it mean something? We'll never know. The aim here is to avoid the two teleporters that'll take you back near the ladder you used to get up to this floor, and instead to take the one you can hardly hear that's below you. Move east till you bump against a person who's gushing about Octoross, head south once or twice, then west, then south into the southwest teleporter. If you hear a ladder, you did it wrong. Generally northward is where your goal is. You'll be looking for a small gap in the north wall which you should slip through. Eventually you'll find another tamer. Shadow Warrior Combella Sluggugg level 40, Sluggugg level 40, Sluggugg level 40 Reward: 545 gold She says you didn't have to fight her. I...think I know what she's getting at. Did we forget the protagonist is maybe not even a teenager yet? Right, onward. Heading north will get you into a double battle with some more conventionally named shadow warriors...well, sorta more conventional. Shadow Warriors Tigram and Arnold (double battle) Tigrath level 42/Leonatar level 42 Reward: 707 gold Just a bit northeast of you is the ladder leading to Kuro's personal chambers. While you're up here, hug the west wall, then make a little detour to your left to pick up the second Update Installer in the game. It's easy to miss, believe me. You only get two unless you convince someone to trade with you while one of their manamon is holding one, so use sparingly. Why they're not for sale in a shop later on in the game which provides every other transformation item, I'll never understand. Another questionable design choice, I suppose. Yet again, heal and save. Boss time. Shadow Administrator Kuro Orystar level 42, Dormanoid level 43, Deciced level 42, Mortrex level 44 Reward: 1174 gold As far as I know, there's nothing in this office, so take the teleporter, heal up at the machine to the west (you're back on the main floor again), and travel considerably eastward and a bit north. This is the last office, I promise. Unfortunately we'll have to come back here (there's a lot of backtracking to be done in here), but we're making slow and steady progress. Kumori's Office Shadow Warrior Krunn Sluggugg level 44\Reward: 382 gold Gotta ask: what's with all the Sluggugg? Did someone get bored? Ah well. They're easy experience and usually die in two hits of anything because their HP is awful. Watch out though, they do have Flame Blizzard after level 40 or 41, which might surprise you. With that ninny out of the way, you'll have to make your way across the office to the northeast corner. North of you is another tamer, who confirms that Shadow Warrior names are given, not chosen. Shadow Warrior Sharzavallion (i'm guessing at the spelling again) Lavalan level 42, Wizzell level 42 Reward: 466 gold Just head up the ladder. Manalith Factory F2 The name of the game here is navigation. This floor is a bit of a maze. If you follow the path as it bends to the northwest, you'll come across a chest with 2 Scorch Ointments inside. Now make your way back to the ladder, but this time go northeast. Almost immediately you'll find a chest with 2 Max Skill Drinks in it. From here, head southeast, hugging the wall, but be aware of an opening to the north. Take it immediately when you hear it, and start hugging the west wall as you travel north. It'll bend back and forth a bit, but you should eventually find a chest with a Revive. Grab it, then keep following the wall generally north from where the chest was. You'll eventually come across a door. Manalith Factory F2 From where you're standing you should hear at least two people. This floor has tamers on it, so get ready for some fighting. First up is the tamer you'll find if you go straight north and then a little east. Shadow Warrior Mayoriketo Ghoperto level 42, Ghoperto level 42, Submenno level 41 Reward: 618 gold Northwest of the last tamer is another one. Shadow Warrior Tavalance Montor level 43, Montor level 44, Mondevol level 41 Reward: 661 gold West onto steel flooring, and then north, and you've got another battle on your hands. Shadow Warrior Sanagoria Turoison level 42, Viralite level 44, Viralite level 44 Reward: 674 gold What does being assertive and winning a battle, and Sanagoria liking it, have to do with anything? I'm lost. Now look for a narrow path that heads east, then north. Follow it as it twists and turns. After awhile it'll start going back to the south and west. That's all right. Just keep going. You'll hear a banging sound soon, that's a stairway you'll want to investigate. Take the narrow westerly path to get there. Manalith Factory f3 Now be careful. There's an item up here that you don't want to miss before you take the teleporter. It's a Storage Key, and it's to the northeast of the teleporter. Grab it, then feel free to warp out of here and heal up. Our goal now is the southeast corner of the main floor. There's a door in the south wall that was locked. Now that you've got a key, you can make your way through here and enter... Manalith Factory Basement And here's the location of the obnoxious guards. Head west six spaces, then south twice, and be patient. You have to time it perfectly, and run past the guard to the west. If you get caught, he'll just dump you at the stairs, so it's no biggie. When you get past the guard, heading west will get you ambushed. Shadow Warrior Krusha Niamanja level 42, Ratiera level 42, Friggle level 42 Reward: 629 gold Now stay still. There's a guard to the left of you as well. You'll have to nip past him the same way you got past the first, with the downside that if you get caught, you'll have to get past both all over again. My best advice is to get either to the north or south wall, and time the guard's movements by the way his bleeping changes pitch. It will get lower when he's south of you, and will be higher in pitch when he's on your level or north of you. Figure out which way his route takes him and how long, then make a dash and pray, if that's your thing. I have never liked this area, and what's worse, you'll have to come back. Okay, so you're past those silly guards. There's no need to go all the way west and then into that long southward corridor. It's a dead end with nothing in it. Instead, head a little east from the corridor and get into the third southward hall. When a gap opens in the east wall, take it. The aim here is to sort of loop around and end up heading northeast. I'm not going to give exact directions; you should be able to navigate this place by following walls. There's nothing dangerous in here as long as you don't backtrack to the guards. Eventually you'll hear a tamer and at least one item nearby to the east. Go have some fun. Shadow Warrior Baxaderus Foefum level 42, Lavalan level 42, Sluggugg level 42 Reward: 642 gold Again with the Sluggugg. Take the item directly to the east. It's a Restricted Area Key! Remember that room where you got the storage key? It had a locked door, a teleporter and the stairs you used to get there? Waaaay up on floor 3 of Kumori's office? Yup, you're going all the way back up there. You aren't completely done here though. You'll be back, but feel free to take on another tamer or two before you get out of here. Shadow Warrior Darzog Skirial level 42, Trumer level 43, Bayowoof level 43 Reward: 640 gold Shadow Warrior Mandrennet Viralite level 45, Mortrex level 44, Erroir level 42 Reward: 694 gold Just north of him is someone claiming to be Yavin's best friend. This is literally the only mention of this character you will ever get. Shadow Warrior Canetticker Thornita level 45 Reward: 398 gold Going north from here will lead you to a place called the Prison of Frozen Time. To the west you can probably faintly hear the stairs that got you down here. Pity there's a wall there, eh? Anyway, remember the location of this door, and backtrack out of here. Alternatively, use a Daedalus Dust if you've got one. Okay, so now you have to backtrack through Kumori's office up to floor 3, and unlock that door. I'm going to assume you can go back through the guide, and that I don't have to write instructions twice. This time there are no tamers or chests to open though, so you can probably shave some time off your run a bit. So here we are, in front of that locked door. You're not going to be jumped when you open it, but there are a couple of fights ahead, so be wary. Unlock the door, head into the room, then go to the west where you can hear a Shadow Warrior just begging to be put in their place. Shadow Warrior Jezerill Dormanoid level 42, Dormanoid level 43, Turoison level 43 Reward: 657 gold When this fight is done, get to the west wall and go south. When you hit the corner, you'll be jumped by people who simply weren't there a minute ago. Two battles in a row. Shadow Warrior Keyebbit Pandourbit level 42, Deciced level 43 Reward: 537 gold Shadow Warrior Eguenno Submenno level 44, Fyrate level 43 Reward: 553 gold After a short cutscene, in which one kid somehow overpowers two grown adults, you'll get a Prison Key. This opens the Prison of Frozen Time in the basement, like the guy said. Guess who'll have to go past the guards again? I'll just meet you when you get to the Prison of Frozen Time. Heh. Save your game before you unlock that door. There's a pretty significant boss fight coming up. Watch the long cutscene, then have a battle. Before we get started, it says something rather ominous when someone like Yavin is going to let himself be diverted when he knows exactly what Octoross is doing. We're supposed to sorta feel sympathy for him, but I don't. All his talk in previous cutscenes about how evil Octoross is all gets undone in this one scene. Kumori is going to take you out, Yavin just calmly walks away and wishes you luck. No secret plan, no resistance. Oh well. We can take Kumori down. He's good, but we're better. Shadow Administrator Kumori Ratiera level 44, Ninjarkin level 45, Tigrath level 44, Duskond level 45, Bombusect level 45, Thornita level 43 Reward: 1643 gold Kumori doesn't even seem to get a farewell speech. He's just...gone, leaving you free to go over and deal with the vortex. Now, you have a choice to make. It looks like a big one, but it's not. Do you want to comfort your father, or kill him? Quite literally the only things this will change are cutscene-related. Nothing in the actual gameplay will be much different. Killing him is the "sadder" ending, so choose whichever you want. Don't leave the area once the cutscene is over. I know it seems urgent to get Dad back to the surface so you can get him help, but there's something we should do first. In the northwest corner of the room is a pole you can climb with the rope. It leads to... Shadow Warriors Rest Area This place is big, and has a bunch of beds in it. The people here say some stuff, but none of it's vital. There are a couple of items you can grab while you're here, and one that you really ought to so that you don't ever have to come back. First up are 3 Max Skill Drinks just lying in the middle of the floor, a fair bit west of the first person you're apt to hear when you enter the area. The next, and most important, is an Irod Pendant along the west wall. Make sure you snag this before leaving, at all costs. East from here are 3 Skill Drinks lying on the floor, so re-appropriate those as well. As far as I know, you're done here, so use a Daedalus Dust for a quick escape. You'll get a cutscene as soon as you end up outside, one way or the other. At the end, you're told to go back to Orianda City to break the news to Grandma and Melanie, so let's go do that. In Orianda, you'll hopefully remember that Grandma's house is right to the east of the hotel. Pop on in and have an emotional cutscene. In the wake of said reunion, you might find it peculiar that there's no one actually in the house. Grandma and Melanie just...aren't there. Anyway, remember Starwalk Mountain, that area you couldn't go anywhere in because it was blocked? Well, now it's not blocked off anymore. It's really kind of amazing how convenient (and in some cases inconvenient) impediments are. You finish the factory, and suddenly your next pathway opens up. It's like they're telepathic. Enough of my snark. Head for Starwalk Mountain. Starwalk Mountain Manamon Available: Palador, Promolder, Niamanja, Effigem, Feefeye Spotlight: Effigem From what I can see, this pure stone type has absolutely nothing to recommend it. Low attacking stats, fairly low HP and low speed. Its defenses are good, but with a stone typing and not too many good moves, plus bad attacking stats, it's just going to die. It transforms into Sculpton around level 31 I think, then into Simulon at level 45 I believe. If any of you have used this one and have had good experiences, please let me know. But thus far, I've just been supremely underwhelmed. First things first: hear that chest in the northeast? It's got 5000 gold in it. Find that big boulder south of you, and start pushing it to the south. You'll get attacked soon enough. Tough Kid Marcy and Cool Kid Jake (double battle) Promolder level 42/Terruffalo level 43/Foefum level 41/Leonatar level 40/Promolder level 42/Sullorb level 42 Reward: 833 gold Keep pushing that boulder until you can sneak off to the east. Over here is a chest containing a Power Dagger. If you then start going south, you'll find another tamer; this one's training for a marathon apparently. Athlete Holly Vultair level 43, Owlex level 41 Reward: 286 gold Just south of Holly is another athlete who's using this mountain as their own personal training ground. Tough Girl Willa Martiagle level 44 Reward: 189 gold Just southwest of Willa is yet another tamer. This one has no interest in sports though... Tough Guy Arand Paladine level 43, Niamanja level 43, Foefum level 43 Reward: 484 gold The item you hear to the south is 1500 gold. Don't let it pass you by. East of the last tamer you fought is someone who's trying to get down the mountain in time to catch the ball game. This is actually one of the first mentions of real sports in Tangeria I can recall. Tough Guy Bob Thundron level 44 Reward: 182 gold Head east along the path, then eventually go south to encounter a chest with 250 gold in it. From here, turn to the east, then follow the east wall north. You'll eventually hear a chest on your left, which contains a Master Herb. If you head sorta northwest from here, you should be able to find a north wall and an item nearby. It's an Ice Crystal. These are very important, so pick it up. You'll know why later. The person you might be able to hear if you go east and north from here is not a tamer, it's just some lazybones who's too tuckered out to get off Starwalk Mountain. Ignore him, but pick up the Revive behind him. Continue north. The path will eventually start bending northwest and northeast. Just keep following it northwest. Pick up 10 flyers in a chest, then a Speedy Potion and Star Element loose on the ground. Eventually the path will peter out, and start heading back southeast. There's also a hidden Life Tonic in a tiny alcove on the east wall. You'll find a chest with 50 gold on your way back down. When you are able to go more east and north again, you'll hear another tamer after awhile. Go ahead and take her on. Detective Regan Bayowoof level 43, Arctana level 43, Friggle level 43 Reward: 462 gold You're nearly done. Just go north toward the stairs. If you want another free Level-Up Herb - and come on, who doesn't? - your wishes will be fulfilled in the chest to the west of the stairs. When you're ready, climb the stairs. Starwalk Mountain F2 Manamon available: same as before, but add Sheepit, Paladine and Sullorb, and remove Palador Spotlight: Sheepit This pure earth type transforms via trade into Lamgurk. Honestly, having used one pretty extensively, I can say that unless it gets upgraded, you should stay far, far away. It gets exactly one damaging earth-type move (Mudslide, at level 45) and is otherwise quite limited. A high attack stat and the move Crunch just can't make up for low special defense and no same-type attack moves. It gets Rev-up and Hammerhead (the latter only as a Sheepit), plus the ability Normality, which makes its normal moves do more damage only while at full health. Avoid like the plague, in this author's opinion. Spotlight: Sullorb This stone-magic manamon's stats are halfway decent, but he just doesn't have the attacking stats or the actual attacks themselves to cut it. You'll see a lot of Sullorb on teams or while wandering around, and they die to two hits of almost everything. They are immune to earth attacks naturally though, which is sort of nice. If this one ever gets slightly better attacking stats and slightly better attacks, come back and have a look; as it stands, it just seems outclassed by other magic types. There are really no good stone types in this game that I've seen, so having a stone typing is just a recipe for extra weaknesses most of the time. There are two boulders here, one sorta blocking the other. Push them out of the way (I like to push the first one east, myself), then continue onward to the south. Follow the east wall as it bends, then navigate your way into the eastern path. When you find the cave has opened up a bit, head straight north for a tamer battle. Genius Wallace Mondevol level 43, Steelion level 43, Thundron level 42 Reward: 487 gold Now go straight up to the north wall and go east. Another tamer awaits. Pianist Denise Bellaard level 46 Reward: 227 gold Highest level we've seen so far, I believe. Find the small pathway to the south of Denise, and head south along it. When the path opens up, get to the west wall, follow it south, then bend west with the wall. After a little while, you'll be coming north toward a bored tamer. Lad Bing Lavalan level 44, Thornita level 43, Sullorb level 42 Reward: 442 gold The stairs are to the north of Bing. Just head north to climb to the next floor. Starwalk Mountain Outside This is mostly just a reprieve from the mountain. You can use your Pocket Copter here too if you want, but then you'll have to climb back up again. The real prize is the guy who will heal all your manamon completely for the low, low price of 500 gold. If you're not sure where exactly he is, just follow the wall on the east side of the area, and you should hear him on your left. Make your way north, west and then further north to the next set of stairs. Starwalk Mountain F3 The aim here is to get through the area in two and a half minutes or less. Even following walls, you should have absolutely zero problem doing this. First things first: after the disembodied voice tells you about rockslides, go directly east, then south, entering a small tunnel which heads generally east. You'll find both an Ice Crystal (your second) and an Ice Dagger here. This is an excellent piece of gear for ice-type manamon. For the sake of less stress, just double back to the entrance, climb down the stairs, then re-climb back up to restart the timer. it should also be noted that you can't save while you're in a timed room, so remember that. This time, hug the west wall, and follow it around as it bends north. You'll get a Power Potion and 300 gold in a chest, then you should head north for a Skill Drink and a tamer. Rich Kid Adelaide Dramagon level 43, Ghoperto level 43, Dragetull level 42 Reward: 856 gold Adelaide will use a Medical Miracle once during the fight. Beware. Retrace your steps a bit by heading south, then start hugging the wall and moving eastward (the wall should be above you). Head south after the area opens up a bit, and make your way back to the stairs. Third time's a charm. Now we're gonna tackle this area for real. Climb up the stairs again, and go east right away. Instead of going south, into that little dead end that gave you the Ice Dagger and Ice Crystal, go north. Follow the wall as it bends a little here and there, and you'll eventually come across another tamer trying to beat the rockslides. Rich Kid Reginald Paladine level 43, Guerrerrol level 43 Reward: 723 gold Like Adelaide before him, Reginald will also use a Medical Miracle at some point in the fight, unless you're fortunate enough to kill both of his manamon in a hit apiece. North of Reginald - who is now gone, by the way - is a path heading west. Follow it as it loops north and then east, and you should hear the stairs before long. Starwalk Mountain F4 Go east, then south, then west to find that tamer you can hear. Let's see if all his money can prevent him getting destroyed in a manamon battle. Rich Kid Donnie Deciced level 44 Reward: 587 gold He doesn't like people with our name. How does he even know our name? West, then south, and another tamer. This one likes rainbows. Tough Girl Chelsea Donnammer level 42, Sheepit level 45 Reward: 337 gold South, then east, and you'll find another tamer. This one's in acting school. Athlete Leo Merembear level 43, Lavalan level 44, Lavalan level 43 Reward: 477 gold A considerable distance to the east is another moving tamer who says life's too short. Tough Guy Tobias Steelion level 42, Paladine level 44 Reward: 330 gold The path will bend north, then east, then north again. Just keep following walls...can't stress this enough. After a bit of exploring, you should hear both a chest and a tamer. The chest contains a Powerhit Bracer. The tamer is behind a wall, so get to that east wall, head south, and look for a gap that will let you loop around the wall to the east. Athlete Albert (triple battle) Promolder level 45/Promolder level 45/Promolder level 45 Reward: 589 gold If you go east a bit to the wall and follow it south, you'll be able to hear a chest nearby eventually. Get to the west wall, then find a tiny gap that goes west, then south, then repeats that for awhile, eventually letting you nab the chest, which has a Rare Jewel and 600 gold tucked inside. Now backtrack out of that little diagonal detour, and start making your way back down the east wall. We're nearly at the stairs. You should be able to head generally south, then west when the path opens up a little. Follow the wall (getting tired of this yet?), then loop around to the east. You'll find a long path that heads north after awhile. This leads to the stairs. Starwalk Mountain f5 Manamon Available: same as before, but add Sculpton instead of Effigem and Paladine instead of Palador, and everything is at a slightly higher level Note: this might have already occurred; I can't remember on which floor it happens, but you should definitely start seeing Paladine and Sculpton on this floor if you haven't already. Another rockslide room, and this one is a little tougher. You're also given considerably more time to finish it, and you should be able to make it out with more than two minutes on the clock even if you dally a little. Here's how I do it. Move straight up from the entrance. That rumbling is a large boulder, and rather than explore and waste valuable time, I'm jusg going to tell you now. Get on its east side and shove it west. Eventually it'll go through a teleporter. Follow it. From here, you'll have to push the boulder east once, down a few spaces, then east a ways, then up and onto a switch. When this is done, make your way back to the teleporter and hop on through. There used to be an enormous rock on this floor that you couldn't move. Now it's gone, and you never even had to see it. Heh. From the teleporter, go east, then north, and fight a tamer. Athlete Brandy Sheepit level 44, Titomaton level 42, Niamanja level 43 Reward: 474 gold Go north, west, then a bit north for another battle. Tough Guy Thomas Rhinodyo level 43, Hydrake level 43 Rhinodyo is pure sound type Reward: 326 gold To the west is yet another tough guy. Tough Guy Giancarlo Frenrir level 44, Arctana level 43 Frenrir is pure ice type Reward: 356 gold West. Tamer. Yawn. Rich Kid Jonah Grandlan level 45 Reward: 345 gold Westward ho! Tamer to kill. This is getting dull. Rich Kid Noah Dragetull level 43, Sculpton level 43, Sculpton level 42 Reward: 873 gold Finally a new direction! South! Go south, for heaven's sake go south! Now the path's going to start taking you east as well as south, so just follow it. Eventually you'll be going more east than anything, and the stairs will be somewhere above you. climb them to reach Upper Starwalk Mountain. Upper Starwalk Mountain Manamon Available: Paladine, Niamanja, Houndorf, Sullorb, Snowmonno Spotlight: Houndorf This pure ice type transforms into Frenrir at level 39. It's speedy and has good special defense, and it gets HydroFang to cover its stone and flame weakness. It also gets Crunch for some nice backup, and a 95-power physical ice move called Frostbite, which I'm pretty sure is unique to this manamon line and one mythical which you won't see for a long, long time yet. Its special attack is naturally a little higher than its physical attack though, and its defense isn't terribly high. If you need a fairly speedy ice type, this one's a pretty safe bet. Spotlight: Snowmonno This ice-ghost manamon just...doesn't work. It has decent HP and the Entrap ability, plus it gets some truly nice moves in Sing, Stun Volt, Spirit Force, Frigid Touch and the like...but its defenses are utterly terrible. To put this in perspective, it can be killed in two hits, easily, by something it resists; a Banyardan at the same level using Berserk Branch will reliably kill Snowmonno in two hits. If this guy's defenses are ever shored up a bit, he might be worth using; as it stands, he's the very wrong sort of glass cannon. If you insist on playing with Snowmonno, make sure you've got one with good speed and attack, and put all of your train points into those two stats. Snowmonno's terrible defense won't matter if he can wreck stuff in one hit before he's attacked. Right above the stairs is a welcome sight, someone who will heal all your manamon for 500 gold. Take him up on it if you need to, then head west for...card tricks? Oh boy. Magician Gail Sullorb level 44, Zintrabat level 44 Reward: 342 gold If you'll remember, the Lennox she mentions is probably that magician we trashed on Highpark Road so, so long ago. Bring it on, Gail, bring it on. After this, start wading through deep snow, forging a path westward until you meet someone else bound for the peak. Magician Emanuel Paladine level 46 Reward: 206 gold Continue west into the crunchier snow, then once you hit the wall, start moving north. Double battle time. Athletes Frank and Ernest Frenrir level 44/Bayowoof level 44/Enchandithol level 44/Wizzell level 44 Reward: 692 gold From here it's pretty much a straight shot into Snowstar City, so that's where you ought to go. Snowstar City The building directly above the entrance is the Manamon Marketplace. The one to the west of that is the manamon Hotel, so head in there, heal and save if you're of a mind. Then head next door to the marketplace. Shop List Mananet: 100 gold Meganet: 350 gold Giganet: 1000 gold Herb: 300 gold Strong Herb: 700 gold Mighty Herb: 1500 gold Master Herb: 2200 gold Total Cure: 550 gold Medical Miracle: 2700 gold Revive: 4000 gold Encounter Down: 170 gold Super Encounter Down: 400 gold Ultra Encounter Down: 950 gold Holy Ring: 6000 gold Fire Suit: 8000 gold Aqua Suit: 8000 gold Nature Suit: 8000 gold Ice Dagger: 3000 gold Snow Shield: 6500 gold Rubber Gloves: 6000 gold Buy, sell, get out. And by the way, you might be thinking that the stadium here (yes, there is one) uses ice types. You'd be wrong. Frankly, there aren't enough competitive ice types in the game, so the stadium uses electric types. The only general hint to this before you actually walk into the stadium and find out is the Rubber Gloves for sale here at the market. Stick this on a water-type manamon and you might have smooth sailing against electric types. Being immune to electric attacks is neat. Travel east of the Manamon Marketplace, hugging the south wall. You'll come across a chest to the south of you in a little alcove, containing 500 gold. If you continue east, there's another chest with 350 gold in it. From here, going into what looks like a dead end to the north will eventually reveal 700 more gold just lying on the ground for you to take. Now backtrack out of this dead end, and move a bit to the west. North of you is the Snowstar Stadium, but let's go west instead. The house here has nothing in it except three people who mostly say irrelevant things. One says Snowmonno are creepy, the second will get grumpier if you keep talking to her but ultimately does nothing, and the third says Octoross's name comes from an ancient Tangerian tongue. Me, with my English-speaking brain, hears Octo-Ross. Like Ross times eight, or as if Ross is an octopus, or something silly like that. The name has always struck me as silly, particularly in light of the fact that the hero in another VG Storm title has the name Ross. Editorials aside, leave the house and continue west. There's another house here. If you have a level 45 Merembear and are interested in trading, this guy will give you his level 30 Bearran. Since Bearran transforms into Grizzlord when traded, it will automatically transform, so you'll have your very own Grizzlord. Now if only we could get Lamgurk and Mortrex via in-game trades... Okay, enough chit-chat. It's stadium time. Remember, it's not what you think it should be. Snowstar Stadium Type Specialization: Electric There's only one real gimick in this stadium. There are panels on the floor that hurt like heck if you step on them. Don't step on them. There are ways to navigate around the panels, and I'll guide you so you don't get hurt. Two shocks from a panel is enough to kill any of your manamon from full health (yes, even earth types and manamon wearing Rubber Gloves) so be very, very careful. Start by going to the east wall, heading straight up till you bump the north wall, then turning west. Do not step south, whatever you do; the panel is right there waiting to zap you. Electrician Basil (Double Battle) Thundron level 44/Thundron level 44 Reward: 361 gold Head north, a little west, then a little north for another tamer. Electrician Kendra Zapistan level 45 Zapistan is electric-shadow type Reward: 187 gold North a couple of steps, then west. Rich Kid Ashley Titomaton level 45, Titomaton level 45 Reward: 803 gold A bit north, a bit west. Another tamer. Be careful of the electric panel just to the south. Lady Leanne Zapistan level 45, Erroir level 43 Reward: 343 gold Go back to the east, past the panel, then go north to the wall. Go down one space, then to your left. This tough guy likes bad puns. Tough Guy Rodney Jiminite level 45, Jiminite level 46 Reward: 406 gold Head west of Rodney, then north a bit (watch for the panel above you), then travel east. This is your last tamer. Electrician Gordon Zapistan level 44, Jiminite level 43, Friggle level 43, Mondevol level 43 Reward: 650 gold Now that you're done here, you can move east of Gordon and then head north, toward-- BOOM! That was unexpected. Watch the cutscene, and save your game. Before we head where we're told to, let's check out what's left of the stadium. Nothing left...except an Ice Crystal. That should be your third one. There's also a nice little stash in the northeast corner, including a Total Cure, a Spirit Staff V2.0, and a hidden level-up herb just southwest of the chest. There. Now feel free to head south out of Snowstar City. Upper Starwalk Mountain If you go south, then east, you'll find a chest with a Rare Jewel in it. Follow the wall as it bends south and east, then bend back to the north. You're generally above the actual Starwalk Mountain exit now, by the way. A tamer awaits. Guitarist Jebediah Snowmonno level 43, Recobrah level 44, Enchantithol level 43 Reward: 470 gold Keep heading north. Another tamer is here with some free advice on keeping warm. Pianist Ike Paladine level 44, Arctana level 45 Reward: 340 gold This next tamer, to the north, is mentioning free text-to-speech voices off the Internet. Very, very awkward. Let's destroy her so we never have to think about the thin, thin line between real life and manamon at times... Pianist Lorelei Squarpha level 46 Squarpha is a water-magic type Reward: 206 gold Travel east, then north some more. There are a few corners and stuff, but nothing too difficult to navigate. Before you know it, here comes another victim...er, I mean tamer. Priest Phillaman Squarpha level 44, Miterosier level 45 Reward: 338 gold If you head north a bit, then east, you'll find someone who wanted to work in the Snowstar Stadium. Electrician Carl Jiminite level 45 Reward: 194 gold Go east of the electrician, then break a path north through the snow. There's a priest to the east. Priest Jude Erroir level 45 Reward: 197 gold I wonder if the fact that Jude is a humanist is anything other than hollow, empty words? Either way, he and his Erroir are irrelevant now, so continue by going south of Jude, then slipping into a narrow easterly path. When it opens up a bit, you'll hear two tamers, but they're behind a wall. You'll have to circle north, east and then south to get at them. Rich Kids Jezebel and Eve (double battle) Deciced level 45/Arctana level 45/Skirial level 45/Bellaard level 45/Foefum level 45/Paladine level 45 Reward: 1996 gold Those kids are kinda tough, but we got more gold from them than from the administrators of an evil organization. Funny, that. If you head a long way south, you'll find another tamer. Cool Kid Bjorn Placebot level 44, Mondevol level 44, Titomaton level 44, Erroir level 44 Reward: 703 gold If you retrace your steps a bit, heading north from Bjorn, you'll find a little pathway heading west. Follow it as it hooks south and east, and soon enough you'll hear an item. This is your fourth Ice Crystal, so don't forget to pick it up. From here, just follow the fairly linear path east, then north into Paladin Point. Paladin Point Have a cutscene. When it's done, feel free to explore. Sierra will wait for you, and you can now fly back here if you wish. That said, feel free to heal up in Snowstar and then fly back before facing Sierra. Manamon Tamer Sierra Martiagle level 45, Banyardan level 47, Magmizire level 45, Thundron level 44, Tarboo level 45 Reward: 983 gold During the cutscene before you fought Sierra, she gave you Swim Gear, and also provided a pointer on where you were headed next. As she also correctly pointed out, the journey to the next stadium is fairly long, but for some reason, this one doesn't feel like quite as much a slog as, say, getting to Orianda via the ruins. Before we go off to San-cot Beach, though, there are a couple of things we can do here in Paladin Point. There's a shop here, your last Ice Crystal, plus a mythical manamon to capture, if you wish. Said Ice Crystal is off to your right a bit. If you're following the north wall you'll hear it very faintly below you as you pass. Go ahead and grab it, then enter the lone building in this area. Starwalk Marketplace Players of Paladin of the Sky will notice this music track, and the previous one, were found in that game. The song playing in the market is the one you heard in the first explorable area of paladin of the Sky, and the one playing in Paladin Point itself is found on Wing 5, during gameplay. Anyway, go talk to the lone person in this shop, only to discover a rather limited but rather useful shop inventory. Shop list Lightning Element: 5000 gold Smoke Element: 5000 gold Star Element: 5000 gold Soulless Heartstone: 5000 gold Skill Drink: 2000 gold Max Skill Drink: 3000 gold U P Restorative: 4000 gold Max U P Restorative: 5500 gold So this is where you can come if you need transformation items, or if you've used all your skill drinks and such. Do what you need to do, then go outside. If you want a mythical ice-type manamon, here's your chance. Come prepared with plenty of giganets and, hopefully, a manamon which can inflict a status (paralysis or sleep are preferred, scorch and poison are terrible ideas). From outside the shop, you'll want to go to the west and then far to the north. Hear the rumbling above you? That's the mythical you're after. Save your game, take a deep breath, and get ready for an exercise in frustration. Mythical Spotlight: Polosses Polosses is a pure ice type, and it starts at level 40. It can never be bred, so this is the only one you're going to get. Its moveset isn't too dangerous at this stage either. Stat-wise, this guy has good HP, and very solid stats across the board. It learns mostly physical ice moves until it gets Ice Tempest around level 70. It will get Frigid Touch at level 60, and Restoration at level 50, so it'll take awhile to come into its own. As a straight-up ice type, you probably can't do better than this one, so long as you're willing to use a little patience. Whether you captured or killed Polosses, it's now time to head to San-cot Beach. Once you get to the beach, walk north across the sand until you come to water. If you click on it, you'll be told that it's deep, and asked if you want to swim. Time to take a dip. Just swim north to the wall, and follow it west till you hear the entrance to a new area. Head on out to sea. Tangerian Sea Manamon Available: Squarpha, Tarba, Arctana, Turoison, Reefe, Eksponge Spotlight: Squarpha A water-magic type whose ability gives it a little extra evasiveness when it appears on the field, Squarpha has a lot of potential that it can't live up to. Thus far, all I know aside from its ability is that it seems to rely on Bubble Burst and Tri-Beam for damage, gets Dissonant Chime and Stifle, and generally tends to have solid defenses and only average-ish HP. If it gets crazy attacks at a higher level (above 85, which is the highest level I've tested it to), or if its defenses really do begin to stack up, this guy might be really good...but nothing wows me on a first thorough pass. It's just...meh across the board. Give it Drench. Give it Meteor Rush. Give it some strange backup coverage like Sonic Missile or Holy Light or Sing, and you might be onto something. Spotlight: Tarba Oh man, is this beast ever strange. It's basically a whale, a water-sound type, and it transforms into Tarboo at level 45. It's quite rare, but might be very worthwhile as a team member. Tarba can be taught Earthquake via the move tutor, and a level 1 Tarba (by breeding) will come with this move. It also gets many supporting moves such as Bubble Burst, Audio Blast (remember how the Chingle line needed an item to use this move?), Hibernate (forces you to sleep, but heals all status and HP), Steel Horn, Subliminal Audio Wave, and a variety of different buffs. The downsides are worth mentioning though. Tarboo is quite slow, and its physical defense isn't very high. Its HP is through the roof, though, and its special attack and special defense are quite respectable. Let this whale play to its strengths, and it really is quite difficult to bring down. Spotlight: Eksponge Another manamon, this one a pure water type, about which I know little. It gets Restrain, Water Bomb, Drench and Limb Thrust (an undead move also popular with Bombusect at higher levels), but I'm not sure how good it is. It appears to have solid defenses (particularly its special defense, which is excellent). Try it and see. I do know it beats Turoison as a tank, has better coverage, and can really annoy with Daring Comeback. There are no random items bobbing around in the water as far as I know. All you'll find here are a bunch of swimming tamers, a few islands, and lots of wild manamon. Northward ho! Well actually, go west till you hit the wall, then north, then start going west till you hear a tamer above you. Go-time. Swimmer Troy Hydrake level 45, Tarboo level 44, Friggle level 46 Reward: 586 gold Why this guy has an illegal level 44 Tarboo and yet hasn't transformed his level 46 Friggle into Frorgeril, I'll never know. I swear, tamers in this game forget to transform their transformable manamon more often than they don't. With Troy banished to the depths, get back to the south wall and keep sloshing westward. That gritty-sounding noise is an island to the north. Step up onto dry land, hug the west wall and go straight north. There's nothing on this island of note, so jump back in the water on the north side of the island and keep going north. If you hug the west wall, then bent a little northeast as the wall forces you, you'll find a small island with a Master Herb lying on it. Snatch it up and continue east from here. The next island has a house containing a twittering Hydrobird and a man living here alone with it. Nothing to be done, so just ignore it and continue east. Just to the east of the island is a tamer trying to reach Opal Bay by sundown. Swimmer Lewis Dramagon level 44, Ninjarkin level 45 Reward: 384 gold Southeast is another tamer. The fights are going to start getting more frequent now, so stay sharp. Fisher Felicity Fingon level 46 Reward: 212 gold Further southeast, and another fight. Fisher Theodore Sacroloon level 45, Skirial level 44 Reward: 366 gold A fisher with no water types. Interesting. If you go south of Theodore, then hook around the barrier to start going east, you'll eventually be able to start going north again. Here comes another tamer battle. On a random and mostly unrelated note, I intensely dislike seeing stuff like "Ow! Ow! Ow!" each in its own little text box. There's no suspense, there's no real meaning, it's just nonsensical tamer talk and it's distracting. Swimmer Bernice Submenno level 46, Tarboo level 45 Reward: 412 gold North of Bernice is another tamer. Lass Beverly Fowliture level 45, Martiagle level 45, Orystar level 45 Reward: 582 gold East and a bit north, you've got another tamer wanting to distract you. Gentleman Christian Arctana level 45, Frenrir level 45 Reward: 392 gold Go ahead and travel east, then detour south a bit to face a tamer who fights on behalf of those who will not fight for themselves. Detective Cameron Eksponge level 47 Reward: 224 gold Just a bit southeast is someone who's...insulting our swim gear? That's it. Someone's gonna drown, and it's not us. Swimmer Caroline Dramagon level 45, Dramagon level 45 Reward: 395 gold And after we beat her, she wants us to be nice? Should've thought of that before you told us we looked fat, eh? Anyway, if you head a bit further east and northward, a levitating tamer wants to challenge you. Magician Angela Squarpha level 46, Squarpha level 47, Enchandithol level 44 Reward: 576 gold A considerable distance north of Angela is another battle. Explorer Sebastian Grandlan level 45, Sculpton level 45, Sculpton level 45, Enchandithol level 44 Reward: 746 gold Why aren't his Sculptons transformed into Simulons by now? Keep going north, and then head west to an island with a chest full of gold. 1000 gold, to be exact. Now swim north from the island, and you'll cross paths with a moving tamer ready to throw down. Cool Kid Ludwig Trumer level 45, Bombusect level 44, Sacroloon level 45, Wizzell level 45 Reward: 727 gold He's not cool, but at least he was rich. Take his money and run. You're just a few short steps from Opal Bay. Opal Bay I love the music in this place...not sure why. The manamon hotel is basically due north. Go on in and rest, as you'll probably be needing it by now. Once you come back outside - the people in the hotel don't really say anything interesting, I'm afraid, but what else is new - you'll want to go west. The building you'll hear above you is the Manamon Marketplace. Let's see if this one has anything neat inside. Shop List: Mananet: 100 gold Meganet: 350 gold Giganet: 1000 gold Herb: 300 gold Strong Herb: 700 gold Mighty Herb: 1500 gold Master Herb: 2200 gold Total Cure: 550 gold Medical Miracle: 2700 gold Revive: 4000 gold Encounter Down: 170 gold Super Encounter Down: 400 gold Ultra Encounter Down: 950 gold Holy Ring: 6000 gold Fire Suit: 8000 gold Aqua Suit: 8000 gold Nature Suit: 8000 gold Rubber Gloves: 6000 gold Chain Shield: 5000 gold Rapid Cloak: 5000 gold Yawn. Seems all so...familiar somehow. Almost as if the last four or five shops we've been to, outside Paladin Point of course, have mostly the same gear, including equipment... The only exception here off the top of my head is the Rapid Cloak. This is an absolute, no-doubt-about-it ripoff. It does boost speed by 50 percent, which seems nice until you realize it's not speed that determines who hits harder. It also has a nasty unstated effect in that it lowers not only both defenses by 30 percent each, but also both attack stats by 20 percent each! That's net loss of 100 percent in total, vs. a net gain of 50 percent speed. Either I've seen this item before, or there are just too many items with too many penalties that are similar to this one. Just leave it on the shelf where it belongs, and conduct your normal business of buying and selling before exiting the shop. There's a house to the east of the Manamon Marketplace a bit, but feel free to skip it completely, as it just contains two useless people who say nothing of any interest. What you should do from here is go north, then west, to find another house. This one's only got one guy in it, but he's another shopkeeper. Sammy the Equipment Collector, Shop List: Bone Dagger V2.0: 3000 gold Spirit Staff: 5000 gold Spirit Staff V2..: 8000 gold Power Bracelet: 9000 gold Technique Cloak: 6000 gold Bone Club: 7000 gold Lightning Rod: 5500 gold Dimbranch Club: 6000 gold Finally, a shop inventory that doesn't completely suck! The Power Bracelet is quite nice, but watch out for critical hits. Bone Club still sucks, but the Spirit Staff V2.0 is good if you've got a standard or fighting type who is tired of being wrecked wholesale by ghosts. I don't understand the Technique Cloak. It says it cuts the power of a move that's got the same element as the wearer by half. So, if you're a water type hit by a water move, the damage is halved? This is very underwhelming, since you're already not taking a lot of damage from that attack, and it strikes me that your equipment slot could probably be used in a much much better way. Lightning Rod is a nasty surprise to earth types who think they can destroy your electric types. This and Gravity magnet ar among my favourite pieces of equipment. When you're done here, head back outside, then west and north around the left side of the house. There's a lone Daedalus Dust just hanging out back here, so let's take it along. The house to the east of the equipment collector might surprise you, get you thinking there's something good here..but unfortunately there isn't. The guy who asks you the question and gives you all the choices...doesn't actually do anything. All these choices for no benefit and no point whatsoever.. Feel free, as well, to ignore the rest of the house entirely, and just leave. One of the houses in Opal Bay has a person in it who'll give you a free Life Tonic. I misremember which one though, as it's been awhile. If you go just east of this house, hook northwest around the back of it and keep going west, you'll eventually find 2 Magic Potions. Pick 'em up, then double back to the east and travel until you hear another door. Beyond it is another house, this one with peculiar metal flooring. Head north through the house (the one visible NPC is meaningless), and shortly after you find some carpet, you'll find a familiar face. Hey, it's Eleazar. Remember that guy who was on the edge of telling us important stuff, then didn't? Well, now he's going to give us free stuff, so I guess we can forgive his weirdness, eh? Considering that this particular free stuff is a gammanet, I'd say so! A Gammanet, as the text says, will capture any one manamon, guaranteed. In other words, don't blow it catching a Squirmunk or something. If you want to be really sure you don't waste it, give it to any manamon to hold, but preferably not one on your active team for now. There's one particularly good place to use the Gammanet, which is covered in the postgame. With our new net in tow, let's head through that door and enter the next area. Malarine Valley Manamon Available: Miterosier, Eagawk, Redonkius, Rhinodyo, Bearran, Embird Spotlight: Redonkius I don't know much about this guy. He's a pure fighting type with pretty high attack and an ability called Panic, which jacks up the damage Redonkeus does when it's at a quarter health or lower (the same ability Sacroloon gets, actually). He does get Power Kick, Assault Tackle, Roar and Quake, but I don't know much more than that regarding powerful moves. Try him and see. Spotlight: Rhinodyo A seemingly physically-oriented pure sound type who also seems quite bulky. I do know he gets a move called Call to Arms (attack and defense each up 1 stage), plus a move called Execution later on (the same one I mentioned on Submenno earlier in the guide). Beyond this, I know very little, except that Rhinodyo's HP is quite good, and that there are exactly zero physically-oriented sound moves. If this guy was a standard type, or if there were a few sound moves that were physical, he'd be a powerhouse; as it stands, I'd give him a pass. If or when the game gets a couple of sound moves that run off the attack stat, come and give this guy another look. Rhinodyo, like Recobrah, is immune to sound-type attacks, however, so that's one small point in his favour. Spotlight: Bearran This one is a middle form rather than a first or final form. Its first form can only be found by breeding Bearran, and its final transformation, Grizzlord, can only be obtained via trade. These are all pure standard types, and they do get access to moves like Pummel, Shred, Slash and Hibernate. I believe Grizzlord gets a move called Frenzied Rage, which is like Nature Dance or Draco Blitz but standard type instead of plant or dragon type. Grizzlord also gets Berserk Branch, for some reason. It hits fairly hard, but all of its other stats are decidedly average. First things first: head northwest and nab the visible item to get an Aura Potion. Then double back to the door. Going northeast from here will net another item, this one a Max UP Restorative. To the northwest of this item is a path going north, and a tamer. Lad Orlando Steelion level 45, Steelion level 45, Redonkius level 45 Reward: 591 gold Just to the northeast is another tamer. This one's mocking her ex's name, because that's a fun thing to do I guess. Just destroy her. She's an idiot. Bird Watcher Holga Ghoperto level 45, Vultair level 46, Ghoperto level 46 Reward: 603 gold Holga, was it? Not sure people in glass houses should be throwing stones about names. Ah well. If you go north, you'll hear water to the east. Ignore it for now, and continue heading north, hugging the left wall. When you can go west, do so, then almost immediately slip south along a gravel path. Eventually you'll hear a new tamer to tangle with. Pianist Raul Recobral level 48 Reward: 251 gold How'd we take out your team, Raul? Well, when it's one manamon and we've got a whole roster, all of whom are at higher levels...shouldn't it be obvious? Okay, that's all that was down here, so retrace your steps till you're no longer on gravel, and start going east. Don't be fooled by that westward path. Long grass, dead end, nothing more. Remember that water I told you to ignore? Well go ahead and swim in it now. Your general goal is sort of east, then north. It's not confusing or anything. You'll make dry land, head onto some packed dirt, then hear a new tamer to fight. They're in the water, so hop in and have a showdown. This one wants to be a shadow warrior, apparently. Swimmer Joel Tarboo level 47, Squarpha level 48 Reward: 466 gold From where you thrashed Joel, swim west until you find some dry land and another tamer. This one's a lot more chipper, but she still needs taking out. Magician Joy Myaneko level 47, Squarpha level 48 Reward: 459 gold Most losses in a row? That's...not a very distinguished title. Glad we could help, though. Off to the west in the long grass is another tamer. This one's got birds on the brain. Cool Kid Vivian Fyrate level 47, Sacroloon level 46, Bearran level 46 Reward: 645 gold I think Vivian was going to be a bird keeper but changed her mind. That, or she's got multiple personalities. There's not much to the west of Vivian, but if you head north and through a little narrow path with a couple of twists in it, you'll come out into a little open area floored with gravel. There's a Lightning Rod just lying on the ground up here, so take it, then hug the east wall, go south, then turn east for a tamer who hates work. Lad Oscar Redonkeus level 48, Ninjarkin level 46 Reward: 447 gold If you go east and then north into another narrow gap, you'll find a genius to stomp. Genius Marshall Placebot level 46, Mondevol level 47 Reward: 442 gold It's not luck that determined the loss, buddy. North of the genius in the long grass is a chest of 500 gold. Don't go west, it's just a big long dead end with nothing in it. Instead, head east from the chest, and you'll finally come across a Mighty Herb lying on the ground. Pick it up, then head through the door you can hear. This is sort of a rest house which connects the south half of the valley with the north hafl (which, thankfully, isn't near the same size, so I guess they're not truly halves after all). Nip inside the house, get your manamon healed for free in the bed, then go through the next door into Rune Tunnel. Rune Tunnel This is nothing more or less than a gauntlet of tamers in a very narrow north-to-south path. There are no runes of any kind as far as I know, no lore, and definitely no wild manamon to be found. Let's just plough through these silly tamers in our way one by one. Tough Guy Rory Junanchel level 45, Donnammer level 46 Reward: 426 gold Lass Kathlene Viralite level 47, Squarpha level 47, Mutmo level 48 Reward: 629 gold Lady Meg Simulon level 46, Craggallem level 46, Grandlan level 46, Leonatar level 46 Reward: 849 gold Around here is an alcove in the west wall containing, as memory serves, a Full Revive and 600 gold. Might be wrong though; the alcove does exist, and there's stuff in it though. Magician Gladys Squarpha level 48, Bayowoof level 47, Rhinodyo level 46 Reward: 657 gold Athlete Craig Redonkeus level 47, Redonkius level 47, Rhinodyo level 46 Reward: 671 gold Cutscene time. Is it just me, or is this writing stuff becoming harder to read? I swear there were two or three different moments in this scene alone where I caught myself saying "Wait, what?", regarding character motives and so-called growth. But enough of that. We've got a couple of tamers to get past in this boring tunnel before we can once more see the light of day. Onward and northward, or something. Geologist Harry Sullorb level 47, Lamgurk level 47, Bearran level 48 Reward: 706 gold Guitarist Dennis Deciced level 48, Frenrir level 48, Bearran level 47 Reward: 734 gold Pianist Nikki Fyrate level 50 Reward: 285 gold Guitarist Stewart Eksponge level 48, Dussoket level 48 Dussoket is the transformation of Zapistan and is electric-shadow type Reward: 496 gold Head through the door and heal up in this northern rest house, then go around the bed and out the north door. Malarine Valley First, head west. In this little alcove is a bunch of hidden gold and a level-up herb, so snap it up. Now you're ready to head way, way to the east into the gravel, where you'll eventually find an item. It's another Magic Potion, so make sure to pick it up. Continue east through the narrow path, then north a bit. You should hear water. Swim north through the two small gaps, then west a bit until you hit dry land (long grass, to be exact). Go west, then north onto packed dirt, and follow the east wall northward. You'll hit mud, then some more water to swim across. When you again make landfall you should be on a bridge or something. Head west, then north into the new area. Verlorene Ruins Manamon Available: Viralite Watch the cutscene, and then head straight north to the Manalith machine. Heal up your manamon, then go northeast toward the only really important person here. Watch out for the fires scattered around the area...they hurt like hell. Talk to this person in the northeast of town, and you'll discover that it's actually the stadium leader! Accept her offer, and it's time for a very sudden, very anticlimactic stadium battle. No cheers, no grand music, just the backdrop of a ruined town and the realization of Octoross's unadulterated evil for accompaniment. Stadium Leader Geanne Grizzlord level 48, Simulon level 48, Snowmonno level 50, Frorgeril level 50 Grizzlord is a pure standard type, has a Power Dagger equipped, and knows Berserk Branch for some reason. He hits pretty hard, so watch it. Simulon is a pure stone type, has an Elemental Crown equipped in order to take less damage from water, flame, plant and electric attacks, but is otherwise pretty nonthreatening. Just destroy it. Snowmonno is probably Geanne's greatest threat. It knows Spirit Force, which it uses well off a high attack stat. It's also wearing a Nature Suit for some reason. Being an ice-ghost type, it's weak to a lot of things, so go ahead and waste it. Fourth and last is Frorgeril, an electric-water type holding a Marine Cannon. It does know Drench and Power Surge for coverage, at the very least, but it's still basically just a Friggle with slightly inflated stats. You've been killing those pretty regularly throughout the game. Reward: 2784 gold Afterword, you'll get the Elemental Key and the Elemental Crown for winning, and will then be accosted by someone with a letter for you. He somehow knew you were coming here and knew when to intercept you (yet another example of convenient timing and very little logic), and you'll find out Melanie's been kidnapped. the place she's being held is easily the hardest dungeon in the game, and its entrance is in Orianda...specifically in the park. Preparation If you want to do the next area in one fell swoop, it's going to take a heck of a lot of effort on your part. Here is what I recommend, at a minimum: 1. Your team should be at level 53-54 going in. It can be lower (there are many tamers in this dungeon), but the higher it is, the better chance you have. 2. You should bring at least 20 revives/full revives, at least 30-40 strong/mighty herbs, and at least 10 Medical Miracles/Total Cures, maybe more. Seriously. I'm not kidding. It's better to have all this stuff and not need it, than to need it and not have it. 3. An ice type or a magic type, or both; there's a boss fight coming where having these things will help you enormously. Again, these are my recommendations, particularly if you haven't played this game before and don't know what to expect. You'll see why once you get in here and start facing the bosses. If you're going to be leaving and coming back multiple times, I recommend hitting Brightwater City and snagging a few Daedalus Dusts. Personally, rather than blow tons of money on healing items, I tend to leave and come back a lot, particularly at first. Anyway, prepare yourself the best you can, then head to the park. Remember that guy who wanted you to go fetch him some manamon? Yeah, well, the cat's out of the bag; he's a shadow warrior, and now he's going to fight you. Peculiarly, given that he's standing in front of the one path toward where Melanie is being held, he could just stand there, refuse to fight you, and it would essentially be game over. Octoross is ushering in his own doom, and that of his own organization, by insisting that you have to die. But whatever. This is the first of many, many shadow warriors you'll have to face. Shadow Warrior Haperbolan Orystar level 50, Ratiera level 50 Reward: 771 gold With that clown out of the way, head east toward the manhole, then descend through it to reach... Shadow Kingdom The one positive to this area: there are no random encounters. Now that you're down here, you might hear a buzzing noise that's moving back and forth, off to your right. These are some sort of electrical trap (I tend to think of them as moving electrical panels on the floor). Step on one of these, and one of your manamon takes half its health in damage. It adds up very fast. On this first floor, there are currently two teleporters available, and the aim of the game is to travel through each one, push a box onto a switch, then come back out to the starting area to find the third teleporter, which will let you move onward. Here we go. Get ready for lots of tamers, and lots of traps. Start by going due south of where you entered the area. You'll hear a teleporter below you, so make a dash for it. In this new room, go southeast till you hear a box, then circle around so you're beneath the box (it's above you). Push it all the way to the north, then get on its left side and shove it all the way to the east. The moment it hits the switch, you're gonna get jumped. Where the heck did he come from, anyway? Shadow Warrior Erikal Morghoul level 50, Thornita level 50 Reward: 763 gold Now go southwest to the teleporter, and as soon as you pop through it, go north a bit to make sure you're completely safe. You should hear the ladder out of here clanking grimly away nearby. Your next goal is a teleporter in the northeast of this first main area, but there is an electric trap guarding it, so you'll have to time it pretty carefully. Head east from the ladder, and you'll start hearing the teleporter above you. Line yourself up so the teleporter is right above you, time yourself so that the little zipping arc of electricity is out of the way, then bolt north and hop through the teleporter. In this room, the goal is the same (box onto the switch), but getting it there is just a little harder. There are a couple of electric traps to shock you on your way there, so you can either time it perfectly or take your lumps. It's up to you. You'll hear the box on your left upon arrival, and your goal is to hook around its west side so you can shove it straight to the east. At least maneuvering it won't be difficult. When the box hits the switch, another fight ensues. Shadow Warrior Barikal Ghoperto level 50, Dormanoid level 51 Reward: 794 gold With this shadow warrior sent packing, avoid the electric trap as you head west toward the teleporter. Since both switches have been hit now, a new teleporter will have opened up in the main area. It's southeast-ish of the ladder and manhole that brought you down here in the first place. Watch out for more electricity. This new room is a real pain. You're going to have to deal with electric traps, some little fireballs like you saw in Tangeria Tower, plus some roving guards. None on their own are too terribly difficult, but it can add up. Start by moving cautiously eastward. It's best if you hug the north or south wall, and remember that the electric traps will be buzzing lower in pitch if they're below you (I prefer the north wall for just this purpose). In other words, if you're on the north wall and the buzzing is at a lower pitch than you, it's safe to dash past. There are three electric traps, then two fireballs (which thankfully do less damage even though they're a little harder to track with the ear). You'll have to go down three or four spaces from the wall though, because the gap in the east wall you're looking for is in the middle, roughly speaking. Zip through it, then travel all the way to the east wall. Guards above you. Thankfully, these first few are fairly easy. Just time your dashes right and feel free to stop between them. Three guards, and you'll be on a new type of flooring which indicates (in this case at least) that you're near the ladder to Shadow Kingdom F2. Take the ladder. Shadow Kingdom F2 Oh boy, a working Manallith machine! Go ahead and use it. You're about to face a gauntlet of lasers. Lasers are stationary, but they fire at fixed intervals and will kill the first live manamon on your team in two shots (twelve shots total, and you're dead). You're going to have to run north past a whole bevvy of lasers, so be prepared. There's really no secret to this beyond getting the timing right, and dashing the very second the laser stops firing. The first three are pretty easy to time, but you'll notice that each successive laser in this gauntlet gets a little faster, a little harder to dodge. This is obviously intentional. It is possible to be hit by a laser even when it isn't firing (the collision detection and the sound aren't 100% on par, I'm afraid), but it's fairly hard. I usually get hit on the last laser no matter how good my timing is, but I've dodged it many times, too. Shortly after the gauntlet is someone who wants to pick you off while you're presumably weak from all the silly lasers. Let's teach him the ultimate inefficacy of this evil organization's security systems thus far. Shadow Warrior Rendanio Wizzell level 49, Ratiera level 50, Bearran level 50 Reward: 1013 gold There's a door to the north, but it's being blocked by a moving fireball. You might take a hit going through it, but it doesn't matter too much. Just head through the door. Another timed room. Oh joy. This one has all kinds of hazards to deal with. Stationary electric panels, moving fireballs, stationary fire, lasers...the whole nine yards. With my help, you should be able to get to the end with more than enough time. First things first, go north a bit so that the electric panel to your left is buzzing at a lower pitch. Now head left, so the panel is below you. If you bump a wall to the west, head down till the west wall runs out, then go west. Nip past a fireball, then go south-southwest to a tamer. Shadow Warrior Multribbran Tigrath level 49, Deciced level 50, Snowmonno level 51 Reward: 1085 gold West of this first warrior is another battle, double style. Shadow Warriors Garzerk and Destrin Recobrah level 51/Ninjarkin level 49/Thundron level 51/Dussoket level 50 Reward: 1593 gold Head north, dodge the laser, get to the west wall, then go north for another tamer. Shadow Warrior Zarbolg Trumer level 52 Reward: 540 gold There are two electric traps to the north, followed closely by a laser. Time your dashes and get past them, then make a beeline for the tamer you hear near the west wall. Shadow Warrior Zaplanna Thornita level 51, Viralite level 53 Reward: 875 gold Head east and a little south for another tamer battle. Shadow Warrior Figuril Sluggugg level 51, Skirial level 49, Trumer level 48 Reward: 1918 gold Just to the south is yet another tamer. Take him down. Shadow Warrior Ereenson Bombusect level 53 Reward: 593 gold Now double back to the northwest and look for a narrow path. Don't worry, you've still got plenty of time. Tamer time. Shadow Warrior Abormid Snowmonno level 50, Pandourbit level 50, Deciced level 50 Reward: 1108 gold Okay, with that guy out of the way, there are no more tamers. Head east a ways, then south till the east wall opens up, then east until the north wall stops, then head north. Soon enough you'll hear a door, and that's your target. Head on through. You're still in Shadow Kingdom F2, but you're making progress. Heal up at the Manalith machine (if you're anything like me, you need it by now), and then start travelling east past it. There's a little area to the northwest as well, but it's totally empty and useless, so just ignore it. What you'll want to do here is follow walls and head in a generally north-northeasterly direction. I'm not going to give you exact directions, because by now you should know how to follow walls. You'll hear a ladder eventually. Here comes a new kind of headache. Shadow Kingdom F3 Remember the timed dash puzzles from the fifth stadium? Well, here's one more, and it's kind of a dilly. You have forty-five seconds to get to the end, and it's kind of a long path. I'll try and explain this as best I can. From the start, head straight up and nab the speed boosters. If you're feeling brave, go northeast and grab the speed boosters there as well, but you don't need them. Instead, go to the west-northwest from where you get your first booster, and nab another one. Go west, north, then east and a bit further north to get some more speed, then head straight north, picking up a bit more speed. Now what you're after is a speed booster somewhere to the east. Make a beeline for it, and you should be in a narrow west-to-east path and moving pretty quickly. Just pelt along to the east, picking up boosters as you go. By the time you find and then hit the ladder, you'll be going extremely fast, and you should make it with about seven seconds to spare. Shadow Kingdom F4 This next floor is refreshingly simple. It's just another gauntlet of tamers. Guess the Shadow Warriors are a bit less inspired the deeper into their base you go. Shadow Warrior Yezzek Ghoperto level 51, Turoison level 50, Ratiera level 50 Reward: 1065 gold Shadow Warrior Quartsaul Simulon level 49, Sullorb level 49, Grandlan level 50 Reward: 1026 gold Shadow Warrior Tenarius Wizzell level 50 Reward: 467 gold Shadow Warrior Joljorida Thornita level 53 Reward: 578 gold Shadow Warrior Quelzult Ratiera level 53 Reward: 574 gold Right before the ladder to Shadow Kingdom F5 is a really nasty laser. Time it very carefully and dash for the ladder. Shadow Kingdom F5 This floor's got it all, but on the bright side, you're nearly done. First, head north and deal with a laser, followed by an electric trap, followed by another laser, then two electric traps. You may hear guards to the west, and that's generally where you'll be headed, but it's going to be a bit tricky. Get to the northeast corner, just for safety's sake, then move west a space or two. You need to be able to hear the west wall (and for that matter, to -not hear it when it stops). Start heading south, and the instant that wall stops, stay still. You'll hear the guard patrolling north to south and back again, and your goal here is to make a dash to the west when it's safe. Once you're safely past this guard, feel free to move south toward that humming thing. It's another Manalith machine, so feel free to use it, but only approach it from above. If you go too far west or east from here, you're going to get caught. After using the machine (or not, as the situation may be, get back to the north wall. Head west past a second patrolling guard, then time your way to dash past a laser. There's a third guard not too far away, so don't run too far. Time this guard too, then go west and north to a tamer battle. Yes, it's easy to judge you when you're trying to destroy the world. Sue me. Shadow Warrior Folofel Orystar level 51, Leonatar level 52, Deciced level 50 Reward: 1162 gold Don't get lulled here. You may think you're in the home stretch as you head north, but there are three more guards to dodge. Do so (using the same methods as you have been thus far), and then move east. Eventually you're going to hear a laser off to the east, and this marks a bit people have been hung up on a few times thus far. What you want to do is get right close to the laser (so close that stepping to the east would get you hit). Then go south till you hit the wall. Now, go east a square, south a square, and then dash east. You're probably going to take damage, but this is the way to go. The other paths around here are just dead ends. Now that you're through this last trap, make your way generally east, bending north or south with the path as you need to. Tamer time. Or not. This guy's actually a shopkeeper, and he's got a halfway decent inventory, so let's check it out. Shadow Kingdom Shop List Herb: 300 gold Strong Herb: 700 gold Mighty Herb: 1500 gold Master Herb: 2200 gold Medical Miracle: 2700 gold Total Cure: 550 gold Revive: 4000 gold Grandlan Clay: 11500 gold Haunted Hat: 8000 gold Polar Bug: 9000 gold Headstone Amulet: 9000 gold Some of the equipment here is not half bad. If you have a Grandlan with a lot of other moves besides earth and magic moves, the Grandlan Clay is actually quite nice, effectively making Grandlan act as if it's getting a bonus for any move it uses. Watch the unstated -15 penalty to both defenses though; sneaky, sneaky. The Haunted Hat is good for ghosts, and the 5% speed reduction is no big deal. You may already have a Headstone Amulet, but here's where to buy more. The Polar Bug would be better if there were more insects, but sadly there aren't. Buy what you need, then move east and a bit north. Shadow Warrior Zorkit Sansurgion level 51, Duskond level 52, Frenrir level 50 Reward: 1142 gold Save your game, get prepared, because it's boss time as soon as you try and climb that ladder. Shadow Administrators Kage, Kuro and Kumori (triple battle) Morghoul level 42/Orystar level 42/Ratiera level 44/Ninjarkin level 45/Dormanoid level 43/Tigrath level 44/Duskond level 45/Deciced level 42/Mortrex level 44/Orystar level 40/Bombusect level 45/Skirial level 41/Deciced level 43/Thornita level 43 Reward: 3890 gold That fight isn't so much difficult as annoying. At least by now you should seriously outlevel them. Once you're done, there's a Manalith machine off to the northwest, so feel free to use it. You have another boss coming, and you probably know who it is. Climb the ladder, watch the cutscene, and have a very meaningful battle. It's time to dish out some revenge. Fair warning. He cheats. Again. And this time you have to win. Shadow Leader Octoross Tigrath level 52, Orystar level 52, Arctana level 53, Garganchan level 53, Thornita level 53, Recobrah level 54, Ratiera level 54, Thundron level 53, Sansurgion level 51, Skirial level 51, Trumer level 52, Mortrex level 53 Reward: 10429 gold So he's got two full teams, and they don't mess around. On the plus side, a lot of them are weak to magic and are part poison type, so use that to your advantage. Grandlan, Elvond, even Enchandithol can really clean house here. As a side-note - yes, yes, I know, I'm full of editorializing - this fight has always bothered me. Octoross needs two full teams in order to pose a significant challenge. The reason isn't because he's evil and gets to break the rules, as I've been told. The reason is because manamon in general are not diverse enough, nor possessed of significantly varied movesets, to actually pose a serious threat. This game is crying out for an update it will never receive: teachable moves, or, at the very very least, updated/vastly improved movesets for virtually all manamon except maybe Grandlan, who's already got plenty going for him. Just kill him. After the fight, listen to the long cutscene, wince at the paper-thin plot twist, then feel free to back out and go heal. This is also a really excellent time to leave the area entirely to revamp your team, if you think you need to. It's usually what I do. Regardless, you have one more tamer fight, and then quite possibly the most infuriating boss fight in the entire game. Trust me. You'll see. Go up to Yavin and talk to him. Melanie's in here too, but she just wants you to save her. It's Yavin you have to worry about. Note: If you killed your father, then Octoross has killed Melanie already. Happened in the previous cutscene. Seriously, this is the only real consequence of your momentous decision to kill your father for his treachery. This game does give you a lot of choices and options sometimes, but in most cases there is no point to it. The differences are either small enough to be ignored if you've played the game more than once, or are the kind of thing that you really don't want to mess with (ahem, the engagement ring). Anyway, Yavin. Shadow Leader Yavin (Triple Battle) Fyrate level 52/Martiagle level 52/Frorgeril level 53/Junanchel level 51/Elvond level 51 Reward: 7721 gold After this, Yavin summons Irroadium, and the fight is on, three-on-one style. Boss: Irroadium Take everything you knew about traditional manamon bosses and basically toss it out the window. Irroadium is level 50, and he's shadow-dragon type. That's basically where all familiarity ends. Here's what you're up against: 1. Irroadium can use many, many, many different moves. They include Earthquake, Flame Blizzard, Gammadrain, Magic Dragon (magic and dragon type move), Elemental Breath (random fire, water or electric damage), Vulnerability Scan (will scan the target and pick a type it's weak to), Vulnerability Oblivion (does the same to every foe on the field), Final Oblivion (instantly kills the manamon it targets), Slash, plus probably others. 2. Irroadium will restore 29HP per round. This doesn't sound like much, but bear in mind that the average super-effective damage will do between 25-50 damage, depending on the attack/special attack stat of the one launching it. It's going to be a long fight. 3. Irroadium is immune to sleep and scorching. You can paralyze him, poison him and even freeze him, but you can't put him to sleep or burn him. God only knows why you can poison him but can't scorch him, though. 4. Irroadium is immune to moves like Piledriver and Dragon Burst which do fixed damage of some kind. The move will simply fail. 5. If you lower Irroadium's stats by more than 3 in total (any stat, any combination), an ability will kick in where he resets his stats to normal. Use this to your advantage, and use Battlecry on him or something to lower his defense before plugging away. After this, don't lower his stats further. This is why I suggested you bring an ice type or a magic type, or both. Being able to hit Irroadium for super-effective damage, or at least high damage every round, is key. Here are a few tips to help with that: 1. Use some of those potions you might've picked up on likely targets. Example: a Martiagle who is given a Power Potion will do a lot more damage with Fly, assuming he can survive, after ingesting a power potion. This is even better if the damage is super-effective (a Deciced using Frigid Touch, let's say). 2. Feel free to paralyze Irroadium at your earliest convenience. Confusing him might be even better. You still might get unlucky, but every round he doesn't spend attacking you is a round you can feel free to either power up or keep hammering him without having to worry about healing. 3. If you have a manamon with Suffocate or some other trap move, strongly consider using it. You'll essentially shut down his regeneration this way. 4. If you have a manamon like Hydrake or Thornita, Thorny Body actually works against Irroadium here. He will take fairly large damage if he hits that manamon physically, and this, too, will potentially counter his regen sometimes. 5. If you've got them, plug away with moves that have a chance to freeze Irroadium. A timely freeze can really put this nasty dragon on ice, and make this annoying fight a whole lot easier. You can't freeze and paralyze him at the same time though, so it goes without saying that if you're trying to go for the freeze to shut Irroadium down, don't paralyze him first. 6. Note that his Oblivion moves only happen every third round. If you have Fly, Tunnel or both, you can use this to your advantage to minimize the amount of healing you'll have to do if you play it carefully. Even with the best plan in the world, you may still need plenty of healing items and a little luck. If you persevere though, you'll be rewarded with a ton of experience, and about 10000 gold. The sheer amount of extra code to make this fight possible seems far from worthwhile. I'd rather have seen more time spent on the story, the script and the game balance...but that's just my opinion. I know people who like this fight, and people who hate it. I'm not all the way at the latter end of that spectrum, but I'm closer to dislike than not, let's just put it that way. Also, how the heck does a manamon just so happen to have over ten thousand gold on it? And better yet: why? After that gruelling fight, you'll get a cutscene where Yavin comes to his senses, and you'll wake up at home. After a bit of chit-chat, you'll be told that Electra is hanging out on Taiketsu Trail. I told you we'd be back. She's the last stadium leader, so let's go head out that way. Taiketsu Trail You may remember, way way back, that I told you to ignore the water you heard nearby when you came here to visit. This would've been near the start of your adventure. Well, now you're back, and you've learned to swim! Apparently you needed swim gear to do that, and apparently swim gear isn't sold in just any old shop...but hey ho! Let's go swimming! You'll want to head a long ways east, then north onto a new patch of land. If you go north, you'll soon hear a gate and a person standing nearby. That person is Electra, so let's talk to her. At least this stadium leader gets the cool music and crowd effects back. Her intro speech has some unfortunate grammar in it, but let's try to ignore that in favour of our last stadium leader beat-down. Stadium Leader Electra Dussoket level 54, Jimitron level 54, Thundron level 54, Mondevol level 55 Dussoket has a Chain Shield equipped Jimitron has an Elemental Crown equipped Thundron has a Lightning Rod equipped Mondevol has a Broomstick equipped Dussoket knows Zap Slam, Sparking Tail and Shadow Claw, all physical attacks it uses quite well with a beefy physical attack stat. It's still weak to earth, though, so take it down with extreme prejudice. Jimitron is even less threatening, with its best non-electric move being Shred. Waste it. Pandourbit in particular has a field day with this thing. Thundron is doubly weak to both earth and magic because of its unfortunate typing. Destroy it. Be warned, though, that earth types aren't safe from its electric attacks, thanks to that Lightning Rod it's holding. It should also be noted that Electra cheats. Her Thundron has Toxic Tail. This is not the first or last time you've seen cheating, so just kill the thing. Mondevol is sneaky. It's got a Broomstick to avoid those earth attacks you'd love to use. That's all right though; Mondevol is a tank, but it doesn't hit wickedly hard. Use any strong moves, and in two or three hits it'll go down. Electra can use up to two Medical Miracles and a Master Herb, I believe, so be aware of that. In general, I have never, ever found her difficult. Jeann in Verlorene is harder. Reward: 3901 gold You'll receive the Spark Key and a Yellow Star for winning. The Yellow Star just powers up electric moves, but it's the only one you get, so hang onto it. With all seven keys in your possession, go through the nearby gate and into the next area. Validation Road Manamon Available; Zapistan, Miterosier, Fyrate, Redonkeus, Jiminite, Enchandithol Spotlight: Zapistan You've seen this guy a time or two, most recently on Electra's team as its transformation, Dussoket. This electric-shadow type is a pretty good electric type; it's only a pity you get it so late in the game. Transforming Zapistan will give you access to the move Oblivion Slash, which Dussoket learns at level 1. This manamon has no bad stats, and its physical attack is quite good. If you're trying to raise a young one, be warned that it relies on Electric Shock (weak special electric move) until level 49, when it gets Sparking Tail and truly comes into its own. Also be aware that only Zapistan can learn AquaZap, while only Dussocket can learn Thunderstorm, if that's your thing (it's not mine, Dussocket has much better ways to be using its high attack). A very solid choice. The first five gates on Victory Road (ahem, Validation Road) are very straightforward. Just go north and present your keys. Yawn. The next gate requires you to swim, but is otherwise uninteresting and not unique. Again, I say, yawn. Once you pass through the gate that requires the Spark Key, however, you'll notice you're on packed dirt, and you can get some wild encounters here. Catch away if you wish, but when you're ready to move on, head north, then a long way east. When the path opens up to the south, take that opening, then hook around to the east, and then back north again. You'll eventually come to the seventh and final gate, and after validating your last key, it's only a quick trip north to Master's Rest. Master's Rest This is just a transfer area. Swim north across the tiny channel of water, which is here for god knows what reason. Enter the building on your left to find it's a Manamon hotel. Go ahead and heal up, then feel free to investigate that rumbling you might've heard outside. Get ready for the last real dungeon in the game. Don't worry. There's no silly god-beast thing waiting at the end of it. But it's a long, difficult slog with an interesting puzzle in it, so be prepared. You can now fly back and forth from Master's Rest, by the way, so don't worry about having to walk all the way back from Taiketsu Trail. Ascendance Path f1 Manamon Available: Zintrabat, Dormanoid, Promolder, Donnammer, Sheepit, Ghoperto First things first, head to the west and a bit north to find a tamer who thinks Owlaw are cute and weak. He's got a point, but let's take him down anyway. Explorer Max Rhinodyo level 54, Grizzlord level 55, Bearran level 53 Reward: 1210 gold The item above him is a Full Revive, so scoop it up. Now head back to the south and then to the east, toward the entrance of the area. This time, go east of the entrance, then north, then east through a gap, and hook around south when the wall lets you. As a note from here on in, I'll give specific directions where they're needed, but I'm also going to trust that you know how to follow walls and to take more generalized directions. This place is big. Anyway, you're heading east now after the wall blocked your progress south. Keep going this way, and there will be a lot of small passages to the north. They're all dead ends except one, which is (I think) the one second from the left. Take that passage north, then move east when the area opens up again. Go north, west, north through a small gap, then east as the passage twists, and north for a tamer who says you're famous. Detective Cliff Simulon level 55, Steelion level 53, Morghoul level 53 Reward: 1190 gold Not very detective-like, is he? Ah well. Now he's gone, you can go east, then north into the next area. Once you've gone through the door or rockslide or whatever it is, head west along the south wall for awhile. All the way to the west, through a narrow passage, is an item. It's actually 500 gold. Kinda underwhelming at this stage, but pick it up anyway. Now double back to the east, this time hugging the north wall instead of the south wall. You'll notice pretty quickly that you can go north, so do so. Oh look, it's water! Start swimming. From where you entered the water, swim all the way north till you hit a wall, then east till you find a tamer. Swimmer Becky Tarboo level 55, Turoison level 55 Reward: 877 gold Just to the north is another tamer, who's all agog that you really really fought Irroadium. Cool Kid Andreas Tenshaino level 54, Eksponge level 56 Reward: 879 gold From here you'll want to head west, and then north onto dry land. Once on dry land, move to the east, following the north wall. Eventually you'll come across another tamer, who's talking about the possibility of making your epic journey into a movie. Actor Jaleel Martiagle level 54, Tigrath level 54, Lamgurk level 54 Reward: 1251 gold East of Jaleel is another tamer, and this one's...selling miracle dirt? Okay, stupidity reaches a new low. Magician Casper Sullorb level 56, Grandlan level 55 Reward: 905 gold Keep going to the east, then south when the eastern path reaches a dead end. Start doubling back to the west, and you won't be going westward long before you reach a south path. Follow it, then turn east when you get the chance, and you'll soon be in a new area. If you head north immediately and keep following walls, you will be able to find a chest with a Full Revive in it. Grab it, and trace your steps around the curving walls back to the entrance. This time, go south, and follow the more-or-less straight path south, then east, then north, then west, then south. You will come across a ladder nearby, so climb up it when you do, and you'll be in yet another new area. Ascendance Path f2 Manamon Available: Embird, Friggle, Miterosier, Terruffalo, Zapistan, Bayowoof, Thornita, Now you're outside, and this is near where the aforementioned puzzle starts. From the ladder, you'll want to make your way southwest. You'll end up in some long grass after going a bit further south, then you'll be able to go west. Ignore that ladder you hear for now, and continue west past it, then north and back onto stone or concrete or whatever it is you're walking on. The tamer nearby will helpfully tell you that you're going the wrong way, and will then challenge you. Tough Guy Bruce Merembear level 55, Fingon level 53, Thornita level 55 Reward: 1260 gold Next up, just to the north and a tiny bit west, is a lady who's making a really, really bad pun about a suit. Let's have none of that, shall we? Lady Mary Deciced level 55, Tigrath level 55, Thornita level 55, Bayowoof level 55 Reward: 1747 gold What a buffoon. To the north of Mary you might hear some electricity, in the form of electric traps like the ones found in Shadow Kingdom. There's one heading east to west, and another going north to south just to the west of you. It'll be tricky trying to get past them, but beyond it is the last mythical of what I call the minor trio. I hope you brought giganets. Mythical Spotlight: Galvana This pure electric type appears to have rather tankish stats. Truth be told, I've never used it. It's not very threatening when you attack it, and is only level 40. It's a pain to catch though, so I hope you're patient and can handle an electric type. Catch it, kill it, ignore it, it's up to you. With Galvana seen to, one way or another, make your way back southward, past the two tamers and into the long grass, toward that ladder I told you to ignore before. Now we're going to start that puzzle in earnest. Ascendence Path F3 Head north from the ladder, and you'll hear a boulder. I'll tell you now, the switch you want to put it on is in the very southwest corner, so push the boulder straight down, then get on its east side and push it all the way wwest until you hear a crashing sound. That's one part of the puzzle down. Now feel free to climb back down the ladder till you're outside. From this ladder, head to the east quite a ways, till you bump a wall. On the way, you'll get accosted by some jerk who thinks it's okay to offend people. Let's teach her otherwise. Tough Girl Kaisha Hydrake level 57, Ninjarkin level 55 Reward: 954 gold Keep going east till you hit the wall, then go north. There used to be a tree to the east, but now you've unblocked the path, so feel free to approach the tamer you can hear in that direction. Lady Edith Fowliture level 55, Myaneko level 56 Reward: 905 gold Keep going east, then north into a narrow pathway until you're jumped by a tamer asking if you train and tame your manamon yourself. Apparently she's so rich that other people do it for her...or something. Rich Kid Vera Miterosier level 57 Reward: 894 gold Follow the wall north, then east, then south awhile till you find another tamer. Electrician Michelle Donnammer level 58, Jiminite level 58 Reward: 1076 gold With Michelle gone, head west and climb the tree you'll find to enter a new area. In this new area, travel to the west a bit, then south into a pathway. Follow that path south till you spot a tamer. Cool Kid Tyler Guerrerrol level 56, Guerrerrol level 57 Reward: 970 gold The chest to the south of where Tyler's standing has two Full Revives in it, so don't miss it. When you're done looting though, head back north until you can go west again. Head west a bit, but don't get fooled either by the southern path that opens up, or the western one. They're both dead ends. Instead, let's cut a corner. Go north, and you should find a tamer fairly nearby talking about teaching his dog to use manamon attacks. Birdwatcher Dakota Leonatar level 55, Morghoul level 57, Lavalan level 58 Reward: 1455 gold Admittedly the last line of this guy's speech is sort of funny, but other than that...yawn. What's up with tamers in the last area of the game not transforming their manamon, by the way? There's no reason we should be facing Lavalan and Morghoul at this point in the game. Bring on the challenge! Head north past Dakota, and you'll come to an area with a switch and a boulder. The boulder is up near the northwest corner. Get above it, push it about twelve spaces down, then get on its west side and push it east onto the switch. This will tell you that a switch on Ascendence Path F3 has been activated. We'll be there shortly. There's a tree in the northeast corner you might've found. Remember this. We'll be back. From here, you're going to have to do some backtracking. Remember that small room on Ascendence Path f3 where we pushed a boulder onto a switch? Well, we've got to go back there. This is that ladder in the long grass that you passed by on your way to find Galvana, the one I at first told you to ignore. You've been here before. This time, when you're here, get up to where the boulder is (northwest corner or thereabouts), push it west once, then straight down onto another switch. Another crash will be heard. Yup, more backtracking. Remember that tree you found in the northeast corner of the area with the small boulder puzzle, outside, in the long grass? Make your way back up to where that tree is, climb it, then head south across the nearby water. There used to be a shaky tree here, but now it's gone. No sign at all of it remains, and you can continue on your way. Up here, follow the fairly linear path, and you will eventually head through another rumbling passageway. In this new area, enter the zigzag path by heading west, then follow it as it weaves back and forth. You'll meet a tamer talking about...pasta? Okay then. Explorer Luigi Redonkeus level 56, Terruffalo level 55, Sluggugg level 56 Reward: 1374 gold Luigi...makes a comment about pasta. Way to go, racial profiling. Now continue south, a little east, south, a little west, and then...yup, you guessed it, south. You'll find yourself in a very narrow space eventually...just wait for it to open up, and head east along the south wall. Eventually you'll be forced to go north, then east, then north, so just follow the wall. Is this getting tiresome yet? If so, take heart. You're nearly at the end of the game. You'll eventually start going west, then north some more. Don't miss the little gap to the east when it shows up...that's the way you want to go, or else you're going to end up running in circles and getting lost. Just keep following the path as it now bends northeast. Eventually, head west toward some stairs, and you'll end up in a new part of Ascendence Path. Ascendence Path F3 You're back in a cavelike area, so do take note of that. The manamon available are the same as those on f1. Just head west, then north, and you'll reach Ascendence Path F4. Ascendence Path f4 Right above you is a tamer fresh out of jail. Nice Paladin of the Sky reference too. Actress Violet Bombusect level 56, Jiminite level 56 Reward: 947 gold Oh, so she's an actress just playing at being a gangster...how quaint. After she's out of your hair, head northeast, then due east. You'll hear another tamer, so head south to engage him in combat. Actor Kevin Viralite level 57, Eksponge level 57, Rhinodyo level 56 Reward: 1462 gold Just to the south of Kevin, the path will take a turn to the east. Go that way, then bend your steps northward when you hear another tamer. Cool Kid Rupert Fyrate level 56, Fyrate level 56, Bellaard level 57 Reward: 1448 gold Bellaard...a refreshing sight. Haven't seen one of those in awhile. East, a little north, east, then due north, and we're outside! I truly don't get this next area. No music, plenty of packed dirt where you'd expect to get manamon battles...yet there are no manamon battles. Plus there's a whole bunch of water to swim in. It's just an empty area that makes it take longer to run back and forth between a training spot and a healing spot, which is needlessly jerkish in my opinion. Nevertheless, going north will get you out of this area. You'll eventually end up back in... Master's Rest But this time, you're at the top end. There's a building here, and as soon as you enter, you'll notice it's got the stadium music. Don't worry, you can still turn back if you need to. In this building are a few important things. There's a bed to heal your manamon, there's a transportal for storage, and there's a shopkeeper. The door you might here if you go exploring, in the northwest area, leads to the Master Stadium. Do not, absolutely do not, go through that door unless you want to fight them. Once you're in, there's no going back unless you win or die, so stay away until you're ready. In the meantime, here's a shop list. Master Stadium Shop List Mananet: 100 gold Meganet: 350 gold Giganet: 1000 gold Herb: 300 gold Strong Herb: 700 gold Mighty Herb: 1500 gold Master Herb: 2200 gold Total Cure: 550 gold Medical Miracle: 2700 gold Revive: 4000 gold Encounter Down: 170 gold Super Encounter Down: 400 gold Ultra Encounter Down: 950 gold Buy, sell, and get ready for the toughest real fights in the main game. Once you finish this, you're the champ, so be prepared. Whenever you're ready, save your game, take a deep breath, set up your team the best way you know how, enter that door, and meet your destiny. Master Stadium: The Final Challenge The first member of the Master Stadium uses flame-type manamon. This is going to heat up very fast. Master Tamer Charles Magmizire level 57, Merembear level 58, Blaizond level 57 with Torch Hammer, Vultair level 58, Garganchan level 57 Honestly, there's not a ton to say about this tamer. He's the easiest one you're going to face, and his whole team can be taken down with a strong and/or a speedy water or earth type. I'll provide only brief notes on each manamon on his team, and on every other team after this point in the Master Stadium, but only so you have a vague idea what to expect. Magmazire: Slow. Knows Sandy Wind, Torch and Fire Stream I believe. Waste it. Merembear: Knows Roar, Blaze Rampage and Slash. Charles is too stupid to set up on you with Roar over and over, but don't let him try. Merembear can get dangerous if you sit around letting it buff its already decent attack. Blaizond: This thing is a monster...if it's played properly. However, all I ever seem to see from it is Sandy Wind, Smoke Shield and Torch. Too bad Charles didn't think to keep Mutmo till level 49, when it learned Slash. Blaizond's physical attack is enormous and its special defense is quite high. Vultair: This thing hits surprisingly hard, but it's dead meat to even a weak stone attack. I believe it has both Suicide Dive and Flame Blizzard for coverage, plus Rev Up and Feather Down (the latter of which it really shouldn't bother with, but often seems to spam for no good reason). Just wreck it. Garganchan: Slow and vulnerable. It does have Power Kick, Earthquake and Blaze Rampage, so don't let it hit you. It also has bad HP considering it's a freaking giant, so just pound on it. Orystar resists the heck out of this thing if you have one, but any strong earth, magic, water, air or sound type should do well here. Reward: 6697 gold Once you're victorious, push on through the next door to fight the next tamer. hear the crows? That should be a clue. Lead with your best electric or ice-type manamon here. Master Tamer Ariel Martiagle level 58, Fowliture level 58 with Megaphone, Ghoperto level 59, Orystar level 59, Skirial level 60 Ariel is a step up from Charles in difficulty, because she does have a couple of good manamon. Martiagle can hit pretty hard with Fly, Ghoperto's Sing+Night Terror combo can be a pain, and Orystar is very quick. They're all weak to electricity and ice, though, so tear them apart. Martiagle: It likes to use Hone Blades and then start murdering you with Fly. Instead of sticking around to let it do this, one-shot it with an ice or electric or stone move. Fowliture: This thing has Suicide Dive, which is stronger than Fly. It's also a bit more frail than Martiagle. Waste it. Your stone types may not like eating Sonic Missile, though, so watch it. Ghoperto: Sing+Night Terror = nasty. Fly lets him avoid hits sometimes as well, since he'll be high in the sky and out of reach. His Avenging Spirit makes him a pain in the neck if you can't one-shot him, and Ghoperto's surprising bulk means he's hard to one-shot unless you have a high level, a very strong attack from one of the types he's weak to, or a manamon with particularly high stats. If he had a ghost move that actually did damage, or some means of healing himself, he'd be a first-class annoyer. Since he's not, destroy him. Orystar: Very, very fast, and its Meteor Rush hits hard. It also has Piledriver, so it'll be able to damage almost anything not named Pandourbit. I believe it has Wing Slash as well, so definitely keep your fighting and plant types away...not that you'd dare use those against an air-magic type like Orystar, but hey. Skirial: This thing just has too many weaknesses to tolerate (doubly weak to ice and stone, normally weak to electric, flame, and with bad defenses to boot). Just crush it. Keep your magic types away though, as Rage Bug will hurt. Reward: 6834 gold After bringing Ariel down, mosey along to the next room. The soothing rush of water should give you an inkling of what you're in for. Master Tamer Washington Turoison level 59, Dramagon level 59 with Marine Cannon, Arctana level 61, Squarpha level 61 with Classic Shield, Submenno level 59 Nothing on this team is a real stand-out threat except Arctana, which is very fast and knows both Storm Rush and Ice Tempest. It can wreck teams if they're unprepared. Dramagon does have Draco Breaker, which is a monstrously powerful move, but Dramagon is decidedly decent at everything (read: not excellent at anything), so two to three hits should take it down. Turoison, Squarpha and Submenno are easy to kill. Turoison: Poor, poor Turoison. It tries to be a tank, with high defenses and decent HP. But what's the point in being a tank if your attack stats are mediocre and you don't have reliable ways of hassling the foe? Besides, water-poison makes it weak to a lot of things, and this turtle is quite slow. Two hits of anything should put it down. I like to make Washington waste at least one of his medical miracles on this thing, because I'd rather kill it twice than some of the other members of his team. Keep Guerrerrol away from this guy though, as he's got Toxic Storm. Dramagon: Draco Breaker can hit monstrously hard, even from Dramagon's average-ish stats, but then it's stuck waiting. You could always bring in a magic type not named Grandlan and just destroy it with an attack like Tri-Beam or Meteor Rush. Just be prepared to take a Drench or two. Arctana: As previously mentioned, it gets Ice Tempest and Storm Rush. Storm Rush isn't terrible, but Ice Tempest is vicious if it hits. And Arctana is one of the fastest manamon out there. Its defense is pretty low though, so an electric type with Sparking Tail or a stone type that can hit particularly hard will do well here. Alternatively, there's fighting types, which also hit super-effectively and can probably stand a hit of either Storm Rush or Ice Tempest from full health. Squarpha: This thing's a joke. Tri-Beam and Bubble Burst are the best it can do, besides Obscure and Stifle. I think I've even seen this silly thing use Tidal Wave. Just zap it or hit it with an undead or insect attack and be done. Submenno: This guy is like a physical Arctana, but a bit slower and a bit stupider. Sometimes he'll flat-out use the wrong move instead of the one that'd kill you. I'm pretty sure he has Execution though - if this one doesn't have it, wild Submenno you can find later get it), so beware. Reward: 7009 gold Let's be done with this inconsistent pirate. The next room offers no hint as to what type you'll be pitted against, but here's a hint: you've fought this person before, and they did say they might see you again. Master Tamer Odin Tarboo level 60, Recobrah level 63, Rhinodyo level 62, Bellaard level 63 with megaphone, Hydrake level 63 Tarboo: This whale isn't a threat, but try and hit it physically. It has enormous HP but its defense is terrible. If it sets up an AudioBlast, switch to something that resists it if you need to, then pound it for the KO. Recobrah: Recobrah is as frail as ever, but it has nice coverage with moves like Scourge Tail and Toxic Tail, so watch it. Rhinodyo, the pure sound type with no physical sound moves, is surprisingly bulky, will use Call to Arms to further improve its attack and defense, and can use Volume Level for a same-type attack. The real threat is Execution. It's an instant-kill move, and it might eat up a few revives before Rhinodyo goes down. Bellaard: It still has Slam, funnily enough, but this thing is no joke. It also gets Heaven's Winds for a same-type attack, so try not to use any ice types (Deciced has a particularly bad time here). Bellaard's Megaphone is next to useless to it, I think, but it does raise its special attack a bit, plus Bellaard has Dissonant Chime to both slow it down and pump up its defenses. Don't let this thing set up on you; instead, prey on the fact that it's extremely weak to both ghost and undead attacks, which you should have at least one of on your team. Hydrake: Last but not least is Hydrake, which should reliably die from two or three hits of anything but which also might foolishly set up Death Cry and kill itself in two to three turns. There's nothing particularly vicious about this fight, but all the secondary types are something to remain aware of. Reward: 7596 gold Okay, this is it. You're about to come face to face with the Stadium Master. Heal your entire team and get ready for one heck of a showdown. What? It's Matthew Cranvel! Rena's brother, a person you saw for about eleven seconds just before taking on the third stadium. This puts me in mind of Diantha from the Pokemon series and, to a lesser extent, Cynthia as well. A champion you see briefly once, but who is never really telegraphed as the up-and-coming champion until you come face to face. That's fine. He's just as dead. Let's rumble! Manamon Master Matthew Enchandithol level 63 with Classic Shield, Sacroloon level 64, Dragomier level 65 with Stone Guard, Fiendour level 65 with Powerhit Bracer, Jimitron level 66 with Broomstick, Mortrex level 66 with Elemental Crown Enchandithol isn't much of a threat. Bring an undead manamon, or at least something that isn't weak to magic, and it dies in two hits. It does have Piledriver, though, so watch it. Its Classic Shield will give it a bit more staying power than it would otherwise have. Sacroloon is a pain in the neck. Good HP, decent speed, both protective moves (Divine Protection and Divine Barrier), plus Inner Healing. Matthew must've gotten access to that gift Loonis nearly a year before we did, eh? It can also use Heaven's Winds (holy and air-type special move which plays off its better special attack), so while it's not likely to straight-up murder you, it will make the battle much harder if it gets one or both screens up. It's weak to a lot of things though, and if you brought an undead manamon, it might be able to do double duty here, killing both of Matthew's first two manamon. Dragomier is next, and this guy hits very hard. He has Wing Slash, Draco Breaker and Blaze Rampage. I want a level 60-something Dragomier with Draco Breaker, just sayin'. Us regular tamers have to wait till level 75 to get that move. Anyway, this dragon is also part flame and part air type, and its Stone Guard means it'll take less damage from stone attacks. If you want to be sneaky, and you've got an earth type with a Gravity magnet equipped, smack it with Earthquake or some other earth-type move, because not only will the Gravity Magnet cause earth attacks to be super-effective on air-type manamon, but the Stone Guard will also up the damage. One hit from an earth attack like that, and he's gone. Ice and dragon are also effective, as is stone; even with the stone guard, you might be able to score a one-hit kill in the right circumstances (a really well-set-up Simulon using Stone Avalanche, for instance, or a lot of critical hits with Rock Barrage). You may have to wait for him to faint something using Draco Breaker, then get a free turn to waste him while he's resting. Fiendour is next. Black Mana always seems to hit when Matthew uses it, and if it does, get ready to have half your max HP taken away. It also knows Crunch, Clobber and Desoul, and has good defenses so it's kind of hard to kill. Just wear it down, and if Matthew wastes one or two of his three Medical Miracles on this thing, don't worry too much. I try to get him to spend them on Enchantithol or Sacroloon though by stalling it, but that's just my own personal strategy. Jimitron is next, and Matthew decided to get sneaky by giving it a Broomstick and negating its earth weakness. That's okay. Poor Jimitron may be Matthew's favourite (remember the Jiminar plushie on his desk?), but it's still weak. Two hard hits from virtually anything and it's dead. Magic especially will work here if you've got it. Jimitron does have both Bite and Superspark, and Superspark will hit decently hard. Watch out, as well, for trap damage from Thunderstorm. Last but certainly not least is Mortrex. The Elemental Crown will give it a bit more resistance to common attacking types like water, flame and electric, but Mortrex is no pushover. It has Fear Feed, Night Stick and PsychoTrick, which is now a special move and has the potential to mess up your team. Pray that Matthew has used up a bunch of his Medical Miracles already, and that you can whittle this thing down, or have something to destroy it in one big hit. If you don't, it's going to grind you down and might well sweep the rest of your team. This thing has ended runs for me before when I'm rushing, so be careful. reward: 10158 gold After this, sit back, watch the cutscene and the credits, and give yourself a pat on the back. You've just finished Manamon! Note: The cutscene you get after the fight will differ depending on whether or not you killed your father. One is hopeful (the non-murder ending), the other is extremely sad. Badly written, but sad. The scenes which follow, with Rina and the graveyard and Cosmo, in no particular order, are the same no matter what you do. Well, you've finished the main story, anyway. There are a few tamers on a new route once the game starts back up again, and a very short little cutscene once you get to a certain place in a new city, but all in all the postgame is quite short. I'll cover it next. Post-Game When you regain control again, you'll be back in your own room. Take note: you haven't been healed up since the fight days ago, for some peculiar reason, so take a moment to rest in the bed in this room right away in order to fully heal up. There are some tamers coming up who are no joke, let me tell you. Anyway, go downstairs and outside, and you'll get a cutscene with Sierra and her mom, who are all excited about a rocket launch. It's really no big deal, but they do tell you that the way to get to where it's happening is to climb a tree in the southwest of Brightwater City. If, in the course of your travels, you remember finding someone trying to coax an Owlaw out of a tree, they're gone now, so feel free to use your Pocket Copter to hit Brightwater City, then climb that tree. Crescent Walk Manamon Available: Wizzell, Terruffalo, Bayowoof, Fyrate, Recobrah, Thundron, Skirial Start by travelling to the north just a bit, then heading west to find a tamer. Be prepared. Actor Kurt Miterosier level 70, Morghoul level 68, Zintrabat level 71 Reward: 3305 gold He still hasn't transformed his Zintrabat or his Morghoul yet? Oh well, he's loaded, so take his money and run. Keep going west, then take a turn to the south before continuing west some more. Here's someone composing a really, really bad song in your honour. Musician Antoine Sacroloon level 70, Martiagle level 69, Eksponge level 71 Reward: 3369 gold Keep going west, and now a little north. Another tamer awaits. Actress Monica Garganchan level 70, Donnammer level 69, Mortrex level 69 Reward: 3287 gold If you go southwest through some long grass, you'll find someone who's not happy with the new Brightwater Stadium leader. Actress Edna Leonatar level 72, Pandourbit level 71, Grandlan level 71 Reward: 3663 gold Just to the northwest of Edna is a path which heads west, then south. Follow it to some water, and start swimming. You'll first go south, then east, following the walls. Eventually you'll make land, and if you keep travelling eastward, you'll find a couple of tamers. The first one believes in sientology. Dude, it's a scam. Actor Cornelius Recobrah level 68, Domestress level 70 Reward: 2130 gold He has less gold than the tamers around him because he donated to scientology. Let this be a lesson to you. Nearby is another genius. Genius Parker Bellaard level 72, Sullorb level 69, Eksponge level 71 Reward: 4653 gold Walk south through the sand, then east into the next area. Conuray City Let's explore a bit, shall we? If you head north, east around a wall, and then north and west, you'll hit a chest containing a Life Tonic. Very valuable. Don't miss this. From here, there's a building to the east. This is the space center. Head on inside and talk to the person you hear, who will unlock the back door for you. There's 600 gold lying near the west wall, so snatch it up before going out back. Watch the short and fairly meaningless cutscene, listen to the ridiculously short excuse given by Sierra's mom to get rid of them, and now you're totally free to do what you want in the city. Don't miss the EXP Pal in a chest in this backyard-type area. And no, that locked gate north of you doesn't mean anything. It will never, ever open, so just forget about it. Seriously. This question has been asked dozens of times on the forum. It doesn't open. Now that you're done with the space enter, there are only a few points of interest. First is the Manamon Hotel, which is southeast of the gate into the city. Next is a small patch of water you can swim in, just to the west of the manamon Hotel. There's a Chain Shield just sitting here in the water for you to snatch, and a pile of 1000 gold sitting on dry land in the eastern part of the new area you can swim to, just southeast of a fellow who is making a joke about the mayor. The mayor has a house in the main part of the city, by the way, inside which you can find a Rare Jewel, an Antique Jewel, and a pile of 10000 gold. There are some interesting things here on this new piece of land though. The Manamon Marketplace is here, for one thing, so let's head inside. It's the building on your left, the one you probably bumped into when you swam here. Shop List Mananet: 100 gold Meganet: 350 gold Giganet: 1000 gold Herb: 300 gold Strong Herb: 700 gold Mighty Herb: 1500 gold Master Herb: 2200 gold Total Cure: 550 gold Medical Miracle: 2700 gold Revive: 4000 gold Encounter Down: 170 gold Super Encounter Down: 400 gold Ultra Encounter Down: 950 gold Gold Shield: 15000 gold Sword of the Undead: 12000 gold Sword of the Undead is kinda nice, Gold Shiels is meh. Pick up what you need, and get out. Far to the east, through some long grass, is another house. This one, too, has a blocked door, but the man standing in front of it is a liar when he says he's never moving. This seriously bugged me the first time I saw it, because I didn't know whether or not he was telling the truth. It later became obvious that no, he was just bluffing. Right now, we can't make him move. Eventually, we'll be able to. For now, you're done here. Feel free to fly to San-Cot City, where we have a little date with destiny. Well...destiny in the form of a really powerful mythical manamon to capture. When you're here, head to the church, and find the statue of Zeognioss. Go to your inventory and use your Holy Medallion and...wait, what's this? We're someplace new! Faith Room The teleporter here will bring you back to the church. Do not proceed beyond this point without a strong team capable of handling a holy-dragon type. At a minimum, I'd bring at least one manamon who can put a foe to sleep or paralyze it, and at least 30 giganets. Be prepared to be very, very patient. Ignore the person you can hear in favour of walking north. You'll be stopped by what I presume is the disembodied voice of Zeognioss, welcoming you to continue because you're the manamon master. Is it me, or is the music in here kind of creepy? In this next room, you'll have to do a fairly easy stone puzzle, in order to spell the word "holy. The letter H can be found considerably west of the entrance. Personally I get on its east side and shove it west just to be safe. The letter O can be found near the room's upper entrance, which is currently blocked, and a bit to the west. Shove it east a few, down a bunch, then line it up with your H and shove it west so that it bumps against H. That's two done. The letter L is in the northeastern area. Shove it down a bunch, line it up with your H and O, then push it all the way west so it bumps against O. Three down, one to go. The letter Y can be found on the west side of the area, in an alcove. You'll have to push it about twelve spaces east, down a few, then west to line up with your other three stones. If done correctly, you'll hear the telltale cracking of stone, and that northern entrance is now open. Head on through. This next room is pretty enormous, but the only thing in it is a mythical for you to catch. Zeognioss is northeast. Find him, save your game, take a deep breath, and get ready to catch him. Mythical Spotlight: Zeognioss This holy-dragon type comes at level 70. It's not armed with the most killer of movesets, but it does have Draco Blitz, which will confuse it after a couple of turns. This means that Zeognioss can and will kill itself if you aren't careful. I advise trying to whittle its health down, and then paralyzing it...or paralyzing it first, if you want to. Then chuck Giganets till you catch it. If you're struggling to stop Ziognioss from killing itself with Draco Blitz's confusion, bring in a magic type. Ziognioss is virtually helpless against a magic type (Mondevol is the one I used, and Mondevol also has Stun Volt for paralysis). Do not use your Gammanet in this fight. Trust me. There's a way better time and place for it. You only get one chance to find this manamon, and you absolutely must catch it if you want to finish the minimal postgame, so good luck. With your new Xeognioss in hand, feel free to get the heck out of here. Funnily enough, you can use your Pocket Copter to fly away home. Next stop: Shadow Kingdom. Yup, you read this right. Thankfully, the only thing you'll have to deal with now are the traps (electricity, boulders, lasers and guards). There are no more fights, and the obnoxious speed room is empty now. Make your way through Shadow Kingdom to f7, where you fought Yavin and Irroadium. When you're in this room, use the Irod Pendant you hopefully picked up when I told you to in the Shadow Warrior hideout. When you do, you'll be teleported to yet another area. Chamber of Hatred As before, the teleporter will bring you out, so don't use it until you're ready. This is the area where using your gammanet is highly, highly recommended. You're about to see why. Move north, and a disembodied voice will tell you that you are worthy, so continue heading in that direction. You'll want to follow the path as it bends back and forth a bit. Eventually it will open up to the south. Irroadium is here somewhere, so find him. When you're close, make sure your game is saved and that your team is as ready as it's going to be. It's god-beast battle time! Yup. Remember that level 50 Irroadium battle? Now you have to do it again, but Irroadium is now level 65. Almost everything is the same except that now Irroadium is bigger and stronger. Take him down using similar strategies as the first time. Once you finally win this gruelling battle, you'll be immediately thrust into battle against the catchable form of Irroadium. Hopefully he doesn't just wipe your party out, because he's frightfully strong. Chuck that Gammanet and be done with it. Seriously. One mythical is simply not worth this much headache. Mythical Spotlight: Irroadium If you've fought one dragon mythical, the strategy is the same for the other three. Irroadium is a bit more frail than Zeognioss, but he also hits a little harder, particularly on the physical side of the spectrum. He does have Wing Slash, so watch out for your fighting or plant types. With both Zeognioss and Irroadium listed as caught in your manapedia, visit that house in Conuray City east of the Manamon Marketplace...remember the one where the guy in front of the door said he wasn't moving, ever? Well, he'll move now. Bring a bunch of giganets and a strong team. There's a level 80 mythical manamon in here. There are also some pretty tough tamers before you actually get to the mythical, so let's go exploring! The Great Caves Manamon available: none, except the mythical There are five level-up herbs in a chest to the northeast. Grab these first. Now come back to the entrance and head south for a battle with a genius. Genius Edward Tarboo level 77, Lamgurk level 77, Martiagle level 78, Ninjarkin level 79, Tigrath level 78 Reward: 8425 gold East of Edward and a bit south is another tamer. Geologist Barbara Ghoperto level 77, Jimitron level 79, Martiagle level 80, Thornita level 79 Reward: 6992 gold Double back to the west, go south, then east for another tamer. Priest Caitlin Miterosier level 81, Myaneko level 79 Reward: 3681 gold The only thing left here to do is go east, then follow the path as it bends around to the northeast. You'll go through a rumbling rockslide door thing and be in another area. This is where you will find Tabalus. It's level 80, so be prepared. Those tamers you fought probably took a lot out of you, and this mythical is more than capable of finishing the job. Thankfully, it's catchable with giganets, so just bring a bunch of those, whittle it down and hope for the best. Once you've caught it, congratulate yourself. The three dragon mythicals are yours! With these mythicals in hand, the only things left to do are stadium leaders and the improved master stadium. I'll hit the stadium leaders first. Let's start with San-Cot City. You can do this as soon as you have Zeognioss, but I wouldn't recommend it, as the manamon's levels are extremely high. Head back into the San-Cot Stadium with Ziognioss in your party, and go talk to Seinarus. You'll get a sort of pitiful cutscene, and then battle commences. This is one tough fight. Stadium Leader Seinarus Sacroloon level 94, Tenshaino level 92, Miterosier level 82, Sacroloon level 90, Myaneko level 90, Bellaard level 95 Reward: 29105 gold See what I mean? Tough. Thankfully, an undead manamon or two can really make this fight a lot easier, particularly if they're wearing headstone amulets to nullify holy damage. Seinarus, too, seems to have gotten a gift Loonis way ahead of time, since his has Wind Slash. Watch it. One down, two to go. Let's head to Hazeldale. Enter the stadium, and head up to face the new head of Hazeldale Stadium. This one is a double battle. Stadium Leader Sonica Tarboo level 85 with Fairy Suit/Hydrake level 87 with Gold Shield/Rhinodyo level 88 with Chain Shield/Bellaard level 90 with Megaphone Reward: 19125 gold After this gruelling fight, you have the choice as to whether or not she's fired. Choose as you will. You can't rematch her anyway, so it truly doesn't matter. And last but not least, Brightwater City. You might remember that Dustin is...well, sort of dead. Being dead means he can't very well run the stadium, so someone named Cosmo has taken up residence there. Let's go test them out, shall we? Stadium Leader Cosmo Leonatar level 81 with Gravity Magnet, Terruffalo level 87 with Aqua Suit, Lamgurk level 86, Leonatar level 85 with Heavy Blade, Terruffalo level 87 with Gas Mask, Pandourbit level 90 Reward: 22845 gold As an aside, Mortrex with a Broomstick, or the Ghoperto line, are basically free to destroy four out of six manamon here, since neither Leonatar nor Terruffalo can do damage to them. Also, um, this is an earth-type stadium, so what the heck happened to Grandlan and Craggalem? Surely instead of just doubling up on Terruffalo and Leonatar, Cosmo could've made a better team by including a part stone type and a part magic type. Bah. Again, you get the choice as to whether or not you want this stadium leader to carry on. No rematch is possible, and it's your call entirely. Because of his awful team, I usually just fire him and have done with it. Congratulations, you've just finished what are probably the three toughest fights in the game itself, outside of one which I'll mention in a moment. The only real challenges left to you are to defeat the Master Stadium in its upgraded form (which I'll also get to in a moment) and completing your manapedia. Master Stadium Upgraded There is now someone standing near the door inside the Master Stadium who will, if you talk to them, change the stadium between two different configurations. the default is still available, but now there's an option where everything is approximately twenty levels higher. This is much harder, as you might expect, but is particularly useful for training higher-level manamon...like those dragon mythicals you've picked up, for instance? I'm not going to cover the upgraded stadium here. The movesets are mostly the same, but the held items are in many cases quite different. You're just dealing with extra levels in most instances. You get nothing for winning except more gold and bragging rights. Manapedia Completion If you finish your manapedia (157 manamon seen and owned), Dr. Murettes will give you an item called the Rainbow Talisman, or something like that. If you select it in your inventory and hit N, it will say that using this item in Tangeria Tower Front may do something. If you go there and do so, you'll be teleported to a small new area with a manamon. This is Peggisen, a level 80 air-ice-flame-electric type. Nope, I'm not making a typo; it's got four types. This is your very last mythical, so capture it for a complete manapedia. You've heard this manamon's cry before. Remember that peculiar scene when you entered San-cot for the first time? That was Octoross trying to kill this thing. Presumably, the place where Peggisen ends up is some sort of afterlife or something, or it's been brought back from the dead. Look, don't ask me. It's manamon, it doesn't have to make sense. As a last challenge, when your manapedia is complete, Dr. Murettes will face you with a team of level 100 manamon. She has Tylovile, Banyardan, Fauntozaur, Tigrath, Miterosier and Skirial I believe. Not a wickedly hard fight by the sound of things, but level 100 is no joke. Irroadium can shut down Tylovile pretty hard, and any electric type can pretty much take down Fauntozaur. A Frorgeril at a high enough level will be excellent here, since it resists Fauntozaur's water attacks and can hit hard with Lightning Bolt. Banyardan mostly seemed to want to spam Solar Cannon over and over again, so bring in something that resists it (hopefully an ice type) and freeze it to death (I used Frostbite from Peggisen, and it killed the poor thing in one hit). Miterosier is dead meat if you have an undead manamon with a headstone amulet equipped; it knows Focus, Divine Protection, White Lance, Holy Light (I think?) and Exorcise. Tigrath is dangerous, so I'd bring Irroadium or some other shadow type back, let Tigrath exhaust itself with Oblivion Slash, then slam it hard for a kill. Skirial has decent coverage for a bug, but it's utterly wrecked by ice attacks, as well as stone. It's also weak to fire and electric attacks, but you shouldn't need either of those. Again, I used Peggisen, and wrecked it with Frostbite. My whole team was at or around level 80 for this fight, and I did have to use a few medical miracles, but I won easily. Hopefully you slap the Golden Medal on one of your manamon for this fight. If you do, you'll get over 50000 gold. If you win this fight, there really is nothing much left for you to do in the game, until or unless more content is released. Pat yourself on the back, go take a break, and be easy in the knowledge that you've just utterly and completely finished Manamon! Closing This is the end. Barring manamon move lists and further breakdown, plus bits of info that may be added to specific sections as time goes by, this guide is complete. The end may seem rushed, but that's because the postgame itself is a bit on the quick side. Note how I was struggling with Ascendence Path on one day, and totally done the post-game (excepting the Murettes fight) the next. The game really speeds along after you beat the Master Stadium. Anyway, thanks for sticking with me so far. Please gget in touch on the audiogames.net forum if you have anything you wish to contribute. --END