Leveling guide

Thanks to Trang for his contribution of this leveling guide

Note: Following information is only for the original version of Trials of Mana

This guide is based on my own experience throughout the game. This is not the fastest way to go, but a balanced speed/power path.
Note that this is not a walkthrough, so if you’re having problems to find the way, I’d recommend you Seikens site official one. Also, if you’re having trouble to beat bosses with the level in posting here, feel absolutely free to level-up a bit more.
One more thing… When I say, for example:
“Level-up to 14 inside Rolante Castle (near the Gold Statue near the boss) before fighting Genova and Bill & Ben. Then just go through and beat Gorva (now you have Shade).”
If following the guide, you should be at level 12. Go through the enemies until you find the Gold Statue, THEN level-up inside the castle. Then just rush through like mad (not killing most enemies until you beat Gorva)!

The 8 spirits:

• Level-up to 4 near Astoria before getting the second character near the Cave of Waterfalls.
• Level-up to 6 in the cave before defeating Full Metal Hugger (the crab boss that holds Wisp).
• Level-up to 9 near Maia/Cleft of Earth before killing the Machine Golems at the bridge and then go to Jewel Eater (the mole that holds Gnome).
• Level-up to 12 near Palo and/or in the Corridor of Wind (close to the Gold Statue) before beating Tzenker (that holds Jinn).
• Level-up to 14 inside Rolante Castle (near the Gold Statue near the boss) before fighting Genova and Bill & Ben. Then just go through and beat Gorva (now you have Shade).
• Level-up to 16 inside Seashore Cave (here’s the deal: the enemies are pretty strong, so rush inside until the last Gold Statue and level-up near it).
• Level-up to 18 at Sub-Zero Snowfield (in the end near to the Gold Statue for your own safety) before fighting brand new Machine Golems (and getting Undine). DO NOT FORGET TO CLASS-CHANGE!!
• Level-up to 20 in the Desert of Heat (I’d say near Deen) then go through for Bill & Ben 2.0 (and ta-da… Salamando inside the Valley of Flames!).
• Level-up to 22 in the Moonlight Forest (go back to Mintos to sleep), beat Lugar (and get Luna).
• Level-up to 24 in the Lampflower Forest (near the Gold Statue), beat Gildervine (the last one, Dryad!).

The Mana Holyland:

• Level-up to 27 here. This is a place with easy-to-kill enemies. Just don’t forget: if you draw the sword, the rabbits will vanish!

The following part is more like a level-up-a-lot-then-rush-through-some-bosses guide. It really worked ok for me, leaving the more convinient places to level-up. This is the really nice part of the guide since the part before is almost a 2-level-at-a-time guide!
Do not forget: you’ll feel some difficulties right before leveling, but this surely works (8 times!)… Just don’t forget to buy the best weapons and armors available.

The 8 God-Beasts:

• Beat the Wind-God Dangaard without leveling.
• Beat the Fire-God Xan Bie without leveling.
• Level-Up to 32 (five levels in a row. Tough af first but then it’s easy.) near the Gold Statue then beat the Water-God Fiegmund.
• Beat the Moon-God Dolan without leveling.
• Level-up to 36 (lots of experience and relative easiness) near the Gold Statue then beat the Wood-God Mispolm.
• Beat the Earth-God Land Umber without leveling (run through like mad or you’ll be severely injuried).
• Beat the Light-God Lightgazer without leveling (run through like mad or you’ll die permanently – savestates won’t work anymore! – just kidding, but the enemies here hurt!).
• Level-up to 38 in Pedan while finding the necessary ??? Seeds. GO BACK TO THE HOLYLAND AND… CLASS-CHANGE THERE!
• Level-up to 41 before fighting the Dark-God Zable-Fahr (the place here differs according to your main hero).

Now you have to beat two bosses and then head to final boss in the Holyland. I strongly recommend to DON’T level-up in the Holyland!
I’d say a final level of 60 because this way you can max every stat of your party.
Getting the final gear (Weapon/Armor seed) before facing this will make it much easier.

The (really long) final part:

• Level-up to 45 before beating the first boss (Deathjester/Jagan/Darkshine Knight) in the strongest enemies you can find.
• Level-up to 50 before beating the second boss (Heath/Bigieu/Koren) in the strongest enemies you can find (the place changes so I won’t bother detailing).
• Level-up to 60 before facing your final boss challenge (Dark Lich/Archedemon/Dragon Emperor) in the same place you leveled to 50. Trust me, Holyland sucks!