Trials of Mana Trophy Guide

Trials of Mana Trophy Guide and Road Map for PlayStation 4

Trials of Mana (sequel to Secret of Mana) was originally known only as Seiken Densetsu 3 when it was released in 1995. It didn’t see a western release until Square Enix released the “Collection of Mana” in 2019. In 2020, this 3D remake was released with much more advanced graphics than the Secret of Mana remaster. With this Trials of Mana Trophy Guide, you’ll be able to experience this coveted JRPG title without fear of missing any trophies you need for the Platinum.

Trials of Mana Trophy Guide – Before You Begin

Difficulty

There is one difficulty-specific trophy in Trials of Mana which asks you to play the game on Hard Difficulty, just for one boss. This boss is not available until the post-game, though, and you’ll be pleased to hear that you can change the difficulty on the fly without voiding any of your trophies.

That’s correct; you can play the entire game on Beginner Difficulty right up to the boss in question, then switch to Hard Difficulty just to collect the trophy, and switch back.

All this is to say, you can play the game on any difficulty you like, but this Trials of Mana Trophy Guide will ask you to change the difficulty to “Hard” for one trophy in the post-game.

Multiple Playthroughs

The Platinum Trophy for Trials of Mana will require you to play the entire game three full times. Not to worry, though, it isn’t as bad as it sounds.

With each additional playthrough, you’ll be playing on New Game Plus, meaning you’ll retain some progress between playthroughs and they will incrementally be faster. Additionally, you’ll be using a new protagonist each time, which will affect how the story plays out.

There are three different endings to the game, which is why you will need to do three playthroughs. The ending depends on which of the six characters you set as your protagonist. The below table shows you the three sets of two characters that will give you each of the three ending trophies. You should set one of the characters from each pair as your protagonist in each playthrough so as to collect one of each trophy every time you start a new game.

Protagonist	Ending Trophy
Duran/Angela	Glorious One
Riesz/Hawkeye	Overcoming Reality
Kevin/Charlotte	Immortal One

The other two members you have in your party each playthrough don’t matter as much, but there’s a trophy for finishing the game with each of the 6 characters (one per character). So, if you use a different set of three in your first two playthroughs you’ll have all of the character trophies by the end of Phase 2 of this trophy guide, but feel free to set up the parties as you see fit, so long as you beat the game with each of them in your party at least once.

Phase One – First Playthrough

Given that you’ll get second and third stabs at the game and its trophies within your three playthroughs, you can focus on enjoying the game in this first run. It’s very linear with a waypoint to show you where to go every step of the way. Just pick a protagonist from one of the three sets in the section above, and then have fun!

In this first phase of our Trials of Mana Trophy Guide, you’ll be collecting your first three character trophies, all six chapter trophies, and a handful of trophies for performing actions for the first time.

Once you’ve beat the story, we’ll also be doing a lot of post-game content on this save, but I’ll reserve that info for Phase Two. For now, just focus on reaching and defeating the final boss.

There are a few things you could try to do along the way, just to further your progress on some of the misc trophies you’ll be collecting:

• Open as many chests as you can, aiming for a total of 200 treasure chests opened for Treasure Seeker and Treasure Hunter.
• Interact with “Li’l Cactus” as much as you can. There are 50 possible Li’l Cactus encounters, and you’ll need to find them all for Cactus Companion; however, your total encounters carry over between New Game Plus saves, so there’s no pressure. If you want to make sure you get them all in one playthrough, please see our Li’l Cactus Locations Guide.
• Collect as many Item Seeds as you can and use them on the Planters in Inns as often as you can to increase your magic planter level to Level 5. You don’t need to reach Level 5 in this playthrough, as your progress will carry over, but it doesn’t hurt to get a head start.

Chapter Trophies

These completely unmissable trophies will all be earned as part of this phase. They’ll unlock naturally as you make your way through each chapter of the story, so there’s nothing for you to worry about.

First Time Trophies

These trophies, too, are mostly unmissable. They’re all tied to performing certain actions for the first time, many of which are things you can’t progress the game without doing.

Whenever you visit an inn, you may notice a red flower pot near the counter. You can use any item seeds you have collected on this pot to grow them into free items for your party!

You will eventually need to upgrade this pot to Level 5 by using it as much as possible, so be sure to never pass up an opportunity to plant your Item Seeds whenever you’re near an inn.

The first time you do this, you’ll unlock this trophy.

The first time you learn a chain ability should be from the Priest in the Holy City of Wendel. This is done as part of the story and so is totally unmissable.

You will earn this trophy the first time you use your Training Points in the “Training” tab of the pause menu to purchase an ability. Abilities can be seen in the List on the right, indicated by a diamond-shaped icon.

As noted in our Li’l Cactus Locations Guide, you will meet Li’l Cactus for the very first time on the Golden Road as part of the story and so this is completely unmissable.

Whenever you level up, you’ll gain a training point that you can spend in the “Training” tab of your menu. Each time you level up a stat you’ll gain progress towards unlocking an ability or move from the list on the right-hand side.

If you put enough training points into a stat to unlock an ability with the Chain icon on it (two people holding hands) this trophy will unlock.

As long as you keep spending your Training Points when levelling up, this trophy will come naturally.

You will use the Cannon at Von Boyage’s House in “Free City of Maia” as part of the story and so this trophy is completely unmissable.

You will unavoidably meet and ride on Vuscav as part of the story, thus this trophy is unmissable.

The story will eventually take you to Flammie and so this trophy, too, is unmissable.

To change class, you must first find a Mana Stone. The story will take you to each of the mana stones anyway, but the first one you find will be the Wind Stone in Gusthall, which is where you can unlock this trophy, but you first need to be Level 18 to be able to switch class.

Switching class does not mean suddenly becoming a Mage when you were a Swordsman before, it’s more of an evolution of your initial class, but you get to choose one of two upgrades to your class.

By switching class you will get:

• Additional ability slots
• Access to new Moves/Abilities
• A large Class Strike Gauge
• A new Class Strike attack
• An additional attack combo
• Boosted stats
• A new outfit

Character Trophies

Though I am listing all 6 trophies here, I have no way of knowing what your chosen team setup will be, and I want you to have the freedom of setting up your team however you like. Therefore, just know that you will only get a maximum of three of these trophies in this playthrough. You will need to acquire the rest in your subsequent playthroughs.

To unlock these trophies, you simply need to beat the game with each of the characters in your party at least one time.

Ending Trophies

As with the Character Trophies, you cannot and will not earn all three of the below trophies during this phase. You will need to earn one per playthrough, based on which character you choose to set as your protagonist.

In order to unlock this trophy you will need to beat the game with either Duran or Angela as your Protagonist.

In order to unlock this trophy you will need to beat the game with either Kevin or Charlotte as your Protagonist.

In order to unlock this trophy you will need to beat the game with either Riesz or Hawkeye as your Protagonist.

Phase Two – First Playthrough Post-Game Content

Once you have beat the final boss in your first playthrough, there’s a few extra things to do post-game. In this phase of our Trials of Mana Trophy Guide, we’ll be focusing on those post-game elements and cleaning up a few things along the way.

After you beat the final boss and experience all the cutscenes at the end of the game, you can continue your completed game save to be returned to the point before the final fight, when you arrived on the Sanctuary of Mana. Don’t worry, any exp or items you got while there will still be on your person.

You could use this opportunity to collect any remaining Li’l Cactus encounters you still need, but your progress will carry over and you’re welcome to find the rest during your two New Game Plus playthroughs. See our Li’l Cactus Locations Guide if you need help.

Class Mastery Trophies

Much like the Ending Trophies, the Class trophies in this section of our Trials of Mana Trophy Guide cannot all be earned in this playthrough. You will only be able to earn a maximum of three per playthrough as you will need to reach the post-game at least once with each of the six characters in your party, meaning this will take at least two playthroughs.

The majority of the storyline in the post-game is based around finding the Class Items needed to increase your party’s class a third time to “Class 4.”

Simply follow your objectives and you’ll eventually have everything you need to increase your whole party to Class Level 4, but the story won’t force you to actually do it. So make sure you go to the Sanctuary of Mana once you have the Class Items and upgrade your party at the Angel Statue.

You will get one of the below trophies for each of the party members you upgrade in this way.

Anise Boss Fight

These two trophies require you to follow the post-game story to a final boss fight. Note that you’re more than welcome to leave the Hard Difficulty trophy for one of your next two playthroughs, but this is as good a place as any to unlock it.

You will need to at least unlock “Heroes of Mana” to be able to start New Game Plus for Phase Three of our Trials of Mana Trophy Guide.

Follow the quest markers during this point in the game to be taken through a bonus storyline which ends at a boss fight. Defeat the boss and this trophy will unlock.

You will want to be around Level 75 when you fight the boss or you’ll have a pretty difficult time. Consider stopping somewhere to grind exp before heading in if you’re not at least close to level 75, especially if you want to defeat the final boss on Hard difficulty. The lead up to this boss is extremely long, though, you can easily gain 10 levels or more in this one dungeon.

If you want to get this trophy, you should switch the game’s difficulty to “Hard” before initiating the final boss fight. If you’ve been playing the game through on Easy or Beginner, you may well have a rough time trying to beat the game’s final boss on Hard difficulty, but if you keep a good stock of healing items and spells then you should be able to scrape your way through.

Alternatively, you’re more than welcome to leave this trophy for one of your other two playthroughs. You’ll be much stronger in your subsequent playthroughs thanks to the benefits of using the New Game Plus option, so you will likely find it a lot easier to achieve then.

Defeat the Black Rabite

The Black Rabite is a secret boss you can only fight during the post-game, the below trophy will be your reward for finding and defeating it.

The Black Rabite can be found in whichever Dungeon was the final dungeon in your playthrough, depending on your protagonist.

Protagonist	Final Dungeon
Duran/Angela	Crystal Desert
Riesz/Hawkeye	Night Cavern
Kevin/Charlotte	Jungle of Visions

Return to that dungeon and interact with a small Black Rabite statue near the entrance. You will be taken to a Gold Angel Statue where you should save in case you lose this upcoming fight.

Head into the next room and you’ll receive a pop-up warning you that you’re about to fight a very tough enemy. Select “Yes” to proceed and initiate the fight.

Black Rabite is Level 83 and deals an enormous amount of damage so you should try to be around the same level. Level 70 at least.

If you’re struggling to beat the Black Rabite, set the game on Beginner difficulty, this won’t affect any of your trophies in any way.

It may be best to leave this fight until after you have acquired Class Mastery for all three of your party members and beat the final boss. You’ll then be very highly levelled and extra powerful, making the fight much easier.

When you defeat the Black Rabite, you will get a new chain ability called “Obsidian Power” which makes all abilities and spells cost 0MP, which will be extremely useful moving forward.

Phase Three – Second Playthrough

With the post-game content in your first playthrough cleared up, it’s time for your second playthrough, which we will focus on in this phase of our Trials of Mana Trophy Guide. Start a new game via New Game Plus and make sure that you choose not to reset your character’s levels. Also, you will need to select a different protagonist to your first playthrough, ensuring you’re going to get a different trophy this time:

Protagonist	Ending Trophy
Duran/Angela	Glorious One
Riesz/Hawkeye	Overcoming Reality
Kevin/Charlotte	Immortal One

If you beat the game with an entirely different team you will be able to collect the remaining three Character Ending Trophies and Class Mastery Trophies. Though you should consider the fact that having at least one character from your first playthrough will make things a lot quicker and easier, because they’ll be very overpowered.

Here’s a quick summary of what you’ll be doing in this phase of our Trials of Mana Trophy Guide:

• Purchase Watts’ nitromyte for 5,000 Lucre.
• Beat the game with a different Protagonist.
• Beat the game with new party members.
• Obtain more of the class trophies.

You can also continue to do the following if needed:

• If you haven’t already, continue working towards 200 chests opened for Treasure Hunter.
• If you didn’t follow our Li’l Cactus Locations Guide to get them all in your first playthrough, you should continue to look for Li’l Cactus sightings, aiming to have found all 50.
• Continue collecting as many Item Seeds as you can and using them on the Planters in Inns as often as you can to increase your magic planter level to Level 5.

You will have earned some new abilities for starting a New Game Plus save, and one of them gives your entire party 300% exp gain, so you should be sure to equip that!

In fact, take a good look through your abilities as all of them have carried over from your last save, and you probably have some great ones you can equip asap. The Li’l Cactus one, for example, makes it so that you start every fight with 200% Class Strike charge, and the Black Rabite one makes all spells cost 0MP.

Lastly, it will benefit you to know that you can skip cutscenes by holding , this will help to speed your run up more than it already will be. My first playthrough took about 22 hours and my second was just over 10 hours long.

Purchase Watts’ Nitromyte

When you first meet Watts he will offer you Nitromyte for 5,000 Lucre. It’s unlikely you will have this money on your first playthrough unless you’ve been level-grinding/money-farming. So, if you say no to this request for 5,000 Lucre, he’ll offer you it for 3,000 and you’ll be then locked out of earning this trophy.

The easier way to get this trophy is to simply get it on your second playthrough. You will have a lot of money from your first playthrough which got carried over via New Game Plus, so you’ll be able to accept his request for 5,000 Lucre upon meeting him.

If you accidentally say “No way!” to him, you will have a third opportunity to earn this trophy in your third playthrough, or you can just load your previous save and try again.

Earn New Ending Trophies

There are two types of ending trophy you can earn here. The first are character-specific ending trophies. You will have earned 3 during Phase One of our trophy guide and can earn up to three more in this playthrough if you use an entirely unique team. Either way, any characters in your party with whom you have not earned a Character trophy will be unlocked at the end of the game.

Additionally, provided you have used a completely different protagonist from one of the three ending groups, you will earn a new Ending Trophy too. The final dungeon and final boss will be different, too.

Post-game Class Mastery Trophies

Once you reach the post-game again, you will need to work on earning Class Mastery Trophies for the unique members of your team. If you have an entirely unique team in this playthrough, you can earn the remaining three trophies in this playthrough and won’t even need to bother with the post-game in your third playthrough!

You are still going to need to beat Anise again, however, as you can only do New Game Plus on a save with two stars on it (one star for finishing the game and one additional star for finishing the post-game). You could just start a New Game Plus save with your first playthrough save, though, if you don’t care about preserving any progress you made in your second playthrough.

Phase Four – Third Playthrough

We are now onto the final phase of our Trials of Mana Trophy Guide and, subsequently, your final playthrough. Start a new game via New Game Plus one final time and this time make sure you are using a Protagonist which will earn you the final ending trophy that you need:

Protagonist	Ending Trophy
Duran/Angela	Glorious One
Riesz/Hawkeye	Overcoming Reality
Kevin/Charlotte	Immortal One

This is also your last chance to get the rest of the character trophies if you haven’t earned them yet, so make sure you are using any characters you haven’t used yet.

Lastly, we’ll be using this playthrough as an opportunity to collect the last few misc trophies that you may not have earned yet, and you’ll finally collect your platinum!

Collect the Remaining Character Trophies

If you used a completely unique team in your second playthrough, you should already have this trophy. However, if you did not then you need to ensure that you use any remaining characters that you haven’t already beat the game with. This way you can ensure you’ll get this trophy, and any remaining Character trophies.

Additionally, if you still have Character Trophies to unlock in this playthrough, then you will also have some Class Mastery Trophies to unlock, meaning you will need to play the post-game in order to do that.

Find all 50 Li’l Cactus Encounters

If you haven’t done it yet then this is your final chance to collect the remaining Li’l Cactus Encounters. Don’t forget that we have a handy Li’l Cactus Locations Guide you can use if you need it.

If you’ve made it to your third playthrough without getting this trophy yet, then I would recommend following our Li’l Cactus Locations Guide from the start of this playthrough, ensuring you don’t miss any and have a smooth pain-free experience.

Open 200 Treasure Chests

It is extremely unlikely for you to make it all the way to the end of your third playthrough without collecting the two trophies above unless you have been going out of your way to avoid opening chests for some reason.

If you still need to open a few then I suggest just exploring the world map via Flammie and using your Li’l Cactus rewards to look for unopened chests.

Have 500,000 Lucre at one time

During your first playthrough, with all the gear you’ll be buying to keep yourself tough enough to take on the enemies, you’ll struggle to even amass 100,000 Lucre. However, after 3 playthroughs with your money carrying over each time, you won’t struggle to reach 500,000 Lucre and get both of the above trophies!

If you haven’t earned “Wealthy” naturally by the end of your third playthrough, then you won’t be far off anyway. Just farm Lucre by fighting enemies in a location of your choice (the higher their level, the higher the monetary gain).

Learn all possible abilities with one character

When purchasing stats from the “Training” tab of the menu, you will see that some stat thresholds will unlock abilities, indicated by icons on the right-hand list. The two trophies above will require you to first unlock just 20 of these, and then every single one, for just one of your characters.

Learning all of the abilities on one character is not something you’ll be able to achieve in your first playthrough naturally. Even after doing all of the post-game content, you’d need to go through a long exp grind just to level up enough for the skill points you need.

On your second playthrough, though, with the added benefit of the 300% EXP ability you should have equipped, you’ll be well over level 70 before even finishing chapter 5 of the 6-chapter story.

By the time you reach Class 4 in the post-game with your playthrough 2 team, you will be level 99 and will have enough skill points already to fully purchase every possible stat point and thus all associated skills, securing the two trophies above.

If you don’t stick around in your second playthrough to do that, your level, skill points, stats and class will all still be the same when you load up your team for the final playthrough, so be sure to grab all skills then.

Max out your Magic Pot

No, not that kind of Magic Pot!

There’s a plantpot in every Inn (and some other places like the beach on the Mana Sanctuary) and their purpose is for growing items using Item Seeds. The growth is instant so don’t worry about having to wait for the items to grow, you just need enough seeds to unlock this trophy.

Every time you use an item seed, the pot’s exp bar will increase until it levels up. It can do this a total of 5 times. Across your three playthroughs you will collect hundreds of item seeds, and the higher your Magic Pot’s level, the more chance there is of an Item Seed being dropped by enemies.

Therefore, the closer you get to earning this trophy, the easier it will be to earn.

I managed to do this within my second playthrough, but I was pretty vigilant in my first playthrough about opening chests and picking up items, a lot of which were item seeds, so there’s a small chance this trophy my drag on across all three playthroughs, but as long as you keep planting all your item seeds you will have no trouble earning this trophy.

PlatGet!

40 hours and three playthroughs later, you should finally have been able to get every trophy in this Trials of Mana Trophy Guide. Enjoy your Platinum Trophy; you’ve earned it!

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