Secret of Mana - Part 77: Mana Fortress
Written on Monday, May 7th, 2018
Posted on Monday, October 8th, 2018
4 min read
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5
I check my weapons and stats so far...
Oh my god, Hero's got high Defense and Magic Defense stats!
I make the last upgrade on the Hyper-Fist, which become Griffin Claws!
Now we call Flammie and head to the Tree Palace to get fully equipped!
Our final destination awaits...
It takes a bit of chasing, but Flammie makes it inside!
No flashing cannons and barriers to stop our landing this time...
At the top of the staircase, two Capt. Ducks await our arrival!
We put them to sleep for awhile...and another Dark Stalker joins the fray!
A new monster here, the Fiend Head, really likes dispelling all our buffs, and breathing poison!
And spawning Dark Stalkers! Why do monsters in this game always do this?
We head inside the entrance of the Mana Fortress, where the music's now changed! I like this track.
Two Metal Crabs appear as we enter.
Turtlances and a blue sludge called a Tsunami are in the next chamber....
It seems we'll have to use a whip to reach the other side again...
After a few minutes taking care of the Tsunamis, I press the pink button, opening the bridge!
The next wave of monsters continue going after us!
A Wolf Lord (the Werewolf's cousin) and his two Heck Hounds are our next challenge!
Like his Werewolf cousin, he's a super black belt, and a spellcaster!
There's a huge chasm below us now and green crystals blocking our path forward!
The sword's able to cut through the crystals with ease! However, they regenerate so quickly!
There's so many Tsunamis to face here...
Instead of west, we jump over to the south ledge, hoping we might get some items! Instead, we end up in a room full of crystals!
We turn back and go west, facing off against more Heck Hounds!
The golden eye orb here's called a Whimper...
Unfortunately, there's no way through and we go back to the chamber with the green crystals...
It takes two or three hits to cut these crystals with the sword! Late-game Mana really means business!
The stray switch here, like in the coral reef cave at the Underground City, resets the crystals again!
While the Whimper turns Max into a moogle, it casts Reflect on itself!
We trudge through the yard of crystals and make it to the room north...
...then south, where we jump across a far ledge, and a twist and a turn later...
...we take a warp to another boss flying above the huge chasm below! It's another Vampire called Buffy! Hmmm...is this name referring to the Vampire Slayer?
I proceed to restore Pidge's magic, and buff everyone with light magic!
Buffy snaps their fingers, casting their magic!
Buffy also knows how to pull a Leaden Glare...
Knowing we're stuck in a tight spot, we head down the stairs, into the void floor...now the battle feels more open...
I honestly thought that was a big chasm below for some reason...
Buffy also knows dark magic too, huh?
As soon as Buffy touches down, they start chomping on Max! Like their cousin, they can poison us with their claws!
We take advantage of Buffy's landings and continue using our light-enchanted weapons on Buffy...
Now Buffy takes to the skies, and it's now a spellcasting duel!
Buffy finally touches down, and goes after Pidge!
One more hit from Hero's spear, and Buffy's the one that gets slain!
What do we win this time?
Nothing!
Two more Heck Hounds and their reinforcements are in the next room!
Two corridors diverge here...I take the east one...
...where a Shape Shifter greets us with his smug grin, and more troops of monsters await!
Now to cross through this maze...
We make it through, fighting another trio of Tsunamis along the way...
We open the long bridge to another warp point, where we're faced with another giant slime monster, the Dread Slime!
I analyze the gigantic gelatin, who's weak against dark magic!
This boss is only vulnerable to Dark Force...every physical hit doesn't seem to work...
As the boss continues to spam Acid Storms on the party, I counter with Dark Force!
Every time the spell makes its mark, the Dread Slime keeps growing!
But after a few more dark magic spells (where the Dread Slime expands so much that we can't even move!), the fireworks show for the Dread Slime starts!
It takes us a while before we get warped to another part of the fortress!
Turning back, we get into another round with Tsunamis, and Hero gets stuck because of their endless spellcasting! We manage to push them back, and win a rare item, an Amulet Ring, from them!
I give Pidge the rare piece of equipment, and go to that west corridor to see if there's anything there...
The tricky thing about this game's menu (the Ring Command menu) sometimes is the menu switching.
Now that Hero's Spear skills are at level 7, I have him swap weapons with Max!
Tsunamis, though a bit overwhelming, give us some more Amulet Rings!
We do some backtracking and exploring around this fortress...it's easy to get lost in this elaborate place!
We end up going around in circles!
Now back to the warp point after we took care of the last boss...
More Dark Stalkers with a Master Ninja at the north end of the next room try to stop us!
We take care of the ninjas and proceed to where the Terminator, a gold-plated knight, is...
And we leap past another gap!
The Mana Fortress is quite an intricate place, but it's a hive made up of the top-tier monsters! Lucky most of them aren't very tough on us, just frustratingly evasive, or they spawn more troops...
Let's hope this is the last corridor beyond here...
No, it isn't, as there are an Armored Man, a Dark Knight, and a Terminator!
We're getting lots of treasures in this place, but no weapon orbs so far...
The Master Ninja is an exceptionally tough one, as he finishes Pidge off in two hits!!
The Terminator's not a fan of darkness...and he's strong against dragon weapons! Or at least, he's strong against Hero's attacks!
We come to my worst nightmare...three Master Ninjas in one room!
I try to escape after some combat, but it's game over for us...